IOP2602 – Organisational Psychology
LEARNING UNIT 6: Leadership (CHAPTER 7)
Leadership is an integral aspect of organisations that impacts on organisational success. Over the years, researchers have
focused on understanding leadership, how leaders differ from non-leaders and what constitutes an effective leader.
Different theories and models are used to explain different aspects of leadership. Most researchers believe that leaders are
individuals who can make a difference in the organisation. In a South African context, leadership is of critical importance to allow
strategy and business to operate at their full potential. Trust is another construct that is gaining popularity in organisations,
especially in relation to leadership. It is important to understand trust and its relationship to leadership. Effective managers
should develop a relationship of trust with everyone in the organisation.
2. What is Leadership
Leadership is defined as the ability to influence a group towards the achievement of goals. The source of this influence
may be formal, with the leader being formally appointed, or the leader may emerge from within the group.
• Coping with change
• Establishing direction by developing a vision into the future
• Aligning people by communicating this vision
• Inspiring people to overcome hurdles.
Management
• Coping with complexities
• Good management brings about order and consistency.
• Implementing the vision and strategy provided by leaders.
• Coordinating and staffing the organisation
• Coping with day-to-day problems
Not all leaders are managers, nor are all managers leaders. Management copes with complexity by bringing about order and
consistency by means of drawing up formal plans, designing rigid organisational structures and comparing the results with the
plans. Leadership is about coping with change. Leaders establish direction by developing a vision into the future. Both are
necessary for organisational effectiveness.
3. Basic Approaches to Leadership
Trait theories look for traits that differentiate leaders from non-leaders. Researchers in trait theories conclude that some traits
increase a person’s likelihood of success as a leader, but none of the traits guarantee success. If these theories were correct, it would
be possible to select the “right” person to assume a formal position of leadership. What these theories are stating, however, is that
successful leaders are basically born leaders. You should be able to describe the strengths and weaknesses of trait theories of
leadership, so that you can differentiate them from other types of theories. Alternative theories emerged between
the late 1940s and the mid-1960s, and these were referred to as behavioural theories.
Behavioural theories of leadership propose that leaders exhibit specific behaviours that differentiate leaders from non-
leaders. If this type of theory were correct, it would be possible to train people to be leaders. The behavioural theories, like the
trait theories of leadership, fail to identify consistent relationships between patterns of leadership behaviour and group
performance. They do not consider the situational factors that influence success or failure.
• Initiating structure is the extent to which a leader is likely to define and structure his or her role and those
of employees in the search for goal attainment
• Consideration is the extent to which a person's job relationships are characterised by mutual trust, respect
for employees' ideas and regard for their feelings.
• Employee-oriented leader, A leader who emphasised interpersonal relationships takes a personal interest in
the needs of employees and accepting individual differences among them.
• Production-oriented leader, A leader who emphasised the technical or task aspects of the job, focusing on
accomplishing the group's tasks.
Lyana Petzer Page 1 of 7
, IOP2602 – Organisational Psychology
Leaders who have certain traits and who display consideration and structuring behaviours appear to be more
effective. Perhaps you are wondering whether conscientious leaders (trait) are more likely to be structuring
(behaviour) and extraverted leaders (trait) to be considerate (behaviour).
Contingency theories acknowledge that predicting leadership success is more complex than isolating a few traits or preferable
behaviour. They argue that the situation determines the type of leadership. A number of models contribute to the
understanding of contingency theories, including Fiedler’s model, situational theory and path-goal theory.
Fiedler contingency model proposes that effective group performance depends on the proper match between the
leader's style of interacting and the degree to which the situation gives the leader control. He believes that a key
factor in leadership success is the individual's basic leadership style. He created the least preferred co-worker (LPC)
questionnaire to identify that style by measuring whether a person is task- or relationship-oriented.
Fiedler assumes an individual's leadership style is fixed. This means if a situation requires a task-oriented leader and
the person in the leadership position is relationship oriented, either the situation has to be modified or the leader
has to be replaced to achieve optimal effectiveness.
Defining the situation
After assessing an individual's basic leadership style through the LPC questionnaire, we match the leader with
the situation. Fiedler has identified three contingency or situational dimensions:
1. Leader-member relations: This is the degree of confidence and trust in, and respect for, their leader that
members have.
2. Task structure: This is the degree to which the job assignments are procedurised (that is, structured or
unstructured).
3. Position power: This is the degree of influence a leader has over power variables such as hiring, firing,
discipline, promotions and salary increases.
The next step is to evaluate the situation in terms of these three variables. Fiedler states that the better the
leader-member relations, the more highly structured the job, and the stronger the position power, the more
control the leader has.
Favourable situation (in which the leader has a great deal of control) might include a payroll manager who is
well respected and whose employees have confidence in him/her (good leader-member relations); activities
that are clear and specific - such as wage computation, cheque writing and report filing (high task structure);
and provision of considerable freedom to reward and punish employees (strong position power). An
Unfavourable situation might be that of the disliked chairperson of a volunteer fundraising team. In this job,
the leader has very little control.
Matching leaders and situations
Combining the three contingency dimensions yields eight possible situations in which leaders can find
themselves. The Fiedler model proposes matching an individual's LPC score and these eight situations to
achieve maximum leadership effectiveness.
He concluded that task-oriented leaders perform better in situations that are very favourable and very
unfavourable. So, when faced with category I, II, III, VII or VIII situation, task-oriented leaders perform better.
Relationship-oriented leaders, perform better in moderately favourable situations - categories IV, V and VI.
He now says that task-oriented leaders perform best situations of high and low control, while relationship-
oriented leaders perform in moderate control situations.
