HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

UNIT IV

LEADERSHIP: DEFINITION, NATURE, STYLES OF LEADERSHIP

 Leadership can simply be defined as the ability to influence others. Leadership is that work
which is done by the leader.
 Leadership is a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and
support of others in the accomplishment of a common task.
 Leadership as the process of directing and influencing people so that they will strive
willingly and enthusiastically towards the achievement of group objectives’.
 It is also defined as the capacity to influence a group towards the realization of a goal.
Leaders are required to develop a future vision and to motivate the organizational members
to achieve the visions.

NATURE OF LEADERSHIP

 Leadership derives from power and is similar to, yet distinct from, management. In fact,
“leadership” and “management” are different. There can be leaders of completely unorganized
groups, but there can be managers only of organized groups. Thus it can be said that a manager
is necessarily a leader but a leader may not be a manager.
 Leadership is essential for managing. The ability to lead effectively is one of the keys to being
an effective manager because she/he has to combine resources and lead a group to achieve
objectives.
 Leadership and motivation are closely interconnected. By understanding motivation, one can
appreciate better what people want and why they act as they do. A leader can encourage or
dampen workers motivation by creating a favorable or unfavorable working environment in the
organization.
 The essence of leadership is followership. In other words, it is the willingness of people to
follow a person that makes that person a leader. Moreover, people tend to follow those whom
they see as providing a means of achieving their desires, needs and wants.
 Leadership involves an unequal distribution of power between leaders and group members.
Group members are not powerless; they can shape group activities in some ways. Still, the
leader will usually have more power than the group members.
 Leaders can influence the followers’ behavior in some ways. In fact, leaders can influence
workers either to do ill or well for the company. The leader must be able to empower and
motivate the followers to the cause.
 The leader must co-exist with the subordinates or followers and must have the clear idea about
their demands and ambitions. This creates loyalty and trust in subordinates for their leader.
 Leadership is to be concerned about values. Followers learn ethics and values from their
leaders. Leaders are the real teachers of ethics, and they can reinforce ideas. It is very important
for leaders to make positive statements of ethics if they are not hypocritical.
 Leading is a very demanding job for both physically and psychologically. The leader must have
the strength, power, and ability to meet the bodily requirements; zeal, energy, and patience to
meet the mental requirements for leading.

LEADERSHIP STYLES
Leadership style refers to a leaders’ behavior towards group members. The different types of
leadership may be discussed under the following heads:

1. Leadership Styles Based on Authority.

2. Likert’s Four Styles of Managerial Leadership.
3. Leadership Styles in the Managerial Grid.

1. LEADERSHIP STYLES BASED ON

AUTHORITY

1.1. Autocratic Leadership

The autocratic leader gives orders which must be

obeyed by the subordinates. He determines policies
for the group without consulting them and does not
give detailed information about future plans, but
 simply tells the group what immediate steps they must take. However, some autocratic leaders
may happen to be “benevolent autocrats.”

Advantages of autocratic leadership

 It is the speed with which decision can be made; the leader does not have to obtain group
members’ approval before deciding.
Disadvantages of autocratic leadership
 Autocratic leadership does have a negative impact on group -morale.
 Members may resent the way in which decisions are made and thus support them in only a
minimal fashion.

1.2.Democratic Leadership
Style of leadership that uses legitimate power can be
classified as democratic leadership.
A democratic leader usually gives instructions only after
consulting with the group. He sees to it that policies are
worked out in group discussion and with the acceptance
of the group.
That means democratic leadership solicits employees’
participation and respects their opinions.

Advantages of democratic leadership

 It often enhances the morale of the employees.
 It increases acceptance of management’s ideas.
 It increases cooperation between management and employees.
 It leads to a reduction in the number of complaints and grievances.

Disadvantages of democratic leadership

 It accounts for slow decisions, diluted accountability for decisions.
 There may be possible compromises that are designed to please everyone but does not give
the best solution.
1.3.Free-Rein Leadership
The leadership style which allows maximum
freedom to followers may be called free rein
leadership. It gives employees a high degree of
independence in their operations.
A free rein leader completely abdicates his
leadership position, to give all responsibility of most
of the work entrusted to him to the group which he
is supposed to lead, limiting his authority to maintain the contact of the group with persons outside
the group. This is also known as the permissive style of leadership.

