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LEADERSHIP

LEADERSHIP

 Leadership is a process by which an executive can direct, guide and influence the behaviour
and work of others towards accomplishment of specific goals in a given situation.

 Leadership is the capacity to influence a group towards the realization of a goal.

 Leaders are required to develop future visions, and to motivate the organizational members
to want to achieve the visions.

 Leadership is situation bound. There is no best style of leadership. It all depends upon
tackling with the situations.

 Leadership is an important function of management which helps to maximize efficiency and

to achieve organizational goals.

The Tasks of a Leader

a. Initiating action- Leader puts in motion the work by communicating the policies and plans to
the subordinates and initiating action.

b. Motivating subordinates and creating confidence in the organisation –

 Motivation of subordinates through economic and non-economic rewards to get the
work done in most efficient manner
 Explain the roles of the subordinates clearly
 Hear the employees with regards to their complaints and problems, thereby creating
trust and confidence in the organisation

c. Providing guidance and building morale

 Guidance to the subordinates
 Instructing the subordinates, the way they have to perform their work effectively and
efficiently
 Morale booster by achieving full co-operation from subordinates. In this regard, a
leader has to invite suggestions and if possible implement them into plans and
programmes of enterprise. This way, he can solicit full support of employees which
results in willingness to work and thereby effectiveness in running of a concern.

d. Achieving co-ordination
 By reconciling/integrating personal interests with organizational goals.
 Synchronization can be achieved through proper and effective co-ordination

e. Representing the organization-

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 Representative of the enterprise at seminars, conferences, general meetings, etc.
His role is to communicate the rationale of the enterprise to outside public.
 He is also representative of the own department or team which he leads.
Leadership Styles
Style Also called Features
Centralised/ unilateral decision
Authoritaria
making with the leader;
n;
Autocratic Complete structuring of the
Directive;
work is done for the
Nomothetic
subordinates by the leader
Decisions are made by the
Democratic; leader in consultation with
Consultative subordinates thereby leading
Participative
; to mental and emotional
Ideographic involvement of a person in
group situations
Complete freedom to
subordinates; Policy
determined by leader while
Laissez-faire Free-rein
process left to subordinates;
No regular feedback given to
subordinates
Leaders strictly adhere to the
organizational rules and
policies and make sure that
Bureaucratic
the employees also strictly
follow the rules and
procedures.
Managers and team
members set predetermined
goals together, and
Managerial; employees agree to follow
Telling style the direction and leadership
Transactional
of of the manager to
leadership accomplish those goals. The
leader believes in motivating
through a system of rewards
and punishment.
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Advantages Disadvantages
Suitable when employees Creative employees who thrive
require close supervision, job in group functions detest this
is monotonous, unskilled and leadership style and may lead
routine in nature or where the to greater employee
project is short-term and risky absenteeism and turnover
Boosts employee morale as
employees participate in
decision-making process; It is time consuming
Helpful in acceptance of
change by employees
Helps subordinates to
Produces no leadership or
develop independent
supervision efforts from
personality; Suitable for
managers, which can lead to
highly experienced and
poor production, lack of
trained employees requiring
control and increasing costs
little supervision
This leadership style is more
Discourages creativity and
suitable when safe work
does not make employees
conditions and quality are
self-contented.
required
The transactional leaders
Suitable when the
overemphasize detailed and
organizational problems are
short-term goals, and
simple and clearly defined.
standard rules and
The exchange between
procedures. They do not
leader and follower takes
make an effort to enhance
place to achieve routine
followers’ creativity and
performance goals
generation of new ideas.
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Leaders focus on the big
picture within an
organization and delegate
smaller tasks to the team to
Transformatio Quiet
accomplish goals; Such
nal Leaders
leaders lead by example;
they use rapport, inspiration,
or empathy to engage
followers
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Leaders motivate employees
It requires a very well
and enhance productivity
organised team and requires
and efficiency through
their followers to be creative
communication and high
and is thus, bad fit in a
visibility; Maximizes teams’
bureaucratic structure;
capability and capacity; good
ineffective in initial stage or
at balancing short-term
ad-hoc situations
visions and long-term goals
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Leadership Theories

1. Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid/Leadership Grid

Given By – Robert Blake & Jane Mouton

Basic Theory - The grid depicted two dimensions of leader behaviour, concern for people
(accommodating people’s needs and giving them priority) on y-axis and concern for production
(keeping tight schedules) on x-axis, with each dimension ranging from low (1) to high (9), thus
creating 81 different positions in which the leader’s style may fall.

