Impact of Leadership Style of Teacher on the Performance of Students - An Application of Hersey and Blanchard Situational Model

Oct 15, 2026

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The study explored the impact of teacher leadership style on students’ performance using the Hersey and Blanchard situational model. Readiness level was measured with a readiness level scale and achievement was assessed through pretest-posttest experimental design. Data from 80 eighth-grade students in Lahore were analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings show the experimental group’s posttest performance exceeded control, and readiness can shift through leadership style. ‘Telling’ and ‘selling’ produced significantly different achievement against ‘participating’ and ‘delegating,’ especially for low readiness students.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

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Pages22

Reading Time55 min

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Abstract

Introduction

Defining Leadership

Theories and Models of Leadership

Impact of Leadership Style of Teacher on the Performance of Students: An Application of Hersey and Blanchard Situational Model Shaukat Ali Raza * and Asma Sikandar** Abstract The study explored the impact of leadership style of teacher on the performance of students in the light of Hersey and Blanchard situational model. Data were collected through readiness level scale and achievement tests from 80 students of 8th grade in Lahore city using a pretest-posttest experimental design. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied for data analysis. It was revealed that the posttest performance of experimental group was significantly higher than their pretest performance as compared with the control group. Results also showed that readiness level of students can be changed through leadership style of the teacher which has direct impact on students’ performance. There was a significant difference in achievement scores of ‘telling’ and‘selling’ intervention techniques against ‘participating’ and ‘delegating’ styles reflecting a strong positive impact on the performance of students particularly having low readiness level. It was suggested that educational administrators should provide training to teachers to use situational approach at different learning levels to improve students’ performance. Keywords: Situational leadership, Leadership style of teacher, Students’ performance, Hersey and Blanchard situational model *Assistant Professor/In-Charge, Department of Business Education, IER, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. Email: [shaukat.ier@pu.edu.pk](shaukat.ier@pu.edu.pk) **M. Phil. Scholar, IER, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. Introduction Leadership is a complex behavior reflecting the beliefs, personality, experiences, work environment, and situational assessment of the leader (Stogdill, 1974), and with its interdisciplinary foundations, it has been taken as a measurable personal trait of a person who may be placed at positions matching with the level of such trait (Zaccaro, 2007) . Depending upon the nature, complexity, and urgency of the situation i.e. the situational leadership (Grady, 2010), a leader may exhibit the same or different behaviors i.e. the styles (Hersey, 1997; Bass, 1985) the assessment of which seems to be more appropriate to the particular situation of respondents (Hersey & Blanchard, 1988) . It means that, the situational leadership is concerned with the role of followers (Grady, 2010) at a given developmental level to work in a specific environment (O’Hair & Odell, 1995) . Based on the ability of a leader to change the behavior of his followers, Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard developed a situational model in 1969. According to them, successful leadership lies in selecting the most suitable leadership style based on the followers’readiness level (Hersey & Blanchard, 1977) . The application of situational model of leadership in classroom settings is based upon the flexibility and practical aspects of teaching leadership. According to Halema (2006), what is required from the teacher as a leader, is to develop teaching methods, materials and performance norms and improve the teaching quality to achieve educational goals. As every leadership style is impossible to employ in all situations, and a particular leadership style is usually based on the readiness level of subordinates, i.e. the students in this case, hence a teacher is supposed to use different teaching styles in different teaching situations, based upon the readiness levels of students, to achieve instructional targets (Aric, 2007) . The primary purpose of the study is, therefore, to explore the readiness level of students, select a suitable leadership style as recommended (table 1) by Hersey and Blanchard (1977) according to the readiness level of the learners, apply that leadership style by the teacher in classroom setting, and explore the impact of leadership style of the teacher on the performance of st

FAQs

How was the students’ performance measured in the study?

Performance was measured using readiness level scale and achievement tests within a pretest-posttest experimental design.

What relationship did the study find between teacher leadership style and student performance?

Posttest performance of the experimental group was significantly higher than pretest performance compared with the control group, indicating a direct impact of leadership style on performance.

Which leadership approaches were most impactful for students with low readiness?

The study reported a strong positive impact for students having low readiness level, with significant differences in achievement scores between ‘telling’ and ‘selling’ versus ‘participating’ and ‘delegating’.

Oct 15, 2026

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