Contingency Theories
McGovern & Bernhard
 McGovern
 Possible in sport? Examples…
 Why is this not done often?
 Hint: Who becomes coach?
 Bernhard
 Possible in exercise settings? Examples…
 Take Home Message specific to Leadership?
Contingency Approaches
 “The basic tenet of this focus was that behavior effective in
some circumstances might be ineffective under different
conditions” (p. 64).
 A 4-5th grade soccer coach would behave much differently
than the same coach at the Olympic level.
Contingency Approaches
 Two qualities by the Leader MUST be present.
 Sliding scale of two behaviors.
 Most difficult one to achieve success at?
Fiedler’s Contingency Model
 Premise was to critically examine the two largest variables
for predicting potential success:
 Leader & Organization
 Where in sport do we see this approach?
 Least Preferred Coworker (LPC) scale
Fiedler’s 3 Prongs of the Situation
 Leader-Member relations:
 Members’ attitudes towards & acceptance of the leader.
 Task Structure:
 High or low = greater chance of success?
 Position Power:
 An evaluation of formal power.
Using Fiedler’s Model
 Evaluate yourself as a leader accurately.
 Evaluate the situation accurately.
 Do these variables change?
 General research support, but correlation statistics only.
 LPC is simplistic and doesn’t account for everything.
Hersey & Blanchard Situational Theory
 Evaluation is primarily based on follower readiness level.
Then the leader alters her behavior to adjust to the level of
the followers.
 This notion applies to both a team as a whole and individuals
within a team.
 Where do we see this ‘tiered’ behavior from coach to follower
in sport? Exercise?
Path-Goal Theory
 Leader is to increase motivation of followers in order to
achieve greater rewards.
 Path Clarification.
 Increased usage and congruence of rewards.
 Difficult or easy in exercise?
 3 sections to consider:
 Leader Behavior
 Followers & Situation
 Rewards
Path-Goal Theory: Leader Behavior
 Supportive Leadership: concern for followers.
 Directive Leadership: specific instructions for followers.
(color by number)
 Participative Leadership: followers’ opinions are sought and
valued.
 Achievement-oriented Leadership: challenging goals and
constant improvement to meet them.
 *Behavioral patterns, NOT traits.
Path-Goal Theory: Situation
 Personal characteristics of group members.
 Ability, skills, needs & motivations.
 Work environment.
 Task structure: defined vs. abstract.
 Formal authority: legitimate power + rules & policies.
 Group characteristics: educational level & relationships among
members.
Path-Goal Theory: Rewards
 How do followers get to rewards?
 What rewards do they want?
 Exercise examples…?
Vroom-Jago
 “focuses on varying degrees of participative leadership, and
how each level of participation influences quality and
accountability of decisions.” (p. 79)
 Premise: Leader faces a problem and must make a decision.
Vroom-Jago: Leader Participation Style
 Continuum from solely autocratic to solely democratic.
 Utilize 7 questions to determine where on the continuum the
situation is which in turn provides a prescription of behavior
to follow.
 Initial problems with this approach?
Vroom-Jago: 7 Questions
 Decision significance.
 Importance of commitment.
 Leader expertise.
 Likelihood of commitment.
 Group support for goals.
 Goal expertise.
 Team competence.
Vroom-Jago: Time vs. Development
 Increasing the time to make a decision should prompt greater
follower development.
 Which is paramount?
 Time or Development…
 Sport?
 Exercise?
Leadership ALWAYS Necessary?
 Substitute: a situational variable that makes a certain
leadership style unnecessary or redundant.
 Neutralizer: a situational variable that counteracts a
leadership style and prevents the leader from acting in a
certain way.