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contingency 
approaches 
such as: 

Fiedler
's 'psychologically close' and 'psychologically distant' styles 

John Adair
's 'action-centred' leadership model – based on 'situations' or 'functions' 
5.3.1 F E Fiedler 
Perhaps the leading advocate of contingency theory is Fiedler (1967). He carried out extensive research 
on the nature of leadership and found that people become leaders partly because of their own attributes 
and partly because of their situation. He studied the relationship between style of leadership and the 
effectiveness of the work group and identified two types of leader. 
(a) 
Psychologically distant managers
 
(PDMs) maintain distance from their subordinates. 
(i) 
They formalise the roles and relationships between themselves and their superiors and 
subordinates. 
(ii) 
They choose to be withdrawn and reserved in their interpersonal relationships within the 
organisation (despite having good interpersonal skills). 
(iii) 
They prefer formal consultation methods rather than seeking the opinions of their staff 
informally. 
PDMs judge subordinates on the basis of performance, and are primarily task oriented: Fiedler 
found that leaders of the most effective work groups tend to be PDMs. 
Fiedler also argued that the leadership style adopted is relatively stable, and a feature of a 
leader's personality that could therefore be predicted. 
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PART D: LEADING AND MANAGING INDIVIDUALS AND TEAMS 
 
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(b) 
Psychologically close managers
 
(PCMs) are closer to their subordinates. 
(i) 
They do not seek to formalise roles and relationships with superiors and subordinates. 
(ii) 
They are more concerned about maintaining good human relationships at work than 
ensuring that tasks are carried out efficiently. 
(iii) 
They prefer informal contacts to regular formal staff meetings. 
Fiedler suggested that the effectiveness of a work group depended on the