Leadership Flashcards
Leadership
→ Leadership: The ability to influence a group towards the achievement of goals
→ Leadership in an organizational context is the influence that particular individuals exert on the goal achievement of others
○ Effective leadership exerts influence in a way that achieves organizational goals
Leadership is about motivating people and gaining their commitment
Strategic Leadership
→ Strategic Leadership: Leadership that involves the ability to anticipate, envision, maintain flexibility, think strategically, and work with others to initiate changes that will create a viable future for the organization
Strategic leaders can provide a sustainable competitive advantage by helping an organization compete in turbulent and unpredictable environments and exploit growth opportunities
Why are some people in better positions to be leaders than others?
Those who occupy formal roles and hold professional titles are expected to influence others, and are given specific authority to direct employees
Since informal leaders do not have explicit authority, they must rely on being well liked or perceived as highly skilled to exert influence on others
Trait Theory of leadership, Research, Traits associated with Leadership, Limitations
→ The assumption that those who become leaders and do a good job of it possess a special set of traits that distinguish them from others
→ Trait Theory of Leadership: Leadership depends on the personal qualities or traits of the leader
Research on Leadership Traits
→ The search for leadership traits began during World War I which gave rise to the modern field of OB
○ They tried to identify leadership traits that would help them scope out officers
→ Traits: Traits are individual characteristics such as physical attributes, intellectual ability, and personality
→ Leadership research has mostly focused on traits related to demographics, task competence and interpersonal attributes
→ Research has demonstrated that certain traits such as dimensions of personality, agreeableness, extraversion, and openness to experience are related to leadership behaviors.
○ Leaders tend to be higher than average on these dimensions, although connections are not very strong
→ Although there is a considerable correlation between intelligence and leadership effectiveness, it is lower than previously thought
Traits Associated with Leadership Effectiveness → Intelligence → Energy → Self-Confidence → Dominance → Motivation to lead → Emotional stability → Honesty and Integrity → Need for achievement
Limitations of the Trait Approach
→ It can be difficult to determine whether the traits make the leader or whether the opportunity for leadership produces the traits
→ This approach also fails to take into account the situation in which leadership occurs
→ The trait approach can lead to bias when evaluating a leader’s effectiveness simply because we believe people are more likely to be leaders if they possess certain traits
→ Ultimately traits alone are not enough for successful leadership, however they do make it more likely that successful leadership will occur
Consideration and Initiating Structure
→ Consideration: The extent to which a leader is approachable and shows personal concern and respect for employees (relationship orientation)
○ The considerate leader is seen as friendly and egalitarian, expresses appreciation and support, and is protective of group welfare.
→ Initiating Structure: The degree to which a leader concentrates on group goal attainment (task orientation)
○ The structuring leader clearly defines and organizes his or her role and the roles of followers, stresses standard procedures, schedules the work to be done, and assigns employees to particular tasks.
These two characteristics are not incompatible
The Consequences of Consideration and Structure
→ Consideration tends to be linked to follower satisfaction
→ Structure is linked to leader job performance and group performance
→ However the importance of each varies according to the nature of the leadership situation:
○ When employees are under a high degree of pressure due to deadlines, unclear tasks, or external threat, initiating structure increases satisfaction and performance
○ When the task itself is intrinsically satisfying, the need for high structure and consideration is reduced
○ When the goals and methods of performing the job are very clear and certain, consideration should promote employee satisfaction, while structure might promote dissatisfaction
○ When employees lack knowledge as to how to perform a job, or the job itself has vague goals or methods, consideration becomes less important, while initiating structure takes on additional importance
Leader Reward and Punishment Behaviours
→ Leader Reward Behaviour: The leader’s use of compliments, tangible benefits, and deserved special treatment
○ When such rewards are made contingent on performance, employees should perform at a higher level
→ Leadership Punishment Behaviour: The leader’s use of reprimands, unfavourable task assignments and the active withholding of rewards
→ These relationships are much stronger when they are made contingent on an employee’s behaviour
Fielder’s Contingency Theory, The Contingency Model, and Research Evidence
→ Contingency Theory: Fred Fielder’s theory that states that the association between leadership orientation and group effectiveness is contingent on how favourable that situation is for exerting influence
○ Some situations are more favorable than others, and these situations require different orientations on the part of the leader
○ Leadership orientation is measured by having a leader describe their Least Preferred Co- Worker (LPC)
→ Least Preferred Co-worker (LPC): A current or past co-worker with whom a leader has had a difficult time accomplishing a task
○ A leader who describes his LPC favourably is considered relationship oriented
○ A leader who describes his LPC unfavourably can be considered task oriented
→ High LPC leaders are motivated to maintain interpersonal relationships, where as low LPC leaders are motivated to accomplish the task
→ The LPC does not measure consideration or initiating structure, it is an attitude of a leader towards work relationships
→ Situation favourableness refers to when a particular LPC orientation should contribute most to group effectiveness
→ Factors that affect situational favorableness, in order of importance, are the following:
○ Leader-member relations
○ Task structure
○ Position power
The Contingency Model
→ The model indicates that a task orientation (low LPC) is most effective when the leadership situation is very Favorable or when it is very unfavorable.
