Fielder Situational Characteristics

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According to our textbook "Contemporary Management 5th Edition", Fielder identified three situational characteristics that are important determinants of how favorable a situation is for leading: leader-member relations, task structure, and position power. When a situation is favorable for leading, it is relatively easy for a manager to influence subordinates so that they perform at a high level and contribute to organizational efficiency and effectiveness. In a situation unfavorable for leading, it is much more difficult for a manager to exert influence. According to Fiedler, a leader’s behavior is dependent upon the favorability of the leadership situation. Three factors work together to determine how favorable a situation is to a leader. These are: Leader-member relations - The degree to which the leaders is trusted and liked by the group members, and the willingness of the group members to follow the leader’s guidance ,Task structure - The degree to which the group’s task has been described as structured or unstructured, has been clearly defined and the extent to which it can be carried out by detailed instructions and Position power - The power of the leader by virtue of the organizational position and the degree to which the leader can exercise authority on group members in order to comply with and accept his direction and leadership. The help of these three variables, eight combinations of group-task situations were constructed by Fiedler. These combinations were used to identify the style of the leader. The most favorable situation is when leader-member relations are good, the task is highly structured, and the leader has a strong position power. Relationship-oriented leaders generally display task-oriented behaviors under highly favorable situations and display relationship-oriented behaviors under unfavorable intermediate favorable situations. Similarly,

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