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Fiedler’s Contingency Theory

Share this page: Share Webmail / Other One of the earliest and most influential contingency theories was developed by Frederick Fiedler. He proposed that a leader's style is measured by their reactions to Lease Preferred Coworkers. This assessment of an individual's personality could then be used to determine the situations in which they will be successful (or unsuccessful) leaders. Start by thinking about your Least Preferred Coworker. That is someone in your work life/history who immediately comes to mind as your least farourite person to work with (not a superior or subordinate). Now go throught the following checklist with that person in mind. Are they pleasant or unpleasant? Friendly or unfriendly? Find the number on the scale that best represents your assessment of that person. LPC Assessment Pleasant 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Unpleasant Friendly 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Unfriendly Rejecting 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Accepting Distant 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Relaxed Cold 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Warm Supportive 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Hostile Boring 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Interesting Quarrelsome 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Harmonious Gloomy 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Cheerful Open 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Closed Backbiting 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Loyal Untrustworthy 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Trustworthy Considerate 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Inconsiderate Nasty 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Nice Agreeable 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Disagreeable Insincere 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Sincere Kind 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Unkind Scoring 57 or less = Low LPC = task motivated 57 - 63 = middle LPC 64 or greater = high LPC = relationship motivated According to Fiedler's theory, different people can be effective in different situations. The LPC score is akin to a personality trait and is not likely to change. Instead of trying to change the LPC of an individual, we should change the situations in which these people operate. The question then becomes one of determining the favorability of a situation for a specific individual. There are three conditions creating situational favorableness: - Leader-subordinate relations - Position power - Task structure If the leader has a good relationship with most people, has a high position of power, and the task is structured, then the situation is very favorable. When the leader has low-quality relations with employees, has low position power, and the task is relatively unstructured, the situation is very unfavorable. The following table shows the types of LPC leaders that will excel in these different situations: The above image is made available through: CreativeCommons.org Derivative by Athivia College (2010), Original materials: Erdogan, Berrin., Bauer, Talya., and Carpenter, Mason., Principles of Management. Retrieved Apr 15, 2010 from http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/node/28982. Erdogan, Berrin, Bauer, Talya, , and Mason Carpenter. Principles of Management. 1969 . Flat World Knowledge. 15 Apr, 2010.