Advantages of free rein leadership

1. Opportunity for individual development is offered to group members.
2. All persons are given a chance to express themselves and to function relatively
independently.
Disadvantages of free rein leadership
3. It may result in the lack of group cohesion and unity toward organizational objectives.
4. Without a leader, the group may have little direction and a lack of control.
5. The result can be inefficiency or even worse, chaos.

1.4. Paternalistic Leadership

Under Paternalistic Leadership, the leader assumes that his function is paternal or fatherly. His
attitude is that of treating the relationship between the leader and the group as that of a family with
the leader as the head of the family. He works to help, guide, protect, and keep his followers
happily working together as members of a family.
He provides them with good working conditions and employee services. This style has been
successful, particularly in Japan because of its cultural background. It is said that employees under
such leadership will work harder out of gratitude. This mode of leadership produces good and
quick results if the followers are highly educated and brilliant, and have a sincere desire to go
ahead and perform with responsibility.
2. LIKERT FOUR STYLE OF MANAGEMENT LEADERSHIP
2.1. Exploitative-Authoritative Leadership Style
In Exploitative-Authoritative Leadership Style; the manager has no confidence or trust in
subordinates. Subordinates feel no freedom to discuss things about the job with their superior. In
solving job problems, manager seldom gets ideas and opinions of subordinates.

2.2.Benevolent-Autocratic Leadership Style

In Benevolent-Autocratic Leadership Style; the manager has condescending confidence and trust
in subordinates, motivates with rewards and some punishments, permits some upward
communication, solicits some ideas and opinions from subordinates and allows some delegation
of decision making but with close policy control.

2.3.Consultative Leadership Style

Consultative Leadership Style indicates that Manager has substantial but not complete confidence
and trust in subordinates but still wishes to keep control of decisions. Subordinates feel free to
discuss things about the job with their superior. The manager gets ideas and opinions and tries to
make constructive use of them.

2.4.Democratic Leadership Style

In the Democratic Leadership Style, the manager has complete confidence and trust in
subordinates and allows them a direct equal participation in decision making. Subordinates also
feel completely free to discuss things about the job with their superior. The manager always asks
subordinates for their ideas and opinions and makes constructive use of them.

Likert found style consultative and democratic leadership as high producing while exploitative
authoritative and benevolent autocratic as low producing. Likert also suggested extensive and
intensive leadership training at all levels of management to move into democratic leardership as
early as possible.
3. LEADERSHIP STYLES IN MANAGERIAL GRID
Managerial Grid Model is developed by R. R. Blake and J. S. Mouton, which helps Managers to
analyze their own leadership styles through a technique known as grid training. Managers can
identify how they with respect to their concern for production and people with the Managerial Grid
Model.
The two dimensions of leadership, viz. concern for people on ‘vertical’ axis and concern for
production on ‘horizontal’ axis have been demonstrated by R. R. Blake and J. S. Mouton in the
form of Managerial Grid Model.

They identified five basic leadership styles of practicing managers representing various
combinations of the aforesaid two dimensions as shown in the following figure;

Managerial Grid Model is based on two behavioral dimensions:

1. Concern for people: This is the degree to
which a leader considers the needs of
team members, their interests, and areas
of personal development when deciding
how best to accomplish a task.
2. Concern for production: This is the
degree to which a leader emphasizes
concrete objectives, organizational
efficiency, and high productivity when
deciding how best to accomplish a task.
The model is represented as a grid with
concern for production as the X-axis and
concern for people as the Y-axis; each axis
ranges from 1 (Low) to 9 (high). The five
resulting leadership styles are as follows:
(1,9) Country Club Style Leadership (High People and Low Production)
Country Club Style Leadership style of leader is most concerned about the needs and the feelings
of members of his or her team. In. this environment, the relationship-oriented manager has a high
concern for people but a low concern for production. He pays much attention to the security and
comfort of the employees. He hopes that this will increase performance. He is almost incapable of
employing the more punitive, coercive and legitimate powers. The organization will end up to be
a friendly atmosphere but not necessarily very productive.

