WEEK 2:

LEADERSHIP

Dr Natasha Mauthner

Week 2: Leadership

• Lecture 1: Traditional Leadership• Lecture 2: Inspirational Leadership

Lecture 1:Traditional Leadership

Different types of leadership

What is leadership?

The ability to influence a group toward the achievement of a vision

Different types of leadership

• ‘Charismatic ‘ or ‘transformational’ leadership: Leaders who inspire followers to transcend their own self-interests and who are capable of having a profound and extraordinary effect on followers.

• ‘Transactional’: Leaders who guide or motivate their followers in the direction of established goals by clarifying role and task requirements.

Leadership vs Management

• What is the difference between leadership and management?

• Management is about coping with complexity: good management brings about order and consistency by drawing up formal plans, designing rigid organisation structures and monitoring results against plans

• Leadership is about coping with change: leaders establish direction by developing a vision of the future; then they align people by communicating this vision and inspiring them to overcome hurdles

Leadership vs Management

• Managers use the authority inherent in their designated formal rank to obtain compliance from organizational members

• Leaders influence others to follow them towards the achievement of a vision. Their ability to influence may arise out of formal authority, but more often arises outside of formal structure of the organisation

• Management consists of implementing the vision and strategy provided by leaders, coordinating and staffing the organisation, and handling day-to-day problems

Leadership and management• Organisations need strong leadership

and strong management • They need leaders to challenge the

status quo, create visions, inspire others

• They need managers to formulate detailed plans, create efficient organisational structures, oversee day-to-day operations

Leadership and power

Is formal authority necessary to leadership?

The source of this influence may be formal or informal authority

Mahatma Ghandi

Aung San Suu Kyi

Leadership theories

Basic approaches to leadership

Theories that try to explain what makes an effective leader and what differentiates leaders

from non-leaders

• Trait theories• Behavioural theories• Contingency theories • Interactive theories • Attribution theories

Trait theories of leadership

• Throughout history strong leaders have all been described in terms of their ‘traits’: their personal qualities and characteristics

• Trait theories search for personality, social, physical or intellectual attributes that describe leaders and differentiate them from non leaders

Elizabeth I

Napolean Bonaparte

Winston

Churchill

Margaret Thatcher

Mother Theresa

Key leadership traits

1. Extraversion: individuals who like being around people and are able to assert themselves

2. Conscientiousness : disciplined and keep commitments they make

3. Openness to experience: those who are creative and flexible

4. Emotional intelligence: leaders who are empathic, can sense others’ needs, listen to what followers say and don’t say, and are able to read the reactions of others

Trait theories

• Good leaders seem to have these four traits in common

• These traits can predict leadership• Traits do a better job at predicting the

emergence of leaders and the appearance of leadership than in actually distinguishing between effective and ineffective leaders

Behavioural theories of leadership

• Is there something unique in the way that effective leaders behave?

• This is a question about leadership style vs leadership traits

• Trait theories imply you need to select the ‘right’ person• Behavioural theories imply you can train people to be

effective leaders• Different assumptions underlying these theories:– ‘Leaders are born rather than made’– ‘Leaders are made rather than born’

Behavioural theories

What do behavioural theories tell us about leadership?

Ohio State Studies identified two dimensions of leadership behaviour:

1.Initiating structure2.Consideration

‘Initiating structure’

• The extent to which a leader defines and structures his or her role and those of employees

• A leader characterised as high in initiating structure: – “assigns group members to particular tasks”– “expects workers to maintain definite standards of

performance” – “emphasises the meeting of deadlines”

‘Consideration’

• Leaders who develop relationships with employees characterised by mutual trust, respect for employees’ ideas, and regard for their feelings.– friendly and approachable– treats all employees as equals– expresses appreciation and support

Ohio State Theories

• Initiating structure and consideration are associated with effective leadership

• Consideration is related to individuals i.e. the followers of leaders high in consideration are more satisfied with their jobs, more motivated, have more respect for their leader

• Initiating structure is associated with higher levels of group and organisation productivity and more positive performance evaluations

University of Michigan StudiesThey found two behaviour characteristics associated with

effective leadership:1. ‘Employee oriented’2. ‘Production oriented’

Employee-oriented leaders emphasised interpersonal relations; took personal interest in needs of employees and accepted individual differences among members

