Making decisions that are best for the team is an important aspect of leadership. Some decisions will be accepted positively

CHAPTER 5 Contingency and Situational Leadership

   Although candid about the dreadful corruption and misjudgments of the past, Orr points his stakeholders toward a brighter future. He says that Detroit has been given a second chance that should not be wasted. “This is our opportunity for a great All-American city to show what it really is,” he says.

   The story about the emergency manager of a troubled city illustrates an increasingly important leadership task: leading people through a crisis. Leadership of this type is a special case of the general subject of this chapter—adjusting one's approach to the situation. Contingency and situational leadership further expand the study of leadership styles by adding more specific guidelines about which style to use under which circumstance.

   In this chapter, we present an overview of the situational perspective on leadership. We then summarize four classic contingency theories of leadership: Fiedler's contingency theory, path-goal theory, the situational leadership model, and the normative decision model. We also explain how a more contemporary theory, the leader-member exchange, contributes to understanding the contingency perspective. In addition, we describe crisis leadership because leading others through a crisis has become a frequent challenge in recent years. Finally, we describe how evidence-based leadership and management contribute to the contingency approach.

Situational Influences on Effective Leadership Behavior

The situation can influence the leadership behavior or style a leader emphasizes. The essence of a   is that leaders are most effective when they make their behavior contingent on situational forces, including group member characteristics. Both the internal and the external environment have a significant impact on leader effectiveness. For example, the quality of the workforce and the competitiveness of the environment can influence which behaviors the leader emphasizes. A manager who supervises competent employees might be able to practice consensus leadership readily. And a manager who faces a competitive environment might find it easier to align people to pursue a new vision.

   A useful perspective on implementing contingency leadership is that the manager must be flexible enough to avoid clinging to old ideas that no longer fit the current circumstances.  Being stubborn about what will work in a given situation and clinging to old ideas can result in ineffective leadership. The effective leader adapts to changing circumstances. For example, at one point, offering employees generous benefits might not have been motivational. In reality, with many employers having cut back on benefits such as health insurance, these benefits can actually be helpful in attracting and retaining workers.

   As mentioned in several places in this textbook, the leader needs to take into account the major situational variable of organizational culture when choosing which approach to leadership will lead to favorable outcomes. A command-and-control leadership style may not be effective in a company with a collaborative, friendly organizational culture. If the culture seems at odds with what a highly placed leader wants to accomplish, the leader may attempt to change the culture.

   Victor H. Vroom and Arthur G. Jago have identified three conclusions about the role of situations in leadership, and these findings support the model of leadership presented in  ,  . The conclusions are geared to support the idea that leadership involves motivating others to work collaboratively in the pursuit of a common goal.  We also add a fourth conclusion, focused on the organization structure.

1. Organizational effectiveness is affected by situational factors not under leader control.  The leader might be able to influence the situation, yet some situational factors are beyond the leader's complete control. The manager of a prosperous, independent coffee shop might be running her business and leading her employees successfully for ten years. Suddenly, a Starbucks opens across the street, thereby seriously affecting her ability to lead a successful enterprise. She might be smart enough to have a contingency plan of offering services Starbucks cannot equal, yet staying in business will be a struggle.

2. Situations shape how leaders behave. Contingency theorists believe that forces in the situation are three times as strong as the leader's personal characteristics in shaping his or her behavior. How the leader behaves is therefore substantially influenced by environmental forces. In the face of competition from Starbucks, our coffee shop owner might now act with a greater sense of urgency, be much more directive in telling her workers what to do, and become much less warm and friendly. Her normal level of enthusiasm might also diminish.

3. Situations influence the consequences of leader behavior. Popular books about management and leadership assume that certain types of leader behavior work in every situation. Situational theorists disagree strongly with this position. Instead, a specific type of leadership behavior might have different outcomes in different situations. The leader behavior of empowerment illustrates this idea. Perhaps empowerment will work for our coffee shop owner because she has a group of dedicated workers who want their jobs and her enterprise to endure. However, empowering incompetent workers with a weak work ethic is likely to backfire because the workers will most likely resist additional responsibility.

