ABSTRACT
Glickman (1990) and Glickman, Gordon, and Ross-Gordon (2010) identify four interpersonal approaches parallel to situational leadership theory: the directive control approach, the directive informational approach, the collaborative approach, and the nondirective approach. These orientations portray the kinds of approaches a supervisor would choose based on the developmental stage of the teacher; “effective supervision must be based on matching orientations of supervision with the needs and characteristics of teachers” (Glickman, 1981, p. 40). Figure 2.2 describes the four supervisory approaches, with suggestions of when and under what conditions a supervisor might use them. (Chapter 7 details the career stages and the principles of adult learning.)
Note that there are no hard-and-fast rules about which style to use, and as Glickman (1981) asserts, “unless all teachers in a staff are remarkably homogeneous, no single approach will be effective for all” (p. 40).
