Leader-Follower Relation [Chapter 7]

> Evolution of the Dyadic Theory

Dyadic (ორი ელემენტისგან შემდგარი) refers to the individualized relationship between a leader
and each follower in a work unit.

Dyadic Theory is an approach to leadership that attempts to explain why leaders vary their behavior
with different followers.

Dyadic theorists focus on the development and effects of separate dyadic relationships between leaders
and followers.

> Dyadic Approach: Stages of Development

 Vertical Dyadic Linkage Theory – Individualized leader–follower interactions creating in-groups

and out-groups.
 Leader-Member Exchange – Focus is on the quality of each dyad and its effects on organizational
outcomes over time
 Team Building – Leaders can aspire to build positive relationships with all followers, not just a
few special indiviuals
 Systems and Networks – Creating positive dyadic relationships across traditional boundaries to
include a larger network of participants

> Vertical Dyadic Linkage Theory examines how leaders form one-on-one relationships with followers,
and how these often create, in-groups and out-groups within the leader’s work unit.

In-group includes followers with strong social ties to their leader ina a supportive relationship
characterized by high mutual trust, respect, loyalty, and influence.

Out-group influences followers with few or no social ties to their leader, in a strictly task-centered
relationship characterized by low exchange and top-down influence.

Characteristics of In-group:

 Participate in important decision making

 Are given added responsibility
 Have greater access to the leader
 Experience greater support and positive influence from theleader; Granted special favors from the
leader
 Mutual reinforcement based on common needs andinterests
 More likely to share with own group members than withmembers of other groups

Characteristics of Out-group:

 Are managed according to the employment contractrequirements

 Receive little inspiration, encouragement, or recognition
 Do not experience positive relationships and influence

> Leader-Member Exchange Theory

Refers to the quality of the exchange relationship between an employee and his or her superior. Here,
face-to-face leader-member interaction is critical in organizations.

It assumes that leaders have limited amount of social, personal, and organizational resources, and tend
to distribute them among followers selectively. Leaders do not interact with all followers equally, which
ultimately results in the formation of LMXs that vary in quality.

High-Quality LMX relationships are characterized by:

 Better social support

 More resources
 More guidance for career development
 Greater follower input in decision making
 Greater negotiating latitude

Low-Quality LMX relationships are characterized by:

 Less support
 More formal supervision
 Little or no involvement in decision making

> Team Building:

Involves a primary concern to motivate a group of individuals to work together to achieve a common
objective, while alleviating any conflicts or obstacles that may arise while striving toward that objective.

The emphasis is on forming relationships with all group members, not just with a few special individuals.

Each person must perceive that he or she is an important and respected member of the team rather
than a non-entity.

Workplace social exchanges between individual employees, work groups, and managers are critical to
team building.

> Systems and Networks:

There is a noticeable trend of organizations seeking and getting involved in a variety of collaborative
agreements for the purposes of entering new markets and gaining innovations or new products.

By collaborating, organizations hope to exchange strengths with others, which will allow all partners to
develop timely, innovative, synergistic solutions to complex problems they could not address on their
own.

From a network perspective, the focus is on relations among actors, whether they are individuals, work
units, or organizations, who are embedded within networks of interconnected relationships that provide
opportunities and constraints on behavior.

A systems-oriented prospective focuses on how the quality of the LMX relationship affects followers at
the interpersonal, group, and organizational levels.
Proponents of the systems and networks view contend that leader relationships are not limited to
followers, but include peers, customers, suppliers, and other relevant stakeholders in the collectives of
workgroups and organization-wide networks.

To be effective, groups need to manage ―boundaryspanning‖ relationships with other groups and
external members in their organization in order to gain access to information and resources.

> Leader-Member eXchange Theory:

Leaders form high-quality social exchanges (based on trust and liking) with some members and low-
quality economic exchanges with others that do not extend beyond the employment contract. The
quality of LMX affects employees’ work ethics, productivity, satisfaction, and perceptions.

There is a sense among followers in the exchange relationship to reciprocate their leader’s trust and
liking through ―citizenship behaviors‖ and excellent performance.

