Republic of the Philippines

UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN PHILIPPINES

LAOANG CAMPUS
Laoang, Northern Samar
Web: uep.edu.ph

Engineering Management

OLIVER N. OLIVEROS
 Module 8: LEADING
Overview
This module provides the students the knowledge on leadership particularly in defining
leading, determine the nature of leadership, explain the behavioural approaches to leadership
skills, and identify the contingency approaches to leadership style.

Learning Outcomes

1. Define Leading
2. Determine the nature of leadership
3. Explain the behavioural approach to leadership skills
4. Identify the contingency approaches to leadership style

WHAT IS LEADING?
Leading is that management function which "involves influencing others to engage in
the work behaviors necessary to reach organizational goals." The definition indicates that a
person or group of persons tasked with managing a group must assume the role performed
by leaders.
While leading refers to the function, leadership refers to the process.
HOW LEADERS INFLUENCE OTHERS
Engineer managers are expected to maintain effective work forces. To be able to do
so, they are required to perform leadership roles. Leaders are said to be able to influence
others because of the power they possess. Power refers to the ability of a leader to exert
force on another
Bases of Power
The power possessed by leaders may be classified according to various bases. They
are as follows:
1. legitimate power
2. reward power
3. coercive power
4. referent power
5. expert power

Legitimate Power
A person who occupies a higher position has legitimate power over persons in lower
positions within the organization. A supervisor, for instance, can issue orders to the workers
in his unit. Compliance can be expected.
Reward Power
When a person has the ability to give rewards to anybody who follows orders or
requests, he is said to have reward power. Rewards may be classified in into two forms:
material and psychic.

- Material rewards - refer to money or other tangible benefits like cars, house and lot,
etc.
- Psychic rewards - consist of recognition, praises, etc.
Coercive Power
When a person compels another to comply with orders through threats or punishment,
he is said to possess coercive power. Punishment may take the form of demotion, dismissal,
withholding of promotion, etc.

Referent Power
When a person can get compliance from another because the latter would want to be
identified with the former, that person is said to have referent power.

Expert Power
Experts provide specialized information regarding their specific lines of expertise. This
influence, called expert power, is possessed by people with great skills in technology.

The expert power exercised by environmental scientists was enough to force

governments throughout the world to pass legislations favorable to environmental protection.

THE NATURE OF LEADERSHIP

Leadership may be referred to as "the process of influencing and supporting others to

work enthusiastically toward achieving objectives." Leadership is expected of any manager in
charge of any unit or division.

One cannot expect a unit or division to achieve objectives in the absence of effective
leadership. Even if a leader is present, but if he is not functioning properly, no unit or division
objectives can be expected to be achieved.

Traits of Effective Leaders

There are certain leadership traits identified by researchers and which may be useful
in developing effective leaders. These traits are as follows:

1. a high level of personal drive

2. the desire to lead
3. personal integrity
4. self-confidence
5. analytical ability or judgment
6. knowledge of the company, industry or technology
7. charisma
8. creativity
9. flexibility

Personal Drive
Persons with drive are those identified as willing to accept responsibility, possess vigor,
initiative, persistence, and health. Drive is a very important leadership trait because of the
possibility of failure in every attempt to achieve certain goals. If a chosen way to reach a goal
is not successful, a leader finds another way to reach it, even if it precedes a succession of
failed attempts. This will, of course, require a high level of personal drive from the leader.

An example of a person with a high level of personal drive is Paul Mediarito, plant
director of the Polo plant of San Miguel Corporation between 1992 and 1994. He was
instrumental in radically changing the problem riddled Polo plant to a world-class brewery with
modern technology and a work force with a new attitude. How he was able to prove himself
as a leader with enough drive 1s a feat worth emulating.
The Desire to Lead.
There are some persons who have all the qualifications for leadership, yet they could
not become leaders because they lack one special requirement: the desire to lead.

Even if they are forced to act as leaders, they will not be effective because their efforts
will be half-hearted. Leaders with a desire to lead will always have a reservoir of extra efforts
which can be used whenever needed.

Personal Integrity
A person who is well-regarded by others as one who has integrity possesses one trait
of a leader. One who does not have personal integrity will have a hard time convincing his
subordinates about the necessity of completing various tasks. If this is the case, the leader
will, then, resort to "exercising his authority and getting things done entirely by the use or threat
of use of the coercive powers vested in him by virtue of the rank and position he occupies in
the hierarchy." If this happens, the economic and emotional costs will be too high to be
maintained for a desirable length of time. As it is, the better option is to have personal integrity.

