What Is Leadership?  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 organizational members  Both are necessary for organizational success

Trait Theories of Leadership  Theories that consider personality, social, physical, or intellectual traits to differentiate leaders from nonleaders  Not very useful until matched with the Big Five Personality Framework  Leadership Traits –Extroversion –Conscientiousness –Openness –Emotional Intelligence (Qualified)  Traits can predict leadership, but they are better at predicting leader emergence than effectiveness.

Behavioral Theories of Leadership  Theories proposing that specific behaviors differentiate leaders from nonleaders  Differences between theories of leadership: –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

Important Behavioral Studies  Ohio State University –Found two key dimensions of leader behavior: Initiating structure – the defining and structuring of roles Consideration – job relationships that reflect trust and respect Both are important  University of Michigan –Also found two key dimensions of leader behavior: Employee-oriented – emphasizes interpersonal relationships and is the most powerful dimension Production-oriented – emphasizes the technical aspects of the job –The dimensions of the two studies are very similar

Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid®  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  Style is determined by position on the graph

Situational Leadership situational leadership As the name of the approach suggests, situational leadership focuses on leadership in situations. The principle of the theory is that different situations demand different kinds of leadership. So from this perspective, the theory says that each situation demand different types of leadership styles.

Situational Leadership Situational leadership says that leadership is composed of two dimensions as: Directive Behaviors : Leaders will help group members in accomplishing goals by giving directions, starting goals, setting time lines, defining roles, and showing how the goals are to be achieved. Supportive Behaviors: Leaders help members feel comfortable about themselves, their coworkers, and the situation. Examples of supportive behaviors include asking for input, solving problems, praising, sharing information about oneself, and listening. Supportive behaviors are mostly job related.

Delegating: The leader offers less task input and social support, facilitating employees’ confidence and motivation in reference to the task. this style lets subordinates take responsibility for getting the job done the way they see fit

Supporting: The leader does not focus exclusively on goals but uses supportive behaviors that bring out the employees’ skills around the task to be accomplished. The supportive style includes listening, praising, asking for input, and giving feedback.

Coaching: the leader focuses communication on both achieving goals and meeting subordinates’ socioemotional needs. However, coaching is an extension of S1 in that it still requires that the leader make the final decision on the what and how of goal accomplishment.

Directing: In this approach, the leader focuses communication on goal achievement, and spends a smaller amount of time using supportive behaviors. Using this style, a leader gives instructions about what and how goals are to be achieved by the subordinates and then supervises them carefully.

Level of Development Rene Martinez, owns a house painting business. Rene specializes in restoration of old homes and over 30 years has acquired extensive knowledge of the specialized abilities required including understanding old construction and painting materials and techniques, plaster repair, carpentry, and window glazing. Rene has three employees: Ashley, who has worked for him for seven years and whom he trained from the beginning of her career; Levi, who worked for a commercial painter for four years before being hired by Rene two years ago; and Anton, who is just starting out.

Hersey & Blanchard’s Situational Leadership  A model that focuses on follower “readiness” –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  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 spontaneous model that does not get much support from the research findings Paternal: Fatherly; behaving as or characteristic of a father

Contingency Theory The story of the theory: Contingency theory is a leader–match theory, which means it tries to match leaders to appropriate situations. Fiedler developed contingency theory by studying the styles of many different leaders who worked in different contexts, primarily military organizations. After analyzing the styles of hundreds of leaders who were both good and bad, Fiedler and his colleagues were able to make empirically grounded generalizations about which styles of leadership were best and which styles were worst for a given organizational context.

Contingency Theory In short, contingency theory is concerned with styles and situations. It provides the framework for effectively matching the leader and the situation. Leadership styles Situational Variables

Leadership Styles Task Motivated Leaders:are concerned primarily with reaching a goal… Relationship Motivated Leaders: are concerned with developing close interpersonal relationships. To measure leader styles, Fiedler developed the Least Preferred Coworker (LPC) scale. Leaders who score high on this scale are described as relationship motivated, and those who score low on the scale are identified as task motivated.

Situational Variables Leader–Member Relations : Leader–member relations consist of the group atmosphere and the degree of confidence, loyalty, and attraction that followers feel for their leader. If group atmosphere is positive and subordinates trust, like, and get along with their leader, the leader–member relations are defined as good. On the other hand, if the atmosphere is unfriendly and friction exists within the group, the leader– member relations are defined as poor.

Situational Variables Task Structure: The degree to which the requirements of a task are clear and spelled out. Tasks that are completely structured tend to give more control to the leader, whereas vague and unclear tasks lessen the leader’s control and influence. A task is considered structured when (a) the requirements of the task are clearly stated and known by the people required to perform them, (b) the path to accomplishing the task has few alternatives, (c) completion of the task can be clearly demonstrated, and (d) only a limited number of correct solutions to the task exist.

Situational Variables Position Power: The amount of authority a leader has to reward or to punish followers. It includes the legitimate power individuals acquire as a result of the position they hold in an organization. Position power is strong if a person has the authority to hire and fire or give raises in rank or pay; it is weak if a person does not have the authority to do these things.

Graphic Representation of Fiedler’s Model Used to determine which type of leader to use in a given situation

How Does Contingency Theory Work? Effective in Categories – 1, 2, 3, & 8  If individual’s style matches appropriate category in the model, leader will be effective  If individual’s style does not match appropriate category in the model, leader will not be effective Low LPCs – Task-Oriented Middle LPCs High LPCs – Relationship-Oriented Effective in Categories – 4, 5, 6, & 7 Effective in Categories – 1, 2, & 3

How Does Contingency Theory Work? How Does it Work? Example: Situation Leader–Member Relation – Good Task Structure – High Position Power – High Category – 1 Low LPC – (Individual who is task-oriented will be effective) By measuring Leader’s LPC score and the 3 situational variables, it is possible to predict whether a leader will be effective in a particular setting

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