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The Contingency Theory: The Role Of Leadership In Public Administration

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Leadership is one of the most important skills in order to successfully execute activities within the field of public administration. It stands for the ability to lead or influence individuals so that they are willing to work towards the accomplishment of group objectives. In class we discussed about theories regarding leadership within public administration. Fred Fielder was one of the major contributors of the one the theories, known as the contingency theory. Even though many of these theories were proposed a lot years ago, the role of leadership currently still plays a crucial goal in our today’s society. I would define leadership in publics sectors as the ability of being able to effectively carry on with the administrative functions …show more content…

In order to identify it, he created the “Least Preferred Co-Worker Scale”. The purpose of this scale was to ask the participant what type of person would he least prefer. The participant would rate each person depending on the factor from one to ten, and in the end it would sum all the scores. The participants that ended with a lower score were qualified as task oriented leaders, which meant that they were efficient at completing tasks. Participants that got a high score were qualified as relationship-oriented leaders, which had the attribute of being effective at intimate connections and administrating problems, while being able to outsmart difficult choices. Once you already know the style of the leader, you determine which is appropriate depending on the situational favorableness. For example, if the situation needs a lot of trust between members of the organization, then a leader qualified has relationship-oriented would be better. When referring to an objective that involves people that are not very well oriented with how to perform a certain task, then a leader qualified as task-oriented would suit …show more content…

These skills are being categorized into three: technical, human and conceptual. Technical skill refers to the ability needed in order to culminate an assignment. Human skill is the ability of being persuasive with people. Conceptual skill refers to the ability to think with vision. The technical and human skills are more critical among managers that are in the middle if the hierarchical pyramid, while conceptual skills are believed to be more vital among top

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