Leadership

Dr. Fred Mugambi MwirigiJKUAT

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What is Leadership?

It is the process of directing and influencing the task related activities of group members.

It involves people. It involves an unequal distribution of power

between leaders and group members.

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Sources of Power

Leadership results because managers possess power over their group members.

Power is the ability to influence the behavior of others.

Managers typically have five types of power.

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Types of Power contd.

1.Legitimate Power- power vested in the manager due to the position he occupies in the organization.

2.Reward- authority that a manager has to decide on who should be rewarded and what types of rewards to give

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Contd.

3. Coercive Power- This type of power determines the manager’s authority to punish individuals who do not perform as required.

4. Expert Power- This type of power is determined by the knowledge and skills of the manager.

5. Referent Power- This type of power is usually associated with the manager’s personality and strength of character.

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Leadership Styles

1. Autocratic leadership style- managers centralize authority and retain all the power of making decisions themselves.

2. Democratic leadership style- leaders believe in getting their subordinates involved in decision making. This style encourages staff participation and improves staff morale, but is time-consuming.

3. Laissez-faire leadership style- leader allows almost total freedom to his subordinates. He leaves the subordinates to freely set objectives and work procedures

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Another view

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Key Theories of Leadership

Trait Theory:Traits are the personal factors that

distinguish the leader, such as intelligence and appearance. Traits are classified as follows:

1. Physical characteristics- looks, appearance, grooming of the managers.

2. Social characteristics- traits related to the ability to be sociable, communication skills and ability to get along with others.

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Contd.

3. Personality- associated with the individual’s character.

4. Intelligence characteristics- the ability of the individual to use his mental abilities to assess issues, make decisions and solve problems.

5. Work related characteristics- the individual’s attitude towards work, such as ambition and achievement-orientation

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McGregor's Theory X And Theory Y

Douglas McGregor – ‘how managers motivate and supervise their workers depends on their assumptions about their employees’.

He called them Theory X assumptions and Theory Y assumptions.

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Contd.

Theory X Assumptions:Managers believe that employees:Hate work and will avoid work if

possibleAre interested only in money and job

securityDo not like responsibilityPrefer to be directed

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Contd.

Theory Y AssumptionsManagers have a generally positive

perception of workers. They believe that workers:

Like to work and see work as natural as play

Are committed, independentAre creative, exercise imagination and

ingenuity

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Comparing Leadership with Team Behavior

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Choice of Leadership Style

Modern approaches to leadership encourage managers to be flexible and adopt the appropriate leadership style, depending on circumstances.

Factors that influence the style of leadership:1. Nature of task

2. Organizational climate

3. Expectations of superiors

4. Manager’s past experience

5. Subordinates’ characteristics14

Leadership Activities

The following are some of the common activities an effective leader must engage in:

1. Arbitration

2. Instruction

3. Directing

4. Security

5. Symbol of unity of the followers

6. Inspiration

7. Motivation15

Framing as a tool in Leadership

Framing is a way to use language to manage meaning.

It is used by leaders to influence how events are seen and understood.

Framing is analogous to what a photographer does. When the photographer aims her camera and focuses on a specific shot, she frames her photo. Others then see what she wanted them to see. They see her point of view.

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General Approaches to Leadership

1. Charismatic leadership

2. Transformational Leadership

3. Authentic Leadership

4. Mentoring

5. Self-Leadership

6. On-Line Leadership

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Charismatic LeadershipWhat is Charismatic Leadership? Max Weber, a sociologist, was the first scholar to discuss

charismatic leadership, defining charisma as ‘a certain quality of an individual personality, by virtue of which he or she is set apart from ordinary people and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional power or qualities’.

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Contd.

These powers or qualities are not accessible to the ordinary person, but are regarded as of divine origin or as exemplary, and on the basis of them the individual concerned is treated as a leader.’

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Characteristics of Charismatic Leaders

1. High self-esteem 2. An undying driving force 3. Sensory awareness – empathy, emotional

intelligence (EQ)- Charismatic people are aware of their own feelings and the feelings and moods of others.

4. A great vision 5. High energy 6. Emotional connection with the led

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Are Charismatic Leaders Born or Made?

Individuals are born with traits that make them charismatic.

However, most experts believe that individuals can be trained to exhibit charismatic behaviours and can thus enjoy the benefits that accrue to being labelled “a charismatic leader.”

Communication is a key component of charismatic leadership

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Does Effective Charismatic Leadership Depend on the Situation?

Charisma is most appropriate when the follower’s task has an ideological component or when the environment involves a high degree of stress and uncertainty.

This explains why there are more charismatic leaders in politics, religion, war situations or when a business firm is in its infancy or facing a life-threatening crisis.

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The Dark Side of Charismatic Leadership

Unfortunately, sometimes leaders who are larger-than-life may not act in the best interests of their organisations

Perilous among this ego-driven charismatic people are leaders who allow their self-interest and personal goals to override the goals of the organisation

One study of 29 companies that went from good to great share returns found an absence of ego-driven charismatic leaders

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Contd.

