Basic Approaches to Leadership

 Define Leadership,
 Trait Theories,
 Behavioral Theories,
 Contingency Theories,
 Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Theory,
 Decision Theory: Vroom and Yetton's Leader-
Participation Model,
 Inspirational Approaches to Leadership, Authentic
Leadership: Ethics and Trust are the Foundation of
Leadership, Contemporary leadership Roles, Challenges to
the leadership Construct, Finding and Creating Effective
leaders.

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 Chapter Learning Objectives
 After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
– Define leadership and contrast leadership and management.
– Summarize the conclusions of trait theories.
– Identify the central tenets and main limitations of behavioral
theories.
– Assess contingency theories of leadership by their level of support.
– Contrast the interactive theories (path-goal and leader-member
exchange).
– Identify the situational variables in the leader-participation model.
– Show how U.S. managers might need to adjust their leadership
approaches in Brazil, France, Egypt, and China.

© 2009 Prentice-Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 12-2

What Is Leadership?
 Leadership-
 It is a process as well as property
 Process of influence people to
direct and coordinate the
activities of member of an
organized group towards the
accomplishment of group activities.
 Property- It is the set of quality
and characteristics attributes to
those who are perceived to
successfully employ such influence.

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What Is Leadership?

 Leadership (core point)

– The ability to influence a group
toward the achievement of goals-
– Influencing
– Leading
– Commanding
– Guiding
– Change behavior through non
coercive mean
– It changes behavior with the
objective of achieving shared goal

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 What Is Leadership?

 Management
– Use of authority inherent in
designated formal rank to obtain
compliance from organizational
members
 Both are necessary for
organizational success

© 2009 Prentice-Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 12-5

Difference Between Leaders and Managers

Leaders Managers
Innovate Administer
Develop Maintain
Inspire Control
Long-term view Short-term view
Ask what and why Ask how and when
Originate Initiate
Challenge the status quo Accept the status quo
Do the right things Do things right
Difference Between Leaders and
Managers
 John Kotter feels that management is about coping
with complexity.
• Good management brings about order and consistency by
drawing up formal plans, designing rigid organization
structures, and monitoring results against the plans.
• Leadership is about coping with change.
• Leaders establish direction by developing a vision of the
future; then they align people by communicating this vision
and inspiring them to overcome hurdles.
 Robert House of Wharton basically concurs:
• Managers use the authority inherent in their designated formal
rank to obtain compliance.
• Management consists of implementing vision and strategy,
coordinating and staffing, and handling day-to-day problems.

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Difference Between Leaders and
Managers
 We define leadership as “the ability to influence a group
toward the achievement of goals.”
• The source of this influence may be formal. A person may
assume a leadership role simply because of his/her position.
• Not all leaders are managers, nor, for that matter, are all
managers’ leaders.
• Non-sanctioned leadership—the ability to influence that arises
outside the formal structure of the organization—is often as
important as or more important than formal influence.
• Leaders can emerge from within a group as well as by formal
appointment to lead a group.
• Organizations need strong leadership and strong management for
optimum effectiveness. Leaders must challenge the status quo,
create visions of the future, and inspire organizational members.

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A Conceptual Framework for Understanding
Leadership
Theories of Leadership
 Trait theories:
 Is there a set of characteristics
that determine a good leader?
– Personality- energy, physical appearence, good health
– Dominance and personal presence?
– Charisma?
– Self confidence, intellegence, decision making ability
– Achievement?
– Ability to formulate a clear vision?
Theories that consider personality, social, physical, or
intellectual traits to differentiate leaders from non leaders
Theories of Leadership
 Trait has 2 quality
Inner- God gifted, by birth (physical, intelligence)
Acquirable- emotional stability, human relation, empathy,
objectivity, motivational skill, human skill, social skill,
communication skill, technical skill

 Different author suggested different traits to become a

successful leader.
Example
Stogdill- Intelligence, self confidence, sociability, will, dominance,
surgency (talkative, cheerful, alertness, orignality, expressiveness)
Ghiselli- supervisory ability, achievement motivation, self
actualisation, intelligence, self assurance, decisiveness.
 Trait Theories of Leadership
The media has long been a believer in trait theories of leadership. Research
efforts at isolating leadership traits resulted in a number of dead ends. A
review of 20 different studies identified nearly 80 leadership traits.
The trait approach has at least four limitations:
Big Five personality framework provided some breakthroughs. Most of the dozens of traits that
emerged could be subsumed under one of the Big Five traits.
 Extraversion is the most important trait of effective leaders—More strongly related to leader
emergence than to leader effectiveness.
 Conscientiousness and openness to experience strong, consistent relationships to leadership
 Agreeableness and emotional stability weren’t as strongly correlated with leadership.
 Recent studies suggest that Emotional Intelligence, may be associated with leadership.
Empathy is the key. There needs to be more rigorous investigation in this area.
 Traits do a better job at predicting the appearance of leadership than in actually distinguishing
between effective and ineffective leaders.