> The influence of LMX on Follower Behavior

The special relationship with in-group followers creates certain obligations and constraints for the
leader. To maintain the relationship, the leader must:

 Pay attention to in-group members

 Remain responsive to their needs and feelings
 Rely more on time-consuming influence methods such as persuasion and consultation
 Not resort to coercion or heavy-handed use of authority

The followers are therefore said to have developed social capital – The set of resources that inheres in
the structure of relations between members of the group, which helps them get ahead.

The basis for establishing a deeper exchange relationship with in-group members is the leader’s control
over outcomes that are desirable to the followers, which include:

 Helping with a follower’s career

 Giving special favors
 Allowing participation in decision making
 Delegating greater responsibility and authority
 Sharing more information
 Assigning interesting and desirable tasks
 Giving tangible rewards

In return for these benefits, in-group members are expected to:

 Be loyal to the leader

 Be more committed to task objectives
 Work harder
 Share some of the leader’s administrative duties

To the leader this also represents social capital that gives him or her power and influence over followers.
Unless this cycle of behavior is interrupted, the relationship is likely to develop to a point where there is
a high degree of mutual dependence, support, and loyalty.
> The Three-Stage Process for Developing Positive LMX Relations

Stage 1

 The leader and follower conduct themselves as strangers

 The leader and follower test each other to identify what kinds of behavior are acceptable
 Each relationship is negotiated informally between each follower and the leader
 Involves:
o Impressions management
 Is a follower’s effort to project a favorable image in order to gain an immediate
benefit or improve a long-term relationship with the leader
o Ingratiation
 Is the effort to appear supportive, appreciative, and respectful
o Self-Promotion
 Is the effort to appear competent and dependable

Stage 2

 The leader and follower become acquainted

 They further refine the roles they will play together
 Mutual trust, loyalty, and respect develop between leader and follower
 Relationships that do not move beyond Stage 1 may deteriorate and remain at the level of an out-
group

Stage 3

 The roles reach maturity

 Exchange based on self-interest is transformed into mutual commitment to the mission and
objectives of the work unit
 The end result of the life cycle model of LMX relationships is the creation of actual and perceived
differences between in-group and out-group members

> Factors that Determine LMX Quality

Followers’ attributes

 Proactive followers:
– Show initiative even in areas outside their immediate responsibility
– Possess a strong sense of commitment to work unit goals
– Show a stronger sense of responsibility for unit success

 These follower attributes influence leaders to:

– Show support
– Delegate more
– Allow greater discretion
– Engage in open communication
– Encourage mutual influence between themselves and their followers
Leader-follower perceptions of each other
 The leader’s first impressions of the follower can influence the leader’s behavior toward the
follower
 A positive relationship is more likely when:
– The follower is perceived to be competent and dependable
– The follower’s values and attitudes are similar to those of the leader
 A favorable exchange relationship is said to correlate with:
– More supportive behavior by the leader toward the follower
– Less close monitoring
– More mentoring
– More involvement and delegation
 From the follower’s perspective, leaders that are perceived to be competent, experienced, fair,
and honest are more likely to be supported

Situational Factors

 Refer to random or planned events that provide the opportunity for leaders to evaluate a
follower’s work ethic or character
 “Tryouts” (or “role episodes”)
– Give leaders clues about employees

> Effective Leader-Follower Feedback

– Many leaders avoid confronting belowaverage performing followers

– Can degenerate into personal conflict
– May fail to deal with the underlying problem
– Correcting deficiencies can help the follower improve
– Must be done so that the leader–follower relationship is preserved

> Guidelines for Effective Leader Feedback

Pre-feedback – Leader should:

 Remind self to stay calm and professional

 Gather accurate facts on follower performance
 Remind self to avoid rush to judgment

During feedback session – Leader should:

 Be specific in stating performance deficiency

 Explain negative impact of ineffective behavior
 Help follower identify reasons for poor performance
 Ask follower to suggest remedies
 Arrive at mutual agreement on specific action steps
Post-feedback session – Leader should:

 Follow up to ensure implementation of action steps

 Show desire to be of help to follower
 Build follower’s self-confidence

> Folowership and Followers

Followership – Refers to the behavior of followers that results from

the leader–follower influence relationship

Follower – Is a person who is being influenced by a leader

*Effective leadership requires effective followers

*The influencing process of leaders and followers is a two-way
street, with followers also influencing leaders

