Combining all these variables produces a matrix which describes 8 octants:
octants 1-3 are regarded as describing very favourable leadership situations,
octants 4-7 are regarded as intermediate leadership situations; and octant 8
describes a very unfavourable leadership situation. The LPC Contingency Model
octants are described in Figure 2 - 2.
Yukl has identified a number of shortcomings with the LPC Contingency theory
including (i) Ashour’s (1973) critique that the LPC theory does not explain the
causal connections between traits, behaviours, situations, and outcomes and (ii)
the lack of a ‘medium’ LPC category for leaders (the model is based on leaders
being measured as either high or low LPC) (Yukl 2010: 167-168).
Elsewhere, Yukl (1989: 266) discusses problems with the LPC scale’s reliance on
measuring a single leader trait and the lack of clarity regarding the phenomena
actually measured by the LPC scale. Yukl (2010: 168) concludes that the major
contribution of the LPC Contingency theory may lie in its stimulation of interest in
examining situational / contingency approaches to studying leadership.
The Path-Goal Model
Another significant contribution came in the form of House’s (1971) Path-Goal
Model that focused on how leaders could enhance organisational effectiveness by
clarifying the paths that would lead to followers realising the goals that had been
set for/by them. The theory is built upon Georgopoulos et al.’s (1957) path-goal
hypothesis and “...the broad class of expectancy theory of motivation” (House
1971: 322) (including Vroom’s (1964) expectancy-value theory of work
motivation). The path-goal model describes a situation where the leader: (i)
increases the rewards for individuals achieving organisational goals; (ii) clarifies
the paths to these goals; (iii) removes obstacles to the achievement of these
goals; and (iv) behaves in a way which increases subordinate satisfaction which in
turn results in improved subordinate performance. The situational component of
the path-goal theory relates to several specific situational moderators (job
autonomy and job scope) that can influence the effects of specific leader
behaviours.