The Ways of Thought and The Theories regarding the state of being leaderships

Dr. Jutamas Vareesangthip,

The Ways of Thought of being leaderships

Leadership is stated as the "process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task." Definitions more inclusive of followers have also emerged.

The Ways of Thought of being leaderships

Alan Keith stated that, "Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen."

MEANING of LEADER

Tom DeMarco says that leadership needs to be distinguished from posturing.[3]

The Ways of Thought of being leaderships

leadership has been challenging and definitions can vary depending on the situation. According to Ann Marie E. McSwain, Assistant Professor at Lincoln University, "leadership is about capacity: the capacity of leaders to listen and observe, to use their expertise as a starting point to encourage dialogue between all levels of decision-making,

The Ways of Thought of being leaderships

to establish processes and transparency in decision-making, to articulate their own value and visions clearly but not impose them. Leadership is about setting and not just reacting to agendas, identifying problems, and initiating change that makes for substantial improvement rather than managing change."

The Trait Theory

Although leadership has been a topic of interest for thousands of years, scientific research in this area was only begun in the 20th century. Early research, building upon the great man theory of leadership (Judge, Bono, Ilies, & Gerhardt, 2002), found that the situation also plays a vital role in determining leader effectiveness and that; to be effective, leaders must behave differently in different situations (Stogdill, 1974).

The Trait Theory

The focus then shifted to discovering which behaviors and circumstances must be joined to produce effective group and organizational outcomes. Early research at Michigan and Ohio State universities discovered that leaders must attend to both task-oriented and social/emotional issues through directive and supportive behaviors.

The Trait Theory

The search for the characteristics or traits of leaders has been ongoing for centuries. History's greatest philosophical writings from Plato's Republic to Plutarch's Lives have explored the question of "What qualities distinguish an individual as a leader?" Underlying this search was the early recognition of the importance of leadership and the assumption that leadership is rooted in the characteristics that certain individuals possess. This idea that leadership is based on individual qualities is known as the “Trait theory of leadership."

The Trait Theory

Individuals can and do emerge as leaders across a variety of situations and tasks Significant relationships exist between leadership and such individual traits as: intelligence adjustment extraversion conscientiousness openness to experiencegeneral self-efficacy

The Trait Theory

Zaccaro (2007) noted that trait theories still:1 Focus on a small set of individual qualities such as Big Five personality traits- to the neglect of cognitive abilities, motives, values, social skills, expertise and problem-solving skills 2 Fail to consider patterns or integrations of multiple qualities3 Do not distinguish between those leader qualities that are generally not flexible over time and those that are shaped by, and bound to, situational influences 4 Do not consider how stable leader qualities account for the behavioral diversity necessary for effective leadership

the "big five" or the "five factor" theory.

The first dimension is, again, extraversion-introversion. Introversion refers to a tendency to prefer the world inside oneself.  The more obvious aspects of introversion are shyness, a distaste for social functions, and a love of privacy. Extraversion is the tendency to look to the outside world, especially people, for one's pleasures.  Extraverts are usually outgoing and they enjoy social activities, but they don't like to be alone.

the "big five" or the "five factor" theory

The second is usually called emotional stability, and is simply the reverse of Eysenck's neuroticism. Neuroticism/Emotional Stability:This dimension of Eysenck’s trait theory is related to moodiness versus even-temperedness. Neuroticism refers to an individual’s tendency to become upset or emotional, while stability refers to the tendency to remain emotionally constant.

the "big five" or the "five factor" theory

The third is called agreeableness.  A high score means that you tend to be friendly and accommodating - a nice person.  You don't need to be extraverted:  I am an introvert, but I score high on agreeableness.  If you score low, you are likely to have trouble getting along with people.  This is not entirely negative:  Agreeable people often get their nice reputation byconforming and compromising on their principles, while non-agreeable people are more likely to stick to what they think is right even if it's unpopular. -  Then again, some are just plain disagreeable!

the "big five" or the "five factor" theory

The fourth is conscientiousness.  This parallels closely with Jung's judging-perceiving.  People who score high on conscientiousness are orderly, get their work done, arrive on time, and care about doing things right.  Score low on conscientiousness and that probably means you tend to slack off on your work, rarely worry about deadlines or neatness, and are more interested in taking it easy.

the "big five" or the "five factor" theory

The fifth has come with several different labels, such as culture, openness to experience, or just openness.

