Leadership in Organizations

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Understanding Leadership
• Leadership defined…
The ability an individual demonstrates to influence
others to act in a particular way through direction,
encouragement, sensitivity, consideration and
support.

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Supervisors Versus Leaders
“Not all leaders are supervisors, nor are all
supervisors leaders.”
• Supervisors
 Persons whose influence on others is limited to
the appointed authority of their positions to
reward and punish.
• Leaders
 Persons with managerial and personal power
who can influence others to perform actions
beyond those that could be dictated by those
persons’ formal (position) authority alone.
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Trait Theories Of Leadership
• Trait theories of leadership
 Theories that attempt to isolate characteristics
that differentiate leaders from nonleaders
 Attempts to identify traits that always differentiate
leaders from followers and effective leaders from
ineffective leaders have failed.
 Attemptsto identify traits consistently associated with
leadership have been more successful.

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Six Traits That Differentiate
Leaders from Nonleaders

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Charismatic Leadership
• Charismatic leader defined…
 An individual with a compelling vision or sense
of purpose, an ability to communicate that
vision in clear terms that followers can
understand, a demonstrated consistency and
focus in pursuit of the vision, and an
understanding of his or her own strengths.

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Charismatic Leadership
• A charismatic leader influences followers by:
 Stating a vision that provides a sense of
community by linking the present with a better
future.
 Communicating high expectations and expressing
confidence that followers can attain them.
 Conveying, through words and actions, a new set of
values, and by his or her behavior setting an
example for followers to imitate.
 Making self-sacrifices and engaging in
unconventional behavior to demonstrate courage
and convictions about the vision.
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Key Characteristics of Charismatic Leaders
• Idealized goal
• Ability to help others understand the goal
• Strong convictions about the goal
• Behavior that is unconventional
• Assertive and self-confident
• High self-monitoring
• Appearance as a change agent

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Visionary Leadership
“A vision should create enthusiasm, bringing
energy and commitment to the organization.”
 The key properties of a vision are inspirational
possibilities that are value centered, realizable,
and have superior imagery and articulation.

• Visionary leadership
 The ability to create and articulate a realistic,
credible, attractive vision of the future that
grows out of and improves upon the present

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Skills of Visionary Leaders
• The ability to explain the vision to others.
 Make the vision clear in terms of required actions and
aims through clear oral and written communication.
 (Ronald Reagan – return to happier & prosperous times)
• The ability to express the vision not just verbally but through
the leader’s behavior.
 Behaving in ways that continually convey and reinforce
the vision.
 (Herb Keller – SW Airlines)
• The ability to extend the vision to different leadership
contexts.
 Sequencing activities so the vision can be applied in a
variety of situations

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How to Become a Leader
• Development of the following skills:
Technical skills (ability to assist others)
 Tools,procedures, and techniques that are unique to
your specialized situation
Conceptual skills (anticipate the future)
 Ability
to think in the abstract, analyze info, and make
connections between the data
Networking skills
 Socialize and interact with outsiders
Human relation skills (people skills)
 Work with, understand, and motivate other around you
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The Ohio State Studies
• Studies that sought to identify independent
dimensions of leader behavior
 Task-centered leader

 People-centered leader

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Ohio Studies- Task-centered leadership
• Task-centered leadership defined…
 An individual with a strong tendency to
emphasize the technical or task aspects of a
job
 Ensures compliance with rules, regulations, and
production goals

• Example:
 Autocratic Leader (taskmaster)
 Leaves no doubt as to who’s in charge, and who has
the authority and power in the group

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Ohio Studies- People-Centered
• People-centered leader defined…
 Emphasizes interpersonal relations with those
he or she leads. (preferred by today’s
workforce)
 Takes personal interest in needs of his/her employees
• Example:
 Participative leadership style
 Leadership style of an individual that seeks input from
followers for many of the activities in the organization
 Perspective #1: Consultative-participative leadership

– Obtain input, but makes final decision

 Perspective #2: Democratic-participative leadership
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– Obtain input and decision is made by the group
Situational Leadership
• Situational leadership theory (Hersey & Blanchard)
 Leaders should adjust (high-self monitors) their
leadership styles—telling, selling, participating,
and delegating—in accordance with the
readiness of their followers.
 New leadership model and getting much
attention.
 Acceptance: Leader effectiveness reflects the reality
that it is the followers who accept or reject the leader.
 Readiness: a follower’s ability and willingness to
perform.
 At higher levels of readiness, leaders respond by
reducing control over and involvement with employees.
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Situational Leadership

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 Hersey and Blanchard’s
Situational Leadership®
Model

Exhibit 11.7
Source: Reprinted with permission from the Center for Leadership Studies.
Situational Leadership® is a registered trademark of the Center for
Leadership Studies, Escondido, California. All rights reserved.
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Situational Leadership
• R1 (Telling)
 Employee does not know how to do a job
function
• R2 (Selling)
 Employee questions why certain things have to
be done a certain way
• R3 (Participative Leadership)
 Employee has become the expert on the job
and no longer needs to be told what to do
• R4 (Delegating)
 Employee has gained trust and needs to be left
alone. Assign tasks and let him/her do the taks
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Credibility & Trust
• Credibility
 Employees judge credibility in terms of:
 Honesty
 Competence
 Ability to inspire
• Trust
 The belief in the integrity, character, and
ability of a leader

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 Five Dimensions of Trust
• Integrity
 Honesty and truthfulness
• Competence
 Technical and interpersonal knowledge and skills
• Consistency
 Reliability, predictability, and good judgment
• Loyalty
 Willingness to protect and save face for a person
• Openness
 Willingness to share ideas and information freely

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The Challenge of Team Leadership
• Becoming an effective team leader requires:
 Learning to share information.
 Developing the ability to trust others.
 Learning to give up authority.
 Knowing when to leave their teams alone and
when to intercede.
• New roles that team leaders take on
 Managing the team’s external boundary
 Facilitating the team process

The end
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