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Lecture 4

Leadership is a complex interaction between the leader, followers, and situation. An effective leader considers how their qualities interact with followers' expectations and the challenges of the situation. Leadership depends on the leader establishing credibility and trust with followers. As situations change, followers take on more proactive roles, sharing power and influencing leaders to address new problems flexibly.

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Usama Shahzad
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33 views

Lecture 4

Leadership is a complex interaction between the leader, followers, and situation. An effective leader considers how their qualities interact with followers' expectations and the challenges of the situation. Leadership depends on the leader establishing credibility and trust with followers. As situations change, followers take on more proactive roles, sharing power and influencing leaders to address new problems flexibly.

Uploaded by

Usama Shahzad
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Leaders and Followers

Leadership Involves an Interaction Between


the Leader, the Followers, and the Situation

 “The crowd will follow a leader who marches twenty steps in


advance; but if he is a thousand steps in front of them, they do
not see and do not follow him.”
Georg Brandes
Looking at Leadership Through Several
Lenses
 Studying only leaders provides just a partial view of the
leadership process.
 Leadership depends on several factors, including the
situation and the followers, not just the leader’s qualities.
 Leadership is more than just the kind of person the leader is
or the things the leader does.
 The clearest picture of the leadership process occurs only
when you use all three lenses to understand it.
The Interactional Framework for
Analyzing Leadership
The Interactional Framework for
Analyzing Leadership
 Depicts leadership as a function of three elements:
 The leader
 The followers
 The situation
 A particular leadership situation scenario can be examined
using each level of analysis separately.
 Examining interactions in the area of overlaps can lead to
better understanding.
 Leadership is the result of complex interactions among the
leader, the followers, and the situation.
The Leader

 Individual aspects of the leadership equation:


 Unique personal history
 Interests
 Character traits
 Motivation
 Effective leaders differ from their followers, and from ineffective leaders
on elements such as:
 Personality traits, cognitive abilities
 Skills, values
 Another way personality can affect leadership is through temperament.
The Leader

 Leaders appointed by superiors may have less credibility


and may get less loyalty.
 Leaders elected or emerging by consensus from ranks of
followers are seen as more effective.
 A leader’s experience or history in a particular organization
is usually important to her or his effectiveness.
 The extent of follower participation in leader’s selection may
affect a leader’s legitimacy.
The Followers

 Certain aspects of followers affect the leadership process:


 Expectations
 Personality traits
 Maturity levels
 Levels of competence
 Motivation
 Workers who share a leader’s goals and values will be more
motivated to do their work.
The Followers

 The number of followers reporting to a leader can have


significant implications.
 Other relevant variables include:
 Follower’s trust in the leader.
 Follower’s confidence or lack thereof in leader’s interest in their well-
being.
Changing Roles for Followers

 The leader-follower relationship is in a period of dynamic


change.
 Increased pressure to function with reduced resources.
 Trend toward greater power sharing and decentralized authority in
organizations.
 Increase in complex problems and rapid changes.
 Followers can become much more proactive in their stance
toward organizational problems.
 Followers can become better skilled at “influencing
upward,” flexible and open to opportunities.
The Situation

 Leadership often makes sense only in the context of how the


leader and followers interact in a given situation.
 The situation may be the most ambiguous aspect of the
leadership framework.
Leader-Member Exchange Theory

 Theory describes two kinds of relationships that occur among


leaders and followers:
 In-group members
 Out-group members
 LMX theory has broadened to include entire continuum of
relationships that leaders may have with members.
 The theory looks at the nature of the relationship between the
leader and the followers.

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