Management Leadership Useful vocabulary leadership trait behavioural theories

Management Leadership

Useful vocabulary • • • leadership trait behavioural theories autocratic style democratic style laissez-faire style initiating structure consideration managerial grid Fiedler contingency model • • leader-member relations task structure position power situational leadership theory (SLT) leader participation model path-goal theory transactional leaders transformational leaders

Today’s lecture We will: • Define leader and leadership • Compare and contrast early theories of leadership • Describe three major contingency theories of leadership • Describe contemporary views of leadership • Discuss contemporary issues affecting leadership

Who are leaders and what is leadership? • Leader - Someone who can influence others and who has managerial authority. • Leadership - What leaders do; the process of influencing a group to achieve goals. • Ideally, all managers should be leaders.

Leadership and management Leadership • The ability to influence a group toward the achievement of goals Management • Use of authority inherent in designated formal rank to obtain compliance from organisational members Both are necessary for organisational success

Are leaders born or made? • Trait theory: leadership is inherent, so we must identify the leader based on his or her traits • Behavioral theory: leadership is a skill set and can be taught to anyone, so we must identify the proper behaviors to teach potential leaders

What qualities should a leader have? • What qualities do you think are essential in a good leader? • Think about leaders you know and respect. • What is a follower?

Early leadership theories Trait and Behavioural theories

Early leadership theories (1) • Trait Theories (1920 s -1930 s) – Research focused on identifying personal characteristics that differentiated leaders from non-leaders was unsuccessful. – Later research on the leadership process identified seven traits associated with successful leadership: • Drive, the desire to lead, honesty and integrity, self -confidence, intelligence, job-relevant knowledge, and extraversion

Seven leadership traits

Kurt Lewin – Iowa studies • University of Iowa Studies (Kurt Lewin) – Identified three leadership styles: – Autocratic style: centralized authority, low employee participation – Democratic style: involvement, high employee participation, feedback – Laissez faire style: hands-off management, group make decisions – Research findings: mixed results – No specific style was consistently better for producing better performance. – Employees were more satisfied under a democratic leader than under an autocratic leader.

Ohio State studies • Ohio State Studies – Identified two dimensions of leader behaviour: • Initiating structure: the role of the leader in defining his or her role and the roles of group members. • Consideration: the leader’s mutual trust and respect for group members’ ideas and feelings.

Ohio State research results • High consideration/high structure leaders generally, but not always, achieved high scores on group task performance and satisfaction. • Evidence indicated that situational factors appeared to strongly influence leadership effectiveness.

Michigan studies University of Michigan • Identified two dimensions of leader behaviour: – Employee oriented: emphasising personal relationships – Production oriented: emphasising task accomplishment • Research findings: – Leaders who are employee oriented are strongly associated with high group productivity and high job satisfaction.

Managerial grid (1) • The Managerial Grid • Appraises leadership styles using two dimensions: • Concern for people • Concern for production – Team management considered best style of leadership but little evidence to back this up

Managerial grid (2) Places managerial styles in five categories: • Impoverished management (1, 1 - low concern for production, low concern for people) • Task management (9, 1 – high concern for production, low concern for people) • Middle-of-the-road management (5, 5 – medium concern for production, medium concern for people) • Country club management (1, 9 – low concern for production, high concern for people) • Team management (9, 9 – high concern for production, high concern for people)

Behavioural theories diagram 1

Behavioural theories diagram 2

Early leadership theories Contingency theories

Contingency theory of leadership • While trait and behavior theories do help us understand leadership, an important component is missing: the environment in which the leader exists • Contingency theory adds this additional aspect to our understanding leadership effectiveness studies • Four key theories: – – Fiedler’s Model Situational Leadership Theory Path-Goal Theory Leader Participation

Contingency Theories of Leadership • The Fiedler Model – Proposes that effective group performance depends upon the proper match between the leader’s style of interacting with followers and the degree to which the situation allows the leader to control and influence.

Fiedler Model • Assumes that leadership style is fixed • For effective leadership: must change to a leader who fits the situation or change the situational variables to fit the current leader • Considers three situational factors: – Leader-member relations: degree of confidence and trust in the leader – Task structure: degree of structure in the jobs – Position power: leader’s ability to hire, fire, and reward

The Fiedler Model (cont. ) • Least-preferred co-worker (LPC) questionnaire – Determines leadership style by measuring responses to 18 pairs of contrasting adjectives • If you got a high score, you have a relationship-oriented leadership style • If you got a low score, you have a task-oriented leadership style – This combined with the three situational factors, created a model with situations that are favourable or unfavourable for that type of manager.

The Fiedler Model

The Fiedler model As leadership type is fixed in this model, if a situation is unfavourable for a leader, the only 2 options are: • get another leader • change the situation Criticisms of this model: • Leaders can change style • LPC not practical

Situational leadership theory • Argues that successful leadership is achieved by selecting the right leadership style which is contingent on the level of the followers’ readiness – Acceptance: leadership effectiveness depends on whether followers accept or reject a leader – Readiness: the extent to which followers have the ability and willingness to accomplish a specific task • Leaders must relinquish control over and contact with followers as they become more competent.

