Leadership Theories HANDOUT
Leadership Theories HANDOUT
Leadership Theories HANDOUT
COLLEGE OF NURSING
B. BEHAVIORAL THEORIES
Based upon the belief that great leaders are made, not born. People can
be taught to become leaders through experience and observation.
Concerned with what leaders do and act than who the leader is.
Several theorists studied the behavior of leaders as it affects management
and how humans relate to each other in organizations. These include
Kurt Lewin, Rensis Likert, Blake Mouton, Chris Argyris, and Alvin Toffler.
Likert is best known for his development of the Likert Scales and the
Linking Pin model.
1. The Likert Scale is a five (5) scale measurement tool to determine the
level of agreement and disagreement of a respondent to a set of
questions that could be objective or subjective in nature. The format of
a typical five – level Likert item is:
1. Strongly disagree
2. Disagree
3. Neither agree or disagree
4. Agree
5. Strongly agree
2. The Linking Pin Model
Is a concept of the ideal work relationship of workers in an organization.
He used the concept of “family” to characterize the desirable social
interaction that should occur between different work units.
He also encouraged strong personal relations between work units above
and below management to achieve an effective organization.
The competence and synergy of all the efforts of the workers would lead to
the achievement of common purposes and goals.
2. Benevolent – Authoritative
a. Staff associates ideas are sometimes sought but they do not feel very
free to discuss their jobs with the manager
b. Decisions are made at the top with some delegation
c. Staff associates are occasionally consulted for problem solving
System 2: Leadership – Management Style; Management uses
rewards; , information flowing upward is restricted to what
management wants to hear and whilst policy decisions come from the
top, some prescribed decisions may be delegated to lower levels,
superiors expect subservience lower down.
3. Consultative
a. Their ideas are usually sought and they feel free to discuss their work
with the manager
b. Managers are quite familiar with the problem faced by their staff
associates
System 3 : Leadership – Management Style; Management offers
rewards, occasional punishments; big decisions come from the top
while there is some wider decision making involvement in details; and
communication is downward while critical upward communication is
cautious.
4. Participative
a. Associated with the most effective performance
b. Managers have complete confidence in their staff associates
c. Ideas are always sought
d. Managers are very well informed about the problems faced by their
staff associate and decision making is well integrated throughout the
organization with full involvement of staff associates.
System 4: Leadership – Management Style: Management encourage
group participation and involvement in setting high performance
goals with some economic rewards; communication flows in all
directions and is open and frank; decision making through group
processes with each group linked to others by persons who are
members of more than one group called linking pins; and
Dr. Robert R. Blake with Dr. Jane S. Mouton developed the Managerial Grid
Model (1964; 1978), which attempts to conceptualize management in terms of
relations and leadership style.
1. Concern for task or production. The leader cares little about people and
operates in fear of something going wrong. This leader’s focus is on achieving
results and productivity.
2. Concern for people. This leader cares little about productivity and operates
wholly from a desire to be loved and approved of.
Three things to remember about the Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid.
1. Leaders lay somewhere along the continuum of concern for productivity to
concern for people.
2. There is no one best way of leadership.
3. Different styles are needed for different situations.
Blake and Mouton characterized five different leadership styles according to the
varying emphasis on each of these two dimensions (with a range of 1 to 9 on
each continuum). Most effective leadership is characterized by the combination
of high concern for people. Behaviors can be task – oriented, and effective or
ineffective.
Fiedler (1967) developed his theory around the premise that leaders’
personal characteristics are stable and, therefore, so is the leadership
style.
The Fiedler Contingency Model is a leadership theory that moved
from the research of traits and personal characteristics of leaders to
leadership styles and behaviors (Fiedler, 1967).
His model focused on the personality and relationship between the
leader and group members, programming of group’s assignments and
positional power of the leader.
It is a task – oriented leadership style. There are three aspects of
the situation that needs to be considered.
1. Leader – member relation – refers to how well the manager and
the workers get along.
2. Task structure – refers to how the nature of the job to be done is
highly structured or fairly unstructured or somewhere in between.
Vroom and Yetton suggested that the selection of a leadership style will
determine decision – making. The effectiveness of a decision procedure
depends upon a number of aspects of the situation ( Vroom, 1973), such
as the:
1. Importance of the decision quality and acceptance;
2. Amount of relevant information possessed by the leader and
subordinates;
3. Likelihood that subordinates will accept an autocratic decision or
cooperate in trying to make a good decision if allowed to participate,
and;
4. Amount of disagreement among subordinates with respect to their
preferred alternatives.
ROBERT HOUSE
TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
Transactional Transformational
Hierarchy Networking
Competitive Cooperative
Task focus Process focus
Exchange posture Promote employee development
Identify needs of followers Attends to needs and motives of
followers
Provide rewards to meet needs Inspire through optimism
Exchange for expected performance Influence change in perception
Contract for manual benefits Provide for intellectual stimulation
Contingent rewards Encouragement of follower
creativity
Caretaker Role model
Set goals for employees Individualize consideration
Focus on day – to –day operations Provide sense of direction
Management by exception Encouragement of self -
management
SERVANT LEADERSHIP
Three important aspects of emotional intelligence for a leader’s ability to make effective
decisions are;
a. Self – awareness
b. Communication and influence
c. Commitment and integrity
Goleman describes a model of five dimensions (1995). Each area has its own set
of behavioral attributes as follows.
1. Self – awareness is the ability to recognize one’s own feelings as it happens,
to accurately perform self – assessments and have self – confidence. It is the
keystone of emotional intelligence.
2. Self – management or self – regulation is the ability to keep disruptive
emotions and impulses in check (self – control), maintain standards of
1. Self – Awareness
a. Emotional self – awareness: Reading one’s own emotions and
recognizing their impact
b. Accurate self – assessment: Knowing one’s strengths and limits
c. Self – confidence: A sound sense of one’s self – worth and
capabilities.
2. Self –Management or Self – Regulation
a. Emotional self – control: Keeping disruptive emotions and impulses
under control
b. Transparency: Displaying honesty and integrity; trustworthiness
c. Adaptability: Flexibility in adapting to changing situations or
overcoming obstacles.
d. Achievement: The drive to improve performance to meet inner
standards of excellence.
e. Initiative: Readiness to act and seize opportunities.
f. Optimism: Seeing the upside of events
3. Social Awareness
a. Empathy: Sensing others’ emotions, understanding their perspective,
and taking active interest in their concerns
b. Organizational awareness: Reading the currents, decision networks,
and politics at the organizational level
c. Service: Recognizing and meeting the needs of followers, clients, or
customers.
4. Relationship Management
a. Inspirational leadership: Guiding and motivating with a compelling
vision
b. Influence: Wielding a range of tactics for persuasion
c. Developing others: Bolstering others’ abilities through Feedback
and guidance
d. Change catalyst; Initiating, managing, and leading in a new
direction.
e. Conflict management: Resolving disagreements
f. Building bonds: Cultivating and maintaining a web of relationships
g. Teamwork and collaboration: Cooperation and team building
Learns best through – reading, hearing and seeing words, speaking, writing,
discussing and debating.
Learns best through – working with pictures and colors, visualizing, and drawing
Learns best through – touching, moving, and processing knowledge through bodily
sensations
Learns best through – rhythm, melody, singing, listening to music and melodies
Learns best through – working alone, doing self – paced projects, having space,
reflecting
Learns best through – working in nature, exploring things, learning about plants and
natural events
QUANTUM LEADERSHIP