Fiedler believed that an individual's leadership style is the result of their experiences throughout the lifespan and is therefore extremely difficult to change.
Fiedler developed the least preferred coworker (LPC) scale in order to help one understand one's specific leadership style.
According to Fiedler, because leadership behavior is fixed, effectiveness can only be improved by restructuring tasks or changing the amount of power the leader had over organizational factors (such as salary, disciplinary action, and promotions).
Fiedler expanded his studies outside of the lab and showed the interrelations between adjustment, group performance, and leadership style in a volunteer medical team under different conditions of stress while working in isolated villages of Central America.
[2] According to Fiedler, the ability to control the group situation (the second component of the contingency model) is crucial for a leader.
Leaders who are unable to assume control over the group situation cannot be sure that the members they are leading will execute their commands.
Because situational control is critical to leadership efficacy, Fiedler broke this factor down into three major components: leader–member relations, task structure, and position power.
Both low-LPC (task-oriented) and high-LPC (relationship-oriented) leaders can be effective if their leadership orientation fits the situation.
Leaders in high positions of power have the ability to distribute resources among their members, meaning they can reward and punish their followers.
The organization or the leader may increase or decrease task structure and position power; also, training and group development may improve leader–member relations.
In his 1976 book Improving Leadership Effectiveness: The Leader Match Concept, Fiedler (with Martin Chemers and Linda Mahar) offers a self paced leadership training program designed to help leaders alter the favorableness of the situation, or situational control.
Other criticisms concern the methodology of measuring leadership style through the LPC inventory and the nature of the supporting evidence.
[19] Cognitive resource theory (CRT) modifies Fiedler's basic contingency model by adding traits of the leader.
[2] CRT tries to identify the conditions under which leaders and group members will use their intellectual resources, skills, and knowledge effectively.