Fiedler's Contingency Theory

Fiedler's Contingency Theory is a model that asserts the effectiveness of a leader is contingent upon the situation. Developed by Fred Fiedler, the theory suggests that a leader's style—either task-oriented or relationship-oriented—is largely fixed and should be matched to the favorability of the leadership situation. Not mentioned in the video, the Least Preferred Co-worker (LPC) scale is central to Fiedler’s model for assessing whether a leader is task-oriented or relationship-oriented. Leaders rate their least preferred co-worker on a series of bipolar adjectives (e.g., friendly-unfriendly). A low LPC score indicates a task-oriented leader, while a high LPC score indicates a relationship-oriented leader. Fiedler, F. E. (1964). A contingency model of leadership effectiveness. In Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 149-190). Academic Press.