A Guide to Fiedler's Contingency Model of Leadership

Fiedler's contingency model of leadership was the first extensive leadership model of its kind and still holds relevance in business thought today. Originally proposed by Fred Fiedler in the 1960s, the model is centered on the assertion that one single leadership trait or method is not ideal for every situation. Instead, Fiedler's contingency model matches different leadership styles with the situations and environments in which they can best operate. Thus, the success of a leader is "contingent" on his or her surroundings.

The application of Fiedler's contingency model begins with an assessment of the leader's style. While Fred Fiedler certainly wasn't the first to develop a test for evaluating leadership styles, his was definitely one of the most unique. Fiedler utilized his Least Preferred Coworker (LPC) questionnaire to gain valuable insight into leadership styles. In this questionnaire, individuals are asked to evaluate their least favorite coworker from a previous job. If an individual rates this coworker favorably, Fiedler determined that they are primarily relationship oriented (as he or she has chosen to remember the positive traits of the least preferred coworker). On the other hand, individuals who remember the former coworker negatively were labeled by Fiedler as task oriented (as he or she placed more emphasis work failures than personal characteristics).

Determining whether a leader is more relationship or task oriented is the first step toward matching them with an organizational situation that best suit their style. Before this match can be made, however, the situation must be clearly defined. Fiedler's contingency model includes three primary determinants to help discern the state of the organizational situation. First, leader-member relations refers to the level of respect, shared trust, and mutual confidence between a leader and members of the organization. Second, task structure deals with the degree to which tasks and job positions within the organization are rigidly defined and structured. Finally, position power concerns the amount of organizational control that is inherent in the leader's position. This refers to hiring and firing decisions, pay raises, and disciplinary actions.

Once a leader's leadership style is determined by using the Least Preferred Coworker questionnaire and the organizational situation is assessed based on Fiedler's three situational factors, Fiedler's research is consulted to conclude whether or not the leader adequately fits his or her situation. While a fairly complex matrix is used to analyze this leader-situation fit, Fiedler's findings boil down to two simple rules. Task oriented leaders perform well in very favorable situations (where leader-member relations are good, task structure is high, and position power is strong) and very unfavorable situations (where leader-member relations are poor, task structure is low, and position power is weak). Relationship oriented leaders perform best in the middle ground between these two extremes, where Fiedler's three situational factors are all moderately ranked.

Understanding the leader-situation matches and mismatches that Fiedler's contingency model reveals allows organizations to either select new leaders to match their organizational situation, or adapt the situation to meet the leadership styles of individuals already in place.

Sources:
Robbins, Stephen and Timothy Judge. Organizational Behavior. 13^th ed. Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. 2009.