Leadership Styles &

Theories
Unit 2
Binnyam Ahmed
SMU
Tikimt 2014
  Different styles were needed for different situations and each
leader needed to know when to exhibit a particular approach
 Leadership strategies define every leader's personal leadership
style
 Three factors that influence which leadership style to use.
1. The manager’s personal background: What personality,
knowledge, values, ethics, and experiences does the
2.1 Leadership manager have. What does he or she think will work?
Style 2. Staff being supervised: Staff individuals with different
personalities and backgrounds; The leadership style used
will vary depending upon the individual staff and what he or
she will respond best to
3. The organization: The traditions, values, philosophy, and
concerns of the organization influence how a manager acts
 Basis leadership styles: Autocratic/ Bureaucratic/ Laisses
faire/ Democratic
  The classical approach
 Manager retains as much power and decision
making authority as possible
• Does not consult staff, nor allowed to give any input
2.1.1 • Staff expected to obey orders without receiving any
Autocratic explanations
style • Structured set of rewards and punishments
 Greatly criticized during the past 30 years
 In general Autocratic leaders: Rely on threats and
punishment to influence staff ,Do not trust staff and
Do not allow for employee input
  New, untrained staff do not know which tasks
to perform or which procedures to follow
 Effective supervision provided only through
detailed orders and instructions
Essential to  Staff do not respond to any other leadership
use when style
 Limited time in which to make a decision
 A manager’s power is challenged by staff ‰
 Work needs to be coordinated with another
department or organization
  Staff become tense, fearful, or
resentful
 Staff expect their opinions heard
Should be
 Staff depend on their manager to
avoided when
make all their decisions
 Low staff morale, high turnover and
absenteeism and work stoppage
  Manages “by the book¨
 • Everything done according to procedure or policy
• If not covered by the book, referred to the next level
above
• A police officer not a leader
2.1.2 • Enforces the rules
Bureaucratic  Most effective when Staff performing routine tasks
Leadership over and over , Staff need to understand certain
standards or procedures, Safety or security training
style conducted and Staff performing tasks that require
handling cash
 Ineffective when Work habits form that are hard to
break, especially if they are no longer useful, Staff lose
their interest in their jobs and in their co-workers and
staff do only what is expected of them and no more.
  Also known as participative style
 Encourages staff to be a part of the decision making
 Keeps staff informed about everything that affects their
work and shares decision making and problem solving
responsibilities
2.1.3  Produce high quality and high quantity work for long
Democratic periods of time
leadership  Staff like the trust they receive and respond with
style cooperation, team spirit, and high morale
 Develops plans to help staff evaluate their own performance
 Allows staff to establish goals
 Encourages staff to grow on the job and be promoted
 Recognizes and encourages achievement
  Used with highly skilled or experienced staff or
when implementing operational changes or
resolving individual or group problems
 Most effective when you Wants to keep staff
Most informed about matters that affect them/ Wants
staff to share in decision-making and problem-
Successful and solving duties/ Wants to provide opportunities for
Effective When staff to develop a high sense of personal growth
and job satisfaction/ A large or complex problem
that requires lots of input to solve/ Changes must
be made or problems solved that affect staff / Want
to encourage team building and participation
 Not enough time to get everyone’s
input
 Easier and more cost-effective for
the manager to make the decision
Not Effective
when • Can’t afford mistakes
• Manager feels threatened by this
type of leadership
• Staff safety is a critical concern
  Also known as the “hands-off¨ style
 The manager provides little or no direction and gives staff as
much freedom as possible
 All authority or power given to the staff and they determine
goals, make decisions, and resolve problems on their own
 An effective style to use Staff highly skilled, experienced,
2.1.4 Laisse's and educated, Staff have pride in their work and the drive to
do it successfully on their own, Outside experts, such as staff
faire specialists or consultants used and Staff trustworthy and
experienced
 Not effective when Staff feel insecure at the unavailability of
a manager, The manager cannot provide regular feedback to
staff on how well they are doing , Managers unable to thank
staff for their good work ,The manager doesn’t understand
his or her responsibilities and hoping the staff cover for him
or her
  Transformational leadership
 Transactional leadership
 Creative leadership
 Corrective leadership
Other  Change leadership
leadership  Intelligence leadership
styles  Multicultural leadership
 Pedagogical leadership
 Servant leadership
 Bridging leadership
 Purposeful leadership
  The major leadership theories tend to
emphasis certain core issues
 Great Man Theory- focused on the leader
2.2.Leadership  Trait theories- focused on the leader
Theories  Behavioral theories- focused on how the
leader interacts with his/her group members
 Contingence /situational theory-
  Thomas Carlyle
 The history of the world is the biography of great
men
 Effective leaders are ‘heroes’ with intellectual
superiority, courage and significant influence on the
masses
2.2.1. Great  some people are born to lead.
Man Theory  Great leaders can’t be made because leadership
qualities are innate
 Characteristics like charisma, intelligence, political
skills and wisdom are some of the natural qualities
of a successful leader.
