Chapter 3
Leadership behaviour, attitudes and styles
3.1 The classic dimensions of initiating structure and consideration
The leadership functions are referred to as dimensions of leadership behaviour.
Two leadership dimensions accounted for 85 per cent of the descriptions of
leadership behaviour: ‘initiating structure' and 'consideration'.
Initiating structure means organising and delming relationships in the group by
engaging in such activities as assigning specific tasks, specifying procedures to
be followed, scheduling work, and clarifying expectations for team members.
Leaders who score high on this dimension define the relationship between themselves
and their staff members, as well as the role that the expect each staff member to
assume.
Five self-assessment items measuring initiating structure are as follows:
Try out your own new ideas in the work group.
Encourage the slow-working people in the group to work harder.
Emphasis meeting deadlines.
Meet with the group at regularly scheduled times.
See to it that people in the work group are working up to capacity.
Consideration is the degree to which the leader creates an environment of emotional
support, warmth, friendliness, and trust.
Leaders who score high on the consideration factor typically are friendly, are
trustful, earn respect, and have a warm relationship with team members.
Leaders with low scores on the consideration factor typically are authoritarian and
impersonal in their relationships with group members.
Five questionnaire items measuring the consideration factor are as follows:
Do personal favours for people in the work group.
Treat all people in the work group as your equal.
Be willing to make changes.
Back up what people under you do.
Do little things to make it pleasant to be a member of the staff.
Low structure
and
high consideration
Low structure #and
low consideration
High structure
and
low consideration
High structure
and
high consideration
Low
High
Consideration
High
Initiating structure
3.2 Task-related attitudes and behaviour
Task-related in this context means that the type of behaviour, attitude, or skill
focuses more on the task to be performed than on the interpersonal aspect of
leadership.
This section identifies and describes task-related attitudes and behaviours that
are characteristic of effective leaders.
Task-related leadership attitude and behaviour
Description
1. Adaptability to the situation
Adaptability reflects the contingency viewpoint: a tactic is chosen based on the
unique circumstances at hand.
2. Direction setting
Given that a major responsibility of leadership is to produce change, the leader
must set the direction of that change.
3. High performance standards
Effective leaders consistently hold group members to high standards of performance.
When performance is measured against these high standards, productivity is likely
to increase, since people tend to live up to the expectations of their superiors.
This is called the Pygmalion effect.
4. Risk taking and a bias for action
To bring about constructive change, the leader must take risks and be willing to
implement those risky decisions.
A bias for action is a desire to execute a plan, rather than a tendency to create
visions without following through on them.
5. Hands-on guidance and feedbacks
The leader who provides such guidance helps the group accomplish important tasks;
at the same time, group members learn important skill.
Feedback tells group members how well they are doing so that they can take
corrective action if needed.
It also serves as a reinforcer that prompts group members to continue favourable
activities.
6. Stability of performance
Remaining steady under conditions of uncertainty contributes to effectiveness
because it helps team members cope with the situation.
Stability also helps the managerial leader appear professional and cool under
pressure.
7. Ability to ask tough question
There are many times when leaders can be effective by asking tough questions rather
than providing answers
A tough question is one that makes a person or group stop and think about why they
are doing or not doing something.
3.3 Relationship-oriented attitudes and behaviour
3.3.1 Aligning and mobilising people
Getting people pulling in the same direction and working together smoothly is a
major interpersonal challenge.
Anyone who can implement the vision and strategies or who can block implementation
must be aligned. Once aligned, organisational members can pull together toward a
higher purpose.
Whereas alignment of people takes place at almost a spiritual level, mobilisation
is more involved with getting the group working together smoothly.
Mobilising the people is getting individuals with different ideas, skills, and
values to carry out the work of the group.
Two mobilising forms of behaviour of the leader are (a) communicating expectations
clearly and (b) demon.
3.3.2 Concert building
The leader's role of concert building involves both aligning and mobilising in a
manner similar to an orchestra leader.
The concert builder's goal is to produce a system that is self-evaluating, self-
correcting, self-renewing, and ongoing.
Henry Mintzberg has updated the analogy of the leader as concert [Link]
believes that the way an orchestra conductor leads may serve as a good model for
managers in a wide range of businesses.
