Topic 12.Contingency Theories & Situational Leadership

8/13/2019 Topic 12.Contingency Theories & Situational Leadership

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Topic 12Contingency Theories

& SituationalLeadership


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The Contingency Approach

The essence of the contingency approach toleadership is that leaders are most effectivewhen they make their behavior contingent uponsituational forces, including group membercharacteristics.

Leadership effectiveness is maximized whenleaders correctly make their behaviorscontingent on certain situational and followercharacteristics.


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The Contingency Approach (cont.)

The effects of leadership vary from situation tosituation. Aspects of the situation that enhanceor nullify the effects of a leaders traits orbehavior are called situational moderatorvariables.


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The Contingency Approach (cont.)

Normative Decision Model (Vroom, Yetton / Vroom,Yetton, and Jago)

The Situational Leadership Theory (Hershey and Blanchard)

Fiedlers Contingency Theory

The Path-Goal Theory (House, et.al.)


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Contigency Approach (cont) The four theories share several similarities:

They are theoriesrather than someones personal opinions. They implicitly assume that leaders are able to accurately diagnose or

assesskey aspectsof the followers and the leadership situation. With the exception of the contingency model, leaders are assumed to

be able to act in a flexiblemanner. A correct matchbetween situational and follower characteristics

and leaders behavior is assumed to have a positive effecton groupor organizational outcomes.


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Normative Decision Model

The Normative Decision Model views leadershipas a decision-making process. It specifies what a

leader ought to do in a given situation. It issolely directed at determining the amount ofsubordinate input in the decision-makingprocess. Normative refers to the idea that the

leader should follow certain prescriptionsindicated in the model.

Two key factors in the model are decision qualityand decision acceptance.


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Normative Decision Model (cont.)

Decision quality refers to the objective aspects ofa decision that affect group or individual

performance. When an effective alternative ischosen, decision quality is said to be high.

Decision quality is not important when the

consequences of choosing various alternativesare about the same, or when the consequences ofthe decision are unimportant.


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Decision acceptance refers to how committedgroup members are to implementing a decisioneffectively. If group members are responsiblefor implementing a decision, acceptance iscrucial. At times decision acceptance is not an

issue because very few employees are involved inimplementation.


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The model identifies 5 levels of leader-subordinate (follower) participation:

AI- leader decides completely alone AII- leader obtains information from subordinates,

leader decides CI- Leader shares problem individually with

subordinates, obtains opinions, leader decides. CII- leader shares problem collectively with

subordinates, obtains opinions, leader decides. GII- leader shares problem with group, group decides.


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A decision tree is required to implement themodel. The leader diagnoses situationalvariables by considering key questions.


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The Decision Tree- provides a branching set ofquestions to be answered either yes or no

which lead to a set of decision processes that willprotect quality and acceptance. Time andsubordinate development may be factored in ifof importance AFTER ensuring quality and

acceptance by using the decision tree.


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The Decision Tree


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Evaluation of the Model:

Pro:

Supported by numerous empirical studies

Prompts leaders to ask themselves intelligent,perceptive, focused questions

Following step-by-step procedures increasesdecision-making effectiveness


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Evaluation of the Model (cont.): Con:

Decision processes are treated as a single, discrete

episode that occur at one point in time Being a good decision-maker is not enough to be a

good leader Excludes trial-balloon approaches to decision-

making (leader floating tentative decisions) More about management than about leadership, and

therefore has little to do with inspiring and influencingothers and bringing about important changes


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Situational Leadership Theory

The Situational Leadership Theory explains howto match leadership style with follower

readiness.

The key contingency factors are group membercharacteristics.


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Situational Leadership Theory (cont.)

The theory has its roots in the Ohio State Studieson Leader Behavior.

That study identified 2 distinct leader behaviorcategories:

Initiating structure (task behavior)

Consideration (relationship behavior)


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Basics of the Model

Task behavioris the extent to which the leaderspells out the duties and responsibilities of an

individual or group.

Relationship behavioris the extent to whichthe leader engages in two-way or multi-way

communication.


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The Situational Leadership Theory

developed by Hershey and Blanchard,answers the following questions:

Is there an optimum way for leaders to adjusttheir behavior with different followers andthereby increase their likelihood of success?

If so, then what factors should the leader basehis behavior on?


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The Answer: Answer is that leaders adapt their style or

behavior based on he maturity of their followers.

The most effective style depends on thereadiness level of group members.

Readinessis the extent to which a follower isable and willing to accomplish a specific task.


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Components of Follower Maturity Job maturity- the amount of task-relevant

knowledge, experience, skill, and ability that the

follower possesses. (i.e. ability, KSAs)

Psychological maturity- the followers selfconfidence, commitment, motivation, and self-

respect relative to the taskat hand (i.e.willingness)


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Four Levels of Readiness

Style 1- High task and low relationship. The telling style isdirective.

Style 2- High task and high relationship. The selling styleis also directive, but in a more persuasive, guiding, manner.

Style3- High relationship and low task. In theparticipating leadership style there is less direction and

more collaboration between leader and group members.

Style 4- Low relationship and low task. In the delegatingstyle, the leader delegates and is kept informed of progress.