Country Club (1,9) Team Management (9,9)

 collegial style  high people and task focus
 based on theory Y of McGregor
 low task and high people
 Most effective style according to
orientation Blake and Mouton
 leader believes that a friendly  Result = team atmosphere with
and comfortable treatment high employee satisfaction and
with employees = self- production
motivation to work hard
 low focus on tasks =
questionable results

Impoverished Mgt. (1,1) Task Management (9,1)

 Low concern for people and  Dictatorial/Perish style
low concern for work  Based on Theory X of McGregor
deadlines  more concern for production and
 Result = disharmony in firm less concern for people
Middle of the Road (5,5)
 Leader = ineffective  Result = high output in short run,
 compromising style
high labour turnover & cost in long
 leader tries to maintain a
balance between goals of run
company and the needs of
people
 Result = average
performance for
organization

2. Trait Theory
Basic Theory –an individual who has traits relevant to leadership emerges as an effective leader. It
seeks to determine “what makes a successful leader” from the personal characteristics of the leader
himself. The following are the core traits identified:
 Achievement drive: High level of effort, high levels of ambition, energy and initiative
 Leadership motivation: an intense desire to lead others to reach shared goals
 Honesty and integrity: trustworthy, reliable, and open
 Self-confidence: Belief in one’s self, ideas, and ability
 Cognitive ability: Capable of exercising good judgment, strong analytical abilities, and
conceptually skilled

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 Knowledge of business: Knowledge of industry and other technical matters

 Emotional Maturity: well adjusted, does not suffer from severe psychological disorders.
 Communication skills: coherent and objective communication
 Others: charisma, creativity and flexibility, social skills, empathy

Advantages
 It serves as a yardstick against which the leadership traits of an individual can be assessed.
 It gives a detailed knowledge and understanding of the leader element in the leadership
process.

Limitations
 Involves subjective judgment in determining who is regarded as a ‘good’ or ‘successful’
leader
 The list of possible traits tends to be very long. More than 100 different traits of successful
leaders in various leadership positions have been identified. These descriptions are simply
generalities.
 disagreement over which traits are the most important for an effective leader
 The model attempts to relate physical traits such as, height and weight, to effective
leadership.

3. Great Man Theory/Great Person Theory

 The leaders are born and not made
 They possess certain traits/attributes that set them apart from others and that
 these traits are responsible for their assuming positions of power and authority
 Great leaders can arise when there is a great need

4. Leadership-Member Exchange (LMX) Theory

Given By – George B Graen
Also called – Vertical Dyadic linkage theory
Basic Theory –
 Focuses on two-way (dyadic) relationship between leaders and followers
 Leaders form different kinds of relationships with various groups of subordinates.
 The quality of the relationship is reflected by the degree of mutual trust, loyalty,
support, respect, and obligation.
 One group, referred to as the in-group, is favoured by the leader while the other
subordinates fall into the out-group (disfavoured by leader)
 LMX Theory focuses on the significance of communication in leadership.

5. House’s Path Goal Theory

Given By – Robert House

Basic Theory
 Servant leadership i.e. leadership is not viewed as a position of power, but leaders act as
coaches and facilitators to their subordinates.
 Expectancy theory of motivation i.e. an employee’s perception of expectancies between his
effort and performance is greatly affected by a leader’s behaviour

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 This theory gives a guide map to the leaders about how to increase subordinates’
satisfaction and performance level.
 A leader’s effectiveness depends on several employee and environmental contingent factors
and certain leadership styles:

Employee contingencies
 employees’ needs,
 locus of control,
Directive:
 experience,
 Leader provides guidelines, lets subordinates
know what is expected of them, sets Environmental contingencies  perceived ability,
performance standards for them, and controls  outside the control of  satisfaction,
behaviour when performance standards are not employee  willingness to leave the
met. organization,
 Task structure & team
 He makes judicious use of rewards and
dynamics  anxiety
disciplinary action.
For example,
 The style is same as task-oriented For example,
 Supportive style - for Supportive style - if followers’
Supportive: employees performing ability is perceived to be low
 The leader is friendly towards subordinates and simple and routine tasks
displays personal concern for their needs,
 Participative style - non-
welfare, and well-being.
routine tasks
 This style is same as people-oriented
leadership.  Supportive style - When
team cohesiveness is low
Participative:  Directive style - to
 The leader believes in group decision-making counteract team norms that
and shares information with subordinates. oppose the team’s formal
 He consults his subordinates on important
objectives
decisions.
 Achievement-oriented style -
Achievement-oriented: performance-oriented team
 The leader sets challenging goals and norms exist
encourages employees to reach their peak
performance.
 The leader believes that employees are
responsible enough to accomplish challenging
goals.
 This is same as goal-setting theory.