3.3.3 Creating inspiration and visibility
Surveys and focus groups have identified 5 inspiring practice:
promoting the development of people's talents
recognising the contribution of others
enabling others to feel like leaders
stimulating others' thinking
building enthusiasm about projects and assignments.
Another part of being inspirational is being visible and available, because human
contact and connections reinforce inspiration.
Becoming inspired is an emotional process that is triggered by a variety of
behaviour on the part of the leader
3.3.4 Satisfying high-level needs
To inspire people, effective leaders motivate people by satisfying higher-level
needs, such as needs for achievement, a sense of belonging, recognition, self-
esteem, and a feeling of control over one's life
Many leaders in organisations are aware of the importance of need satisfaction for
building good relationships with workers.
3.3.5 Giving emotional support and encouragement
Supportive behavior toward team members usually increases leadership effectiveness.
Emotional support generally improves morale and sometimes improves productivity.
In the long term, emotional support and encouragement may bolster a person's self-
esteem.
3.3.6 Promoting principle and values
A major part of a leader's role is to help promote values and principles that
contribute to the welfare of individuals and organisations.
The promotion of values and principles can be classified as relationship-oriented
because it deals directly with the emotions and attitudes of people, and indirectly
with the task.
Value statements are a relatively recent addition to the corporate public face of
many organisations, and they are made to articulate.
Values are often defined as an individual's basic standards and beliefs about what
is good and bad, acceptable and not acceptable, moral and immoral.
Value statements are therefore the fundamental beliefs of the leaders and members
of the organisation; that is, they represent underlying reasons for the actions and
behaviour of an organisation’s members.
3.3.7 Being a servant leader
A servant leader serves constituents by working on their behalf to help them
achieve their goals, not the leader's own goals.
A servant leader is therefore a moral leader.
Key aspects of servant leadership:
Place service before self-interest: A servant leader is more concerned with helping
others than with acquiring power, prestige, financial reward, and status.
2. Listen first to express confidence in others:
The servant leader emphasises listening in order to get to know the concerns,
requirements, and problems of group members.
After understanding others, the best course of action can be chosen.
3. Inspire trust by being trustworthy:
Being trustworthy is a foundation behaviour of the servant leader.
The servant leader does not have to work hard at being trustworthy because people
who aspire to become such leaders already have high moral values.
4. Focus on what is feasible to accomplish:
Even though the servant leader is idealistic, he or she recognises that one
individual cannot accomplish everything.
So the leader listens carefully to the array of problems facing group members and
then concentrates on a few.
5. Lend a hand: A servant leader looks for opportunities to play the Good
Samaritan.
6. Provide tools: Encourage group members to tell you what they need to
porton their jobs better.
3.4 360-degree feedback for fine-tuning a leadership approach
In particular, 360-degree feedback is a formal evaluation of leaders based on input
from people who work for and with them, sometimes including customers and
suppliers.
It is also referred to as multisource feedback or multirater feedback.
Three-hundred-and-sixty-degree feedback is more frequently used for leadership and
management development than for performance evaluation.
The data from the survey can be used to help leaders fine-tune their attitudes and
behaviour.
According to Robert Hoffman (1995), a major reason for using 360-degree feedback is
that it can detect barriers to success.
Approaches to implementing 360-degree feedback for performance evaluation and
development continue to emerge.
One variation of the method is to build a 360-degree feedback system accessed via
the Internet and the company’s interest.
For best results, it is extremely important that 360-degree surveys reflect those
attitudes and behaviour that the organisation values most highly.
Following are some suggestions for making better use of 360-degree surveys:
Focus on business goals and strategy.
Ensure that the feedback dimensions reflect important aspects of leadership
functioning.
Train workers in giving and receiving feedback. Providing constructive feedback
takes coaching, training, and practice.
Create an action plan for improvement for each leader based on the feedback.
3.5 Leadership styles
Leadership style is the relatively consistent pattern of behaviour that
characterises a leader.
The study of leadership style is an extension of understanding leadership behavior
and attitudes.
Most classifications of leadership style are based on the dimensions of initiating
structure and consideration.
3.5.1 Participative leadership
Participative leaders share decision making with group members.
Participative leadership encompasses so many forms of behaviour that it can be
divided into three subtypes: consultative, consensus, and democratic.
Consultative leaders confer with group members before making a decision. However,
they retain the final authority to make decisions.