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 Theories of Leadership
 Merit
1. If leadership trait could be identified then selection of leaders will
become far more easier.
2. Leaders are born not made- is still a very popular concept.
3. Personality trait review that leaders are more dominant, more
extrovert, masculine, more conservative and have great
interpersonal sensitivity than non leader.
 Limitation
1. List of personality trait do not follow consistent pattern
2. How many trait a successful leader should have is not clear. Also
certain psychological trait can not be quantified.
3. Many people who have certain same trait as a leader but still
they are not good leader.
4. Contrary to this theory assumption other than personality many
other variables are equally important to determine leaders
effectiveness like- Situation, task, follower characteristics.
 Behavioral Theories of Leadership
 Theories proposing that specific behaviors differentiate leaders
from non leaders. (Leadership depends more on person’s act than
his trait)
 Researchers began to wonder if there was something unique in the way that effective
leaders behave. The behavioral approach would have implications quite different
from those of the trait approach.
Trait and behavioral theories differ in terms of their underlying
assumptions.
 Trait- Leadership is basically inborn; therefore we could select the right leaders.
 Behavioral approach assumption: suggests that we could train people to be
leaders. We can design programs to implant behavioral patterns. If training worked,
we could have an infinite supply of effective leaders.

– Behavioral theory: leadership is a skill set and can be

taught to anyone, so we must identify the proper
behaviors to teach potential leaders
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 Behavioral Theories of Leadership
4 basic elements effect leaders behavior -
1. Leader
2. Follower
3. Goal
4. Environment (situations)
Out of above some react to favorable behavior or non favorable behavior
to leadership.

Important Behavioral Studies

 Ohio State University
 University of Michigan (Blake and Mouton’s managerial grid theory)

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 Important Behavioral Studies
 Ohio State University
Found two key dimensions of leader behavior:
• Initiating structure – the defining and structuring of roles, it refers to behaviour that defines and
organise the group task, assign the tasks to employee and supervises their activities.
• Consideration – job relationships that reflect trust and respect. Example- friendliness, respect,
supportiveness, openness, trust, concern for welfare of the follower.
Both of above are important. The leader may be low on 1 dimension and high
on other or may be high on both or low on both dimension.
Example
Democratic leader is high on initiation as well as consideraton. They tend to
achieve high followers performance and satisfaction. But at the same time
high initiation from leader may lead to greater rate of grievances,
absenteeism, turnover and low job satisfaction for worker performing
routine task . Also high consideration may not be good for leader who has
rate performance of followers

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Ohio state study-Leader Behaviors and
Leadership Styles (Four Key Leader
Behaviors)

Human relation Democratic Leader

Initiating structure behavior

 Important Behavioral Studies
 University of Michigan
– Also found two key dimensions of leader behavior:
• Employee-oriented – emphasizes interpersonal relationships and is the most
powerful dimension. It measures people factor- personal commitment towards goal
achievement, self esteem maintenence, responsibility based on trust, satisfying
internal personal relationship.
• Production-oriented – emphasizes the technical aspects of the job. Like initating
structure it measure work orientation. It is an attitude of leader towards quality policy,
decision procedure, process, creativeness of research, work efficiency, volume of
output, quality of staff services.
– The dimensions of the two studies are very similar-
 Draws on both studies to assess leadership style
– “Concern for People” is Consideration and Employee-Orientation
– “Concern for Production” is Initiating Structure and Production-Orientation

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University of Michigan- Blake and
Mouton’s Managerial Grid®
 Style is determined by position on the graph
Country Club Team
Management Management

Organizational Man
Management

Impoverished
Management Authoritity Obedience
type

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Blake and Mouton’s Managerial
Grid®
 The grid identifies 5 leadership style based upon 2 factors-
(1,1)- Minimun affort is required to get work done and to sustain
the organization morale.
(1,9)- Thoughtful attention is needed to lead people in friendly and
comfortable organisational atmosphere and work tempo.
(9,1)- Efficiency results from arranging work in such a way that
human element has little effect. This leader believes in getting
work done at all costs.
(5,5)- Adequate performance through balance of work requirements
and maintaining satisfactory morale. Leader has moderate
concern for both.
(9.9)- High concern for both. Ideal approach to leadership

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 Blake and Mouton’s Managerial
Grid®
But the belief that one style of leadership style is better than other is contrary to
the contingency approach. (9,9) style may be appropriate for organization
experiencing difficult growth rate, different labor relation, competition.
Based on the findings of Blake and Mouton, managers were found to perform best
under a 9,9 style, as contrasted, for example, with a 9,1 (authority type) or 1,9
(liaises-faire type) style. Unfortunately, the grid offers a better framework
for conceptualizing leadership style than for presenting any tangible new
information.
Limitation
Behavioural theory had moderate success in identifying consistant relationships
between leader’s behavior and group behavior, but it fails to take
consideration of situational factor that influence success or failure.

