Leadership

PSYCH 485 blog

Why Superiors Can’t be Your Friend

by

While many leadership theories underscore the importance of building positive employee relationships, it is very important to understand that a manager’s role is distinct from that of a friend. This notion will be evaluated by employing Fiedler’s Contingency Theory (The Pennsylvania State University [PSU], 2023) and the Path-Goal Theory (Northouse, 2022) to analyze a scenario where a manager, striving for amicable employee relationships, had to transition from a friend to a more authoritative figure.

Various leadership frameworks promote the benefits of managers fostering positive coworker relationships, as these are integral to a productive workplace atmosphere. Fiedler’s Contingency Model, with its least-preferred-coworker (LPC) scale, enables the identification of a leader’s predominant style, and further states that leadership behavior is generally consistent (PSU, 2023). Leaders are categorized as low-LPC or high-LPC, reflecting whether task completion or fostering positive follower relationships motivates them (PSU, 2023). For relationship-oriented managers (high-LPC), job fulfillment comes from cultivating positive interactions with colleagues.

The Path-Goal Theory emphasizes a leader’s responsibility to inspire followers to achieve their goals (Northouse, 2022). It advocates for leaders to pave the way by providing rewards and removing impediments, ensuring goal attainment. Supportive and directive leadership styles are integral to this theory (Northouse, 2022), with supportive leaders aiming for pleasant, equal workplaces, and directive leaders focusing on setting clear expectations and standards. Let’s explore a case study illustrating the evolution of a manager’s relationship with his team due to organizational dynamics.

Kevin, a manager at a quickly growing tech company, was initially successful in building positive relationships with the three junior developers under his leadership. Scoring high on the LPC scale, his sense of fulfillment was closely tied to the strength of these professional bonds (PSU, 2023). However, the company’s escalating success necessitated an expansion of his team, leading to a more diverse array of experiences and expectations for the team. Kevin remained committed to maintaining amicable relations with all team members, new and old alike. However, he soon found that two of the original junior developers were struggling with the increased demands of the expanding company. Kevin, drawing upon the principles of the Path-Goal Theory, wanted to address this by facilitating their enrollment in a mid-level coding bootcamp. This strategy was intended not only to bolster their technical competencies, but also to smooth the path of their professional journey, aligning with the Path-Goal Theory’s emphasis on removing obstacles and fostering goal attainment (Northouse, 2022). To encourage their participation, Kevin successfully negotiated with the upper management to provide time off as an incentive for their skill enhancement.

Despite these arrangements, the two junior developers, perhaps thinking of Kevin more as a friend than a manager, declined the learning opportunity. They believed that their existing skills sufficed, underestimating the need for continuous development. As the situation continued to unravel, the upper levels of management presented Kevin with an unfortunate choice. He had to rapidly increase the performance of the struggling developers or make the difficult decision to let them go. Kevin, after exhausting all avenues of support and encouragement, and faced with the developers’ unwillingness to improve, reluctantly chose the latter option. The resulting departure of the two developers severed any bonds of friendship they had with Kevin. A few weeks after, the remaining original junior developer, disillusioned by this event and feeling a sense of betrayal, handed in his resignation. He stated that the dismissal of his colleagues was the primary reason for his departure, and was opting to join them at another company. This departure was particularly impactful, as this developer held extensive knowledge of the product’s workings, leaving a significant void in the team.

Kevin found himself at a crossroads, reflecting deeply on the balance between being approachable and maintaining the necessary authority. He acknowledged the need to reconsider his leadership style, incorporating a more directive leadership style to ensure the clarity of expectations and alignment of goals (Northouse, 2022). This shift was not a direct transition from the supportive leadership style, but rather an adaptation to ensure he could incorporate both styles to better balance friendliness and managerial decisiveness, as is allowed and even encouraged by the Path-Goal Theory (Northouse, 2022).

