Dora Lee has just completed and scored the LPC questionnaire given to her during an evaluation exercise. She is surprised when she finds out that she described her least preferred co-worker in relatively positive terms because she recalls being particularly annoyed by this difficult co-worker several times in the past. Based on your understanding of Fiedler's model, you explain to Dora that her LPC score makes sense within the model because ________.

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BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

To approach this question, we first identify the theoretical framework: Fiedler's contingency model links leadership effectiveness to a leader's style, assessed by the LPC scale. A high LPC score indicates a relationship-oriented leader who emphasizes interpersonal harmony and building good relationships, whereas a low LPC score points to a task-oriented leader focused on task completion.
Option 1: 'Dora tends to become very dominating when given ambiguous tasks' This describes a potential task-oriented or controlling approach, which does not fit a high-LPC interpretation and would more likely be seen in a low-LPC profile rather than explaining a positively biased description of a disliked co-worker.
Option 2: 'Dora is usually much more focused on productivity than on developing relationships' This statement signals a productivity or task emphasis, again characteristic of a low-LPC leader, not the relationship-oriented pattern implied by describing a difficult coworker in positive terms.
Option 3: 'Dora tends in general to focus on building good relationships with the other employees' This aligns precisely with the high-LPC profile: her positive evaluation of the difficult coworker, in light of past annoyances, suggests she prioritizes interpersonal relations and uses a relationship-oriented lens in evaluating people.
Option 4: 'Dora has a spotty work history and has tended to switch jobs every couple of years' This is unrelated to her leadership style per the LPC framework and would not explain her unusual positive assessment of the coworker.
Option 5: 'Dora is usually chosen for positions of high responsibility within your organization' This speaks to perceived status or selection, not to her motivational or relational orientation as captured by LPC ratings; it does not account for how she evaluated the coworker in terms of relationship focus.
In sum, the only option that coherently maps onto Fiedler’s high-LPC, relationship-focused interpretation is the third one, since it directly describes a people-centered leadership orientation that would rationalize finding the coworker more positively when evaluating overall relationships, despite past conflicts.

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