Relationship between organizational climate and the situational favorableness dimension of Fiedler's contingency model

Abstract

Hypothesized that organizational climate moderates the relationship of leadership motivation with performance in 52 US Army mess halls in a manner comparable to F. E. Fiedler's (1967) situational favorableness dimension. 52 Army stewards in these mess halls completed Fiedler's least preferred co-worker (LPC) measure and measures assessing situational favorableness, while 487 Army personnel rated organizational climate. Results substantiate the hypotheses that (a) Fiedler's situational Octants I, III, and VIII have mechanistic climate scores, while Octant V has an organic climate score; and (b) low-LPC leaders perform best in mechanistic climates, comparable to situations of high or low favorableness, while high-LPC leaders perform best in organic climates or situations of intermediate favorableness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)