(9,1) Produce or Perish Leadership- (High Production and Low People)

Produce or Perish Leadership management style is characterized by a concern for production as
the only goal. Employees are viewed as obstacles to performance results unless obedience to the
manager’s wishes is explicitly granted. In this style, the manager is authoritarian or compliance.
A task-oriented manager, he has a high concern for production and a low concern for people. He
finds employee needs unimportant and simply a means to an end. He provides his employees with
money and expects performance back. There is little or no allowance for cooperation or
collaboration. He pressures his employees through rules and punishments to achieve the company
goals.

(1,1) Impoverished Leadership-(Low Production and Low People)

Impoverished Leadership is a delegate-and-disappear management style and basically a lazy
approach. The manager shows a low concern for both people and production. He or she avoids
getting into trouble. His main concern is not to be held responsible for any mistakes. Managers use
this style to preserve job and job seniority, protecting themselves by avoiding getting into trouble.
This leader is mostly ineffective. He or she has neither a high regard for creating systems for
getting the job done nor for creating a work environment that is satisfying and motivating. A result
is a place of disorganization, dissatisfaction, and disharmony.

(5,5) Middle-Of-The-Road Leadership-(Medium Production and Medium People)

Middle-Of-The-Road Leadership is a kind of realistic medium without ambition. It is a balanced
and compromised style. The manager tries to balance the competing goals of the company and the
needs of the workers. The manager gives some concern to both people and production, hoping to
achieve acceptable performance. He believes this is the most anyone can do. Consequently,
compromises occur where neither the production nor the people needs are fully met. The
supervisor views it as the most practical management technique. It is also an outcome when
production and people issues are seen as in conflict. The defining characteristic of this style “is not
to seek the best position for both production and people… but to find the position that is in between
both, about halfway.” When dealing with subordinates, the (5,5) manager prefers relaxed and
shared conversations – these allow’ him to slay popularly. Group membership is also enjoyed as
committees allow’ the supervisor to spread the responsibility for decision-making.

Team Leadership-High Production and High People

At (9,9) Team Leadership, the manager pays high concern to both people and production.
Motivation is high. This soft style is based on the propositions of Theory Y of Douglas McGregor.
The manager encourages teamwork and commitment among employees. This style emphasizes
making employees feel part of the company-family and involving them in understanding the
organizational purpose and determining production needs. This method relies heavily on making
employees feel they are constructive parts of the company. And this will result in a team
environment organization based on trust and respect, which leads to high satisfaction and
motivation and, as a result, high production. In a (9,9) system the manager strives for sound and
imaginative opinions, letting others partake in the decision making the process.
 EMPLOYEE PARTICIPATION
The concept of participation as a principle of democratic administration in an industry implies a
share by rank and file in decision making process of an industrial organization through their
representatives at all the appropriate levels of management in the entire range of managerial action.
In short, Employee participation is a process by which authority and responsibility of
managing industry are shared with workers.

Importance of Employee Participation in Management

1. Mutual Understanding – Generally employer and employees doubt the integrity of each
other due to ignorance of each other’s problems. Participation brings the two parties closer
and makes them aware of each other’s problem.
2. Higher Productivity – Cooperation between management and labour helps to increase
production and profits of industry. Through participation workers learn the problems of
industry and better understand their role. Participation improves employee motivation and
job satisfaction which in turn help to increase their efficiency.
3. Industrial Harmony – Worker’s participation in management helps to reduce industrial
disputes and to improve worker’s loyalty. Continuous dialogue between management and
workers improves peace in industry.
4. Industrial democracy – Participation of workers in management ushers in industrial
democracy which is necessary for political democracy. Need for outside intervention
between employer and employees is eliminated and workers are freed from exploitation.
5. Less Resistance in Change – Workers often resist change due to fear and ignorance. When
workers participate in the decision making they come to understand that change is
ultimately in their own interest. They become more able and ready to adopt themselves to
technological and other changes made to improve the competitive position of the company.
6. Creativity and Innovation – Participation encourages workers to think and take initiative.
Their talent and ability can be capitalized, highly competent employees can be spotted and
given prevention. Participation is helpful in training and developing future executives.
Workers’ urge for self-expression is satisfied.
Advantages of Employees Participation
1. It motivates the other person:
With employee participation automatically comes motivation. When employees are participating
with a group of others in an environment, they will create an environment that is more positive.
The employees may also have the chances of showing more creativity as well as analytical ability.
Such opportunities shall make them all the more motivated.