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The Path-goal Theory of Leadership
Contingency Theories
 While trait and behavior theories do help us understand
leadership, an important component is missing: the
environment in which the leader exists

 Contingency Theory deals with this additional aspect of

leadership effectiveness studies. It says that effective group
performance depends upon the proper match between
leadership style and degree to which situation gives
control to the leader.

 Three key theories:

– Fielder’s Model
– Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory
– Path-Goal Theory
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 Fiedler Model
1. Identify (static) leadership style
2. Define the situation (variable)
3. Matching leadership style with situational factor
Identify (static) leadership style-
As pr this theory there are 2 Style—
1. Relationship orientated (high score)
2. Task oriented
Manager would either be relationship orientated or task oriented.
Now how to find the manager’s leadership style. This is done on the basis of Least preferred
co worker (LPC) questionnaire which contains set of 16 contrasting adjective like-
Relationship orientated (high score) Task oriented
 Pleasant- unpleasent
 Efficient inefficient
 Open- guarder
 Supportive- hostile
Respondent were asked to rate their co worker on 1- to – 8 scale on the basis of each
question.. 80% respondent either gave low or high LPC score, only 20% would give
mid score.
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 Fiedler Model
Based on score individual leadership style was determined which as
per Fiedler leadership style is constant (leaving mid score). As per
this theory Style was determined based on scores—
1.Relationship orientated (high score)
2.Task oriented (low score)
Define the situation (variable)
After identifying LPC, Fiedler analyse situation factor that determine
leadership effectiveness.
The situational factors are-
1.Leader member relationship- degree of confidence, trust, respect
to leader
2.Task structure- degree to which job is structured or non structured
3.Position power- influence of leader over power variables such as-
hiring, firing, discipline, promotion, salary increase etc.
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 Graphic Representation of Fiedler’s
Model

Used to
determine
which type
of leader to
use in a
given
situation

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 Fiedler Model
 The Fiedler model proposes matching them up to achieve maximum leadership
effectiveness.
 Fiedler concluded that task-oriented leaders tend to perform better in situations
that were very favorable to them and in situations that were very unfavorable.
» Fiedler would predict that when faced with a category I, II, Ill, VII, or VIII
situation, task-oriented leaders perform better.
» Relationship-oriented leaders, however, perform better in moderately favorable
situations—categories IV through VI.
 Fiedler has condensed these eight situations to three. Task-oriented leaders
perform best in situations of high and low control, while relationship-oriented
leaders perform best in moderate control situations.
 Given Fiedler’s findings, you would seek to match leaders and situations. Because
Fiedler views an individual’s leadership style as being fixed, there are only two
ways to improve leader effectiveness.
» First, you can change the leader to fit the situation.
» The second alternative would be to change the situation to fit the leader.


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 Fiedler Model
Merit
1.It gives importance to the leader subordinate and situation.
2.Leader match is a programmed learning technique that trains
leaders to modify situation to fit their personality.
Demerit
1.LPC score not stable.
2.LPC scale –ve task oriented, +ve relation oriented. There is no
explanation why –ve is task & +ve is relation
3.Many terms are not clear an introduce error like structured and
unstructured are relative term.
4.It lacks theoretical explanation. Why particular trait is more
desirable than other in particular situation.

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Fiedler’s Cognitive Resource Theory
 A refinement of Fiedler’s original model:
– Focuses on stress as the enemy of rationality and creator of
unfavorable conditions
– A leader’s intelligence and experience influence his or her
reaction to that stress

 Research is supporting the theory.

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 Hersey & Blanchard’s Situational
Leadership
 This theory focuses on followers. Effective leadership style depends upon
selecting right leadership style depending upon level of followers readiness.
 A model that focuses on follower “readiness”
– Followers can accept or reject the leader
 Followers readiness is the extent to which people have willingness and
ability to accomplish a specific task.

 Follower unable + unwilling = task oriented

 Follower able + willing = relationship oriented

 The relationship moves through 4 phases, a kind of life cycle is made around
subordinate development and maturity and leader needs to use different style
with each phase.

