BUS603: Managing People

The Fiedler situational contingency model measures leadership traits with a test that provides a leadership score corresponding to the workplace where the leader would be most suited. The Least Preferred Co-worker (LPC) test asks test takers to think of someone they least prefer working with and rate that person from one to eight on a scale of various traits. For example, the taker is asked to rate the co-worker from Unfriendly (1) to Friendly (8), or Guarded (1) to Open (8). The ratings are then averaged. Generally, a higher LPC score means the person being rated is more oriented to human relations, while a lower score means the person is more oriented to tasks.

The LPC test is not actually about the co-worker; it is a profile of the test taker. Test subjects who are more oriented to human relations generally rate their least preferred co-workers higher, and the opposite is true for task-oriented test takers. The LPC test reveals how respondents react to those with whom they do not like to work, and thereby reveals leadership contexts best suited to the test takers' personality.