Fielder’s contingency model argues no style of leadership is superior to the rest evaluated against three measures of situational control, including leader-member relations, task structure, and leader power level. In Fiedler’s contingency model, task-oriented leaders perform best in highly favorable and unfavorable circumstances. Relationship-oriented leaders perform best in situations that are moderately favorable but can improve their position by using superior interpersonal skills.
Understanding Fiedler’s contingency model
Fiedler’s contingency model was developed during the 1960s by leadership and organizational performance thinker Fred Fiedler.
After researching the various characteristics of leaders, Fiedler believed that the leadership style of an individual was the result of life experiences and therefore exceedingly difficult to change.
Instead of expecting a leader to display multiple leadership styles, he noted they should first understand their particular style and then adapt it to reflect a variety of different situations.
The general argument that leadership effectiveness is contingent on the current situation gives the theory its name. This effectiveness is the result of two factors which are explained in the next section.
The two factors of Fiedler’s contingency model
Fiedler argues that leadership effectiveness is based on two factors: leadership style and situational control.
Leadership style
To quantify leadership style, Fiedler developed something he called the least preferred co-worker scale (LPC).
The scale asks each leader to consider the person they least enjoyed working with – whether that be in a job, education, or training context.
Then, the leader must rate how they feel about the person based on several factors that exist on a scale from 1 to 8. For example, if a leader rated someone as moderately unfriendly, they may give a score of 3 or 4.
These factors and their associated scales include:
Unfriendly (1) grading to Friendly (8).
Unpleasant (1) grading to Pleasant (8).
Rejecting (1) grading to Accepting (8).
Tense (1) grading to Relaxed (8).
Cold (1) grading to Warm (8).
Boring (1) grading to Interesting (8).
Backbiting (1) grading to Loyal (8).
Uncooperative (1) grading to Cooperative (8).
Hostile (1) grading to Supportive (8).
Guarded (1) grading to Open (8).
Insincere (1) grading to Sincere (8).
Unkind (1) grading to Kind (8).
Inconsiderate (1) grading to Considerate (8).
Untrustworthy (1) grading to Trustworthy (8).
Gloomy (1) grading to Cheerful (8).
Quarrelsome (1) grading to Harmonious (8).
The scores for each factor should then be added up. Higher scores reflect relationship-oriented leaders who prioritize personal connections and excel at conflict management.
Lower scores, on the other hand, reflect task-oriented leaders who prioritize efficiency and excel at task delegation and completion.
Situational control
Situational control depends on three critical factors:
Leader-member relations
Or the level of trust and confidence subordinates have in a leader.
Trust is positively correlated with influence and is categorized as either good or poor.
Task structure
Is the task clear and structured, or vague and unstructured?
The latter scenario is unfavorable, for obvious reasons. Structure is categorized as either high or low.
Leader’s position power
Or the amount of power a leader possesses to direct the group and provide reward or punishment.
The more power a leader has, the more favorable the situation. This factor is categorized as either strong or weak.
Interpreting the results of Fiedler’s contingency model
By examining the aforementioned variables, a multitude of leadership situations can be created which range from highly favorable to highly unfavorable.
For context, a highly favorable situation is one where leader-member interactions are good, task structure is high, and power is strong.
With that said, let’s revisit the two leadership styles mentioned earlier. Where they do excel, and where are they ineffective?
Task-oriented
Task-oriented leaders perform best at opposite ends of the favourability scale. In other words, they are best suited to:
Highly favorable scenarios
When everyone likes each other and the task is clear and structured, the team simply needs a leader that can provide direction.
Highly unfavorable scenarios
Similarly, a leader that can provide direction is also important in situations with low task structure and poor leader-member relations.
Relationship-oriented
The relationship-oriented leader performs best in situations displaying moderate favourability.
In these instances, the leader may be reasonably well-liked and uses some degree of power to supervise moderately structured tasks.
Crucially, a relationship-oriented leader with superior interpersonal skills can increase task structure through clarification, earn more power through respect, and improve their relationship with subordinates.
Fiedler’s contingency model examples
Advertising agency
Leader-member relations
Advertising agencies are creative places where managers work closely with subordinates to shape artistic work.
Since there is less adherence to rules and processes, managers must also understand employee strengths and weaknesses and distribute work to the most qualified staff.
On occasion, employees are asked to provide their opinions or expertise in decision-making.
The above indicates that leader-member relations are favorable and characterized by trust.
Task structure
Each client of the advertising agency has different needs, which means projects differ in terms of size, form, message, output, and objectives.
This indicates low task structure since the projects have their own requirements and conditions change frequently.
Leader’s position power
Managers with experience in delivering a diverse range of projects are then appointed to each.
It is also important that managers possess relevant industry knowledge and have an established professional network.
Each project manager is supported by multiple line managers who are responsible for recruitment, termination, and defining employee salaries.
Since it is line managers and not project managers who deal with underperforming team members, for example, the leader’s position power can be classified as weak.
Interpreting the results
In summary, the project manager’s leadership is characterized by:
Favorable leader-member relations.
Low task structure, and
Weak position power.
The advertising agency then consults Fielder’s contingency model table which analyzes eight different combinations (or scenarios) of the three components.
Based on Fiedler’s interpretation, the combination of favorable leader-member relations, low task structure, and weak position power is best suited to relationship-oriented leaders.
This is officially known as Situation 4 and we’ll return to this later.
Corrections for task-oriented project managers
Consider a situation where the advertising agency only has task-oriented leaders at its disposal.
What is the best course of action?
If the agency revisits Fielder’s table, it will note that the task-oriented leader is most effective in these situations:
Situation 1 – favorable leader-member relations, high task structure, and strong position power.
Situation 2 – favorable leader-member relations, high task structure, and weak position power.
Situation 8 – unfavorable leader-member relations, low task structure, and weak position power. However, this is not a situation that is kind to any leadership style, so the agency chooses to omit it from the analysis.
With two situations remaining, here is how the agency may alter both to make a task-oriented leader fit for purpose:
Situation 1 – task structure needs to move from low to high and position power needs to move from weak to strong.
Situation 2 – task structure also needs to move from low to high.
The agency then determines that both options are unsuitable because the creative client work required for ad campaigns would be ineffective if tasks became highly structured.
One last option
Returning to the model table for a final time, the agency considers transforming Situation 4 into Situation 3 to make task-oriented leadership compatible.
The only change between these situations is that position power shifts from weak to strong.
The agency then finds ways to improve this position of power without altering the reporting system between the project and line managers.
Three initiatives are devised to suit the task-oriented leader which collectively act as a form of compromise:
The project manager takes 50% responsibility for evaluating employee salaries.
Two team members shall receive a bonus at the completion of the project, with the project manager responsible for selection.
Lastly, the project manager will report to the agency CEO to put them at the same hierarchical level as each line manager.
Key takeaways
Fiedler’s contingency model argues there is no one-size-fits-all leadership style. Instead, leaders should adapt their prevailing style to suit the current circumstances.
Fiedler’s contingency model notes there are two main leadership styles: task-oriented and relationship-oriented. Each can be evaluated against three measures of situational control, including leader-member relations, task structure, and leader power level.
In Fiedler’s contingency model, task-oriented leaders perform best in highly favorable and unfavorable circumstances. Relationship-oriented leaders perform best in situations that are moderately favorable, but can improve their position by using superior interpersonal skills.
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Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
