Chapter 5 Contingency & Situational Leadership

Question 1

What is contingency theory?

Answer 1

Posits that leaders are most effective when they make their behavior contingent on situational forces (e.g., group member characteristics, etc).

Question 2

Fiedler’s Contingency Theory

Answer 2

The best style of leadership is determined by situational factors.

Leadership style may be either relationship or task oriented.

Leadership style is relatively enduring (i.e., difficult to change).

Leaders should be matched to situations that fit their leadership style.

Question 3

What does Least Preferred Co-worker measure?

Answer 3

The LPC scale measures the degree to which a leader describes favorably or unfavorably an employee with whom s/he could work least well.
Relationship style leaders will describe LPC favorably.
Task style leaders will describe LPC negatively.

Question 4

Do relationship style leaders descried LPC favorably?

Answer 4

Yes

Question 5

Do task style leaders descried LPC favorably?

Answer 5

No

Question 6

What is LPC

Answer 6

?

Question 7

What are Fiedler’s Recommendations?

Answer 7

Task motivated leaders perform best in situations where they either have very high or very low control.
Relationship motivated leaders do best in situations with moderate control.

Question 8

What are the 3 control measures in Fiedler’s theory?

Answer 8

1. Leader-member relations (how well to the leader and followers get along?).
2. Task structure (how clearly are procedures, goals and evaluations defined?).
3. Position power (leader’s authority to hire, fire, discipline, and increase pay of team members).

Question 9

What does Robert House’s Path-Goal Theory specify?

Answer 9

Specifies what the leader must do to achieve high productivity and morale in a given situation.

Question 10

What is Robert House’s Path-Goal Theory base on

Answer 10

Based on expectancy theory of motivation

Question 11

How does Robert House’s Path-Goal Theory say managers should choose a leadership style?

Answer 11

Managers should choose a leadership style that takes into account the characteristics of group members AND demands of the task.

Question 12

What is Expectancy Theory?

Answer 12

Expectancy theory of motivation states that motivated behavior is based upon 3 necessary conditions:

1. Performance-Outcome Expectancy
2. Valence
3. Effort-Performance Expectancy

Question 13

How many leadership styles does House’s Path-Goal Theory posit?

Answer 13

4

Question 14

What are the 4 leadership styles does House’s Path-Goal Theory posits?

Answer 14

1. Directive Style -Emphasizes formal activities such as planning, organizing and controlling. (Works best when the task is unclear.)
2. Supportive Style - Emphasizes concern for group member’s well-being. Works best when tasks are dissatisfying, stressful, or frustrating.
3. Participative Style -Emphasizes group member input to decisions. Works best with well-motivated employees performing non-repetitive tasks.
4. Achievement-Oriented Style - Emphasizes setting challenging goals, pushing for improvement, and setting high expectations

Question 15

Path-Goal Theory: Matching Style to Situation:

Answer 15

Two sets of contingency factors:
Type of subordinate (determined by locus of control and self-efficacy)
Environmental contingency factors, shaped by:
Group members’ tasks
Authority system of the organization
The work group

Question 16

What are the 8 Path-Goal Theory Recommendations:

Answer 16

1. Recognize group members’ needs over which you have influence.
2. Increase the personal payoffs to team-members for attaining work goals (intrinsic and/or extrinsic rewards).
3. Make paths to rewards clear (clarify the path to the personal goal).
4. Help group members clarify their expectations of how:
   a. their effort leads to good performance, AND
   b. how good performance leads to attaining reward.
5. Reduce frustrating barriers to goal attainment.
6. Increase opportunities for personal satisfaction if group member performs satisfactorily.
7. Do not irritate people by instructing them on things they know well.
8. Provide structure and rewards contingent upon task performance.

Question 17

What does Situational Leadership II (developed by Blanchard and others) explain?

Answer 17

Explains how to match leadership style to the capabilities of group members on a particular task.

Question 18

What is Situational Leadership II designed to do?

Answer 18

Designed to increase the frequency and quality of conversations about performance and professional development.

Question 19

What are the goals of Situational Leadership II?

Answer 19

Goals: increased competence, increased organizational commitment, decreased turnover.

Question 20

What 3 variables does Cognitive Resource Theory focus on?

Answer 20

Focuses on three variables for determining the best leader in a situation: leader experience, stress, and leader intelligence

Question 21

What does Cognitive Resource Theory about high stress situations?

Answer 21

Under high stress situations, leader experience is more critical to success than is leader intelligence. The veteran leader will be more likely to have experiences, necessary skills, and knowledge needed to address the problem at hand.
Under low-stress situations, leader experience is less relevant.

Question 22

What does Cognitive Resource Theory about low stress situations?

Answer 22

Low stress and high need for innovation:
Under low stress but high need for innovation circumstances, leader intelligence is far more critical than leader experience in creating high group performance.

Question 23

High Leader Stress:

Answer 23

High Leader Stress:
When the leader is under stress, cognitive resources (of the leader) will be diverted from the task at hand.
Because of this, measures of leader intelligence and group performance do not correlate well when the leader is under high stress.

Question 24

How does intelligence level affect Directive versus nondirective leaders:

Answer 24

The intelligence of directive leaders will influence group performance outcomes much more than the intelligence of nondirective leaders.

Question 25

How is task complexity related to leader intelligence?

Answer 25

Leader intelligence will be more relevant when task complexity is relatively high. It is less important for low complexity tasks.