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 Hersey & Blanchard’s Situational
Leadership
 A paternal model:
– As the child matures, the adult releases more and more
control over the situation
– As the workers become more ready, the leader becomes
more laissez-faire
 An intuitive model that does not get much support
from the research findings

© 2009 Prentice-Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 12-31

The Situational Theory of Leadership
House’s Path-Goal Theory (contingency
model)

 Builds from the Ohio State studies and the expectancy

theory of motivation
 The Theory: According to this theory leader’s job is to use
structure, support and rewards to create a favorable
environment that helps employees reach the organization’s
goals.
– Leaders provide followers with information, support, and
resources to help them achieve their goals
– Leaders help clarify the “path” to the worker’s goals
– Leaders can display multiple leadership types
 Four types of leaders:
– Directive: focuses on the work to be done
– Supportive: focuses on the well-being of the worker
– Participative: consults with employees in decision-making
– Achievement-Oriented: sets challenging goals
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Path-Goal Model
 Two classes of contingency variables:
– Environmental are outside of employee control
– Subordinate factors are internal to employee

 Mixed support in the research findings

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Leader-Member Exchange (LMX)
Theory
 A response to the failing of contingency theories to
account for followers and heterogeneous leadership
approaches to individual workers
 LMX Premise:
– Because of time pressures, leaders form a special
relationship with a small group of followers: the “in-group”
– This in-group is trusted and gets more time and attention
from the leader (more “exchanges”)
– All other followers are in the “out-group” and get less of the
leader’s attention and tend to have formal relationships with
the leader (fewer “exchanges”)
– Leaders pick group members early in the relationship

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LMX Model
 How groups are assigned is unclear
– Follower characteristics determine group membership
 Leaders control by keeping favorites close

 Research has been generally supportive 12-36

 Victor Vroom and Phillip Yetton ’s Leader-
Participation Model
 How a leader makes decisions is as important as what is decided
 Premise:
– Leader behaviors must adjust to reflect task structure
– “Normative” model: tells leaders how participative to be in their decision-making of a
decision tree
• Five leadership styles
• Twelve contingency variables
Good or bad decision making will effect the effectiveness of leader in long run.
Also how the decision has been made (participative, autocratic) effects
participants job satisfaction, productivity, stress turnover etc., thus the
manner in which leader handle their issue can be crucial in determining
their effectiveness. Structure and un structure companies - policy
procedure, norms will direct the leaders how to make decision.
 Research testing for both original and modified models has not been encouraging
– Model is overly complex

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 Victor Vroom and Phillip Yetton ’s Leader-
Participation Model
 Leader-Participation Model
 In 1973, Victor Vroom and Phillip Yetton developed a leader-participation
model. Recognizing that task structures have varying demands for routine
and non-routine activities, these researchers argued that leader behavior
must adjust to reflect the task structure.
 The model was normative—it provided a sequential set of rules that should
be followed in determining the form and amount of participation in decision
making, as determined by different types of situations.
 The model was a decision tree incorporating seven contingencies and five
leadership styles.
 Leadership style-
Autocratic I- Solves problems using information readily available.
Autocratic II- Obtains additional information from subordinate and then
solves problems

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 Victor Vroom and Phillip Yetton ’s Leader-
Participation Model
 Leadership style-
Consultative I- shares problems, obtains ideas from subordinates,
then choose solutions from idea obtained.
Consultation II- Final decision may or may not reflect subordinate
input.
Group- Leader –subordinate behave like a group, leader acts as
chair person, who focuses and direct discussion but does not
imposes his will on group.
.

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 Victor Vroom and Phillip Yetton ’s Leader-
Participation Model
 Victor vroom identified 7 question to be answered to determine
appropriate style.
1. Does problem poses quality requirement.
2. Does leader have sufficient information to make quality decision.
3. Is the problem structured.
4. Is acceptance of decision by subordinate is imp. For effective
implementation.
5. Is leader reasonable certain that if he makes decision it will be
acceptable by subordinate.
6. Do subordinate share the enterprise goals to be attained in
solving this problem,
7. If conflict over subordinates over prefered solutions likely.

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 Victor Vroom and Phillip Yetton ’s Leader-
Participation Model
 More recent work by Vroom and Arthur Jago revised this model.
– Retaining the same five alternative leadership styles but adds a set of problem types
and expands the contingency variables to twelve.
 The twelve contingency variables.
 Research testing both the original and revised leader-participation models has been
encouraging.
 Criticism has focused on variables that have been omitted and on the model’s overall
complexity.
 Other contingency theories demonstrate that stress, intelligence, and experience are
important situational variables.
 The model is far too complicated for the typical manager to use on a regular basis.
 Vroom and his associates have provided us with some specific, empirically-supported
contingency variables that you should consider when choosing your leadership style.


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