fiedler's theory

1. UNDERSTANDING THE MODEL
• The Fiedler Contingency Model
was created in the mid-1960s by Fred Fiedler,
a scientist who studied
the personality and characteristics of leaders.
• The model states that there is no one best style of leadership. Instead, a leader's
effectiveness is based on the situation.
• There are two important factors in Fiedler’s Contingency Theory: leadership style
and situational favorableness.

2. LEADERSHIP STYLE
Relationship-oriented leader:
who recognizes the importance of developing strong and positive emotional ties with
followers.
Task-oriented leader:
who doesn’t value relationships and instead focuses only on the task.

3. • Developed by Fred Fiedler
• The least-preferred coworker scale (LPC) helps to
identify if the leadership style of an individual is task-
oriented or relationship-oriented.
• It requires a person to rate an individual that they
would least wish to work, negative or positive
adjectives, with a rating anywhere from 1 to 8.
• Then, the LPC score is calculated by totalling all of the
ratings.
• If the score is high, it signifies that the individual’s
leadership is relationship-oriented. And, in case of a
low score, the result is task-oriented.
• Then, the responses get graded from 1 (which is the
least favourable attribute), such as unfriendly or
unpleasant, to 8 (which is the most favourable
attribute), like friendly or pleasant.
• 73 and above: You are a relationship-oriented leader.
• 54 and below: You are a task-oriented leader.
• Between 55 and 72: You are a mixture of both and it’s
up to you to determine which style suits you the best.
• The LPC scale also assumes that people who have
relationship-oriented leadership may describe their
least preferred coworkers in a positive way and the
ones with task-oriented leadership may negatively
describe them..

4. How to Apply the Least Preferred Coworker Scale?
• The model put forth by the scale signifies the perception that no single style of leadership could be
ideal or perfect as the requirements change based on context and circumstances. For example, a
team of veteran professionals who are exceptionally versed with their responsibilities may best serve
by relationship-oriented leadership.
• This team doesn’t need a heavy-handed methodology that a less experienced team may, which can
comprise stringent guidelines to make sure every task is completed efficiently. Similar to this, a
veteran team may require task-oriented leadership in case there is a short deadline to accomplish
goals or if the objectives comprise sensitive milestones that could be difficult to achieve.
• Suppose a team is made of both untrained staff and veteran professional. In that case, the situational
requirements of the objective and leadership styles might change based on the circumstance of the
person who requires guidance.
• Moreover, situational favourableness even plays a critical role in the adopted leadership style. The
relationship of leadership-member is the indicator of the influence and trust amount that exists
between a leader and his team. If the bond is not healthy, the leader tends to hold a weak position

5. SITUATIONAL FAVORABLENESS
Use 3 variables to help determine leadership style:
Leader- Member- Relations
The relationship between a leader and his or her followers.
Situation is favorable for leading when relations are good.
Task Structure
The extent to which the work to be performed by a group is clearly defined.
Situation is favorable for leading when structure is high.
Leader Position Power
The amount of formal authority a leader has. (legitimate,reward and coercive)
Situation is favorable for leading when power is high.

6. Example: PizzaHut Restaurant Manager
In this example, we’re going to imagine
that Ahmad has been newly appointed
the manager of a PizzaHut restaurant.
In this scenario we might expect the
following situational factors:
•Trust will be low. This is because
Ahmad are new to the job so the team
won’t trust Ahmad. 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. Ahmad has the
ability to hire and fire and reward and
punish as is required.
According to Fiedler’s Contingency
Theory of Leadership, a relationship-
oriented leader is best suited to this
type of role.

9. CONCLUSION
• Fiedler’s Contingency Theory of Leadership states that your effectiveness as a leader is
determined by how well your leadership style matches the situation.
• The theory is based on the premise that each of us has one and only one leadership style
which can be scored on the Least Preferred Co-worker (LPC) scale. Using this LPC scale
you are either a relationship-oriented leader or a task-oriented leader.