Summary #5 leadership
Leadership
= The process of influencing the activities of an organized group in its efforts towards goal-
setting & goal achievement.
The leader may be formal (manager) or informal (an experienced employee)
Effective leadership is difficult to be measured often measured by surveying the
performance of the group that is being influenced/guided by the leader.
Other factors also play. A role in determining the performance of a group. Performance
cannot only be attributed to the leader
Theories
Great men theory
= Take people from history & see what made them great leaders
not much research
Trait approach
= concerned with determining the personal characteristics of good leaders
Inherent traits are important for determining leadership emergence/performance
the Big 5 model had a multiple correlation of (.48)
High E, O, C
Low on N
Tend to be high on
- Intelligence
- Dominance
- Self-confidence
- Energy
- Knowledge
- Balance
- Integrity
Important concepts in assessing trait approach
- Leader emergence: look at traits & 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
Behavioral approach
= concerned with finding out which leader behaviors are effective. Especially concentrated
on leadership styles (=behaviors that represent an approach to dealing with subordinates)
Examples of leadership styles: autocratic/participative
Ohio state study (Fleishman,1969)
1. Consideration (person-oriented)
= trust in subordinates, respect ideas, consideration of feeling
2. Initiating structure (task-oriented)
= defines roles, actively direct group in reaching goals, communicate info, criticizing,
scheduling, experimenting
, Biased
Inconsistent results
Stereotypes
Causal relationship is difficult to be established (confounding variables) may say
something about the employees as well.
Situational approach/contingency theories
= good leadership is a function of the interplay of the person, his or her behavior, and the
situation
Fiedler (1967)
Leaders can be person/task oriented.
It is determined whether they are person/task oriented based on how positive they rate
their least preferred coworker (least preferred coworker scale (LPC Scale))
Positive = person oriented HIGH LPC LPC = seen as a trait NOT a trait
Negative = task oriented LOW LPC
indicates motivational structure
Key situational aspects according to Fiedler: factors that influence situational control
- Leader-member relation
= if subordinates trust & like leader
- Task structure
= whether tasks, goals, performance are well defined
- Position power
= whether leader controls reward/punishment
Assumption that leaders cannot change style to the situation; rather match situation to
personal LS style Leader Match
Mixed support for validity
not clear why LPC and situational control interact, No convincing explanation
Partial support in meta-analysis
Leadership
= The process of influencing the activities of an organized group in its efforts towards goal-
setting & goal achievement.
The leader may be formal (manager) or informal (an experienced employee)
Effective leadership is difficult to be measured often measured by surveying the
performance of the group that is being influenced/guided by the leader.
Other factors also play. A role in determining the performance of a group. Performance
cannot only be attributed to the leader
Theories
Great men theory
= Take people from history & see what made them great leaders
not much research
Trait approach
= concerned with determining the personal characteristics of good leaders
Inherent traits are important for determining leadership emergence/performance
the Big 5 model had a multiple correlation of (.48)
High E, O, C
Low on N
Tend to be high on
- Intelligence
- Dominance
- Self-confidence
- Energy
- Knowledge
- Balance
- Integrity
Important concepts in assessing trait approach
- Leader emergence: look at traits & 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
Behavioral approach
= concerned with finding out which leader behaviors are effective. Especially concentrated
on leadership styles (=behaviors that represent an approach to dealing with subordinates)
Examples of leadership styles: autocratic/participative
Ohio state study (Fleishman,1969)
1. Consideration (person-oriented)
= trust in subordinates, respect ideas, consideration of feeling
2. Initiating structure (task-oriented)
= defines roles, actively direct group in reaching goals, communicate info, criticizing,
scheduling, experimenting
, Biased
Inconsistent results
Stereotypes
Causal relationship is difficult to be established (confounding variables) may say
something about the employees as well.
Situational approach/contingency theories
= good leadership is a function of the interplay of the person, his or her behavior, and the
situation
Fiedler (1967)
Leaders can be person/task oriented.
It is determined whether they are person/task oriented based on how positive they rate
their least preferred coworker (least preferred coworker scale (LPC Scale))
Positive = person oriented HIGH LPC LPC = seen as a trait NOT a trait
Negative = task oriented LOW LPC
indicates motivational structure
Key situational aspects according to Fiedler: factors that influence situational control
- Leader-member relation
= if subordinates trust & like leader
- Task structure
= whether tasks, goals, performance are well defined
- Position power
= whether leader controls reward/punishment
Assumption that leaders cannot change style to the situation; rather match situation to
personal LS style Leader Match
Mixed support for validity
not clear why LPC and situational control interact, No convincing explanation
Partial support in meta-analysis
