Define the leadership and situation factors included in Fiedler’s Contingency Model.
The paramount between all the leadership philosophers to deliberate regarding the situational variables, in accordance with Fred Fiedler, the competence of the leadership technique is contingent on the circumstances. Accordingly, he in consort with his colleagues characterized the situational variables and scrutinized their connection with the appropriateness of leadership approaches. (Business Jargons, n.d.)
In accordance to Fiedler, the leadership technique hinges on dualistic measurements, task-concentrated and human-relations concentrated. The task-concentrated leader is predominantly oriented to the task performance in addition to the achievement of
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Leader-member Relations: This element discussions the extent to which the followers have conviction, confidence, and faithfulness in their manager. (Business Jargons, n.d.)
4. Relation Between Styles and Situations: This is the concluding component of Fiedler’s contingency representation, wherein he discussions the connection linking the circumstances and the suitability of leadership design. In accordance to Fiedler’s representation, the leadership efficiency is contingent on the circumstances, while one approach benefiting one condition may not automatically be applied in another. Consequently, it is the circumstances that provide an opening for the leader to encourage their underlings through the appropriate style of leadership technique. (Business Jargons, n.d.)
Accordingly, Fiedler’s contingency template speculates that the circumstances determines the method of leadership and encourages the conduct of a manager. Fiedler 's contingency philosophy is one contingency concept which maintains that applicable management is contingent not merely on the approach of leading but on the influence over the circumstances. Therefore, there must to be effective leader-member interactions, assignment with well-defined objectives and processes, and the aptitude for the leader to administer incentives and reprimands. Deficiencies of these three in an amalgamation and circumstance will bring about leadership catastrophe. Fiedler constructed the least preferred co-worker (LPC) hierarchy, where a leader is queried what personalities can be attributed to the colleague that the leader enjoys the least. (Leadership-Central.com,
2) “Attitude reflects leadership, captain”. That shows that Julius is satisfied by the way his captain is thinking. Managerial leadership has influenced organizational activities in many ways. These influences include motivating subordinates, budgeting scarce resources, and serving as a source of communication. We are referring to the LPC contingency theory. "The first and perhaps most popular, situational theory to be advanced was the ‘Contingency Theory of Leadership Effectiveness' developed by Fred E. Fiedler" (Bedeian, Glueck 504). This theory explains that group performance is a result of interaction. (Online reviews)
Introduction According to the Oxford Dictionary, a leader is defined as “the person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country” (Oxford Dictionaries, 2013). Though there is a definition for what a leader is, people still have different ideas about what a leader should be and how he or she should act. There has never been a concrete idea of what a leader is; the only thing we know is that this person is the one in charge of the unit. We look at characteristics of those people we see as leaders and use those attributes to compare other people to see if they are able to be as good as, or even better than, those aforementioned leaders. We have to keep in mind that in different situations, leaders must do different tasks which indicates the need for different qualities.
Sims Jr., H. P., Faraj, S., & Yun, S. (2009). When should a leader be directive or empowering? How to develop your own situational theory of leadership. Business Horizons, 52, 149-158. DOI: 10.1016/j.bushor.2008.10.002
According to Fiedler (cited in Bolden, Gosling, Marturano & Dennison, 2003)., there is no single characteristic or trait that will create a successful leadership style. Rather, he argues that situations actually shape a general leadership style of a manager. Bolden, Gosling, Marturano and Dennison (2003) have observed that within an environment with repetitive tasks, the most effective leadership style might be a directive one, while a participative leadership style might be required in a dynamic environment. Being an effective leader means to control important specific situations. Taking into account these situations, Fiedler presented three situational components that are considered essential for an effective leadership: leader-member relations, task-structure and position power.
The situational leadership theory states that leaders use different styles and strategies depending on the situation. There are two models that support this theory. The Fiedler’s Contingency Model of Leadership Effectiveness states that an “effective leadership occurs only when there is an ideal match between the leader’s style and the group’s work situation” (pg
Hersey, P. & Blanchard, K. (n.d.) Situational Leadership. In Wren, J.T. (Ed.). (1995). The Leader’s Companion (pp. 207-211). New York: Simon & Schuster.