Kevin’s journey emphasizes the fragile balance that every manager must navigate, showcasing the importance of adopting a leadership approach that skillfully blends the merits of both friendship and authority. In a final analysis, managers, when confronted with important decisions, are obligated to prioritize the overarching goals of the organization. The Path-Goal Theory supports the removal of barriers to employee success (Northouse, 2022), yet Kevin’s experience underscores the imperative need for a balanced interplay between amicability and authority, particularly for those who are high-LPC leaders (PSU, 2023). In essence, his narrative illustrates the delicate harmony between nurturing interpersonal relationships and steadfastly fulfilling managerial duties, shedding light on the complex dynamics in the realm of leadership.

 

Citations

Northouse, P. G. (2022). Leadership: Theory and practice (9th ed.). SAGE Publishing.

The Pennsylvania State University. (2023). Fiedler’s contingency model – The least preferred coworker scale [Lecture notes]. Canvas@PSU. https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2283258/modules/items/38927185

Ideas on How to Apply Fielder’s Contingency Model in the Workplace

by

Fiedler’s contingency model states that leaders are consistent in their behaviors, such that situations should be matched with a leader (Hamel, 2021). This is opposite to the situational leadership theory, which says that leaders should match their style to the situation (Hamel, 2021). This however, has a unique application when it comes to the workplace. It indicates that leaders should not hold just one single position, but rather should be moved around the organization to where their style matches a situation. This is hard however, as organizations today have managers in charge of certain departments or individuals and leads them across a wide range of situations. There could be a way to apply this to organizations though.

When managers are first brought on to an organization, they should be asked to take the least-preferred-coworker scale (LPC). This scale will help determine what the manager’s general style is (Hamel, 2021). Those that score high on the scale are motivated by relationships, those that score low are motivated by the task. Managers can be categorized by what situations they best work with. Depending on how large the company is, and what types of tasks are most prevalent, is how many managers should be hired with each style. There are two categories of styles, those are score high or low (Hamel, 2021).

Ways for organizations to determine the more prevalent type of tasks, are to look at the situational favorability of common tasks that take place in the organization. There are three factors that go into situational favorability: leader-member relations, task structure, and position power (Hamel, 2021). Leader-member relations has to do with the overall group atmosphere and the feelings followers have towards their leader (Hamel, 2021). Task structure has to do with how prescriptive or vague the task instructions are (Hamel, 2021). Position power is the amount of authority the leader has over their followers, and the ability to give out rewards or punishments (Hamel, 2021). Those tasks that are high in all three factors are more favorable than those without (Hamel, 2021). Organizations that have a lot of moderately favorable tasks should have more leaders with high LPC. Those organizations with either very favorable or very unfavorable tasks should have more leaders with low LPC (Hamel, 2021).

An example that this can be applied to is an ice cream business. In this environment, there will most likely be a lot of highly favorable tasks. This is because ice cream shops tend to be easy going and operate in the warmer months, creating a good atmosphere. In addition, the tasks are very straightforward with employees simply having to operate the cash register and scoop ice cream. Managers also have the ability to fire, give raises, and even give out rewards such as free ice cream. There would be very few tasks on a regular business that are moderately favorable. Therefore, the shop should hire a lot of managers that are low in LPC, and maybe only one that is high in LPC. The ice cream shop will therefore have all of the low LPC managers be their day-to-day manager, and their one manager with high LPC used for tasks that are more ambiguous in nature, such as securing advertisements and spots at carnivals.

Overall, since contingency model holds the assumption that leader’s behaviors are static, the company should hire managers whose style matches the tasks they will most often encounter.

