Contingency Theories

1
Topic 12

• Contingency Theories Situational Leadership

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The Contingency Approach

• The essence of the contingency approach to
  leadership is that leaders are most effective
  when they make their behavior contingent upon
  situational forces, including group member
  characteristics.
• Leadership effectiveness is maximized when
  leaders correctly make their behaviors contingent
  on certain situational and follower
  characteristics.

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The Contingency Approach (cont.)

• The effects of leadership vary from situation to
  situation. Aspects of the situation that enhance
  or nullify the effects of a leaders traits or
  behavior are called situational moderator
  variables.

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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 theories rather than someones personal
  opinions.
• They implicitly assume that leaders are able to
  accurately diagnose or assess key aspects of the
  followers and the leadership situation.
• With the exception of the contingency model,
  leaders are assumed to be able to act in a
  flexible manner.
• A correct match between situational and follower
  characteristics and leaders behavior is assumed
  to have a positive effect on group or
  organizational outcomes.

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Normative Decision Model

• The Normative Decision Model views leadership as
  a decision-making process. It specifies what a
  leader ought to do in a given situation. It is
  solely directed at determining the amount of
  subordinate input in the decision-making process.
  Normative refers to the idea that the leader
  should follow certain prescriptions indicated in
  the model.
• Two key factors in the model are decision quality
  and decision acceptance.

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Normative Decision Model (cont.)

• Decision quality refers to the objective aspects
  of a decision that affect group or individual
  performance. When an effective alternative is
  chosen, decision quality is said to be high.
• Decision quality is not important when the
  consequences of choosing various alternatives are
  about the same, or when the consequences of the
  decision are unimportant.

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Normative Decision Model (cont.)

• Decision acceptance refers to how committed group
  members are to implementing a decision
  effectively. If group members are responsible
  for implementing a decision, acceptance is
  crucial. At times decision acceptance is not an
  issue because very few employees are involved in
  implementation.

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Normative Decision Model (cont.)

• 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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Normative Decision Model (cont.)

• A decision tree is required to implement the
  model. The leader diagnoses situational
  variables by considering key questions.

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Normative Decision Model (cont.)

• The Decision Tree- provides a branching set of
  questions to be answered either yes or no
  which lead to a set of decision processes that
  will protect quality and acceptance. Time and
  subordinate development may be factored in if of
  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 increases
  decision-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
  influencing others and bringing about important
  changes

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Situational Leadership Theory

• The Situational Leadership Theory explains how to
  match leadership style with follower readiness.
• The key contingency factors are group member
  characteristics.

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Situational Leadership Theory (cont.)

• The theory has its roots in the Ohio State
  Studies on Leader Behavior.
• That study identified 2 distinct leader behavior
  categories
• Initiating structure (task behavior)
• Consideration (relationship behavior)

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Basics of the Model

• Task behavior is the extent to which the leader
  spells out the duties and responsibilities of an
  individual or group.
• Relationship behavior is the extent to which the
  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 adjust
  their behavior with different followers and
  thereby increase their likelihood of success?
• If so, then what factors should the leader base
  his 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 the readiness
  level of group members.
• Readiness is the extent to which a follower is
  able 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 self
  confidence, commitment, motivation, and
  self-respect relative to the task at hand
  (i.e. willingness)

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Four Levels of Readiness

• Style 1- High task and low relationship. The
  telling style is directive.
• Style 2- High task and high relationship. The
  selling style is also directive, but in a more
  persuasive, guiding, manner.
• Style3- High relationship and low task. In the
  participating leadership style there is less
  direction and more collaboration between leader
  and group members.
• Style 4- Low relationship and low task. In the
  delegating style, the leader delegates and is
  kept informed of progress.

