Learning outcomes of the module

APIIT

OSE

OSELEADERSHIP

Reference Material Robbins, S.P. & Coulter, Mary (2005) Management 8th Ed, Pearson Prentice HallBartol, K.M. & Martin, D.C. (1998) Management. 3rd Ed, Irwin McGraw-HillBateman, T.S. & Snell, S.A. (2003) Management: The New Competitive Landscape 6th Ed. Irwin McGraw-Hill1. Defining Leadership A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.

John C. Maxwell quotes

Define & differentiate between a Manager & a Leader

ManagerLeader

Their ability to influence employees is based on the formal authority inherent in that position.Someone who can influence others and who has managerial authority.

Managers are appointed to their positions.Leaders are appointed or emerge from within a work group and are able to influence others for reasons beyond formal authority.

All managers should ideally be leaders.Not all leaders should be managers: the fact than an individual can influence others doesnt mean that he / she can also plan, organize, and control.

What is leadership from a managerial perspective?

A leader is someone who can influence others and who has managerial authority and Leadership is the process of influencing a group toward the achievement of goals.Short Story

Once upon a time a plague was raging among the animals. The lion, considered the king of beasts, decided to hold a trial and find out who among all the animals was responsible for this dreadful plague, because it must be due to some sin that had been committed. Thereupon the animals were summoned to his presence, and when asked about their respective sins, they confessed. It was now the turn of the bear, the wolf, and the tiger. They confessed that they tore asunder, injured and killed animals and humans without mercy. The verdict was "not guilty," and they were cleared from all blame by the lion, who simply said that what they did was only their duty and function. At last it was the turn of the lamb to appear before the court. She began to wonder what wrong she has done, when suddenly she remembered that on one occasion, because she was very hungry, she saw some straw sticking out of the shepherd's shoe and ate it. That was it, then. The lamb, without any further investigation, was at once condemned, judged, and pronounced guilty. "For her sin," roared the lion, "has this terrible disaster befallen us all."

What is your understanding of leadership and management ways used in the above short story?

2. Early Leadership Theories

Early leadership theories concentrate on the leader (trait theories), and how the leader interacted with his / her group members (behavioral theories).2.1. Trait Theories (through leadership research in 1920s & 1930s)Trait theory focuses on leader traits, which are characteristics that might be used to differentiate leaders form non-leaders. Hence, there are seven traits associated with effective leadership as shown below:

Trait Associated with LeadershipTrait Description

DriveLeaders with this characteristic exhibit a high effort level

Have a relatively high desire for achievement

Ambitious

Have a lot of energy

They are tirelessly persistent in their activities

They show initiative

Desire to LeadLeaders have a strong desire to influence and lead others

Demonstrates willingness to take responsibility

Honesty and IntegrityLeaders build trusting relationships between themselves and followers by being truthful or non-deceitful and by showing high consistency between word and deed.

Self ConfidenceFollowers look to leaders for an absence of self-doubt

Shows self confidence in order to convince followers of the rightness of their goals and decisions.

IntelligenceLeaders are intelligent enough to gather, synthesize, and interpret large amounts of information

Creates visions, solves problems and makes correct decisions

Job Relevant Knowledge Effective leaders have a high degree of knowledge about the company, industry, and technical matters.

In-depth knowledge allows leaders to make well-informed decisions and to understand the implications of those decisions.

ExtraversionLeaders are energetic, lively people

They are sociable, assertive (self confident), and rarely silent or withdrawn.

Researches however, agreed that traits alone were not sufficient for explaining effective leadership since explanations based solely on traits ignored the interactions of leaders and their group members as well as situational factors. Hence, the preferred behavioral styles that leaders demonstrated were developed as explained below.

2.2. Behavioral Theories (Late 1940s to the mid 1960s)Researches believed that the behavioral theories approach would provide more definite answers about the nature of leadership than did the trait theories. Behavioral theories identify behaviors that differentiated effective leaders from ineffective leaders. There are four main leader behavior studies as explained below: University of Iowa Studies discusses three leadership styles such as: Autocratic style: describes a leader who tended to centralize authority, dictate work methods, make unilateral decisions, and limit employee participation. Democratic style: describes a leader who tended to involve employees in decision making, delegate authority, encourage participation in deciding work methods and goals, and use feedback as an opportunity for coaching employees. Laissez-faire style: describes a leader who generally gave the group complete freedom to make decisions and complete the work in whatever way it saw fit.

