Leadership and Change Management

Lesson 3
Date: 20/1/18

BITS Pilani Dr. Swati Alok

Pilani Campus
 BITS Pilani
Hyderabad Campus

Chapter- 3: Contingency Approaches to leadership

Learning objectives

• Fiedler’s Contingency model

• Hersey and Blanchard’s situational theory
• Path goal theory
• Vroom- Jago Contigency model
• Substitutes for leadership

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MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Fiedler’s Contingency Approach

2 MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
 Contingency Leadership Model Variables Within the
Exhibit Contingency Leadership Framework
4.2

Followers Leader Situation

Leader-member
relations
Task Structure
Position power

Leadership Styles
Task
Relationship

4–5
3 steps involved are

• Identify the leadership style (use LPC

score)
• Identify the situations
• Match style with situations

MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Fiedler’s Contingency Approach contd..

Basis : match leadership style with the situation, which is most

favorable for his/her success.
Style can be task-oriented or relationship-oriented.

Task accomplishments,
Clear direction, Set
Standards.

Concern with people

Use: It help leaders to diagnose both leadership style &

organizational situation.
3 MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
 Leadership Style Diagnosis

Least Preferred Coworker (LPC) scale was used for this.

Set of 16 bipolar adjectives used on 8 point scale.
Like. Open Guarded
Quarrelsome Harmonious
Self-assured Hesitant
Gloomy Cheerful
+ve response then relationship-oriented leader.
-ve response then task-oriented leader.
Very favorable – 1 & 2; Intermediate – 3,4,5 & 6; Very Unfavorable
–7&8

4 MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
 THE LPC SCALE: A SNAPSHOT

Source: Fiedler, F. E. (1972). Personality, motivational systems, and behavior of

high and low LPC persons. Human Relations, 25(5), 391-412.
5 MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
How to score the LPC

• Summation of all the scores from the 16 questions

• If score is >=73, the participant is relationship oriented
• If score is <=64, participant is labeled as task oriented
• Score between 65-72 – participant’s style is a mixture of both

6 MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Contingency Leadership : Situations

Situation: three important elements (favorable/unfavorable)

1. Leader-member relations- Group atmosphere b/w leader & subordinate.

Members attitude towards leader and his acceptance.
Trust, respect & confidence in the leader.. Good relation

2. Task structure- how well task are defined (performed by group), clarity and
specific goals.
Task structure is high- favorable situation
Task structure is low- less favorable situation

3. Position power- extent to which the leader has formal authority over subordinates.
PP is high (favorable) - leader has power to plan----evaluate & reward.
PP is low (less favorable) – no power to plan & execute.

7 MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Contingency Leadership - Framework

Situation I – Most favorable to the leader

Situation VIII – Most Unfavorable to the leader

Source: Fiedler, F. E., & Chemers, M. M. (1967). A theory of leadership effectiveness.

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Exhibit 16–4 Findings of the Fiedler Model

16–13
Exhibit Fiedler Contingency Leadership Model
4.3

If the manager’s LPC leadership style matches the situation, the manager does nothing. If the LPC leadership style does not
match the situation, the manager changes the situation to match his or her LPC leadership style.
4–14
Result & applications

Fiedler concluded that task-oriented leaders tend to perform better in

situations that are either very favorable or very unfavorable to them.
He concluded that relationship-oriented leaders perform better in moderately
favorable situations.
Fiedler believed that an individual’s leadership style was fixed; he concluded
that leader effectiveness could be improved in only two ways:
a. Bring in a new leader whose style fits better to the situation.
b. Change the situation to fit the leader.

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MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership
Theory (SLT)

– Argues that successful leadership is achieved by selecting the right

leadership style which is contingent on the level of the followers’
readiness.
• Acceptance: leadership effectiveness depends on whether
followers accept or reject a leader.
• Readiness: the extent to which followers have the ability and
willingness to accomplish a specific task.
– Leaders must relinquish control over and contact with followers as
they become more competent.

MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
 Contingency Theories of Leadership

Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory (SLT) (cont’d.)

– Creates four specific leadership styles incorporating Fiedler’s two
leadership dimensions:
• Telling: high task-low relationship leadership
• Selling: high task-high relationship leadership
• Participating: low task-high relationship leadership
• Delegating: low task-low relationship leadership

MGTS ZC211 BITS -Pilani

16–17
(Hyderabad)
MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Situational Leadership Styles

Telling Style (S1) : High concern for Task and low concern for
people and relationships. Very directive style. How task should be
accomplished ?

Selling (S2) : High concern for both. Explains decisions and gives
followers a chance to raise questions and get clarity.

Participating (S3) : High relationship and low task behavior. Share

ideas with followers, encourage participation and facilitate decision
making.

Delegating Style (S4) : Low concern for both task and relationships.
Little direction or support.

11 MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Contingency Theories of Leadership

Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory (SLT) (cont’d)

– Posits four stages follower readiness:
• R1: followers are unable and unwilling
• R2: followers are unable but willing
• R3: followers are able but unwilling
• R4: followers are able and willing

MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
 Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership
Theory (SLT) (cont’d)
• SLT views the leader-follower relationship as like that of a parent and a
child. Just as a parent needs to relinquish control when a child becomes
more mature and responsible so, too, should leaders.
• As followers reach higher levels of readiness, the leader responds not only
by decreasing control over their activities but also by decreasing
relationship behaviors.
• If followers are R1 (unable and unwilling), leader needs to use telling style
and give clear and specific directions

MGTS ZC211 BITS -Pilani

16–20
(Hyderabad)
MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
 (cont’d)

• If followers are R2 (unable but willing), leader needs to

use selling style and display high task orientation to
compensate for the followers lack of ability and high
relationship orientation to get followers to “buy into “ the
leader’s desire
• If followers are R3 (able but unwilling), leader needs to
use the participating style to get their support
• If followers are R4 (able and willing), leader does not
need to do much and should use the delegating style.

MGTS ZC211 BITS -Pilani

16–21
(Hyderabad) MGTS ZC 211 –21
MGTSZC211 MBA ZG 514 – Leadership andas
Managers Change Management
Leaders BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
 Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership
Model
High relationship High task and
and low task high relationship

High STYLE OF LEADER

S3 S2 High Moderate Low

S4 S1
R4 R3 R2 R1
Able Able Unable Unable
and and and and
willing unwilling willing unwilling
Low High
Task Behaviour Follower Readiness

Low relationship High task and

and low task low relationship

MGTS ZC211 BITS -Pilani

1 MGTS ZC 211 -22
(Hyderabad)
MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Follower focused

Follower’s Readiness: Bell shaped curve is called as Prescriptive Curve. It indicates when each
leader style should be used.

• Readiness is shown in lower part of figure. R1 to R4 Low readiness to very high readiness level.

• If followers is in R1- Leader has to S1(Telling). R2- S2 works Followers lack education and
experience for job.

• Leader provides direction but also seek some inputs from followers. R3- S3
Followers have education and experience required for job But insecure in
abilities and need some direction

• Followers- high education and skills. R4-S4

Leader provides general goal and sufficient authority to do a task.
As a leader you can tell followers how to perform their tasks if they have few skills, little
experience and low confidence.

12 MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Case X

• When president of Harvard university, former U.S. Treasury secretary

Lawrence , tried to use a primarily telling style with followers at high
readiness levels, it led to serious conflict with some faculty members and
eventual demands for his ouster. Lawrence employed an assertive top
down style with followers who think of themselves not as employees but
as partners in an academic making and having say in matters. Lawrence
made many decisions on own that followers thought should be put to
faculty vote. Conflict and vote of no- confidence from faculty convinced
Lawrence to resign .

MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
 House Path-Goal Leadership
Model
Path-Goal
Path-GoalLeadership
LeadershipVariables
Variables

Followers
Followers Situation
Situation
Subordinates
Subordinates
Leader
Leader Environment
Environment
authoritarianism,
authoritarianism, (None)
(None) task
taskstructure,
structure,formal
formalauthority,
authority,
locus
locusof
ofcontrol,
control,ability
ability and work group
and work group

Leadership
LeadershipStyles
Styles
Directive,
Directive,Supportive,
Supportive,Participative,
Participative,
Achievement-oriented
Achievement-oriented

Source: Adapted from R.J. House, “A Path-Goal Theory of Leader Effectiveness,” Administrative Science Quarterly 16 (2), 1971:
321–329.
4–25
Exhibit 16–5 Path-Goal Theory

MGTS ZC211 BITS -Pilani (Hyderabad) 16–26

Path Goal Theory

If employees/subordinates have a moderate degree of skill and show

enthusiasm and willingness to learn, provide them direction BUT also
seek their input and explain your decisions.

Path-Goal Theory : Leaders responsibility is to increase subordinates

motivation to attain personal and organizational goals.

How to increase motivation ?? Two ways:

1. Clarifying the followers path to the rewards that are available.
2. Increasing the rewards that the followers values and desires.

It suggests four types of behavior to do this.

1.Supportive
2. Directive
3. Participative
4. Achievement-oriented

13 MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Path-Goal Model (Cont’d)

• Four leadership behaviors were identified by House:

a. The directive leader lets subordinates know what is expected of them,
schedules work to be done, and gives specific guidance on how to
accomplish tasks.
b. The supportive leader is friendly and shows concern for subordinates’
needs.
c. The participative leader consults with subordinates and uses their
suggestions before making a decision.
d. The achievement-oriented leader sets challenging goals and expects
subordinates to perform at their highest level.

MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Exhibit House Path–Goal Leadership Model
4.7

Situational
SituationalFactors
Factors Leadership
LeadershipStyles
Styles Goal
GoalAchievement
Achievement
(determine)
(determine) (affect)
(affect) •• Performance
Performance
Subordinate
Subordinate(follower)
(follower) •• Directive
Directive •• Satisfaction
Satisfaction
•• Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism •• Supportive
Supportive
•• Locus
Locusofofcontrol
control •• Participative
Participative
•• Ability
Ability •• Achievement-
Achievement-
Environment oriented
oriented
Environment
•• Task
Taskstructure
structure
•• Formal
Formalauthority
authority
•• Work
Workgroup
group

4–29
Leadership Styles

Directive
– The leader provides high structure
– Is appropriate when:
• The followers want authority leadership
• The followers have external locus of control
• Follower ability is low
• The environmental task is complex or ambiguous
• Formal authority is strong
• The work group provides job satisfaction

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MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Leadership Styles (cont’d)

Supportive
– The leader provides high consideration
– Is appropriate when:
• The followers do not want authority leadership
• The followers have internal locus of control
• Follower ability is high
• The environmental tasks are simple
• Formal authority is weak
• The work group does not provide job satisfaction

MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Leadership Styles (cont’d)

Participative
– The leader includes employee input into decision making
– Is appropriate when:
• Followers want to be involved
• Followers have internal locus of control
• Follower ability is high
• The environmental task is complex
• Authority is either strong or weak
• Job satisfaction from coworkers is either high or low

MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Leadership Styles (cont’d)

Achievement-oriented
– The leader provides both high directive (structure) and high
supportive (consideration) behavior
– Is appropriate when:
• Followers are open to autocratic leadership
• Followers have external locus of control
• Follower ability is high
• The environmental task is simple
• Authority is strong
• Job satisfaction from coworkers is either high or low

MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Case XX

Identify is the most appropriate leadership style(s) you should use in this
situation
1.Your employees performs non -routine tasks, such as solving unique
customer problems or special needs with the company’s equipment
2.Your employee is unchallenged by the task
3.An incorrect reward is given to subordinate

MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
 Path Goal theory
Example of Leader behavior Impact on follower outcome
situation

