Chapter 9
Situational Leadership®: Training and Development
Chapter Overview
Integral to a manager’s success is the ability to develop the task-relevant readiness of
their followers. In fact, part of the measurement of any manager’s effectiveness should be
Chapter Learning Objectives
After studying this chapter, each student should be able to:
1. Describe the effective and ineffective cycles
2. Diagram and explain the developmental cycle
3. Explain the process of determining performance readiness
Key Terms and Concepts
Increasing Effectiveness
Likert’s studies indicate that managers who employ general as opposed to close
supervision tend to have higher production in their work groups. This is not true in all
cases, but seems to be a general tendency.
According to Likert, employees seem to respond to genuinely high expectations and
The Ineffective Cycle
Unfortunately, an ineffective cycle can be created in much the same way. When
managers concentrate on output variables (production), they often limit their concerns to
short-run, task-oriented behavior. The managers tell subordinates what to do and when to
do it without developing a sense of confidence in them. Subordinates respond to these
Developmental Cycle
The developmental cycle is a tool that managers can use to increase the task-relevant
What Do We Want to Influence?
When considering how to develop your employees, the first question a manager should
Assessing Readiness
Before moving into the developmental cycle, the manager must determine how the
person is currently performing in each aspect of the job. How able is the person, and how
willing is that person to meet the defined level of good performance in each task now?
Questions that will help the manager to define the readiness level include: Do you know
how to do this task? Do you like doing it? Do you want to do the job? The manager may
also observe the individual at work, or both.
If the manager determines that the individual is both unable and unwilling to undertake
Increasing Readiness
After assessing the current Performance Readiness® level of an employee in a particular
job aspect and determining the appropriate leadership style to employ, the manager’s job
Successive Approximations
When the manager delegates some (but not too much) additional responsibility to an
individual, the manager’s next step is to reward as quickly as possible any behavior that
moves in the desired direction. This practice should continue as the person’s performance
gets closer and closer to the defined level of good performance in the task.
The two steps of the developmental cycle are: 1) reduce the amount of direction and
Time and the Developmental Cycle
The developmental cycle is not a quick fix. In many cases, it may take a good situational
manager many months, even a year or more, to move some employees from Level 1 to
Behavior Modification
Behavior modification is a useful tool in almost all environments. Behavior modification
focuses on observed behavior and uses goals or rewards to modify and shape behavior
Individualizing Reinforcement
It is of prime importance to remember that people are not all motivated by the same
things. For something to act as a positive reinforcement for an individual, it must be
Schedules of Reinforcement
When a new behavior is being engaged in, it is important to maintain that behavior and
not to allow it to be extinguished over time. To maintain the new behavior, managers can
schedule reinforcements. There are two main types of reinforcement schedules:
continuous reinforcement and intermittent reinforcement.
• Continuous reinforcement means individuals are reinforced each time they engage
Consistency of Reinforcement
It is very important for managers to consistently reinforce positive behavior and to not
engage in behaviors that might be interpreted as rewarding when people are performing
Suggested Teaching Approaches
A supporting concept to the developmental cycle is behavior modification. There are
many pros and cons to behavioral modification. You might plan a debate on the issue
Activities
1. The written case study for this chapter focuses students on the concept of
developing an employee and their skills. Use the case study to help students
explore their thought process around this concept.
Exam Questions
1. The effective and ineffective cycles are similar in some ways, although they have
opposite effects. What are the similarities? What are the effects of each? Share
your personal experiences with either or both of these cycles.
Answer:
The similarities between the effective and ineffective cycles are that:
• Both are cycles of changing performance levels among people in a work
group.
On the other hand, the ineffective cycle spirals in a downward direction. The
manager, often immersed in pursuing short-term gains in output (production)
2. What must a manager determine about a subordinate before deciding to move the
subordinate into the developmental cycle? How can a manager determine that this
action should be taken?
Answer:
The manager must determine the aspects of the each person’s job that he or she
wishes to influence, and at what readiness level that employee is currently
performing in each of those aspects.
In deciding what aspects of the job the manager wants to influence, the manager