Leadership Contingency Theory: Kristy Vigilante

Leadership Contingency Theories – expands on leadership style by trying to match the appropriate leadership style with the particular situation’s characteristics.

v  Leader’s effectiveness is contingent upon how well the leader’s style fits the particular situation’s characteristics.

 

·         Most widely known contingency theory is Fred Fiedler’s theory.

Ø  Fiedler is a professor of management and research sociologist at the University of Illinois & the University of Washington.

Ø  Developed the Least Preferred Coworker (LPC) scale, which measures one’s leadership orientation.

§  Ranks items on an ordinal scale of 1-8 for 18 adjectives (ex: unfriendly to friendly; uncooperative to cooperative)

§  High LPC score = relationship-motivated person

§  Low score = task-motivated person

Ø  He suggested there is no ideal leader type; believes leaders can be effective if their leadership orientation fits the particular situational characteristics.

§  According to the model, three factors characterize situations: leader-member relations, task structure, and position power.

      Leader-member relations: refers to the level of mutual trust, respect, and confidence that the group has for its leader.

      Task structure: refers to the extent to which the task requirements are clear and communicated effectively.

      Position power: refers to the amount of legitimate power or authority inherent in the leader’s position to provide rewards or punishments to the group or individuals within the group.

§  The three factors determine the favorableness of organizational situations:

      Favorable= good leader-member relations, clear task structure, strong position power.

      Unfavorable= poor leader-member relations, low task structure, weak position power.

      Moderately Favorable= situations are rated in middle areas

 

 

 

X axis: situation’s favorableness from high to low.

Y axis: leader’s effectiveness.

Dotted line: the task-oriented leader doing well in highly favorable and unfavorable situations.

Solid line: relationship-oriented leader doing well in moderately favorable situations.

 

v  Contingency theory research suggests that certain styles are more effective in different situations:

      Task-motivated leaders (low LPC scores) are effective when situations are very favorable and very unfavorable; effective in categories I, II, III, & VIII.

      Relationship-motivated leaders (high LPC scores) are effective in moderately favorable conditions; effective in categories IV, V, VI, and VII.

 

Contingency Theory in Practice

§  Not used widely in education settings

§  Interest in contingency theory has diminished over the years:

1)    Situational leadership models have surfaced with more explanatory power, allowing leaders to adapt their leadership style to fit the situation.

2)    The LPC scale has validity problems with what is actually measured and how it is measured.

3)    Contingency theory requires that the leader is changed or the situation is engineered to fit the leader when a mismatch occurs between the leader and the situation.