I. Who are Leaders and What is Leadership?
l Leader is someone who can influence others and who has managerial authority.
l Leadership is a process of leading a group and influencing that group to achieve its goals. It’s what leaders do.
l Leading is one of the four management functions so ideally all managers should be leaders.
II. Early Leadership Theories
1. Leadership Trait Theories
Leadership research in the 1920s and 1930s focused on isolating leader traits or characteristics that would differentiate leaders from non-leaders. Despite the best efforts of researchers, it proved impossible to identify a set of traits that would always differentiate a leader (the person) from a non-leader.
2. Leadership Behavior Theories
Leadership theories that identify behaviors that differentiate effective leaders from ineffective leaders.
a. University of Iowa Studies
The University of Iowa studies explored three leadership styles to find which was the most effective.
l The Autocratic Style described a leader who dictated work methods, made unilateral decisions, and limited employee participation.
l The Democratic Style described a leader who involved employees in decision making, delegated authority, and used feedback as an opportunity for coaching employees.
l The Laissez-Faire Style leader let the group make decisions and complete the work in whatever way it saw fit.
b. The Ohio State Studies
The Ohio State studies identified two important dimensions of leader behavior.
l Initiating Structure, which referred to the extent to which a leader defined his or her role and the roles of group members in attaining goals.
l Consideration, which was defined as the extent to which a leader had work relationships characterized by mutual trust and respect for group members’ ideas and feelings.
Research found that a leader who was high in both initiating structure and consideration (a high–high leader) sometimes achieved high group task performance and high group member satisfaction, but not always.
c. University of Michigan Studies
The Michigan group also came up with two dimensions of leadership behavior.
l Employee Oriented leaders were described as emphasizing interpersonal relationships.
l Production Oriented leaders, tended to emphasize the task aspects of the job.
The Michigan researchers concluded that leaders who were employee oriented were able to get high group productivity and high group member satisfaction.
d. The Managerial Grid
The behavioral dimensions from these early leadership studies provided the basis for the development of a two-dimensional grid for appraising leadership styles. Five leader’s behavioral style:
l Impoverished Management (low concern for production, low concern for people).
l Task Management (high concern for production, low concern for people).
l Middle-of-the-Road Management (medium concern for production, medium concern for people).
l Country Club Management (low concern for production, high concern for people).
l Team Management (high concern for production, high concern for people).
III. Contingency Theories of Leadership
1. The Fiedler Model
The fiedler contingency model proposed that effective group performance depended on properly matching the leader’s style and the amount of control and influence in the situation.
Fiedler proposed that a key factor in leadership success was an individual’s basic leadership style, either task oriented or relationship oriented. To measure a leader’s style, Fiedler developed the least-preferred coworker (LPC) questionnaire.
Fiedler’s research uncovered three contingency dimensions that defined the key situational factors in leader effectiveness.
l Leader–Member Relations: the degree of confidence, trust, and respect employees have for their leader; rated as either good or poor.
l Task Structure: the degree to which job assignments are formalized and structured; rated as either high or low.
l Position Power: the degree of influence a leader has over activities such as hiring, firing, discipline, promotions, and salary increases; rated as either strong or weak.
2. Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory
A contingency theory that focuses on followers’ readiness, which refers to the extent to which people have the ability and willingness to accomplish a specific task. Four specific leadership styles:
l Telling (high task–low relationship): The leader defines roles and tells people what, how, when, and where to do various tasks.
l Selling (high task–high relationship): The leader provides both directive and supportive behavior.
l Participating (low task–high relationship): The leader and followers share in decision making; the main role of the leader is facilitating and communicating.
l Delegating (low task–low relationship): The leader provides little direction or support.
Four stages of follower readiness:
l R1: People are both unable and unwilling to take responsibility for doing something. Followers aren’t competent or confident.
l R2: People are unable but willing to do the necessary job tasks. Followers are motivated but lack the appropriate skills.
l R3: People are able but unwilling to do what the leader wants. Followers are competent, but don’t want to do something.
l R4: People are both able and willing to do what is asked of them.
