Leadership and management

Trait approach (1900s) Leadership traits: distinctive physical or psychological characteristics Successful
leaders Distinguished leaders from followers Traits • Physical: height, weight • Social: interpersonal
skills, status • Personality: self-confidence, intelligence

Richard Stogdill (1948; 1974)  Strong drive for responsibility  Focus on completing the task  Vigour
and persistence in pursuit of goals  Originality in problem solving  Drive to exercise initiative in social
settings  Self-confidence  Sense of personal identity  Willingness to accept consequences of decisions
and actions  Readiness to absorb stress  Willingness to tolerate frustration and delay  Ability to
influence the behaviour of others  Capacity to structure social systems to the purpose in hand

The style approach: Ohio State University Studies (late 1940s – 1950s) Initiating Structure (task-oriented)
• High: make individual task assignments • Low: practice “hands off” management Consideration
(people-oriented) • High: develop trust-based relationships with subordinates • Low: little interest in
quality of interpersonal interactions

 Leaders can adapt their style to the situation  Two dimensions • Task behaviour: the amount of
direction a leader gives to subordinates • Supportive behaviour: the social backup a leader gives to
subordinates  Four leadership styles: • Telling • Selling • Participating • Delegating C

The New Leadership Approach (1980s)  Leadership is about the management of meaning (Smircich &
Morgan, 1982) or about sense-making (Pfeffer, 1981; Weick, 1985)  A leader is someone who defines
organizational reality through the articulation of a vision and the values that will support it (Parry &
Bryman, 2006: 450)