The top five traits are:

The book The Leadership Challenge identifies 20 character traits that are generally associated with good leaders. Honest Inspiring Forward-Looking Competent Intelligent

The Trait Theory

What characteristics or traits make a person a leader?Great Man Theory: Individuals are born either with or without the necessary traits for leadershipTrait theories of leadership sought personality, social, physical or intellectual traits that differentiate leaders from non leaders Trait view has little analytical or predictive valueTechnical, conceptual and human skills (Katz 1974)

The Trait Theory:Is there a set of characteristics that determine a good leader?

Personality?Dominance and personal presence?Charisma?Self confidence?Achievement?Ability to formulate a clear vision?

The Trait TheoryAre such characteristics inherently gender biased?Do such characteristics produce good leaders?Is leadership more than just bringing about change?Does this imply that leaders are born not bred?

Behaviorism Definition

Behaviorism is a learning theory that only focuses on objectively observable behaviors and discounts any independent activities of the mind. Behavior theorists define learning as nothing more than the acquisition of new behavior based on environmental conditions.

The Behavioral Theory

In response to the early criticisms of the trait approach, theorists began to research leadership as a set of behaviors, evaluating the behavior of 'successful' leaders, determining a behavior classification and identifying broad leadership styles.

The Behavioral Theory

David McClelland, for example, Leadership takes a strong personality with a well developed positive ego. Not so much as a pattern of motives, but a set of traits is crucial. To lead; self-confidence and a high self-esteem is useful, perhaps even essential.[Kevin Mick]

Ohio State Studies

Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire

(LBDQ) from Ohio Uni. To know personelity๑) Man Consideration-trust, acknowledge,support,frindship and warmth๒) Job Initiating Structure –role of job

Michigan Uni. Studies

Study The Pattern of leaders1 Employee - oriented leaders, - emphasize on man2 Job - oriented leaders- strict in rule,

frustration- emphasize on Job

The Behavioral Theory

Ohio state studies: initiating structure (task or goal orientation) vs consideration (recognition of individual needs and relationships)

University of Michigan studies: Employee oriented ( genuine concern for people) vs production oriented (genuine concern for task)

The Behavioral Theory

Indicate that leaders can be trained – focus on the way of doing things

Structure based behavioural theories – focus on the leader instituting structures – task orientatedRelationship based behavioural theories – focus on the development and maintenance of relationships – process orientated

The Behavioral Theory

The leader exercised his influence regarding the type of group decision making, praise and criticism (feedback), and the management of the group tasks (project management) according to three styles: (1) authoritarian, (2) democratic(3) laissez-faire

The Behavioral Theory

Authoritarian climates were characterized by leaders who make decisions alone, demand strict compliance to his orders, and dictate each step taken; future steps were uncertain to a large degree. The leader is not necessarily hostile but is removed from participation in work and commonly offers personal praise and criticism for the work done.

The Behavioral Theory

Democratic climates were characterized by collective decision processes, assisted by the leader. Before accomplishing tasks, perspectives are gained from group discussion and technical advice from a leader. Members are given choices and collectively decide the division of labor. Praise and criticism in such an environment are objective, fact minded and given by a group member without necessarily having participated extensively in the actual work.

The Behavioral Theory

Laissez faire climates gave freedom to the group for policy determination without any participation from the leader. The leader remains uninvolved in work decisions unless asked, does not participate in the division of labor, and very infrequently gives praise. The results seemed to confirm that the democratic climate was preferred

The Managerial Grid Theory

The managerial grid model is also based on a behavioral theory. The model was developed by Robert Blake and Jane Mouton in 1964 and suggests five different leadership styles, based on the leaders' concern for people and their concern for goal achievement.

