Leadership: My Choice

Management theories provide a good reference point that organizations use to guide their
operations. The Fielder’s Contingency Leadership model measures the effectiveness of leaders
based on how they react in different circumstances. The Normative Leadership model is based
on the concepts of moral principles. I believe that Fielder’s contingency leadership model is the
best model supported by research.
The normative model is restrictive based on its design, allowing leaders to choose one
course of action out of five. The practice of leadership involves more than the five courses of
action and is therefore limited in research. There is no accurate way to predict all the courses of
action available in the discourse of leadership. Organizational environments are constantly
evolving. There is more diversity in culture, politics, sex, and religion. Therefore, the best
leadership models should be dynamic enough to solve the needs of a diverse organization. The
normative model dictates that managers can only choose from self-consultation, group
consultation, delegation, facilitation, or decision. The styles mentioned above are not guaranteed
to solve complex problems of the modern work environment, whether used individually or
collectively.
Management of people is arguably the most challenging test for leaders. They have to
deal with different personalities and emotions while maintaining a leader’s temperament and
judgment. A leader’s quality is tested from time to time by how they navigate situations that arise
in their interaction with people. Scholars have covered vast areas of research where such emotive
interactions are concerned, such as when employees are threatened by job losses, lack of
motivation, and employee conflict. Scholars have also researched different natures of
organizations such as global firms, family businesses and government institution. (Tysen et al.,
2013) investigated the best model of leadership that is applicable in a temporary organization.
The effectiveness of the Fielder’s contingency model has been researched and been found
effective with respect to essential leadership variables power, gender, trait and different kinds of
organizations.
Fielders Contingency model is concerned with the natural elements of leaders. There
have been questions as to whether leaders are born or made. This question becomes relevant
when analyzing a leader’s effectiveness by determining whether individuals can be made leaders
through conditioning and training or in-born talent. The concepts of the normative leadership
model can be referred to by trained leaders and be effective. However, Fielder’s contingency
model usually requires that leaders get creative in dealing with crises. By description,
contingency refers to a situation that cannot be predicted with certainty. Fielder’s contingency
model is therefore researched as a more accurate representation of the natural talents of a leader.

Fielder’s contingency model is best supported by research because it is more widely used than
the normative model. The contingency model is used to match a leader’s best skills with the
situation and, therefore, can bring the best out of a leader (Lussier & Achua 2015). Whether the
leader is task or relationship-oriented, the contingency model incorporates the followers,
situation, and power level to maximize performance. In contrast, much of the scholarly work in
the normative model focuses on the quality of the decisions. The normative model uses questions

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and variables to guide the leader on the best possible decision rather than to maximize
performance (Lussier & Achua 2015).
In summary, both models have been widely researched. Fielder’s contingency model is
the most backed up by research due to its wide application and its ability to measure natural
leadership qualities.

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References

Lussier, R.N. and Achua, C. F. (2015). Leadership: Theory, Application, & Skill Development
(6th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Mpuan, P. B. (2015). The Contingency Model of Leadership Effectiveness.
Tyssen, A. K., Wald, A., & Spieth, P. (2013). Leadership in Temporary Organizations: A
Review of Leadership Theories and a Research Agenda. Project Management Journal,
44(6), 52–67. https://doi.org/10.1002/pmj.21380