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Leadership

What Is Leadership?

• Leadership– The ability to influence a

group toward the achievement of goals

• Management– Use of authority inherent in

designated formal rank to obtain compliance from organizational members

• Both are necessary for organizational success

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Trait Theories of Leadership• Theories that consider personality, social, physical, or

intellectual traits to differentiate leaders from nonleaders

• Not very useful until matched with the Big Five Personality Framework

• Essential Leadership Traits– Extroversion – Conscientiousness– Openness – Emotional Intelligence (Qualified)

• Traits can predict leadership, but they are better at predicting leader emergence than effectiveness.

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Behavioral Theories of Leadership

• Theories proposing that specific behaviors differentiate leaders from nonleaders

• Differences between theories of leadership:

– Trait theory: leadership is inherent, so we must identify the leader based on his or her traits

– Behavioral theory: leadership is a skill set and can be taught to anyone, so we must identify the proper behaviors to teach potential leaders

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Important Behavioral Studies

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Contingency Theories

• While trait and behavior theories do help us understand leadership, an important component is missing: the environment in which the leader exists

• Contingency Theory adds this additional aspect to our understanding leadership effectiveness studies

• Three key contingency models for leadership:– Fiedler’s Model– Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory– Path-Goal Theory

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Fiedler Model• Effective group performance depends on the proper match

between leadership style and the degree to which the situation gives the leader control.– Assumes that leadership style (based on orientation revealed in

LPC questionnaire) is fixed• Considers Three Situational Factors:

– Leader-member relations: degree of confidence and trust in the leader

– 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

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Graphic Representation of Fiedler’s Model

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E X H I B I T 12-1E X H I B I T 12-1

Used to determine which type of leader

to use in a given

situation

Assessment of Fiedler’s Model• Positives:

– Considerable evidence supports the model, especially if the original eight situations are grouped into three

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Problems:– The logic behind the LPC

scale is not well understood

– LPC scores are not stable

– Contingency variables are complex and hard to determine

Situational Leadership 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 willingness to accomplish a specific task

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Ability to follow Willingness to Follow

Leadership Behavior

Unable Unwilling Give clear and specific directions

Unable Willing Display high task orientation

Able Unwilling Use a supportive and participatory style

Able Willing Doesn’t need to do much

Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Theory of Leadership

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Follower CharacteristicsAppropriate Leader Style

Low readiness level

Moderate readiness level

High readiness level

Very high readiness level

Telling (high task-low relationship)

Selling (high task-high relationship)

Participating (low task-high rel.)

Delegating (low task-low relationship)

House’s Path-Goal Theory• 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

– Leaders help clarify the “path” to the worker’s goals– Leaders can display multiple leadership types

• 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

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Path-Goal Situations and Preferred Leader Behaviors

Situation Leader Behavior Impact on Follower Outcome

Supportive Leadership

Directive Leadership

Achievement-Oriented

Leadership

Participative Leadership

Followers lack self-confidence

Ambiguous job

Lack of job challenge

Incorrect reward

Increases confidence to achieve work outcomes

Clarifies path to reward

Set and strive for high goals

Clarifies followers’ needs to change rewards

Increased effort; improved satisfaction and performance

Vroom and Yetton’s Leader-Participation Model

• How a leader makes decisions is as important as what is decided

• Premise: Situational variables interact with leadership attributes to impact the behavior of the leader.– Leader behaviors must adjust to the way tasks are

structured in the organization. – This is a normative model that tells leaders how

participative to be in their decision making of a decision tree

• Five leadership styles• Twelve contingency variables

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Vroom and Yetton’s Leader-Participation Model

Autocratic Type 1 (AI) – Leader makes own decision using information that is readily available to you at the time. This type is completely autocratic.

Autocratic Type 2 (AII) – Leader collects required information from followers, then makes decision alone. Problem or decision may or may not be informed to followers. Here, followers involvement is just providing information.

Consultative Type 1 (CI) – Leader shares problem to relevant followers individually and seeks their ideas & suggestions and makes decision alone. Here followers‟ do not meet each other & leader’s decision may or may not has followers influence. So, here followers involvement is at the level of providing alternatives individually.

Consultative Type 2 (CII) – Leader shares problem to relevant followers as a group and seeks their ideas & suggestions and makes decision alone. Here followers‟ meet each other and through discussions they understand other alternatives. But leader’s decision may or may not has followers influence. So, here followers involvement is at the level of helping as a group in decision-making.

Group-based Type 2(GII) – Leader discuss problem & situation with followers as a group and seeks their ideas & suggestions through brain storming. Leader accepts any decision & do not try to force his idea. Decision accepted by the group is the final one.

Vroom and Yetton’s Leader-Participation Model: Factors

Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) TheoryIn-Group

• Members are similar to leader

• In the leader’s inner circle of communication

• Receives more time and attention from leader

• Gives greater responsibility and rewards

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Out-Group• Managed by formal rules and policies• Receive less of the leader’s attention / fewer exchanges• More likely to retaliate against the organization

Charismatic Leadership• Charisma means gift in Greek

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Charismatic LeadershipHow do charismatic leaders influence followers?

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Transformational Leaders• Inspire followers to transcend their self-interests for the good of the organization

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Leadership Model

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Trust and Leadership• Trust – a psychological state that exists when you

agree to make yourself vulnerable to another because you have a positive expectation for how things are going to turn out. – Key attribute associated with leadership– Followers who trust their leader will align their actions

and attitudes with the leader’s behaviors/requests

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How is Trust Developed?

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Mentoring – Leading for the Future• Mentor: A senior employee who supports

a less experienced employee.

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Finding and Creating Effective Leaders

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• These leadership theories are primarily studied in English-speaking countries

• GLOBE does have some country-specific insights– Indian employees want action-oriented and charismatic

leaders.– Brazilian teams prefer leaders who are high in

consideration, participative, and have high LPC scores– French workers want a leader who is high on initiating

structure and task-oriented– Egyptian employees value team-oriented, participative

leadership, while keeping a high-power distance– Chinese workers may favor a moderately participative

style.• Leaders should take culture into account

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Summary and Managerial Implications• Leadership is central to understanding group behavior as the leader provides the

direction.

• Extroversion, conscientiousness, and openness all show consistent relationships to leadership.

• Behavioral approaches have narrowed leadership down into two usable dimensions.

• Need to take into account the situational variables, especially the impact of followers.

• Research on charismatic and transformational leadership has made major contributions to our understanding of leadership.

• Leaders must be seen as authentic and trustworthy.

• Investment must be made in the future through mentoring and training leaders.

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