Chapter 14 Flashcards
Who Are Leaders, and What Is Leadership?
Leader: Someone who can influence others and who has managerial authority.
Leadership: The process of influencing individuals or groups toward the achievement of goals.
Early Leadership Theories (1 of 7)
Trait Theories (1920s–30s):
Research that focused on identifying personal characteristics that differentiated leaders from non-leaders was unsuccessful.
Later research on the leadership process identified eight traits associated with successful leadership.
Exhibit 14.1 Eight Traits Associated with Leadership (1 of 2)
Drive. Leaders exhibit a high effort level. They have a relatively high desire for achievement; they are ambitious; they have a lot of energy; they are tirelessly persistent in their activities; and they show initiative.
Desire to lead. Leaders have a strong desire to influence and lead others. They demonstrate the willingness to take responsibility.
Honesty and integrity. Leaders build trusting relationships with followers by being truthful or nondeceitful and by showing high consistency between word and deed.
Self-confidence. Followers look to leaders for an absence of self-doubt. Leaders, therefore, need to show self-confidence to convince followers of the rightness of their goals and decisions.
Exhibit 14.1 Eight Traits Associated with Leadership (2 of 2)
Intelligence. Leaders need to be intelligent enough to gather, synthesize, and interpret large amounts of information, and they need to be able to create visions, solve problems, and make correct decisions.
Job-relevant knowledge. Effective leaders have a high degree of knowledge about the company, industry, and technical matters. In-depth knowledge allows leaders to make well-informed decisions and to understand the implications of those decisions.
Extraversion. Leaders are energetic, lively people. They are sociable, assertive, and rarely silent or withdrawn.
Proneness to guilt. Guilt proneness is positively related to leadership effectiveness because it produces a strong sense of responsibility for others.
Early Leadership Theories (2 of 7)
University of Iowa Studies (Kurt Lewin):
Identified three leadership styles:
- Autocratic style: leader tends to centralize authority, dictate work methods, make unilateral decisions, and limit employee participation.
- Democratic style: leader tends to involve employees in decision making, delegate authority, encourage participation in deciding work methods and goals, and use feedback as an opportunity for coaching employees.
- Laissez-faire style: leader tends to give the group complete freedom to make decisions and complete the work in whatever way it sees fit.
Research findings: Mixed results
No specific style was consistently better for producing better performance.
Employees were more satisfied under a democratic leader than an autocratic leader.
Early Leadership Theories (Ohio State)
Ohio State Studies:
Identified two dimensions of leader behavior:
Initiating structure: leader defines his or her role and the roles of group members in attaining goals.
Consideration: leader has work relationships characterized by mutual trust and respect for group members’ ideas and feelings.
High-high: leader high in both initiating structure and consideration behaviours.
Research findings: Mixed results
High-high leaders generally, but not always, achieved high group task performance and satisfaction.
Early Leadership Theories (University of Michigan Studies)
Identified two dimensions of leader behavior:
- Employee oriented: emphasizing personal relationships.
- Production oriented: emphasizing task accomplishment.
Research findings:
Leaders who are employee oriented are strongly associated with high group productivity and high job satisfaction.
Contingency Theories of Leadership (Hersey and Blanchard’s Theory)
Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership® Theory
Situational Leadership® Theory (SLT): a leadership contingency theory that focuses on followers’ readiness.
Readiness: the extent to which people have the ability and willingness to accomplish a specific task.
Contingency Theories of Leadership (Hersey and Blanchard’s Theory Continued)
Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership® Theory:
Creates four specific leadership styles incorporating Fiedler’s two leadership dimensions:
Telling: high task–low relationship leadership.
Selling: high task–high relationship leadership.
Participating: low task–high relationship leadership.
Delegating: low task–low relationship leadership.
Contemporary Views of Leadership
Transactional and Transformational Leadership:
- Transactional Leadership: leaders who lead primarily by using social exchanges (or transactions).
- Transformational Leadership: leaders who stimulate and inspire (transform) followers to achieve extraordinary outcomes.
Contemporary Views of Leadership (Charismatic-Visionary Leadership)
Charismatic–Visionary Leadership
Charismatic leader: an enthusiastic, self-confident leader whose personality and actions influence people to behave in certain ways.
Visionary leadership: the ability to create and articulate a realistic, credible, and attractive vision of the future that improves upon the present situation.
Contemporary Views of Leadership (Authentic and Ethical Leadership)
Authentic Leadership
Authentic leadership: leaders who know who they are, know what they believe in, and act on those values and beliefs openly and candidly.
Ethical leadership
Ethical leadership: leaders who reinforce ethics through organizational mechanisms such as communication and the reward system.
Leadership Issues in the Twenty-First Century
Managing Power:
Legitimate power: The power a leader has as a result of their position in an organization.
Coercive power: The power a leader has to punish or control.
Reward power: The power a leader has to give positive rewards.
Expert power: Power that’s based on expertise, special skills, or knowledge.
Referent power: Power that arises because of a person’s desirable resources or personal traits
