Over the last few weeks, we have been learning about different leadership styles. It’s interesting to learn about these different leadership styles as we see leadership and followership every day in our life. Whether it be at work, school, church, groups, and many more, everyone is engaged in some sort of group within their typical lives. Two different styles that have stood out to me are the contingency theory and the situational leadership theory.
As we learned in the Contingency and Path Goal Theories module, the contingency is different than some of the leadership theories we discussed because “it assumes that leaders cannot change their behavior or style, instead recommends finding the right leader for the right situation.” (PSYCH 485 Lesson 6). This theory claims that leaders cannot adapt their behavior and styles, and instead of trying to change, a new leader who can fit the needs of the situation should be selected. This model developed by Fred Edward Fielder, believes that leaders are consistent in their behavior, and leader effectiveness is determined by selecting the right leader for the situation or instead adapting the situation to fit the leaders’ style. Fiedler also developed the least preferred coworker scale to determine a leader’s general style. In this scale it,” tells a leader to think of the single individual with whom they have the greatest difficulty working with and then to describe that individual in adjectives.” (PSYCH 485 Lesson 6). Ratings are then determined into a numerical value that represents the leader’s style rather than the individual the leader wrote about. This is then used to evaluate the leaderships style and what situations their leadership style will be the most effective. Low LPC leaders are motivated by the task and once the task is successfully complete, then they will focus on building and maintain relationships with followers. High LPC leaders are motivated by relationships, forming positive relationships with followers before focusing on the task ahead. Middle LPC leaders are able to switch between being relationship and task oriented based off the needs of followers. By determining LPC scores and considering situational variables such as the nature of the situation and how the leaders style fit into the situation, it can be predicted if a leader will be effective in a certain situation.
The situational leadership approach discusses how leaders should adjust their behavior depending on the followers and the situation while recognizing the importance of leaders, followers, and the situation. This is different from the contingency theory as it believes that leaders are capable of changing their habits and styles to benefit the situation. Northouse, Leadership: Theory and Practice, states “The idea behind this theory is that different situations require different kinds of leadership and to be an effective leader, one must change their style to fit demands of the different situations.” (Situational Chapter) The situational approach believes that leaders are able to adapt to the needs of the situation as well as the needs of the followers, to give them what they need to make the group more successful. It also tells leaders which behaviors they need to successfully lead followers through situations, as their degree of support is to change based off the needs of the followers. This leadership style is divided into directive and supportive behaviors, being directing, coaching, supporting, and delegating. These different variables determine directives and support levels of the leader as well as what they focus on the most such as focusing on achieving goals or supportive behaviors.
As we discussed in the lesson modules for both chapters, both leadership style theories have different strength and weaknesses. Strengths for the situational approach include being seen as credible for training individuals to be effective leaders, gives leaders an idea of what they should and shouldn’t do in situations, and that subordinates should all be treated differently. On the other hand, the weaknesses for this model are, little evidence and research to back up the theory, doesn’t define how commitment is combined with competence, as well as it doesn’t consider different characteristics. (PSYCH 485 Lesson 5) Strengths of the contingency model is that it’s supported by research and gives us a broader understanding of leaders and followers and how situations impact them. The weaknesses of this theory are that it doesn’t explain why it can and can’t be effective, and it doesn’t help the differences between leaders and situations. (PSYCH 485 Lesson 6)
The reason these two leadership styles are interesting to compare is because the situational approach believes that leaders are capable of change and adapting to what their situation needs whether it be for the followers or the groups goals, and the contingency theory believes that leaders are not able to change and instead should find a new leader for the situation. Comparing this to the real world, it is relevant in many every day situations. Depending on certain groups, people can have time to change and adapt their leadership style to be more beneficial to the group, yet some will be removed from their leadership power if they are not able to successfully lead the group in the ways they already know. Throughout my life experiences I have seen both sides of this, I have seen a leader who wasn’t quite ready for their position, yet they were given the chance to adapt themselves to the situation to better themselves and the followers to their main goal and situation. Yet I have also seen leaders who were considered to not be fit for their role and were removed without being given any chance to adapt themselves to the situation. It’s interesting to compare these two leadership styles and look at how we can either believe that our leaders are capable of leading their followers through their situation in successful ways, or if they do not possess the needed skills, then they are to be replaced with someone who can.
References
Northouse, P. G. (2021). Leadership: Theory and Practice (8th ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc.
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2022). PSYCH 485 Lesson 5: Style and Situational Approaches. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2206235/modules/items/35844120
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2022). PSYCH 485 Lesson 6: Contingency and Path Goal Theories. Retrieved from
https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2206235/modules/items/35844151