Ohio State Studies: discusses two leader behaviors such as: Initiating structure: refers to the extent to which a leader was likely to define and structure his / her role and the roles of group members in the search for goal attainment. Consideration: refers to the extent to which a leader had job relationships characterized by mutual trust and respect for group members ideas and feelings.High-high leader: However, research found that a leader could also be high in both initiating structure and consideration will achieve high group task performance and satisfaction more frequently than one who rated low on either dimension or both. University of Michigan Studies: discusses two leader behaviors identifying behavioral characteristics of leaders that were related to performance effectiveness such as: Employee Oriented: emphasizes interpersonal relationships, such as taking a personal interest in the needs of their followers and accept individual differences among group members. Production Oriented: tends to emphasize the technical or task aspects of the job, is concerned mainly with accomplishing their groups tasks, and regarded group members as a means to that end. The Managerial Grid: a two dimensional grid of two leadership behaviors concern for people and concern for production which resulted in five different leadership styles such as: Impoverished Management (1,1) Task Management (9,1) Middle-of-the-road Management (5,5) Country club Management (1,9) Team Management (9,9)

Researches concluded that managers performed best when using a 9, 9 style.

Managerial grid evaluates a leaders use of these behaviors, ranking them on a scale from 1 (low) to 9 (high).

3. Contingency theories of Leadership

There are four contingency theories, each defining leadership style and situation, and attempting to answer the if-then contingencies (i.e. if this is the situation, then this is the best leadership style to use). The Fiedler Model by Fred Fiedler Fiedler Contingency ModelA leadership theory proposing that effective group performance depends upon the proper match between a leaders style of interacting with his / her followers and the degree to which the situation allows the leader to control and influence.

Least preferred co-worker (LPC) questionnaire

A questionnaire that measured whether a leader was task or relationship oriented. The questionnaire contains 18 pairs of contrasting adjectives e.g. pleasant-unpleasant, good-bad, etc, where the employees had to rate all the co-workers they had ever worked with. After an individuals leadership style had been assessed through the LPC, it was necessary to evaluate the situation in order to match the leader with the situation. Hence, three contingency dimensions that defined the key situational factors for determining leader effectiveness were defined as shown below.

Leader Member Relation: describes the degree of confidence, trust, and respect employees had for their leader. Rated as either good or poor Task Structure: describes the degree to which job assignments were formalized and procedurized. Rated as either high or low Position Power: describes the degree of influence a leader had over power-based activities such as hiring, firing, disciplining, promoting, and giving salary increments. Rated as either strong or lowFinding of Fiedler Model

Hersey and Blanchards Situational Leadership Theory by Paul Hersey and Ken BlanchardSituational Leadership Theory (SLT), which is a contingency theory, focuses on followers readiness. The authors argue that successful leadership is achieved by selecting the right leadership style, which is contingent on the level of the followers readiness. Readiness: extend to which people have the ability and willingness to accomplish a specific task.

Followers: reflects the reality that it is the followers who accept or reflect the leader.Though this theory too focuses on task and relationship behaviors as in Fiedlers model, a further step has been taken by considering each as either high or low and then combining them into four specific leadership styles such as:

Telling (high task low relationship): the leader defines roles and tells people what, how, when, and where to do various tasks. Selling (high task high relationship): the leader provides both directive and supportive behavior. Participating (low task high relationship): the leader and follower share in decision making; the main role of the leader is facilitating and communicating.

Delegating (low task low relationship): the leader provides little direction or support.

Four stages of follower readiness include:

R1: people are both unable and unwilling to take responsibility for doing something. They are neither competent nor confident.

R2: people are unable but wiling to do the necessary job tasks. They are motivated but currently lack the appropriate skills.

R3: people are able but unwilling to do what the leader wants. R4: people are both able and willing to do what is asked of them.

Based on the leadership styles and follower readiness discussed above, in your opinion, which leadership style best suits the follower readiness? Leader Participation Model by Victor Vroom and Philip YettonLeader participation model discusses a leader contingency model that relates leadership behavior and participation to decision making.

Leader participation model provides a sequential set of rules (norms) that the leader followed in determining the form and amount of participation in decision making, as determined by the different situation.Expands upon the decision-making contingencies leaders look at in determining what leadership style would be most effective.

The contingences: decision significance, importance of commitment, leader expertise, likelihood of commitment, group support, group expertise, and team expertise, are either present (H for High) or absent (L for Low).

There are two leader participation models as described below:

The time driven model is short-term in its orientation and concerned with making effective decisions with minimum cost. To use the model:

A leader goes from left to right determining whether each contingency factor is high or low.

After all the contingencies are assessed, the most effective leadership style is identified on the far right-hand side of the model.

The development driven model is structured the same way but emphasizes making effective decisions with maximum employee development outcomes and places no value on time.

Leadership styles in the Vroom Leader Participation Model

Decide: leader makes the decision alone and either announces or sells it to group

Consult individually: leader presents the problem to group members individually, gets their suggestions, and then makes the decision.

Consult Group: leader presents the problem to group members in a meeting, gets their suggestions, and them makes the decision.

