Leadership Style
Effective leadership is contingent on matching a leader’s style to a setting that fits (Northouse, 2007). According to Fiedler’s Contingency Theory, leadership styles are operationalized primarily on two ends of a spectrum, they are characterized as task motivated, or relationship motivated (Northouse, 2007). I believe in the adage that practice makes perfect. In this paper, I will look into an alternative way for leaders to lead when they find themselves situated in an unfavorable situation. In the case of leadership; an administrator, manager, or supervisor should use a reflective mindful praxis to improve their ability to make decisions that will achieve optimal outcomes from the organizations they lead in all situations, especially unfavorable ones.
Fiedler’s research demonstrates, in essence, if you don’t fit the team mold, you are unfit to lead the team. The contingency model asserts that leadership styles can be gauged by the Least Preferred Coworker (LPC) scale. This model posits leadership styles on a spectrum ranging from task motivated, low LPC, or relationship motivated, high LPC. The contingency aspect ties the leadership styles to situational variables of the organization.
The situational variables include leader-member relations, task structure and positional power (Northouse, 2007). Leader-member relations are characterized as good or poor depending on feelings found in the group atmosphere, relationships and trust. Although there is no scale for the task structure, the situational variable in the model, there is a clear definition of the term. The variable is operationalized by high structure and low structure. Position power is characterized by the authority a leader has to deliver the proverbial carrot or the stick, i.e. rewards and punishments (Northouse, 2007).
Fiedler has an understanding of why leaders in the wrong setting are ineffective (Northouse, 2007). The correlation between the leader’s LPC score and the group or organization’s
Fiedler’s research demonstrates, in essence, if you don’t fit the team mold, you are unfit to lead the team. The contingency model asserts that leadership styles can be gauged by the Least Preferred Coworker (LPC) scale. This model posits leadership styles on a spectrum ranging from task motivated, low LPC, or relationship motivated, high LPC. The contingency aspect ties the leadership styles to situational variables of the organization.
The situational variables include leader-member relations, task structure and positional power (Northouse, 2007). Leader-member relations are characterized as good or poor depending on feelings found in the group atmosphere, relationships and trust. Although there is no scale for the task structure, the situational variable in the model, there is a clear definition of the term. The variable is operationalized by high structure and low structure. Position power is characterized by the authority a leader has to deliver the proverbial carrot or the stick, i.e. rewards and punishments (Northouse, 2007).
Fiedler has an understanding of why leaders in the wrong setting are ineffective (Northouse, 2007). The correlation between the leader’s LPC score and the group or organization’s
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