ABSTRACT
Fred Fiedler’s contingency theory of leadership has developed in an incremental fashion following the course of its research trajectory. In the end it has answered many questions, while leaving a substantial number unanswered as well. The theory is best stated in two volumes—Fiedler (1967) and Fiedler and Chemers (1974), but there are many variations in between and in the years since their introduction. I have given it a three-star evaluation, and organizational behavior in general has bestowed upon it a 4.33 importance rating (see Miner 2005, 2007). Its practical usefulness is in line with its validity, based on the Leader Match applications (Fiedler and Chemers 1984). An extension of the basic theoretical position, in the form of cognitive resource theory (Fiedler and Garcia 1987), is not the major focus of this treatment. It too is given a rating of three stars, with an importance rating of 4.46.
