Question

2. Select and analyze one of the following theories: Fiedler's Model, Hersey, and Blanchard's Situational Leadership, Path-Goal Theory, or Vroom-Jago Model.

In preparing your response, consider:

Which leadership theory did you select and why?

What are the key components of this leadership theory?

What is the impact of this theory on the practice of leadership, followers, and organizational results?

Answer 1

Fiedler's Contingency Model of Leadership Fiedler's Contingency Model of Leadership is just like Hersey and Blanchard's Situational Leadership Model part of Contingency or Situational Approaches to Leadership. The model states that there is no one best style of leadership. Instead, a leader's effectiveness is dependent on the situation. However, whereas Hersey and Blanchard focused on the characteristics of followers, Fiedler looked at more situational elements to determine the appropriate leadership style. Moreover, Fiedler believed that people's natural leadership styles are fixed and cannot be changed easily. The most effective way to handle the situation is to change the leader itself based on certain situational factors or to change the situation to suit the leader. Leadership Style The first step in using the model is to determine your natural leadership style. To do this, Fiedler developed a scale called the Least Preferred Coworker (LPC). To score yourself on this scale you have to describe the coworker with whom you least prefer to work. What do you think about those people you least prefer working with? Well, according to the model, the more favourably you rated the person you least prefer to work with the more relationship-oriented you are. The less favourably you rated the person you least like working with the more task-oriented you are. So, in a nutshell: . High LPC = Relationship-oriented leader. . Low LPC = Task-oriented leader. Task-oriented leaders tend to be good at organizing teams and projects and gettings things done. Relationship-oriented leaders tend to be good at building good relationships and managing conflict to get things done. Situational variables Fiedler came up with three situational variables. Combined these three variables produce either a favourable, moderate or unfavourable situation for leaders to be in. These variables are: . Leader-Member Relations: This is the level of trust and confidence that a team has in a leader. A leader who is more trusted and has more influence within the group is in a more favourable situation than a leader who is not trusted. Fiedler identifies leader-member relations as either good or poor.

. Task Structure: This refers to the type of task followers are supposed to be doing. Tasks can, for example, be clear and structured or vague and unstructured. There is an unfavourable situation if tasks are unstructured or if the team and the leader have little knowledge of how to achieve a certain task. Fiedler identifies task structure as either high or low. . Leader's Position Power: This is the amount of power a leader has to direct the group and provide reward or punishment. The more power a leader has, the more favourable the situation. There are several sources of power such as coercive, expert or referent power according to French and Raven's bases of power. Fiedler identifies a leader's position power as either strong or weak. FIEDLER'S CONTINGENCY MODEL HIGH LEADERSHIP STYLE: TASK-ORIENTED PERFORMANCE RELATIONSHIP- ORIENTED LOW SITUATION FAVOURABLE MODERATE UNFAVOURABLE LEADER-MEMBER RELATIONS GOOD GOOD GOOD GOOD POOR POOR POOR POOR TASK STRUCTURE HIGH HIGH LOW LOW HIGH HIGH LOW LOW LEADER'S POSITION POWER STRONG WEAK STRONG WEAK STRONG WEAK STRONG WEAK - III IV V VI VII VIII Figure 1: Fiedler’s Contingency Model of Leadership This table is showing us what Fiedler found to be the best leadership style given different combinations of the situational factors. Note that the red line in this diagram represents task- oriented leaders, and the yellow line represents relationship-oriented leaders. In general, you can see that when situations are highly favourable or highly unfavourable the task-oriented leader is most effective. It is only in the middle area, where situational factors are mixed, that the relationship-oriented leader is most effective.

From Fiedler's perspective, you would place leaders into situations that are most suited to their style. However, a more modern approach is to adapt your style according to the situation. Matching the Leader Style to the Situation By combining the aforementioned situational variables, you can create a variety of leadership situations ranging from highly favourable to highly unfavourable (Figure 1). A favourable situation would typically be one where the leader-member relations are good, the tasks are clear and well-structured, and the leader has a strong power position. While examining the relationship between different situations and leadership styles, Fiedler found a certain pattern. The two leadership styles that Fiedler looked at are similar to those used by Blake and Mouton and are: . Task-oriented leadership style: These leaders direct followers towards goals, give instructions, spend time planning, emphasize deadlines and provide explicit schedules of work activities. They simply want to get the job done. . Relationship-oriented leadership style: These leaders are mindful of followers, respect their ideas and feelings, establish mutual trust, are friendly, provide open communication, develop teamwork, and are oriented toward their followers' welfare. Task-oriented: Highly favourable or highly unfavourable situation Fiedler found that the task-oriented leader performs best in a favourable situation. This is because everyone in the team gets along, the task is clear and structured, and the leader has sufficient power over followers. In such a situation, the team simply needs a leader that can provide direction. Similarly, if the situation is highly unfavourable, the same leadership style is considered more effective than a relationship-oriented leader. This is because an unfavourable situation requires a leader that can offer a great deal of structure and direction due to the low presence of task structure. Also, since leader-members relations are poor anyway, a friendly relationship-oriented leader will make no difference in the leader's popularity. Relationship-oriented: Moderately favourable situation The relationship-oriented leader, however, is found to perform better in situations of moderate favourability. In these situations, the leader may be moderately liked by the group, has some position power, and has to supervise somewhat structured tasks. Here, people skills are important to achieve group performance. According to Fiedler, a leader with good interpersonal skills can create a positive group atmosphere that will improve leader-member relations, clarify tasks and create more structure, and establish a stronger position power.

Fiedler's Contingency Model in Sum Fiedler argues that leaders should take several environmental or situational factors into account before deciding on the appropriate leadership style: task-oriented or relationship-oriented. Leaders would be very unlikely to be successful if they cannot ‘match' their leadership style to the demands of the situation. As a result, the most effective way to handle the situation is to change the leader itself based on the situational factors (leader-member relations, task structure, and the leader's position power) or to change the situation to suit the leader. Fiedler's Contingency Model can help in assessing the appropriate leadership style. Example 1: Pizza Hut Restaurant Manager In this example, we're going to imagine that you have been newly appointed the manager of a Pizza Hut restaurant. In this scenario we might expect the following situational factors: Trust will be low. This is because you are new to the job so your team won't trust you. Secondly, staff turnover is high so it's going to be difficult to build strong relationships. . Task structure is high. This is because there are extremely clear operating procedures to follow covering everything from how to make each pizza, to how to welcome customers to the restaurant. . Position power is high. You can hire and fire and reward and punish as is required. According to Fiedler's Contingency Theory of Leadership, and using our table above, a relationship-oriented leader is best suited to this type of role.