Self-Assessment – Chapter 14
LEADERSHIP ORIENTATION
This chapter assessment is simply Fiedler’s Least Preferred Coworker Scale.
Scoring
Scoring instructions follow the assessment on page 622 of the text. Your score should fall between 18 and 96. Once you have calculated your raw scores, open your book to page 463 so you can consult Exhibit 14.8, Fiedler’s analysis of the correlation between situations and leadership styles. Then, read the following interpretation, keeping your assessment score in mind:
The LPC scale was developed by Fred Fiedler to identify a person’s dominant leadership style. According to Fiedler, this style is a relatively fixed part of your personality and is therefore difficult to change. That assumption is the foundation of Fiedler’s contingency theory, which suggests that the key to good leadership is finding (or creating) good matches between leadership styles and situations. Fiedler’s theory assumes that leaders are effective when their work groups perform well, that leaders are unable to change their leadership styles, that leadership styles must be matched to the proper situation, and that favorable situations permit leaders to influence group members.
According to the LPC scale, there are two basic leadership styles. People who describe their LPC in a positive way have relationship-oriented leadership styles. In general, relationship-oriented leaders with high LPC scores are better leaders under moderately favorable situations. If you scored 73 or above, Fiedler considers you a relationship-oriented leader. By contrast, people who describe their LPC in a negative way have task-oriented leadership styles and are better leaders in highly favorable and unfavorable situations. If your score was less than 64, Fielder considers you a task-oriented leader. If your score fell between 65 and 72, Fiedler describes your style as flexible, as being able to somewhat relationship-oriented and somewhat task-oriented.