Contingency Approach Leadership

Contingency Theory of Leadership.

*The material for this class came from Leadership, Theory and Practice by Peter G. Northouse. Chapter 6, Contingency Theory. Sage Publications, ISBN 0-7619-2566-X

This style of leadership deals with finding the best match between a leader and a situation. How does the leader's style fit the context of the situation? Effective leadership is contingent on matching a leader's style to the right setting. Contingency
theory is concerned with styles and situations and effectively matching the leader and the situation.

In contingency theory of leadership, the success of the leader is a function of various contingencies in the form of subordinate, task, and/or group variables. The effectiveness of a given pattern of leader behavior is contingent upon the demands
imposed by the situation. These theories stress using different styles of leadership appropriate to the needs created by different organizational situations. No single contingency theory has been postulated.

Within the contingency theory, leadership styles can be either task-motivated or relationship motivated. Task leaders are primarily concerned with attaining a goal, whereas relationship leaders are concerned with developing close interpersonal
relations.

Contingency theory suggests that situations can be characterized by assessing three factors:

1. Leader-member relations refer to the group atmosphere and to the degree of confidence, loyalty, and attraction that the followers feel for their leader.

2. Task structure refers to the degree to which the requirements of a task are clear and spelled out. This includes:

-task requirements are clear and known by all.

- the path to success has few alternatives.

-the completion of the task can be clearly demonstrated.

- Only a limited number of correct solutions exist.

A highly structured task is like cleaning a camera.

A highly unstructured task is like organizing a community vegetable garden.

3. Position power refers to the amount of authority a leader has to reward or to punish followers. Does the leader have the power to hire and fire people? Can the leader give something to the followers as a reward?

Favorable situations are when there is a positive relationship between the followers and leader, the task is clearly defined, and there is a clear leader position power.

Unfavorable situations are when there is a disconnect between the followers and leader, task is unclear, and the leader's position power is unclear.
 Leader-Member Good Poor
Relations
Task Structure High Structure Low Structure High Structure Low Structure
Position Power Strong Weak Strong Weak Strong Power Weak Power Strong Power Weak Power
Power Power Power Power

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Prefered Low LPCs High LPCs Low LPCs

Leadership Middle LPCs

Style

The LPC refers to Least Preferred Co-worker measurement. The LPC assessment is done by the leader to measure their leadership style preference. Leaders with a high LPC tend to focus more on relationship behaviors and leaders with a low LPC
tend to focus more on task behaviors. A full explanation is below.

Contingency leadership will be effective in certain situations. People who are very task oriented will do well when conditions are either very favorable or very unfavorable. In favorable situations the leader can focus on the task and not pay attention
to the maintenance. When things are very unfavorable, a task related person can provide order and structure to help the group get going again.

When conditions are in the middle, you want a leader that will focus on relationships more than task. There is some degree of certainty but things are neither completely under their control or out of their control.

When a leader is in a mismatched situation, they will be less effective. Reasons for this include an increase in stress, the leader reverting to less mature behavior, and this leads to poor results.

A part of this theory is that leaders will not be effective in all situations.

This theory focuses on the importance of the relationship between the demands of various situations and the leader's style.

This is a predictive approach that provides a framework for examining a situation and then applying the right type of leadership. This will help organizations place leaders in situations that are ideal for their leadership style.
Fiedler's Least Preferred Co-worker (LPC) Theory

Assumptions:

1. Leaders prioritize between task-focus and people-focus.

2. Relationships, power and task structure are the three key factors that drive effective styles.

Fiedler identified the a Least Preferred Co-Worker scoring for leaders by asking them first to think of a person with which they worked that they would like least to work with again, and then to score the person on a range of scales between positive
factors (friendly, helpful, cheerful, etc.) and negative factors (unfriendly, unhelpful, gloomy, etc.). A high LPC leader generally scores the other person as positive and a low LPC leader scores them as negative.

High LPC leaders tend to have close and positive relationships and act in a supportive way, even prioritizing the relationship before the task. Low LPC leaders put the task first and will turn to relationships only when they are satisfied with how the
work is going.

Three factors are then identified about the leader, member and the task, as follows:

* Leader-Member Relations: The extent to which the leader has the support and loyalties of followers and relations with them are friendly and cooperative.

* Task structure: The extent to which tasks are standardized, documented and controlled.

* Leader's Position-power: The extent to which the leader has authority to assess follower performance and give reward or punishment.

The best LPC approach depends on a combination of there three. Generally, a high LPC approach is best when leader-member relations are poor, except when the task is unstructured and the leader is weak, in which a low LPC style is better.

# Leader-Member Rel. Task structure Position- power Most Effective

1 Good Structured Strong Low LPC

2 Good Structured Weak Low LPC

3 Good Unstructured Strong Low LPC

4 Good Unstructured Weak High LPC

6 Poor Structured Weak High LPC

7 Poor Unstructured Strong High LPC

8 Poor Unstructured Weak Low LPC

This approach seeks to identify the underlying beliefs about people, in particular whether the leader sees others as positive (high LPC) or negative (low LPC). The neat trick of the model is to take someone where it would be very easy to be negative
about them.

Contingency theory of decision making

According to this model, the effectiveness of a decision procedure depends upon a number of aspects of the situation: the importance of the decision quality and acceptance; the amount of relevant information possessed by the leader and
subordinates; the likelihood that subordinates will accept an autocratic decision or cooperate in trying to make a good decision if allowed to participate; the amount of disagreement among subordinates with respect to their preferred alternatives.