4. The type of organization influences which leadership approach is best. Henry Mintzberg has identified the form of organization as a key situational variable influencing which approach to leadership is likely to be most effective. Two examples will suffice here. In an entrepreneurial organization, the key leader will engage in considerable doing and dealing as well as creating visions. In a machine organization, or classic bureaucracy, the leader will engage in a considerable amount of controlling.

   In this chapter, as well as throughout the book, possible situational factors are mentioned that should be taken into consideration in leading others. A general approach to being aware of all these factors is for the leader to be mindful of events in the environment. If you are mindful, you are sensitive to what is happening around you. According to stress researcher Jon Kabat-Zinn, you learn to pay attention on purpose to the present moment, in a nonjudgmental way, to whatever arises in your leadership situation.

Fiedler's Contingency Theory of Leadership Effectiveness

Fred E. Fiedler developed a widely researched and quoted contingency model more than forty years ago that holds that the best style of leadership is determined by the situation in which the leader is working. Here we examine how the style and situation are evaluated, the overall findings of the theory, and how leaders can modify situations to their advantage. Although this theory is no longer the subject of new research, it still provides a few useful suggestions for today's leader.

Measuring Leadership Style: The Least Preferred Coworker (LPC) Scale

Fiedler's theory classifies a manager's leadership style as relationship motivated or task motivated. Style is therefore based on the extent to which the leader is relationship motivated or task motivated. According to Fiedler, leadership style is a relatively permanent aspect of behavior and thus difficult to modify. Leaders are regarded as having a consistent style of task or relations orientation. Fiedler reasons that once leaders understand their particular leadership style, they should work in situations that match that style. Similarly, the organization should help managers match leadership styles and situations.

   The least preferred coworker (LPC) scale measures the degree to which a leader describes favorably or unfavorably his or her LPC—that is, an employee with whom he or she could work the least well. A leader who describes the LPC in relatively favorable terms tends to be relationship motivated. In contrast, a person who describes this coworker in an unfavorable manner tends to be task motivated. The coworker is described by rating him or her on a series of eighteen polar-opposite adjectives, such as the following:

   The leadership style measure presented in Leadership Self-Assessment Quiz 4-1 is a more direct and less abstract way of measuring your style. To repeat, the general idea of the LPC approach is that if you have a positive, charitable attitude toward people you had a difficult time working with, you are probably relationship oriented. In contrast, if you take a dim view of people who gave you a hard time, you are probably task oriented. The message here is that a relationship-oriented leader should be able to work well with a variety of personalities.

Measuring the Leadership Situation

Fiedler's contingency theory classifies situations as high, moderate, and low control. The more control that the leader exercises, the more favorable the situation is for the leader. The control classifications are determined by rating the situation on its three dimensions: (1) leader-member relations measure 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; and (3) position power measures the leader's authority to hire, fire, discipline, and grant salary increases to group members.

   Leader-member relations contribute as much to situation favorability as do task structure and position power combined. The leader therefore has the most control in a situation in which relationships with members are the best.

Overall Findings

The key points of Fiedler's contingency theory are summarized and simplified in  . The original theory is much more complex. Leadership effectiveness depends on matching leaders to situations in which they can exercise more control. A leader should therefore be placed in a situation that is favorable to, or matches, his or her style. If this cannot be accomplished, the situation might be modified to match the leader's style by manipulating one or more of the three following situational variables.

   The theory states that task-motivated leaders perform the best in situations of both high control and low control. Relationship-motivated leaders perform the best in situations of moderate control. The results of many studies indicated that the relationship-motivated leader outperformed the task-motivated leader in three of the eight situations but that the reverse was true in the other five situations. The eight situations result from each of the three situational variables being classified in one of two ways (good or poor, high or low, or strong or weak), as shown in  .

FIGURE 5-1 Summary of Findings from Fiedler's Contingency Theory.

   Task-motivated leaders perform better in situations that are highly favorable for exercising control because they do not have to be concerned with the task. Instead, they can work on relationships. In moderately favorable situations, the relationship-motivated leader achieves higher group productivity because he or she can work on relationships and not get involved in micromanaging. In very-low-control situations, the task-motivated leader is able to structure and make sense out of confusion, whereas the relationship-motivated leader wants to give emotional support to group members or call a meeting.

Making the Situation More Favorable for the Leader

FIGURE 5-2 The Eight Different Situations in Fiedler's Contingency Theory.

