Fiedler's Contingency Model
Fiedler's Contingency Model
The question that might come to the mind of a person: What is your natural leadership style? Do you focus on completing tasks, or on building relationships with your team? Have you considered that this natural leadership style might be more suited to some situations or environments than it is to others? We can get answers through the leadership model. For that purpose we will be dealing with fielder leadership model.
Understanding the Model: Here, "contingency" is a situation or event that's dependent on someone, or something else.
The Fiedler Contingency Model was created in the mid-1960s by Fred Fiedler, a scientist who helped advance the study of personality and characteristics of leaders.
The model states that there is no one best style of leadership. Instead, a leader's effectiveness is based on the situation. This is the result of two factors – "leadership style" and "situational favorableness" (later called "situational control").
Leadership Style:
Identifying leadership style is the first step in using the model. Fiedler believed that leadership style is fixed, and it can be measured using a scale he developed called Least-Preferred Co-Worker (LPC) Scale (as Figure 1).
The scale asks you to think about the person who you've least enjoyed working with. This can be a person who you've worked with in your job, or in education or training.
You then rate each factor based on this person and add up your scores. If your total score is high, you're likely to be a relationship-orientated leader. If your total score is low, you're more likely to be task-orientated leader.
Figure 1: Least-Preferred Co-Worker Scale Unfriendly | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | Friendly | Unpleasant | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | Pleasant | Rejecting | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | Accepting | Tense | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | Relaxed | Cold | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | Warm | Boring | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 |
The question that might come to the mind of a person: What is your natural leadership style? Do you focus on completing tasks, or on building relationships with your team? Have you considered that this natural leadership style might be more suited to some situations or environments than it is to others? We can get answers through the leadership model. For that purpose we will be dealing with fielder leadership model.
Understanding the Model: Here, "contingency" is a situation or event that's dependent on someone, or something else.
The Fiedler Contingency Model was created in the mid-1960s by Fred Fiedler, a scientist who helped advance the study of personality and characteristics of leaders.
The model states that there is no one best style of leadership. Instead, a leader's effectiveness is based on the situation. This is the result of two factors – "leadership style" and "situational favorableness" (later called "situational control").
Leadership Style:
Identifying leadership style is the first step in using the model. Fiedler believed that leadership style is fixed, and it can be measured using a scale he developed called Least-Preferred Co-Worker (LPC) Scale (as Figure 1).
The scale asks you to think about the person who you've least enjoyed working with. This can be a person who you've worked with in your job, or in education or training.
You then rate each factor based on this person and add up your scores. If your total score is high, you're likely to be a relationship-orientated leader. If your total score is low, you're more likely to be task-orientated leader.
Figure 1: Least-Preferred Co-Worker Scale Unfriendly | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | Friendly | Unpleasant | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | Pleasant | Rejecting | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | Accepting | Tense | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | Relaxed | Cold | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | Warm | Boring | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 |