Topic Eight

Leadership
 ELO
• Define leadership
• Distinguish leadership from management
• Identify leadership roles
• Understand the nature of leadership
• Demonstrate the leadership theories
Leadership Defined
 Leadership defined
• Leadership is the process by which an
individual exerts influence over other people
and inspires, motivates and directs their
activities to help achieve group or
organizational goals
• Leadership is the process of influencing a
group or individual to set a goal or achieve a
goal
 Leadership Defined
• Leadership is the process of influencing and
inspiring followers in a given situation so that
they can willingly, competently and
enthusiastically follow, exert effort and
perform certain activities or management
functions geared towards organizational goal
achievement
Leadership Vs Management
 Leadership Vs Management
• Let us begin by clarifying the distinction
between managers and leaders
• Managers are appointed. They have a
legitimate power that allows them to reward
and punish. Their ability to influence is
founded upon the formal authority inherent in
their positions.
 Leadership Vs Management
• Leaders may either be appointed or emerge
from within a group. Leaders can influence
others to perform beyond actions dictated by
formal authority.
• Should all managers be leaders?
• Should all leaders be managers?
 What is Management?
• Management can be viewed in terms of five
functions- planning, organizing, staffing,
leading and controlling. More recent
definitions include:
• Management is … the organ of society
specifically charged with making resources
productive
 What is Management
• Deciding what should be done and then
getting other people to do it
• Management is fundamental to the effective
operation of work Organizations
• Leading- leadership
• This is concerned more with attention to
communicating with, motivating, encouraging
and involving people.
 Leadership Roles
• Educator
• Counselor
• Judge
• Spokesperson
 Educator
• Managers fulfill this role by teaching
employees job skills as well as acceptable
behavior and organizational values.
• Managers are also responsible for formal
training of their employees.
 Counselor
• This involves listening, giving advice,
preventing and solving problems.
• In performing this role, managers are fulfilling
two expectations of employees;
– Awareness of and concern for the individual and
employee
– Assistance in solving a problem.
 Judge
• Involves appraising subordinates performance,
enforcing policies, procedures and regulations,
settling disputes
• People should be told and shown, what limits
and guidelines exist and how these apply to
their specific situations.
 Spokesperson
• Act as spokesperson when they convey their
suggestions, concerns and views to higher
authorities.
 The nature of leadership
• Let us examine the nature of leadership- the
interaction of the leader, the led ( group or
individual) and the organizational
environment.
• Initially, it was thought that successful
leadership was a result of personality traits a
person possessed.
 The nature of leadership
• Thus, leadership studies focused on
– Identifying the traits of a person who were leaders
versus those of non leaders.
– Comparing the traits of successful leaders with the
traits of unsuccessful leaders.
 The nature of Leadership
• A more viable theory is that leadership is a
result of interaction among superior ( leader)
and the subordinates (the led) and
organizational environment
 1. Leadership Theories
• The qualities or traits approach
• Behavioral theories
• Contingency theories
• The latest views of leadership theories.
 The qualities or traits approach
• This assumes that leaders are born.
• Leadership consists of certain inherited
characteristics or personally traits that
distinguish leaders from their followers.
 2. Behavioral Theories
• This draws attention to the kinds of behavior
of people in leadership situations;
• These are;
• University of Iowa studies
• Ohio State Studies
• University of Michigan Studies
• The Managerial Grid
 a. University of Iowa Studies
• Conducted by Kurt Lewin and others.
University of Iowa Studies
 Tannenbaum and Schmidt
• Further work by Tannenbaum and Schmidt
indicated that leadership could be a
continuum (series of events) reflecting
different amount of employee participation
Tannenbaum and Schmidt
 b. Ohio state studies
• Identified two important dimensions of
leadership behavior;
– Initiating structure- the extent to which a leader is
likely to define and structure his or her role and
the role of members
– Consideration- extent to which a leader has job
relationship characterized by mutual trust and
respect for group members ideas and feelings
Ohio state studies
 Ohio state studies
• Conclusion; a high-high leader achieved high
group performance and satisfaction frequently
than the one who rated below.
c. University of Michigan Studies
• Developed two dimensions of leadership;
– Employee oriented leaders; emphasizing
interpersonal relations, took personal interest in
the needs of their subordinates and accepted
individual differences
– Production oriented leaders; emphasize on
technical or task aspects of the job, regards group
members as a means to that end.