2. Costs less and handles time:

Another benefit of employee participation is that it costs less time and much lesser money. In fact,
it is one of the most simple and effective ways to handle money without having to waste too much
time. So employers will have much lesser time in order to implement them. And at the cost of such
participation, it will be able to benefit the case of entire success participation.

3. Makes more creative:

The third benefit of employee participation is that it makes employees more creative and
innovative. In fact, these two happen to be some of the biggest and most essential benefits that
come with participative management. By simply allowing a diverse group of people to have input
into making decisions, the organization benefits from the synergy come with a much wider range
of options as well. When all the employees instead of executives and managers have the
opportunity to participate, the chances will also increase at the same time.

4. Boosts influence and capacity:

Employee participation also boosts mutual faith, cooperation, and understanding. In that way, the
employees will hardly have any disagreements with the decisions of the manager. It will indicate
that the manager may easily influence the employees so that various other decisions can be
implemented. When people are participating together and work, they are able to boost capacity
easily and influence each other in a much positive and better way.

5. Proper work environment:

With effective management and employee participation comes a proper working environment. The
manager will listen more to their staff, ask some of their friends for a few opinions and take them
more seriously. Apart from that, the employees will also consider getting themselves into a part of
some organization. This will result in a better and much more positive environment at workplace.

6. Makes a more effective decision:

With effective employee participation, employers will also be able to make better decisions which
help in creating and selecting the best alternatives. For every single problem, different people will
give different kinds of solutions. And that will benefit the workplace drastically. Therefore the
participation shall facilitate the process of decision making.

7. Boosts productivity as well:

The best part of employee participation is that it will boost productivity in the working
environment. An increased say in decision making will always mean that there is a strong feeling
of association now. There shall be employees who will take responsibility of their actions and take
charge of what they have done. The working hours shall be stretched out easily on its own and the
force from the management shall also be handled easily. All of this shall easily lead to and boost
productivity.

8. To make use of human capital:

Co-operative management will not restrict the organizations to exploit the physical capital of such
employees. Instead of making the best use of human intelligence as well as emotional capital, it
will also give all employees a good opportunity to contribute all of these ideas as well as
suggestions which will improve the process of business and create an environment which is better.

9. Meeting the psychological needs of employees:

When the employees have some say in the decision-making process, it will give them some sort
of psychological satisfaction. It will also give a simple force that will drive them towards boosting
and improving their performance, creating a good channel and communication and coming up with
a practical and better solution that can design even better organizational processes.

10. Retaining the best talents:

Another benefit of employee participation is that it will become the most effective strategies to
find talent within the industry. It will also give the employees a sense of pride to have some say in
the process of decision making. Others have been valued by the seniors. They will stick towards
the organization and become much better management partners in meeting a few goals and achieve
better success. Finally, it is the best when it comes to boosting productivity inside the industry.

Disadvantages of Employee Participation:

Unlike the advantages, the disadvantages of employee participation are plenty.

1. Risks of security:
The sad part of employee participation is that it comes with security risks. Typically, this also
means that sharing critical data and information with a larger chunk of employees. Most of the
information is needed to make bigger decisions and is always of a sensitive nature and the company
may have some concerns about the employees that are speaking about it outside the organization
as well.

2. Objections may come from the union:

There could be a few objections from the union as well. There are some labor representatives who
are concerned that the organization shall use the participation of employees or program of
involvement that may deter the employees from using the independent union representation. It
must also be a proper labor practice for employees to be able to establish programs that can use or
even manipulate an existing one with the whole idea of frustrating the efforts of the employees so
that they may obtain independent representation.

3. Management authority that is traditional:

Another huge disadvantage that comes with participative management is that all employees end
up having a hard time when it comes to finding the distinction between employment levels and
management. While removing the defined barrier between the management as well as the
employees, it happens to be a part of the management and purpose, the company will have to
designate the leaders to avoid the potential for uncertainty and chaos of command when the
situations are challenging.
 COMMUNICATION
Communication is the act of imparting an idea or understanding to another person. It covers all
those behaviours which aim at exchanging a meaning and clarifying misunderstanding.

