1. Contingency Theory
Chapter 6

2. Contingency Theory Approach Description
Perspective
Fielder’s contingency theory is a leader-match theory
It tries to match leaders to appropriate situations
Leader’s effectiveness depends on how well the leader’s style fits the context
Fiedler’s recommendations about best styles of leadership are based on empirically grounded generalizations
Northouse - Leadership Theory and Practice, Sixth Edition © 2012 SAGE Publications, Inc.

3. Contingency Theory Approach Overview
Effective leadership is contingent on matching a leader to the setting based on his or her style.
Assessment Based On:
Leadership Style (a personality trait)
Situational Variables (fairly constant)
Leader-Member Relations
Task Structure
Position Power
Northouse - Leadership Theory and Practice, Sixth Edition © 2012 SAGE Publications, Inc.

4. Leadership Style (1 dimensional in this model)
Leader Style Measurement Scale (Fiedler)
Least Preferred Co-Worker (LPC) Scale
High LPCs = Relationship-motivated
Low LPCs = Task-motivated
Leadership style (two ends of the spectrum):
Task-motivated (Low LPCs)
Their primary goal is task success.
Relationship-motivated (High LPCs)
Their primary goal is relationship success.
Northouse - Leadership Theory and Practice, Sixth Edition © 2012 SAGE Publications, Inc.

5. Favorableness of the Situation
3 Factors determine the favorableness of various situations in organizations
Situations are rated:
Most Favorable
good leader-follower relations
defined tasks (high structure)
strong leader position power
=> Employees love you, know exactly what do and want to obey you
Northouse - Leadership Theory and Practice, Sixth Edition © 2012 SAGE Publications, Inc.

6. Combining the Situational Variables
Situations that are classified as:
Least Favorable (Employees hate you, don’t know what to do, and don’t have to obey you)
poor leader-follower relations,
unstructured tasks (low structure), &
weak leader position power
Moderately Favorable –
fall in between these extremes
Northouse - Leadership Theory and Practice, Sixth Edition © 2012 SAGE Publications, Inc.

7. Northouse - Leadership Theory and Practice, Sixth Edition © 2012 SAGE Publications, Inc.

8. Research Findings of Leader Style Effectiveness
LPC Score of most appropriate leader
Favorableness
of Situation
Very Favorable
Very Unfavorable
Situations going smoothly
Situations out of control
Low
Moderately
Favorable
Situations with some degree
of certainty; not completely
in or out of leader’s control
High
Northouse - Leadership Theory and Practice, Sixth Edition © 2012 SAGE Publications, Inc.

9. Helps leaders realize that they be in the wrong position.
Strengths
Empirical support. Contingency theory has been tested by many researchers. It generally works.
Places the emphasis on the demands of different situations.
Helps leaders realize that they be in the wrong position.
They can’t be effective in every situation.
Companies should strive to place leaders in optimal situations according to their leadership style.
Northouse - Leadership Theory and Practice, Sixth Edition © 2012 SAGE Publications, Inc.

10. Criticisms
LPC is an indirect measure of personality. It varies from situation to situation and it is not clear what it is measuring.
More useful in the hiring process than once the leader is in a position.
Not useful if the favorableness of the context changes more often than the leadership.
Northouse - Leadership Theory and Practice, Sixth Edition © 2012 SAGE Publications, Inc.