→ A relationship orientation (high LPC) is most effective in conditions of medium favourability
Research Evidence
→ The theory has been the subject of much debate.
→ The exact meaning of the LPC score is not clear.
→ A major source of the many inconsistent findings is the small sample sizes used in many studies.
Recent reviews have concluded that there is reasonable support for the theory
Cognitive Resource Theory
→ Cognitive Resource Theory: A leadership theory that focuses on the conditions in which a leader’s cognitive resources (intelligence, expertise and experience) contribute to effective leadership
Intelligence is most effective when the group supports the leader, the leader is directive, and the situation is low stress because the leader can think clearly and use his intelligence
House’s Path Goal Theory, Situational Factors and Research Evididence
House’s Path Goal Theory
→ Robert House’s theory concerned with the situations under which various leader behaviors are most effective
→ The most important activities of leaders are those that clarify the paths to various goals of interest to employees.
→ The opportunity to achieve such goals should promote job satisfaction, leader acceptance, and high effort.
→ The effective leader forms a connection between employee goals and organizational goals.
→ To achieve job satisfaction and leader acceptance, leader behavior must be perceived as immediately satisfying or as leading to future satisfaction.
→ To promote employee effort, leaders must make rewards dependent on performance and ensure that employees have a clear picture of how they can achieve these rewards
Leader Behaviour
→ Path-Goal Theory is concerned with four specific kinds of leader behavior:
○ Directive behavior: Directive leaders schedule work, maintain performance standards, and let employees know what is expected of them. Behaviour essentially identical to initiating structure.
○ Supportive behavior: Supportive leaders are friendly, approachable and concerned with pleasant interpersonal relationships. Behaviour essentially identical to consideration.
○ Participative behavior: Participative leaders consult with employees about work-related matters and consider their opinions.
○ Achievement-oriented behavior: Achievement-oriented leaders encourage employees to exert high effort and strive for a high level of goal accomplishment. They express confidence that employees can achieve these goals.
Situational Factors
→ The effectiveness of each set of behaviors depends on the situation that the leader encounters.
→ Path-Goal Theory is concerned with two primary classes of situational factors:
○ Employee characteristics
○ Environmental factors
→ Different types of employees need or prefer different forms of leadership:
○ High need achievers should work well under achievement-oriented leadership.
○ Employees who prefer to be told what do respond best to directive leadership.
○ When employees have low task abilities, they will appreciate directive leadership.
→ The effectiveness of leadership behavior depends on the particular work environment:
○ When tasks are clear and routine, directive leadership is redundant and unnecessary and participative leadership is not useful.
○ When tasks are challenging but ambiguous, directive and participative leadership is effective.
○ When a job is frustrating or dissatisfying, supportive leadership is most effective.
→ Leaders might have to tailor their behavior to the needs, abilities, and personalities of individual employees.
→ Effective leaders should take advantage of the motivating and satisfying aspects of jobs while offsetting or compensating for those job aspects that demotivate or dissatisfy
Research Evidence
→ There is substantial evidence that supportive or considerate leader behavior is most beneficial in supervising routine, frustrating, or dissatisfying jobs.
→ There is some evidence that directive or structuring leader behavior is most effective on ambiguous, less-structured jobs.
→ The theory works better in predicting employees’ job satisfaction and acceptance of the leader than in predicting job performance.
Participative Leadership
→ Participative Leadership: Involving employees in making work-related decisions.
→ Leaders can vary in the extent to which they involve employees in decision making.
→ Minimally, participation involves obtaining employee opinions before making a decision.
→ Maximally, it allows employees to make their own decisions within agreed-on limits.
