Leadership

Leadership
Who are leaders and what is leadership?
 Leader—someone who can influence others and who has managerial authority (not
informal)
 Leadership—the process of influencing individuals or groups toward the achievement of
goals
 Are all managers leaders?
-Because leading is one of the four management functions, ideally, all managers should be
leaders
 Most of research has been aimed at answering the question ‘what is an effective leader?’
-We will begin our study by looking at some early leadership theories that attempted to
answer the question
Early leadership theories
Trait & behavioral theories
 Researchers began to study leadership in the early part of the twentieth century (1920-60)
 These early leadership theories focused on
 The person of the leader (trait theories)
 How the leader interacted with his or her group members (behavioral theories)
Trait theories
 Have attempted to identify certain traits that all leaders have
 Some of the traits studies included:
 Physical stature
 Appearance
 Emotional stability
 Sociability
 It proved impossible to identify a set of traits that would always differentiate a leader from a
non-leader
 Later attempts to identify traits consistently associated with leadership ( the process, not the
person) were more successful
 Successful leaders are most likely to be
 Ambitious
 Trustworthy
 Motivated
 Self-confident
 Knowledgeable
 creative
 Eight traits associated with effective leadership include drive, the desire to lead, honesty and
integrity, self-confidence, intelligence, job-relevant knowledge, and extroversion.

Behavioral theories
 Leadership research from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s concentrated on behavioral styles
that leaders demonstrated
 Something unique in what effective leaders did
University of Lowa Studies (Kurt Lewin & Colleagues)
 The university of Lowa Studies explored three leadership styles to find the most effective
one:
 Autocratic—described a leader who dictated work methods, made unilateral decisions,
and limited employee participation
 Democratic—described a leader who involved employees in decision making, delegated
authority, and used feedback as an opportunity for coaching employees
 Laissez-faire—described a leader who let the group make decisions and complete the
work in whatever way it saw fit
 The researchers’ result seemed to indicate that the democratic style contributed to both
good quantity and quality of work
 However, later studies of the autocratic and democratic styles showed mixed results
 More consistent results were found when a measure of employee satisfaction was used
 Group members were more satisfied under a democratic leader than under an
autocratic one
 Now leaders had a dilemma. Should leaders focus on achieving higher performance or on
achieving higher member satisfaction?
 This recognition of the dual nature of a leader’s behavior—this is, focus on the task vs. focus
on the people—was also a key characteristic of the other behavioral studies
Ohio State Studies
Identified (from initial more than 1000) two dimensions of leader behavior
 Initiating structure: extent to which a leader defines his or her role and the roles of group
members in attaining goals
 Consideration: the extent to which a leader has work relationships characterized by mutual
trust and respect for group members’’ ideas and feelings
 High-high: leader high in both initiating structure and consideration behaviors
 Research findings: mixed results
 High-high leaders generally, but not always, achieved high group task performance and
satisfaction
 Evidence indicated that situational factors appeared to strongly influence leadership
effectiveness

University of Michigan Studies
Identified two dimensions of leader behavior
 Employee oriented: emphasizing personal relationships
 Production oriented: emphasizing task accomplishment
 Research findings: leaders who are employee oriented are strongly associated with high
group productivity and high job satisfaction
Managerial Grid (Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid)
 The behavioral dimensions from the early leadership studies provided the basis for the
development of a two-dimensional grid for appraising leadership styles
 Managerial Grid: a two-dimensional grid of leadership behaviors—concern for people and
concern for production—that results in five different leadership styles
Contingency theories of leadership
Situational theories
 Leadership researchers discovered that predicting leadership success was more complex
than isolating a few leader traits or preferable behaviors
 They begin looking at situational influences
 Which leadership styles might be suitable in different situations, and what were these
different situations?
Contingency theories
Fiedler (Fred Fiedler)
Hersey-Blanchard
Path-goal (Robert House)
 Each looks at defining leadership style and the situation, and attempts to answer the if-than
contingencies (that is, if this is the context or situation, then this is the best leadership tyles
to use)
 The corporate world is filled with stories of leaders who failed to achieve greatness because
they failed to understand the context they were looking in
The Fiedler Model
 Effective group performance depends on the proper match between a leader’s style and the
degree to which the situation allowed the leader to control and influence
 Assumptions
 Different situations required different leadership styles
 Leaders do not readily change leadership styles (matching the leader to the situation or
changing the situation to make is favorable to the leader is required)
 Least-preferred co-worker (LPC) questionnaire
 Determines leadership style by measuring responses to 18 pairs of contrasting
adjectives
 High score: a relationship-oriented leadership style
 Low score: a task-oriented leadership style
 Three contingency dimensions that defined the key situational factors in leader
effectiveness:
 Leader-member relations—the degree of confidence, trust, and respect
employees had for their leader; rated as either good or poor
 Task structure—the degree to which job assignments were formalized and
structured; rated as either high or low
 Position power—the degree of influence a leader had over activities such as hiring,
firing, discipline, promotions, and salary increases; rated as either strong or weak
Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory (SLT)
 Situational Leadership Theory—a leadership contingency theory that focuses on followers’
readiness
 Reflects the reality that it is the follower who accept or reject the leader
 Successful leadership is achieved by selecting a leadership style that matches the level of the
followers’ readiness
 Readiness—extent to which people have the ability and willingness to accomplish a
specific task
 Leaders must give up control as followers become more competent
 The theory creates four specific leadership styles incorporating Fiedler’s two leadership
dimensions:
 S1 (unable and unwilling)—Telling (high task-low relationship)—the leader defines roles
and tells people what, how, when, and where to do various tasks
 S2 (unable and willing)—Selling (high task-high relationship)—the leader provides both
directive and supportive behavior
 S3 (able and unwilling)—Participating (low task-high relationship)—the leader and
followers share in decision making; the main role of the leader is facilitating and
communicating
 S4 (both able and willing)—delegating (low task-low relationship)—the leader provides
little direction or support
 The final component in the SLT model is the four stages of follower development:
 D1—low competence, high commitment
 D2—low to some competence, low commitment
 D3—Moderate to high competence, variable commitment
  D4—high competence, high commitment