Communication Process
Communications is a continuous
process which mainly involves
three elements viz. sender,
message, and receiver. The
elements involved in the
communication process are
explained below in detail:

1. Sender
The sender or the communicator
generates the message and
conveys it to the receiver. He is
the source and the one who starts
the communication. He is the sender of the message which may be a thought, idea, a picture,
symbol, report or an order and postures and gestures, even a momentary smile. The sender is
therefore the initiator of the message that need to be transmitted. After having generated the idea,
information etc. the sender encodes it in such a manner that can be well-understood by the receiver.

2. Message
Message is referred to as the information conveyed by words as in speech and write-ups, signs,
pictures or symbols depending upon the situation and the nature and importance of information
desired to be sent. It is the idea, information, view, fact, feeling, etc. that is generated by the sender
and is then intended to be communicated further. Message is the heart of communication. It is the
content the sender wants to covey to the receiver. It can be verbal both written and spoken; or non-
verbal i.e. pictorial or symbolic, etc.
3. Encoding
Encoding is putting the targeted message into appropriate medium which may be verbal or non-
verbal depending upon the situation, time, space and nature of the message to be sent. The sender
puts the message into a series of symbols, pictures or words which will be communicated to the
intended receiver. Encoding is an important step in the communication process as wrong and
inappropriate encoding may defeat the true intent of the communication process.

4. Media
It refers to the way or mode the message flows or is transmitted through. The message is
transmitted over a channel that links the sender with the receiver. The message may be oral or
written and it may be transmitted through a memorandum, a computer, telephone, fax, e-mail, cell
phone, apps or televisions. It is the manner in which the encoded message is transmitted. The
choice of medium is decided by the sender.

5. Receiver
Receiver is the person or group who the message is meant for. He may be a listener, a reader or a
viewer. Any negligence on the part of the receiver may make the communication ineffective. The
receiver needs to comprehend the message sent in the best possible manner such that the true intent
of the communication is attained. The extent to which the receiver decodes the message depends
on his/her knowledge of the subject matter of the message, experience, trust and relationship with
the sender. The receiver should be in fit condition to receive the message, that is, he/she should
have channel of communication active and should not be preoccupied with other thoughts that
might cause him/her to pay insufficient attention to the message. Once the receiver receives the
message and understands it in proper perspective and acts according to the message, only then the
purpose of communication is successful.

6. Decoding
Decoding refers to interpreting or converting the sent message into intelligible language. It simply
means comprehending the message. The receiver after receiving the message interprets it and tries
to understand it in the best possible manner. It is the process of converting the symbols encoded
by the sender. After decoding the message is received by the receiver.
7. Feedback
Feedback is the ultimate aspect of communication process. It refers to the response of the receiver
as to the message sent to him/her by the sender. Feedback is necessary to ensure that the message
has been effectively encoded, sent, decoded and comprehended. It is the final step of the
communication process and establishes that the receiver has received the message in its letter and
spirit. Once the receiver confirms to the sender that he has received the message and understood
it, the process of communication is complete.

8. Noise
It refers to any obstruction that is caused by the sender, message or receiver during the process of
communication. For example, bad telephone connection, faulty encoding, faulty decoding,
inattentive receiver, poor understanding of message due to prejudice or inappropriate gestures, etc.

GRAPEVINE COMMUNICATION
Grapevine is a form of informal communication, operates both in internal and external informal
channels which can contribute to and benefit the organization. Therefore, it is found in all
organizations. It does not follow any prescribed or predetermined rule and spreads any information
quickly. Through the grapevine, information flows in different directions linking almost every one
of an organization.
Direction of Communication Flow
1. Downward Communication: It is the flow of information from the higher levels of the
organization to the lower levels. Downward communication is usually used for five basic purposes.
These are: to give specific job instructions, to bring about understanding of the work and its
relationship to other organizational tasks, to provide information about procedures and practices,
to provide feedback to the subordinate about his performance and to provide information of an
ideological character to infuse a sense of mission in the subordinate.

There can be several media of downward communication such as orders, posters and bulletin
boards, company periodicals and hand-books, information racks, loud-speakers, grapevine, annual
reports, group meetings and the labour union.

