LEADERSHIP

IMPORTANT LEADERSHIP THEORIES (PART 2)

LEARNING SESSION

✦ Introduction
✦ Leadership in Action
✦ Transactional & Transformational Leadership
✦ Situational or Contingency Theory
✦ Leader-Member Exchange Theory
✦ Servant Leadership
✦ Conclusion

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INTRODUCTION

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INTRODUCTION

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INTRODUCTION

✦ Teacher Room Code: 3JB5DKT2S

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TRANSACTIONAL
✦ Leadership actions that focus on accomplishing the
tasks at hand and on maintaining good working
relationships by exchanging promises of rewards for
performance.
✦ Motivates followers by appealing to their own self-
interest
✦ Leaders exchange status and wages for effort
✦ This exchange process does not bind leader and followers
in mutual and continuing pursuit of a higher purpose
✦ Typically the relationship is short term, focuses on results,
and getting the job done

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TRANSACTIONAL
✦ Transactional leadership can be broken down into
three types of exchange relationships
✦ Contingent Reward: Contracts exchange of rewards for
effort, promises rewards for good performance, recognizes
accomplishments
✦ 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

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TRANSACTIONAL
✦ These exchange relationships can reinforce an autocratic or
directive leadership style, i.e. retaining power and all decision-
making authority
✦ These exchange relationships can also become bureaucratic,
i.e. lead “by the book”
✦ Typically appropriate for:
✦ Performing routine tasks (i.e. need for standards/procedures)
✦ New, untrained employees
✦ Employees who are already motivated
✦ Limited time for decision making

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TRANSFORMATIONAL
✦ Leadership actions that involve influencing major
changes in the attitudes and assumptions of
organization members and building commitment for
the organization’s mission, objectives, and strategies.
✦ Aim is to elevate followers to higher levels of performance
(Burns and Bass)
✦ They have a vision of what a new society or organization could
be.
✦ Strong bonds are cultivated between leader and
subordinates. Followers willingly subordinate themselves.
✦ Strong emotional bonds develop over time.

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TRANSFORMATIONAL

What specifically is transformational leadership?

✦ Idealized influence – Leader engenders faith, trust and respect by
consistently doing the right thing
✦ Inspirational motivation – Leader sets high standards, presents a vision,
convinces individuals they can perform beyond expectations; consistent
actions cultivate trust
✦ Intellectual stimulation – Leader encourages followers to think for
themselves, develops future leaders
✦ Individualized consideration – Leader treats each employee as an
individual, focuses on employee development, demonstrates compassion

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TRANSFORMATIONAL
Why Transformational Leadership?
✦ It works
✦ Unequivocal support in a variety of environments (Judge &
Piccolo)
✦ Increased employee job satisfaction, organizational
commitment, retention, information sharing, innovation,
individual and unit bottom line performance
✦ It can be taught
✦ Improved organizational and individual performance after
training (Barling, Weber & Kelloway)

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FULL-RANGE LEADERSHIP
Transformational
Effective
Idealized Influence
(Charisma)

4 I’s Inspirational Motivation

Intellectual Stimulation

Individualized
CR Consideration

MBE-A
Passive Active
MBE-P

LF
Transactional

Ineffective
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SITUATIONAL OR CONTINGENCY THEORY

✦ Effective leaders act in a

flexible manner and adopt
an appropriate leadership
style according to the
requirements of a given
situation (Fiedler 1967;
House, 1971).

✦ Gill (2011) explains,

“Contingency theories
suggest that there is no one
best style of leadership.
Successful and enduring
leaders will use various
styles according to the
nature of the situation and
the followers.”

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CONTINGENCY APPROACH: HERSEY AND
BLANCHARD SITUATIONAL MODEL
✦ Considers Leader Behaviors (Task and Relationship)
✦ Assumes leaders can change their behaviors
✦ Considers Followers as the Situation
✦ Follower task maturity (ability and experience)
✦ Follower psychological maturity (willingness to take
responsibility)

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APPLYING THE HERSEY AND BLANCHARD
SITUATIONAL MODEL

Source: Adapted from Paul Hersey,

Situational Selling (Escondido, CA: Center for
Leadership Studies, 1985), p. 19. Reprinted
with permission.

