Leadership Style

Inventory
Sumit Kumar, TISS, Mumbai

Contents
Project Brief
2
2

Literature Review

3
3

Questionnaire Details

Page 2

Leadership Styles Inventory

Agenda
1

Project Brief

Approach & Methodology

Literature Review

Usage Plan by EY - Process Flow

Resultant Value Additions to Our Service

Offerings

Way Forward

Page 3

Leadership Styles Inventory

Project Brief

Page 4

Leadership Styles Inventory

Objective & Scope

Objective
To create and validate a qualitative inventory to assess leadership styles in individuals in an
organization through pilot testing.

Scope
Deliverables
Leadership style Inventory which can be used in various leadership capability interventions.

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Leadership Styles Inventory

Approach
Literature
Review

Secondary research

Understanding
Leadership
theories

Selecting styles
( variables ) which
are mutually
exclusive

Understanding
available Leadership
styles framework

Arriving at different
leadership styles
that are mutually
exclusive.

Developing a set of
questions based on
different
components of
Leadership Styles

Selecting the
elements for the
questionnaire
Ongoing Literature
Review

Page 6

Administering the
Inventory

Designing the Inventory

Leadership Styles Inventory

Pre-Test

Administering the
inventory on 30
Participants

Gathering Data and

analyzing it

Improvising on the
construct/inventory
basis the output ( if
needed )

Pilot-Testing

Administering the
survey to approx.50
Participants

Literature Review

Page 7

Leadership Styles Inventory

Suggested Model for

Leadership Styles Inventory

Components

Leadership
Theories
and
Approaches

The Model Covers

Leadership Styles
Definition

Various theories and

approaches on Leadership

Selection of various styles

for the
inventory/questionnaire

Analyzing

Leadership
Styles

Development of the
Questionnaire for the
Inventory

Defining

Leadership
Styles
Inventory
Framework

Developing
4

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Leadership Styles Inventory

Selectiing

1. Directing
2. Coaching
3. Supporting
4.Delegating

Research

What are Leadership Styles?

Leadership Styles are defined as a set of behaviour which an individual ( Leader ) uses across various
situations in an organisation setting. Leadership styles help in determining the effectiveness of a Leader.

Outcomes

Character Types
Leader

Their values, attitudes, and beliefs, their position and experience;

Cohesiveness of group, Readiness of the group, Maturity

Groups
Situation

of the group
The situation the nature of the task, the life-stage of the

organization, its
structure and culture, its industry,
and the wider socio-economic and political environment

My Understanding of Leadership Styles

The breadth and depth of Leaders collection of styles determines the effectiveness in a given situation.
It is always debatable to say whether there is one style which is effective. However, the effectiveness
depends upon factors like task , kind of individuals and the situation in which a particular style is used.
Characterstics of the situation are experience of the team, complexity of the task, time to accomplish a
task, risk associated with task.

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Leadership Styles Inventory

Descriptors of the
Leadership Styles
Coaching Style
High emphasis on performance and a low emphasis on people. Assumes that people are lazy, irresponsible,
and untrustworthy and that planning, organizing, controlling, and decision making should be accomplished
by the leader with minimal employees involvement..Relies on authority, control, power, manipulation and
hard work to get the job done.
Laissez Faire Leaders
Low emphasis on performance and people. Assumes that people are unpredictable and uncontrollable and
that a leaders job is to do enough to get by, keep a low profile, stay out of trouble, and leave people alone
as much as possible. Relies on abdicating to whomever will rise to the occasion to get the job done
Democratic Leaders
High emphasis on performance and people. Assumes that most people are honest, trustworthy, and will
work hard to accomplish meaningful goals and challenging work. Strives for a well organized and
challenging work environment with clear objectives and responsibilities and gets the job done by
motivating and managing individuals and groups to use their full potential in reaching organizational as
well as their own personal objectives.
Human Relations Leader
Low emphasis on performance and a high emphasis on people. Assumes that all people are honest,
trustworthy, self-motivated and want to be involved and that a participative, permissive, and supportive
work environment will lead to happy workers that are productive workers, Relies on teamwork, human
relations, participative decision-making, and good harmony and fellowship to get the job done.
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Leadership Styles Inventory

