Leadership

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Leadership

Who is a leader?
What quality a leader should have?
Whom to call a leader?
Everybody seems to have a say when it comes to
Leadership!!
Historical figures (Alexander, Napolean, Hitler??)
From business world (JRD Tata, Dhirubhai Ambani, Bill Gates etc..)

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Leadership and the nature of an

extraordinary life
Michael C. Jensen, Harvard Business School

1. Be committed to a never-ending search for truth.

2. Take personal responsibility for the problems in your life.
3. Be committed to delaying gratification.
4. Be a person of honesty and integrity.
5. Be someone who is enrollable in life.
6. Be committed to living a life in which you do not make others
wrong, you do not invalidate others, and you do not dominate
others.
7. Be committed to courage.
8. Be a person who produces results in the world with absolutely
no force.
9. Be a person who is peaceful in the chaos of life.
10.Be committed to the proposition that Happiness is not the
absence of problems, and it is not the accumulation of wealth
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or prestige.
11.Be committed to managing success, while being aware of its

Leadership

Leadership can be considered as the process of

influencing others to get the job done effectively
over a sustained period of time.
Three Types of Influence Patterns
Compliance
Identification
Internalization

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Leadership

Influence is the process of affecting potential

behavior of others.
Whereas, Power is the capacity to exert influence.
Sources of Power (French & Raven, 1959)
Position Power: Legitimate Power, Reward Power,
Coercive Power.
Personal Power: Referent Power and Expert Power
(information power)
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Trait Theory
Leadership Traits: represent the personal characteristics that differentiate leaders
from followers.
Historic findings reveal that leaders and followers vary by
- intelligence
- dominance
- self-confidence
- level of energy and activity
- task-relevant knowledge
Contemporary findings show that
- people tend to perceive that someone is a leader when he or she
exhibits traits associated with intelligence, masculinity, and
dominance
- people want their leaders to be credible
- credible leaders are honest, forward-looking, inspiring, and
competent
The trait theory provides descriptive insights but has little analytical or predictive
power.
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Trait Theory

(continued)

Gender and leadership

- men and women differ in the type of leadership roles they assume in
work groups: men display more task leadership and women exhibit
more social leadership
- leadership styles vary by gender: women are more democratic and
men are more autocratic and directive
- female and male leaders are equally effective
- men are perceived as more effective than women when the job is
defined in masculine terms, and women are more effective than men in
roles defined in less masculine terms
- male leaders are perceived as more effective than females when
there are a greater percentage of male leaders and male direct reports;
the same positive bias is not true for women leaders

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Behavioral Styles Theory

IOWA Leadership Research : Students were divided into three
groups and put under three types of leadership styles: Authoritarian,
Democratic and Laissez faire.
Maximum number of aggressive behaviors were observed under laissez
faire.

Ohio State Studies identified two critical dimensions of leader behavior.

1. Consideration: creating mutual respect and trust with followers
2. Initiating Structure: organizing and defining what group members
should be doing.
These two dimensions are not two extremes of the same continuum.

University of Michigan Studies identified two leadership styles that

were similar to the Ohio State studies
- one style was employee centered and the other was job centered.

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OHIO STUDY (Contd)

Table : The four styles of leader behavior as per Ohio study

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HIGH
(Consid
eration)

HUMAN
RELATION

DEMOCRATIC

LOW
(Consid
eration)

LAISSEZ
FAIRE

AUTOCRATIC

LOW (Initiating
Structure)

HIGH (Initiating
Structure)

Group Exchange Theory

This theory posits that there must be positive exchange

between the leader and followers in order for the group goals to be
accomplished.

Followers impact on leaders- Some important research studies

indicate that followers/subordinates may actually affect leaders as
much as leaders affect them.

Vertical Dyad Linkage model (VDL)- It states that leaders treat

individual subordinates differently. They develop dyadic (two
persons) relationships which affect the behavior of both leader and
subordinates.