2. Upward Communication: It is the flow of information from lower levels to the higher levels.
Through these channels subordinates can communicate to their superiors about themselves, their
performance and their problems, about organizational practice and policies and about what needs
to be done and how it can be done.

The objects of this communication are:

a. To receive feedback on important aspects
b. To achieve effective management control
c. To encourage people at lower levels in the organization to participate in
problem-solving

There can be several media of upward communication such as face-to-face contacts, group
meetings, grievance procedure, a complaint system, morale questionnaires, letter to the editor of
the company’s periodical, counselling, exit interview, an open-door policy the labour union, labour
spies and the grapevine.

3. Horizontal Communication: It is the communication between members of different work

groups at the same organizational level. The objects of this communication are:
a. To bring about coordination among peers
 b. To solve common problems
c. To share each other’s experience

4. External Communication: This is the communication with external agencies, like current and
potential customers, government departments, competitors, trade unions, financial institutions, raw
material suppliers etc. This communication aims at building the company’s image and influencing
policies and decisions in company’s favour.
 EMPLOYEE COUNSELLING
Employee counselling has emerged as the latest HR tool to attract and retain the best employees
and increase the quality of the workforce. In today’s fast-paced corporate world, there is virtually
no organization free of stress or has employees who are stress-free. The employees can be stressed,
depressed, suffering from too much anxiety arising out of workplace related issues like managing
deadlines, meeting targets, lack of time to fulfill personal and family commitments, or bereaved
and disturbed due to some personal problems.

Employee counselling is a psychological technique and that is used in various forms. The main
objective of it is to support the employees by providing them advice, guidance, suggestions to
solve the prevailing problems and improve physical and mental conditions, performance and which
can take many forms. It is conducted with problem-solving approach by supervisors, managers or
consultants.

Employee counselling is defined as a process which is initiated by the responsible manager or

counsellor for providing assistance to employees facing problems. It is conducted to listen,
understand problems and provide guidance, advices and suggest ways to solve them. It is mainly
to provide job related, personal and confidential help to those who are facing the problems.

The present time is very uncertain can it is very difficult to perform the task as per the requirements
in different sphere of life. Personal life is full of struggle and a lot of efforts are put to meet the
day-today need of individual and life. Job opportunities are not much, inflation is very high, needs
and expectations are increasing, and tough competition is being faced.

The situation becomes very difficult for everyone in present time. Counselling is very old in our
society and with the present situation it has become necessary in different areas. In every-day life
parents counsel their children, doctors counsel their patients, teachers counsel their students and
supervisors counsel their subordinates for better working. Everyone is interested to solve the
problems and live happily, perform better and get good results so that the life becomes prosperous.
For some of the jobs an individual is in a position to perform and meet the need of the self and
dependent. Some of the needs are not fulfilled because the individual is not in a position to
understand or perform due to lack of ability. He is under pressure due to various reasons. This
situation continues and leads to stress and finally it adversely affect the individual psychology,
health, performance and personal life.

Similarly, the situation prevails in an organisation and industry. The situation is very competitive
due to globalization and entry of multinational companies in various markets. It is matter of
survival, growth and excellence in the business activities. Every organisation is trying its best to
give better products, services and performance so that it can enjoy better position in the business.
Most of the leading organisations have realized the importance of attracting, training, motivating
and retailing highly skilled and committed employees to get competitive advantage in the markets
over their rivals. Employees counselling add another feather in the cap of the organisation to do
so. The importance of counselling due to this is going high day-by-day.

An employee counselling session is a meeting between the supervisor and the employee which
may focus on a specific incident, a particular aspect of an employee’s performance which the
supervisor has identified as needing improvement, or the employee’s overall performance or
conduct. The aim of counselling is to provide help and support to the employee during the difficult
times of their lives to enable them to face problems and challenges successfully. It is generally
conducted as a private face-to-face meeting between the employee and the counsellor where the
counsellor attempts to understand the employee’s problems and give him suggestions.

Employees may face problems in their personal or professional life which may start affecting their
performance and work place behaviour. When a person faces some difficulties, his stress level
would increase and start having a negative influence on his work performance. Therefore, the need
for employee counselling arises. The counsellor counsels, guides, and advises the employee at
times of need and help the employee to manage his issues effectively. The problems of the
employee if not dealt with at the earliest may escalate into bigger disciplinary issues.