Unit 4 Human Resource

Management
Concept and Functions of Leadership

Leadership Styles: (Meaning, Characteristics, Merits and Demerits)

Transformational Leadership
Situational Leadership
Team Leadership

Leadership Skills:
Grievance Management (Meaning and Need)
Decision Making (Meaning and process)
Crisis Management (Meaning and Need)
 Concept and Functions of
Leadership
• Leadership is an important element of the directing function of
management. Wherever, there is an organized group of people
working towards a common goal, some type of leadership becomes
essential.
• Leadership is the ability to build up confidence and zeal among
people and to create an urge in them to be led. To be a successful
leader, a manager must possess the qualities of foresight, drive,
initiative, self-confidence and personal integrity. Different situations
may demand different types of leadership.
• Definition
• Green field & Andrews (1961) Leadership is the behavior of an
individual when he is directing and guiding the activities of the
group toward a shared goal
• Stephen Robbins- "Leadership is the ability to influence a group
towards achievement of goals."-
 Leadership Functions:
• Setting Goals: A leader is expected to perform creative function of laying
out goals and policies to persuade the subordinates to work with zeal and
confidence.
• Organizing: The second function of a leader is to create and shape the
organization on scientific lines by assigning roles appropriate to individual
abilities with the view to make its various components to operate
sensitively towards the achievement of enterprise goals.
• Motivation: In the school system, the principal motivates his staff by
providing immediate attainable goals toward which the staff should work.
He is to ensure that means are provided for attaining goals set for staff.
Another way is through feedback.
• Understanding the Ability of Staff : Since the school system would
comprise men and women of different specializations, it is essential for the
school principal to know the capabilities and characteristics of each staff.
• Job Classification: On entering a system, the new employee would like to
know what his specific tasks are. It is the principal's task to match people
and position. This should be done based on specialization and interest areas
• Staff Orientation : After staff have been recruited and assigned, the school
head introduces them to the system. This minimizes the adjustment
problems confronting the staff. The type of environment in which the new
staff finds him and the first impression he has in his early days would go a
long way to influence his behavior and moral within the system.
• Staff Development : It aims at correcting certain deficiencies which were
known at the time of appointment. It equally enables the teaching staff to
face the challenges resulting from innovation in the school curriculum.
Nonprofessional teachers are encouraged to professionalize while the
professionals themselves acquire higher qualifications for greater
responsibilities and status within the school system.
• Staff Supervision and Assessment: Supervision helps the new teachers to
understand the purposes, responsibilities, and relationships of his position
and the directions of his efforts. The principal gives clear guidance as to
steps, methods and goals of work and makes personal examination or the
work of individual members without straining relationships.
• Initiating Action: The next function of a leader is to take the initiative in all
matters of interest to the group. He should not depend upon others for
decision and judgment. He should float new ideas and his decisions should
reflect original thinking.
• Co-Ordination: A leader has to reconcile the interests of the individual
members of the group with that of the organization. He has to ensure
voluntary co-operation from the group in realizing the common objectives.
• Link between Management and Workers: A leader works as a necessary
link between the management and the workers. He interprets the policies
and programs of the management to his subordinates and represents the
subordinates' interests before the management. He can prove effective only
when he can act as the true guardian of the interests of his subordinates.
Leadership Styles: Transformational
• Meaning:
• Transformational leadership is a style of leadership where a leader works
with subordinates to identify needed change, creating a vision to guide the
change through inspiration, and executing the change in tandem with
committed members of a group.
• Transformational leaders are described to hold positive expectations for
followers, believing that they can do their best. As a result, they inspire,
empower, and stimulate followers to exceed normal levels of performance.
Transformational leaders also focus on and care about followers and their
personal needs and development.
• Characteristics:
• Extraversion: The two main characteristics of extraverts are affiliation and
agency, which relate to the social and leadership aspects of their
personality, respectively. Extraversion is generally seen as an inspirational
trait usually exhibited in transformational leadership.
• Neuroticism: Neuroticism generally gives an individual an anxiety related
to productivity which, in a group setting can be debilitating to a degree
where they are unlikely to position themselves in a role of transformational
leadership due to lower self-esteem and a tendency to shirk from leadership
responsibilities.
• Openness to experience: Creative expression and emotional responsiveness
have been linked to a general tendency of openness to experience. This trait
is also seen as a component of transformational leadership as it relates to
the ability to give big-picture visionary leadership for an organization.
• Agreeableness: Although not a trait which specifically points to
transformational leadership, leaders in general possess an agreeable nature
stemming from a natural concern for others and high levels of individual
consideration. Charisma and idealized influence is a classic ability of
individuals who possess agreeability.
• Conscientiousness: Strong sense of direction and the ability to put large
amounts of productive work into tasks is the by-product of conscientious
leaders. This trait is more linked to a transactional form of leadership given
the management based abilities of such individuals and the detail oriented
nature of their personality.
• Transformational leadership pros:
• Excellent at communicating new ideas
• Good at balancing short-term vision and long-term goals
• Experience building strong coalitions and establishing mutual trust
• They have integrity and high emotional intelligence (empathy with others)

