Chapter 3
Contingency Approaches
1
Chapter Objectives
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Understand how leadership is often contingent on people
and situations.
Apply Fiedler’s contingency model to key relationships
among leader style, situational favorability, and group task
performance.
Apply Hersey and Blanchard’s situational theory of leader
style to the level of follower readiness.
Explain the path-goal theory of leadership.
Use the Vroom-Jago model to identify the correct amount
of follower participation in specific decision situations.
Know how to use the power of situational variables to
substitute for or neutralize the need for leadership.
Note all action memos in the chapter
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Leader’s bookshelf - Wheatley
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Nurture relationships with a clear vision, statements
of values, expressions of caring, sharing of
information, and freedom from strict rules and
controls
Focus on the whole, not on the parts in isolation
Reduce boundaries between departments to allow
new patterns of relationships
Become comfortable with uncertainty and recognize
that any solutions are only temporary
Recognize that healthy growth of people and
organizations is found in disequilibrium, not in
stability
Ex. 3.1 Comparing the Universalistic and
Contingency Approaches to Leadership
Universalistic
Approach
Leadership
Traits/behaviors
Outcomes
(Performance, satisfaction,
etc.)
Leader
Contingency
Approach
Followers
Style
Traits
Behavior
Position
Needs
Maturity
Training
Cohesion
Task
Structure
Systems
Env.
Outcomes
(Performance, satisfaction,
etc.)
Situation
4
Ex. 3.2 Metacategories of Leader Behavior and
Four Leader Styles
TASK
BEHAVIOR
High
High Task-Low
Relationship
High Task-High
Relationship
Low Task-Low
Relationship
High Relationship
-Low Task
Low
Low
RELATIONSHIP BEHAVIOR
High
5
Contingency Approaches
Contingency approaches:
approaches that seek to delineate the
characteristics of situations and
followers and examine the leadership
styles that can be used effectively
Fiedler’s contingency model: a
model designed to diagnose whether a
leader is task-oriented or relationshiporiented and match leader style to the
situation
6
Fiedler’s Contingency Theory
Fiedler’s Contingency Theory - classifies the
favorableness of the leader’s situation
Least Preferred Coworker (LPC) - the person a
leader has least preferred to work with over his or
her career
 Task Structure - degree of clarity, or ambiguity, in
the group’s work activities
 Position Power - authority associated with the
leader’s formal position in the organization
 Leader-Member Relations – quality of
interpersonal relationships among a leader and
group members

Leadership Effectiveness in the Contingency Theory
High LPC
relations oriented
Correlations
between leader
LPC & group
performance
1.00
.80
.60
.40
.20
0
-.20
-.40
-.60
LPC -.80
Low
task oriented
Favorable
for leader
Leader-member
relations
Task structure
Leader position
power
I
II
III
IV
I
G
II
G
III
G
IV
G
S
S
U
U
Unfavorable
for leader
V
VI
VII
VIII
MPoor MPoor MPoor MPoor
V
VI
S
VII
S
Strong Weak Strong Weak Strong Weak
VIII
U
U
Strong Weak
Fiedler’s theory
 Fit
between leader’s style (task or
relationship) and the situation
(favorable or unfavorable)
 Both relations and task oriented
leaders can be effective in the right
situation.
9
Situational Theory
Hersey and Blanchard’s extension
of the Leadership Grid focusing on
the characteristics of followers as
the important element of the
situation, and consequently, of
determining effective leader
behavior
10
Ex. 3.4 Hersey and Blanchard’s
Situational Theory of Leadership
Follower Characteristics
Appropriate Leader Style
Low readiness level
Telling (high task-low relationship)
Moderate readiness level
Selling (high task-high relationship)
High readiness level
Participating (low task-high rel.)
Very high readiness level
Delegating (low task-low relationship)
Can be tailored to individual followers
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Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Model
Leader’s concern with task
Low
High
High
Leader’s
concern
with
relationship
Low
Mature
Employees
Willing/Able Unwilling/able Willing/unable Unwilling/unable
4
3
2
1
Immature
Employees
Hersey-Blanchard Situational
Leadership® Model
Follower Readiness
High
R4
Able and
willing or
confident
Moderate
R3
Able but
unwilling
or insecure
Follower
Directed
Low
R2
R1
Unable but Unable and
willing or
unwilling
confident or insecure
Leader
Directed
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Path-Goal Theory
A contingency approach to leadership in
which the leader’s responsibility is to
increase subordinates’ motivation by
clarifying the behaviors necessary for task
accomplishment and rewards
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Situational Contingencies (p.77)
1.
Personal Characteristics of group members

2.
Ability, skills, needs, and motivations
The work environment

Degree of task structure, formal authority
system, work group itself (e.g. quality of
relationships and educational level of members)
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Ex. 3.5 Leader Roles in the Path-Goal Model
Increase Rewards
Path Clarification
Leader defines what follower
must do to attain work
outcomes
Leader learns follower’s
needs
Leader clarifies follower’s
work role
Leader matches follower’s
needs to rewards if work
outcomes are accomplished
Follower has increased
knowledge & confidence to
accomplish outcomes
Leader increases value of
work outcomes for follower
Follower displays increased effort and
motivation
Organizational work outcomes are
accomplished
Ex. 3.6 Path-Goal Situations and Preferred Leader Behaviors
Situation
Leader Behavior
Impact on Follower
Followers lack
self-confidence
Supportive
Leadership
Ambiguous job
Directive
Leadership
Lack of job
challenge
AchievementOriented
Leadership
Set and strive for
high goals
Participative
Leadership
Clarifies followers’
needs to change
rewards
Incorrect
reward
Outcome
Increases confidence
to achieve work
outcomes
Clarifies path to
reward
Increased
effort;
improved
satisfaction
and
performance
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The Vroom-Jago Contingency Model
A contingency model that
focuses on varying degrees of
participative leadership, and how
each level of participation
influences quality and
accountability of decisions
18
Ex. 3.7 Five Leader Decision Styles
Area of Freedom for Group
Area of Influence by Leader
Decide
Consult
Individually
Consult
Group
Facilitate
Delegate
See page 81-85
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Substitute and Neutralizer
Substitute: a situational
variable that makes
leadership unnecessary
or redundant
Neutralizer: a situational
characteristic that
counteracts the leadership
style and prevents the
leader from displaying
certain behaviors
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Ex. 3.10 Substitutes and Neutralizers for Leadership
Variable
Task-Oriented
Leadership
People-Oriented
Leadership
Organizational
variables
Group cohesiveness
Formalization
Inflexibility
Low positional power
Physical separation
Substitutes for
Substitutes for
Neutralizes
Neutralizes
Neutralizes
Substitutes for
No effect on
No effect on
Neutralizes
Neutralizes
Task
characteristics
Highly struct. task
Automatic feedback
Intrinsic satisfaction
Substitutes for
Substitutes for
No effect on
No effect on
No effect on
Substitutes for
Follower
characteristics
Professionalism
Training/experience
Low value of rewards
Substitutes for
Substitutes for
Neutralizes
Substitutes for
No effect on
Neutralizes