A practical implication of contingency theory is that leaders should modify situations to match their leadership style, thereby enhancing their chances of being effective. Consider a group of leaders who are task motivated and decide that they need to exercise more control over the situation to achieve higher work unit productivity. To increase control over the situation, they can do one or more of the following:

· • Improve leader-member relations through displaying an interest in the personal welfare of group members, having meals with them, actively listening to their concerns, telling anecdotes, and in general being a nice person.

· • Increase task structure by engaging in behaviors related to initiating structure, such as being more specific about expectations, providing deadlines, showing samples of acceptable work, and providing written instructions.

· • Exercise more position power by requesting more formal authority from higher management. For example, the leader might let it be known that he or she has the authority to grant bonuses and make strong recommendations for promotion.

Now imagine a relationship-motivated leader who wants to create a situation of moderate favorability so that his or her interests in being needed by the group could be satisfied. The leader might give the group tasks of low structure and deemphasize his or her position power.

Evaluation of Fiedler's Contingency Theory

A major contribution of Fiedler's work is that it has prompted others to conduct studies about the contingency nature of leadership. Fiedler's theory has been one of the most widely researched theories in industrial/organizational psychology, and at one time it was used extensively as the basis for leadership training programs. The model has also alerted leaders to the importance of sizing up the situation to gain control. At the same time, Fielder pioneered in taking into account both traits and the situation to better understand leadership.

   Despite its potential advantages, however, the contingency theory is too complicated to have much of an impact on most leaders. A major problem centers on matching the situation to the leader. In most situations, the amount of control the leader exercises varies from time to time. For example, if a relationship-motivated leader were to find the situation becoming too favorable for exercising control, it is doubtful that he or she would be transferred to a less favorable situation or attempt to make the situation less favorable.

The Path-Goal Theory of Leadership Effectiveness

The   of leadership effectiveness, as developed by Robert House, specifies what a leader must do to achieve high productivity and morale in a given situation. In general, a leader attempts to clarify the path to a goal for a group member so that the group member receives personal payoffs. At the same time, this group member's job satisfaction and performance increase.  Similar to the expectancy theory of motivation on which it is based, path-goal theory is multifaceted and has several versions. Its key features are summarized in  .

   The theory is so complex that it is helpful to consider an overview before studying more of the details. The major proposition of path-goal theory is that the manager should choose a leadership style that takes into account the characteristics of the group members and the demands of the task. Furthermore, initiating structure will be effective in situations with a low degree of subordinate task structure but ineffective in highly structured task situations. The rationale is that in the first situation, subordinates welcome initiating structure because it helps to provide structure to their somewhat ambiguous tasks. Instead of just flailing around, the leader provides guidance. In the situation of highly structured tasks, more structure is seen as unnecessary and associated with overly close supervision.

   In his reformulated version of path-goal theory, House offered a metaproposition, which provides a capsule summary of a dizzying amount of studies and theorizing in relation to the theory. Understanding this metaproposition would be a good take-away from the theory: For leaders to be effective, they should engage in behaviors that complement subordinates' environments and abilities. They should engage in these behaviors in a manner that compensates for deficiencies and that enhances subordinate satisfactions as well as individual and work unit performance.  For example, if our coffee shop owner found that one of her workers was fearful of losing his or her job because of Starbucks competition, she would give him or her lots of encouragement and explain the survival plan of the coffee shop in detail.

FIGURE 5-3 The Path-Goal Theory of Leadership.

To achieve the outcomes of productivity and morale, the manager chooses one of four leadership styles, depending on (a) the characteristics of the situation and (b) the demands of the task.

   Two key aspects of this theory will be discussed: matching the leadership style to the situation and steps the leader can take to influence performance and satisfaction.

Matching the Leadership Style to the Situation

Path-goal theory emphasizes that the leader should choose among four leadership styles to achieve optimum results in a given situation. Two important sets of contingency factors are the type of subordinates and the tasks they perform (a key environmental factor). The type of subordinates is determined by how much control they think they have over the environment (locus of control) and by how well they think they can do the assigned task.

   Environmental contingency factors are those that are not within the control of group members but influence satisfaction and task accomplishment. Three broad classifications of contingency factors in the environment are (1) the group members' tasks, (2) the authority system within the organization, and (3) the work group.