Although the leaders of these firms were fiercely ambitious with a high drive, their ambition was directed towards their company rather than themselves

These leaders have been called level-5 leaders because they have five basic leadership qualities individual capability, team skills, managerial competence, and the ability to stimulate others to high performance, plus a fifth dimension: a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will.

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Transformational leadership

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Contd.

Transformational leaders inspire followers to transcend their own self-interests for the good of the organisation.

They change followers’ awareness of issues by helping them to look at old problems in new ways; and they are able to excite, arouse, and inspire followers to put out extra effort to achieve group goals.

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Contd.

Transformational leaders also encourage their followers to be more innovative and creative.

Transformational leadership is related to the motivation and satisfaction of followers and to the higher performance and perceived effectiveness of leaders.

They are change agents

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Authentic Leadership

Leaders who know who they are, know what they believe in and value, and act on those values and beliefs openly and candidly.

They believe in ‘being real’ as leadersThey have high levels of self awarenessTheir followers consider them to be ethical

people.

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Contd.

The primary quality produced by authentic leadership is trust.

Authentic leadership, therefore, is ethical and trustworthy leadership that is based on facts, reason and respect for the self as well as others

Trust is particularly key in authentic leadership

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Authentic Leadership contd.

Trust:

Trust is a primary attribute of leadership and when broken has a serious effect on a group’s performance.

When followers trust a leader they are willing to be vulnerable, confident that their rights and interests won’t be abused.

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Basic Principles of Trust in leadership

1. Mistrust drives out trust2. Trust begets trust3. Growth often masks mistrust4. Decline or downsizing (Challenge) tests

the highest levels of trust5. Trust increases cohesion6. Mistrusting groups self-destruct7. Mistrust generally reduces productivity

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Mentoring

A mentor is a senior employee who sponsors and supports a less-experienced employee (a protégé).

The mentoring relationships have been described in terms of two broad categories of functions, career and psycho-social.

Some organisations have formal mentoring programs where mentors are officially assigned to new or high-potential employees, however, most organisations rely on informal mentoring—with senior managers personally selecting an employee and taking that employee on as a protégé.

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Why would a leader want to be a mentor?

1. The mentor-protégé relationship gives the mentor unfiltered access to the attitudes and feelings of lower-ranking employees.

2. The mentor-protégé relationship is a valuable communication channel that allows mentors to have news of problems before they become common knowledge to others in upper management.

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Contd.

3. In terms of leader self-interest, mentoring can provide personal satisfaction to senior executives. The opportunity to share knowledge with others can be personally rewarding for

the mentor.

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Self-Leadership

Self-leadership is the act of managing oneself to operate at least supervision

The leaders role in this is very important since it is the leader who inculcates self-leadership among employees

Proponents of self-leadership say that there are a set of processes through which individuals control their own behaviour. These are as illustrated in the next slide.

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How to create self-leaders

1. Model self-leadership- Practice self-observation, set challenging personal goals, self-direction, and self-reinforcement. Then display these behaviours and encourage others to rehearse and then produce them.

2. Encourage employees to create self-set goals. Having quantitative, specific goals is the most important part of self-leadership.

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Contd.

3. Encourage the use of self-rewards to strengthen and increase desirable behaviours. In contrast, self-punishment should be limited only to occasions when the employee has been dishonest or destructive.

4. Create positive thought patterns. Encourage employees to use mental imagery and self-talk to further stimulate self-motivation.

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Contd.

5. Create a climate of self-leadership. Redesign the work to increase the natural rewards of a job and focus on these naturally rewarding features of work to increase motivation.

6. Encourage self-criticism. Encourage individuals to be critical of their own performance

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On-Line Leadership

Today’s managers and their employees are increasingly being linked by networks rather than geographical proximity.

Obvious examples include managers who regularly use e-mail to communicate with their staff, managers overseeing virtual projects or teams, and managers whose telecommuting employees are linked to the office by a computer and modem.

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Some guidelines for the on-line leader

In face-to-face communications, harsh words can be softened by nonverbal action such as a smile and comforting gestures. That nonverbal component does not exist with online interactions.

The structure of words in a digital communication also has the power to motivate or de-motivate the receiver. If the message is made up of full sentences it is perceived as less threatening than just phrases.

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Contd.

A message in all caps is the equivalent of shouting.

Leaders need to be sure the tone of their message correctly reflects the emotions they want to send.

Leaders who are not comfortable with the written word tend to make their written communications much more formal than their verbal style. This creates confusion for employees and hinders the leaders’ effectiveness.

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Counter-arguments to the Leadership Construct

Much of an organisation’s success or failure is due to factors outside the influence of leadership.

In many cases, success or failure is just a matter of being in the right or wrong place at a given time.

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Contd.

Two perspectives that challenge the widely accepted belief in the importance of leadership are:1. leadership is more about appearances than

reality. You do not have to be an effective leader as long as you look like one!

2. The second argument directly attacks the notion that some leadership will always be effective regardless of the situation. This argument contends that in many situations, whatever actions leaders exhibit are irrelevant.

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Finding and Creating Effective Leaders

Selection Training Exposing Challenging Rewarding Punishing

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Thank you

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