Cognitive Resource Theory

Cognitive resource theory is a leadership theory within industrial and organizational psychology, developed by Fred Fiedler and Joe Garcia in 1987 as a reconceptualization of Fiedler's own earlier contingency model. It focuses on how a leader's intelligence and experience shape their reaction to stress, holding that stress is the enemy of rationality because it damages a leader's capacity to think logically and analytically, though a leader's own experience and intelligence can lessen that damage: intelligence matters most in low-stress situations, while experience counts for more under high stress. Originating in studies of military leadership style, the theory has also been applied to other settings, such as the relationship between stress and ability in sport, and it proposes that the leadership style called for in a given situation depends on the degree of stress, situational control and task structure present, with training focused on stress management so a leader's intellect can be used most effectively, and on teaching leaders to take a more directive approach when their own knowledge will benefit the group but a less directive approach when the abilities of group members will contribute more to performance.