Path-Goal theory
 States that the leader’s job is to assist followers in attaining their goals and to provide
direction to ensure that their goals are compatible with those of the organization
 Effective leaders clarify the path to help their followers get from where they are to the
achievement of their work goals
 House identified four leadership behaviors:
 Directive leader—the leader lets subordinates know what is expected of them,
schedules work to be done, and gives specific guidance on how to accomplish tasks
 Supportive leader—the leader shows concern for the needs of followers and is friendly
 Participative leader—the leader consults with group members and uses their
suggestions before making a decision
 Achievement-oriented leader—the leader sets challenging goals and expects followers
to perform at their highest level
 In contrast to Fiedler’s view that a leader cannot change his or her behavior, House
assumed that leaders are flexible and can display any or all of these leadership
styles, depending on the situation
 Path-Goal theory proposes two situational or contingency variables that moderate the
leadership behavior-outcome relationship:
 Those in the environment that are outside the control of the follower
 Those that are part of the personal characteristics of the follower
 A leader’s behavior won’t be effective if it is redundant with what
 The environmental structure is providing
 Is incongruent with follower characteristics
 Some predictions from Path-Goal Theory
 Directive leadership leads to greater satisfaction when tasks are ambiguous or stressful
than when they are highly structured and well laid out
 Supportive leadership results in high employee performance and satisfaction when
 subordinates are performing structured tasks
 Directive leadership is likely to be perceived as redundant among subordinates with
high perceived ability or with considerable experience
 The clearer the formal authority relationships, the more leaders should exhibit
supportive behavior and de-emphasize directive behavior
 Directive leadership will foster higher employee satisfaction when there is substantive
conflict within a work group
 Subordinates with an internal locus of control will be more satisfied with a participative
style
 Subordinates with an external locus of control will be more satisfied with a directive
style
Contemporary views of leadership
Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Theory
 The leadership theory that says leaders create in-groups and out-groups
 A leader will implicitly categorize a follower as an ‘in’ or as an ‘out’
 Leaders encourage LMX by rewarding those employees with whom they want a closer
linkage and punishing those with whom they do not
 The in-group will have
 Higher performance ratings
 Less turnover
 Greater job satisfaction
 Evidence shows that in-group members have demographic, attitude, personality, and even
gender similarities with the leader or they have a higher level of competence that out-group
members
 Research on LMX has been generally supportive
 Leaders do differentiate among followers
 These disparities are not fandom
 Followers with in-group statues will have higher performance ratings, engage in more
helping or ‘citizenship’ behaviors at work, and report greater satisfaction with their
boss
 A recent LMX study found that leaders who establish a supportive relationship with key
subordinates by providing emotional and other kinds of support generate
organizational commitment on the part of these employees, which leads to increases in
employee performance
Transactional leadership
 Leaders who lead primarily by using social exchanges (or transactions)
 They guide or motivate their followers in the direction of established goals by clarifying role
and task requirements
 Leaders who stimulate and inspire (transform) followers to achieve extraordinary outcome
 Leaders who inspire followers to go beyond their own self-interests for the good of the
organization
 Leaders who have a profound and extraordinary effect on their followers
 Transactional and transformational leadership shouldn’t be viewed as opposing approaches
to getting things done
 Transformational leadership develops from transactional leadership
 The evidence supporting the superiority of transformational leadership over transactional
leadership is overwhelmingly impressive
 Transformational leaders were evaluated as more effective, higher performers, more
promotable than their transactional counterparts, and more interpersonally sensitive
 Transformational leadership is strongly correlated with:
 Lower turnover rates and higher levels of productivity
 Employee satisfaction
 Creativity
 Goal attainment
 Follower well-being
 Corporate entrepreneurship, especially in start-up firms
 How to be a transformational leader
 Individualized consideration: pay attention to the needs of individual followers to help
the reach their full potential
 Intellectual stimulation: provide ‘ways and reasons for followers to change the way they
think about’ things
 Inspirational motivation: ‘set an example of hard work ,give ‘pep’ talks, and remain
optimistic in times of crisis’
 Idealized influence: show respect for others, building confidence and trust about the
mission in followers
Charismatic leadership
 An enthusiastic, self-confident leader whose personality and actions influence people to
behave in certain ways
 Characteristics of charismatic leaders
 Have a vision
 Are able to articulate the vision
 Are willing to take risks to achieve the vision
 Are sensitive to the environment and to follower needs
 Exhibit behaviors that are out of the ordinary
 Effects of charismatic leadership
 Increased motivation, greater satisfaction
 More profitable companies