Lyana Petzer Page 2 of 7
LEARNING UNIT 6: Leadership (CHAPTER 7)
Leadership is an integral aspect of organisations that impacts on organisational success. Over the years, researchers have
focused on understanding leadership, how leaders differ from non-leaders and what constitutes an effective leader.
Different theories and models are used to explain different aspects of leadership. Most researchers believe that leaders are
individuals who can make a difference in the organisation. In a South African context, leadership is of critical importance to allow
strategy and business to operate at their full potential. Trust is another construct that is gaining popularity in organisations,
especially in relation to leadership. It is important to understand trust and its relationship to leadership. Effective managers
should develop a relationship of trust with everyone in the organisation.
2. What is Leadership
Leadership is defined as the ability to influence a group towards the achievement of goals. The source of this influence
may be formal, with the leader being formally appointed, or the leader may emerge from within the group.
• Coping with change
• Establishing direction by developing a vision into the future
• Aligning people by communicating this vision
• Inspiring people to overcome hurdles.
Management
• Coping with complexities
• Good management brings about order and consistency.
• Implementing the vision and strategy provided by leaders.
• Coordinating and staffing the organisation
• Coping with day-to-day problems
Not all leaders are managers, nor are all managers leaders. Management copes with complexity by bringing about order and
consistency by means of drawing up formal plans, designing rigid organisational structures and comparing the results with the
plans. Leadership is about coping with change. Leaders establish direction by developing a vision into the future. Both are
necessary for organisational effectiveness.
3. Basic Approaches to Leadership
Trait theories look for traits that differentiate leaders from non-leaders. Researchers in trait theories conclude that some traits
increase a person’s likelihood of success as a leader, but none of the traits guarantee success. If these theories were correct, it would
be possible to select the “right” person to assume a formal position of leadership. What these theories are stating, however, is that
successful leaders are basically born leaders. You should be able to describe the strengths and weaknesses of trait theories of
leadership, so that you can differentiate them from other types of theories. Alternative theories emerged between
the late 1940s and the mid-1960s, and these were referred to as behavioural theories.
Behavioural theories of leadership propose that leaders exhibit specific behaviours that differentiate leaders from non-
leaders. If this type of theory were correct, it would be possible to train people to be leaders. The behavioural theories, like the
trait theories of leadership, fail to identify consistent relationships between patterns of leadership behaviour and group
performance. They do not consider the situational factors that influence success or failure.
• Initiating structure is the extent to which a leader is likely to define and structure his or her role and those
of employees in the search for goal attainment
• Consideration is the extent to which a person's job relationships are characterised by mutual trust, respect
for employees' ideas and regard for their feelings.
• Employee-oriented leader, A leader who emphasised interpersonal relationships takes a personal interest in
the needs of employees and accepting individual differences among them.
• Production-oriented leader, A leader who emphasised the technical or task aspects of the job, focusing on
accomplishing the group's tasks.
Lyana Petzer Page 1 of 7
, IOP2602 – Organisational Psychology
Leaders who have certain traits and who display consideration and structuring behaviours appear to be more
effective. Perhaps you are wondering whether conscientious leaders (trait) are more likely to be structuring
(behaviour) and extraverted leaders (trait) to be considerate (behaviour).
Contingency theories acknowledge that predicting leadership success is more complex than isolating a few traits or preferable
behaviour. They argue that the situation determines the type of leadership. A number of models contribute to the
understanding of contingency theories, including Fiedler’s model, situational theory and path-goal theory.
Fiedler contingency model proposes that effective group performance depends on the proper match between the
leader's style of interacting and the degree to which the situation gives the leader control. He believes that a key
factor in leadership success is the individual's basic leadership style. He created the least preferred co-worker (LPC)
questionnaire to identify that style by measuring whether a person is task- or relationship-oriented.
Fiedler assumes an individual's leadership style is fixed. This means if a situation requires a task-oriented leader and
the person in the leadership position is relationship oriented, either the situation has to be modified or the leader
has to be replaced to achieve optimal effectiveness.
Defining the situation
After assessing an individual's basic leadership style through the LPC questionnaire, we match the leader with
the situation. Fiedler has identified three contingency or situational dimensions:
1. Leader-member relations: This is the degree of confidence and trust in, and respect for, their leader that
members have.
2. Task structure: This is the degree to which the job assignments are procedurised (that is, structured or
unstructured).
3. Position power: This is the degree of influence a leader has over power variables such as hiring, firing,
discipline, promotions and salary increases.
The next step is to evaluate the situation in terms of these three variables. Fiedler states that the better the
leader-member relations, the more highly structured the job, and the stronger the position power, the more
control the leader has.
Favourable situation (in which the leader has a great deal of control) might include a payroll manager who is
well respected and whose employees have confidence in him/her (good leader-member relations); activities
that are clear and specific - such as wage computation, cheque writing and report filing (high task structure);
and provision of considerable freedom to reward and punish employees (strong position power). An
Unfavourable situation might be that of the disliked chairperson of a volunteer fundraising team. In this job,
the leader has very little control.
Matching leaders and situations
Combining the three contingency dimensions yields eight possible situations in which leaders can find
themselves. The Fiedler model proposes matching an individual's LPC score and these eight situations to
achieve maximum leadership effectiveness.
He concluded that task-oriented leaders perform better in situations that are very favourable and very
unfavourable. So, when faced with category I, II, III, VII or VIII situation, task-oriented leaders perform better.
Relationship-oriented leaders, perform better in moderately favourable situations - categories IV, V and VI.
He now says that task-oriented leaders perform best situations of high and low control, while relationship-
oriented leaders perform in moderate control situations.
Lyana Petzer Page 2 of 7
