Leadership and Decision-Making: The Vroom-Yetton-Jago Model

Up to this point in our study of leadership, there have been multiple viewpoints and perspectives. This text uses the contingency approach and looks at leadership from working within the group and how leaders must make different decisions based on the tasks and situations. The decision tree presented in This text may prove helpful when trying to work out what to do and what leadership approach to take. Pay attention to the Vroom-Yetton-Jago model, which starts at the most autocratic style and moves along a continuum of five scales to a collaborative group decision.

Leadership and Decision Making: The Vroom-Yetton-Jago Model

The Vroom-Yetton-Jago model is a leadership theory of how to make group decisions.


LEARNING OBJECTIVE

  • Apply the Vroom-Jago decision-tree model to guide leaders in a decision-making situation


KEY POINTS

    • Different tasks and situations require leaders to make different types of decisions.
    • There are five different approaches to making group decisions according to the degree and type of follower participation.
    • The Vroom-Yetton-Jago model employs a decision tree for determining the right mode of decision making under different conditions.

TERMS

  • Contingency Approach

    A school of thought on leadership that proposes that there is no single ideal leader or leadership style. Also known as situational leadership.

  • decision tree

    A visualization of a complex decision-making situation in which the possible choices and their likely outcomes are organized in the form of a graph.

  • autocratic 

    Conducted alone and with sole responsibility.

The Vroom-Yetton-Jago model is a contingency approach to group decision making that is designed specifically to help leaders select the best approach to making decisions. The model identifies different ways a decision can be made by considering the degree of follower participation. It proposes a method for leaders to select the right approach to making a decision in a given set of circumstances.

Source: Boundless
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