MGMT3021 Leadership

Week 3
Leadership Behaviors

Causal Relationships Among the Primary Types of Leadership Variables

Leader traits  about what leaders are

Leader behavior  About what leaders actually do

The Dark Triad Personality

Narcissism – the pursuit of vanity and an overblown self-admiration

- Care about other’s opinion of them because they want people to like them
- High anxiety

Machiavellianism – reflects a “cynical disregard for morality” with an emphasis on “self-

interest and personal gain” marked by duplicity and deceit
- Manipulative
- Double faced

Psychopathy – characterized by callous affect, low empathy, antisocial behavior, and

reckless lifestyles choices
- Don’t care about the impact they have on others
- Low anxiety

The Dark Triad and the Big Five

The Dark Triad ad Cognitive Ability and Self-Enhancement

The Dark Triad: Summary

- Share disagreeableness
- Psychopaths – low neuroticism (anxiety). “Most treacherous”

Leadership Behaviors

Types of Leadership Behavior

- Structure and consideration  task and relations

- Change-oriented
o Focus on vision and change
- Participative
o Emphasize participation in decision making
o Empathetic
- Transformational
- External
o Focus on the outside of the organization

Examples of Task-Oriented Behaviors

- Organize work activities to improve efficiencies

- Direct and coordinate work activities
- Assign work to individuals or groups
- Monitor operations and performance
- E.g. project manager

Examples of Relations-Oriented Behaviors

- Provide support and encouragement to someone with a difficult task

- Socialize with people to build relationships
- Provide coaching and mentoring where appropriate
- Help resolve conflicts in a constructive way
- Empower people to determine the best way to do a task
Task-Oriented and Subordinate Satisfaction

Examples of Change-Oriented Behaviors

- Monitor external environment to detect threats and opportunities

- Study competitors and outsiders to get ideas for improvements
- Envision new possibilities for the organization
- Encourage and facilitate efforts to implement major change

Participative Behavior

- Sometimes referred to as democratic or empowering leadership, consultation,

joint decision making, power sharing
- Decision making that allows followers to contribute to decisions

Leader Behaviors and Outcomes

- Consistent finding: consideration (relations) + subordinate satisfaction

- Mixed results: task-oriented behavior + subordinate satisfaction
- Participative leadership potential benefits:
o High decision quality
o High decision acceptance
o High satisfaction
o Skill development

Implications

- A combination of task and relations-oriented leader behavior is necessary

- BUT when is it appropriate to use which type of behavior?
 Contingency Theories

Contingency Theory Variables

- Predictor variable e.g. Leader behavior (e.g. task/relations)

- Outcome variable e.g. subordinate satisfaction/ performance
- Situational variables e.g. characteristics of subordinates or work

Major Contingency Theories

- LPC contingency model

- Situational leadership theory
- Leadership substituted theory
- Path-goal theory
- Cognitive resource theory
- Normative decision theory
- Multiple linkage model

Least-Preferred Co-Worker Model

- Leader effectiveness depends on how well the leader’s style fits the context
- Leader styles and situations

Least-Preferred Co-Worker Model: Leadership Styles

- Task motivated –goal focused

- Relationship motivated
- Style determined by leader preferred co-worker scale
o High score – relationship motivated
o Low score – task motivated

Situational Variables

- Leader-member relations – the degree of confidence, loyalty subordinates have

for leader
- Task structure:
o High – tasks are clearly stated, limited alternatives for accomplishing
tasks, can be clearly demonstrated e.g. making a burger at McDonalds
o Low – opposite of high e.g. managing a fundraising campaign
- Position power – amount of power a leader has to punish or reward
subordinated
Least-Preferred Co-Worker Model

Situations and LPC Styles

- Low – Mid LPC (Task):

o All combinations of good relations except with weak power
o Poor relations/ low structure/ weak power
- High LPCs (Relationships):
o All combination of poor relations except with weak power
o Good relations/low structure/ weak power

Path-Goal Theory

- Central concern: how leaders motivate subordinates to accomplish goals

- Which leadership style best meets subordinate’s motivational needs?
- Variables: leader behavior, subordinate ad task characteristics
Normative Decision Model
- Views leadership as a decision-making process
- Situational determines the appropriate decision-making style

Normative Decision Model – Decision Making Styles

- Decide – leader makes decision alone
- Consult (individually) – leader presents problem to individuals, gathers feedback
and makes final decision
- Consult (group) – leader presents problem to the group, gathers feedback and
makes final decision
- Facilitate – presents problem and facilitates problem solving within boundaries
- Delegate – leader permits group to make decision within limits

Normative Decision Model – Situational Factors

- Decision Significance.
- Importance of Commitment – decision acceptance.
- Leader Expertise.
- Likelihood of Commitment – likelihood of commitment if leader makes decision
alone.
- Group Support – degree to which the group supports organizational objective
related to decision
- Group Expertise
- Team Competence
Normative Decision Model – Simplified

- When require behavior or attitude change, subordinates should be involved

Evaluation of Contingency Approach – Limitations

- Meta-categories are too general e.g. relationship-oriented

- To what extent?
- Causal effects often not explained
- Joint effects e.g. How do situational variables interact? How do behavioral types
interact?
- Vroom & Yetton – only relates to decision making

Evaluation of Contingency Approach – Most Important Insight

It is essential for leaders to understand the situation (e.g. task requirements, subordinates)
and adapt behavior so that it is appropriate to the situation.