– Conclusion: employee oriented leaders were
associated with higher group productivity.
 d. The managerial grid
• Two dimensional view of leadership
developed by Blake and Mouton
• Based on the styles of “concern for people”
and “concern for production”
d. Managerial grid
 d. Managerial Grid
• Conclusion; 9, 9 is the best style.
 3. Contingency Theory
• It become increasingly clear to those studying the
leadership phenomenon that predicting
leadership success involves something more
complex than isolating few traits or possible
behavior.
• The failure led to the focus on situational results
i.e. under condition a, style x would be
appropriate, where as style y would be more
suitable for conduction b and style z for condition
c.
 Contingency theories…
• But what were the conditions a, b, c and so
forth?
• There has been a lot of studies attempting to
isolate situational factors.
• We shall consider the following;
– The Fiedler Model
– Hersey and Blanchard
– Path goal theory
– Leader-participation model
 a. The Fiedler Model
• Proposed that group performance depended
up on a proper match between leaders style of
interacting with his or her followers and the
degree to which the situation allowed the
leader to control and influence.
The Fiedler Model
The Fiedler Model
 b. Hersey and Blanchard situational
theory
• This focused on followers readiness (maturity)
• Followers- they are the one who accept or
reject the leader
• Readiness ( maturity) – extent to which people
have the ability and willingness to accomplish
specific work.
• The theory considers four leadership theory
Hersey and Blanchard situational theory
 c. Path Goal theory
• Developed by House and Dessler
• The term was derived from the belief that
effective leaders clarify the path to help their
followers.
• The theory identified four leadership styles;
– Directive behavior- lets subordinates know what is
expected of them, schedules work to be done,
accomplish and gives specific guidance on how to
accomplish tasks.
 Path Goal theory
– Supportive leader- shows concern of the needs of
the followers
– Participative leader- consults with group members
and uses their suggestion before making a
decision
– Achievement oriented leader- sets challenging
goals and expects followers to perform at the
highest level.
 d. Leader-participation model
• This was developed by Victor Vroom and
Yetton. They suggested five leadership styles;
• Autocratic
– AI-leader solves a problem or makes the decision
alone using the information available
– AII- leader obtains information from subordinates
then decided on the situation alone.
 d. Leader-participation model
• Consultative
– CI-the problem is shared with relevant
subordinates then the leader makes a decision
which may or may not reflect the influence of
subordinates.
– CII- the problem is shared with subordinates as a
group, the leader then makes a decision which
may or may not reflect the influence of
subordinates.
 d. Leader-participation model
• Group
– GII-the problem is shared with subordinates as a
group. The leader acts as a chairperson rather
than advocate. Together the leader and
subordinates generate and evaluate alternatives
and attempt to reach consensus.
• The appropriate style of leadership depends on the
attributes of the problem situation.
 the latest views of leadership theories
• Transformational leadership
• Visionary leadership
• Team leadership
 Transformational leadership
• Most of the leadership theories presented or
described the transactional leader- who guide
or motivate their followers in the direction of
established goals by clarifying role and tasks
requirements.
 Transformational leadership
• These are leaders who inspires their followers
to transcend their own self interest for the
good of the organization.
 Visionary leadership
• Ability to create and articulate a realistic,
credible and attractive vision of the future that
improves the present situation.
Team leadership
 Team leadership
• The role of the leader is different from the
traditional one. The team leaders job is to
focus on two priorities;
– Managing teams external boundary
– Facilitating the team process
Which is the best form of leadership?
 Leadership
• There are many alternatives presented
• It is usually claimed that human relations,
people oriented approach is more likely to
lead to job satisfaction and work performance.
• However, it is not always the case that
democratic styles are the best.
 Leadership
• Contingency models demonstrates that there
are many forms of leadership.
• A potential danger with contingency approach
is that the manager may appear to lack
consistency in leadership styles.
Food for Thought!