References:

Hamel, R. (2021). Lesson 6: Contingency & Path-Goal Theories

The Departed Followership of the Catholic Church

by

Throughout the “Followership” chapter of our course material (Northouse, 2019), an organization and its leader(s) depend on the dedication and obedience of its followers.  Specifically, the Kelley Typology of followership explains, “believes followers are enormously valuable to organizations and that the power of followers often goes unrecognized” (Northouse, 2019).  Religion, an idea that is built upon the dedication, obedience, and followership of its members, is a perfect example of this typology.  Religious matters have become increasingly prominent in different aspects of an individual’s life, regardless of their religious beliefs or the degree of their followership to a specific church, if any.  For example, elections bring issues to surface that question the distinction between church and state for legislative purposes, a heightened emphasis on diversity and inclusion has brought more acceptance to previously discouraged ideals of a church, and personal experiences may contradict a church’s ideals.  A combination of these factors and more have culminated to a very new wave of religious dedication, essentially a lack thereof.  This relates to our recent course topic of followership, because it is the people who make up a church that allow any religion to surpass changing times.  However, I have noticed from my own perspective just how differently those who were once devout to their religion have grown further from their faith and beliefs with these changing times and dynamic personal viewpoints.  Faith is the main virtue which makes up the foundation of any religion, and is carried out by a church’s followers.  When the leaders of any religion take actions which the followers of that religion disagree with, this is when followership holds the influence in a leader-follower dynamic.  Relevant news stories and scandals coupled with a progressive ideology held throughout the nation or in legislative and political situations have caused followers of the Catholic faith, specifically, to stray from their followership to their faith.  

Many followers of the Catholic faith decided to digress and stray from their faith during the early 2000’s, when the well-known scandals regarding the sexual abuse of children by priests across the nation surfaced, which stemmed from an investigation in the Archdiocese of Boston in 2002.  An article from The Guradian titled “How the Boston Globe Exposed the Abuse Scandal That Rocked the Catholic Church” explained the realities and continuance of these scandals, which were kept in secret by leaders of an organization trusted by a major followership (Henley, 2010).  Many followers of the Catholic church were so distraught that their very own leaders could condone and even try to cover such horrible acts.  While it was only in recent years I learned the true extent of and story behind these scandals, I distinctly remember learning from my mother that our friends and neighbors who attended our Catholilc church were no longer attending, or would be changing to a different denomination such as a broader church of Christianity and not specifically of Catholic denomination.  Priests are seen as such holy individuals of the Catholic faith, with a purpose to be a symbol of Christ and someone who holds their credibility and good-natured respect to such a high standard.  When the followers of the Catholic church saw these men as an entirely different idea of the one they had been following and respecting for centuries, their dedication to the followership dwindled and lost purpose.  Recently, I have come to understand that these scandals continue today by priests of the Catholic church, and while more surveillant regulations to avoid these scandals have been implemented, followers of the Catholic church continue to feel less attached to their faith from knowing that the leaders they once trusted are not proper idols.  

Growing up in my Catholic family, we attended church weekly and recognized the new changes in the Mass as decided by the Pope at the time, Pope Benedict XVI.  As followers of a faithful practice, we obeyed the new order of the Mass and took the rigid orders of this particular pope seriously, heeding to his strict views on such topics as birth control and same-sex marrriage as is denoted in the Holy Bible.  As the years drew on and I was able to meet a diverse array of individuals throughout school and other outlets, my own personal viewpoints on these topics changed.  Peers of my grade school classes and academic clubs who acknowledged their homosexuality felt like outsiders in small town that was guided by opposing viewpoints of same-sex marriage.  Having to attend a service each week that discouraged the way these individuals innately felt about themselves inherently causes the followership to theoretically fall apart.  Even for members of the Catholic church who were not homosexual, but felt that these viewpoint standings on the matter were unfair to those individuals who declared themselves homosexual, decided that any church which taught ideas to undermine their friends and neighbors should not be a church they were going to heed and follow, encouraging these individuals to leave the church as well.  However, there is a reverse effect which has caused a decrease in followership more recently.  Specifically, the current pope, Pope Francis, has publicly changed a major viewpoint held by the Catholic church when he announnced on behalf of the faith that same-sex marraige should be allowed in every place of the world.  While this progressive announcement was rejoiced by so many, those fundamentalists of the Catholic faith began to believe that the teachings of the faith they have followed for their entire lives are now changing direction, encouraging them to leave the church and to stop attending weekly services, as well.  