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TM 13-6
SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP THEORY
(HIGH)
3
2
PARTICIPATING
SELLING
High Rel. Low task
High Task High Rel.
(Supportive Behavior) RELATIONSHIP BEHAVIOR
Low Rel. Low task
High Task Low Rel.
TELLING
DELEGATING
4
1
(LOW)
(HIGH)
TASK BEHAVIOR
FOLLOWER READINESS
HIGH
MODERATE
LOW
R4
R3
R2
R1
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Hersey and Blanchards Situational Leadership
Model
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The Situational Leadership Model Caveat

• Any given follower could be low on readiness to
  perform one task but high on readiness to perform
  a different 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 specific
  direction
• Gives false impression that all situations are
  clear-cut
• Popular because of its commonsense approach but
  not a lot of empirical research to support its
  validity

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Evaluation (cont)

• Situational Leadership is a useful way to get
  leaders to think about how leadership
  effectiveness may depend somewhat on being
  flexible with different subordinates, not on
  acting the same way toward them all.

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The Contingency Model

• Fiedlers contingency theory of leadership states
  that 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 and
  relationship-oriented, whereas others may be more
  concerned with task or goal accomplishment.
• The contingency model suggests that leader
  effectiveness is primarily determined by
  selecting the right kind of leader for a certain
  situation or changing the situation to fit the
  particular leaders style.
• To understand the contingency theory one must
  look first at the critical characteristics of the
  leader and then at the critical aspects of the
  situation.

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Least Preferred Coworker Scale

• To measure leadership style the theory uses an
  instrument called the Least-Preferred-Coworker
  Scale (LPC)
• LPC Handout

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LPC Scale

• The scale instructs a leader to think of the
  single individual with whom he has had the
  greatest difficulty working and then to describe
  that individual in terms of a series of bipolar
  activities.
• Based on their LPC scores, leaders are
  categorized 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 coworker in
  favorable terms is relationship-motivated. In
  contrast, a person who describes his or her least
  preferred coworker unfavorably tends to be
  task-motivated.

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Motivational Hierarchies For Low- and High-LPC
Leaders
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Situation Dimensions

• The situation is assessed to determine the degree
  of situational control, or favorability, for the
  leader using three dimensions
• 1. Leader-member relations measures how well the
  group and 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 do
  task structure and position power combined.

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Contingency Model Octant Structure For
Determining Situational Favorability
High
Low
Overall situation favorability
Good Good Good Good Poor Poor Poor Poor
Structured Structured Unstructured Unstructured Structured Structured Unstructured 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
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Fiedlers Contingency Model
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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 to situations where
  they can exercise more control.
• Fiedlers research suggests that low LPC leaders
  will perform better in either low favorability
  situations or in very high favorability
  situations. High LPC leaders will perform best
  in moderate favorability 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
  based upon expectancy theory. The effective
  leader will ensure valued rewards are available
  to the followers (the goal) and will help them
  find ways of getting to these goals (the path).

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The Path-Goal Theory

• The underlying mechanism of the path-goal theory
  deals with expectancy, a cognitive approach 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 basic assumptions
  as expectancy theory (to be discussed 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 or
  even with the same subordinates in differing
  situations.

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The Four Leader Behaviors of the Path-Goal Theory

• Directive leadership
• Supportive leadership
• Participative leadership
• Achievement-oriented leadership

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Leaders / Path-Goal

• Directive leaders give specific directions.
• Supportive leaders strive to create a positive
  climate.
• Participative leaders consult with subordinates
  taking their suggestions into account.
• Achievement-oriented leaders push goal setting,
  higher standards, and show strong confidence in
  their followers.

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The Followers

• Path-goal theory contains follower variables of
  overall satisfaction,locus of control,and
  perceived ability.
• Followers will actively support a leader as long
  as they view the leaders actions as a means for
  increasing their own level of satisfaction.
• Followers who believe they are capable of
  performing a task are not as motivated by, or
  willing to accept, a directive leader as they
  would a leader with participative behavior.

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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 of
  leadership it has little value or at best
  questionable value for practicing leaders.