According to V.K. Saraf, integrity means and includes honesty, honour, incorruptibility,
rectitude, righteousness, uprightness, and similar virtues."

Self-Confidence
The activities of leaders require moves that will produce the needed outputs. The steps
of conceptualizing, organizing, and implementing will be completed if sustained efforts are
made. For the moves to be continuous and precise, self-confidence is necessary.

McKinsey and company found in a study they conducted that leaders of mid-sized,
high growth companies were "almost inevitably consummate salesmen who radiate enormous
contagious self-confidence."

Wess Roberts was very precise when he declared the following as one of the traits of
a good leader: "A chieftain cannot win if he loses his nerve. He should be self-confident and
self-reliant and even if he does not win, he will know he has done his best.

Analytical Ability
Leaders are, oftentimes, faced with difficulties that prevent the completion of assigned
tasks. A subordinate, for instance, may have a record of continually failing to produce the
needed output. A leader with sufficient skill to determine the root cause of the problem may
be able to help the subordinate to improve his production.

The ability to analyze is one desirable trait that a leader can use to tide him over many
challenging aspects of leadership.

Knowledge of the Company, Industry or Technology

A leader who is well-informed about his company, the industry where the company
belongs, and the technology utilized by the industry, will be in a better position to provide
directions to his unit.

A company, for example, may be the industry leader because it satisfies the need of
its particular market, i.e., providing quality products at affordable prices. When a competing
firm is fast catching up with the leader, and the leader's managers know this, they will better
serve the interest of their company.

Charisma
When a person has sufficient personal magnetism that leads people to follow his
directives, this person is said to have charisma. Great personalities in history like Napoleon
Bonaparte, Julius Caesar, Adolf Hitler, George Washington, Elvis Presley and others are said
to possess charisma. This characteristic was greatly responsible for whatever
accomplishments they achieved.

When used properly, charisma will help the leader in achieving his goals. With some
adjustments, subordinates may be expected to do their tasks willingly.
Creativity
Ronnie Millevo defines creativity as "the ability to combine existing data, experience,
and preconditions from various sources in such a way that the results will be subjectively
regarded as new, valuable, and innovative, and as a direct solution to an identified problem
situation."

As leaders are tasked to provide solutions to problems besetting their particular units
or divisions, creativity will be a very useful trait. Problems, are oftentimes, complex and
challenging, and if they are, the leader will need all the creative abilities he has.

Flexibility
People differ in the way they do their work. One will adapt a different method from
another person's method. A leader who allows this situation as long as the required outputs
are produced, is said to be flexible.

There is wisdom in being flexible. It allows the other means of achieving goals when
the prescribed manner is not appropriate.

Leadership Skills

Leaders need to have various skills to be effective. They are:

1. technical skills
2. human skills, and
3. conceptual skills.

These skills are used in varying degrees at different management levels (Figure 8.1).

Figure 8.1 Leadership Skills and Their Use at

Various Management Levels

Technical Skills
These are skills a leader must possess to enable him to understand and make
decisions about work processes, activities, and technology. Technical skill is the specialized
knowledge needed to perform a job. When a leader has the technical skill related to his area
of responsibility, he will be more confident in performing his functions. The engineer manager,
for instance, must be able to perform engineering jobs, if he wants to maintain a motivated
work force.
 The engineer manager of a construction firm must have sufficient technical skills to
undertake construction works. The manager of an electrical engineering firm must possess
the skill to install and maintain electrical facilities and equipment.

Human Skills
These skills refer to the ability of a leader to deal with people, both inside and outside
the organization. Good leaders must know how to get aloneng with people, motivate them,
and inspire them.

Apart from motivating, human skills include coaching, communicating, morale building,
training and development, help and supportiveness, and delegating.

Conceptual Skills
These skills refer to "the ability to think in abstract terms, to see how parts fit together
to form the whole." A very basic requirement for effective implementation is a clear and well-
expressed presentation of what must be done. A leader without sufficient conceptual skills will
fail to achieve this.

BEHAVIORAL APPROACHES TO LEADERSHIP STYLES

Those in positions of leadership exhibit a pattern of behavior that is unique and

different from other patterns. This total pattern of behavior is called leadership style.