Consensus leaders strive for consensus. They encourage group discussion about an
issue and then make a decision that reflects general agreement and that will be
supported by group members
Democratic leaders confer final authority on the group. They function as collectors
of group opinion and take a vote before making a decision.
The participative style has also been referred to as trickle-up leadership because
the leader accepts suggestions for managing the operation from group members
The participative style encompasses the teamwork approach. Predominant behaviour of
participative leaders includes coaching team members, negotiating their demands,
and collaborating with others
Participative leadership does have some problems. It often results in extensive and
time-consuming team meetings and committee work.
Another problem is that many managers still believe that sharing decision making
with members reduces their power.
In contrast to participative leaders are autocratic leaders who retain most of the
authority.
Autocratic leaders are considered task-oriented because they place heavy emphasis
on getting tasks accomplished
There is a close relationship between a leader's style and the power bases the
leader draws on in order to influence his or her followers.
3.5.2 Leadership Grid styles
The Leadership Grid is a framework for simultaneously specifying concern for the
production and people dimensions of leadership
The grid allows leaders to see the differences and similarities among them, to
identify the strengths and weaknesses of each leadership style, and to develop
conclusions regarding sound and unsound ways of leading other people.
Country
Club
Authoritarian
Impoverished
Team
Leader
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
10
1
Concern for people
Concern for production
Figure 3.3
Each concern is rated on a 1-9 scale. The benchmark styles on the Leadership Grid
are as follows:
Authority-compliance (9,1): The authority-compliance style is characterised by a
maximum concern for production combined with a minimum concern for people.
Country club management (1,9): The ‘country club’ style shows
minimum concern for production and a maximum concern for people.
Impoverished management (1,1): The impoverished management style shows a minimum
concern for both production and people.
Middle-of-the -road management (5,5): In the centre is the 5,5 orientation. Leaders
with this middle-of-the-road style do their job but avoid making waves and conform
to the status quo.
Team management (9,9): The team management style integrates concern for production
and people.
3.5.3 Entrepreneurial leadership
Many entrepreneurs use a similar leadership style that stems from their personality
characteristics and circumstances.
Although there are different types of entrepreneurs, in general an entrepreneur is
a person who founds and operates an innovative business
This entrepreneurial leadership style often incorporates the behaviour described in
the following lines:
Strong achievement drive and sensible risk taking: Entrepreneurs have stronger
achievement motives than most leaders. Some entrepreneurs are so flexible they will
take risks at both ends of the continuum.
High degree of enthusiasm and creativity: Entrepreneurs are highly enthusiastic,
partially because they are so excited about their achievements.
Tendency to act quickly when opportunity arises: Entrepreneurs are noted for
seizing upon opportunity. When a deal is on the horizon, they push themselves and
those around them extra hard.
4. Constant hurry combined with impatience: Entrepreneurs are always in hurry.
Their flurry of activity rubs off on group members and those around them.
5. Visionary perspective: Entrepreneurs, at their best, are visionaries. As with
other types of effective leaders, they see opportunities others fail to observe.
6. Dislike of hierarchy and bureaucracy: Entrepreneurs suited by temperament to
working within the mainstream of a bureaucracy.
7. Preference for dealing with external customers: One of the reasons why
entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs have difficulty with bureaucracy is that they focus
their energies on products, services, and customers, rather than on employees.
8. Eye on the future:
Entrepreneurs have the pronounced characteristic of thinking about future deals and
business opportunities even before a current business is running smoothly.
Even after accumulating great wealth from a present business activity, the
entrepreneurial leader looks toward future opportunities.
3.5.4 Selecting the best leadership style
An underlying theme of our discussion of leadership styles, is that there is no one
best or most effective leadership style.
Leaders who get the best results do not rely on one style. Instead, they use
several different styles in on week, such as by being autocratic in some situations
and democratic in others.
The most successful leaders typically find the right blend of task and relationship
orientations.
You should also take the opportunity to think about your own willingness to adapt
to circumstances as a leader.
By developing such flexibility, you increase your chances of becoming an effective
leader - one who achieves high productivity, quality, and satisfaction.
Charismatic and transformational leadership
CHAPTER 4
4.1. The meaning of charisma
Charisma is a special quality of leaders whose purposes, powers, and extraordinary
determination differentiate them from others (Conger & Kanungo 1988)
Definitions of charisma and charismatic leadership:
1. A certain quality of an individual personality by virtue of which he or she is
set apart from ordinary people and treated as endowed with supernatural,
superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities.
