Fedler contigency theory

1. “Fiedler’s Contingency Model to
Leadership.”

2. Introduction
• Contingency approach to leadership was first
developed comprehensively by Fiedler.
• In this contingency approach model proposes
that effective group performance depends on
the proper match between the leader’s style
and the degree to which the situation gives
control to the leader.

3. Primary Element
Fiedler’s Model consists of Three 3 primary
elements.
1. Leadership Style.
2. Situation.
3. Relationship between style and
situation.

4. 1. Leadership style:
Fiedler believes that a key factor in leadership
success is the individual’s basic leadership
style and thus he identifies the two dimension
of leadership style.
• Task Oriented.
• Human Relationship Oriented.

5. Least Preferred Co worker (LPC)
To find out that basic style Fiedler created the Least
Preferred Co-worker (LPC) questionnaire for the
purpose to measure whether a person is task oriented
or relationship oriented.
It asks the respondents to think of all the co-workers
they have ever work and to describe the person they
least enjoyed working with by rating that person on a
scale of 1- 8.
Among 16 set of contrasting questions.

6. • the least preferred co-worker is described in
relatively positive terms (a high LPC score) then
the respondent is primarily interested in good
personal relationship with the co-worker
i.e. if you describe the person you are least able
to work with in favourable terms then Fiedler
would level you relationship oriented. In contrast
if the least preferred co-worker is seen in
relatively unfavourable terms (a low LPC score)
the respondent is primarily interested in
productivity and would be levelled task oriented.

7. 2. Defining Situation:
After an individual’s basic leadership style has
been assessed through LPC.
Fiedler identifies Three (3) contingency factors
which are the key situational factors that
determine leader’s effectiveness.

8. Three (3) contingency factors
1. Task Structure: It is the degree which the job
assignments are procedures i.e. structured or
unstructured.
2. Position Power: It is the degree of influence a
leader has over power variable such as hiring,
discipline, promotion and salary increase.
3. Leader Member Relationship: It is the degree
of confidence, trust and respect shown by the
member to their leaders.

9. The next step in the Fiedler model is to
evaluate the situation in terms of these 3
contingency variables.
Fiedler states that the better the leader-
member
relationship the more highly structure the task
is and the stronger the position power the
more control the leader has.

10. LEADER
MEMBER
RELATION
GOOD POOR
TASK
STRUCTURE HIGH LOW HIGH LOW
POSITION
POWER
STRONG WEAK STRONG WEAK STRONG WEAK STRONG WEAK
CATEGORY 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
However an unfavorable condition might be the
leader has a very little control. Altogether by mixing
the 3 dimension there are potentially 8 different
situation in which leaders could find themselves.

11. 3. Relationship between style and
situation:
• With knowledge of an individual’s LPC score and
assessment of the 3 contingency dimension, the Fiedler’s
model matching them up, to achieve maximum leadership
effectiveness. He concluded that task oriented leader tend
to perform better in situation that are very favourable to
them instead of unfavourable condition so, Fiedler predict
that when task oriented leader faced with category
1,2,3,7,8 situation perform better. Relationship oriented
leader however perform better in moderately favourable
situation with category 4,5,6. Thus we can say task-oriented
leader perform best in situation of high and low control
while relationship oriented leaders perform best in
moderate control situation.

12. EXAMPLE
In a very favourable situation (in which the leader
has the great deal of control) might involve a
payroll manager who is well respected and whose
employees have confidence in their (good leader
member relationship) activities as wage
computation, check writing, report writing etc.
are specific and clear (high task structure) and
the job provides considerable freedom to reward
or punish the employees (strong position power).

13. TASK
RELATIONSHIP
FAVORABLE MODARATE UNFAVORABLE
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
CATAGORIES