Student’s Name
Professor
Course
Date
Contingency Theory
According to contingency theory of leadership, a leader’s efficiency can be attributed to the leader’s style; that is whether he or she is relationship or task oriented and also the circumstances that typically control a leader. There exist certain factors that usually describe whether a specific leader or the leadership style that he or she uses will be useful for the specified situation. These factors comprise of the task, the arrangement of the group that is intended to be managed as well as the persona of the leader. The theory is thus used in creating some leadership outlines for organizations. Therefore the underlying assumption of the theory is that leadership achievement, or failure is situational (Lussier and Achua, p.46). Different sub-theories lies under the main contingency theory, and they include Situational leadership, Fiedler’s theory, and Decision-Making theory and Path-Goal theory.
In the above sub-theories of contingency, some variables are common in all. Consequently, these variables might influence the kind of leadership style that is most operative in an organization. The leadership variables that are common to all of the theories include; whether the association among the followers and the leader is an affirmative one, the development levels of the followers and the organization’s culture. Moreover, there is the clearness of the undertaking at hand, amount of time that is available to complete the task, the extent of power provided by the leader’s situation and lastly the speed needed to complete the task.
However, these theories exhibit some differences (Lussier and Achua, p.68). The main difference is the leadership style that is typically applied in the four sub-theories of contingency that ranges from two contingency to seven continuum. Another difference is what is usually changed when using the theory. The leader alters the condition when applying contingency as an illustration for emulation, while in the other models the leader typically changes the behavior.
As a manager, I believe that the decision-making theory is the one that most suits my actions and beliefs. This is because although contingency theories deviate on some facts, they all share a common thread. According to the decision-making theory, effective leadership is contingent on the individuals who are involved, the undertaking as well as on the situation.
Works Cited
Lussier, Robert N., and Christopher F. Achua. Leadership: Theory, application, & skill development. Nelson Education, 2015.