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PATH–GOAL LEADERSHIP THEORY (HOUSE)

✦ Assumes that the leader’s job is to ensure that

followers are motivated to do their jobs, and is based
on the expectancy theory of motivation.
✦ The leader’s job
✦ To increase the personal rewards subordinates receive for
attaining goals
✦ To make the path to these goals easier to follow by
reducing roadblocks—setting goals, explaining what needs
to be done, and organizing the work.

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FITTING THE STYLE TO THE SITUATION WITH PATH-
GOAL THEORY

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DIRECTIVE VS EMPOWERING LEADERSHIP

Reference: Lorinkova, N., Pearsall, M., & Sims, H.

(2013). Examining the differential longitudinal
performance of directive versus empowering
leadership in teams. The Academy of Management
Journal,56(2), 573-596.

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LEADER-MEMBER EXCHANGE THEORY

✦ Leadership is a process that is centered on the

interactions between leaders and followers.
✦ LMX makes the dyadic relationship between leaders
and followers the focal point of the leadership process.
✦ Focus is also placed on the differences that might exist
between the leader and each of his or her followers –
the leader can not treat all the followers the same.

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LEADER-MEMBER EXCHANGE THEORY

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LEADER-MEMBER EXCHANGE THEORY
✦ Two kinds of relationships that each follower falls into
based on how well they work with the leader and how
well the leader works with them. Personality and other
personal characteristics are also related to this
process.
✦ In groups – based on expanded and negotiated role
responsibilities. Followers go far beyond their formal job
description, and the leader in turn does more for these
followers.
✦ Out group – based on the formal employment contract.
Followers are not interested in taking on new and different
job responsibilities.

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LEADER-MEMBER EXCHANGE THEORY
S In-Group - more information,
S influence, confidence &
Out-Group concern from Leader more
In-Group dependable, highly involved
& communicative than out-
Leader S group
S
S Out-Group - less
S S compatible with
S S Leader usually just
S
come to work, do
S their job & go home
S
S Subordinate

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LEADER-MEMBER EXCHANGE THEORY
✦ Researchers found that high quality leader member
exchanges produced less employee turnover, more
positive performance evaluations, higher frequency of
promotions, greater organizational commitment, more
desirable work assignments, better job attitudes, more
attention and support from the leader, greater
participation, and faster career progress over 25 years.
✦ When leaders and followers have good exchanges,
they feel better, accomplish more, and the
organization prospers.

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LEADER-MEMBER EXCHANGE THEORY

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LEADER MEMBER EXCHANGE
Strengths
✦ It makes sense by describing work in terms of those who
contribute more and those who do the bare minimum.
✦ Unique because it is the only theory to identify the dyadic
relationship. Effective leader member exchanges are
important
✦ Notes the importance of communication in leadership
✦ Reminds leaders to be fair about who they let into the in
group – this is based on work performance not race, sex,
ethnicity, religion, etc
✦ Large amount of research supports this theory

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LEADER MEMBER EXCHANGE
Weakness
✦ On the surface this theory doesn’t seem “fair” because
it does not treat everyone equally. Also can support
the development of privileged groups in the work
place.
✦ The basic ideas of the theory are not fully developed.
Fails to explain how high quality exchanges are
created.
✦ No part of the research uses dyadic measures to
analyze the LMX process

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SERVANT LEADERSHIP

✦ Values diverse opinion and cultivates a culture of trust

✦ Develops other leaders and helps people with life
issues
✦ Encourages and sells instead of tells
✦ Thinks you, not me
✦ Thinks long-term and acts with humility

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SERVANT LEADERSHIP

In the workplace it is about helping others to accomplish

shared objectives by:
✦ Facilitating individual development
✦ Nurturing and empowerment
✦ Performing collective work that is consistent with the
health and long-term welfare of the followers

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CONCLUSIONS
✦ Most leaders demonstrate a mix of behaviours and styles
that cross over the boundaries of various theories.
✦ Contingency/situational theory – establish which
leadership behaviours succeeded in specific situations
✦ Increasing emphasis on leadership through the eyes of
followers.
✦ Helps you to analyze your own and others leadership
behaviors.
✦ These theories are all disputable, they are not laws.

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THANK YOU!
J.W.SANDERS@HW.AC.UK