○ There is however an upper limit to the area of employee freedom under participation
→ Participation can involve individual employees or the entire group of employees that reports to the leader.
→ The choice of an individual or group participation strategy should be tailored to specific situations.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Participative Leadership
Potential Advantages of Participative Leadership
→ Motivation
○ Participation can increase the motivation of employees.
→ Quality
○ Participation can enhance the quality of decisions.
→ Acceptance
○ Participation can increase the employees’ acceptance of decisions.
○ This is especially important when issues of fairness are involved.
Potential Problems of Participative Leadership
→ Time and Energy
○ Participation requires specific behaviors on the part of the leader that use time and energy.
→ Loss of Power
○ Some leaders feel that a participative style will reduce their power and influence.
→ Lack of Receptivity
Employees might not be receptive to participation or they might lack the knowledge to contribute effectively to decisions
Vroom and Jago’s Situational Model and Research Evidence
→ Victor Vroom and Arthur Jago developed a model that attempts to specify in a practical manner when leaders should use participation and to what extent they should use it.
→ They began with the recognition that there are various degrees of participation that a leader can exhibit.
→ For issues involving the entire work group, a range of behaviors is plausible (A stands for autocratic, C for consultation, and G for group)
○ AI: You solve the problem or make the decision yourself.
○ AII: You obtain the necessary information from your employees, then decide the solution to the problem yourself.
○ CI: You share the problem with the relevant employees individually, getting their ideas and suggestions, then you make the decision.
○ CII: You share the problem with your employees as a group, obtaining their collective ideas and suggestions, then you make the decision.
○ GII: You share the problem with your employees as a group and together you generate and evaluate alternatives and attempt to reach agreement (consensus) on a solution.
→ The most effective strategy depends on the situation or problem at hand.
→ The leader’s goal should be to make high-quality decisions to which employees will be adequately committed without undue delay.
→ To do this, the leader must consider questions in a decision tree.
→ The questions are oriented toward preserving either decision quality or commitment to the decision.
→ By tracing a problem through the decision tree, the leader encounters the prescribed degree of participation for that problem
→ If a leader is willing to sacrifice some speed, a more participative approach could stimulate employee development
Research Evidence
→ The model has substantial research support.
→ Following the model’s prescriptions is more likely to lead to successful managerial decisions than unsuccessful decisions.
→ There is substantial evidence that employees who have the opportunity to participate in work-related decisions report more job satisfaction than those who do not.
→ For participation to be translated into higher productivity, certain facilitating conditions must exist.
→ Participation should work best when:
○ Employees feel Favorably toward it.
○ Employees are intelligent and knowledgeable about the issue at hand.
○ When the task is complex enough to make participation useful.
→ These conditions are incorporated into the Vroom and Jago model.
Transactional Leadership, Transformational Leadership and Research Evidence
Transactional Leadership
→ Transactional Leadership: Leadership that is based on a straightforward exchange relationship between the leader and followers
○ Based on contingent reward behaviour
→ Contingent reward: A transactional leader contracts exchange of rewards for effort, promises rewards for good performance, recognizes accomplishments
→ Management by exception (active) - Autocratic
○ Watches and searches for deviations from rules and standards, takes corrective action.
→ Management by exception (passive) – Benevolent Autocrat
○ Intervenes only if standards are not met.
→ Laissez-Faire leader
○ Abdicates responsibilities, avoids making decisions
Transformational Leadership
→ Transformational Leadership: leadership that provides followers with a new vision that instills true commitment
→ Transformational leaders change the beliefs and attitudes of followers to correspond with a new vision and motivates them to achieve performance beyond expectations
→ Characteristics of Transformational Leaders:
○ Charisma: Provides vision and sense of mission, instills pride, gains
○ respect and trust.
○ Inspiration: Communicates high expectations, uses symbols to focus
○ efforts, expresses important purposes in simple ways.
○ Intellectual stimulation: Promotes intelligence, rationality, and careful problem-solving.
○ Individualized consideration: Gives personal attention, treats each employee individually,
coaches, advises.
Research Evidence
→ Transformational leadership is strongly related to follower motivation and satisfaction, leader performance, leader effectiveness, and group and organization performance.
→ Transformational leadership is especially effective during times of change and for obtaining employees’ commitment to change.
→ They also enhance employees’ perceptions of the five core job characteristics of the job characteristics model.
→ Overall, research indicates that the best leaders are both transformational and transactional.