TM 13-6 SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP THEORY


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TM 13 6 SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP THEORY

3 2

4 1

High Rel.Low task

Low Rel.

Low task

High TaskHigh Rel.

High Task

Low Rel.

(LOW) (HIGH)TASK BEHAVIOR

(Supportiv

eBehavior)

RELATIONSH

IPBEHAVIOR

(HIGH)

R4 R3 R2 R1

FOLLOWER READINESSMODERATEHIGH LO

W


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Hersey and Blanchards Situational

Leadership Model


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The Situational Leadership Model Caveat

Any given follower could be lowon

readiness to perform one taskbuthighon readiness to perform adifferent task.


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Evaluation of the Theory: Best used with new hires Can be valuable in training and development

Based on fundamental truth about leadership:Competent people require the least specificdirection

Gives false impression that all situations are

clear-cut Popular because of its commonsense approach

but not a lot of empirical research to support itsvalidity


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Evaluation (cont)

Situational Leadership is a useful way to

get leaders to think about howleadership effectiveness may dependsomewhat on being flexiblewith

different subordinates, not on acting thesame way toward them all.


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The Contingency Model

Fiedlers contingency theory of leadership statesthat best leadership style is determined by the

situation in which the leader works. It recognizes natural behavioral tendencies of

leaders and suggests certain situations where

these behaviors may be more or less effective. Probably the earliest and certainly the most well-known contingency theory.


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Some leaders may be generally more supportive andrelationship-oriented, whereas others may be moreconcerned with taskor goal accomplishment.

The contingency model suggests that leader

effectiveness is primarily determined by selecting theright kind of leaderfor a certain situation orchanging the situationto fit the particular leadersstyle.

To understand the contingency theory one must look

first at the critical characteristicsof theleaderand then at the critical aspectsof the situation.


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Least Preferred Coworker Scale

To measure leadership style the theory uses aninstrument called the Least-Preferred-Coworker

Scale (LPC) LPC Handout


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LPC Scale

The scale instructs a leader to think of thesingle individual with whom he has had thegreatest difficulty working and then todescribe that individual in terms of a series of

bipolar activities. Based on their LPC scores, leaders arecategorized into two groups: Low-LPC leaders (primarily motivated by task) High-LPC leaders (primarily motivated by

relationships)


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Scale Interpretation

One who describes the least preferred coworkerin favorable terms is relationship-motivated. In

contrast, a person who describes his or her leastpreferred coworker unfavorably tends to be task-motivated.


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Motivational Hierarchies For Low- andHigh-LPC Leaders

Task

People

Low-LPC leader motivationalhierarchy

People

Task

High-LPC leader motivationalhierarchy


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Situation Dimensions: The situation is assessed to determine the degree

of situational control, or favorability, for the leaderusing three dimensions:

1. Leader-member relations measures how well the groupand the leader get along. 2. Task structure measures how clearly the procedures,

goals, and evaluation of the job are defined.

3. Position power measures how much authority the

leader possesses. Leader-member relations contribute as much to

the favorability of the leadership situation as dotask structure and position power combined.


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Contingency Model Octant Structure For

Determining Situational Favorability

Good Poor

Structured Unstructured Structured Unstructured

High Low High Low High Low High Low

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Leader-member

relations

Task structure

Position power

Octant

Overall situation favorability

High Low


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Prescriptions of the Model The major proposition in contingency theory is

the leader-match concept-leadership

effectiveness depends on matching leaders tosituations where they can exercise more control.

Fiedlers research suggests that low LPC leaderswill perform better in either low favorability

situations or in very high favorability situations.High LPC leaders will perform best in moderatefavorability situations.


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Path-Goal Theory The path-goal theory of leadership effectiveness

specifies what the leader must do to achieve high

productivity and morale in a given situation.

Path-goal theory, in its most basic form, is basedupon expectancy theory. The effective leader

will ensure valued rewards are available to thefollowers (the goal) and will help them find waysof getting to these goals (the path).


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The Path-Goal Theory

The underlying mechanism of the path-goaltheory deals with expectancy, a cognitiveapproach to understanding motivation where

people calculate: Effort-to-performance probabilities Performance-to-outcome probabilities Assigned valences or values to outcome

Path-goal theory uses the same basicassumptions as expectancy theory (to bediscussed in topic 19Motivation)


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Leader Behaviors Leader behaviors- unlike contingency theory,

path-goal theory suggests that leaders may use

varying styles with different subordinates oreven with the same subordinates in differingsituations.


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The Four Leader Behaviors of the

Path-Goal Theory

Directive leadership

Supportive leadershipParticipative leadership

Achievement-orientedleadership


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Leaders / Path-Goal

Directive leaders give specific directions.

Supportive leaders strive to create a positive

climate.

Participative leaders consult with subordinatestaking their suggestions into account.

Achievement-oriented leaders push goal setting,higher standards, and show strong confidence intheir followers.


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Evaluation of Theory Path-Goal Theory is so complicated and has so

many nuances it is primarily studied by

researchers and scholars in the field ofleadership it has little value or at bestquestionable value for practicing leaders.

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Topic 12.Contingency Theories & Situational Leadership