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Contingency theories of Leadership

Research shows that there is not one best style of leadership. The
effectiveness of a particular leadership style depends on the situation at
hand.

Tannenbaum and Schmidts Leadership pattern

The use of authority by the manager (boss-centered leadership style) or

the area of freedom given to subordinates (subordinate-centered
leadership) is a function of (1) forces in the manager ( value system, confidence
in subordinates, leadership predisposition and feelings of security and insecurity),

(2)

forces in the subordinates (their needs for dependence or independence, readiness to

assume responsibility; tolerance for ambiguity abilities; knowledge and experience )

and (3)

forces in the situation (type of organization, group effectiveness, time pressure and the
nature of the problem itself).
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A successful leader is one who can accurately assess the forces

and then is able to be flexible enough to adopt the most
functional leadership style
Subordinatecentered leadership

Boss Centered
leadership

Use of authority by
manager

Area of freedom for subordinates

Manager makes
decision and
announces

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Manager sells
decision

Manager presents
problems and gets
suggestions

Manager lets group

make decision

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Fiedlers Contingency Model

This model contained the relationship between leadership style and the
favourableness of the situation. Situational favourableness was described
by Fiedler in terms of three empirically derived dimension:
Three situational variables in Fiedlers model
1. Leader-Member Relationship (which is the most critical variable in
determining the situations favourableness).
2.Leaders Position Power (which is the second most important input into
favourableness of the situation).
3. The Degree of Task Structure (obtained through formal authority, which
is the third most critical dimension of situation)

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Fiedlers Contingency Model

Leadership Performance

High

Low
Situational
Control
Leader-member
relations
Task Structure
Position power
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Task motivated

Relationship motivated
I

II

III

High Control
Good Good
Structured
Strong Weak

IV

VI

Moderate Control

Good
Good Poor
Poor
Unstructured
Structured
Strong
Weak Strong Weak

VII

VIII

Low Control
Poor
Poor
Unstructured
Strong
Weak
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Fiedlers Contingency Model

Research support for the model

Fiedler, and in particular his students have provided
almost all support for the model. He cites nearly 30
studies in a wide variety of organizations and concluded
that the theory is highly predictive and that the relations
obtained in the validation studies are almost similar to
those obtained in the original studies.

Critical analysis of the model

Some researchers have been critical of the procedures
and statistical analyses of the studies used to support
the validity of the model.

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Contd

Contribution
# It was the first visible leadership theory to present the contingency
approach.
# It emphasized the importance of both the situation and the leaders
characteristics in determining leader effectiveness.

Fiedlers Cognitive resource theory (CRT)

He identified the situation under which a leaders cognitive resources, such
as intelligence, experience and technical expertise, relate to group and
organizational performance. Based on Fiedler and his colleagues research,
CRT predicts:
# More intelligent leaders develop better plans, decisions and action
strategies than less intelligent leaders.
# Intelligence contributes more strongly to group performance if the leader is
directive and the group members are motivated and supportive of the
leader.

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Houses Path-Goal Theory

Employee Characteristics
- Locus of control
- Task ability
- Need for achievement
- Experience
- Need for clarity
Leadership Styles
- Directive
- Supportive
- Participative
- Achievement oriented

Employee Attitudes
and Behavior
- Job satisfaction
- Acceptance of leader
- Motivation
- Performance

Environmental Factors
- Employees task
- Authority system
- Work group
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Path Goal Theory

1.

2.

3.

4.

Directive Leadership: This style is similar to that of the Lippitt and

White authoritarian leader. Subordinates know exactly what is
expected of them, and the leader gives specific directions. There
is no participation by subordinates.
Supportive Leadership: The leader is friendly and approachable
and shows a genuine concern for subordinates.
Participative Leadership: The leader asks for and uses
suggestions from subordinates but still makes the decisions.
AchievementOriented Leadership: The leader sets challenging
goals for subordinates and shows confidence that they will attain
these goals and perform well.

