Pragya Gupta

Assistant Professor
Jaipuria Institute of Management, Noida
Definitions

Robert Kreitner:

“Leadership is a social influence process in which the leader seeks

the voluntary participation of subordinates in an effort to reach the

organizational objectives”

Stephen P. Robbins:

“Leadership is the ability to influence a group towards achievement

of goals”

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Who are leaders and what is leadership

 Leader – Someone who can influence others and who has managerial

authority

 Leadership – What leaders do; the process of influencing a group to

achieve goals

 Ideally, all managers should be leaders

 Although groups may have informal leaders who emerge, those are

not the leaders we’re studying

Leadership research has tried to answer: What is an effective

leader?

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Early Leadership Theories

Trait Theories (1920s -1930s)

 Research focused on identifying personal characteristics that
differentiated leaders from non-leaders was unsuccessful.
 Later research on the leadership process identified seven traits
associated with successful leadership:
 Drive
 desire to lead
 honesty and integrity
 Self-confidence,
 Intelligence
 job-relevant knowledge
 extraversion
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Seven Traits associated with leadership

Source: S. A. Kirkpatrick and E. A. Locke, “Leadership: Do Traits Really Matter?” Academy of Management Executive, May 1991, pp. 48–60; T. A. Judge, J. E.
Bono, R. llies, and M. W. Gerhardt, “Personality and Leadership: A Qualitative and Quantitative Review,” Journal of Applied Psychology, August 2002, pp. 765–
780.
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Behavioral Theories

University of Iowa Studies (Kurt Lewin)

 Identified three leadership styles based on use of authority

 Autocratic style: centralized authority, low participation

 Democratic style: involvement, high participation, feedback

 Laissez faire style: hands-off management

 Research findings: mixed results

– No specific style was consistently better for producing better

performance – Laissez Faire, most ineffective

– Employees were more satisfied under a democratic leader than an

autocratic leader

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Behavioral Theories

Ohio State Studies

 Identified two dimensions of leader behaviour:
 Initiating structure: define the role of the leader in defining his/ her role
and the roles of group members -  everyone knows what is expected, establish
formal lines of communication, and determine how tasks will be performed

 Consideration: the leader’s mutual trust and respect for group members’
ideas and feelings and establish a supporting climate

 Research findings: mixed results

 No High – high leaders generally (but not
always), achieved high group task
performance and satisfaction.
 Evidence indicated that situational factors
appeared to strongly influence leadership
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Behavioral Theories

University of Michigan Studies

 Identified two dimensions of leader behaviour:

 Employee-oriented: emphasizing personal relationships

 Job-oriented: emphasizing task accomplishment

 Research findings:
• Leaders who are employee oriented are
strongly associated with high group
productivity and high job satisfaction.
• Nature of job, personal characteristics,
group characteristics and situational
variables were ignored
• Static nature-  leader is supposed to follow
either of the two styles, viz., task
orientation and employee orientation.
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Managerial Grid (By Blake & Mouton)

Appraises leadership styles using two dimensions:

 Concern for people

 Concern for production

Places managerial styles in five categories:

–  Impoverished management (1,1)

–  Task management (9,1)

–  Middle-of-the-road management (5,5)

–  Country club management (1,9)

–  Team management (9,9)

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Leadership as a continuum

This theory developed by Tannebaum and Schmidt (1958/ 1973)

suggests that the appropriate style of leadership depends upon:

1. The Leader

2. The followers

3. The situation

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Contingency Theories

Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational leadership Theory

 Argues that successful leadership is achieved by selecting the right

leadership style which is contingent on the level of the followers’
readiness.
 Acceptance: leadership effectiveness depends on whether followers
accept or reject a leader.
 Readiness: the extent to which followers have the ability and
willingness to accomplish a specific task.

 Leaders must relinquish control over and contact with followers as

they become more competent

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Situational Factors

Path‑goal theory suggests that the main function of the leader is to

clarify and set goals with subordinates, help them find the best path for
achieving the goals, and remove obstacles.

Four leadership behavior:

1. Supportive leadership – Consideration for the needs of subordinates,

shows concern for their well-being, creates a pleasant organisation climate

2. Participative leadership – allows subordinates to influence the decisions

of the superiors, which may increase motivation

3. Instrumental leadership – gives subordinates specific guidance and

clarifies what is expected of them

4. Achievement oriented leadership – setting challenging goals, seeking

improvement of performance, having confidence that subordinates will
achieve high goals

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Transactional and Transformational Leadership

Transactional leaders identify what subordinates need to do to

achieve objectives, clarify organizational roles and tasks, set
up an organization structure, reward performance, and are
considerate for the social needs of its followers

Transformational leaders articulate a vision and inspire

followers. They have the capacity to motivate, shape the
organizational culture, and create a climate favorable for
organizational change

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Transactional vs Transformational
Transactional
• Work within the system
• Start solving challenges by
fitting experiences to a known
pattern
• Want to know the step-by-step
approach
• Minimize variation of the
organization
Transformational
• Working to change the system
• Solving challenges by finding
experiences that show that old
patterns do not fit or work
• Wanting to know what has to
change
• Maximizing their teams’
capability and capacity
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More queries?

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