2. A devotion to the specific and exceptional sanctity, heroism, or exemplary
character of an individual person, and of the normative patterns revealed or
ordained by that person.
Definitions of charisma and charismatic leadership:
3. Endowment with the gift of divine grace.
4. The process of influencing major changes in the attitudes and assumptions of
organisation members, and building commitment for the organisation’s objectives.
5. Leadership that has a magnetic effect on people.
6. In combination with individualised consideration, intellectual stimulation, and
inspirational leadership, a component of transformational leadership.
4.1.1. Charisma: a relationship between the leader and group members
Key dimension: charismatic leadership involves a relationship or interaction
between the leader and the people being led.
Charismatic leadership is possible under certain conditions.
4.1.2. The effects of charisma
Nine charismatic effects:
Group member trust in the correctness of the leader’s beliefs
Similarity of group member’s beliefs to those of the leader
Unquestioning acceptance of the leader
Affection for the leader
Willing obedience to the leader
Identification with and emulation of the leader
Emotional involvement of the group members or constituents in the mission
Heightened goals of the group members
Feeling on the part of group members that they will be able to accomplish, or
contribute to, the accomplishment of the mission.
4.2. Types of charismatic leaders.
Socialised charismatics
Personalised charismatics
Office-holder charismatics
Personal charismatics
Divine charismatics
4.3. Characteristics of charismatic leaders
Being visionary
Having masterful communication skills
Having the ability to inspire trust
Being able to make group members feel capable
Having energy and action orientation
Emotional expressiveness and warmth
Romanticising risk
Having a self-promoting personality
Being dramatic and unique
4.4. The vision component of charismatic leadership
To create a vision , obtain as much information from:
Your own intuition about developments in your field, the market you serve,
demographic trends in your region, and the preferences of your constituents.
The work of futurists.
A group discussion of what it takes to delight the people your group serves.
Annual reports, management books, and business magazines.
Group members and friends
The organisation’s vision.
4.5.1. Management by inspiration
- Metaphors and analogies
- Gearing language to different audiences
4.5.2. Management by anecdote
-> is the technique of inspiring and instructing team members by telling a
fascinating stories (a major contributor to building a strong company culture)
4.5. The communication style of charismatic leaders
4.6. The development of charisma
Create visions for others
Be enthusiastic, optimistic and energetic
Be persistent
Remember names of people
Make an impressive appearance
Be candid
Display an in-your-face attitude
4.7. Transformational leadership
Raising people’s awareness
Helping people look beyond self-interest
Helping people search for self-fulfilment
Helping people understand the need for change
Investing managers with a sense of urgency
Committing to greatness
Adopting a long-range perspective and at the same time observing organisational
issues from a broad rather than a narrow perspective
4.7.1. How transformations take place
4.7.2. Four key qualities of transformational leaders
Transformational leaders are charismatic
Transformational leaders practise inspirational leadership
Transformational leaders provide intellectual stimulation
Transformational leaders demonstrate individualised consideration
4.7.3. The impact of transformational and charismatic leadership on performance
Leaders who displayed more individualised consideration, intellectual stimulation,
and charisma positively contributed to business unit performance.
Leaders who used the techniques of management by exception and contingent rewards
were less likely to increase unit performance.
[Link]. Business unit performance
Four factors were used to measure charisma:
Supportive behaviour towards soldiers
Displaying exemplary behaviour such as showing energy and activity, courage, and
self-confidence
Emphasising ideological convictions, including connecting the unit’s mission and
tasks to broad values
Emphasising collective identity, or producing a distinctive collective identity for
the group
[Link]. Charismatic leader behaviour in military units
[Link]. Dimensions of transformational leadership
Vision, inspirational communication, intellectual stimulation, personal recognition
and supportive leadership were explored to see how these dimensions influence
commitment among followers.
Inspirational communication seems to be particularly important when expressing a
vision for the future.
4.8. Concerns about charismatic leadership
4.8.2. The dark side of charismatic leadership: some charismatic and
transformational leaders neglect their social responsibility.
