Leadership Theories

Contingency Theories
Fiedler Model (by Fred Fiedler)

Leader-member relations
the degree of confidence, trust, and respect employees had for their leader. the degree to which job assignments were formalized and procedurized.

Task structure

Position power
the degree of influence a leader had over powerbased activities such as hiring, firing, discipline, promotions, and salary increases.

Conclusion
task-oriented leaders performed better in very favorable situations and in very unfavorable situations. relationship-oriented leaders performed better in moderately favorable situations.

Only two ways to improve leader effectiveness

First, you could bring in a new leader whose style better fit the situation. (replacement of relationship-oriented leader by task-oriented leader) Second, change the situation to fit the leader. (relationshiporiented into task-oriented by restructuring tasks or increasing or decreasing the power that the leader had over factors such as salary increases, promotion, and disciplinary actions)

Situational Leadership Theory (by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard) Situational Leadership Theory (SLT) focuses on followers readiness. The emphasis on the followers in leadership effectiveness reflects the reality that it is the followers who accept or reject the leader.

Regardless of what the leader does, effectiveness depends on the actions of his or her followers.
This is an important dimension that has been overlooked or underemphasized in most leadership theories. Readiness refers to the extent to which people have the ability and willingness to accomplish a specific task.

SLT uses the same two leadership dimensions that Fiedler identified: task and relationship behaviours. A step further by considering each as either high or low and then combining them into four specific leadership styles:
Telling (high task-low relationship): The leader defines roles and tells people what, how, when, and where to do various tasks. Selling (high task-high relationship): The leader provides both directive and supportive behaviour. Participating (low task-high relationship): The leader and follower share in decision making; the main role of the leader is facilitating and communicating. Delegating (low task-low relationship): The leader provides little direction or support.

The SLT says if followers are unable and unwilling to do a task, the leader needs to give clear and specific directions; if followers are unable and willing, the leader needs to display high task orientation to compensate for the followers lack of ability and high relationship orientation to get followers to buy into the leaders desires; if followers are able and unwilling, the leader needs to use a supportive and participative style; and if employees are both able and willing, the leader doesnt need to do much.

Leader Participation Model (by Victor Vroom and Phillip Yetton) Relates leadership behaviour and participation in decision making. Leader behaviour must adjust to reflect the task structure whether it was routine, non-routine, or in between. The model has changed as research continues to provide additional insights into effective leadership style.
A current model reflects how and with whom decisions are made and uses variations of the same five leadership styles identified in the original model.

Leadership Styles in the Vroom Leader Participation Model (original)

Decide: Leader makes the decision alone and either announces or sells it to group. Consult Individually: Leader presents the problem to group members individually, gets their suggestions, and then makes the decision. Consult Group: Leader presents the problem to group members in a meeting, gets their suggestions, and them makes the decision. Facilitate: Leader presents the problem to the group in a meeting and, acting as facilitator, defines the problem and the boundaries within a decision must be made. Delegate: Leader permits the group to make the decision within prescribed limits.

It also expands upon the decision-making contingencies leaders look at in determining what leadership style would be most effective. These contingencies - decision significance, importance of commitment, leader expertise, likelihood of commitment, group support, group expertise, and team competence are either present or absent. The current leader participation model
the Time-Driven Model, is short-term in its orientation and concerned with making effective decisions with minimum cost. the Development-Driven Model emphasizes making effective decisions with maximum employee development outcomes and places no value on time.

Path-Goal Model (by Robert House) One of the most respected approaches to understanding leadership. The path-goal theory states that its the leaders job to assist his or her followers in attaining their goals and to provide the direction or support needed to ensure that their goals are compatible with the overall objectives of the group or organization. The term path-goal is derived from the belief that effective leaders clarify the path to help their followers get from where they are to the achievement of their work goals and make the journey along the path easier by reducing roadbacks and pitfalls.

House identified four leadership behaviours:

Directive leader: Lets subordinates know whats expected of them, schedules work to be done, and gives specific guidance on how to accomplish tasks. Supportive leader: Is friendly and shows concern for the needs of followers. Participative leader: Consults with group members and uses their suggestions before making a decision. Achievement-oriented leader: Sets challenging goals and expects followers to perform at their highest level.

Path-goal theory assumes that the same leader can display any or all of these leadership styles depending on the situation.

