UNIT SEVEN

THE LEADING/DIRECTING FUNCTION

Learning objectives:

 At the end of this chapter you will be able to:

 Explain the meaning of leadership
 Understand the need for leadership
 Explain the theories of leadership
 Identify leadership styles
 Define motivation
 Illustrate the concept of motivation
 Understand the concept and meaning of communication

Introduction

This unit discusses the concept of leadership. The mining and concept of motivation get more
focus in this unit. It also explains why motivation is so important in management and how
managers in different levels motivate people under their command. Theories of motivation are
discussed and the different styles of leadership in lined with their merit and demerit are offered
as well. The concept and process of communication also introduced.

7.1. Meaning and the need for leadership

Leading according to Kooth and Weihrich, is the process of influencing people so that they will
contribute to organization and group goals. It is influencing people so that they will work
willingly and enthusiastically toward the achievement of organizational goals ultimate
objectives. When we say influencing, it does not mean that coercing/forcing, imposing,
suctioning or pushing people behind. It means rather-motivating people so that they contribute
their maximum effort for the achievement of organizational goal.

Leading/Directing is that part of management function which actuates the organization members
to work efficiently and effectively for the attainment of organizational objectives
Directing is a challenging function of management, because it deals with the human element of
the organization, which represents a complex of forces about whom not much is known. A
person's beliefs, hopes, ambitions, behavior, satisfaction, and interaction with other persons are
all involved in the directing process.

7.2. Concept and meanings of leadership theories

Leadership is the process of influencing individuals and groups to set and achieve goals. It is an
act of influencing and motivating people to perform certain tasks to achieve organizational
objectives. Thus, an effective leader is expected to have adequate knowledge of human behavior,
including the ability to persuade and motivate people and communicate with them properly.

 "The art or process of influencing people so that they will strive willingly and
enthusiastically towards the achievement of group goals."
 "Leadership is the ability to secure desirable actions from a group of followers
voluntarily without the use of coercion."
 "The process of directing and inspiring workers to perform the task related activities of
the group."

Effective leadership

Effective leadership means the ability of a leader to get high performance from his or her
subordinates. In the case of a CEO or general manager of a self contained product division,
effective leadership should translate into sustained high performance for the entire company
or division.

Leader is Someone who can influence others and who has managerial authority.
People should be encouraged to develop not only willingness to work, but also willingness to
work with zeal and confidence. In short leadership involves:

 Influencing and interacting with people to attain goals.

 Related to a particular situation at a given point of time and a specific set of
circumstances.
 By accepting willingly followers will make the leadership process possible.
7.3 Theories of Leadership

The various approaches or theories of leadership are discussed below

1. The Trait Theory of Leadership.

Trait means quality. According to this theory, leadership behavior is influenced by certain
qualities of a person (leader). In simple words, leadership behavior is sum total of traits.

Traits are inborn and inherent personal qualities of individuals. This theory believes leaders
possess certain specific inborn traits, which are inherited rather than acquired. It has a root from
"the great man theory" dating back to the ancient Greeks and Romans time, holds that leaders are
born not made. The trait theory studies focused on the personal traits of leaders and attempted to
identify a set of individual characteristics that distinguished leaders from followers' and also
successful leaders from unsuccessful ones. In general the trait theory hasn't been a fruitful
approach to explain leadership.

To sum up, according to this theory effective leaders must have the following traits

 intelligence-helps managers understand complex issues and solve problem

 Self confidence-contributes to managers effectively influencing subordinates and
persisting when faced with difficulties.
 Integrity and honesty-helps managers behave ethically and earn their subordinates trust
and confidence.
 Physical traits-such as height, appearances etc.
Weaknesses of Trait's Theory

Trait's theory suffers from the following weaknesses

 No common equalities list:-The qualities of a successful leader are listed by various

thinkers. But the list of the qualities of a thinker may not tolly with the list of qualities in
another thinker.
 Measurement of quality:-Thinkers simply provide the list of qualities. They fail give the
scale to measure the qualities. Besides, it is very difficult to specify the qualities which
are necessary for an effective leader
  No scope for future development: Trait's theory focuses on the inborn qualities of an
individual these inborn qualities cannot be developed or acquired. But , the inborn
qualities can be developed. It has been practically proved. But, trait's theory does not give
any scope for future development of inborn qualities.
 No consideration for situational factors:-Thinkers do not take into consideration the
situation which influences the leaders. The quality of the leader comes to light only when
a situation arises. No need of uniform traits:-

2. The Behavioral Theory of Leadership

The behavioral theory of leadership focused on what leaders do rather than their traits. Studies
showed that one set of traits/leadership style might not be equally appropriate in all situations.
This theory suggested that there were two distinct types of leadership which are known as task-
oriented /production centered/ and employee oriented /people centered/.

