Fiedler's Contingency Theory of Leadership
OVERVIEW
Contingency theory is a leader-match theory in that it assumes that the leader’s effectiveness is contingent upon how well the leader’s style matches the context in which s/he is leading. Leader styles are task-oriented or relationship-oriented and unlike Situational Leadership theory, Contingency theory does not assume flexibility in leader styles, rather, it emphasizes a strong match between the leader and the context so that the leader can be effective
key concepts
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The figure above shows a graphical representation of Fiedler's contingency theory. The three variables: leader-member relations, task structure and leader position power, are shown in the lower left. To determine the preferred leadership style the viewer must find the column of responses (good/bad, structured/unstructured, strong/weak) that fit their situation and then find where the blue line passes through that column. If it is below the midpoint of the y-axis task motivated leaders are said to perform better, if it is above the mid-point a relationship motivated leader is preferred.
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