Leadership

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Leadership is the process where a person exerts
influence over others and inspires, motivates
and directs their activities to achieve goals.
It is the ability to influence a group toward the
achievement of goals.
• Personal Leadership Style: the ways leaders

choose to influence others.

– Some leaders delegate and support
subordinates, others are very
authoritarian.
– Managers at all levels have their own
leadership style.
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 Formal leader: Formal leader is a member of
organization who has the authority by virtue of his
position to influence other members of
organization to achieve organizational goals.
 Informal leaders: Simply put, informal leader
refers to someone who has no formal position of
authority over people but who becomes a group’s
leader informally. He/She possesses special kills
and talent to influence and lead other members of
organization.

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 Styles of Leadership
• Authoritarian or autocratic leadership
• Participative or democratic leadership
• Free Rein leadership

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 Authoritarian (autocratic)
Style
• This style is used when leaders tell their
employees what they want done and how
they want it accomplished, without getting
the advice of their followers. Some of the
appropriate conditions to use it is when you
have all the information to solve the
problem, you are short on time, or the
employees require guidance.
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 Participative (democratic)
Style
• This style involves the leader including one
or more employees in the decision making
process (determining what to do and how to
do it). However, the leader maintains the
final decision making authority. Using this
style is of mutual benefit -- it allows
employees to become part of the team and
allows the leader to make better decisions.
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 Free Rein Style
• In this style, the leader allows the
employees to make the decisions. However,
the leader is still responsible for the
decisions that are made. This is used when
employees are able to analyze the situation
and determine what needs to be done and
how to do it. This is a style which is used
when the leader fully trusts and confides in
the people below him/her.
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 Likert’s management
systems/Leadership styles
• Renesis Likert and his associates, of the university
of Michigan, conducted an extensive survey of
management and leadership patterns in a large
number of organizations and developed four
systems of management in terms of leadership:
• System1-Exploitative authoritative
• System2-Benevolent Authoritative
• System3-Consultative
• System4-Participative(Democratic)
Likert Said that System 4 or participative
leadership is the best approach to optimize
organisational performance and employee
satisfaction. 8
APPROACHES TO LEADERSHIP

• TRAITS APPROACH
• BEHAVIOURALAPPROACH
• SITUATIONAL APPROACH

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TRAIT THEORY
• Trait theories argue that leaders share a number of
common personality traits and characteristics, and
that leadership emerges from these traits.
A leader is defined in terms of the possession of
such traits as intelligence, personal attractiveness,
self-confidence, confidence on others, honesty and
integrity, vision, warmth and conviction. They are
also believed to be energetic, ambitious and having
a desire to lead others.

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Behavioral theories:
The behavioral approach is based on the
premise that effective leadership is the
result of effective role behaviour.Success
in leadership depends more on what the
leader does than on his traits.
These theories basically focus on two distinct
styles of leadership:
a) Production centered (Task oriented)
leadership
b) Employee centered (relation oriented
leadership)
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The managerial grid (given by
Blake and Mouton)

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 Contingency/Situational theories

• The realization that there isn't one correct

type of leader led to theories that the best
leadership style is contingent on, or depends
on, the situation.

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 Fiedler’s contingency model
• Effective leadership depends upon a proper
match between a leader's style of interacting
with subordinates and the degree to which
the situation gives control and influence to
the leader.
• He analysed three major situational
variables which exert powerful influence on
the leader’s behavior and his effectiveness.
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The three variables are:
• Leader member relations -the degree of
confidence, trust, and respect subordinates
have on their leader
• Task structure -the degree to which task
assignments are structured and systematic.
• Position power -influence derived from
one's formal structural position in the
organization.

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 Importance of leadership/Functions of a
leader
• Initiates action- Leader is a person who starts
the work by communicating the policies and
plans to the subordinates from where the work
actually starts.
• Motivation- A leader proves to be playing an
incentive role in the concern’s working. He
motivates the employees with economic and
non-economic rewards and thereby gets the
work from the subordinates.
• Providing guidance- A leader has to not only
supervise but also play a guiding role for the
subordinates. Guidance here means instructing
the subordinates the way they have to perform
their work effectively and efficiently.
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• Creates Confidence
• Builds work environment- Management is
getting things done from people. An efficient
work environment helps in sound and stable
growth. Therefore, human relations should be
kept into mind by a leader. He should have
personal contacts with employees and should
listen to their problems and solve them. He
should treat employees on humanitarian terms.
• Co-ordination- Co-ordination can be achieved
through reconciling personal interests with
organizational goals. This synchronization can
be achieved through proper and effective co-
ordination which should be primary motive of
a leader.
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