This theory tried to identify the behaviors shown by leaders in the work environment and they
were generally able to identify two sets of leaders.
1. Work centered (concerned for task) leaders
 This approach is also referred to as initiating structure, job centeredness and task
orientation.
 This considers leaders who are authoritarian, autocratic, production oriented and activity
focused.
 A leader with such behavior mostly tends to: plan and define work, Assign task,
responsibilities, set clear work standards, Urges for tasks completion and Monitors
performance results persistently, etc...
2. Employee centered (people centered) leaders
 Such leaders are also known as democratic, considerate, consultative and participative
leaders.
 They tend to share decisions with subordinates, encourage participation, and support the
team work needed for high levels of task accomplishment.
  A leader with such behavior tends to: Act warmly and supportive to followers, Develops
social rapport with followers Respects the feeling of followers, highly sensitive to the
needs of followers and Shows trust and confidence in followers.
2. The situational /contingency/ theory of leadership
According to this theory, leadership is strongly affected by a situation from which a leader
emerges and in which he/she works. It's a function of the leader, the followers and the situation.
It attempts to discover that the one unique set of leadership traits were largely unsuccessful.
Modern management theorists are more prone to the belief that leadership is more complex; that
is it can't be represented by one set of traits or by single set of behavior, thus effective leadership
behavior depends on the environment or the situation.

The usefulness of traits and behavior is tested in a particular situation and ineffective another
situation. As per the situation theory, a leader is strongly affected by the situation in which he
works situation helps the persons to develop their leadership qualities and emerge as leaders.
Here traits or behaviors are supporting elements to the leaders. Situation theory believes that
there is an interlink between the group of workers and its leaders. Some group of workers has
aspirations. They follow the leaders who are capable of realizing their aspirations. Thus, it is the
situation that shaper the leadership qualities.

7.4. Concept and meaning of Leadership Styles

Managers in an organization shall relatively be consistent in the way they try to influence others
behavior. The manager who dominates subordinates in one situation is not likely to use a high
degree of consideration and participation in another. This behavioral pattern of leaders is known
as leadership style. It can be defined as the various patterns of behavior favored by leaders
during the process of directing and influencing workers, which is determined by leader’s
personality, experience and value system, nature of followers and environment. There are three
important leadership styles:

1. Autocratic
2. Democratic /participate/
3. Laissez-faire /free rein/
 1. Autocratic or authoritarian style

Under this leadership style, the leaders have full power or authority to take a decision. The
leaders create a work situation under which the subordinates are expected to work they will work
no more or less than the instruction of the leader. So, the leaders have full responsibility.

The followers are not aware of organization goals besides; the followers fell insecure and are
afraid of the authority of the leaders. The reason is that these leaders have the desire to wield
loving more powers. The leader uses his power for the interest of his group and motivates his
followers. Then the productivity is increased and the followers get full satisfaction from their
job.

Advantages

 This leadership provides strong motivation to the followers

 Quick decision is possible. The reason is that the leader himself take decision for the
whole group
 Less talented followers can perform their job effectively
 Followers need not take any decision
 Decision-making, planning or organizing need no initiative

Disadvantages

The autocratic leadership style has some disadvantages. They are given below.

 Most of the peoples dislike this style. The reason is that this style has a negative
motivation approach.
 Frustration, low morale and conflict develop easily under autocratic leadership.
 Not have a scope to be applied and benefits of these could not be obtained under
autocratic style.
 The followers have no opportunity for development
 Suitability
Autocratic style is not suitable to all business organizations. It is suitable to those organizations
in which the followers are uneducated and uneducated and unskilled. The reason is that they are
unable to take decisions. If the organization follows the punishment principle, this leadership
style may be suitable.
2. Democratic style
It is otherwise called as participative style. It is just opposite to autocratic style. The authority is
decentralized. So the followers are permitted to take decisions under this style. The decisions are
taken whole-heartedly; the reason is that the superior has consolation with his subordinates
before taking a decision. The subordinates know the goals of the organization, so, they after
fruitful ideas during discussion.
Generally, most of the leaders follow this style at present; the workers participation in
management is gaining popularity.

