Leadership

Leadership refers to the ability of one individual to influence others. The influence is exercised to change the behavior of others. The person influencing others possesses a set of qualities which he/she uses to influence others.

It is a group phenomenon. It involves interaction between two or more people.

3 TYPES OF INFLUENCE PATTERNS

Compliance It occurs when people are influenced to do something against their will because they are forced into doing that. People may obey because the repercussions of failure to do so may have serious consequences. Compliant behaviors get easily extinguished when the leader is out of sight. Identification It relates to the situation when people perform what the leader wants them to because they like him / her. People want to put forth the effort to please the person. This liking may be either because the leader is attractive, likeable, acts a role model. Such a leader has charisma and people voluntarily obey him.

Internalization It occurs when followers are convinced that acting as per leaders directions serves their interests best. In such cases the followers pay heed to the managers wishes, trusting her judgment and advice.

Interpersonal role Informational role Decisional role Communication Traditional Management Human Resource Management

Networking

LEADERSHIP STYLES

Leadership style is the typical approach a particular person uses to lead people. The behavior a leader exhibits during supervision of subordinates is known as leadership style. This study focuses in what the leader actually does in getting work accomplished through people. A leader should change his style to suit the situation.

AUTOCRATIC LEADERSHIP

Leaders who adopt this style retain all the authority and decision making power. They do not consider employees suggestions, opinions or views.

They instruct the subordinates on what to do as well as how to do a job

It is useful only when decision has to be made immediately and the time and situation does not permit consultation and discussion. Eg : Adolph Hitler , Saddam Hussain

CONSULTATIVE or PARTICIPATIVE LEADERSHIP

Consultative leaders encourage employees to participate in decision making. The leader listens to subordinates ideas and opinions, but takes the final decision himself. They allow both upward and downward communication.

He encourages his subordinates to express their suggestions, ideas and feelings

BUREAUCRATIC LEADERSHIP

In this style of leadership leaders set certain rigid rules and regulations and procedures. Both leaders and their subordinates follow these rules. They carry out their tasks in a mechanical way, without a sense of commitment towards the organization. Leaders are empowered on the basis of the position they hold.

Followers are promoted based on their ability to conform to the rules.

MUSHROOM MANAGEMENT

In the mushroom management style you get to do all the work that the leader does not want to do. They do not communicate so you are not aware of their plans or anything that might be going on in an organization. Mushroom managers are often too concerned about their own career and image. Anyone appearing as a threat to them will be easily held back.

MICRO MANAGEMENT

The manager in question acts as if the subordinate is incapable of doing the job, giving close instructions and checking everything the person does.
They seldom praise and often criticize.

A minor error is normally taken as an evidence of the persons total incompetence.

SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP There is no one right way to lead and manage all situations. A good leader will find themselves switching between styles according to the people and work they are dealing with.

To choose the most effective leadership style, one must consider:

The skill levels and experience of the members of your team The work involved , Organizational environment.

TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP

Transformational leadership is the ability is to get people to want to change, to improve and be led. While this leader seeks to transform the organization , there is a promise to the followers too. They inspire the team with a shared vision of the future. They are highly visible and spend a lot of time communicating. Transformational leaders do accept that they there will be failures along the way. They are happy as long as progress is made. They are very careful on building trust and their personal integrity is a part of the package.

They are good at expressing complicated goals and objectives in simple terms.
They appreciate and encourage careful problem solving among their followers.

CONTINGENCY APPROACHES TO LEADERSHIP

FIEDLERS CONTINGENCY MODEL

According to this model leadership requirements depend on the situation facing the leader. The choice of the most appropriate style of leadership depends on whether the overall situation is favorable or unfavorable to the leader. The favorability is analyzed based on the following parameters: Leader- Member relationships This parameter depends on the extent to which a leader is accepted by his subordinates. Degree of task structure This refers to the degree to which the task on hand can be performed efficiently. The leaders position - This refers to the power that the leader is bestowed within the organization. A situation is considered to be favorable to the leader if the scores on all the three dimensions are high.

HERSEY AND BLANCHARDS SITUATIONAL THEORY According to the situational theory, the maturity level of the subordinates plays a major role in influencing the leadership style of the superior. The ability of an employee to carry out a particular task and the extent to which he is motivated to perform the task constitutes the maturity of an individual. If the manager gives appropriate guidance to an employee, he is likely to develop the necessary job related abilities in a short time. Since all employees do not have the same level of competency and commitment leaders have to adopt different leadership styles. According to this model, leadership styles can be categorized into four types telling, selling, participating, delegating

Telling- When an employee is low in his ability to perform as well as willingness to perform, the manager needs to adopt the telling style i.e he must constantly give directions to the employee. (low ability-low willingness) Selling - When an employee is low in ability but high in willingness to perform. (low ability- high willingness) Participating- When an employee is capable of performing but not willing to perform the task. (High ability low willingness) Delegate If an employee is capable, and is also willing to carry out the task then the manager can simply delegate. (High ability high willingness)

LEADER- MEMBER EXCHANGE THEORY act very differently towards different subordinates has given rise to the The fact that leaders

LMX theory of leadership.

According to George Green and associates, leaders establish a special relationship with a small group of subordinates. This small group of subordinates is referred to as the in-group while the rest are referred to as out group. The leaders trust the subordinates, who belong to in groups, give them more attention, interact with them frequently and offer them special privileges. The out group people get less of the leaders time and attention. Also their interactions are less frequent. Research has indicated that generally leaders favor the people who have attitudes and personality characteristics that are similar to their own. This theory suggests that the in group people receive high performance ratings and thus obtain rewards and promotions quickly. Research has supported the theory by proving that leaders do differentiate among subordinates not randomly but on the basis of their performance.