#4: Leadership Theories Flashcards
What is Fiedler’s Contingency Theory?
-Good leadership depends on a match between leadership and situational demands
- Leadership style is determined by rating a leader’s least preferred co-worker scale (LPC scale)
What are the 2 Types of Behaviour under Fiedler’s Theory?
-Task-oriented behaviour=leader focuses on the task
-Relationship-oriented behaviour=leader focuses on personal relationships
3 conclusions of Fiedler’s Theory
-Believes leadership style is part of one’s personality
-Therefore, difficult to change
-Believes the key to success is finding the best “fit”
When are task-oriented leaders most successful?
-In specific situations:
-Very favourable (high control) situations
-Very unfavourable (low control) situations)
When are relationship-oriented leaders most successful?
Situations of moderate control
What are the two dimensions of Blake & Mouton’s Leadership Grid?
1) Concern for Task
2) Concern for People
What are the 5 squares in Blake and Mouton’s Leadership Grid?
-Team Manager
-Authority-Obedience Manager
-Country Club Manager
-Impoverished manager
-Middle of the Road Manager
Which manager has high task concern and high people concern?
Team Manager
-Focuses on building participation and support for a shared purpose
Which manager has a high task concern and low people concern?
Authority-Obedience Manager
-Focuses on efficiency of tasks and operations
Which manager has high people concern and low task concern?
Country Club Manager
-Focuses on people’s needs, building relationships
Which manager has low task concern and low people concern?
Impoverished Manager
-Focuses on minimum effort to get work done
Which manager is non committal for both task concern and people concern?
Middle of the Road Manager
-Focuses on balancing work output and morale
What is House’s Path-Goal Leadership Theory?
-Effective leadership deals with the paths through which followers can achieve goals
-Leader (to be effective) varies their behaviour depending on the personal goals of each follower
What are the 4 behaviours leaders can exhibit in House’s Path-Goal Leadership Theory?
- Directive leadership
- Supportive leadership
- Achievement-oriented leadership
- Participative leadership
What are the 3 follower contingencies in House’s Path-Goal Leadership Theory?
-Ability
-Experience
-Locus at control
What are the 3 environmental contingencies in House’s Path-Goal Leadership Theory?
-Task structure
-Authority system
-Workgroup
What happens when leader behaviours, follower contingencies, and environmental contingencies are evaluated together?
Leader effectiveness
What is directive leadership and when should you use it?
-Communicate expectations
-Give directions
-Schedule work
-Maintain performance standards
-Clarify leader’s role
Use directive leadership when job assignments are ambiguous
What is supportive leadership and when should you use it?
-Make work pleasant
-Treat group members as equals
-Be friendly and approachable
-Show concern for subordinate’s well-being
Use supportive leadership when worker self-confidence is low
What is achievement-oriented leadership and when should you use it?
-Set challenging goals
-Expect high performance levels
-Emphasize continuous improvement
-Display confidence in meeting high standards
Use achievement-oriented leadership when task challenge is insufficient
What is participative leadership and when should you use it?
-Involve subordinates in decision-making
-Consult with subordinates
-Ask for subordinate’s suggestions
-Use subordinates’ suggestions
Use participative leadership when performance incentives are poor
What is the Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Model?
-Leaders adjust their styles depending on the readiness of their followers to perform in a given situation
What does readiness mean in the Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Model?
-Readiness is how able, willing and confident followers are in performing tasks
What style of leadership should be used when relationship (support required) and task behaviour (guidance required) are both low?
-Delegating (turnover decisions)
-Followers able, willing, confident
What style of leadership should be used when relationship (support required) is high but task behaviour (guidance required) is low?
-Participating (share ideas)
-Followers able, unwilling, insecure
What style of leadership should be used when relationship (support required) is low but task behaviour (guidance required) is high?
-Telling (give instructions)
-Followers unable, unwilling, insecure
What style of leadership should be used when relationship (support required) is high and task behaviour (guidance required) is high?
-Selling (explain decisions)
-Followers unable, willing, confident
What is the Vroom-Jago Leader-Participation model?
-Helps leaders choose the method of decision-making that best fits the nature of the problem situation
-Decision activity?
What are the three basic decision making choices under the Vroom-Jago Leader-Participation Model?
- Authority decision (decide alone)
- Consultative decision (considers group suggestions)
- Group decision
What are the two possible answers for “who has information/expertise?”
-Leader (authority decision)
-Followers (group decisions)
What are the two possible answers for “acceptance and commitment critical for implementation?”
-No (authority decision)
-Yes (group decision)
What are the two possible answers for “time pressure for decision making?”
-High (authority decision)
-Low (group decisions)
What are the three contingency factors in Vroom-Jago
-Decision Quality
-Decision Acceptance
-Decision Time
What is decision quality?
Who has the information needed for problem solving
What is decision acceptance?
-Importance of subordinate acceptance to eventual implementation
What is decision time?
-Time available to make and implement the decision
When should you use authority oriented decision methods?
-The leader has greater expertise to solve a problem
-The leader is confident and capable of acting alone
-Others are likely to accept and implement the decision
-Little or no time is available for discussion
When should you use group-oriented and participative decision methods?
-The leader lacks sufficient information to solve a problem by themself
-The problem is unclear and help is needed to clarify the situation
-Acceptance of the decision and commitment by others is necessary for implementation
-Adequate time is available for true participation
What are the benefits of participative decision methods?
-Help improve decision quality
-Help improve decision acceptance
-Helps develop leadership potential
What are potential disadvantages of participative decision methods?
-Lost efficiency
-Not particularly useful when problems must be solved immediately