Production-oriented leaders emphasised technical or task aspects of the job: accomplishing the group’s tasks and the group members were a means to an end

Closely related to dimensions of Ohio State Studies:1. ‘Employee oriented’ - consideration2. ‘Production oriented’ – initiating structure

Summary of trait and behavioural theories

• They add to our understanding of leadership effectiveness

• Leaders who have certain traits, who display consideration and structuring behaviours seem to be more effective

• Alone they cannot explain leadership effectiveness

• The context matters too: Leadership effectiveness is dependent on situational influences

Contingency theories

Leadership effectiveness is dependent on situational influences and on the context in which traits and behaviours are expressed and performed

But what are these situational conditions? How do we isolate situational variables?

Three theories have tried to do this:1. Fiedler contingency model2. Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership

Theory3. Path-goal Theory

Fiedler Contingency Model• Suggests that different leadership styles are

appropriate for different organisational contexts

• The model identifies two leadership styles – task-oriented and relationship-oriented – and three dimensions of organisational context – leader-member relations; task structure; position power

• the Fiedler model proposes matching up leadership style and organisational contexts to achieve maximum leadership effectiveness

Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory (SLT)

• This theory focuses on the followers and on the leader-follower relationship

• The most effective leadership behaviour depends on a follower’s ability and motivation

• Leaders need to change their leadership behaviour as followers/employees become more able and competent

Path-Goal TheoryArgues that the leader has responsibility for providing followers with

information, support, and other resources necessary for them to achieve their goals

Four leadership behaviours are identified:1. Directive leader – lets followers know what is expected of them and gives

specific guidance2. Supportive leader – friendly and shows concern for the needs of followers3. Participative leader – consults with followers and uses their suggestions

before making a decision4. Achievement-oriented leader – sets challenging goals and expects

followers to perform at their highest level Leaders are seen as flexible: the same leader can display any or all

of these behaviours depending on the situation

Summary of contingency theories

• Overall, contingency theories have been mixed• The main limitation of all the theories so far is that

they ignore the followers• Yet leaders do not exist in a vacuum – leadership is a

symbiotic relationship between leaders and followers

• But the leadership theories so far all assume that leaders treat their employees in the same way

• Next theory looks at differences in the relationships leaders form with different followers

Interactive theories• Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Theory: Leaders establish

special relationship with small group of followers who make up the ‘in-group’: they are trusted, get a disproportionate amount of the leader’s attention, and are more likely to receive special privileges

• Other followers are in the ‘out-group’• Selection of in-group: Demographic, attitude, personality

characteristics similar to leader; higher level of competence• Decision Theory: Argues that the way the leader makes

decisions is as important as what s/he decides e.g. Leader Participation Model relates leader behaviour and participation in decision-making

Attribution theory of leadership

A leadership theory that says that leadership is merely an attribution that people make about other individuals. What’s important in being characterised as an ‘effective leader’ is projecting the appearance of being a leader rather than actual accomplishments.

Attribution theory of leadershipEffective leadership is not necessarily about ‘the leader’Certain individual, job, and organisational variables can act as

substitutes for leadership or neutralise the leaders’ influence on his or her followers Individual: experience/training; professionalism;

indifference to rewards; Job: highly structured task; provides its own feedback;

intrinsically satisfyingOrganisation: explicit formalised goals; rigid rules and

procedures; cohesive work groupsLeadership is just one variable - that is of many possible ways

of explaining employee productivity; absence, turnover, satisfaction, and citizenship behaviour

“William Wallace is one of Scotland's greatest national heroes, undisputed leader of the Scottish resistance forces during the first years of the long and ultimately successful struggle to free Scotland from English rule at the end of the 13th Century.”

The battle of Stirling Bridge: 1297

Gender and Leadership

Joan of Arc

1412-1431

Anita Roddick Body Shop founder

Condoleezza Rice

Former US Secretary of

State

Hillary Clinton

US Senator

Angela Merkel

Famous German

politician and first ever woman

Chancellor of Germany

Meg Whitman

Former CEO of ebay

Do men make better leaders than women?