Leadership has been defined in different ways, a definitaion of leadership that would be most commonly accepted would be “the ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organization…”(House et al., 1999, p. 184 as cited in Yukl, 2013, p. 19). After a comprehensive review of different leadership literature, Stogdill (1974, p. 259, as cited in Yukl, 2013, p. 18) concluded that “There are almost as many definitions of leadership as there are persons who have attempted to define the concept." Leadership can be viewed from two different angles one is shared influence process and other as a specialized role. Researcher who view leadership as a specialized role consider attributes as a factor in selecting a designated leader. On the contrast, theorist who emphasises on influence process considers “Leadership” as a social process or a pattern of relationship.
The authors, Nelson and Quick describe that relationship oriented leader’s do well in situations of intermediate favorableness by determining the “degree of fit between the leader and the situation” (Nelson & Quick, 2013). Relations...
Yukl, G. (2002). Leadership in organizations. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. p. 1-19. Retrieved from http://www.blackdiamond.dk/HDO/Organisation_Gary_Yukl_Leadership_in_Organizations.pdf
These common set of characteristics hypothetically are considered to be characteristics that are proved to be elusive. Contingency and situational approaches are two popular situational approaches that are used by leaders. The two both examine the fit between the actual leader and also on the situation. The two provide effective guidelines for leaders to achieve the effective fit or the effective resolution in resolving the issues. Contingency and situational approaches have many similarities but are also yet opposite of one another. They are similar in that they both stress the importance of situations. They are opposite in that they both hold completely difference expectations from the leaders. According to Northough (2013), “ The situational approach have standards and beliefs that the leaders should adapt to whatever situation they may have at hand.” According to Northough (2013), “The contingency approach have belief that the right leaders should match the right situation that is going on at that time.” Leaders determine which leadership style is most appropriate based on the situation they are being faced with. Leaders make adjustments to their decision making and motivational approaches based upon many unique combinations of factors that may arise in the
Gils, S. v., Quaquebeke, N. v., & Knippenberg, D. v. (2009). The X-Factor: On the Relevance of Implicit Leadership and Followership Theories for Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Agreement European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology. Rotterdam, Netherlands: Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM).
“Leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes that reflect their mutual purposes” (Rost, 1931). But in today’s time, the styles of leadership are changed every time a new technology is invented or discovered so there is lack of persistency. The only thing which manages to stay constant is the principles of carrying out business activities. There are philosophies and ideologies on leadership which can be used in any time period as they are mostly a reflection of the principles of leadership. Theorists and authors like Hobbes (1679), Lewin (1947) and Aristotle (384–322 B.C.), in their time have produced enough material which can be put into use by modern day leaders and managers. Philosophers like Aristotle, who was known to be one of the most business-oriented and practical philosopher of his time, his work is still used by businesses today because of their relevance as he is interested in defining principles in terms of the ethics of leadership (Santa Clara University). In the essay I have tried to show how leadership has adapted to the changes around them and compared to the past and what circumstances caused need to change it. As a layman, anyone would think that the principles centuries ago will be very different to what we follow now but after studying on Hobbes, Lewin and Aristotle it has made a big impact on my way of thinking because the work produced by them still has more relevance compared to some of the work produced now. I have tried to explain the evolvement of leadership through three aspects which are psychology, sociology and philosophy.
Those who take this approach assess the current situation by identifying its major factors, then focus and act on those aspects of the situation (McNamara). In his book, “Leadership Management: Achieving Breakthroughs,” K. Barman writes that by adopting the Contingency theory, the manager believes that there is no correct or best way of leading; what works in one situation may not necessarily work in another. Due to this assumption, one can say that contingency theory is similar to situational theory; there is no single, simple, or exact way to handle all situations, and effective management depends on the situation (50). Contingency theory is different from situational theory, however. He writes,
Fiedler’s Theory is stated in the power point presentation as the association between leadership orientation and group effectiveness is contingent on how favorable the situation is for exerting influence. If there is some catastrophe which will befall a group or set of individuals if a task is not complete, then that group will be more effective as they are motivated to complete that task to avert that particular catastrophe.
Some situations may work in one of the business may actually fail to work in others situations. Each situation demands the best leadership styles to be employed in the firm. There are various business styles which need to be applied in different business situations. The situation in a business is normally having a greater effect on a leader actions which he or she takes as opposed to the personal traits possessed. This is due to the fact that, while personalities may have an inspiring firmness over a period of time, they have slight reliability across business situations. This makes some scholars to argue that process theory of leadership is better than the trait theory of leadership. In most cases, power in the business is misused and this leads to negative impacts to the business and those