Fiedler's Contingency Theory
FIEDLER'S CONTINGENCY THEORY
Introduction
The contingency Theory shows the relationship between the leader's orientation or style and group
performance under differing situational conditions. The theory is based on determining the orientation of a leader ( relationship or task ), the elements of the situation ( leader-member relations, task structure and leader position power), and the leader orientation that was found to be most effective as the situation changed from low to moderate to high control. Fred Edward Fiedler in his landmark 1964 article, “ A contingency of Leadership Effectiveness.” studied and emphasized the importance of both the leader's personality and the situation in which that leader operates. Fiedler found that task oriented leaders were more effective in low and moderate control situations and relationship oriented managers were more effective in moderate control situations.
Fiedler and his associates studied leaders in a variety of contexts but mostly in military context and their model is based on their research findings. They outlined two styles of leadership namely task-motivated and relationship-motivated. Task refers to task accomplishment, and relationship-motivation refers to interpersonal relationships. He measured leadership style leadership style with the Least Preferred Co-Worker scale (LPC scale ). According to Northouse ( 2007 ), the leaders scoring high on this scale are relationship motivated and those scoring low are task motivated.
Northhouse further indicated that, central to contingency theory is the concept of the situation, which is characterized by three factors. One, leader-member relations which deals with the general atmosphere of the group and the feelings such as trust, loyalty and confidence that the group has for its leader. Two, task structure, which is related to task clarity and the means to task accomplishment. Three, the position power, which relates to the amount of reward-punishment
Introduction
The contingency Theory shows the relationship between the leader's orientation or style and group
performance under differing situational conditions. The theory is based on determining the orientation of a leader ( relationship or task ), the elements of the situation ( leader-member relations, task structure and leader position power), and the leader orientation that was found to be most effective as the situation changed from low to moderate to high control. Fred Edward Fiedler in his landmark 1964 article, “ A contingency of Leadership Effectiveness.” studied and emphasized the importance of both the leader's personality and the situation in which that leader operates. Fiedler found that task oriented leaders were more effective in low and moderate control situations and relationship oriented managers were more effective in moderate control situations.
Fiedler and his associates studied leaders in a variety of contexts but mostly in military context and their model is based on their research findings. They outlined two styles of leadership namely task-motivated and relationship-motivated. Task refers to task accomplishment, and relationship-motivation refers to interpersonal relationships. He measured leadership style leadership style with the Least Preferred Co-Worker scale (LPC scale ). According to Northouse ( 2007 ), the leaders scoring high on this scale are relationship motivated and those scoring low are task motivated.
Northhouse further indicated that, central to contingency theory is the concept of the situation, which is characterized by three factors. One, leader-member relations which deals with the general atmosphere of the group and the feelings such as trust, loyalty and confidence that the group has for its leader. Two, task structure, which is related to task clarity and the means to task accomplishment. Three, the position power, which relates to the amount of reward-punishment