Environment Contingency Factors Task Structure Formal Authority System Work Group Leader Behaviour Directive Supportive Participative Achievement Oriented Outcomes Performance Satisfaction

Subordinate Contingency Factors Locus of Control Experience Perceived Ability

Some predictions from path-goal theory are: Directive leadership leads to greater satisfaction when tasks are ambiguous or stressful than when they are highly structured and well laid out. Supportive leadership results in high employee performance and satisfaction when subordinates are performing structured tasks. Directive leadership is likely to be perceived as redundant among subordinates with high perceived ability or with considerable experience. The clearer and more bureaucratic the formal authority relationships, the more leaders should exhibit supportive behaviour and deemphasize directive behaviour.

Directive leadership will lead to higher employee satisfaction when there is substantive conflict within a work group. Subordinates with an internal locus of control will be more satisfied with a participative style. Subordinates with an external locus of control will be more satisfied with directive style. Achievement-oriented leadership will increase subordinates expectancies that effort will lead to high performance when tasks are ambiguously structured.

Cutting-Edge Approaches to Leadership

Latest views of leadership in organizations

Three contemporary approaches to leadership

1. Transformational-Transactional Leadership
Transactional leaders Leaders who guide or motivate their followers in the direction of established goals by clarifying role and task requirement. Transformational leaders Leaders who provide individualized consideration and intellectual stimulation, and who possess charisma.

2. Charismatic-Visionary Leadership
Charismatic leader An enthusiastic, self-confident leader whose personality and actions influence people to behave in certain ways. The most comprehensive analysis identified five personal characteristics of a charismatic leader that differentiate charismatic leaders form non-charismatic ones:
They have vision They are able to articulate that vision They are willing to take risks to achieve that vision They are sensitive to both environmental constraints and followers needs, and

They exhibit behaviours that are out of the ordinary.

2. Charismatic-Visionary Leadership
Visionary leadership The ability to create and articulate a realistic, credible, and attractive vision of the future that improves upon the present situation.
Vision is often linked with charismatic leadership. A vision should offer clear and compelling imagery that taps into peoples emotions and inspires enthusiasm to pursue the organizations goals. It should be able to generate possibilities that are inspirational and unique and offer new ways of doing things that are clearly better for the organization and its members.

Visions that are clearly articulated and have powerful imagery are easily grasped and accepted. Once vision is identified, these leaders appear to have three qualities that are related to effectives in their visionary roles:
First is the ability to explain the vision to others by making the vision clear in terms of required goals and actions through clear oral and written communication. The second skill is the ability to express the vision not just verbally but through behaviour, which requires behaving in ways that continually covey and reinforce the vision. The third skill visionary leaders need is the ability to extend or apply the vision to different leadership contexts.

3. Team Leadership

The challenge for many managers is learning how to become an effective team leader.
They have to learn skills such as
having the patience to share information, being able to trust others and to give up authority, and understanding when to intervene.

A more meaningful way to describe the team leaders job is to focus on two priorities:
(1) managing the teams external boundary and (2) facilitating the team process.

These priorities entail four specific leadership roles:

Coach

Liaison with External Constituencies

Conflict Manager

Team Leader Roles Team Leader

Troubleshooter

Issues Governing Leadership

Organizations need effective leaders. Two issues pertinent to becoming an effective leader are leader training and recognizing that sometimes being an effective leader means not leading. Leader Training Some people dont have what it takes to be a leader.
For instance, evidence indicates that leadership training is more likely to be successful with individuals who are high self-monitors than with low self-monitors. Such individuals have the flexibility to change their behaviour as different situations may require.

Organizations may find that individuals with higher levels of a trait called motivation to lead are more receptive to leadership development opportunities. It may be a bit optimistic to think that vision-creation can be taught, but implementation skills can be taught. People can be trained to develop an understanding about content themes critical to effective visions. Skills for trust building and mentoring can also be taught. Leaders can be taught situational analysis skills. They can learn
how to evaluate situations, how to modify situations to make them fit better with their style, and how to assess which leader behaviours might be most effective in given situations.

Sometimes Leadership is Irrelevant Leadership may not always be important! Certain individual, job, and organizational variables can act as substitutes for leadership, negating the influence of the leaders. For instance, follower characteristics such as experience, training, professional orientation, or need for independence can neutralize the effect of leadership. These characteristics can replace the employees need for a leaders support or ability to create structure and reduce task ambiguity.