Little evidence to support this beliefA stereotype predicated on the belief that men are inherently

better skilled for leadership due to having a stronger task focus, lower emotionality, and a greater propensity to be directive

There is overlap in men and women’s leadership stylesEvidence suggests women have a leadership advantageFemale leaders tend to be more transformational than malesMen continue to dominate leadership positions because men

are perceived to be better leaders because traditionally leadership qualities have been defined as stereotypically ‘masculine’ ones

Contemporary leadership roles

• Mentoring• Self-leadership• Online leadership

Mentor

• A senior employee who sponsors and supports a less-experienced employee called a protégé

• Mentors have two broad categories of functions1.Career functions2.Psychosocial functions

Mentoring

Career Functions• Lobbying for protégé• Coaching the protégé• Assisting the protégé• Protecting the protégé• Sponsoring protégé• Acting as a sounding board

for the protégé

Psychosocial functionsCounselling the protégé

about anxieties and uncertainty to help bolster her self-confidence

Sharing personal experiences with the protégé

Providing friendship and acceptance

Acting as a role model

MentoringMost organisations rely on informal mentoring – these tend to be

more effective than formal mentoring relationshipsMinorities and women are less likely to be chosen as protégés

than white males and are less likely to accrue the benefits of mentorship

Mentors tend to select protégés who are similar to themselves in terms of education, gender, race, ethnicity and religion

Senior management positions tend to be staffed by white men so it is hard for minorities and women to be selected as protégés

Senior male managers may be reluctant to take on female protégés

Formal mentoring schemes have been introduced to support women and minorities

Self-leadership

• Is it possible for people to lead themselves?• Some argue that it is – ‘superleaders’ help

their followers to lead themselves by developing leadership capacity in others and nurturing followers so they no longer need to depend on formal leaders for direction and motivation

• Self-leadership: A set of processes through which individuals control their behaviour

Online leadershipHow do you lead people in a virtual world?Increasingly important question as the ways in which

business is carried out relies increasingly less on face to face situationsE.g. Using email to communicate with staff; overseeing

virtual projects or teams; telecommuting How does leadership change when relationships are

defined by network interactions?The key difference is the loss of non-verbal information

e.g. Body language; tone of voice; eye contact; emotional communication; etc

Online leadershipOnline leadership requires other skills and attention to details

like choice of words; structure of messages; ‘reading between the lines’; deciphering the emotional components of messages

How do you develop and maintain trust? Identification based trust is difficult to achieve when there is a lack of intimacy and face-to-face interaction; online negotiations have been found to be hindered when parties express lower levels of trust; it’s not clear whether it’s possible for employees to identify with or trust leaders with whom they only communicate electronically

For an increasing number of managers good interpersonal skills may include the abilities to communicate support and leadership through written words on a computer screen and to read emotions in others’ messages

Finding and creating effective leaders

• How can organisations find and create effective leaders?– Selecting leaders– Training leaders

Selecting leaders

• Knowledge, skills, abilities that are needed to do the job effectively- trying to fit candidate with the job

• Personality tests e.g. For extraversion, conscientiousness, openness to experience, emotional intelligence

• Interviews: to see whether they have extraversion, self confidence, a vision, verbal skills, charismatic physical presence

• Plan for leadership succession

Training leaders

• Organisations spend a lot of money on leadership training and development

• Not everyone is equally trainable• What can be learnt? Maybe not vision but

implementation of the vision; trust building; mentoring; situational-analysis skills; interpersonal skills

Global implications

• Most of the research on leadership theories has been conducted in English-speaking countries

• We know very little about how culture might influence their validity particularly in Eastern cultures

• How does culture affect leadership style and effectiveness?

GLOBE studyGlobal Leadership and Organizational Behaviour Effectiveness

project How would culture influence a US manager leading a project in

Brazil, France, Egypt and China?Brazil: employees value team oriented, participative, humane

styleFrance: employees expect a more bureaucratic, task oriented,

good at initiating structure, autocratic styleEgypt: employees value team oriented and participative

leadership but also expect status differences between leaders and followers

China: emphasis on politeness, consideration, altruism, high performance – status differences are also expected

Leaders need to take culture into consideration when they are managing employees from different cultures

Reading for Week 2: Leadership

The three lectures on Leadership are intended to supplement reading of the course textbook (Robbins and Judge (2009) Organizational Behaviour). The following three chapters are essential to understanding leadership and you are strongly advised to read them: – Chapter 12: Basic Approaches to Leadership.– Chapter 13: Contemporary Issues in Leadership.– Chapter 14: Power and Politics.