All rights reserved. The University of West Alabama Leaders and Leadership • Leader – Someone who can influence others and who has managerial authority • Leadership – What leaders do; the process of influencing a group to achieve goals • Ideally, all managers should be leaders • Although groups may have informal leaders who emerge, those are not the leaders we’re studying
Leadership research has tried to answer: What is an effective
Early Leadership Theories • Trait Theories (1920s-30s) Research focused on identifying personal characteristics that differentiated leaders from nonleaders was unsuccessful. Later research on the leadership process identified seven traits associated with successful leadership: Drive, the desire to lead, honesty and integrity, self- confidence, intelligence, job-relevant knowledge, and extraversion.
Early Leadership Theories (cont’d) • Behavioral Theories University of Iowa Studies (Kurt Lewin) Identified three leadership styles: – Autocratic style: centralized authority, low participation – Democratic style: involvement, high participation, feedback – Laissez faire style: hands-off management Research findings: mixed results – No specific style was consistently better for producing better performance – Employees were more satisfied under a democratic leader than an autocratic leader.
Early Leadership Theories (cont’d) • Behavioral Theories (cont’d) Ohio State Studies Identified two dimensions of leader behavior – Initiating structure: the role of the leader in defining his or her role and the roles of group members – Consideration: the leader’s mutual trust and respect for group members’ ideas and feelings. Research findings: mixed results – High-high leaders generally, but not always, achieved high group task performance and satisfaction. – Evidence indicated that situational factors appeared to strongly influence leadership effectiveness.
Early Leadership Theories (cont’d) • Behavioral Theories (cont’d) University of Michigan Studies Identified two dimensions of leader behavior – Employee oriented: emphasizing personal relationships – Production oriented: emphasizing task accomplishment
Research findings: – Leaders who are employee oriented are strongly associated with high group productivity and high job satisfaction.
The Managerial Grid • Managerial Grid Appraises leadership styles using two dimensions: Concern for people Concern for production Places managerial styles in five categories: Impoverished management Task management Middle-of-the-road management Country club management Team management
Contingency Theories… (cont’d) • Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory (SLT) Posits four stages follower readiness: R1: followers are unable and unwilling R2: followers are unable but willing R3: followers are able but unwilling R4: followers are able and willing
Contingency Theories… (cont’d) • Leader Participation Model (Vroom and Yetton) Posits that leader behavior must be adjusted to reflect the task structure—whether it is routine, nonroutine, or in between—based on a sequential set of rules (contingencies) for determining the form and amount of follower participation in decision making in a given situation.
Contingency Theories… (cont’d) • Leader Participation Model Contingencies: Decision significance Importance of commitment Leader expertise Likelihood of commitment Group support Group expertise Team competence
Exhibit 17–5 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 then 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.
Source: Based on V. Vroom, “Leadership and the Decision-Making
Contemporary Views on Leadership • Transactional Leadership Leaders who guide or motivate their followers in the direction of established goals by clarifying role and task requirements. • Transformational Leadership Leaders who inspire followers to transcend their own self-interests for the good of the organization by clarifying role and task requirements. Leaders who also are capable of having a profound and extraordinary effect on their followers.
Contemporary Views…(cont’d) • Charismatic Leadership An enthusiastic, self-confident leader whose personality and actions influence people to behave in certain ways. Characteristics of charismatic leaders: Have a vision. Are able to articulate the vision. Are willing to take risks to achieve the vision. Are sensitive to the environment and follower needs. Exhibit behaviors that are out of the ordinary.
Contemporary Views…(cont’d) • Visionary Leadership A leader who creates and articulates a realistic, credible, and attractive vision of the future that improves upon the present situation. • Visionary leaders have the ability to: Explain the vision to others. Express the vision not just verbally but through behavior. Extend or apply the vision to different leadership contexts.
Contemporary Views…(cont’d) • Team Leadership Characteristics Having patience to share information Being able to trust others and to give up authority Understanding when to intervene • Team Leader’s Job Managing the team’s external boundary Facilitating the team process Coaching, facilitating, handling disciplinary problems, reviewing team and individual performance, training, and communication
Leadership Issues in the 21st Century • Managing Power Legitimate power Expert power The power a leader has The influence a leader as a result of his or her can exert as a result of position. his or her expertise, Coercive power skills, or knowledge. The power a leader has Referent power to punish or control. The power of a leader Reward power that arise because of a person’s desirable The power to give resources or admired positive benefits or personal traits. rewards.
Developing Credibility and Trust • Credibility (of a Leader) The assessment of a leader’s honesty, competence, and ability to inspire by his or her followers • Trust Is the belief of followers and others in the integrity, character, and ability of a leader. Dimensions of trust: integrity, competence, consistency, loyalty, and openness. Is related to increases in job performance, organizational citizenship behaviors, job satisfaction, and organization commitment.
Practice openness. Be fair. Speak your feelings. Tell the truth. Show consistency. Fulfill your promises. Maintain confidences. Demonstrate competence.
Providing Ethical Leadership • Ethics are part of leadership when leaders attempt to: Foster moral virtue through changes in attitudes and behaviors. Use their charisma in socially constructive ways. Promote ethical behavior by exhibiting their personal traits of honesty and integrity. • Moral Leadership Involves addressing the means that a leader uses to achieve goals as well as the moral content of those goals.
Empowering Employees • Empowerment Involves increasing the decision-making discretion of workers such that teams can make key operating decisions in develop budgets, scheduling workloads, controlling inventories, and solving quality problems. Why empower employees? Quicker responses problems and faster decisions. Addresses the problem of increased spans of control in relieving managers to work on other problems.
• Korean leaders are expected to be paternalistic toward employees.
• Arab leaders who show kindness or generosity without being asked to do so are seen by other Arabs as weak. • Japanese leaders are expected to be humble and speak frequently. • Scandinavian and Dutch leaders who single out individuals with public praise are likely to embarrass, not energize, those individuals. • Effective leaders in Malaysia are expected to show compassion while using more of an autocratic than a participative style. • Effective German leaders are characterized by high performance orientation, low compassion, low self-protection, low team orientation, high autonomy, and high participation.
Leadership Can Be Irrelevant! • Substitutes for Leadership Follower characteristics Experience, training, professional orientation, or the need for independence Job characteristics Routine, unambiguous, and satisfying jobs Organization characteristics Explicit formalized goals, rigid rules and procedures, or cohesive work groups
