WHAT IS LEADERSHIP?

LEADERSHIP DEFINED
• “Leadership is the art of mobilizing others to want to
struggle for shared aspirations”
James Kouzes & Barry Posner, leadership researchers and authors of ‘The
Leadership Challenge

• “Leadership is a process whereby an individual

influences a group of individuals to achieve a common
goal”
Peter Northouse, professor of communication and author of Leadership:
Theory and Practice
 THE ART OF LEADERSHIP
LEARNING POINTS
• Part one of this course contain answers to these
questions:
✔ Which variables determine leadership effectiveness?
✔ Do you possess the 10 qualities of a leader?
✔ How susceptible are you to leadership influence?
✔ What is your level of interpersonal trust?
✔ In which situations are you likely to lead?

✔ What is your natural kind of intelligence?

 INTRODUCTION
• Reaserchers have been trying to answer these
questions for years:
▪ What does it take to be a successful leader?

▪ What is the most effective leadership style?

• Early studies were based on TWO theories:

▪ Trait Theory (focuses on leader qualities)
▪ Behavior Theory (focuses on leader actions)
THE MILLION DOLLAR
QUESTION????

Are leaders BORN or MADE?

 Leadership Trait Theory
• Sir Francis Galton
✔ One of the earliest leadership theorists
✔ Wrote “Hereditary Genius” pub. 1869
✔ Believed leadership qualities were genetic

• This theory assumes physical and psychological

characteristics account for effective leadership
✔ Basic intelligence
✔ Clear and strong values
✔ High personal energy
 Leadership Trait Theory
• Edwin Gheselli identified six traits for effective
leadership:
✔ Need for achievement
✔ Intelligence
✔ Decisiveness
✔ Self-confidence
✔ Initiative
✔ Supervisory ability
 Trait Theory Applied

• Paul Von Hindenburg

✔ First Chancellor of Germany, post WW1

✔ Used the trait theory for selecting and developing military leaders

• Primary qualities for leadership ability

✔ Intelligence (bright vs dull)

✔ Vitality (energetic vs lazy)

 Examples Of Trait Theory

• Bright, lazy------staff officer

• Energetic, dull------Frontline soldier

• Bright, energetic-------field commander

• Lazy, dull-------left to find their own level of effectiveness

 Leadership Behavior Theory
• In the 1930’s, emphasis on behaviorism moved
researchers in the direction of leadership behavior
▪ Kurt Lewin trained assistants in behaviors indicative of three
leadership styles:

⮚ Autocratic: tight control of group activities, decisions made

by the leader
⮚ Democratic: group participation, majority rule
⮚ Laissez-faire: little activity of any type by the leader
 Leadership Behavior Theory
• In the 1940s, research focused on leader behaviors
✔ Assumed that leaders take distinct actions
• Ralph Stogdill at Ohio University
✔ Helped develop the Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire
(LBDQ)
✔ Respondents described leaders behavior in two dimensions:
⮚ Initiating structure
⮚ Showing consideration
 Leadership Behavior Theory

• Findings of the Leader Behavior Description

Questionnaire(LBDQ) study:

✔ The democratic style was more beneficial for group

performance

✔ The leader’s behavior impacted the performance of followers

 Initiating Structure
• Leaders taking action to define the:
✔ Relationship between themselves and staff
✔ Role each staff member will assume

• Measures of initiating structure:

✔ Trying out new ideas
✔ Encouraging slow workers to work harder
✔ Meeting deadlines
✔ Meeting at scheduled times
✔ Making sure everyone works to capacity
 Showing Consideration
• Showing consideration means….
Taking action to develop trust, respect, support and friendship with
subordinates
• Measures of consideration:
✔ Being helpful
✔ Treating all people as equals
✔ Willing to make changes
✔ Standing behind subordinates
✔ Doing things to make group membership pleasant
 Leadership Bahavior Theory
• Rensis Likert at the University Of Michigan
conducted leadership studies
✔ Studied leaders behaviors related to worker motivation and group
performance
✔ Identified two dimensions of behavior:

⮚ Job centered (initiating structure)

⮚ Employee centered (showing consideration)

 Leadership Behavior Theory

The ideal leader has high concern for both production and
people
 Managerial Grid
• Major management styles and concerns:

✔ Impoverished: low production, low morale

✔ Sweatshop: high production, low morale

✔ Country Club: high morale, low production

✔ Status Quo: medium production, medium morale

✔ Fully Functioning: high production, high morale

 Managerial Grid

• Two additional styles:

✔ Paternalistic: high concern for production, use of rewards for

compliance and loyalty

✔ Opportunistic: promotes his/her own advancement

 Behavior Theory Applied

• Leading by example

• Communicating a vision

• Keeping morale up

• Maintaining a positive attitude

Successful leaders execute these points

 Leadership Contingency Theory

• Both trait and behavior theories tried to identify the one best
leader or style for all situations
✔ By the late 1960s, it became apparent that there is no such universal
answer

• Leadership effectiveness depends on a combination of the:

✔ Leader
✔ Followers
✔ Situational factors
 Leadership Contingency Theory
• In the past 50 years, more than 65 leadership classification systems
have been developed
✔ Most agree that leadership effectiveness depends on the leader, the followers and
situation variables
• Leaders in different situations need different interests, values and
skills
✔ A leader in a bank differs from one on a farm
✔ Experienced vs new followers have different needs
✔ Situational factors include the job performed, the workplace culture and task
urgency
 Leadership Contingency Theory
• Leadership results when….
The ideas and deeds of the leader match needs and expectations of
the follower in a particular situation
• Examples:
✔ Mohammad Ali Jinnah
✔ Nelson Mandela
✔ Adolf Hitler
• For leadership to take place, the leader, followers and situation
must match
 Charismatic Leadership

• Charismatic leaders
✔ Inspire others and bring forth loyalty
• Max Weber’s definition of charisma:
✔ A quality that sets an individual apart from ordinary people
✔ To be treated as if endowed with exceptional powers or
qualities
• Charisma is a gift or power of leadership
Theory of Charismatic Leadership

• This theory was published by R.J. House in 1976

• Charismatic leaders exhibit a combination of personal
characteristics and behavior:
✔ Dominant
✔ Ambitious
✔ Self-confident
✔ Sense of purpose
 Behavior of Charismatic Leaders

• Charismatic leaders…
✔ Are role models
✔ Demonstrate ability that elicits respect
✔ Have ideological goals with moral overtones
✔ Communicate high expectations and show confidence in meeting them
✔ Ignite the motives of followers
• Types of motives:
✔ Affiliation, power and achievement
 Charismatic Leadership
• According to James MacGregor Burns, “charisma”
has overlapping meanings:
✔ Leaders magical qualities

✔ An emotional bond between the leader and the led

✔ Dependence on a powerful figure by the masses

✔ Assumption that a leader is omniscient and virtuous

✔ Popular support for a leader that verges on love

 Transformational Leadership

• Transformational leaders raise aspirations and transform

individuals through:

✔ Optimism

✔ Charm

✔ Intelligence

✔ Other personal qualities

 Transformational Vs
Transactional
• Transformational leaders
✔ Focus on the potential relationship between the leader and
the followers
✔ Engage the full person of the follower
✔ Tap the motives of the followers
• Transactional leaders
✔ Focus on exchanges between leaders and followers
✔ Emphasize exchanging one thing for another