   To use path-goal theory, the leader must first assess the relevant variables in the environment. Then he or she selects one of the four styles listed next that fits those contingency factors best:

· 1.  Directive style.  The leader who is directive (similar to task motivated) emphasizes formal activities such as planning, organizing, and controlling. When the task is unclear, the directive style improves morale.

· 2.  Supportive style.  The leader who is supportive (similar to relationship motivated) displays concern for group members' well-being and creates an emotionally supportive climate. The supportive leader enhances morale when group members work on dissatisfying, stressful, or frustrating tasks. Group members who are unsure of themselves prefer the supportive leadership style.

· 3.  Participative style.  The leader who is participative consults with group members to gather their suggestions, and then considers these suggestions seriously when making a decision. The participative leader is best suited for improving the morale of well-motivated employees who perform nonrepetitive tasks.

· 4.  Achievement-oriented style.  The leader who is achievement oriented sets challenging goals, pushes for work improvement, and sets high expectations for team members, who are also expected to assume responsibility. This leadership style works well with achievement-oriented team members and with those working on ambiguous and nonrepetitive tasks.

   A leader can sometimes successfully combine more than one of the four styles, although this possibility is not specified in path-goal theory. For example, during a crisis, such as a major product recall, the marketing manager might need to be directive to help the group take fast action. After the initial emergency actions have been taken, the leader, recognizing how stressed the workers must be, might shift to a supportive mode.

   Few practicing leaders and managers attempt to systematically apply the path-goal theory, yet many effective leaders apply some aspects of the theory intuitively. An example is Mark Murphy, the president and CEO of the Green Bay Packers, a National Football League (NFL) team. Part of the reason Murphy is so well liked by team members and fans is that he uses a supportive style. At the same time, he emphasizes an achievement-oriented style to get the most from his staff and the players. After his playing days were over, Murphy earned a law degree and an MBA.

   Joe Gibbs, a Hall of Fame coach, noticed Murphy's knack for leadership early on. “He was somebody I could go and talk to if I were having problems,” he says. “Mark was so smart. He made the absolute most of his abilities.”11 Murphy also practices participative leadership, as evidenced by his frequent use of management by wandering around (MBWA) with his senior management.  (MBWA refers to casually dropping by the work sites of subordinates and chatting with them about work and listening to their input.)

Steps Leaders Can Take to Influence Performance and Satisfaction

In addition to recommending the leadership style to fit the situation, the path-goal theory offers other suggestions to leaders. Most of them relate to motivation and satisfaction, including the following:

· 1. Recognize or activate group members' needs over which the leader has control.

· 2. Increase the personal payoffs to team members for attaining work goals. The leader might give high-performing employees special recognition.

· 3. Make the paths to payoffs (rewards) easier by coaching and providing direction. For instance, a manager might help a team member be selected for a high-level project.

· 4. Help group members clarify their expectations of how effort will lead to good performance and how performance will lead to a reward. The leader might say, “Anyone who has gone through this training in the past came away knowing how to implement a Six Sigma (quality standards) program. And most people who learn how to use this system wind up getting a good raise.”

· 5. Reduce frustrating barriers to reaching goals. For example, the leader might hire a temporary worker to help with a seasonal work overload.

· 6. Increase opportunities for personal satisfaction if the group member performs effectively. The if is important because it reflects contingent behavior on the leader's part.

· 7. Be careful not to irritate people by giving them instructions on things they already can do well.

· 8. To obtain high performance and satisfaction, the leader must provide structure if it is missing and supply rewards contingent on adequate performance. To accomplish this, leaders must clarify the desirability of goals for the group members.

   As a leader, you can derive specific benefit from path-goal theory by applying these eight methods of influencing performance. Although research interest in path-goal theory has almost disappeared in recent years, the basic tenets of the theory are on target. Any comprehensive theory of leadership must include the idea that the leader's actions have a major impact on the motivation and satisfaction of group members.  Despite the potential contributions of path-goal theory, it contains so many nuances and complexities that it has attracted little interest from managers.

Situational Leadership® II (SLII)

The two contingency approaches to leadership presented so far take into account collectively the task, the authority of the leader, and the nature of the subordinates. Another explanation of contingency leadership places its primary emphasis on the characteristics of group members.  , developed by Kenneth H. Blancha

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