 The two major assumptions of the
theory were that
a. EVERY GREAT LEADER IS BORN
WITH TRAITS THAT PREPARE
THEM TO RISE AND LEAD AND
b. PEOPLE BECOME GREAT
LEADERS WHEN THERE’S A
NEED
  It’s based on myths and assumptions with little logic to back it
 It doesn’t consider external environments or situations that often
influence human behavior and attitudes
 There isn’t any guarantee that a person with all leadership qualities
will eventually become a successful leader
Limitations of  There isn’t much insight into the motivation behind a leader’s actions;
an individual may become a leader because of selfish motives
the theory  It ignores the contributions of others who drove a leader to success. For
example, a producer or a writer is as important as a director to make a
movie a success
 The theory mainly considered men as great leaders and disregarded the
importance of other genders. Gradually, with the emergence of non-
male leaders, the Great Person Theory replaced the ‘man theory’
  Focus on leaders traits- characteristics that
might be used to differentiate leaders from non
leaders.
 The intent was to isolate traits that leaders
possessed and non leaders did not.
2.2.2. Trait
 Studied traits include….physical
Theory stature/appearance/social class/emotional
stability/fluency of speech and sociability.
 It was impossible to identify one set of
traits….calls for a shift to the process than the
leader( the person)
 1. Drive
2. Desire to lead
3. Honesty and integrity
Seven Traits of 4. Self confidence
Leadership 5. Intelligence
6. Job relevant knowledge
7. extraversion
 Leadership theories that
identified behaviors that
2.2.3.
differentiate effective leaders
Behavioral from ineffective leaders.
leadership 1. University of Iowa studies
Theories
2. The Ohio state studies
3.University of Michigan studies
4. Managerial grid
  Three leadership styles was explored
 Autocratic/democratic/laissez-faire
 Autocratic style/authoritative/directive- a leader who
tended to centralize authority, dictate work methods , made
unilateral decisions and limit employee participation.
 Democratic style/participative- a leader who tended to
2.2.3.1 IOWA involve employees in decision making , delegate authority ,
encourage participation in deciding work methods and goals
studies , and use feedback as an opportunity for coaching
employees.
 Iaissez-faire style/free rein/abdictive- a leader who
generally gave the group complete freedom to make
decisions and complete the work in whatever way they saw
fit
 Which style was most effective?
 democratic style contribute to both good
quantity and quality of work although later
time studies show mixed results
 Group members satisfaction level were
higher under a democratic leader.
 High performance Vs High member
satisfaction
  Identified two important dimensions of leader behavior, initiating structure
& consideration.
 Initiating structure- the extent to which a leader defined and structured his
or her role and the roles of group members.
 This include behaviors that involves attempt to organize work, work
relationships , and goals.
 Consideration- the extent to which a leader had job relationships
2.2.3.2 OHIO characterized by mutual trust and respect for group members ideas and
feelings.
state studies  This was treated to be high when a leader helped group members with
personal problems, was friendly and approachable, treated all group
members as equals, and show concern for his/her followers comfort, well-
being , status and satisfaction.
 High –High leader- a leader high in the two dimensions. …..also achieve
high group task performance and high satisfaction.
 Not always the reality….hence the need for situational factors to be studied
in leadership theories.
  Came up with two dimensions of leadership behavior,
employee oriented and production oriented.
 Employee oriented- emphasize interpersonal
relationships and took a personal interest on the
needs of their followers and accept individual
2.2.3.3 differences among group members.
Michigan  Production oriented- emphasize the technical or
Studies task aspect of the job , concerned mainly with
accomplishing group task and regard group members
as a means to that end.
 Preference to employee oriented leaders as
associated with high group productivity and high job
satisfaction.
2.2.3.4  The Michigan studies has led to the managerial
Managerial grid development.
