LEADERSHIP

What is leadership?
Leading people
Influencing people

Commanding people

Guiding people
A Leader Is Someone Who…
 …influences a group of individuals to achieve a
common goal. Key aspects of leadership include…
 Creating and communicating a vision
 Influencing others through use of power
 Motivating task behavior in pursuit of shared
objectives
 Establishing and maintaining group culture
 Empowering others
 Clarifying roles and niche in marketplace
 Making tough decisions with limited information
Managers Vs Leaders

Manager Characteristics Leader Characteristics

 Administers  Innovates
 A copy  An original
 Maintains  Develops
 Focuses on people
 Focuses on systems and structures
 Inspires trust
 Relies on control
 Long range perspective
 Short range view  Asks what and why
 Asks how and when  Eye on horizon
 Eye on bottom line  Originates
 Imitates  Challenges the status quo
 Accepts the status quo  Own person
 Classic good soldiers  Does the right thing
 Does things right
Leaders and Managers

Leaders
• Inspire & Motivate
• Manage People
• Are Decisive
• Create a Vision
Managers
• Are Accountable
• Execute
• Manage Resources
• Plan, organize, direct,
control

Managers who are also leaders

Types of Leadership Style

 Autocratic:
 Leader makes decisions without reference to anyone
else
 High degree of dependency on the leader
 Can create de-motivation and alienation
of staff
 May be valuable in some types of business where
decisions need to be made quickly and decisively
Types of Leadership Style

 Democratic:
 Encourages decision making
from different perspectives – leadership may be
emphasised throughout
the organisation
 Consultative: process of consultation before decisions
are taken
 Persuasive: Leader takes decision and seeks to
persuade others that the decision
is correct
Types of Leadership Style

 Democratic:
 May help motivation and involvement
 Workers feel ownership of the firm and its
ideas
 Improves the sharing of ideas
and experiences within the business
 Can delay decision making
Types of Leadership Style
 Laissez-Faire:
 ‘Let it be’ – the leadership responsibilities
are shared by all
 Can be very useful in businesses
where creative ideas are important
 Can be highly motivational,
as people have control over their working life
 Can make coordination and decision making
time-consuming and lacking in overall direction
 Relies on good team work
 Relies on good interpersonal relations
 Theories of Leadership
TRAIT THEORIES:
 What characteristics or traits make a person a leader?

 Great Man Theory: Individuals are born either with or without

the necessary traits for leadership
 Trait theories of leadership sought personality, social, physical
or intellectual traits that differentiate leaders from non leaders
 Trait view has little analytical or predictive value

 Technical, conceptual and human skills (Katz 1974)

Key Positive Leadership Traits
 Intelligence
 Self-confidence
 Determination
 Honesty/Integrity
 Sociability
 Extroversion
 Conscientiousness
 Problem solving skills
Practical Implication: Trait Theories
 Personal Implications
 Predispositions: Personality tests and other trait
assessments will reveal predispositions
 Development Plans: However, targeted plans
aimed at adapting and learning new behaviors can
be effective ways to develop leadership talent
 Organizational Implications:
 Use
valid measures of job-related traits to select
employees
 Create management development programs
Theories of Leadership

 Behavioural:
 Imply that leaders can be trained – focus on the
way of doing things
 Structure based behavioural theories – focus on the
leader instituting structures – task orientated
 Relationship based behavioural theories – focus on the
development and maintenance of relationships –
process orientated
Important Behavioral Studies
 Ohio State University
 Found two key dimensions of leader behavior:
 Initiating structure – the defining and structuring of roles
 Consideration – job relationships that reflect trust and respect
 Both are important

 University of Michigan
 Also found two key dimensions of leader behavior:
 Employee-oriented – emphasizes interpersonal relationships and
is the most powerful dimension
 Production-oriented – emphasizes the technical aspects of the
job
 The dimensions of the two studies are very similar
Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid
 Draws on both studies to
assess leadership style
 “Concern for People” is
Consideration and
Employee-Orientation
 “Concern for
Production” is Initiating
Structure and
Production-Orientation
 Style is determined by
position on the graph
The Managerial Grid
9,9
High 9 1,9 Team management
Country club management Work accomplishment is from
Thoughtful attention needs of people committed people, interdependence
for satisfying relationships leads to through a “common stake” in organization
8 A comfortable, friendly organization purpose leads to relationship
atmosphere and work tempo of trust and respect
Concern for people

5
5,5
Organization Man Management
4 Adequate organization performance
possible through balancing the necessity to
get out work with maintaining
morale of the people at a satisfactory level
3 9,1
1,1
Impoverished Management Authority-Obedience
Exertion of minimum effort to get Efficiency in operations results
2 from arranging conditions of
required work done is appropriate
to sustain organization membership work in such a way that human
Low elements interfere to a minimal degree
1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Low Concern for production High
Contingency Theories
 While trait and behavior theories do help us understand
leadership, an important component is missing: the
environment in which the leader exists

