CHAPTER 8: LEADERSHIP
Learning Objectives:
a. Learn what types of people become good leaders.
b. Understand the importance of leaders adapting their behavior to each
situation.
c. Know what skills are essential for effective leadership.
d. Understand the theories of leadership.
"The growth and development of people is the
highest calling of leadership." – Harvey S.
Firestone
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS ASSOCIATED
WITH LEADERSHIP
1. Leader Emergence
• People who become leaders possess traits
or characteristics different from people who
do not become leaders.
• People high in openness, conscientiousness, and extraversion, and low in
neuroticism are more likely to emerge as leaders than their counterparts.
• High self-monitors (people who adapt their behavior to the social situation)
emerge as leaders more often than low self-monitors.
3 Aspects of Motivation to Lead:
• Affective Identity Motivation
- Become leaders because they enjoy being in charge and leading others.
- People scoring high on this one tend to have the most leadership experience
and are rated by others as having high leadership potential.
• Noncalculative Motivation
- Seek leadership positions when they perceive that such positions will result in
personal gain.
- e.g. Becoming a leader may result in an increase in status or in pay.
• Social-normative Motivation
- Become leaders out of a sense of duty.
- e.g. A faculty member might agree to chair a committee out of a sense of
commitment to the university.
2. Leader Performance
• Traits
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- Extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness were
positively related to leader performance and that neuroticism was negatively
related to leader performance.
- Management, decision-making, and oral-communication skills were highly
correlated with leadership effectiveness.
- High self-monitors tend to be better leaders than do low self-monitors.
• Cognitive Ability
- Cognitive ability is most important when the leader is not distracted by
stressful situations and when the leader uses a more directive leadership
style.
- Sternberg has expanded on the importance of cognitive ability by theorizing
that the key to effective leadership is the synthesis of three variables: wisdom,
intelligence (academic and practical), and creativity.
• Needs
- Leadership motive pattern: A high need for power and a low need for
affiliation.
The need is not for personal power but for organizational power.
This pattern of needs is thought to be important because it implies that an
effective leader should be concerned more with results than with being liked.
▪ The need is not for personal power but for organizational power.
▪ This pattern of needs is thought to be important because it implies that
an effective leader should be concerned more with results than with
being liked.
• Gender
- Men and women appear not to differ in leadership effectiveness.
- Men were more effective as leaders in situations traditionally defined in
masculine terms and in situations in which the majority of subordinates were
men.
- Women were more effective as leaders in situations traditionally defined in
less masculine terms.
- Women were more likely than men to engage in behaviors associated with
high-quality leadership.
• Task versus Person Orientation
- Person Oriented Leader
▪ Person-oriented leaders such as country club leaders, Theory Y
leaders, and leaders high in consideration act in a warm and
supportive manner and show concern for their subordinates.
▪ Person-oriented leaders believe that employees are intrinsically
motivated, seek responsibility, are self-controlled, and do not
necessarily dislike work.
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▪ Person-oriented leaders consult their subordinates before making
decisions, praise their work, ask about their families, do not look over
their shoulder, and use a more "hands-off" approach to leadership.
▪ Under pressure, person-oriented leaders tend to become socially
withdrawn.
▪ Person-oriented leaders tend to appreciate humor.
- Task-Oriented Leaders
▪ Task-oriented leaders such as task-centered leaders, Theory X
leaders, and leaders high in initiating structure define and structure
their own roles and those of their subordinates to attain the group's
formal goals.
▪ Task-oriented leaders see their employees as lazy, extrinsically
motivated, wanting security, undisciplined, and shirking responsibility.
▪ Task-oriented leaders tend to manage or lead by giving directives,
setting goals, and making decisions without consulting their
subordinates.
▪ Under pressure, they become anxious, defensive, and dominant.
▪ Task-oriented leaders tend to produce humor.
Person Oriented Leaders
Task-Oriented Leaders
▪ Country Club Management – it is a leadership style characterized by
a high concern for people and a low concern for task accomplishment.
▪ Produce-or-Perish Management – prioritizes task accomplishment
over concern for people.
▪ Impoverished Management – characterized by a low concern for both
people and task accomplishment.
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▪ Team Management – emphasizes both a high concern for people and
a high concern for task accomplishment.
▪ Middle-of-the-road Management – is a leadership style characterized
by a moderate level of concern for both people and task
accomplishment.
• Unsuccessful Leaders
- Lack of Training
- Cognitive Deficiencies
- Personality
▪ Paranoid/ Passive-aggressive Leader – has deeply rooted, but
perhaps unconscious, resentment and anger. On the surface, these
leaders are charming, quiet people who often compliment their
subordinates and fellow workers. But they resent the successes of
others and are likely to act against subordinates in a passive-
aggressive manner.
▪ High-likability Floater – this person goes along with the group, is
friendly to everyone, and never challenges anyone's ideas. Such
leaders will be promoted and never fired because even though they
make no great performance advances, they are well liked. Their
employees have high morale but show relatively low performance.
▪ Narcissists – leaders who overcome their insecurity by
overconfidence. They like to be the center of attention, promote their
own accomplishments, and take most, if not all, of the credit for the
successes of their group but they avoid all blame for failure.