There are several approaches used in classifying leadership styles. They are as
follows:
1. According to the ways leaders approach people to motivate them.
2. According to the way the leader uses power.
3. According to the leader's orientation towards task and people.

Ways Leaders Approach People

There are two ways, a leader may approach people to motivate them. They are: (1)
positive leadership and (2) negative leadership.

Figure 8.2 Behavioral Approaches

to Leadership Styles

When the leader's approach emphasizes rewards, the style used is positive leadership.
The reward may be economic, like an increase in monthly salary, or it may be noneconomic
like membership in an advisory committee.
 When punishment is emphasized by the leader, the style is said to be negative
leadership. The punishment may take the form of reprimand, suspension, or dismissal.

Leaders, sometimes, alternately use positive and negative leadership depending on

the characteristics of the individual subordinates.

Ways Leaders Uses Power

Leadership styles also vary according to how power is used. They are as follows: (1)
autocratic, (2) participative, and (3) free-rein.

1) Autocratic Leaders
Leaders who make decisions themselves, without consulting subordinates are
called autocratic leaders. Motivation takes the form of threats punishment, and intimidation
of all kinds.

The autocratic style is effective in emergencies and when absolute followership is

needed. An example is a civil engineer in charge of constructing a temporary bridge over
one that has been currently damaged.

The disadvantages of autocratic leadership is that the leader "receives little, if any,
information and ideas from his people as inputs into his decision-making."

2) Participative Leaders
When a leader openly invites his subordinates to participate or share in decisions,
policy-making and operation methods, he is said to be a participative leader.

The advantage of participative leadership is that it generates a lot of good 1deas.

Another advantage is the increased support for decisions and the reduction of the chance
that they will be unexpectedly undermined.

The disadvantage of participative leadership is that it is time-consuming and

frustrating to people who prefer to see a quick decision reached.

3) Free-Rein Leaders
Leaders who set objectives and allow employees or subordinates relative freedom
to do whatever it takes to accomplish these objectives, are called free-rein leaders. They
are also referred to as laissez-faire leaders. This leadership style is most applicable to
certain organizations manned by professionals like doctors and engineers. An example is
the engineering department of a university which is headed by the dean.

If free-rein leadership fits the situation, there is full managerial delegation resulting
to optimum utilization of time and resources. This happens because many people are
motivated to full effort only if given this kind of free-rein.

The weakness of free-rein leadership is that there is very little managerial control
and a high degree of risk. If the leader does not know well the competence and integrity
of his people and their ability to handle this kind of freedom, the result could be disastrous.

Leaders Orientation Toward Tasks and People

Leaders may be classified according to how they view tasks and people.
Consequently, a leader may either be: (1) employee oriented or (2) task oriented.
 1) Employee Orientation
A leader is said to be employee-oriented when he considers employees as human
beings of "intrinsic importance and with individual and personal need" to satisfy.

2) Task Orientation
A leader is said to be task-oriented if he places stress on production and the
technical aspects of the job and the employees are viewed as the means of getting the
work done.

CONTINGENCY APPROACHES TO LEADERSHIP STYLE

The contingency approach is an effort to determine through research which managerial

practices and techniques are appropriate in specific situations." The various contingency
approaches are as follows:
1. Fiedler's Contingency Model
2. Hersey and Blanchard's Situational Leadership Model
3. Path-Goal Model of Leadership
4. Vroom's Decision-Making Model

Fiedler's Contingency Model

According to Fred Fiedler, "leadership is effective when the leader's style is appropriate
to the situation." The situational characteristics is determined by three principal factors:
1. the relations between leaders and followers
2. the structure of the task, and
3. the power inherent in the leader's position.

The situational characteristics vary from organization to organization. To be effective, the

situation must fit the leader. If this is not so, the following may be tried:
1. Change the leader's trait or behaviors.
2. Select leaders who have traits or behaviors fitting the situation.
3. Move leaders around in the organization until they are in positions that fit them.
4. Change the situation.

Hersey and Blanchard Situational Leadership Model

The situational leadership model developed by Hersey and Blanchard suggests that
the most important factor affecting the selection of a leader's style is the development (or
maturity) level of subordinate. The leader should match his or her style to this maturity level.

Maturity has two components:

1. job skills and knowledge, and

2. psychological maturity.

