Fred E. Fiedler developed a widely researched contingency model many years ago that holds that the best style of leadership is determined by the situation in which the leader is working. Although this theory is no longer the subject of new research, it still provides a few useful suggestions for today’s leader. Fiedler’s theory classifies a manager’s leadership style as relationship motivated or task motivated. Style is therefore based on the extent to which the leader is relationship motivated or task motivated.

According to Fiedler, leadership style is a relatively permanent aspect of behavior and thus difficult to modify. Leaders are regarded as having a consistent style of task or relations orientation. Fiedler reasons that once leaders understand their particular leadership style, they should work in situations that match that style. Similarly, the organization should help managers match leadership styles and situations.

The LPC scale measures the degree to which a leader describes favorably or unfavorably his or her LPC—that is, an employee with whom he or she could work the least well. The general idea of the LPC approach is that if you have a positive, charitable attitude toward people you had a difficult time working with, you are probably relationship oriented. In contrast, if you take a dim view of people who gave you a hard time, you are probably task oriented. The message here is that a relationship-oriented leader should be able to work well with a variety of personalities.