Q

Gemma G. Benelada
“It is a capital mistake to theorize before
one has data.”
~Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
  Leadership is contingent upon the interplay of all
three aspects of the leader-follower-situation
model.
 The four theories reviewed in this chapter share
several similarities:
◦ They are theories rather than someone’s personal
opinions.
◦ They implicitly assume that leaders are able to
accurately diagnose or assess key aspects of the
followers and the leadership situation.
◦ With the exception of the contingency model, leaders are
assumed to be able to act in a flexible manner.
◦ A correct match between situational and follower
characteristics and leaders’ behavior is assumed to have
a positive effect on group or organizational outcomes.

McGraw-Hill/Irwin 12-4 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
  Some leaders may be generally more supportive
and relationship-oriented, whereas others may
be more concerned with task or goal
accomplishment.
 The contingency model suggests that leader
effectiveness is primarily determined by selecting
the right kind of leader for a certain situation or
changing the situation to fit the particular
leader’s style.
 To understand the contingency theory one must
look first at the critical characteristics of the
leader and then at the critical aspects of the
situation.

McGraw-Hill/Irwin 12-5 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
  Situational favorability is the amount of
control the leader has over the followers.
 The more control a leader has over followers,
the more favorable the situation is, at least
from a leader’s perspective.
 Three sub-elements in situation favorability:
◦ Leader-member relations
◦ Task structure
◦ Position power

McGraw-Hill/Irwin 12-6 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
  The underlying mechanism of the path-goal
theory deals with expectancy, a cognitive
approach to understanding motivation where
people calculate:
◦ Effort-to-performance probabilities
◦ Performance-to-outcome probabilities
◦ Assigned valences or values to outcome
 Path-goal theory uses the same basic
assumptions as expectancy theory.

McGraw-Hill/Irwin 12-7 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
  Path-goal theory contains two groups of follower
variables:
◦ Satisfaction of followers
◦ Followers perception of their own abilities
 Followers will actively support a leader as long as
they view the leader’s actions as a means for
increasing their own level of satisfaction.
 Followers who believe they are perfectly capable
of performing a task are not as apt to be
motivated by, or as willing to accept, a directive
leader as they would a leader who exhibits
participative behavior.

McGraw-Hill/Irwin 12-8 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
  Directive leadership
 Supportive leadership
 Participative leadership
 Achievement-oriented leadership

McGraw-Hill/Irwin 12-9 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
  Path-goal theory considers three situational
factors that impact or moderate the effects of
leader behavior on follower attitudes and
behaviors:
◦ Task
◦ The formal authority system
◦ The primary work group
 These variables can often affect the impact of
various leader behaviors.
 Path-goal theory maintains that follower and
situational variables can impact each other.

McGraw-Hill/Irwin 12-10 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.