- What is the basis for decision making by leaders; what do they rely on for those decisions?
- Leaders may be intellectually bright and/or experienced, and use rationality and intuition respectively. What are examples of each.
- What are the effects of stress on thinking and intuition?
- Under high and low stress conditions, how might leaders of each style perform?
Although Fred Fiedler's Leadership Contingency Model has received
considerable criticism regarding the means for measuring task and
relationship
oriented leadership, the model still has much utility. However,
Fiedler,
Garcia, and Vecchio have gone on to focus attention and efforts on
additional
aspects of leadership formulated in the Cognitive Resources Theory
(CRT).
This theory examines the role of intellectual and other cognitive
abilities
on leader performance. Surprisingly, these cognitive resources can be a
source of enhancement or liability at times.
Intelligence and experience are two key variables in the theory. Intelligence is one's overall effectiveness as measured by standard IQ tests. Experience includes learned behaviors and skills that are acquired over the years by performing various tasks. These two variables can impact teams performance depending on the level of stress present. Stress is defined as the level of interpersonal conflict and concerns about performance with superiors, or during organizational disruptions as during mergers, reorganizations and transitions.
The theory provides the following hypotheses:
- Leader IQ can contribute positively to team performance when the leader is directive. That is, the group can benefit from the leader's experience only if they follow his/her guidance, especially regarding complex tasks.
- Stress moderates the relationship between IQ and performance. That is, intelligence is an asset in low and moderate stress situations; under high stress, intellectual skills can become impaired and detract from or have no effect on a group's performance.
- Leader experience is related positively to performance in high-stress situations but not in low-stress ones. That is, under high stress a leader can fall back on tried-and-true experiences they have acquired, and thereby help group performance. In low stress situations, they may rely too much on past experience.
- This is a relatively new theory and has not been sufficiently developed or tested, although it seems to have some initial support for parts of the theory.
- Definition and measurement of "experience" is not precise enough, and other cognitive abilities might be included.
- Stress tolerance and the relationship between intelligence and experience need to be elaborated (for example, how will leaders who are both experienced and intelligence affect a group?).
- Other cultures may have other dimensions that carry more weight than intelligence and/or experience.
Premises
- cognitive resources refer to the leader's intelligence, ability, technical competence
- leaders make the best use of their cognitive resources under different situations
- stress is an important situational variable
- use of intelligence & rationality is best under conditions of low stress and high follower support and competence
- use of prior experience/intuition is best under conditions of very high stress