Grid  Please read on what managerial grid is and how it
is related with leadership
  According to the advocates of this leadership
theory, leadership is a complex social and
interpersonal process; and to understand it fully we
need to see the situation in which a leader
2.2.4. operates.
Contingency/  The contingency theory of leadership stresses that
no single leadership style is effective in all
Situational situations.
Theory  Thus, an effective leader must be flexible enough
to adapt to the differences among subordinates
and situations.
 If this is the context/situation, then this is the best
leadership style to use
  Effective group performance depends on the proper
match between leadership style and the situation
 Assumes that leadership style (based on
orientation revealed in LPC questionnaire) is fixed
 Considers Three Situational Factors:
 Leader-member relations: degree of confidence
2.2.4.1 Fiedler and trust in the leader
Model  Task structure: degree of structure in the jobs
 Position power: leader’s ability to hire, fire, and
reward
 For effective leadership: must change to a leader who
fits the situation or change the situational variables to
fit the current leader
  Positives:
 Considerable evidence supports the
model, especially if the original eight
situations are grouped into three
 Problems:
Assessment  The logic behind the LPC scale is not
well understood
 LPC scores are not stable
 Contingency variables are complex and
hard to determine
  A refinement of Fielder’s original model:
 Focuses on stress as the enemy of
rationality and creator of unfavorable
conditions
Fielders  A leader’s intelligence and experience
Cognitive influence his or her reaction to that stress
Resource  Stress Levels:
 Low Stress: Intellectual abilities are
Theory effective
 High Stress: Leader experiences are
effective
 Research is supporting the theory
  A model that focuses on follower “readiness”
 Followers can accept or reject the leader
 Effectiveness depends on the followers’ response to the leader’s
actions
 “Readiness” is the extent to which people have the ability and
2.2.4.2 Hersey willingness to accomplish a specific task

& Blanchard’s  A paternal model:

 As the child matures, the adult releases more and more control over
Situational the situation
 As the workers become more ready, the leader becomes more laissez-
Leadership faire
Theory  An intuitive model that does not get much support from the
research findings
 Two classes of contingency variables:
 Environmental are outside of employee control
 Subordinate factors are internal to employee
 Mixed support in the research findings
  Builds from the Ohio State studies and the expectancy theory
of motivation
 The Theory:
 Leaders provide followers with information, support, and
resources to help them achieve their goals
2.2.4.3 House’s  Leaders help clarify the “path” to the worker’s goals
 Leaders can display multiple leadership types
Path-Goal
Theory  Four types of leaders:
 Directive: focuses on the work to be done
 Supportive: focuses on the well-being of the worker
 Participative: consults with employees in decision-making
 Achievement-Oriented: sets challenging goals
  A response to the failing of contingency theories to account for followers and
heterogeneous leadership approaches to individual workers
 LMX Premise:

2.2.4.4 Leader-  Because of time pressures, leaders form a special relationship with a small
group of followers: the “in-group”
Member  This in-group is trusted and gets more time and attention from the leader
(more “exchanges”)
Exchange  All other followers are in the “out-group” and get less of the leader’s
attention and tend to have formal relationships with the leader (fewer
(LMX) Theory “exchanges”)
 Leaders pick group members early in the relationship
 How groups are assigned is unclear
 Follower characteristics determine group membership
 Leaders control by keeping favorites close
 Research has been generally supportive
  How a leader makes decisions is as important as what is
decided
 Premise:
 Leader behaviors must adjust to reflect task
2.2.4.5 Yroom structure
& Yetton’s  “Normative” model: tells leaders how participative
to be in their decision-making of a decision tree
Leader-  Five leadership styles
Participation  Twelve contingency variables
Model  Research testing for both original and modified models
has not been encouraging
 Model is overly complex
  Leadership can be described as transactional or
transformational.
 Transactional leaders focuses on the role of supervision,
2.3. organization, and group performance. They are concerned
about the status quo and day-to-day progress toward goals
Transformatio
 Transformational leaders work to enhance the motivation and
nal Vs engagement of followers by directing their behavior toward a
Transactional shared vision.
Leaders  While transactional leadership operates within existing
boundaries of processes, structures, and goals,
transformational leadership challenges the current state and is
change-oriented.
 Transactional leadership promotes compliance with existing organizational goals
and performance expectations through supervision and the use of rewards and
punishments.
 Transactional leaders are task and outcome-oriented. Especially effective under
strict time and resource constraints and in highly-specified projects, this approach
adheres to the status quo and employs a form of management that pays close
attention to how employees perform their tasks.