Alienated followers
 Are low on involvement yet are high on critical thinking
 Feel cheated or unappreciated
 Are capable but unwilling to participate in developing solutions to problems

Conformist followers
 Are the ―yes‖ people of the organization
 Carry out all orders without considering the consequences
 Avoid conflict

Passive followers
 Are neither high on critical thinking nor involvement
 Look to the leader or others to do all the thinking
 Require constant supervision
 Never go beyond the job description

Effective followers
 Are high on critical thinking and involvement
 Are not risk-averse nor do they shy from conflict
 Have the courage to initiate change
 Serve the best interest of the organization
 Tend to function very well in self-managed teams
 Complement the leader’s efforts and can be relied upon the relieve the leader of many tasks

Pragmatic Followers
 Exhibit a little of all four styles—depending on which style fits the prevailing situation
 Present an ambiguous image, with positive and negative sides
– On the positive side, when an organization is going through desperate times, the pragmatic
follower knows how to “work the system to get things done”
– On the negative side, this same behavior can be interpreted as “playing political games,” or
adjusting to maximize self-interest
> Guidelines to Becoming an Effective Follower

 Offer support to leader

 Take initiative
 Play counseling and coaching roles to leader when appropriate
 Raise issues and/or concerns when necessary
 Seek and encourage honest feedback from the leader
 Clarify your role and expectations
 Show appreciation
 Keep the leader informed
 Resist inappropriate influence of leader

> Follower Relative Power Position

 Leaders need to realize that they are no longer the sole possessors of power and influence in their
work units
 Some followers may have personal, referent, expert, information, and connection-based sources of
power that can be used to boost upward influence
 As more and more employees come to rely on a particular follower for information, expertise, or
simply because of his or her personality, the follower’s relative power position increases

> Follower Locus of Control

Followers with an internal locus of control prefer a work environment that facilitates:

 Communication with leaders

 Participation in decision making
 Opportunities to be creative

Followers with an internal locus of control prefer a participative style of leadership

Followers with an external locus of control prefer a directive style of leadership

Followers with an internal locus of control are more likely to be more influential with other followers
than those with an external locus of control

Follower Education and Experiece

 Followers with less education and experience need more guidance, coaching, and feedback
 To improve their performance, inexperienced employees often seek the assistance of experienced
employees
 The need for continuing education and training on the job is increasing
 Leaders have to shift away from the top-down directive style of leading where tasks are highly
structured and power tends to be centralized
 They need to move toward a more decentralized, participative style of managing
> Delegation

Is the process of assigning the responsibility and authority for accomplishing objectives
Refers to giving employees new tasks
Success depends on a manager’s ability to know what to delegate and what not to delegate
The leader should consider the following factors when delegating:
 Task
 Time required
 Follower characteristics

Benefits of Delegation

 Gives managers more time to perform highpriority tasks

 Gets tasks accomplished and increases productivity
 Enables leaders to mobilize resources and secure better results than they could have got alone
 Trains employees and improves their selfesteem
 Eases the stress and burden on managers
 Enriches followers’ jobs

Signs of Delegating Too Little

 Taking work home

 Performing employee tasks
 Being behind in work
 A continual feeling of pressure
 Stress
 Rushing to meet deadlines
 Requiring that employees seek approval before acting

> What to Delegate: Paperwork, Routine tasks, Technical matters, Tasks with developmental potential,
Solving employees’ problems.

> What Not to Delegate: Personnel matters, Confidential activities, Activities delegated to you
personally, Crises.

> The Delegation Model

Step 1 Explain the need for delegating and the reasons for selecting the employee.
Step 2 Set objectives that define responsibility, level of authority, and deadline.
Step 3 Develop a plan.
Step 4 Establish control checkpoints and hold employees accountable.
Team Leadership & Self-Managed Teams [Chapter 8]
> Groups vs. Teams: What’s the difference?