On a different note of progressive matters, the Catholic church also holds a stern viewpoint on contraception, discouraging women to use birth control and to prioritize the idea of every human life.  With marches and political debates surrounding the pro-life and pro-choice movements, United States politicans have been scrutinized for their personal viewpoint on this matter, because their stance has the power to change legislation and affect the lives of women throughout the nation.  As a female, the idea of abortion was so horrible to fathom while growing up as a young girl and living in a town which held a similar stance as a consensus and as the Catholic church taught us to believe.  After attending college and encountering differing viewpoints, many female friends and peers have expressed that they were also raised in the Catholic church and abided by the teachings we heard each week at Mass.  However, they have since drifted from the faith because they feel that a matter, which is very prominent in political debates and legislative decisions today, such as their own reproductive rights should never be in question and that they should be free to decide for themselves regarding contraception and abortions as they wish. This particular issue and debate topic has brought many followers of the Catholic church, not solely females, to disagree with the teaching they once followed and to disband their followership to the Catholic church.   

Throughout the most recent decades, my personal followership to the Catholic church and dynamic perspective on its teachings has supported the idea of a departed followership to Catholicism, as shown on a greater scale by other individuals.  The leaders of the church should lead their lives with utmost credibility and high moral standards for their followers to be encouraged by and to feel reason to continue in their followership.  However, scandals carried out by the Catholic leaders- which surfaced in 2002 yet continue today and surely occurred before that year as well- caused a major drop in followership number to the Catholic church and continue to do so.  Human rights for all to be treated equally is an ideal held by members of the Catholic church, yet its discouragement of same-sex marriage simultaneously discouraged its members who wish to support their homosexual friends, neighbors, or family to be able to be legally married if they wish to.  Other teachings of the Catholic church are highly debated topics in the mainstream media and are contemplated in legislative decisions, specifically the matter of reproductive rights for women.  While the Catholic church holds a fixated stance that contraception and abortions are not acceptable, Catholic female across the nation have drifted from their church for this very reason.  As explained in the “Followership” chapter of our course material, “Like leadership, followership is not amoral; that is, it is not a process that is morally neutral. Followership carries with it a responsibility to consider the morality of one’s actions and the rightness or wrongness of the outcomes of what one does as a follower” (Northouse, 2019).  

References:

Henley, Jon. “How the Boston Globe Exposed the Abuse Scandal That Rocked the Catholic Church.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 21 Apr. 2010, www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/21/boston-globe-abuse-scandal-catholic. 

Northouse, Peter G.. Leadership (p. 295). SAGE Publications. Kindle Edition.         

The Game of Leadership

by

The leaders you find in sporting organizations can be some of the best leaders you’ll ever find. This is because leaders of sporting organizations, like head coaches, or even the assistants under them, work in high pressure environment that demands a certain level of results. And many a time they are expected to achieve those results without the right pieces. They are forced to work with the pieces they have. So, leaders in these situations have to play to their strengths and avoid their weaknesses. This epitomizes the concept of Contingency Theories, which is the described in the PSU WC lesson commentary (2016) as, “a group of theories, such as situational leadership, path-goal theory, and Fiedler’s specific contingency theory that try to match leaders to appropriate situations”.

 

This past summer I was blessed with the opportunity to work training camp for the New Orleans Saints, and see an amazing coach at work, up close. During this camp I was the assistant to Sean Payton’s assistant. I was given a lot of behind the scenes jobs to do such as filling playbooks, and inventory orders. And I learned a lot about what it takes to properly run an NFL team.

 

So far, we’ve learned about three types of contingency theories, Situational, path-goal theory, and Fiedler’s theory. All three of those types of contingency Theory can be applied to a successful NFL team like the Saints.