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Path Goal Theory

Two of the situational factors that have been identified are
the personal characteristics of subordinates and the
environmental pressures and demands facing
subordinates. With respect to the first situational factors,
the theory asserts:
Leader behavior will be acceptable to subordinates to the
extent that the subordinates see such behavior as either
an immediate source of satisfaction or as instrumental to
future satisfaction.
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Path Goal Theory

And, with respect to the second situational factors, the
theory states:
Leader behavior will be motivational (e.g., will increase
subordinate effort) to the extent that (1) it makes
satisfaction of subordinate needs contingent on effective
performance, and (2) it complements the environment of
subordinates by providing the coaching, guidance,
support and rewards which are necessary for effective
performance and which may otherwise be lacking in
subordinates or in their environment.
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Using one of the four styles contingent upon the situational factors, the
leader attempts to influence subordinates perception and motivate them,
which in turn leads to their role clarity, goal expectancies, satisfaction
and performance. This is specifically accomplished by the leader as
follows:
1.Recognizing and/or arousing subordinates need for outcomes over which
leader has some control.
2.Increasing personal pay-offs to subordinates for work-goal attainment.
3.Making the path to those pay-offs easier to travel by coaching and directions.
4.Helping subordinates clarify expectancies.
5.Reducing frustrating barriers.
6.Increasing the opportunities for personal satisfaction contingent on effective
performance.

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Path Goal Theory

Research findings:
1.
Studies of seven organizations have found that leader
directiveness is (a) positively related to satisfaction and
expectations of subordinates engaged in ambiguous
tasks and (b) negatively related to satisfaction and
expectancies of subordinates engaged in clear tasks.
2.
Studies involving ten different samples of employees
found that supportive leadership will have its most
positive effect on satisfaction for subordinates who
work on stressful, frustrating, or dissatisfying tasks.
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Path Goal Theory

3. In a major study in an industrial manufacturing
organization, it was found that in nonrepetitive, egoinvolving tasks, employees were more satisfied under
participative leader than under non-participative leader.
4. In three separate organizations it was found that for
subordinates performing ambiguous, nonrepetitive tasks,
the higher the achievement orientation of the leader, the
more subordinates were confident that their efforts would
pay off in effective performance.

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Hershey and Blanchards LifeCycle or

Situational Approach
Two major styles of leadership
1)Task style and 2) Relationship style

The level of maturity is defined by three criteria

a) Degree of achievement motivation,
b) Willingness to take responsibility and
c) Amount of education and/or experience.

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Hershey and Blanchards LifeCycle or

Situational Approach
Four basic styles
1)
Telling style This is high task, low relationship
style and is effective when followers are at a very
low level of maturity
2)
Selling style - This is high task, high relationship
style and is effective when followers are on the low
side of maturity
3)
Participative style - This is low task, high
relationship style and is effective when followers
are on the high side of maturity
4)
Delegating style - This is low task, low relationship
style and is effective when followers are at a very
high level of maturity
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Likerts Four Systems of Management

System 1 (Exploitative Autocratic) Manager has no

trust or confidence in subordinates and subordinates
do not feel free with their superior.
System 2 (Benevolent Autocratic) - Manager has
condescending trust and confidence but
subordinates do not feel very free with their superior.
System 3 (Participative) - Manager has substantial but
not complete trust and confidence and subordinates
rather feel free with their superior.
System 4 (Democratic) - Manager has complete trust
and confidence in subordinates in all matters and
subordinates feel completely free with their superior.

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Empirical support for Likerts Four

Systems of Management

Likert and his colleagues have quite consistently

found that high producing units were described
according to system 3 and 4 while low producing
units fell under system 1 and 2. These responses
were given irrespective of the managers field of
experience.

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Refinement of Likerts work

1.

2.
3.