 Although the term vision is often linked with charismatic leadership, visionary
leadership is different because it is the ability to create and articulate a realistic,
credible, and attractive vision of the future that improves on the present situation
 This vision, if properly selected and implemented, is so energizing that it ‘in effect
jump-starts the future by calling forth the skills, talents, and resources to make it
happen’
Team leadership
 The role of the leader in guiding team members has become increasingly important
 Leadership is increasingly taking place within a team context and more organizations are
using work teams
 The role of a team leader is different from the traditional leadership role
 Transform from traditional leader to ‘facilitator’
 Many leaders are not equipped to handle the change to employee teams
 Even the most capable managers have trouble making the transition because all the
command-and control type things they were encouraged to do before are no longer
appropriate
 The challenge for many managers is they have to learn skills such as patiently sharing
information, being able to trust others and give up authority, and understanding when to
intervene
 Team leader—facilitator, sharing information, being able to trust others, give up authority
 Team leader roles—conflict manager, coach, liaison with external constituencies,
troubleshooter
Leadership issues in the twenty-first century
Managing power
 Where do leaders get their power—their capacity to influence work actions or decision?
 Five sources of leader power have been identified: legitimate, coercive, reward, expert, and
referent
 Legitimate power—the power a leader has as a result of his or her position
 Coercive power—the power a leader has to punish or control
 Reward power—the power to give positive benefits or rewards
 Expert power—power that is based on expertise, special skills, or knowledge
 Referent power—power that arises because of a person’s desirable resources or
admired personal traits
 Most effective leaders rely on several different forms of power to affect the behavior and
performance of their followers
Developing trust
In today’s uncertain environment, an important consideration for leaders is building trust and
credibility—trust that can be extremely fragile
 Credibility (of a leader)
 The degree to which followers perceive someone as honest, competent, and able to
inspire
 The main component of credibility is honesty—number one characteristic of admired
leaders
 Trust
 The belief in the integrity, character, and ability of a leader
 Dimensions of trust: integrity, competence, consistency, loyalty, and openness
 Trust is related to increases in job performance, organizational citizenship
behaviors, job satisfaction, and organization commitment
 A survey found that only 51 percent of Canadian employees and 39 percent of US
employees trusted their executive leaders
 Building trust
 Practice openness
 Be fair
 Speak your feelings
 Tell the truth
  Show consistency
 Fulfill your promises
 Maintain confidences
 Demonstrate competence
Providing ethical leadership
 Recently have ethics leaderships researchers begun to consider the ethical implications in
leadership
 Why now?
 Growing general interest in ethics throughout the field of management
 The recent corporate financial scandals that have increased the public’s and politicians’
concerns about ethical standards
 Address both the moral content of a leader’s goals and the means used to achieve those
goals
 Ethical leadership is more than being ethnical
 Include reinforcing ethics through organization mechanisms
Empowering employees
 Empowerment—giving more authority to employees to make decisions
 Why empower employees?
 Quicker responses to problems and faster decisions
 Relieves managers to work on other problems
 Empowerment cautions
The following conditions should be met for empowerment to be introduced:
 Clear definition of company’s values and mission
 Employees have relevant skills
 Employees need to be supported, not criticized, when performing
 Employees need to be recognized for their efforts
Leading across cultures
 In this global economy National culture is an important situational variable in determining
which leadership style will be most effective
 National culture affects leadership style because it influences how followers will respond
 Findings from selected examples of cross-cultural leadership studies

 The globe study has found that there are some universal aspects of effective leadership
 Vision
 Foresight
 Providing encouragement
  Trustworthiness
 Dynamism—having a lot of ideas and enthusiasm
 Positiveness
 Proactiveness
Becoming an effective leader
Two issues pertinent to becoming an effective leader are:
-leader training
-recognizing that sometimes being an effective leader means not leading
 Leader training
 Some people don’t have what it takes to be a leader
 Evidence indicates that leadership training is more likely to be successful with
individuals who are high self-monitors than with low self-monitors
 Such individuals have the flexibility to change their behavior as different situations
require
 Individuals with higher levels of a trait called motivation to lead are more receptive to
leadership development opportunities
 Substitutes for leadership
 Despite the belief that some leadership style will always be effective, regardless of the
situation, leadership may not always be important
 Research indicates that, in some situations, any behaviors a leader exhibits are
irrelevant
 In other words, certain individual, job, and organizational variables can act as
‘substitutes for leadership’, negating the influence of the leaders
 Some people don’t need leaders
 Leaders need to be aware of followers’ needs