3. Leadership Flashcards
The trait approach
The idea that leaders inherently possess personality traits or characteristics that others do not
Trait approach failure
No relationship found between specific traits and leadership effectiveness
Differing definitions of each trait
Different methods used to measure traits
Failing to consider the larger context of leadership (followers, situation, organisation etc.)
‘Productivity’ was most widely used as a criterion and was not effective , other factors play a crucial role
Big 5 - no link between Big 5 traits & effective leadership
Great man theory
- Historians looking back over past ‘great’ leaders to identify traits
- Autobiographies etc.
Great man criticism
Gender differences
Glass ceiling
Glass cliff
More likely to be selected for positions with higher risk for failure
Family
Stereotype that women will focus more on their families than job
Maternity leave
Stereotypes
May hold women back from taking leadership positions
Behavioural approach
Focus on types of behaviours leaders engage in
Behavioural approach - Ohio State Study
Two dimensions developed
Consideration
Initiating structure
Consideration
Mutual trust, respect & warmth
Emphasis on needs of group members
Two-way communication
Subordinates given decision-making roles
Initiating structure
Supervisor organizes and defines group activities
Defines relationship to group
Emphasis on overt attempts to achieve group goals
Ohio State Criticism
Lack of reliability
Inconsistent results across studies
Bias & error
Relied on questionnaires
Stereotypes about what a successful leader is
May have affected results of questionnaire
Desirable attributes may have been assigned to effective leaders
May not actually be the case
University of Michigan Studies
Task-oriented Behaviour
Relations-oriented Behaviour
Participative Behaviour
Most enduring of all leadership behaviour theories
More focused on interaction between leaders and followers
Task-oriented behaviour
Similar to initiating structure
Positive relationship to leader, group & individual performance
Relations-oriented behaviour/person-oriented
Similar to consideration
Effective leadership about how much energy leaders expend interacting with the work group as a whole
Less about interactions between leaders & followers and more
Positive relationship to motivation, follower satisfaction & leader effectiveness
Participative leadership style
- Behaviours that give subordinates some control over decision-making & encouraging two-way communication
- Helps subordinates understand devision-making process, makes them more likely to identify with decision & work for its success
- Rewards & punishments are clear
- Participation is normalized & satisfying - decision-making
- Improved communication & conflict resolution
- Better decisions as group is involved
Autocratic leadership style
- Opposite of participative
- One person has complete control over everyone else
- Assigning without letting the group participate in decision-making
Criticism of Participative Style
Group members may not have the ability or skills required to be making these decisions
Group members may not agree with each other or the leader
The contingency/situational approach
Theories developed to take the situation into account
Contingency - a future event that could possibly happen, we plan with these in mind (contingency plans)
Approaches like the behavioural one have tactics that are dependent on the situation, leading to the development of this approach
Fiedler
The chosen leadership style interacts with the situation to determine effectiveness
Fiedler’s 3 characteristics of defining a situation
- Relationship between leader & group
- Existence of power in that relationship
- Clarity of group goals
Fiedler - link to relationships
leader-follower relationships
Fiedler Criticism
Leadership was seen as stable, but different situations require different leadership styles
So you would have to change the leader with every situation
Lack of evidentiary support
Hersey & Blanchard
Effectiveness of leadership approach depends on subordinate maturity
2 Facets of Maturity
Job maturity - job-related skills, abilities & knowledge of a subordinate
Psychological maturity - subordinates’ self-confidence & self-respect
Little direct support
Hersey & Blanchard, Maturity levels & Tactics
Low maturity - structuring styles
Medium/moderate maturity - decrease structuring behaviour, increase considerate behaviour
High maturity - decrease structuring & considerate behaviour, allowing subordinate to be self-directed
Fiedler vs Hersey & Blanchard
Fiedler is more focused on the situation and & Hersey more on people
Fiedler is more stable/fixed, Hersey is more adaptable
*Path-Goal Theory (House)
Job of the leader is to guide show the subordinate the path to allow them to achieve their goals
Participative leadership - involved in decision-making, encouraged to give feedback to leaders
Supportive leadership
Directive leadership - structured, clear goals
Achievement oriented leadership - high standards for subordinate performance, followers are challenged to achieve standards
Path-Goal Evaluation
- Emphasis that different styles are warranted in different situations
- leadership is not one-size-fits-all
- Causes reflection on whether the subordinate is the problem or if the leadership style is working for them
Little direct support
Leader-Member Exchange (LMX)
Leaders behave differently with different subordinates, behavioural patterns develop over time and depend on the quality of the relationship to the subordinate
In-groups & out-groups
Effectiveness might be measured by ratio of high-quality to low-quality relationships a leader has
In-group members
high quality relationships & freedom to negotiate roles, formal power or authority is not generally used on them by leader
Out-group members
low quality relationships & little freedom to negotiate roles, formal power or authority is more likely to be used
In-group interactions
More likely to remain at an organisation
See themselves as involved in valuable knowledge exchanges
Feel that they receive logistic & emotional support from leader
More likely to expend effort to help leader
High-quality relationship exchanges
Performance discussed with subordinates
Initiated discussions about personal life
Interested & concerned about work life difficulties
Out-group interactions
Higher turnover
View exchanges with leaders as contractual agreement
Low-quality relationship exchanges
Little discussion about performance
Rarely supported with difficult assignments
Life cycle
LMX Leader’s Job
Leader’s job to establish high-quality relationships & transform low-quality relationships to high ones
LMX Factors
Social exchange
Group size
Culture
Personality of leader
Hypothesis
LMX Evaluation
- Acknowledges that there are different relationships between leaders & different subordinates
- Can change over time
LMX Criticism
Doesn’t describe how to improve leader-follower relationship
Doesn’t provide explanation for how these relationships develop or change over time
Leaders & followers sometimes disagree over
what relationship they have
Leadership styles
Transformational
Transactional
Laissez-faire
Transformational leadership
Leaders who inspire their followers by appealing to nobler motives like justice, peace & morality
- Cause followers to want to follow you and help achieve your goals
- Transform followers by raising them to higher levels of ethics, morals & motivation
Most highly associated with motivation, satisfaction & high performance
4 Transformational Strategies
Idealized influence
Inspirational motivation
Intellectual stimulation
Individualized consideration
Idealized influence
leaders display conviction, take stands on difficult issues, are aware of ethical consequences of their decisions and emphasize trust & the importance of commitment & purpose
Inspirational motivation
leaders describe a desirable future, express optimism & enthusiasm, have high, challenging standards & provide encouragement & meaning for tasks ahead
Intellectual stimulation
leaders cause old beliefs, values & assumptions to be challenged, stimulating new ways of doing things. Encourage expression of ideas & reason
Individualized consideration
leaders attend to followers individually, considering needs, abilities & aspirations. Advise and guide followers
Charismatic leadership
Subset of transformational
Almost identical
Transactional Leadership
A social contract is developed where certain behaviour are followed by a reward
- Incentives
- Followers are motivated to work towards leaders goals through rewards
- As the name suggests, it’s a transaction
Continuum
- First put on the same, single continuum
- Meaning that the more you leaned towards one, the more you leaned away from the other
- Later led to full-range theory of leadership
Laissez-faire Leadership
Little guidance is provided by leaders, followers are mostly left to themselves
- Lowest level of leadership in the hierarchy
- Included to contrast transformational & transactional styles
- Negatively associated with satisfaction, motivation & performance
Full-range theory of leadership
- Hierarchical structure developed by Bass
- Hierarchy moves from laissez-faire to transactional to transformational
- Transactional is built upon to later become transformational