Situational leadership theory • Creates four specific leadership styles incorporating Fiedler’s two leadership dimensions: – Telling: high task-low relationship leadership – Selling: high task-high relationship leadership – Participating: low task-high relationship leadership – Delegating: low task-low relationship leadership

Situational leadership theory • Followers can accept or reject the leader • Effectiveness depends on the followers’ response to the leader’s actions • “Readiness” is the extent to which people have the ability and willingness to accomplish a specific task

Path-Goal Theory • 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

Path-Goal model (p 468)

Contemporary theories

Comtemporary leadership theories There are many but we will look at: • Transactional • Transformational • Charismatic • Visionary • Team

Transactional and transformational leaders • Transactional Leadership – Leaders who guide or motivate their followers in the direction of established goals by clarifying role and task requirements. • Transformational Leadership – Leaders who inspire followers to transcend their own self-interests for the good of the organisation by clarifying role and task requirements.

Charismatic leadership – An enthusiastic, self-confident leader whose personality and actions influence people to behave in certain ways. – Characteristics of charismatic leaders: • • • Have a vision Are able to articulate the vision Are willing to take risks to achieve the vision Are sensitive to the environment and follower needs Exhibit behaviours that are out of the ordinary

Charismatic leaders influence by… Articulate a Vision Create a Vision Statement Create a new set of Values Demonstrate the Vision

Visionary leaders • Visionary leadership – A leader who creates and articulates a realistic, credible, and attractive vision of the future that improves upon the present situation. • Visionary leaders have the ability to: – Explain the vision to others – Express the vision not just verbally but through behaviour – Extend or apply the vision to different leadership contexts

Charismatic or visionary leaders • List as many charismatic or visionary leaders as you can. • Is there a pattern to the situations they appear in? If yes, what is it?

Team leaders • Team leadership characteristics: – Having patience to share information – Being able to trust others and to give up authority – Understanding when to intervene • Team leader’s job – Managing the team’s external boundary – Facilitating the team process which includes coaching, facilitating, handling disciplinary problems, reviewing team and individual performance, training, and communication

Team leadership roles diagram

Leadership for 21 st Century

What style of leader are you? • Look at your Myers-Briggs and your Belbin results • Think about your experiences of when you have taken the lead in an activity • What style of leadership suits you best?

Managing Power – Legitimate power • The power a leader has as a result of his or her position. – Coercive power • The power a leader has to punish or control. – Reward power • The power to give positive benefits or rewards. – Expert power • The influence a leader can exert as a result of his or her expertise, skills, or knowledge. – Referent power • The power of a leader that arises because of a person’s desirable resources or admired personal traits.

Trust • Trust is a psychological state that exists when you agree to make yourself vulnerable to another because you have a positive expectation for how things are going to turn out.

Developing trust • Credibility (of a leader) – The assessment of a leader’s honesty, competence, and ability to inspire by his or her followers • Trust – The belief of followers (and others) in the integrity, character, and ability of a leader – Is related to increases in job performance, organisational citizenship behaviours, job satisfaction, and organisation commitment

How is trust developed? If you want people to trust you, you need demonstrate: • Integrity • Competence • Consistency • Loyalty • Openness

How to build trust

Empowering employees Empowerment • Increasing the decisionmaking discretion of workers such that teams can make key operating decisions in developing budgets, scheduling workloads, controlling inventories, and solving quality problems.

Why empower employees? • Quicker responses to problems and faster decisions • Addresses the problem of increased spans of control in relieving managers so they can address other problems

Other factors • Authenticity – Authentic leaders know who they are, what they believe in and value, and act upon those values and beliefs. • Ethics – Leadership is not free from values. When we assess leadership, we must assess not just the goals themselves but also the means by which those goals are achieved.

Cross-cultural leadership • Universal elements of effective leadership – Vision – Foresight – Providing encouragement – Trustworthiness – Dynamism – Positivity – Pro-activeness

Examples of cross-cultural leadership

Gender differences and leadership Research findings – Males and females use different styles: • Women tend to adopt a more democratic or participative style unless in a male-dominated job. • Women tend to use transformational leadership. • Men tend to use transactional leadership.

Leadership training • Training is more likely to be successful with individuals who are high self-monitors than those who are low self-monitors. • Individuals with higher levels of motivation to lead are more receptive to leadership development opportunities.

When leadership isn’t necessary • Follower characteristics – Experience, training, professional orientation, or the need for independence • Job characteristics – Routine, unambiguous, and satisfying jobs • Organisation characteristics – Explicit formalised goals, rigid rules and procedures, or cohesive work groups

Mentoring • Mentoring is the more experienced (mentor) helping the less experienced (protégé)

Reflection • What leaders do you know who are charismatic? • Are there any leaders which you trust? • What sort of leader would you like to have? • Have a look at this list of famous leaders. Are there any you do/don’t want to be like? http: //www. thefamouspeople. com/politicalleaders. php

Summary Today: • What is leadership and a leader • Early and contemporary models • Leadership in 21 st Century Tomorrow: • Quiz on the week’s topics • Assignment hand-in

Homework • Please read Chapter 18 before next week’s lectures • Revise theory names and descriptions from the past 3 weeks • Next week we will practise exam questions