Contingency Theory Approach AGED 3153

Leadership should be more participative than directive, more enabling than performing. ~Mary D. Poole

Overview  Contingency theory approach perspective  Leadership styles  Situational variables  Research findings  How does the contingency theory approach work?

Based on…  Fiedler & colleagues Studied styles of leaders who worked in different contexts.  Primarily military organizations  Styles of good and bad leaders Assessed:  Styles  Situations  Effectiveness

Contingency Theory Approach  Why “contingency?” based on how well the leader’s style fits the context  To understand performance you must understand the situations in which one leads.  Concerned with

Contingency Theory Approach  leader-match  leader-match theory Effective leadership contingent on matching a leader’s style to the right setting

Leadership Styles  Leadership styles are described as: Task motivated  goal achievement Relationship motivated  developing close interpersonal relationships  Least Preferred Co-Worker or LPC Used to measure leader style Measures your style by having you describe a coworker with whom you had difficulty completing a job.  Not necessarily someone you don’t like

Situational Variables  Determine favorableness of various situations in organizations.  Three situation factors  group atmosphere  degree of confidence & loyalty  attraction of followers for leader  degree to which task requirements are clear & defined  designates the amount of authority a leader has to reward or punish followers

Leader-Member Relations (LMR) Positive atmosphere Subordinates trust, like and get along with leader Unfriendly atmosphere Friction exists within group

Task Structure (TS) Structured Gives leader more control  Requirements clearly stated & known  Few alternatives  Clearly demonstrated task  Limited number of correct solutions Example: Unstructured Lessens the leaders control  No clear rules  Many alternatives  Correctness cannot be verified  No best way Example:

Position Power (PP)  Strong Hire or fire or give raises in rank and pay  Weak Limited ability to reward or punish Includes legitimate power

Contingency Model Good 1 Poor HighStructureHighStructureLowStructureLowStructure StrongPowerWeakPowerStrongPowerWeakPowerStrongPowerWeakPowerStrongPowerWeakPower Low LPCs Middle LPCs High LPCs Low LPCs Preferred Leadership Style Situational Variables

 Favorable Situations going smoothly  Moderately favorable Situations with some degree of certainty; not completely in or out of leader’s control  Unfavorable Situations out of control  Most favorable Good LMR Defined TS Strong PP  Least favorable Poor LMR Defined TS Weak PP  Moderately favorable Falls between 2 extremes

Eight categories  Task orientation  LMR - TS - PP good-structured-strong good–structured-weak good–unstructured–strong poor–unstructured-strong poor–unstructured-weak  Relationship orientation  LMR – TS – PP good–unstructured–weak poor–structured–strong poor–structured-weak

Interpretation of ineffective leaders Fiedler (1995) Leader working in the wrong situation experiences stress & anxiety Leader reverts to less mature ways of coping Results in poor decision making Negative work outcomes

How does the contingency theory work?

What are strengths of the contingency theory?

What are weaknesses of the contingency theory?

How do we use the contingency theory?