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6. Likert’s Management System

Given By – Rensis Likert
Basic Theory –
 The efficiency of the organization is influenced by their system of management.
 The theory identifies 4 management systems based on the organizational variables

System 1 System 2 System 3 System 4

Leadership Exploitative Benevolent
Consultative Participative
Style Authoritative Authoritative
Variables
managerial levels but
Responsibility Top management not at the lower spread widely Widespread
levels
condescending
Trust in
Nil confidence (master- substantial Complete trust
subordinates servant relationship
with superiors; Some amount of Goals based on
Decision with superiors; orders
instructions to discussion with participation by
Making to subordinates
subordinates subordinates subordinates
Very little; always Little; always Extensive
Communication moderate
distrust caution interaction; friendly
Motivational Fear, threats and Rewards and Rewards, Goal setting and
forces punishment punishment involvement in job improvement in job

A firm should aim to move from System 1 to

System 4 to have an ideal system

7. Hersey Blanchard Model

Given by – Paul Hersey and Kenneth Blanchard
Also called – Life cycle Theory of leadership, Situational Leadership Theory
Basic Theory –
 The leader has to match the leadership style according to the readiness of subordinates
 Readiness of subordinates = ability (knowledge, experience, skill) and willingness
(motivation, commitment) to accomplish a specific task
 The leadership style is defined on two parameters – task behaviour (extent to which the
leader spells out the duties and responsibilities of a subordinate) and relationship behaviour
(Extent to which the leader listens to the followers, and provides encouragement to them)
 4 styles of leadership exist corresponding to the readiness of the subordinate as follows:

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8. Fiedler’s Contingency Model

Given by – Fred E. Fiedler
Basic Theory
 Leaders are categorized on a LPC (least preferred co-worker) scale.
 leaders with high LPC scores are relationship-oriented and the ones with low scores are task-
oriented
 Leader’s behavior is dependent upon the favourability of the leadership situation which is
determined from 3 situational variables (given below in table).

Situation Variables:
Leader – member
relation - degree to
which the leaders is
trusted and liked by
the group members
Task Structure -
degree to which the
group’s task has
been described as
structured or
unstructured
Position Power -
degree to which the
leader can exercise
authority on group
members

9. Continuum Leadership Behavior

Given By - Tannenbaum and Schmidt
Basic Theory –
 continuum of possible leadership behaviour available to a manager and along which
many leadership styles may be placed
 can be related to McGregor’s supposition of Theory X and Theory Y. Boss-centered
leadership is towards theory X and subordinate-centered leadership is towards theory Y
 Choice of leadership style depends on 3 factors –

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o Forces in manager (leader’s value system, confidence in subordinates,

leadership inclination, feelings of security in an uncertain situation, etc.)
o Forces in subordinates (Readiness to assume responsibility, degree of tolerance
for ambiguity, Interest in the problem, needs for independence, Knowledge and
experience, Understanding and identification with the goals of the organization,
etc.)
o Forces in the situation (type of organisation, group effectiveness, nature of
problem, time pressure, etc.)

Boss-centered leadership

Use of authority by manager

Area of freedom for subordinates

Subordinate-centered leadership

Styles of
leadership based
on degree of
control
maintained by
the leader

Effective Leader
An effective leader is one who meets the job requirements, team requirements as well as individual
requirements.
In addition to being intelligent, self-confident, technically skilled and knowledgeable with good
communication skills, a leader should possess the following soft skills to be effective:

Strength of character
 It defines who they are, what they will do, what they would not do, and what they stand for
 Deep-rooted value system, ethical, ability to withstand pressure, commitment, honesty,
resourcefulness, determination, feeling of responsibility and accountability, judgment, etc.

Vision
 Ability to be a visionary and have a sense of future possibilities

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 not threatened by the future and can show pathways to the future which the followers can
follow
 have innovative, rational, credible, clear, motivating ideas

Relationship effectiveness
 Management is all about people and the relationships that one builds with those whom one
encounters
 Does not mean that the leader should be a people pleaser, but he should be able to nurture
and incubate relationships in a way that has a positive influence on the organisation.
 Provides work-life balance, encourages questions and ideas from subordinates, facilitates
brain-storming, has empathy, grows subordinates professionally, etc.

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