Research

Categorizing Leadership Theories

Leadership Styles are defined as a set of behaviour which an individual ( Leader ) uses across various
situations in an organisation setting. Leadership styles help in determining the effectiveness of a Leader.
Trait Theories : What type of person makes a good leader ?
In this context, Traits are the external behaviours which a leader demonstrates in a workplace. Early trait
theories supported the idea that leadership is an innate, instinctive quality that you either have or don't
have. Thankfully, we've moved on from this approach, and we're learning more about what we can do as
individuals to develop leadership qualities within ourselves and others.
Behavioral Theories : What does a good leader do ?
Behavioural Theories focus on how a leader behaves. For behavioral theorists, a leader behavior is the best
predictor of his leadership influences and as a result, is the best determinant of his or her leadership
success. Major studies include Ohio state University and University of Michigan studies.
Contingency Theories : How does the situation influence good leadership ?
Contingency theories try to predict which leadership style is best in which circumstance.
This theory takes in account the as to When a decision is needed fast, which style is preferred? When the leader needs
the full support of the team, is there a better way to lead? Should a leader be more people oriented or task oriented?
These are all examples of questions that contingency leadership theories try to address.
A popular contingency-based framework is the Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory, which links leadership
style with the maturity of individual members of the leader's team.

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Selection of the
Proposed Theory
Factors leading to the Selection of
Situational Leadership theory

1
1

Allows a Degree of flexibility in which this

leadership theory can be used.

Gives a prescriptive as it tells us in responding

in different contexts and situations
Combines both Task and Relationship
component with Leadership behavior.

Helps in measuring the maturity level of

Guiding Principles

2
2

Context : Defining the Leadership styles

Mutually Exclusive : All the Leadership styles are

unique and mutually exclusive

Simple : Leadership styles in situational leadership

are simple to understand

Exhaustive :It is applicable in virtually any type of

organization, at any level, for almost all types of
tasks, so there are a wide range of
applications for it.

Factors affecting the proper use of Leadership Styles in a given situation

3
3

Personality and maturity of the manager implies that an ineffective manager is using the same kind of style for
every situation. However, an effective manager, evaluates the circumstances and use the appropriate style.

Criticality and Urgency of a particular situation depicts the kind of project on hand, whether it is long-term or
short-term. For eg, A short term crisis project will need a more direction to the team or the individuals rather then
focusing on team development.

Maturity level of the individuals implies the amount of experience which an individual posses. For eg, a graduate
will require more of coaching rather then mentoring whereas an experienced person will be given more freedom at
work from the management.

Maturity level of the team implies that a team which has previously worked together will require a delegating style
of leadership whereas
a newly formed team will require a coaching style of leadership.

Working style and structure of the team implies that whether the team is working from a particular location
or they are working virtually. For eg, a team working virtually requires a more directive style of leadership.
.

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Leadership Styles Inventory

Literature
Review
Books
Leadership in Organisations - Gary Yukl.
Leadership Styles Tony Kippenberger
Leadership : Concepts, Theories and Applications Northouse
Articles & Publications
Manfarde Leadership in organisations
Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional Intelligence. London: Bloomsbury.
Garg, A. K, D. Ramjee, D. (2013). The Relationship between Leadership Styles and Employee
Commitme
Sinha, J.B.P. (1984), "Model of Effective Leadership Style in India,"
Effective Leadership Styles - Kavitha Sethuraman & Jayshree Suresh
Other Reports
Inventory of Leadership styles by Hay Group on Emotional Intelligence in collaboration with Daniel
Goleman .

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Leadership Styles Inventory

Description :

Directing

Coaching

Supporting

Delegating

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Leadership Styles Inventory

Integrating the
Leadership Style Approaches
Leadership Styles can be identified by their style characteristics, an implicit leadership philosophy,
and a set of management skills typical of each style .
Leadership Style Characteristics describe the emphasis a leader places on performance and people
( Dimensions )
Most of the leadership theories had two things in common. They identified two basic dimensions of
leadership and they resulted in four basic leadership styles.
Emphasis
Emphasis
On People
On Performance
Leadership Philosophy describes an implicit leadership philosophy based primarily on a leaders
assumptions about people and the role of a leader
Assumption about Role of
the leader

Assumption about people

Management Skills include the management skills characteristic of a particular style. It is important to be
aware of these skills because any of them could be appropriate to a given situation ( Basis of the
Questionnaire )
Communicating
Planning and Setting
Controlling
objectives
Delegation
Motivating
Decision Making
Organizing
Interpersonal
Relationship
with Employees

Page 15

Approach to
handling conflict

Use of rewards
and Punishment

Performance Appraisal
Leadership Styles Inventory

Developing
Use of Power and
Authority

Page 16

Project Brief

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Leadership Styles Inventory

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Leadership Styles Inventory

Thank You