CHAPTER 8

LEADING

INTRODUCTION
There are times when in spite of great difficulties, jobs
are needed to be done, projects are needed to be
finished on time, and services are needed to be
provided. Employees in the production lines tend to be
irritated by delays in the arrival of necessary production
materials and supplies. Workers complain when difficult
jobs are assigned to their units. When calamities strike,
employees of public works agencies need more that
wages to complete assigned tasks as quickly as
possible. These and other difficulties found in the
workplaces provide sufficient reasons for poor
conductivity. The situations cited require managers with
effective leadership.

WHAT IS LEADING?
Leading is that management function which involves
influencing others to engage in the work behaviors necessary
to reach organizational goals. The definition indicates that a
person or group of persons task with managing a group must
assume the role performed by leaders.
While leading refers to the function, leadership refers
to the process.

HOW LEADERS INFLUENCE

OTHERS
Engineer managers are expected to maintain effective
work forces. To be able to do so, they are required to perform
leadership roles. Leaders are said to be able to influence
others because of the power they possess. Power refers to
the ability of a leader to exert force on another.

Bases of Power
The power possessed by leaders may be classified
according to various bases. The are as follows:

Legitimate Power. A person who occupies a higher

position has legitimate power over persons in lower positions
within the organization. A supervisor, for instance, can issue
orders to the workers in his unit. Compliance can be expected.

Reward Power. When a person has the ability to give

rewards to anybody who follows orders or requests, he is said
to have reward power. Rewards maybe classified into two
forms: material and psychic.
Material rewards refer to money and other tangible
benefits like cars, house and lot, etc. Psychic rewards consists
of recognition, praises, etc.
Coercive Power. When a person compels another to
comply with orders through threats or punishment, he is said to
possess coercive power. Punishment may take the form of
demotion, dismissal, withholding of promotion, etc.
Referent Power. When a person can get compliance
from another because the latter would want to be identified
with the former, that person is said to have referent power.

Expert Power. Experts provide specialized information

regarding their specific lines of expertise. This influence, called
expert power, is possessed be people with great skills in
technology.
The expert power exercised by environmental scientists
was enough to force governments throughout the world to
pass legislations favorable to environmental protection.

THE NATURE OF
LEADERSHIP
Leadership may be referred to as the process of
influencing and supporting others to work enthusiastically
toward achieving objectives. Leadership is expected of any
manager in charge of any unit or division.
One cannot expect to a unit or division to achieve
objectives in the absence of effective leadership. Even if a
leader is present, but if he is not functioning properly, no unit or
division objectives can be expected to be achieved.

Traits of Effective Leaders

There are certain leadership traits identified by
researchers and which may be useful in developing effective
leaders. These traits are as follows:
Personal Drive. Persons with drive are those identified
as willing to accept responsibility, possess vigor, initiative,
persistence, and health. Drive is a very important leadership
trait because of the possibility of failure in every attempt to
achieved certain goals. If a chosen way to reach goal is not
successful, a leader finds another way to reach it, even if it
precedes a succession of failed attempts. This will, of course,
require a high level of personal drive from the leader.

The Desire to Lead. Leaders with a desire to lead will

always have a reservoir of extra efforts which can be used
whenever needed.
Personal Integrity. A person who is well-regarded by
others as one who has integrity possesses one trait of a
leader. One who does not have personal integrity will have a
hard time convincing his subordinates about the necessity of
completing various tasks.
According to V.K. Saraf, integrity means and includes
honesty, honor, incorruptibility, rectitude, righteousness,
uprightness, and similar virtues.
Self-Confidence. The activities of leaders require
moves that will produce the needed outputs. The steps of
conceptualizing, organizing, and implementing will be
completed if sustained efforts are made. For the moves to be
continuous and precise, self-confidence is necessary.

Analytical Ability. A leader with sufficient skill to

determine the root cause of the problem may be able to help
the subordinate to improve his production.
The ability to analyze is one desirable trait that a a
leader can use to tide him over many challenging aspects of
leadership.
Knowledge of the Company, Industry or Technology.
A leader who is well informed about his company, the industry
where the company belongs, and the technology utilized by the
industry, will be in a better position to provide directions to his
unit.
Charisma. When a person has sufficient personal
magnetism that leads people to follow his directives, this
person is said to have charisma.

When used properly, charisma will help the leader in

achieving his goals. With some adjustments, subordinates may
be expected to do their task willingly.
Creativity. Ronnie Millevo defines creativity as the
ability to combine existing data, experience, and preconditions
from various sources in such a way that the results will be
subjectively regarded as new, valuable, and innovative, and as
a direct solution to an identified problem situation.
Flexibility. People differ in the way they do their work.
One will adapt a different method from another persons
method. A leader who allows this situation as long as the
required outputs are produced, is said to be flexible.
There is wisdom in being flexible. It allows the other
means of achieving goals when the prescribed manner is not
appropriate.

