Situational management theory was developed over several stages. In its basic form, it was developed in a collaboration between two Americans - namely behavioral researcher Paul Hersey and PhD in leadership Kenneth Blanchard.
They developed the Theory while working on the book ”Management of Organizational Behavior”. The Theory was introduced in 1969 as ”life cycle theory of leadership”. During the mid -1970s the theory was renamed ”Situational Leadership Theory”. In the late 1970s/early 1980s, Hersey and Blanchard both developed their own slightly divergent versions of the Situational Leadership Theory. In 1985 Kenneth Blanchard introduced situational leadership II also called the SL II theory in the book ”A Situational Approach to Managing People”. The starting point for the review is this edition.