Leadership is the accomplishment of a task through controlling human helpers. A commander is a person who skilfully organizes his human colleagues to accomplish specific goals. A great commander can do this daily, every year, in various situations. It makes sense that there are diverse commandership styles because there are so many people in the workplace with varied personalities and degrees of expertise. According to the contingency hypothesis, the optimal way to manage a team or make decisions depends on the situation.
A business framework called Fiedler's Contingency Model of Leadership assesses a commander's performance inside a company. Fiedler's Contingency Model of Leadership states that a commander's performance depends on the circumstances. According to the framework, there are many leadership styles. This approach is based on the idea that a person's leadership style is a product of their life experiences and is very hard to change. The company should tailor a certain leadership style to a given situation rather than attempting to change one's leadership style. According to Fiedler, the correct commander should be selected for each task based on their skill set and the demands of the circumstance. Each commander must first identify their natural leadership style to match situations with them effectively. They must next assess whether their management approach is appropriate for the circumstance. Fiedler concluded that two elements determine a commander's likelihood of success: the natural style of commandership and circumstances' favourability. Fiedler added that changing circumstances can cause managers to behave differently. Relationship-oriented managers typically exhibit partnership behaviors in unfavorable, immediately favorable settings and mission behaviors in favorable conditions. Similarly, mission managers often have friendship behaviors in good circumstances but job behaviors in unfavorable or immediately favorable circumstances.
The ability of the commander to manage the group situation are referred to as situational favorableness or situational control. More specifically, the extent to which the group commander can affect how members act in the face of the current circumstance. Leadership/Membership Relations. The level of respect, trust, and confidence between the commander and the followers is referred to as the Commander-Member Relations factor in Fiedler's Contingency Model of Leadership. When the commander and members get along well, the commander has much influence over the situation, which makes it more advantageous for the commander. Poor commander-member relationships force the group's commander to divert attention from the activity to control behavior and resolve conflicts. Task Organization. The task structure factor measures how well-defined and structured group tasks are. Group tasks are ambiguous when the task structure is low (unstructured) and there is no obvious solution or the best way to achieve the goal. Power Commander Position: The commander's influence over the group, or the extent to which the commander may reward or penalize the group's members, is measured by the commander position power factor. The extent to which the commander can manage the situation increases with authority.
Determine your management style. Check your LPC score to see how you rank. People you work with now or have worked with in the past might help you gauge your performance. Whether you have already served as a commander is relevant to this test. Describe the circumstance. Think about how you and your team members interact, how tasks are organized, and how much control you currently have. Chief executive officers (CEOs) and senior managers are typically strong commanders because they have the appropriate amount of authority and the respect of their staff. Next, match the proper situation to your style. According to Fiedler's thesis, you should put commanders in circumstances that best suit their leadership style
Fiedler's Contingency Theory has several benefits, one of which is that it makes it clear when a commander's abilities have the greatest impact. It promotes self-awareness in commanders, a trait necessary for making decisions for a team. It goes beyond many leadership theories that only concentrate on the commander and consider the context. It is simple—LPC and situational favorableness are rather simple to compute.
It is way too strict. According to this belief, you only have a choice to give up leadership if you are powerless to alter the current circumstance. What should be done by commanders who score in the middle of the LPC range is still being determined. Self-evaluation is only sometimes accurate. Even when we try to be self-aware while taking the LPC test, our egos and biases still influence us, sometimes even unconsciously. The notion might demotivate good commanders, especially if they think their situation and leadership style are incompatible when they are not.
You can use Fiedler's Contingency Theory as a helpful guide to determine whether you are managing your team effectively. If your teams are not operating at their peak potential, it might be time to evaluate if you are too relationship- or task-oriented for the job. Remember that even if you are not getting along with your team, you can continue your job. You might support the expansion of one of your company's divisions. Alternatively, it might be time to modify your leadership approach by picking up new abilities. To help you grow as a commander, look into Pareto Labs' online courses.