MBA 907 - LEADING THE GLOBAL AND

COLLABORATIVE WORKFORCE
Lecture 2 – Contingency Approaches to Leadership,
Leadership Theories and The Principles of Leadership
in the Gig Economy
Developed by Dr Sunaina Gowan

The lecture material contains content owned by KOI and other materials copyrighted by Daft, RL 2022, The
Leadership Experience, Cengage Learning, Boston and Cole, K., Noble, J., Rule, T., Slingo, K. and Worth, B.,
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2023. Leadership and Management: Theory and Practice. 8th ed. AU/Ns.
 Learning objectives
• Describe how leadership is often contingent on people and
situations.
• Apply Hersey and Blanchard’s situational theory of leader style to the
level of follower readiness.
• Apply Fiedler’s contingency model to key relationships among leader
style, situational favorability, and group task performance
• Explain the path–goal theory of leadership.
• Use the Vroom–Jago model to identify the correct amount of follower
participation in specific decisions.
• Explain the power of situational variables to substitute for or
neutralise the need for leadership.

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 Contingency and Contingency Approach

Contingency
• Theory meaning one thing depends on other things

Contingency approaches
• Approaches that seek to delineate the characteristics of
situations and followers and examine the leadership styles
that can be used effectively

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 Comparing the Universalistic and
Contingency Approaches to Leadership

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Meta-Categories of Leader Behavior and
Four Leader Styles

Sources: Based on Gary Yukl, Angela Gordon, and Tom Taber, “A Hierarchical Taxonomy of Leadership Behavior:
Integrating a Half Century of Behavior Research,” Journal of Leadership and OrganiSation Studies 9, no. 1 (2002), pp. 15–
32; and Gary Yukl, “Effective Leadership Behavior: What We Know and What Questions Need More Attention,” Academy
of Management Perspectives (November 2012), pp. 66–81.

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Situational Theory
Hersey and Blanchard’s extension of the
Leadership Grid focusing on the characteristics of
followers as the important element of the situation,
and consequently, of determining effective leader
behavior.

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 Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational
Theory—Leader Style
[Link]

Telling style
• Directive approach that reflects a high concern for tasks and a low concern for
people and relationships
Selling style
• Based on a high concern for both relationships and tasks

Participating style
• Characterised by high relationship and low task behavior

Delegating style
• Reflects a low concern for both tasks and relationships

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The Situational Model of Leadership

Source: Adapted from The Hersey and Blanchard Situational

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 Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational
Theory—Follower Readiness
Low readiness
• Use the telling leader style
Moderate readiness
• Use the selling leader style
High readiness
• Use the participating leader style
Very high readiness
• Use the delegating leader style
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Fiedler’s Contingency Model
[Link]

A model designed to diagnose whether a leader is

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Fiedler’s Contingency Model—Leadership
Styles
• Relationship-oriented leadership
– Concerned with people
– Establishes mutual trust and respect
– Listens to employees’ needs
• Task-oriented leadership
– Motivated by task accomplishment
– Provides clear direction and performance standards
• Measure with a least preferred coworker (LPC) scale
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 Situation
Leader–member
relations
• Group atmosphere and members’ attitudes toward and acceptance of
the leader

Task structure
• Extent to which tasks performed by the group are defined, involve
specific procedures, and have clear, explicit goals

Position power
• Extent to which the leader has formal authority over subordinates

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 Fiedler’s Classification: How Leader Style
Fits the Situation

Source: Based on Fred E. Fiedler, “The Effects of Leadership Training and Experience: A Contingency Model Interpretation,” Administrative Science
Quarterly 17 (1972), p. 455.

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 Path-Goal Theory

A contingency approach to leadership in which the

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Leader Roles in the Path-Goal Model

Source: Reprinted from OrganiSational Dynamics, 13 (Winter 1985), Bernard M. Bass, “Leadership:
Good, Better, Best,” pp. 26–40, Copyright 1985, with permission from Elsevier.

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 Leader Behavior (1 of 2)
Supportive leadership
• Shows concern for subordinates’ well-being and personal needs
• Leader’s behavior is open, friendly, and approachable, and the leader
creates a team climate and treats subordinates as equals

Directive leadership
• Tells subordinates exactly what they are supposed to do
• Leader behavior includes planning, making schedules, setting
performance goals and behavior standards, and stressing adherence to
rules and regulations

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 Leader Behavior (2 of 2)
Participative leadership
• Consults with subordinates about decisions
• Leader behavior includes asking for opinions and suggestions,
encouraging participation in decision making, and meeting with
subordinates in their workplaces
Achievement-oriented
leadership
• Sets clear and challenging goals for subordinates
• Leader behavior stresses high-quality performance and improvement
over current performance

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Situational Contingencies
• Personal characteristics of group members
– Ability and skills
– Needs and motivations
• Work environment
– Degree of task structure
– Nature of the formal authority system
– Work group itself

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Path-Goal Situations and Preferred
Leader Behaviors

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The Vroom-Jago Contingency Model (1 of 2)

A contingency model that focuses on varying

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The Vroom-Jago Contingency Model (2 of 2)
• Situational factors shape the likelihood that either a
participative or autocratic approach will produce the
best outcome
• Tells the leader precisely the correct amount of
participation by subordinates to use in making a
particular decision

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Five Leader Decision Styles

Source: Reprinted from OrganiSational Dynamics, 28, no. 4, Victor H. Vroom, “Leadership and the
Decision-Making Process,” pp. 82–94, Copyright 2000, with permission from Elsevier.

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 Diagnostic Questions (1 of 2)
Decision significance
• How significant is this decision for the project or organisation?

Importance of commitment
• How important is subordinate commitment to carrying out the decision?

Leader expertise
• What is the level of the leader’s expertise in relation to the problem?

Likelihood of commitment
• If the leader were to make the decision alone, would subordinates have high or
low commitment to the decision?

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 Diagnostic Questions (2 of 2)
Group support for goals
• What is the degree of subordinate support for the team’s or
organisation’s objectives at stake in this decision?
Goal expertise
• What is the level of group members’ knowledge and expertise
in relation to the problem?
Team competence
• How skilled and committed are group members to working
together as a team to solve problems?
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Selecting a Decision Style
• Timesaving-based model
– Use when a decision must be made immediately
• Development-based model
– Use when it is important to develop the thinking and
decision-making skills of followers

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 Substitutes for Leadership

Substitute
• Situational variable that makes leadership
unnecessary or redundant
Neutraliser
• Situational characteristic that counteracts the
leadership style and prevents the leader from
displaying certain behaviors

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Summary
• The Contingency Approach
• Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Theory
• Fiedler’s Contingency Model
• Path-Goal Theory
• The Vroom-Jago Contingency Model
• Substitutes for Leadership
• T-P Leadership Questionnaire: An Assessment of
Style
• Measuring Substitutes for Leadership
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Summary
• The Trait Approach
• Know Your Strengths
• Behavior Approaches
• Individualised Leadership
• Leadership Traits during a Crisis
• Rate Your Optimism
• What’s Your Leadership Orientation?
• Your “LMX” Relationship

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Summary
• Why We Need Effective Leadership
• The New Reality for Leaders
• How Leadership Differs from Management
• Evolving Theories of Leadership
• Agile Leadership

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