• Transformational leadership cons:

• Ineffective in initial stage or ad-hoc situations
• Require an existing structure to fix
• Bad fit in bureaucratic structures
 Leadership Style: Situational
• Meaning:
• Situational leadership is a theory of leadership that is part of a group of
theories known as contingency theories of leadership. Generally speaking,
contingency theories of leadership hold that a leader's effectiveness is
related to the leader's traits or behaviors in relation to differing situational
factors.
• According to situational leadership theory, a leader's effectiveness is
contingent on his ability to modify his management behavior to the level of
his subordinates' maturity or sophistication.
• The Situational Leadership Model rests on two fundamental concepts;
leadership style and the individual or group's Performance Readiness level.
• Leadership styles:
• Hersey and Blanchard characterized leadership style in terms of the amount
of Task Behavior and Relationship Behavior that the leader provides to
their followers. They categorized all leadership styles into four behavior
types, which they named S1 to S4
• Leadership style and Leaders behavior:-
• Telling leaders = S1 (specific guidance and close supervision):
• These leaders make decisions and communicate them to others. They create
the roles and objectives and expect others to accept them. Communication
is usually one way. This style is most effective in a disaster or when
repetitive results are required.
• Selling = S2 (explaining and persuading):
• These leaders may create the roles and objectives for others, but they are
also open to suggestions and opinions. They "sell" their ideas to others in
order to gain cooperation.
• Participating = S3 (sharing and facilitating):
• These leaders leave decisions to their followers. Although they may
participate in the decision-making process, the ultimate choice is left to
employees.
• Delegating = S4 (letting others do it):
• These leaders are responsible for their teams, but provide minimum
guidance to workers or help to solve problems. They may be asked from
time to time to help with decision-making.
• The right leadership style will depend on the person or group being led.
The Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory identified four levels
of maturity Ml through M4:

• M1 — They still lack the specific skills required for the job in hand and are
unable and unwilling to take responsibility for this job or task.
• M2 — They are unable to take on responsibility for the task being done;
however, they are willing to work at the task. They are novice but
enthusiastic.
• M3 — They are experienced and able to do the task but lack the confidence
or the willingness to take on responsibility.
• M4 — They are experienced at the task, and comfortable with their own
ability to do it well. They are able and willing to not only do the task, but to
take responsibility for the task.
• Situational leadership pros (Advantages):
• Easy to use: When a leader has the right style, he or she knows it
• Simple: All the leader needs to do is evaluate the situation and apply the
• correct leadership style
• Intuitive appeal: With the right type of leader, this style is comfortable
• Leaders have permission to change management styles as they see fit
• It recognizes the need for flexibility on the part of leaders and the
importance of the followers as determinants of leader behavior.
• Situational leadership cons (Disadvantages):
• This North American style of leadership does not take into consideration
priorities and communication styles of other cultures
• It ignores the differences between female and male managers.
• It can divert leaders focus away from long-term strategies, symbols,
structure or politics and focus on short term goals only.
• Critics of situational leadership point to the difficulty in defining and
quantifying maturity, who should rate it, and the tendency to assume that
job maturity matches emotional maturity.
• It ignores interpersonal relationships within work groups that can have a
negative impact on performance.
• Followers may be able, willing and confident to perform the tasks but they
may also take advantage of the low intervention from their managers so
that the tasks may not be completed on time or productivity is not up to par
as expected.
• The Situational Leader may be deemed inconsistent and hard to predict
developing lack of trust and fear in the minds of the followers.
 Leadership Style: Team
• Meaning:
• A team leader is someone who provides guidance, instruction, direction and
leadership to a group of other individuals (the team) for the purpose of
achieving a key result or group of aligned results. The team leader reports to
a manager (overseeing several teams). The team leader monitors the
quantitative and qualitative result that is to be achieved. The leader often
works within the team, as a member, carrying out the same roles but with the
additional 'leader' responsibilities - as opposed to higher level management
who often have a separate job role altogether.
• Characteristics :
• Communication: Effective team leaders communicate clearly. Quality verbal
and written communication skills allow leaders to present expectations to
team members in a way workers can understand. Effective communication
skills allow team leaders to listen to the input of others.
• Organization: Effective team leaders possess exceptional organizational
skills. It helps team leaders plan objectives and strategies, which allow team
members to perform optimally. Organized team leaders put systems in place
that maintain order and guide team members toward meeting company goals
and objectives.
• Confidence: An effective team leader is confident in his abilities, as well as
confident in the abilities of his team members. A confident leader is secure
in the decisions he makes that affect his team. A self-confident team leader
also reassures team members of his authority within the organization.
• Respectful: A quality team leader is respectful of his team members. A
respectful leader empowers employees by encouraging them to offer ideas
about decisions that affect them. This lets team members know that the
leader respects their input and opinions.
• Fair: A quality team leader treats team members fairly. He is consistent with
rewards and recognition, as well as disciplinary action. A fair leader
ensures all employees receive the same treatment.
• Integrity: An effective team leader is honest and open with his team
members. Leaders who possess integrity gain the trust of team members
because he does what he says he will do and treats others the same way he
wants to be treated.
• Influential: Influential leaders help inspire the commitment of team
members to meet company goals and objectives. Influential leaders also
help manage change in the workplace by gaining the confidence of workers
through effective decision making and communication.
• Delegation: Effective team leaders know how to share leadership through
delegation. Delegating certain tasks to trustworthy team members allows the
leader to focus on improving workplace functions and production.
• Facilitator: Effective team leaders are powerful facilitators. As a facilitator,
team leaders help workers understand their goals. They also help organize an
action plan to ensure team members meet their goals and objectives more
efficiently.
• Negotiation: Team leaders utilize negotiation skills to achieve results and
reach an understanding in the event of a workplace conflict. Team leaders
who negotiate effectively streamline the decision-making process, as well as
solve problems for the best interest of everyone involved.
• Team building helps in
• Aligning around goals
• Building effective working relationships
• Reducing team members' role ambiguity
• Finding solutions to team problems
• Team building is an ongoing process that helps a work group evolve into a
cohesive unit. The team members not only share expectations for
accomplishing group tasks, but trust and support one another and respect one
another's individual differences.
Leadership Skills: Grievance Management
• Meaning:
• A grievance is any dissatisfaction or feeling of injustice having connection with
one's employment situation which is brought to the attention of management.
• A grievance is any dissatisfaction that adversely affects organizational relations
and productivity
• To understand what a grievance is, it is necessary to distinguish between
dissatisfaction, complaint, and grievance.
• Dissatisfaction is anything that disturbs an employee, whether or not the unrest
is expressed in words.
• Complaint is a spoken or written dissatisfaction brought to the attention of the
supervisor or the shop steward.
• Grievance is a complaint that has been formally presented to a management
