In this chapter, we discussed contingency leadership theories. Fiedler was the first to develop a situational leadership theory. He situated that leadership styles were based off of one’s personality and behavior. He believed that people have one dominant leadership style and do not change. Personally, I do not agree with that. I believe that a good leader is able to adapt their leadership style to one that best fits their organization and those that work under them. However, in certain situations especially those that increase stress levels the leader may revert back to their most comfortable style or their “natural” style.
The contingency leadership theory uses 3 variables to identify a leadership style. They are the leader, follower, and situation. Time is an important situational factor because time influences both the task at hand and the structure that is put into place. Out of all the contingency leadership theories, there is no best theory for every situation. However, I think the path-goal theory is good and research does support it even though the results are varied becoming of the complexity of the theory. If I were to use one of the theories from this chapter, it would probably be path-goal. It depends on the organization and the task at hand, but as a leader, I would Show followers what needs to be done, how to complete the tasks, and possible rewards for completing the goals.