Contingency and Situational theories

Behavior-based theories presented us with the idea that leaders are either task or relationship oriented. It wasn't until the 1970's when Fielder determined that a leaders effectiveness is dependent upon the situation.   His theory still accepts the fact that leaders are born and cannot change, but they do differ between task and relationship focused. Fielder postulated that the type of leader most desired is contingent upon the situation. The "least preferred co-worker" is used to determine each persons' leadership orientation. In the method, a person describe the traits and behaviors of their least preferred co-worker and in turn is actually describing their favored type of motivation. It gives insight into the person's values and ethics that they will be likely to follow, helping to determine if they are a relationship or task oriented leader. Fielder's model suggest that because leadership traits are stable and unchanging, it is best to adapt the work environment to the leadership type to achieve the best possible outcome. Following Fielder, Kenneth Blancher coined the term situational leadership. This took into account that yes, leadership effectiveness is contingent upon the situation but a person can learn to adapt their personal leadership style for a variety of situations. Unlike Fielder, Blancher assumed that people had the ability to change and could change their tactics based on specific scenario. Blancher also agreed that leaders were task and relationship focused, but they could also learn to be a blend of both and utilize this to achieve a desired outcome. Blancher also added that the leadership style per situation should that into account the employees' commitment to the job or task and the employees' competency to complete what needs to be done. With that, a leaders can use one of four leadership styles or even a mix of them to effectively lead in a situation. The four styles include selling (low support, low task), supporting (high support, low task), coaching (high support, high task), and directing (low support, high task). Blancher differs from Fielder because he know that employee attributes play a big role in a situation and that leaders have the ability to change their leadership theory. Fielder and Blancher both agree that effective leadership is based on the situation and that leaders have a tendency to be either task or relationship oriented.