representative or to a union official.
• Definition:-
• Dale Yoder- "Grievance is a written complaint filed by an employee and
claiming unfair treatment."
• Keith Davis- "any real or imagined feeling of personal injustice which an
employee has concerning his employment relationship."
 Need
• An employee may not be operating efficiently and this could result in such
things as increased sickness absence;
• An employee may complain to other colleagues and distract them from their
normal work;
• How a grievance is managed may be a reflection of how well other issues are
dealt with; and
• There is an ethical and statutory duty to look after employees.
• The aim of the procedure is to provide a fair arrangement by which
individual employees (or a collective group of employees) may raise
grievances in the course of, and connected with, their employment and have
the grievances settled promptly and satisfactorily as near to the point of
origin as possible.
• The existence of an effective grievance procedure reduces the need of
arbitrary action by supervisors because supervisors know that the employees
are able to protect such behavior and make protests to be heard by higher
management.
• The very fact that employees have a right to be heard and are actually heard
helps to improve morale. In view of all these, every organization should have
a clear-cut procedure for grievance handling.
• Grievance Redressal Procedure (Student):
• An aggrieved employee shall first present his/her grievance verbally or in
writing to the concerned head of the department. The HOD is required to
furnish the answer within 48 hrs. of the presentation of grievance.
• If the student is not satisfied with the answer, he/she can approach to the
concerned officers appointed by management for that purpose directly .The
officers must give his/her answer within 3 days of the presentation of the
complainant(s).
• If the student is not satisfied with the answer, he/she can approach to the
"Disciplinary and Grievance Redressal Committee" which shall evaluate
the case and make its recommendations to Principal within seven days of
presentation of the case. The student would be communicated the
recommendation within 3 days.
• If the committee fails to take the decision within the stipulated time or the
student is not satisfied with the decision, he/she can an appeal for revision
to management. Management is supposed to communicate its decision
within seven days of student's revised petition.
• If the student is unsatisfied with the management's decision, student's
council or management may refer to Affiliating University or Directorate of
Technical Education or All India Council for Technical Education.
 Leadership Skills: Decision Making
• In the course of managing an organization, the manager is confronted with several
problems which require immediate and appropriate solutions. Such problems are
solved by making decisions.
• Decision-making in simple may be defined as "the selection of a future course of
action from among various alternatives'. It presupposes the existence of various
alternatives. It is in a way a choice between alternatives. In other words, if there are
no alternatives, there is no choice.
• The thought process of selecting a logical choice from the available options.
• When trying to make good decisions a person must weigh the positives and
negatives of each option, and consider all the alternatives.
• For effective decision making, a person must be able to forecast the outcome of
each option as well, and based on all these items, determine which option is the best
for that particular situation.
• Definition:-
• Decision-making is the selection based on some criteria from two or more possible
alternatives. " - George R.Terry
• A decision can be defined as a course of action consciously chosen from available
alternatives for the purpose of desired result - J.L. Massie
• The planning process contains six steps
• Stating organizational objectives — this is a necessary beginning point of
successful planning and should remain a focal point throughout the
planning process.
• Listing alternatives for reaching objectives — managers should list many
• different ways to possibly reaching the objectives.
• Developing assumptions about each alternative — managers should spend
time thinking about what might happen depending on which alternative is
chosen. Managers need to use their knowledge and experience to make
solid assumptions.
• Choose the best alternative — evaluate the assumptions and choose the best
alternative.
• Develop plans to pursue the chosen alternative — manager begins to
develop plans.
• Put the plans into action — this is where the organization benefits from all
the planning
• Control Process:
– Comparison of planned and actual results
– Response to divergences from plan
 Leadership Skills: Crisis Management
• Crisis management is the process by which an organization deals with a
major event that threatens to harm the organization, its stakeholders, or the
general public. The study of crisis management originated with the large-
scale industrial and environmental disasters in the 1980s.
• Crisis management is the application of strategies designed to help an
organization deal with a sudden and significant negative event. A crisis can
occur as a result of an unpredictable event or as an unforeseeable
consequence of some event that had been considered a potential risk.
• The art of dealing with sudden and unexpected events which disturbs the
employees, organization as well as external clients refers to Crisis
Management.
• Definition:-
• “The process of handling unexpected and sudden changes in organization
culture is called as crisis management.”
• “Crisis Management is a situation based Management system that includes
clear roles and responsibilities and process related organizational
requirements”
 Need
• Crisis Management prepares the individuals to face unexpected
developments and adverse conditions in the organization with courage
• and determination.
• Employees adjust well to the sudden changes in the organization.
• Employees can understand and analyze the causes of crisis and cope with it
in the best possible way.
• Crisis Management helps the managers to devise strategies to come out of
uncertain conditions and also decide on the future course of action.
• Crisis Management helps the managers to feel the early signs of crisis,
warn the employees against the aftermaths and take necessary precautions
for the same.