Leadership Assignment

Submitted by
Name: Aditya Kulkarni
Roll No: GMITE 1302
Q1. Evaluate Sachin’s experience at the supervisory training program?

Sachin was provided with questionnaire in training program to evaluate his

leadership style. Assessment was based on two dimensions of leadership, task
orientation and employee orientation. To his surprise, his leadership style
came out to be very high on task orientation and low on employee orientation
. Until now he felt he was employee oriented in his job.

Evaluating Sachin’s Experience In training program on basis of

Hersey-Blanchard Leadership Model.

The Hersey-Blanchard Theory is based on four types of leadership styles

● Telling
● Selling
● Participating
● Delegating

Model suggests that no leadership style is to be preferred over others instead

should depend on the situation and maturity level of subordinates which is
called situation based leadership. Maturity is defined as the ability and desire
of subordinates to do the job.
From the case we understand that Sachin’s leadership style determined by
answers to questionnaire is very high on task and low on employee orientation
which can be phrased as low on relationship. As per Hersey-Blanchard model
this will fall under ​Telling ​style of leadership. (Refer Figure 1).
Telling style of leadership is suitable for employees with low maturity level. It
requires managers to provide explicit instructions and micro manage
subordinates. This style has flow of command well established from top to
bottom , decisions are taken at the top and employees are supposed to do as
being told. As mentioned in the case, Sachin’s team can be divided into 2
groups ,one who met 100% performance standard and other which met 85% of
performance standard. This style of leadership was not suitable for all
employees under him as leadership style is a function of maturity level of
employees.
Q2) Why was his attempt to be more “Employee Oriented” a Failure?

Sachin followed Seminar leader’s suggestion that the most effective leadership
style was to be high on both task orientation as well as on employee
orientation. This led him to alter his leadership style by keeping his both
employee and task oriented behaviour High. This moved his leadership style to
Selling​. (Refer Figure 1)
As Hersey-Blanchard Model explains successful leadership is not about being
high task oriented or high employee oriented or both. Leadership style needs
to be derived from situation and maturity of employees.
When Sachin increased his employee oriented behaviour he did not consider
the maturity level of his subordinates. His attempts of being open and friendly
to Devi Lal and other low performers didn't bear any fruit as these were
employees with low maturity level (M1) (Refer Table 1), who required different
type of leadership style. Performance of Rahul Dravid who scores high on
maturity level (M4) (Refer Table 1) also dipped below 90% of standard due to
incorrect leadership style adopted.
Sachin was trying to use the same type of leadership style on all employees
irrespective of their maturity levels . Low maturity employees who needed to
be handled with High Task and low relationship and High maturity employees
who needed to be handled with Low relationship and low task way , were all
handled with High task and High relationship way of leadership, which led to
the failure of employee orientated approach, with low productivity.

Q3) What Changes in Sachin’s Leader behavior is needed to improve the

performance of his unit?

Sachin’s subordinates were divided into two sets of groups one who achieved
100% performance standard and others were who rarely exceeded 85% of
performance standard. Example for first group was employee Rahul dravid
who was dependable, quality conscious and always performed between 120%
to 125% of standard. Example for the second group was Devi Lal who rarely
exceeded 80% performance standard, wasted time in socializing and goofing
around with other workers.
To improve the performance of such a varied group of people Sachin needed
to adopt different styles of leadership with different types of people.
Leadership style needed to match with maturity level , experience and ability
of employees.
The Hersey-Blanchard leadership Model explains how different employees
require different ways of handling . (Refer Table 1 and Figure 1)
● If employees lies in ​M1 maturity level i.e low maturity level ,they need to
be handled with Leadership style ​Telling which is High on task and low
on relationship. Manager needs to give clear instructions to employees
and need to supervise their work closely.
● If employees lie in ​M2 ​maturity level i.e Moderate low level, they need
to be led with leadership style ​Selling ​which is High on both task and
relationship.Manager needs to explain task clearly and in a persuasive
manner to employees , as they are willing to do the work , but may lack
skill set.
● If employees lie in ​M3 ​maturity level i.e Moderate high level, Leadership
style to be used is ​Participating ​which is High on relationship and Low on
task orientation. As Leader is dealing with experienced employees who
are well versed with skills required for job but lack confidence, need to
emphasize on discussion and idea sharing to boost their confidence .
● If employees lie in ​M4 ​maturity level i.e High level , ​Delegating ​style of
leadership should be used, which is low on both task and relationship.
Employees are allowed to take responsibility and are trusted to take
decisions on their own.

Employees like Rahul Dravid will fall in M4 category as they are responsible,
experienced and technically capable and they need to be empowered to take
critical decisions with no interference from leadership. Employees like Devi lal
will fall in M1 category and needs to be clearly spelled out what is expected of
them .Sachin need to observe his subordinates’ behaviour,skill level,maturity
level then need to decide which style of leadership is suited for certain group
of employees. Sachin also needs to change his leadership style with change in
employee behaviour and their maturity level.
Table 1​. ​Maturity: Ability and desire of subordinates to do the job

Maturity Level Characteristics Displayed

M1 Low Incompetence or inability to do task and unwillingness to work
M2 Moderate low Inability to do task but willingness to work
M3 Moderate High Competent to do task but low on confidence
M4 High Competent to do task and willing to work and high on
confidence

Figure 1​. The Hersey-Blanchard Leadership Model

Style of Leadership

Maturity of Followers