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INTERACTION BETWEEN THE LEADER AND THE SITUATION
Several theories have emerged that have sought to explain the situational nature of
leadership.
1. Situational Favorability
Fiedler’s Contingency Model – holds that any individual's leadership style is effective
only in certain situations.
Least Preferred Coworker Scale
• Leaders identify the subordinate or employee with whom they would least want to
work.
• Leaders then rate that person on several semantic differential scales that range
from nice to nasty and from friendly to unfriendly.
• The higher the leaders rate their least-preferred coworker, the higher the LPC
score.
• This score is then compared with the favorableness of the situation to determine
leader effectiveness.
• Low-scoring LPC leaders tend to be task oriented.
• High-scoring LPC leaders tend to be more concerned with interpersonal
relations.
The favorableness of a situation is determined by three variables:
• Task Structuredness – the more structured the task, the more favorable the
situation.
• Leader-position Power – the greater the position or legitimate power of the
leader, the more favorable the situation.
• Leader-member Power – the more the subordinates like their leader, the more
favorable the situation.
2. Organizational Climate
• It is known as IMPACT theory.
• Developed by Geier, Downey, and Johnson.
Informational Style
• The leader who has an informational style provides information in a climate of
ignorance, where important information is missing from the group.
Magnetic Style
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• A leader with a magnetic style leads through energy and optimism and is
effective only in a climate of despair, which is characterized by low morale.
Position Style
• A person who uses the position style leads by virtue of the power inherent in that
position.
• Individuals who use a position style will be effective only in climates of instability.
Affiliation Style
• A person with an affiliation style leads by liking and caring about others.
• This style is similar to that of the person-oriented leader.
• A leader using affiliation will be most effective in a climate of anxiety or when
worry predominates.
Coercive Style
• A person using the coercive style leads by controlling reward and punishment
and is most effective in a climate of crisis.
Tactical Style
• A leader with a tactical style leads through the use of strategy and is most
effective in a climate of disorganization.
3. Subordinate Ability
According to House's path-goal theory, a leader can adopt one of four behavioral
leadership styles to handle each situation:
• Instrumental Style – calls for planning, organizing, and controlling the activities
of employees.
• Supportive-style – shows concern for employees.
• Participative-style – leader shares information with employees and lets them
participate in decision making.
• Achievement oriented Style – sets challenging goals and rewards increases in
performance.
Each style will work only in certain situations and depends on subordinates' abilities and
the extent to which the task is structured.
Situational Leadership Theory
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• Developed by Hersey and Blanchard.
• Follower readiness: The ability and willingness to perform a particular task.
- Directing Approach
▪ The leader directs the follower by telling him what to do and how to do
it.
- Coaching Approach
▪ They are willing to do the work but are not sure how to do it.
▪ Leaders using this approach explain and clarify how work should be
done.
- Supporting
▪ Employees are given plenty of emotional support as well as
opportunities for two-way communication.
▪ This approach is successful because these followers already know
what to do but are not sure whether they want to do it.
- Delegating
▪ These followers are both willing and able to perform the task.
▪ The only real job for the leader is to delegate specific tasks to
subordinates and then let them complete those tasks with minimal
supervision or guidance.
4. Relationships with Subordinates
Leadership-member exchange (LMX) Theory
• Concentrates on the interactions between leaders and subordinates.
• LMX theory states that leaders develop different roles and relationships with the
people under them and thus act differently with different subordinates.
Subordinates fall into one of two groups:
In-group
• Characterized by a high-quality relationship with the leader.
• In-group subordinates are those who have developed trusting, friendly
relationships with the leader.
• The leader deals with in-group members by allowing them to participate in
decisions and by rarely disciplining them.
• Employees with a high-quality LMX are more satisfied with their jobs, are less
likely to leave the organization, perform at higher levels, and engage in
organizational citizenship behaviors than do employees with a low-quality LMX.
Out-group
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• Characterized by a low-quality relationship with the leader.
• Outgroup subordinates are treated differently from those in the in-group and are
more likely to be given direct orders and to have less say about how affairs are
conducted.
Specific Leader Skills
1. Leadership through Decision Making
2. Leadership through Contact: Management by Walking Around
3. Leadership through Power
• Expert Power – leaders who know something useful, that is, have expert
knowledge, will have power.
• Legitimate Power – leaders obtain legitimate power on the basis of their
positions (e.g. coach has power over players on a football team). Leaders with
legitimate power are best able to get employees to comply with their orders.
• Reward Power – involves having control over both financial rewards (salary
increases, bonuses, or promotions) and nonfinancial rewards (praise or more
favorable work assignments).
• Coercive Power – or a leader to have coercive power, it is important that others
believe she is willing to use her ability to punish.
• Referent Power – lie in the positive feelings that others hold for him. Leaders
can obtain such referent power by complimenting others, doing favors, and
generally being friendly and supportive. Employees of leaders with referent
power are most committed to their organizations and satisfied with their jobs.
4. Leadership through Vision: Transformational Leadership
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