Group: Team:

Focus on individual performance and goals. Have a sese of shared mission

Rely on individual abilities
Work more independently with greater
motivation to achieve personal goals
Have a very hierarchical leadership style
Characterized by individual self-interest
Have collective responsibility
Focus on sharing information, inights, and
perspectives
Make deccisions that support each other
individual to do his or her own job better
Reinforce each other’ sindividual performance
standards
Have a participative or empoweremnt-oriented
leadership style
Have performance measures that create direct
accountability for the team
Strive for equality between members

> Advantages and disadvantages of teamwork:

Advantages – synergy; avoidance of major errors; faster, better decisions; continuous improvement;
innovation; self-motivation; empowerment; greater job satisfaction; needs fulfillment.

Disadvantages – Pressure to conform to group standards of performance and conduct; Resistance to the
team effort from impinging on autonomy; Social loafing; Groupthink; Intergroup conflicts; High levels of
pressure and stress .

> Social Loafing;

Is the conscious or unconscious tendency by some team members to shirk responsibilities by

withholding effort toward group goals when they are not individually accountable for their work;

Is likely when individual effort is not recognized and assessed;

Individual-level performance appraisal helps reduce social loafing, but risks jeopardizing team
interaction and synergy.

> Groupthink

Is when members of a cohesive group tend to agree on a decision not on the basis of its merit but
because they are less willing to risk rejection for questioning a majority viewpoint or presenting a
dissenting opinion;

Unanimity is more important than objectivity;

Dissenting views are suppressed in favor of consensus;

Can be remedied by training team members to become effective participants in the decisionmaking
process.

> Components of Team Effectiveness

Task performance: Is the degree to which the team’s output meets the needs and expectations of those
who use it

Group process: Is the degree to which members interact or relate that allow the team to work
increasingly well together over time.

Individual satisfaction: Is the degree to which the group experience, on balance, is more satisfying than
frustrating to team members.

> Characteristics of Effective Teams

  Team norms
  Team leadership
  Team cohesiveness and interdependence
  Team composition
  Team structure
  Organizational support
  Team creativity

> Team Norms

  Are acceptable standards of behavior shared by team members

  Influence how members perceive and interact with one another, approach decisions, and
solve problems
  Begin developing and being accepted at the early stages of team formation

> Team Leadership

  Effective team leaders:

  Must recognize that not everyone knows how to be a teamplayer
  Must display self-sacrificing behavior and self-confidence
  Employ multiple influencing tactics to control and direct team member action toward the
achievement of organizational goals
  Encourage norms that positively affect the team’s goals and alter those that are negative
  Observe with a keen eye what’s going on in the team
  Make contributions when necessary
  Encourage a climate of dialogue
  Turn obstacles into opportunities
  See themselves and others as part of the team’s pool of knowledge, skills, and ideas
  Must be adaptive, knowing when to play different roles
> Team Cohesiveness and Interdependence

 Team cohesion is the extent to which team members band together and remain committed to
achieving team goals
 Highly cohesive teams have high group potency (the collective belief of a group that it can be effective)
and a strong selfefficacy (an internal belief held by an individual or group about how well and impending
situation can be handled)
 Team cohesion is increased when:
 Team members agree on common purpose and direction
 External parties give high praise and recognition for the team’s success
 The organization encourages and motivates teams to compete with each other for rewards
 Members find they have common ground and similar attitudes and values
 Members enjoy being on the team

> Team Composition

 Focuses on the diversity in knowledge, background, and experiences of team members
 Teams need the right mix of complementary skills, knowledge, and ability
 Teams with experience in working together tend to demonstrate greater task proficiency and
teamwork effectiveness
 Team diversity reduces the likelihood of groupthink
 Teams that do not manage diversity well may suffer negative consequences
 Good working relationships require good social skills for team members
 Size also impacts team effectiveness:
 Small teams of under 12 members are generally more effective

> Team Structure

 Refers to interrelations that determine the assignment of tasks, responsibilities, and authority
 Team members’ degree of interdependence and autonomy have been identified as key structural
components that influence team effectiveness
 Determines the extent to which team members directly control the actions of each other or report
observations of their peers’ efforts to management
  Horizontal incentive system
  Vertical incentive system

> Organizational Support

 Effective teams have strong support from top management
 Assessing team effectiveness as part of overall organizational performance is an important role of top
management

> Team Creativity

 Is the creation of a valuable, useful, and novel product, service, idea, procedure, or process carried out
via discovery rather than a predetermined step-bystep procedure, by individuals working together in a
complex social system
 Organizations that will survive and thrive are those that make the best use of the creativity of their
workforce

