Hersey and Blanchard theory of Situational leadership

Limitations of Hersey and Blanchard theory of situational leadership 
●There are people who possess the appropriate knowledge and skills and appear to be the most suitable leaders in a given situation, but who do not emerge as effective leaders

●It does not explain fully the Interpersonal behavior or different styles of leadership and their effect on members of the group 


●In any organization,it is not usually practical to allow the situation continually to determine who should act as the leader


Contingency Models 
Contingency theories provide another general approach to the study of leadership. These theories are based on the belief that there is no single style of leadership appropriate to all situations. 

Fiedler's  Contingency Model
Leadership behavior is dependent upon the favorability of the leadership situation. Leadership style will vary as the favorability of the leadership varies. 

Least preferred co-worker  (LPC)
The leadership style of the leader thus fixed and measured by what he calls the least preferred co-worker  (LPC)scale asks a leader to think of all the people leadership orientation. The PLC scale asks a leader to think of all the people with whom they have ever worked and then describe the person with whom they have worked least well using a series of bipolar scales of 1 of 8  

A high LPC score suggests that the leader has a human relations orientation while a low LPC score indicates a task orientation. 


Situational favourableness 
According to Fiedler there is no ideal leader.Both low -LPC  (task-oriented ) and high -LPC  (relationship -oriented ) leaders can be effective if their leadership orientation fits the appropriate situations for effectiveness.  Three situational components determine the favourableness or situational control:


●Leader-member relations:How much the leader is trusted and liked by group members and the willingness of the members to follow the leader.

●Task structure : How clearly the tasks are defined and the extent to which they can be carried out by detailed instruction. 

●Position power : The power the leader has as a result of position in the hierarchy and the amount of authority the leader can exercise over rewards and punishments.

When there is a good leader-member relation a highly structured task and high leader position power the situation is considered a "favorable situation ". Fiedler found that low -LPC leaders are more effective in extremely favourable or unfavourable situations whereas high-LPC leaders perform best in situations with intermediate favourability.


Criticisms 
●Researchers often find that Fiedler's Contingency Theory falls short on flexibility 

●LPC scores can fail to reflect the personality traits they are supposed to reflect.

●The theory implies that the only alternative for an unalterable mismatch of leader orientation and an unfavourable situation is changing the leader.

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