Contingency Theory
(Fiedler)
Fiedler’s Theory goes along with the task-oriented and people-oriented behaviours which have previously been discussed. He said that leaders tend to have their own style and it will be hard to change that, and by looking at what type of organisation it is, then the right leader can be found so that they fit well and therefore are at their most efficient.
To do this it was put out that the situation was either favourable or unfavourable. To get this final result three elements were looked at; the quality of the relationship between a leader and his employees, how well the structure is set out and also the extent of which a leader has his employees following him, how much they feel he is a leader.
Highly Favourable would be when followers have respect; they trust their leader and tasks are structured when they are set out by the leader
Highly Unfavourable would obviously be the opposite, so when relationships in the organisation between the leader and employees are very strong, where tasks are poorly set out and their isn’t much authority.
The following diagram shows the different points of the scale and when leaders are in their element.
