Leadership
Problem 4 1.7
Who’s the boss?
o Which leadership approaches/theories may explain the situations depicted?
o To what extent does effective leadership depend on personality, situation, or both?
o What is charismatic, transactional, autocratic, and laissez-faire leadership?
o How can leadership styles be measured?
o Which of these styles is the best?
Leadership
Leadership- the process of influencing the activities of an organized group in its
efforts towards goal setting and goal achievement
- The leader may be formal (manager) or informal (an experienced employee)
Leadership is often measured by surveying the performance of the group that is
being influenced by the leader
- However other factors also play a role in determining the performance of the
group and thus cannot only be attributed to the leader
Theories
Trait approach- concerned with determining the personal characteristics of good
leaders. Believe inherent traits are important for determining leadership
performance. The big 5 model had a multiple correlation of (0.48)
- High on extraversion, openness and conscientiousness
- Low on neuroticism
- Tend to be high on:
- Intelligence
- Dominance
- Self-confidence
- Energy
- Knowledge
- Balance
- Integrity
o Important concepts in assessing the trait approach:
- Leader emergence- look at traits and observe who turns out to be the leader
- Leader effectiveness- mainly look at job performance in the group being led
◊ Many inconsistent results in studies to establish a consistent profile of characteristics
of effective leaders
o Great men theory- take people from history and see what made them great leaders
◊ Not much research
Behavioural approach- concerned with finding out which leader behaviours are
effective, especially concentrated on leadership styles (behaviours that represent an
approach to dealing with subordinates) -ohio state study
- Consideration (person-orientated) – trust in subordinates, respect ideas,
consideration of feelings
, Leadership
- Initiating structure (task-orientated) – defines roles, actively direct group in
reaching goals, communicate information, criticize, scheduling and
experimenting
◊ Biased. Inconsistent results. Stereotypes, causal relationship is difficult to be
established (confounding variables) may something about the employees as well
Situational approach/ contingency theories- good leadership is a function of the
interplay of the person, his or her behaviour, and the situation
- Leaders can be person or task oriented based on how positively they rate
their least preferred co-worker (LPC scale)
- Positive = person oriented -> high LPC
- Negative = task oriented -> low LPC
- Indicates motivational structure
o Key situational aspects- factors that influence situational control:
- Leader-member relation- if subordinates trust/like the leader
- Task structure- whether tasks/goals/ performance is well defined
- Position power- whether leader controls rewards/punishment
◊ Negative - Assumption that leaders cannot change style to the situation; rather
match situation to personal leadership style- leader match. Mixed support for
validity. It isn’t clear why LPC and situational control interact, no convincing
explanation
◊ Positive- partial support in meta-analysis
Path-goal theory (house and Mitchel)- subordinate job performance and satisfaction
result from the interplay of supervisor style (subordinate characteristics) and
situational characteristics.
o There are 4 supervisor styles:
- Supportive- similar to consideration. Concern for needs and the wellbeing of
followers
- Directive- similar to initiating structure- structuring job tasks, and setting
expectations
- Participative- seeking input from subordinates and including them in the
decision process
Problem 4 1.7
Who’s the boss?
o Which leadership approaches/theories may explain the situations depicted?
o To what extent does effective leadership depend on personality, situation, or both?
o What is charismatic, transactional, autocratic, and laissez-faire leadership?
o How can leadership styles be measured?
o Which of these styles is the best?
Leadership
Leadership- the process of influencing the activities of an organized group in its
efforts towards goal setting and goal achievement
- The leader may be formal (manager) or informal (an experienced employee)
Leadership is often measured by surveying the performance of the group that is
being influenced by the leader
- However other factors also play a role in determining the performance of the
group and thus cannot only be attributed to the leader
Theories
Trait approach- concerned with determining the personal characteristics of good
leaders. Believe inherent traits are important for determining leadership
performance. The big 5 model had a multiple correlation of (0.48)
- High on extraversion, openness and conscientiousness
- Low on neuroticism
- Tend to be high on:
- Intelligence
- Dominance
- Self-confidence
- Energy
- Knowledge
- Balance
- Integrity
o Important concepts in assessing the trait approach:
- Leader emergence- look at traits and observe who turns out to be the leader
- Leader effectiveness- mainly look at job performance in the group being led
◊ Many inconsistent results in studies to establish a consistent profile of characteristics
of effective leaders
o Great men theory- take people from history and see what made them great leaders
◊ Not much research
Behavioural approach- concerned with finding out which leader behaviours are
effective, especially concentrated on leadership styles (behaviours that represent an
approach to dealing with subordinates) -ohio state study
- Consideration (person-orientated) – trust in subordinates, respect ideas,
consideration of feelings
, Leadership
- Initiating structure (task-orientated) – defines roles, actively direct group in
reaching goals, communicate information, criticize, scheduling and
experimenting
◊ Biased. Inconsistent results. Stereotypes, causal relationship is difficult to be
established (confounding variables) may something about the employees as well
Situational approach/ contingency theories- good leadership is a function of the
interplay of the person, his or her behaviour, and the situation
- Leaders can be person or task oriented based on how positively they rate
their least preferred co-worker (LPC scale)
- Positive = person oriented -> high LPC
- Negative = task oriented -> low LPC
- Indicates motivational structure
o Key situational aspects- factors that influence situational control:
- Leader-member relation- if subordinates trust/like the leader
- Task structure- whether tasks/goals/ performance is well defined
- Position power- whether leader controls rewards/punishment
◊ Negative - Assumption that leaders cannot change style to the situation; rather
match situation to personal leadership style- leader match. Mixed support for
validity. It isn’t clear why LPC and situational control interact, no convincing
explanation
◊ Positive- partial support in meta-analysis
Path-goal theory (house and Mitchel)- subordinate job performance and satisfaction
result from the interplay of supervisor style (subordinate characteristics) and
situational characteristics.
o There are 4 supervisor styles:
- Supportive- similar to consideration. Concern for needs and the wellbeing of
followers
- Directive- similar to initiating structure- structuring job tasks, and setting
expectations
- Participative- seeking input from subordinates and including them in the
decision process