Advantage
 Consultation gives satisfaction to be followers. Followers are consulted before taking a
decision
 Due recognition is given to the followers. So, they show more interest in increasing the
company's productivity
 Followers are aware of the activities in the organization.
 A leader can improve his decision-making ability through consultation with his followers
while taking a decision
 Followers get opportunity to show their ability or talent

Disadvantages
 Decentralization of power is used only when consultation is made for taking a decision.
Noting more than that is done.
 Taking a decision and the implementation of it require more time the reason is that
several members are involved in taking a decision
 Followers can dominate the leader
 A leader can easily shift the responsibility to his followers for failure in taking and
implementing a decision
  It requires communication skill on the part of the leader. If does not have it unfavorable
things may happen in an organization and the organization may be financially and status
wise ruined.
3. Free -rein style
The leaders have no authority and responsibility under this style, so the followers themselves
take decisions for which they get authority. This styles employee centered. Employees
(followers) are free to establish their own goals and chart out the course of action. The
employees train themselves and they are self-motivated
The leader acts as a liaison officer between the employees and the outside world. He brings the
information is utilized by the employees to do their job. Here the leader fails to motivate his
followers *Employees)
Advantages
Morals and job satisfaction of the followers are increased to some extent
The talent of the followers in properly utilized.

 The followers get full opportunity to develop their talent.

 The contribution of the followers is properly utilized
 The followers get full opportunity to develop their talents
Disadvantages
 The leader does not care to motivate his followers

7.5 Motivation
7.5.1. Concept of motivation
Motivation- is an inner desire to satisfy an unsatisfied need. It refers to the forces to a person
that arouse enthusiasm and persistence to pursue a certain course of action. It means stimulating
people to action through incentives or inducements. The study of motivation helps managers
understand what prompts people to initiate action, what influences their choice of action, and
why they persist in that action over time.
Motivation Defined as the psychological forces within a person that determine:
 Direction of behavior in an organization;
 The effort or how hard people work;
 The persistence displayed in meeting goals.
  is the result of the interaction of a person’s internal needs and external influences that
determine behavior.
 Is willingness to achieve organizational objectives?
 Is psychological force that determines the direction of a person’s behavior in an
organization, a person’s level of effort and a person’s level of persistence.
Motivation can be internal or external type
Intrinsic Motivation: behavior performed for its own sake.
 Motivation comes from performing the work.
Extrinsic Motivation: behavior performed to acquire rewards.
 Motivation source is the consequence of an action.

7.6. 2. Theories of Motivation

Many methods of employee motivation have been developed. The study of work motivation has
focused on the motivator (supervisor) as well as the motivate (employee). Motivation theories
are important to supervisors attempting to be effective leaders. Two primary approaches to
motivation are content and process.

The content approach to motivation focuses on the assumption that individuals are motivated
by the desire to fulfill inner needs. Content theories focus on the needs that motivate people.

The process approach emphasizes how and why people choose certain behaviors in order to
meet their personal goals. Process theories focus on external influences or behaviors that people
choose to meet their needs. External influences are often readily accessible to supervisors.

1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs identifies five levels of needs, which are best seen as a
hierarchy with the most basic need emerging first and the most sophisticated need last.
People move up the hierarchy one level at a time. Gratified needs lose their strength and the
next level of needs is activated. As basic or lower-level needs are satisfied, higher-level
needs become operative. A satisfied need is not a motivator. The most powerful employee
need is the one that has not been satisfied. Abraham Maslow first presented the five-tier
hierarchy in 1942 to a psychoanalytic society and published it in 1954 in Motivation and
Personality (New York: Harper and Row). Abraham Maslow, a psychologist, proposed that
 all people seek to satisfy five basic kinds of needs; physiological needs, safety needs, social
needs, esteem needs and self actualization needs.
 Level I - physiological needs; includes basic needs such as need for food, cloth, shelter,
sex etc. The organization helps to satisfy employees' physiological needs by a paycheck.
 Level II - Safety needs;- are needs to avoid financial and physical problems. The
organization helps to satisfy employees' safety needs by benefits
 Level III - Social needs; - are needs for friendship, affiliation, attraction etc. The
supervisor can help fulfill social needs by showing direct care and concern for
employees.
 Level IV - Esteem needs;-are needs for self respect, recognitions etc. The organization
helps to satisfy employees' esteem needs by matching the skills and abilities of the
employee to the job. The supervisor can help fulfill esteem needs by showing workers
that their work is appreciated.
 Level V - Self-actualization needs;-I s needs for maximizing ones skill, abilities, and
other potentials. It is a need for attaining the maximum possible development. . The
supervisor can help fulfill self-actualization needs by assigning tasks that challenge
employees' minds while drawing on their aptitude and training.