Facilitate: leader presents the problem to the group in a meeting and, acting as facilitator, defines the problem and the boundaries within which a decision must be made. Delegate: leader permits the group to make the decision within prescribed limits.

Path Goal Model by Robert HousePath goal model states that its the leaders job is to assist his / her followers in attaining their goals and to provide the direction or support needed to ensure that their goals are compatible with the overall objectives of the group or organization. Path goal model is a contingency model of leadership that takes key elements from the expectancy theory of motivation. There are four leadership behaviour identified by House such as: Directive leader: lets subordinates know whats expected of them, schedules work to be done, and gives specific guidance on how to accomplish tasks.

Supportive leader: is friendly and shows concern for the needs of followers.

Participative leader: consults with group members and uses their suggestions before making a decision. Achievement oriented leader: sets challenging goals and expects followers to perform at their highest level.Path goal theory proposes two situational or contingency variables that moderate the leadership behavior such as:

Environment: outcome relationship in the environment that is outside the control of the follower (factors including task structure, formal authority system, and the work group). Follower: those that are part of the personal characteristics of the follower (including locus of control (a personality attribute that reflects the degree to which people believe they control their own fate), experience, and perceived ability).

4. Cutting-Edge approaches to leadership

Under this section, there are three contemporary approaches to leadership being discussed such as: Transformational Transactional Leadership

Transactional leaders who were discussed so far above in all the other leadership theories, talks about leaders who guide or motivate their followers in the direction of established goals by clarifying role and task requirements.There is also another type of leader who inspires followers to go beyond their own self-interests for the good of the organization, and who is capable of having a profound and extraordinary effect on his / her followers. These types of leaders are called transformational.

Charismatic Visionary Leadership

A charismatic leader is an enthusiastic, self confident leader whose personality and actions influence people to behave in certain ways.

Visionary leadership is the ability to create and articulate a realistic, credible, and attractive vision of the future that improves upon the present situation. Team Leadership

Leaders adopting team leadership, have certain common responsibilities such as:

Liaison with external constituencies: the leader represents the team to other constituencies (upper management, other organizational work teams, customers, suppliers, etc), secures needed resources, clarifies others expectations of the team, gathers information from the outside, and shares that information with team members.

Troubleshooters: when the team has problems and asks for assistance, team leaders sit in on meetings and try to help resolve the problems.

Conflict Managers: team leaders help identify issues such as the source of the conflict, whos involved, the issues, the resolution options available, and the advantages and disadvantaged of each. Coaches: team leaders clarify expectations and roles, teach, offer support, and do whatever else is necessary to help team members keep their work performance high.5. Leadership issues in the 21st Century21st century leader face the following issues: Managing Power: from where do leaders get the capacity to influence work actions or decisions? Five sources such as: Legitimate power: represents the power a leader has as a result of his/her position in the organization. Coercive power: the power a leader has because of his/her ability to punish or control.

Reward power: the power a leader has to give positive benefits or rewards. Expert power: the influence thats based on expertise, special skills, or knowledge.

Referent power: the power that rises because of a persons desirable resources or personal traits.

Developing Trust: an important consideration for leaders is building trust and credibility. Credibility: the degree to which followers perceive someone as honest, competent, and able to inspire.

Trust: the belief in the integrity character, and ability of a leader.

There are five dimensions that make up the concept of trust such as:

Integrity: honesty and truthfulness

Competence: technical and interpersonal knowledge and skills

Consistency: reliability, predictability, and good judgment in handling situations

Loyalty: willingness to protect a person, physically and emotionally

Openness: willingness to share ideas and information freely

Leaders can improve on building trust through the following suggestions:

Practice openness Be fair Speak your feelings Tell the truth Show consistency Fulfill your promises Maintain confidence Demonstrate competence

Providing Moral Leadership Providing Online Leadership Empowering Employees (increasing the decision making discretion of workers)

Cross Cultural Leadership Gender Differences and Leadership The Demise of Heroic Leadership Becoming an effective Leader ExercisesRead the note and Chapter 17 of Robbinss Management and answer the following questions:1. Explain why leadership is an important behavioral topic?

2. Explain the dual nature of a leaders behavior?3. Compare and contrast the findings of the four behavioral leadership theories?

4. Discuss leadership trait theories taking an example to justify your answer?

5. Explain how Fiedlers model of leadership is a contingency model?

6. Contrast situational leadership theory and the leadership participation model?

7. Discuss how path goal theory explains leadership?

8. Differentiate between transactional and transformational leaders?9. Describe charismatic and visionary leadership?

10. Discuss what team leadership involves?

11. Explain the five sources of a leaders power?12. Explain why leadership is sometimes irrelevant?

13. Discuss the issues todays leaders face?PAGE

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