3. Path-Goal Model
Path-Goal Theory, which states that the leader’s job is to assist followers in attaining their goals and to provide direction or support needed to ensure that their goals are compatible with the goals of the group or organization. Developed by Robert House, path-goal theory takes key elements from the expectancy theory of motivation. House identified four leadership behaviors:
l Directive leader: Lets subordinates know what’s expected of them, schedules work to be done, and gives specific guidance on how to accomplish tasks.
l Supportive leader: Shows concern for the needs of followers and is friendly.
l Participative leader: Consults with group members and uses their suggestions before making a decision.
l Achievement oriented leader: Sets challenging goals and expects followers to perform at their highest level.
IV. Contemporary Views of Leadership
1. Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Theory
Leaders create in-groups and out-groups and those in the in-group will have higher performance ratings, less turnover, and greater job satisfaction.
2. Transformational-Transactional Leadership
Many early leadership theories viewed leaders as transactional leaders; that is, leaders who lead primarily by using social exchanges (or transactions). Transactional leaders guide or motivate followers to work toward established goals by exchanging rewards for their productivity. But another type of leader—a transformational leader—stimulates and inspires (transforms) followers to achieve extraordinary outcomes.
3. Charismatic-Visionary Leadership
Charismatic Leader is an enthusiastic, self-confident leader whose personality and actions influence people to behave in certain ways. Although the term vision is often linked with charismatic leadership, Visionary Leadership is different; it’s the ability to create and articulate a realistic, credible, and attractive vision of the future that improves on the present situation.
4. Team Leadership
Many leaders are not equipped to handle the change to employee teams. the team leader’s job is to focus on two priorities: (1) Managing the team’s external boundary and (2) Facilitating the team process.
V. Leadership Issues in the Twenty-First Century
1. Managing Power
Five sources of leader power have been identified:
l Legitimate power represents the power a leader has as a result of his or her position in the organization. Legitimate power is broader than the power to coerce and reward.
l Coercive power is the power a leader has to punish or control. Followers react to this power out of fear of the negative results that might occur if they don’t comply.
l Reward power is the power to give positive rewards.
l Expert power is power based on expertise, special skills, or knowledge. If an employee has skills, knowledge, or expertise that’s critical to a work group, that person’s expert power is enhanced.
l Referent power is the power that arises because of a person’s desirable resources or personal traits. Referent power develops out of admiration of another and a desire to be like that person.
2. Developing Trust
In today’s uncertain environment, an important consideration for leaders is building trust and credibility. Followers judge a leader’s credibility in terms of his or her honesty, competence, and ability to inspire. Trust is defined as the belief in the integrity, character, and ability of a leader. Five dimensions that make up the concept of trust:
l Integrity: honesty and truthfulness.
l Competence: technical and interpersonal knowledge and skills.
l Consistency: reliability, predictability, and good judgment in handling situations.
l Loyalty: willingness to protect a person, physically and emotionally.
l Openness: willingness to share ideas and information freely.
3. Empowering Employees
Empowerment involves increasing the decision-making discretion of workers. Millions of individual employees and employee teams are making the key operating decisions that directly affect their work. They’re developing budgets, scheduling workloads, controlling inventories, solving quality problems, and engaging in similar activities that until very recently were viewed exclusively as part of the manager’s job.
4. Leading Across Cultures
One general conclusion that surfaces from leadership research is that effective leaders do not use a single style. They adjust their style to the situation. Although not mentioned explicitly, national culture is certainly an important situational variable in determining which leadership style will be most effective.
National culture affects leadership style because it influences how followers will respond. Leaders can’t (and shouldn’t) just choose their styles randomly. They’re constrained by the cultural conditions their followers have come to expect.
5. Becoming an Effective Leader
a. Leader Training
Evidence indicates that leadership training is more likely to be successful with individuals who are high self-monitors than with low self-monitors. Such individuals have the flexibility to change their behavior as different situations may require.
In addition, organizations may find that individuals with higher levels of a trait called motivation to lead are more receptive to leadership development opportunities.
b. Substitutes for Leadership
Follower characteristics such as experience, training, professional orientation, or need for independence can neutralize the effect of leadership. These characteristics can replace the employee’s need for a leader’s support or ability to create structure and reduce task ambiguity.
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