Leadership Theorist Fred Fiedler introduced the incorporation of situational variables into leadership study. Specifically, he identified situational variables and research how they interrelated with leadership styles. Show
Back to: BUSINESS MANAGEMENT Fiedler's contingency model has the following elements: Leadership StylesStyles are broken down into task-oriented and human-relations oriented styles. Task orientation focuses on task completion. Human relations orientation focuses on interpersonal relationships with subordinates. To determine the leadership style, Fiedler developed the Least Preferred Co-Worker Scale. The scale attributes a rating of 1 - 8 to leaders in the following categories: Pleasant/Unpleasant, Friendly/Unfriendly, Rejecting/Accepting, Tense/Relaxed, Distant/Close, Cold/Warm, Supportive/Hostile, Boring/Interesting, Quarrelsome/Harmonious, Gloomy/Cheerful, Open/Guarded, Backbiting/Loyal, Untrustworthy/Trustworthy, Considerate/Inconsiderate, Nasty/Nice, Agreeable/Disagreeable, Insincere/Sincere, Kind/Unkind. A high total score means relationship-oriented. A low score means task-oriented. Situational VariablesFiedler identified three factors affecting the effectiveness of a leadership style:
Relationship between Styles and SituationsThe effectiveness of a leaders style depends upon the situational variables. This provides the opportunity for the manager to improve her leadership ability by identifying and executing the appropriate style.
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Contingency Theory states that different group situations call for different leadership styles. Since leaders have a relatively fixed leadership style, an organization must therefore design job situations to match a leader’s traits in order to achieve group effectiveness. Fiedler’s Contingency Theory is one of the first formalized management theories to demonstrate the importance of selecting leaders based on group goals and dynamics. While some theories from the early twentieth century like Max Weber’s principles of bureaucracy emphasize standardization and process, Contingency Theory looks closer at how leadership style impacts group relationships and outcomes. More importantly, the theory outlines exactly how to identify and match leaders and groups. While not commonly referenced in modern workplaces, it’s a key theory underpinning popular leadership training and management systems like DISC popular in Western corporations today.
In this post, I’m going to cover:
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In order to assess a leader’s leadership style, you must first understand how a LPC scale works. Then, after analyzing LPC scale results, you can determine a leader’s leadership style. I’ll go over both of these processes below. How a Least Preferred Coworker (LPC) Scale Works: Assessing Leadership StylesFiedler’s Contingency Model starts with the aforementioned LPC scale. The way the LPC scale works is a leader is asked to think of their least preferred coworker and rate them on numerous bipolar adjectives. For an example of one adjective, you could select a value between one for “unkind” and eight for “kind” on an eight-point scale of “kindness.” After the full scale has been completed, the values are totaled to give an LPC score, which is then compared to different ranges to tell the individual their leadership style. The three different leadership styles are:
See below for an example of an LPC scale from the CYFAR Professional Development and Technical Assistance (PDTA) Center. Visit their website to see instructions on how to interpret the LPC score.3 Understanding Leadership Styles from LPC Scale ResultsIndividuals who have a high LPC score, relationship-oriented leaders, are able to separate the coworker’s personality from poor work performance; that is, they believe someone can perform poorly at work and still have good personality traits. They:
If a relationship-oriented leader’s needs are threatened, these leaders “will increase [their] interpersonal interaction in order to cement [their] relations with other group members.” Therefore, a relationship-oriented leader will increase focus on the task “in order to have successful interpersonal rations.” Individuals who have a low LPC score, task-oriented leaders, link a coworker’s personality characteristics to their poor work performance; that is, they believe someone who performs poorly has negative underlying personality traits. They:
If a task-oriented leader’s needs are threatened, these leaders will interact in a way that will ensure task success. Thus, a task-oriented leader will increase focus on interpersonal relations “in order to achieve task success.” Assessing the SituationIn order to assess the situation, Fiedler states that there are three variables that should be considered. The three variables can be described as follows:
Based on these variables, five types of group situations come into existence. They include:
Matching the Group Situation with the Leadership StyleFiedler found that “the appropriateness of the leadership style for maximizing group performance is contingent upon the favorableness of the group-task situation.” More specifically, he found that the aforementioned group situations are best matched to the following leadership styles.
Regarding groups within organizations in which leadership is distributed over at least two levels of management, results were somewhat different. In these cases, when groups had high position power and structured tasks or low position power and unstructured tasks:
Altogether, the results of Fiedler’s studies can be best summarized by the following:
How the Contingency Model Can Be Applied TodayFor the most part, Contingency Theory is relatively intuitive and Fiedler’s book does a great job of providing applications of his theory. As a first example of applying Fiedler’s model, consider a basketball team, which has a structured task, a low level of power, and (in theory) good leader-member relations. Here, you would want a task-oriented coach to set the game plan rather than a relationship-oriented coach giving everyone an equal say. As a second example, consider a commercial flight, which has a structured task, a powerful leader, and (in theory) good leader-member relations. Here, you want a task-oriented pilot to take charge; you don’t want a relationship-oriented leader discussing with the group how best to land the plane. As a third example, consider a creative group with unstructured tasks, weak leader position power, and (in theory) good leader-member relations, like an ad agency. Here, you would want a relationship-oriented leader to get these creative minds to work together rather than a task-oriented leader trying to impose opinions and decisions on the group. And as a fourth example, consider a squad of soldiers, which has an unstructured task, a powerful leader, and (in theory) good leader-member relations. Here, you would want a task-oriented leader to make decisions and get the group to their objective rather than a relationship-oriented leader who would waste precious time discussing options with the group. As stated in Fiedler’s book about the old army adage, “it is better in an emergency that the leader make a wrong decision than no decision at all.” So, clearly, Fiedler’s Contingency Model is intuitively accurate and has countless applications across organizations.6
To recap, we covered:
As you’ve discovered, workplace group situations involve three parties:
These three parties are said to interact across three dimensions, including:
And considering these parties and variables, relationship-oriented leaders are best suited when leader-member relations are moderate, while task-oriented leaders are best suited when leader-member relations are either poor or strong. While more developments took place after Fiedler’s Contingency Model was published, principles of the model still apply today. As such, it is definitely a worthwhile theory to add to your management theory repertoire. |