 Contingency Theory deals with this additional aspect of

leadership effectiveness studies

 Three key theories:

 Fielder’s Model
 Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory
 Path-Goal Theory
Fiedler’s Model
 Effective group performance depends on the proper match
between leadership style and the situation
 Assumes that leadership style (based on orientation
revealed in LPC questionnaire) is fixed
 Considers Three Situational Factors:
 Leader-member relations: degree of confidence and
trust in the leader
 Task structure: degree of structure in the jobs
 Position power: leader’s ability to hire, fire, and reward
 For effective leadership: must change to a leader who fits
the situation or change the situational variables to fit the
current leader
 Graphic Representation of Fiedler’s Model

Used to
determine
which type
of leader
to use in a
given
situation
Hersey & Blanchard’s Situational Leadership
 A model that focuses on follower “readiness”
 Followers can accept or reject the leader
 Effectiveness depends on the followers’ response to the
leader’s actions
 “Readiness” is the extent to which people have the ability
and willingness to accomplish a specific task
 A paternal model:
 As the child matures, the adult releases more and more
control over the situation
 As the workers become more ready, the leader becomes
more laissez-faire
 An intuitive model that does not get much support from the
research findings
Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Theory
Style of Leader

(High)
Low High Task
Relationship and low
and relationship
Low task

Relationship behavior

High
relationship
And High Task
low task And
High
relationship

(Low) Task behavior (High)

Immature
High Moderate Low
Mature

M4 M3 M2 M1

Maturity of follower( s)
House’s Path-Goal Theory
 Builds from the Ohio State studies and the expectancy theory
of motivation
 The Theory:
 Leaders provide followers with information, support, and
resources to help them achieve their goals
 Leaders help clarify the “path” to the worker’s goals
 Leaders can display multiple leadership types
 Four types of leaders:
 Directive: focuses on the work to be done
 Supportive: focuses on the well-being of the worker
 Participative: consults with employees in decision-making
 Achievement-Oriented: sets challenging goals
Path-Goal

Model
Two classes of contingency variables:
 Environmental are outside of employee control
 Subordinate factors are internal to employee

 Mixed support in the research findings

Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Theory
 A response to the failing of contingency theories to account for
followers and heterogeneous leadership approaches to individual
workers
 LMX Premise:
 Because of time pressures, leaders form a special relationship
with a small group of followers: the “in-group”
 This in-group is trusted and gets more time and attention from
the leader (more “exchanges”)
 All other followers are in the “out-group” and get less of the
leader’s attention and tend to have formal relationships with
the leader (fewer “exchanges”)
 Leaders pick group members early in the relationship
LMX Model
 How groups are assigned is unclear
 Follower characteristics determine group membership
 Leaders control by keeping favorites close

 Research has been generally supportive

 Transactional vs. Transformational leaders
Characteristics of Transactional and transformational leaders

Transactional Leaders
 Contingent Reward: Contracts exchange of rewards for effort, promises rewards for
good performance, recognizes accomplishment
 Management by exception (active): Watches and searches for deviations from rules
and standards, takes corrective action.
 Management by exception (passive): Intervenes only if standards are not met
 Laissez faire: Abdicates responsibilities, avoids making decisions

Transformational Leaders
 Charisma : Provides vision and sense of mission, instills pride, gains respect trust.
 Inspiration: Communicates high expectations, uses symbols to focus efforts,
expresses important purposes in simple ways.
 Intellectual Stimulations: Promotes intelligence, rationality, and careful problem
solving.
 Individualized consideration: Gives personal attention, treats each employee
individually, coaches, advises.
 Charismatic Leadership
Key Characteristics of Charismatic leaders
1. Self Confidence- They have complete confidence in their judgment and ability.

2. A vision- This is an idealized goal that proposes a future better than the status quo. The greater the
disparity between idealized goal and the status quo, the more likely that followers will attribute
extraordinary vision to the leader.

3. Ability to articulate the vision- They are able to clarify and state the vision in terms that are
understandable to others. This articulation demonstrates an understanding of the followers’ needs and,
hence acts as a motivating force.

4. Strong convictions about vision- Charismatic leaders are perceived as being strongly committed, and
willing to take on high personal risk, incur high costs, and engage in self-sacrifice to achieve their vision.

5. Behavior that is out of the ordinary- Those with charisma engage in behavior that is perceived as being
novel, unconventional, and counter to norms. When successful , these behaviors evoke surprise and
admiration in followers.

6. Perceived as being a change agent- Charismatic leaders are perceived as agents of radical change rather
than as caretakers of the status quo.

7. Environmental sensitivity- These leaders are able to make realistic assessments of the environmental
constraints and resources needed to bring about change.