4.8.1. Challenges to the validity of charismatic leadership: People who are
outstanding leaders are granted charisma by their constituents as a result of their
success
4.8.3. Breakthrough leadership:
Definition: breakthrough leadership extends beyond leadership by inspiring
individuals through behaviour that encourages continuous learning, builds
confidence and competence, and ultimately results in a committed, enlightened, and
inspired workforce.
Breakthrough leadership focuses on change and identifies how the behaviour of
leaders brings about outcomes which are largely about the behaviour and attributes
of followers (figure 4.3 P.114)
Ethical leadership
CHAPTER 5
5.1. Ethics and effective leadership
Former Australian prime minister Paul Keating said: “All leaders should have a
moral compass that guides their actions and the direction they take. The best
leaders recognise and face ethical dilemmas with a commitment to doing what is
right, not just what is expedient, however difficult that may be”
A leader’s values affect how they perceive and respond to situations and problems.
Values play an important role in interpersonal relationships, they influence how
leaders perceive different individuals and groups.”
5.2. Values and morals
Morality and ethics start with values
Values can be defined as “constructs representing generalised behaviours or states
of affairs that are considered by the individual to be important ”
Values are important because they affect behaviour
Morality can be defined as the standards that an individual or group has about what
is right and wrong.
Five characteristics distinguish moral standards from other types of standard:
Moral standards deal with issues that we think can seriously injure or benefit
human beings.
Moral standards are not established or changed by decision of a particular
authoritative body,
We feel moral standards should be preferred to other values, including self
interest.
Moral standards are based on impartial considerations.
Moral standards are associated with special emotions and a special vocabulary.
5.3. Servant leadership
Servant leadership is one of the models of leadership.
10 critical characteristics of the servant leader:
Listening: servant leaders must reinforce their other communication skills by
listening carefully to others.
Empathy: servant leaders strive to understand and empathise with others.
Healing: learning to head oneself and others
Awareness.
Persuasion: servant leaders rely on persuasion rather than positional authority in
making decisions within the organisation.
10 critical characteristics of the servant leaders:
6. Conceptualisation: servant leaders are able to see beyond the day to day and to
dream great dreams.
7. Foresight: enables servant leaders to understand the lessons of the past, the
realities of the present, and the likely consequences of a decision for the
future.
8. Stewardship.
9. Commitment to the growth of people.
10. Building community.
5.4. Models of ethical decision making
5.4.1. Utilitarianism (consequentialism)
Using a utilitarian or consequentialism model, an action is ethical is the benefits
produced are greater for the largest number of people than could be produced by any
other action.
5.4.2. Non-consequentialism
Non-consequentialism assumes some actions are right irrespective of the
consequences
“Duties” must be obeyed and “rights” acknowledged regardless of the outcomes.
[Link]. Legal authority and rights
[Link]. Religious authority
[Link]. Human reason
[Link]. Justice/fairness
[Link]. Ethic of care
[Link]. Virtue ethics
5.5. Leading ethically
Values provide a basis for leaders differentiating between right and wrong and
between ethical and unethical behaviour.
Three types of leadership values:
Ethical values related to personal conduct
Modal values which contribute to harmonious relationships
End values which seek the enhancement of liberty and justice
5.5.1. Organisational ethical issues
Personal and organisational goals in the business context are concerned with
financial self-interest.
The primary paradigm of ethics is always self in relation to others. The ethical
point of view requires the person to take into account the effect of his or her
action on others.
Reputation is very important for leaders.
Reputation is determined by others’ perception of us and the management of
perception is critical to effective leadership
[Link]. Reputation
Four steps in social responsibility:
Legal responsibility; abiding by all laws and government regulations
Ethical responsibility: following standards of acceptable behaviour as judged by
stakeholders
Economic responsibility: maximising stakeholder wealth and/or value
Philanthropic: “giving back” to society
[Link]. Social and environment responsibility
[Link]. Globalisation and global responsibility
Globalisation is a widely used term that often implies that because countries trade
with each other that they are growing more likely to each other.
There are 2 myths:
“The world is getting smaller”
“Management is management”
5.6. Leading ethical behaviour in an organisation
An ethical organisation is one that makes its values clear to all who have a
relationship with it: its shareholders, employees, customers and suppliers
5.6.1. Establishing ethical behaviour
2 major elements to any program to establish and improve ethical behaviour in an
organisation:
A shared organisational purpose and value system
Members who have professional self-esteem, self-confidence and commitment