Fiedler's Contingency Approach to Leadership introduce by Niramay Satpute
Peter Drucker once said that Management id doing things right and Leadership is doing the right things. They also say that leaders are born, not made. Leadership qualities is something people generally look when they think of hiring employees to their organisation. Any kind of entity, will lose its form and vision without an able leader says Niramay Satpute. There have been many theories on identifying and developing leadership skills in people and many human resource managers like Niramay Satpute have been able to gain knowledge and implement those techniques in their workspace. Once such brilliant theory or rather an approach was put forward by Fred. E. Fiedler at the University of Illinois. He came up with this approach with the help of his associates. This theory was called Fiedler's Contingency Theory of Leadership.
Fred. E. Fiedler believed that people become leaders not only because they have the qualities in their personality but also because of various situational factors and the communication between leaders and group members. On the basis of his studies, Fiedler and his associates came up with 3 major dimensions of the situations that help determine what style of leadership will be most effective. Here are the 3 critical dimensions of his theory:
Position Power:
This point deals with the power of a prospective leader. A leader may be born but, in order to effectively put his qualities into a purposeful activity, he/she needs the authority to give out orders and lend guidance. Furthermore, he needs to get a group to comply his orders. Hence, he needs both position and people to get the job done. In the case of managers, this power of position arises out of organisational authority. A clear and considerable position of power can enable a leader to develop good followership easily than when he does not have a position of power. A perfect example can be that of Hitler's. He could not have achieved the infamous goals of Nazi Germany had he not won the elections to represent Germany.
Task Structure:
Fiedler believed that if the tasks were clear enough, the quality of performance could be more easily controlled and holding someone responsible for the task becomes convenient. When the task is clear, the goal is set straight and the task structure provides enough clarity to the employees. The group members can be held more definitely responsible for the outcome and performances.
Leader-Member Relations:
According to Fiedler, this dimension is the most important of the three from the leader's point of view as he believed that the power of position and the task structure are largely based on the control of an enterprise. This concept is more personal. A leader must be able to gain the trust and the confidence of his subordinates. They must trust him to the extent to which they are willing to follow the leader. This is highly dependent upon the qualities and the style of leadership the leader adopts.
This was what Fiedler's Contingency Theory of Leadership tries to explain. These dimensions indeed prove that leaders don't become one just as they have the desired qualities but also because of the favourable situations in their lives.
Fred. E. Fiedler believed that people become leaders not only because they have the qualities in their personality but also because of various situational factors and the communication between leaders and group members. On the basis of his studies, Fiedler and his associates came up with 3 major dimensions of the situations that help determine what style of leadership will be most effective. Here are the 3 critical dimensions of his theory:
Position Power:
This point deals with the power of a prospective leader. A leader may be born but, in order to effectively put his qualities into a purposeful activity, he/she needs the authority to give out orders and lend guidance. Furthermore, he needs to get a group to comply his orders. Hence, he needs both position and people to get the job done. In the case of managers, this power of position arises out of organisational authority. A clear and considerable position of power can enable a leader to develop good followership easily than when he does not have a position of power. A perfect example can be that of Hitler's. He could not have achieved the infamous goals of Nazi Germany had he not won the elections to represent Germany.
Task Structure:
Fiedler believed that if the tasks were clear enough, the quality of performance could be more easily controlled and holding someone responsible for the task becomes convenient. When the task is clear, the goal is set straight and the task structure provides enough clarity to the employees. The group members can be held more definitely responsible for the outcome and performances.
Leader-Member Relations:
According to Fiedler, this dimension is the most important of the three from the leader's point of view as he believed that the power of position and the task structure are largely based on the control of an enterprise. This concept is more personal. A leader must be able to gain the trust and the confidence of his subordinates. They must trust him to the extent to which they are willing to follow the leader. This is highly dependent upon the qualities and the style of leadership the leader adopts.
This was what Fiedler's Contingency Theory of Leadership tries to explain. These dimensions indeed prove that leaders don't become one just as they have the desired qualities but also because of the favourable situations in their lives.
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