Ambiguous job Directive leadership Clarify path to More effort,

reward improved
satisfaction,
performance

Lack of job Achievement Set high goals More efforts,

challenge oriented

Incorrect reward Participative Clarify followers More effort

needs and change
rewards

MGTS ZC211 BITS -Pilani (Hyderabad) 16–35

Vroom –Jago contingency Model

• Has a time-driven and development-driven decision tree

• Enables a user to select one of five leadership styles (decide, consult
individually, consult group, facilitate, and delegate) appropriate for the
situation (seven questions/variables)
• Maximizes decisions

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MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
 Normative Leadership Model Variables Within
Exhibit the Contingency Leadership Framework
4.8

Followers Leader Situation

Development-Driven 3. Leader expertise Time-Driven
Decision Model Decision Model
2. Importance of 1. Decision Significance
commitment
3. Likelihood of Leadership
commitment Styles
4. Group support
for objectives Decide
5. Group expertise Consult individually
6. Team competence Consult group
Facilitate
Delegate

4–37
Leadership Participation Styles (area influence
by leaders)
Decide
– The leader makes the decision alone and announces it, or sells it, to
the followers
Consult individually
– The leader tells followers individually about the problem, gets
information and suggestions, and then makes the decision
Consult group
– The leader holds a group meeting and tells followers the problem, gets
information and suggestions, and then makes the decision

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MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Leadership Participation Styles (area freedom
for group))
Facilitate
– The leader holds a group meeting and acts as a facilitator to define the
problem and the limits within which a decision must be made
– The leader seeks participation and concurrence on the decision
without pushing his or her own ideas
Delegate
– The leader lets the group diagnose the problem and make the decision
within stated limits

MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
 Determining the Appropriate
Leadership Style

• Decision Significance
• Importance of Commitment (implementation by
subordinate)

• Leader Expertise
• Likelihood of Commitment from subordinate(if
he take decision alone)

• Group Support for Objectives

• Group Expertise
• Team Competence
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license
distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. 4–40
 Characteristics of
the Time-Driven Model

• Focus
– The model is concerned with making effective
decisions with minimum costs
– Time is costly
• Value
– Value is placed on time
– No value is placed on follower development
• Orientation
– The model has a short-term horizon
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license
distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. 4–41
Exhibit
4.9
Normative Leadership
Time-Driven Model

4–42
 Characteristics of the
Development-Driven Model

• Focus
– The model is concerned with making effective
decisions with maximum development of followers
– Follower development is worth the cost
• Value
– Value is placed on follower development
– No value is placed on time
• Orientation
– The model has a long-term horizon
– Development takes time
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license
distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. 4–43
Exhibit
4.10
Normative Leadership
Development-Driven
Model

4–44
Leadership Substitutes Theory

Factors outside the leader’s control

– Have a larger impact on outcomes than do leadership actions
– Include characteristics of the subordinate, task, and organization that
replace the need for a leader
– Can neutralize the leader’s behavior

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MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
 Substitutes for Leadership Variables Within
the Contingency Leadership Framework

Substitutes
Substitutesfor
for
Leadership
LeadershipVariables
Variables

Followers
Followers Leader
Leader Situation
Situation
(subordinates)
(subordinates) (None)
(None) (task
(taskand
andorganization)
organization)

4–46
Substitutes and Neutralizers

• Characteristics of Followers
– Ability
– Knowledge
– Experience
– Training
– Need for independence
– Professional orientation
– Indifference toward organizational rewards

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MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Substitutes and Neutralizers (cont’d)

• Characteristics of the Task

– Clarity
– Routine
– Provision of own feedback concerning accomplishment
– Intrinsic satisfaction

MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Substitutes and Neutralizers (cont’d)

Characteristics of the Organization

– Formalization
– Inflexibility
– Highly specified and active advisory and staff functions
– Closely knit, cohesive work groups
– Organizational rewards not within the leader’s control

MBA ZG 514 – Leadership and Change Management BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Exhibit
4.12 Putting the Behavioral and Contingency Leadership Theories Together

4–50
 Thank you
BITS Pilani
Pilani Campus