 

Situational Theory of leadership is for the short term. Like dealing with immediate problems, such as a game. During the preseason I’ve gotten the chance to see Coach Payton on the field up close. Granted a preseason game is much lower stakes and stress than a regular season game, but that didn’t matter to Coach Payton. I suspect part of the reason he’s such a great coach is because he treats every game like it’s a playoff game. He keeps his intensity high and tries his best to simulate a regular season game as best he can. Coach Payton will look at situations, or have his assistant coaches look at situations and put in the right players and use the proper plays. I think it would be obvious to say that Coach employs a Coaching Style of directive behavior, which is “a high directive-high supportive style. Coaching leaders focus on goal achievement as well as the needs of followers. These leaders still make the final decisions about how goals are to be accomplished.” (PSU WC, 2019, L. 5, Part 2, p.3). With this Method Coach is able to get the most out his players and assistant coaches.

 

Path-goal is a good way to address the long-term situations a Coach may be put in. In most cases it is the whole of the season, with an end goal of a championship. Coaches will set a goal and everything they do during that time period leading up to the intended completion of that goal will be for he purpose of completing that goal. The main purpose of a coach engaging in Path-Goal theory with their team is to motivate them to achieve victory. And according to the path-goal theory introduction from the class lecture notes. “The leader’s actions should strengthen the follower’s beliefs that if they exert a certain level of effort, then they will accomplish a task and if they accomplish a task, then they will achieve a valued outcome”. So a leader like Coach Payton does his best to try and motivate his team to win so they can have a successful post-season.

 

Fiedler’s Theory is best used when maneuvering assistant coaches to get the best results. A good head Coach is a master delegator. They will realize that they can’t do everything. They will also realize that their assistants may be better at certain things than they are. So, a good Coach will put his assistant in positions where they can best manage their own small portion of the game and players.  Coach Payton realizes that “Some leaders are better in some situations and less effective in other situations” (PSU WC, 2016, L. 6, Part 1, p.3). But he must also look at how Coaches will interact with players. He must consider each assistant coach’s LPC or Least Preferred Co-worker. He must do this so that each coach doesn’t have too high of tensions with individual players in a way that may hurt team moral. So, in addition to putting coaches in their areas of expertise, he must also place them with players they won’t be at odds with. It can be a difficult balance, but with enough experience, it can be done effectively.

 

Coaching is a very complicated job, but in sports you’ll find some great leaders, Like Coach Payton. What sets them apart is how they address both immediate and long term issues within their organization. It is important for leaders to know the situation they’re in and act accordingly. If they don’t it could result in the collapse of their organization, or if they are a sports team it could result in a poor season and them getting fired. So, a good Coach will work every angle differently. They will address every situation in the best possible way they can. And when a coach is truly great, they will be recognized by their results.

 

 

 

 

References

 

Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2019). PSYCH 485 Lesson 5: Style and Situational Approaches. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1985970/modules/items/26589487

Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2019). PSYCH 485 Lesson 6: Contingency & Path-Goal Theories. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1985970/modules/items/26589487

Contingency Theory and the Hiring Process

by

With many different types of leadership evident in different businesses, it is pertinent to find the best leader for each respective situation. How should a certain individual be matched to the circumstance? This is outlined in contingency theories, more specifically Fiedler’s Contingency Model. Fiedler’s theory is centered around the notion that “leaders have general behavioral tendencies and specifies situations where certain leaders may be more effective than others” (PSU WC, 2019, L. 6, p. 4). In hiring and implementing new members of management, identifying the key characteristics of normal restaurant situations can greatly improve the effectiveness of a manager through identifying characteristics of prospective individuals. Their normal behavioral tendencies can be indicative of how fit they are for the position of managing the high-end restaurant that is more prone to criticism than other businesses of the industry. There are two major components of Fiedler’s Contingency Theory (1967) – leadership styles and situational variables – that are matched together to help the organization reach its ultimate goals.