 Transactional leaders focus on performance, promote success with rewards and
punishments, and maintain compliance with organizational norms.
 Transactional leaders focus on managing and supervising their employees and on
facilitating group performance.
 The role of a transactional leader is primarily passive, in that it sets policy and
assessment criteria and then intervenes only in the event of performance
problems or needs for exceptions.
 Transactional leaders seek to maintain compliance within existing goals and
expectations and the current organizational culture.
 They are extrinsic motivators who encourage success through the use of rewards
and punishment
 Transactional leaders are expected to do the following:
 1. Set goals and provide explicit guidance regarding what
they expect from organizational members and how they
will be rewarded for their efforts and commitment
 2. Provide constructive feedback on performance
 3. Focus on increasing the efficiency of established
routines and procedures and show concern for following
existing rules rather than making changes
 4. Establish and standardize practices that will help the
organization become efficient and productive
 5. Respond to deviations from expected outcomes and
identify corrective actions to improve performance
 Transformational leadership focuses on increasing
employee motivation and engagement and attempts
to link employees’ sense of self with organizational
values.
 This leadership style emphasizes leading by example,
so followers can identify with the leader’s vision and
values.
 A transformational approach focuses on individual
strengths and weaknesses of employees and on
enhancing their capabilities and their commitment to
organizational goals, often by seeking their buy-in for
decisions
  Individualized consideration is the degree to which the leader
attends to each follower’s needs, acts as a mentor or coach to
the
follower, and listens to the follower’s concerns
 Transformational leaders encourage followers to be innovative
and creative.
Characters of  Intellectual stimulation springs from leaders who establish
TRANSFORMATI safe conditions for experimentation and sharing ideas.
ONAL LEADERS  They tackle old problems in a novel fashion and inspire
employees to think about their conventional methods critically
and share new ideas
 Leaders with an inspiring vision challenge followers to leave
their comfort zones, communicate optimism about future
goals, and provide meaning for the task at hand. Purpose and
meaning provide the energy that drives a group forward.
 The visionary aspects of leadership are supported by
communication skills that make the vision understandable,
precise, powerful, and engaging.
 Followers are willing to invest more effort in their tasks; they
are encouraged and optimistic about the future and believe in
their abilities
 Transformational leaders act as role models for their followers.
 Transformational leaders must embody the values that the
followers should be learning and internalizing.
 The foundation of transformational leadership is the promotion
of consistent vision and values. Transformational leaders guide
followers by providing them with a sense of meaning and
challenge
  1. Transactional leadership reacts to problems as they arise, whereas
transformational leadership is more likely to address issues before
they become problematic.
 2. Transactional leaders work within existing an organizational
culture, while transformational leaders emphasize new ideas and
thereby “transform” organizational culture.
 3. Transactional leaders reward and punish in traditional ways
according to organizational standards; transformational leaders
Five Key attempt to achieve positive results from employees by keeping them
Difference invested in projects, leading to an internal, high-order reward system.
 4. Transactional leaders appeal to the self interest of employees who
seek out rewards for themselves, in contrast to transformational
leaders, who appeal to group interests and notions of organizational
success.
 5. Transactional leadership is more akin to the common notions of
management, whereas transformational leadership adheres more
closely to what is colloquially referred to as leadership.
  The full-range leadership theory blends the features
of transactional and transformational leadership into
one comprehensive approach.
Five key  These two approaches are neither mutually exclusive,
difference nor do leaders necessarily exhibit only one or the
other set of behaviours. Depending on the objectives
and the situation, a leader may move from using one
approach to the other as needed.
  Ability to understand human behavior
 Social skill
2.4.  Teaching ability (being model)
Leadership
 Readiness to accept responsibility / criticisms
Skills and
and to take appropriate corrective measures
Competencies
 Emotional stability and fairness
 Social intelligence
 Conflict management
 Decision making
 sharing a Compelling vision
 Change management
 Interpersonal skill
 Emotional intelligence- self awareness/ self
regulation/ motivation/ empathy/social skill
 Being good coach and trust worthy
 Inclusiveness
 People management
 Agility/ learning
 Industry knowledge and expertise
 Managing one self
 Courage
 Organizational citizen ship behaviour
  Formulate a group of five individuals
 Identify core characters of a good and a bad leader in comparative
2.5 Good Vs form
Bad Leader  List your comparisons in writing
 Submit your findings to the instructor.