Blanchard and others elaborated on the leadership styles appropriate for the various
maturity level of subordinates. They are as follows:

Style 1: Directing – is for people who lack competence but are enthusiastic and committed.
They need
direction and supervision to get them started.

Style 2: Coaching – is for people who have some competence but lack commitment. They
need direction
and supervision because they're still relatively inexperienced. They also need support and
praise to build their self-esteem, and involvement in decision-making to restore their
commitment.

Style 3: Supporting – is for people who have competence but lack of confidence or motivation.
They do not need much direction because of their skills, but support is necessary to bolster
their confidence and motivation.

Style 4: Delegating – is for people who have both competence and commitment. They are
able and willing to work on a project by themselves with little supervision or support.

Figure 8.3 Development Stage of

Subordinates and Recommended
Leadership Style

Path-Goal Model of Leadership

The path-goal model of leadership espoused by Robert J. House and Terence R.

Mitchell, stipulates that leadership can be made effective because leaders can influence
subordinate's perceptions of their work goals, personal goals, and paths to goal attainment.

By using the path-goal model, it is assumed that effective leaders can enhance
subordinate motivation by:
1. clarifying the subordinate's perception of work goals,
2. linking meaningful rewards with goal attainment, and
3. explaining how goals and desired rewards can be achieved.

The path-goal process is shown in Figure

8.4.
Leadership Styles

The leadership styles which may be used by path-goal proponents are as follows:
1. Directive leadership – where the leader focuses on clear task assignments,
standards of successful performance, and work schedules.
2. Supportive leadership – where subordinates are treated as equals in a friendly
manner while striving to improve their well-being.
3. Participative leadership – where the leader consults with subordinates to seek their
suggestions and then seriously considers those suggestions when making
decisions.
4. Achievement-oriented leadership – where the leader set challenging goals,
emphasize excellence, and seek continuous improvement while maintaining a high
degree of confidence that subordinates will meet difficult challenges in a
responsible manner.

Vroom's Decision-Making Model

Vroom's model of leadership is one that prescribes the proper leadership style for
various situations, focusing on the appropriate degrees of delegation of decision-making
authority.

Five distinct decision-making styles are identified under the Vroom model. Two of them
are autocratic, two others are consultative, and one is group directed.

The Vroom model, shown in Figure 8.5, may be useful as a guide for the leader. It may
also be helpful as a training guide.
 You’ve got a problem! Module 8

Instruction: Answer the following questions thoroughly.

8.1 QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND DISCUSSION

8.1.1 What is leading? Why is it important to the engineer manager?

8.1.2 How do leaders influence others?
8.1.3 What is meant by referent power? Give an example of a person with referent power.
8.1.4 Why is it important for a leader to have "the desire to lead"?
8.1.5 How is positive leadership different from negative leadership?

8.2 RESEARCH WORK

8.2.1 Identify an engineer of your choice. Describe his leadership style.

8.2.2 Are there important changes that have to be made in his style? What are those?
8.2.3 List down the proposed character change applicable.

Feedback

At this moment, you’ve already finished module 8 of our subject. Looking back on the
discussion, do you have difficulty understanding the topics? Which part is unclear? Tell me
about it.

SUMMARY

Managers are expected to provide the required outputs by utilizing the various inputs
including labor. Those who provide labor, however, will perform when properly led. As such,
engineer managers are required to possess leadership skills.
The management function which involves influencing others to engage in the work
behaviors necessary to reach organizational goals is referred to as leading.
Leaders influence others because of the power they possess. Power may be classified
as (1) legitimate, (2)reward, (3) coercive, (4) referent, and (5) expert.
In developing effective leaders, certain leadership traits have been identified by
researchers.
Leaders need to have technical, human, and conceptual skills to be effective.
Leadership style may be classified in terms of behavior as follows: (1) according to the
ways leaders approach people to motivate them, (2) according to the way the leader uses
power, and (3) according to the leader's orientation towards task and people.
Leadership style may also be classified in terms of contingency as follows: Fiedler's
contingency model, Hersey and Blanchard's situational leadership model, Path-Goal model of
leadership, and Vroom's decision-making model.

References:

Max Fajardo, (2000), Project Construction Management Second Edition, 5138 Trading,
Filinvest Holes II, Quezon City.
Roberto G. Medina, (2002), Engineering Management, Rex Bookstore Inc., Nicanor Reyes,
Sr. St., Sampaloc, Manila.