> Organizational Practices that Foster Team Creativity

 Provide appropriate recognition and rewards
 Provide adequate and quality resources
 Provide supportive climate and culture
 Provide flexibility and a minimum amount of structure

> Team Leader Practices that Foster Creativity

 Matching people with the right assignments
 Giving team members greater autonomy to do the job
 Protecting against “creativity blockers”
 Ensuring the availability of adequate time, money, and other resources

> Functional Team

 Is a group of employees belonging to the same functional department, such as marketing, R&D,
production, human resources, or information systems who have a common objective
 The structure is generally more hierarchical with the functional leader making all the decisions and
expecting his or her followers to implement them
 Team members tend to focus on their local area of specialization ignoring the overall organizational
mission
 There is no one best leadership style to use
 The use of functional structure has been in decline

> Cross-Functional Team

 Is made up of members of different functional departments of an organization who are brought
together to perform unique tasks to create new and nonroutine products or services
 Some members may be from outside the organization
 Interaction, cooperation, coordination, information sharing, and cross-fertilization of ideas among
people from different functional areas produces better quality products/services with shorter
development cycles
 Cross-functional teams offer many potential benefits to an organization, such as:
  A rich and diverse base of knowledge and creative potential that far exceeds anything a single
functional team could come up with
  Improved coordination
  Avoidance of problems
  Multiple sources of information and perspectives
  Contacts outside of one’s functional specialty
  Speed to market
  Learning of new skills that members carry back to their functional unit
  Synergy
> Virtual Team
 Is one whose members are geographically distributed, requiring them to work together through
electronic means with minimal face-to-face interaction
 New and advanced technologies are providing the means for teamwork that is dispersed (carried out
in different locations) and asynchronous (carried out at different times)
 Have significant collaboration, communication, and leadership challenges
 Team interaction, information sharing, and knowledge integration are all critical to success
 Virtual cross-functional teams are growing in companies with global operations

> Self-Managed Team (SMT)

 Are relatively autonomous teams whose members share or rotate leadership responsibilities and hold
themselves mutually responsible for a set of performance goalsassigned by higher management
 Are usually cross-functional in membership makeup
 Have wide latitude in decision making
 Can manage themselves, plan and schedule work, and take action on problems

> Leadership Skills for Effective Team Meetings

Planning meetings
 Objectives
 Selecting participants and making
assignments
 The agenda
 The time and place for the meeting
 Leadership
Conducting meetings
 Each meeting should cover the following:
– Identifying objectives
– Covering agenda items
– Summarizing and reviewing assignments
Handling problem members
 Silent
 Talkers
 Wanderers
 Bored
 Arguers
> The Benefits of Self-Managed Teams
 Greater improvements in quality, speed, process, and innovation
 A sense of belonging and ownership in one’s work
 Greater employee motivation
 Accelerated new product development
 Greater employee participation
 Reduced operational costs because of reductions in managerial ranks and greater efficiencies
 Greater employee job satisfaction, commitment, and productivity, and lower turnover and
absenteeism rates

> Guidelines for Improving Self-Managed Team Effectiveness

 Ensure that the whole organization has changed its culture, structure, and climate to support SMTs
 Have a champion to support and defend the SMT from opponents who are threatened by the new
concept and what it represents
 The self-managed team champion is an advocate of the selfmanaged team concept
responsibility is to help the team obtain necessary resources, gain political support from top
management and other stakeholders of the organization, and defend it from enemy attacks
 Have a well-thought-out vision of the way in which SMTs will fit into the scheme of the entire
organization
 Allow time for team members to bond with one another and form team skills
 Provide adequate training so team member skills and experiences match task requirements
 Provide objective goals, incentives, and appropriate infrastructure
 Ensure that the organization has the necessary resources to commit to this kind of change in time,
money, and people
 Create a sense of empowerment so SMTs take ownership of what they are doing and how they are
going to do it
 Pay close attention to team design decisions
 Develop team-based measurements and corresponding feedback methods that address team
performance
 Recruit and train managers to act as facilitators or coaches
 Avoid overreacting at the first sign of crisis