the contingency theory of leadership.pptx

Leadership

1. Contingency Theory By Mohamed Ahmed M ohamed M ohamed

2. DESCRIPTION Although several approaches to leadership could be called contingency theories, the most widely recognized is Fiedler’s, Contingency theory is a leader–match theory, which means it tries to match leaders to appropriate situations. it is called contingency because it suggests that a leader’s effectiveness depends on how well the leader’s style fits the context. To understand the performance of leaders, it is essential to understand the situations in which they lead. Effective leadership is contingent on matching a leader’s style to the right setting. Fiedler developed contingency theory by studying the styles of many different leaders who worked in different contexts , primarily military organizations. He assessed leaders’ styles, the situations in which they worked, and whether they were effective.

3. Conc. DESCRIPTION After analyzing the styles of hundreds of leaders who were both good and bad, Fiedler and his colleagues were able to make empirically grounded generalizations about which styles of leadership were best and which styles were worst for a given organizational context. In short, contingency theory is concerned with styles and situations. It Provides the framework for effectively matching the leader and the situation

4. Conc. DESCRIPTION Leadership Styles Within the framework of contingency theory, leadership styles are described as task motivated or relationship motivated. Task-motivated leaders are concerned primarily with reaching a goal, whereas relationship-motivated leaders are concerned with developing close interpersonal relationships. To measure leader styles, Fiedler developed the Least Preferred Coworker (LPC) scale. Leaders who score high on this scale are described as relationship motivated, and those who score low on the scale are identified as task motivated.

5. Conc. DESCRIPTION Situational Variables Contingency theory suggests that situations can be characterized in terms of three factors: leader–member relations, task structure, and position power Leader–member relations consist of the group atmosphere and the degree of confidence, loyalty, and attraction that followers feel for their leader. If group atmosphere is positive and subordinates trust , like, and get along with their leader, the leader–member relations are defined as good . On the other hand, if the atmosphere is unfriendly and friction exists within the group, the leader–member relations are defined as poor. The second situational variable, task structure, is the degree to which the requirements of a task are clear and spelled out. Tasks that are completely structured tend to give more control to the leader, whereas vague and unclear tasks lessen the leader’s control and influence

6. HOW DOES CONTINGENCY THEORY WORK? Strengths Criticisms Application

7. STRENGTHS Contingency theory has several major strengths. First, it is supported by a great deal of empirical research Second, contingency theory has broadened our understanding of leadership by forcing us to consider the impact of situations on leaders. Before contingency theory was developed, leadership theories focused on whether there was a single, best type of leadership Third, contingency theory is predictive and therefore provides useful information about the type of leadership that is most likely to be effective in certain contexts. Fourth, this theory does not require that people be effective in all situations . So often leaders in organizations feel the need to be all things to all people, which may be asking too much of them Fifth, contingency theory provides data on leaders’ styles that could be useful to organizations in developing leadership profiles

8. CRITICISMS Although many studies support the validity of contingency theory, it has also received much criticism in the research literature. First, contingency theory has been criticized because it fails to explain fully why people with certain leadership styles are more effective in some situations than in others Fiedler (1993) called this a “black box problem” because a level of mystery remains about why task-motivated leaders are good in extreme settings and relationship-motivated leaders are good in moderately favorable settings The answer provided by the theory for why leaders with low LPC scores are effective in extremes is that these people feel more certain in contexts where they have a lot of control and are comfortable strongly exerting themselves . On the other hand, high LPCs are not effective in extreme situations because when they have a lot of control, they tend to overreact The LPC scale measures a person’s leadership style by asking the person to characterize another person’s behavior. Because projection is involved in the measure

9. APPLICATION Contingency theory has many applications in the organizational world It can be used to answer a host of questions about the leadership of individuals in various types of organizations. For example, it can be used to explain why a person is ineffective in a particular position even though the person is a conscientious, loyal, and hardworking manager. In addition, the theory can be used to predict whether a person who has worked well in one position in an organization will be equally effective if moved into a quite different position in the same company.

10. LEADERSHIP INSTRUMENT The LPC scale is used in contingency theory to measure a person’s leadership style. For example, it measures your style by having you describe a coworker with whom you had difficulty completing a job. This need not be a coworker you disliked a great deal but rather someone with whom you . After you have selected this person, the LPC instrument asks you to describe your coworker on 18 sets of adjectives . Low LPCs are task motivated. Their primary needs are to accomplish tasks, and their secondary needs are focused on getting along with people. Middle LPCs are socioindependent . In the context of work, they are self-directed and not overly concerned with the task or with how others view them High LPCs are motivated by relationships. These people derive their major satisfaction in an organization from interpersonal relationships

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