An important refinement of Likerts work is the recognition

of three broad classes of variables that affect the
relationship between leadership and performance in
complex organization. They are as followsCausal variables (E.g., organizational structure and
management policies and decisions and their leadership
styles, skills and behavior).
Intervening variables (goals, attitudes, motivations, etc.)
End result variables (productivity, service, earnings, etc.)
He pointed out that there is no direct cause-and-effect relationship
between leadership styles and the end result, for e.g., earnings.
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Charismatic Leadership

This is based on the concept of leaders as being those who by the

force of their personal abilities are capable of having profound and
extraordinary effects on followers.

Modern development of charismatic concept is attributed to the work

of Robert House. He suggested that charismatic leaders are
characterized by self confidence and confidence in subordinates, high
expectations for subordinates, ideological visions and the use of
personal examples.

Followers of charismatic leaders identify with the leader, exhibit

extreme loyalty and confidence in the leader, emulate the leaders
behavior and values and derives self esteem from their relationship
with the leader.

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Extension of Charismatic Leadership theory

Conger and Kanungo treat charisma as an attributional

phenomenon and propose that it varies with situation.
Leader traits that foster charismatic attributions include
self confidence, impression-management skills, social
senstivity and empathy.
Situations that promote charismatic leadership include a
crises requiring dramatic change, or followers who are
very dissatisfied with the staus quo.
Charismatic leaders are most of the times portrayed as
wonderful heroes but there can also be unethical
characteristics associated with such leaders.

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Ethical and Unethical characteristics of

Charismatic leaders

Ethical
Uses power to serve
others
Aligns vision with
followers needs and
aspirations
Consider and learns
from criticism
Open, two way
communication

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Unethical
Uses power only for
personal gains
Promotes own
personal vision
Censures critical or
opposing views
One way
communication
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Ethical and Unethical characteristics of

Charismatic leaders (contd)

Ethical

Unethical

Stimulates followers to think

independently and to
question the leaders view
Coaches, develops, and
supports followers; shares
recognitions with other
Relies on internal moral
standards to satisfy
organizational and societal
goals

Demands own decisions to be

accepted without question

Insensitive to followers
needs

Relies on convenient external

moral standards to satisfy
self interests

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Transformational & Transactional

Leadership

Burns (1978) identified two types of political leadership

Transactional leadership This involves an exchange
relationship between leaders and followers, exchanging
rewards for the efforts put in by the subordinates. It
involves closely monitoring the occurrence of mistakes.
Transformational leadership This is exercised when the
leader intellectually stimulates the subordinates, excites,
arouses and inspires them to perform far beyond their own
wildest expectations and is development oriented.
Bass concluded transactional leadership is a prescription
for mediocrity and that transformational leadership leads to
superior performance in organizations facing demands for
renewal and change.
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Transformational & Transactional Leadership

Most of the research on transformational leadership has

relied on Bass questionnaire which has received some
criticism, or qualitative research that simply describes
leaders through interviews.
Only recently has empirical research begun to support
findings of such earlier researches.
For e.g., field studies have shown that transformational
leaders more frequently employ legitimating tactics and
engender higher levels of identification and internalization
and have better performance.

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Future of international Leadership studies-

Project GLOBE

Project GLOBE started under the general direction of

Robert House.
The meta-goal of the GLOBE is to develop, over time, an
empirically based theory to describe, understand, and
predict the impact of cultural variables on leadership,
organizational processes, and the effectiveness of the
leader and the processes. Over the past decade, 170
country-based co-investigators gathered data from
18,000 managers from 62 countries.
The first goal of the GLOBE project was to develop
societal and organizational measures of culture and
leader attributes that were appropriate to use across all
cultures.

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Project GLOBE

The opening investigation suggested 9 dimensions of

cultures that differentiate societies and organizations.
Some of the preliminary findings released by them
suggest 21 specific leader attributes and behaviors that
are universally viewed as contributing to leadership
effectiveness.
There is also the impact of cultural dimensions. Cultural
differences strongly influence the ways in which people
think about their leaders as well as societal norms that
exist concerning the status, influence, and the privileges
granted to leaders.

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