ipl-logo

Contingency Theory: Two Types Of Leadership Concepts

965 Words4 Pages
Contingency Theory

Contingency Theory Concepts

A change in leadership research from concentrating on only the leader to looking at both the leader and the situation the leader is working in

A leader-match theory: significance of aligning a leader’s style with the needs of a particular situation.
Contingency theory is a theory by Fiedler that is a leader-match theory (Northhouse, 2010). In this theory leaders are matched to situations that they may fit in. Not only does the contingency theory look at the leader, but also it assesses the situation the leader works in. The effectiveness of a leader depends on how well they fit into a particular situation.
Contingency Theory (cont.)
Two Types of Leadership Styles: Task Motivated: Focus on achieving a goal Relationship-Motivated: Focus on creating close interpersonal relationships
Least Preferred Coworker (LPC) scale developed to measure leader styles
Situational Variables: leader-member relations, task structure and position power
Based on the contingency theory, two types of leadership styles exist, task motivated and relationship-motivated. A task motivated leader focusing on achieving specific goals, while a relationship-motivated leader is concerned with creating close interpersonal relationships.

The Least Preferred Coworker (LPC) scale was
Open Document