Leadership Flashcards
What is meant by leadership?
The capacity of a company management to set and achieve goals, take fast and decisive action, outperform competition and perform at the highest level they can.
What are the four types of leadership?
Autocratic, paternalistic, democratic, and Laissez faire
What is autocratic leadership?
- full control of decision making
- without consultation
- uses power to get others to carry out work
- employees have little to no input
- motivation through rewards ie piece rate
What are the advantages of autocratic leadership?
- good for quick decisions
- good in tall structures so doesn’t have to go through all layers
- easy to follow so inc in productivity
- more consistency in decisions
- good for staff who need support/ don’t want extra responsibility
What are the drawbacks of autocratic leadership?
- not god for acting on customer feedback if not passing on ideas
- no freedom
- de-motivating bc don’t feel as valued in decisions - decrease productivity
- dependent workforce with no initiative
- when leader not present may not work as hard
What id paternalistic leadership?
Softer form of autocratic - leader decides what is best for employees and addresses their need. Similar to parent/ child relationship (leader like a father figure). Little delegation. Explains reasons as to hwy they’ve made their decisions
What is democratic leadership?
Focus of power is more with the group, employees have greater involvement in decision making. Leader has final say but uses employees input to do so.
What are the advantages of democratic leadership?
- employees feel valued
- confident to work independently
- motivated to work bc feel more involved
- work hard bc don’t need close supervision
what are the limitations of democratic leadership?
- take longer for decisions in emergency
- some employees don’t want any extra responsibility- overwhelmed
What is Laissez faire leadership?
Employees have little direction and responsibility of decision making lies with the employees
What are the advantages of autocratic leadership?
- lots of freedom
- high job satisfaction from autonomy
- work closer to customer needs
- motivating as get to be creative while knowing support is available
- managers no micro-managing
What are the limitations of Laissez faire leadership?
- only effective with highly skilled people
- damaging if team don’t manage time well or don’t have knowledge, skills or motivation
- requires trust between leader + employer
- requires employee confidence
What is the best style of leadership?
Isn’t one that works best, depends on situation and most good leaders are able to adapt to these situations
Who created theory x and theory y?
McGregor
What does theory x and theory y focus on?
How a manger perceives staff
What is the theory X view?
Negative - believe staff don’t want responsibility, so leader doesn’t delegate, so employees then don’t have any responsibility
How does a manager with a theory x view their employees?
- inherently lazy, disking work + responsibility
- lacking the will + ability to work supervised
- lacking initiative
- largely motivated by money
Whats the theory Y perception?
Mangers regard employees as:
- enjoy their work
- willing to accept responsibility and challenges
- able to exercise self discipline
- not just motivated by money
What leadership style is a theory x manger likely to adopt?
Autocratic as they have authority and employees little freedom
What is likely to happen if a manger treats employees by theory y?
Theory y response - employees show and use initiative and gain dependence and freedom
what’s likely to happen if a manger has a theory X approach?
Theory x treatment (little freedom) —> theory x response - doesn’t show initiate bc know they need to ask
Why may a theory x approach become a self-fulfilling prophecy?
If they have expectation and treats their employees in alignment to this then employees are likely to respond in this way.
Who created the leadership grid?
Blake and Mouton
What is The Leadership Grid?
A method of identifying actions, priorities and therefore leadership style of a manager. Undertaken through an analysis of task and people needs
What does the grid look like?
People needs on Y axis, tasks needs on X axis.
Bottom left square = impoverished
Bottom right = authoritarian
Top left = country club
Top right = team leader
Middle = middle of the road
What are the five leaderships in the leadership grid?
Country club
Team leader
Middle of the road
Impoverished
Authoritarian
Whats a country club leader?
- less focus on task needs and more on people needs
- more concerned about the well-being of the team than completing required tasks
- morale may be high but employees may take advantage and may be repercussions on other reasons of the business
Whats an impoverished leader?
- lack of concern for people and tasks needs
- unable to ensure work is complete to required standard on time
- unable to motivate staff
- ineffective + repercussions on business
Whats a middle of the road leader?
Compromises so neither truly met - indecisive and timid
Whats an authoritarian leader?
- concerned with task rather than employees
- motivation = secondary consideration
- lack of attention to employee needs = sentiment
- lack of commitment + HR issues
Whats a team leader?
- the most effective relaxer who has a strong equal regard for both needs
- high levels of motivation + productivity
Why is a team leader likely to lead to the best results?
Because they foster a team environ meant while ensuring full potential is met. Reach goals while ensuring motivation.
Who created the Trait Theory?
Carlyle and Galton
What is the trait theory?
Concentrates on five that’s exhibited by successful leaders/ the characteristics required of a leader.
What did Carlyle and Galton believe?
That leaders are born, not made, This means that leaders inherit desired personal characteristics/ traits
What are the five characteristics exhibited by successful leaders?
1) motivational - the ability to motivate others
2) intelligence - able to reason + solve problems
3) self-confidence - being assured
4) creative - new ideas
5) integrity - having strong moral principles
Whats a strength of the trait theory?
- it’s a simple theory to understand
- fairly straightforward to identify the characteristics which a leader does/ doesnt possess
What a limitation of the trait theory?
- no single set of traits that have proven to be th most effective
- other research suggests these characteristics can’t be taught
Who crated the contingency approach?
Tannenbaum and Schmidt
What is the contingency approach?
Concentrates on the style of leadership. The style of leadership highlighted the degree of trade off between the control exerted by the leader and how this affected the interaction between the leader and the employees.
What are the four styles of the contingency approach?
Tell, sell, consult, participate
What is the tell style of leadership?
- leader identifies problems and makes decision
- can be seen as an autocratic approach - focus on leader
- employees expected to comply
What is the sell style leader?
- leader makes decision but attempts to sell the decision to employees
- suggests there is some consideration of employees > than just telling
- opportunity for feedback
What is the consult style leadership?
- leader presents ideas to employees and invites discussion
- more collaborative app
- considers thoughts + advice
- two-way
What is the participate leadership style?
- leader defines problems and asks employees to make decision within defined boundaries
- emphasis on employee
- similar to democratic style
Who created the action-centred leadership?
Adair
What does the action-centred leadership look like?
Three circles overlapping with task, team and individuals
What is Adair’s action-centred approach?
Focuses on what leaders have to do and the actions they have to take, instead of the traits they need - more practical.
What ar ethe three aspects of Adair’s action-centred model?
1) pay attention to task
2) develop individuals
3) nurture the team
What is task?
Where the leader identifies the aim and direction of the group, resources for the task, establishing responsibility and setting standards.
What is individual?
Leader takes time to understand the individuals, offers appropriate advice and support, giving responsibilities while recognising and giving praise where needed
What is team?
Establishing a team culture, resolving inflict, developing team work, cooperation and morale while identifying and meeting group training needs.
Why do the thee circles overlap?
- Adair suggests that a leader should focus on all three elements to ensure a balance
- task can only be performed by team + not one person
- team can only achieve excellent task performance if individuals are fully developed
- individuals need the task to be challenging
What are the benefits of implementing the action-centred leadership?
- simple + easy to focus on key fundamental factors capable of driving the direction of success
- can be used in any industry/ company
- all members of team work towards common task/ goal
What are the limitations of implementing the action centred leadership?
- may be too simplistic so leader may not be able to implement fascists without having the traits to do so