The Managerial Grid Theory

B.F. Skinner is the father of Behavior Modification and developed the concept of positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement occurs when a positive stimulus is presented in response to a behavior, increasing the likelihood of that behavior in the future

The Managerial Grid Theory

The manager of this employee decides to praise the employee for showing up on time every day the employee actually shows up to work on time. As a result, the employee comes to work on time more often because the employee likes to be praised. In this example, praise (i.e. stimulus) is a positive reinforcer for this employee because the employee arrives (i.e. behavior) to work on time more frequently after being praised for showing up to work on time.

The Managerial Grid Theory

The use of positive reinforcement is a successful and growing technique used by leaders to motivate and attain desired behaviors from subordinates. Organizations such as Frito-Lay, 3M, B.F. Goodrich, Michigan Bell, and Emery Air Freight have all used reinforcement to increase productivity

The Managerial Grid Theory

Empirical research covering the last 20 years suggests that reinforcement theory has a 17 percent increase in performance. Additionally, many reinforcement techniques such as the use of praise are inexpensive, providing higher performance for lower costs

The Managerial Grid Theory

The Managerial Grid is based on two behavioral dimensions:Concern for People - This is the degree to which a leader considers the needs of team members, their interests, and areas of personal development when deciding how best to accomplish a task

The Managerial Grid Theory

Concern for Production - This is the degree to which a leader emphasizes concrete objectives, organizational efficiency and high productivity when deciding how best to accomplish a task.

The Managerial Grid Theory1,9

Country club managementThoughtful attention needs of peoplefor satisfying relationships leads toA comfortable, friendly organization

atmosphere and work tempo

9,9Team management

Work accomplishment is from committed people, interdependence

through a “common stake” in organization purpose leads to relationship

of trust and respect

1,1Impoverished Management

Exertion of minimum effort to get required work done is appropriate

to sustain organization membership

5,5Organization Man Management

Adequate organization performance possible through balancing the necessity to

get out work with maintaining morale of the people at a satisfactory level

9,1Authority-Obedience

Efficiency in operations results from arranging conditions of

work in such a way that human elements interfere to a minimal degree

1

2

3 4 5 6 987

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Concern for productionLow High

Low

High

Con

cern

for p

eopl

e

The Contingency of Situational Theory

Situational theory also appeared as a reaction to the trait theory of leadership. Social scientists argued that history was more than the result of intervention of great men as Carlyle suggested. Herbert Spencer (1884) said that the times produce the person and not the other way around.

The Contingency of Situational Theory

This theory assumes that different situations call for different characteristics; according to this group of theories, no single optimal psychographic profile of a leader exists. According to the theory, "what an individual actually does when acting as a leader is in large part dependent upon characteristics of the situation in which he functions."

The Contingency of Situational Theory

By the late 1960, full-blown contingency

were developed. Contingency leadership theory posits that for a leader to be effective there must be an appropriate fit between the leader’s behavior and the conditions of the situation. One of the more advanced contingency theories is the path–goal theory of leadership that formally links leadership and motivation theory (effort!performance!reward).

The Contingency of Situational Theory

Lewin et al., academics began to normatize the descriptive models of leadership climates, defining three leadership styles and identifying which situations each style works better in

The Contingency of Situational Theory

Leadership as being more flexible – different leadership styles used at different times depending on the circumstance.Suggests leadership is not a fixed series of characteristics that can be transposed into different contexts

The Contingency of Situational Theory

Theorists defined the style of leadership as contingent (An event which may or may not happen; that which is unforeseen, undetermined, or dependent on something future) to the situation, which is sometimes classified as contingency theory.

The Contingency of Situational Theory

Four contingency leadership theories appear more prominently in the recent years:

-Fiedler contingency model,-Vroom-Yetton decision model,

-the path-goal theory, -the Hersey-Blanchard

situational theory.

The End