Question

(200 words minimums) Explain an example of when you participated, as either a leader or follower, when contingency leadership was used. (200 words minimums)

Answer 1

The contingency leadership focus on the leadership effectiveness which may be dependent or leader’s style to be matched with the given situation. The contingency theory assumes that the individual’s styles cannot be changed and appears with three situations, such as leader member relation, clarity of the task structure and amount of the authority a leader carries. The least preferred coworker scale (LPC) is used to identify the leader’s style. High LPC score shows people oriented style whereas low LPC score shows task oriented style. Thus, this theory helps in prediction about the leadership style. It helps in matching a leader style to a given task. Also, to create leaders’ profile in the organization. For example, a project leaders is promoted to be the project manager of a quality assurance team for which the project leader is working since three years. In this situation, the trust remains the higher as the project leader has been working with the team members and know each other. Structure of the task remains higher as quality assurance is complex in nature and team member knows what work they have to complete every day or every week. But the position power of the project leader is lower as he is newly promoted as a project manager and to manage the team on the day to day basis. Thus, no formal authority. So the task oriented leader is well suited for the quality assurance team and the given role.