Fiedler’s Contingency Model is primarily concerned with leadership styles and the relevant situations (Northouse, 2007, p. 113). Leadership styles are described as either task or relationship motivated. Task motivated leadership aims to reach pre-determined goals while relationship motivated leadership aims to foster close relationships between leaders and followers. In restaurant management, task motivated leadership is prominent as staff members are given clear directions of required customer service to work towards the goal of business profitability. With deciding upon applicants for a managerial position, task-oriented personalities are preferred as they are able to clearly outline and structure tasks for subordinates so that each task is completed in a timely and consistent manner. This also gives a sense of autonomy to the subordinates so that they can individually evaluate if their responsibilities are completed correctly. The follower autonomy allows the manager to oversee all tasks in favorable situations while still being able to handle unfavorable or out of control situations (Northouse, 2007, p. 115). In this particular industry, an applicant that is relationship motivated may not be fit for the position as situations often have certain results of either customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction through proper or improper service. There is little to no grey areas in which personal relationships affect job performance. The leadership styles of Contingency Theory are pertinent in finding the right individual to fit the restaurant business so that outlined tasks are effectively completed and personal matters that may distract from responsibilities are left out of the workplace.

Another integral component of Fiedler’s Contingency Theory are the situational variables at hand. Northouse (2007) posits that there are three factors that are used to characterize situations, “leader-member relations, task structure, and position power” (p. 114). Leader-member relations explain the degree of leader-follower relationships and whether they are cooperative or antagonistic (PSU WC, 2019, L. 6, p. 7).  It is important that leaders and prospective managers are able to cultivate a positive atmosphere in which there is ample trust and friendliness. With the manager and subordinates working closely together and tag-teaming their responsibilities, trust is of foremost importance so that the manager is confident of the subordinate’s job completion and also so that the subordinate is comfortable calling upon the manager when necessary without hesitation. Furthermore, this loyalty and personal attraction towards the leader or manager can help foster stronger autonomy in staff members so that they are more devoted to performing well. Task structures, or “the degree to which the requirements of a task are clear and spelled out” (Northouse, 2007, p. 114), are high in rigidity in this industry. Staff members are given clear and precise instructions that help them accomplish their tasks in a correct, pre-determined manner that is definitively outlined. There is little room for variation and creativity to maintain consistency in service. In hiring a manager, being able to establish and supervise these instructions are important capabilities to take into consideration. If a prospective manager were to provide vague and unclear tasks for subordinates to navigate and problem-solve on their own, consistency is lost and the business will be more open to negative criticism. Position power is the last situational characteristic. This describes the “title of authority or rank, the authority to administer reward and punishments, and the legitimacy to conduct follower performance appraisals” (PSU WC, 2019, L. 6, p. 7). With filling a managerial position, position power is already written into the professional role. In having managerial duties of reward and punishment administration, it is important to match the position to a leader that is capable of such responsibilities even when situations get tense. If a manger were unable to implement disciplinary actions or lacked the authority to do so, weak leader position power will create subordinate misconduct and a lack of respect towards the leader. Northouse (2007) notes that “situations that are rated most favorable are those having food leader-follower relations, defined tasks, and strong leader position power” (p. 115). With each of these three factors describing the workplace situation, it is opportune for the business to find leaders that have a shared alignment with the restaurant’s organization and circumstances.

In order to reach business goals, the business must consider of each applicant’s leadership styles and how congruent they are to the situational characteristics at hand. With a clear definition of what is favorable or unfavorable in workplace management conditions, effective leadership can be defined and directed towards characteristic goals. Fiedler’s Contingency Theory helps businesses outline and identify what characteristics are needed in both leaders and situations for a positive synergistic result.

References:

Fiedler, F. E. (1967). Cognitive resources and leadership performance. Applied Psychology: An International Review 44(1), 5-28.

Northouse, P. G. (2007). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications.

Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2019). PSYCH 485 Lesson 6: Contingency & Path-Goal Theories. Retrieved from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/canvas/su19/2195min-5376/content/06_lesson/printlesson.html

Skip to toolbar