Leadership Skill
Leaders need to have various skills to be effective
1. Technical skill
2. Human skill
3. Conceptual skill

Behavioral approaches to leadership styles

Those in position of leader exhibit a pattern of behavior
that is unique and different from other patterns.
There are several approaches used in classifying
leadership styles. They are as follows.
According to the ways leaders approach people to
motivate them.
According to the way leader uses power.
According to the leaders orientation towards task and

Ways leaders approach

people
There are two ways, a leader may approach
people to motivate them. They are:
Positive leadership
Negative leadership

Ways leaders uses power

Leadership also vary according to how power is
used. They are as follows:
Autoctratic leaders - wherein one person has control
over all of the workers or followers. A form of
dictatorship leadership style.
Participative leaders - involves all members of a
team in identifying essential goals and developing
procedures or strategies to reach those goals. It is a
form of the democratic leadership style.
Free-rein leaders - indirect supervision of
subordinates, that allows others to function on their own
without extensive direct supervision

Leaders orientation toward

tasks and people
Leaders may be classified according to how
they view
task and people. Consequently, a leader may
either
be:
Employee oriented
Task oriented

CONTINGENCY APPROACHES
TO LEADERSHIP STYLE
- an effort to determine through research which managerial
purposes and techniques that are appropriate in specific
situations.
1.) Fiedlers Contingency Model
2.) Hersey and Blanchards Situational Leadership Model
3.) Path-Goal Model of Leadership
4.) Vrooms Decision making Model

Fiedlers Contingency Mod

Leadership is effective when the leaders style
is appropriate to the situation.
- Fred Fiedler
Three Principal Factors:
1.) The relations between leaders and followers
2.) the structure of the task;
3.) the power inherent in the leaders position

To be effective, the situation must fit the

leader. If this is not so, the following may be
tried:
1.) Change the leaders trait or behaviors.

2.) Select leaders who have traits or behaviors

fitting the situation.

3.) Move leaders around in the organization until

they are in positions that fit them.

Hersey and Blanchards

Situational Leadership
model
- suggests that the
most important factor affecting

the selection of a leaders style is the development (or

maturity) level of subordinates. The leader should
match his/her style to this maturity level.
Maturity level has two components:
1.) job skills and knowledge
2.) psychological maturity

Development Stage of
Subordinates and
Recommended Leadership
Development Stage
style:Recommended Style
1.) Low Ability + low willingness

Style 1 DIRECTING structure,

control and supervise.

2.) Low Ability + high willingness

Style 2 COACHING direct and

support

3.) High Ability + low willingness

Style 3 SUPPORTING praise,

listen and facilitate

4.) High Ability + high willingness

over

Style 4 DELEGATING turn

responsibility for daytoday
decision -making

Path-Goal Model of Leadership

-

espoused by J.House and Terence R. Mitchell which stipulates that

leadership can be made effective because leaders can influence
subordinates perceptions of their work goals, personal goals, and
paths to goal attainment.

Effective leaders can enhance subordinate motivation by:

1. Clarifying the subordinates perception of work goals.

2. Linking meaningful rewards with goal attainment.

3. Explaining how goals and desired rewards can be achieved.

Leadership Styles
1.) Directive Leadership where the leader focuses on clear task assignments,
standards of successful performance, and work schedules.

2.) Supportive Leadership where subordinates are treated as equals in a

friendly manner while striving to improve their well-being.

3.) Participative Leadership where the leader consults with subordinates to

seek their suggestions and then seriously considers those suggestions when
making decisions.

4.) Achievement-oriented leadership - where the leader set challenging goals,

emphasize excellence, and seek continuous improvement while maintaining a
high degree of confidence that subordinates will meet difficult challenges in a
responsible manner.

Vrooms decision-Making Model

-It prescribes the proper leadership style for various situations, focusing on the
appropriate degrees of delegation of decision-making authority.

Symbol

Decision-Making Style

Degree of Subordinate
Participation

Autocratic Leader
A-1

Leader solves the problem or

None

makes the decision himself

using available information.

A-2

Leader obtains necessary

information from subordinates,
then decides.

Low

Consultative Leader
C-1

Leader approaches subordinates

Moderate

individually getting their

ideas then makes decision.

C-2

Leader shares the problem

with subordinates as a group,

Moderate

obtaining their collective ideas

and suggestions, then decides.

Group Directed
G-2

Leaders shares the problem with

subordinates as a group. Let the
group generate and evaluate
alternative solutions, and then
collectively decides.

High