Maslow’s theory is based on four premises (assumptions);-

 Only unsatisfied need can influence behavior: satisfied need is not a motivator
 A persons needs are arranged in a priority order of importance in hierarchical forms
 A person will at least minimally satisfy each level of need before filling the need at the
next level
 If need satisfaction is not maintained at any level the unsatisfied need will become
priority once again.
 Figer: 7.1 The Abraham Maslow hierarchy of needs

2. The Two-Factor Theory (Herzberg 1975)

The findings of the two factor theory suggested that the work characteristics associated with
dissatisfaction are quite different from those pertain to satisfaction which prompted the notion
that two factors influence work motivation. These factors are hygiene factors and motivation
factors.
Hygiene factors: are extrinsic to the job i.e., they don’t relate directly to a person’s actual work
activity. Hygiene factors are part of a job’s environment; they are part of context of the job, not
its content. According to Hertzberg, when hygiene factors that an employee provides are not
sufficient, workers will be dissatisfied. When the factors are of sufficient finally they don’t
necessarily act as motivators. Hygiene factors include salary, job security, working conditions,
status; company policies; quality of technical supervision and quality of interpersonal,
relationships among peers, supervisors, and subordinates) are the primary elements involved in
job dissatisfaction. When present in sufficient quality, they have no effect; when absent, they
can lead to job dissatisfaction.

Motivation factors: Is the primary cause of job satisfaction according to Hertzberg. They are
intrinsic to a job and relate directly to the real nature of the work people perform. In other
words, motivation factors relate to the job content. When an employer fails to provide
motivation factors, employees will be dissatisfied. With quality motivation factors, employees
enjoy job satisfaction and provide high performance. Motivation factors includes (achievement,
recognition, responsibility, advancement, the work itself, and possibility of growth) are the
primary elements involved in job satisfaction. When present, they can stimulate personal and
psychological growth.
 3. Theory X and Theory Y-assumptions
Are assumptions about human nature developed by Douglas Mc Gregor. He developed the
assumptions based on the attitude that managers have about workers. Theory X and Theory Y
each represent different ways in which leaders view employees.
Theory X managers believe that employees are motivated mainly by money, are lazy,
uncooperative, and have poor work habits. Theory Y managers believe that subordinates work
hard, are cooperative, and have positive attitudes.

Theory - X assumes the following

 The average worker is lazy, dislikes job, and will avoid work whenever possible
 Because most people dislike work, they have to be closely supervised and threatened
with punishment to reach objectives.
 Above all people want security
 Average people prefer to be directed, wish to avoid responsibilities and they have
little ambition.
Theory X leads naturally to an emphasis on the tactics of control - to procedures and techniques
for telling people what to do, for determining whether they are doing it, and for administering
rewards and punishment. Theory X explains the consequences of a particular managerial
strategy. Because its assumptions are so unnecessarily limiting, it prevents managers from seeing
the possibilities inherent in other managerial strategies. As long as the assumptions of Theory X
influence managerial strategy, organizations will fail to discover, let alone utilize, the
potentialities of the average human being.
Theory- Y assumes the following

 Most people find work as natural as play or rest and develop an attitude toward work
based on their experience with it.
 People do not need to be threatened with punishment; they will work voluntarily toward
organizational objectives to which they are committed.
 The average person working under proper condition not only to accept but also to seek
responsibility.
 Managers should decentralize authority to employees and make sure employees have the
resources necessary to achieve organizational goals
Theory Y's purpose is to encourage integration, to create a situation in which an employee can
achieve his or her own goals best by directing his or her efforts toward the objectives of the
organization. It is a deliberate attempt to link improvement in managerial competence with the
satisfaction of higher-level ego and self-actualization needs. Theory Y leads to a preoccupation
with the nature of relationships, with the creation of an environment which will encourage
commitment to organizational objectives and which will provide opportunities for the maximum
exercise of initiative, ingenuity, and self-direction in achieving them.

Theory X v. Theory Y
Theory X TheoryisY
Employee
Employee is
lazy not lazy

Managers Must create

must work setting to
closely build initiative
supervise
Provide
Create strict authority to
rules & workers
defined
rewards

4. The Carrot and the Stick Approach

The carrot and the stick metaphor relates to the use of rewards and penalties in order to induce
desired behavior. It comes from the old story that to make a donkey move one must put a carrot
in front of him or jab him with a stick from behind. Carrot represents rewards (money, bonus,
salary increase, employment, promotion etc) while stick implies penalty, punishment, fear of loss
of job, demotion etc. Despite many new theories of motivation, reward and punishment are still
considered as strong motivators. For centuries, however, they were too often thought of as the
only forces that motivate people. The problem with this theory is that it is difficult to motivate
white collar people with material incentive and the stick in the form of penalty is admittedly not
the best kind (negative motivator).