Contingency Model by Fred Fiedler
Created in the mid-1960s, Fred Fiedler's contingency model asserts that the effectiveness of leadership ultimately depends upon the existing situation; consequently, it is not based on the leadership style rather on the control the leader has over a certain situation. Therefore, rather than simply teaching individuals a specific leadership style, organizations should concentrate more on aiding individuals understand various leadership styles and how each matches up to a given situation (Yukl, 2013).
In his theory, Fiedler also points out that an individual's leadership style is somewhat fixed as it a direct result of an individual's life experiences, hence, it is extremely difficult to change. Following this, he devised the Least Preferred Co-worker scape to assess a leader's attitudes or leadership orientation, moreover, in his model, Fiedler also asserts that the ability of a leader to control the group situation is critical since only leaders with situational control have the confidence that their followers will act accordingly and execute their commands. As a result, there are three situational components that generally determine a how favorable a certain situation is to leader include the task structure, the leader's position power, as well as the leader-member relations (Yukl, 2013).
Shortcomings of the Fiedler's Model
The Fiedler's model is not applicable in modern-day workplaces due to its many shortcomings which render it ineffective. Some of these shortcomings or rather weaknesses include the fact that some leaders are only more effective in certain situations thus, as compared to others. The LPC scale is also highly questionable since the assessment is conducted on an individual by another, thus the scale is subjective while characteristics are relative contexts. The model is also only applicable to groups that are closely supervised consequently they do not apply for open one such as in the case of teams (Leadership Central, 2010). In addition the vagueness of the parameters set out in the scale also makes them open to interpretation since they are to a great extent context-free.
References
Leadership Central. (2010). Fiedler's Contingency Theory. http://www.leadership-central.com/fiedler%27s-contingency-theory.html#axzz5GJe9HyPg
Yukl, G. A. (2013). Leadership in organizations. 8th
Ed., Pearson Education.
