Leadership Styles

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INTRODUCTION Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela... What is common to all of them ? What is the first impression that strikes our minds on hearing those names ? The answer is the obvious one Leadership. Yes, they have been great leaders in their own times, in their own parts of this world. From organization behaviour point of view leadership means ability of individuals to influence others and attain the goal(s) of the organization or beyond them. There have been many giant organizations, like Ford, IBM & General Motors, to name a few who came back from behind and became quite successful once again. The success and achievements would not have been possible but for the great

Transcript of Leadership Styles

Page 1: Leadership Styles

INTRODUCTION

Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela... What is

common to all of them ? What is the first impression that strikes our

minds on hearing those names ? The answer is the obvious one

Leadership. Yes, they have been great leaders in their own times, in

their own parts of this world.

From organization behaviour point of view leadership means

ability of individuals to influence others and attain the goal(s) of the

organization or beyond them. There have been many giant

organizations, like Ford, IBM & General Motors, to name a few who

came back from behind and became quite successful once again. The

success and achievements would not have been possible but for the

great leadership and the individuals who matter to these organizations.

This report delves into various theories on leadership, Trait and

Contingency theories. It then looks at the contemporary models on

leadership. Leadership styles and determinants of such styles, and lastly

the graphical synthesis on various aspects such as Motivation,

Organizational Growth and Change vis-a-vis the Situational Leadership.

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2. LEADERSHIP DEFINED

“There are almost as many definitions of leadership as there are

persons who have attempted to define the concept”.

Abraham Zaleznik of HBS argues that leaders and managers are

different kinds of people. They differ in

- motivation

- personal history

- low they think and act

Colleague of Zaleznik also argues that leadership and management are

two different things. Leaders establish direction a vision for the future;

then they align people by communicating this vision and inspiring them

to overcome hurdles. Managers bring about order and consistency by

drawing up plans and monitoring results against plans.

According to Robins, leadership is ability to influence a group

toward the achievement of goals.

The source of this influence may be formal, such as that provided

by possession of managerial position in an organization. It could also be

a non-sanctioned - that is, the ability to influence others that arises

outside the formal structure of the organization.

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Leadership is a process and status. Directors, executives,

administrators, managers and bosses would generally fall into the

category called “leader”. According to George R. Terry, “Leadership is

the activity of influencing people to strive willingly for group objectives”

Keith Davis has defined leadership as follows

“Leadership is a part of management but not all of it. A manager is

required to plan and organise, for example, but all we ask of leaders is

that they influence others to follow...... Leadership is the ability to

persuade others to seek defined objectives enthusiastically. It is the

human factor which binds a group together and motivates it towards

goals. Management activities such as planning, organising, and decision

making are dormant cocoons until the leader triggers the power of

motivation and guides them towards goals.”

This connotation stresses the roles of leadership in eliciting

behavioral responses which are more than routine. It suggests the

“tapping” of latent human abilities in achieving group objectives.

3. STUDIES ON LEADERSHIP

In the preceding section, leadership has been defined as the

process of influencing the behaviour of others in a particular situation.

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“In essence, leadership involves accomplishing goals with and through

people.” In the following section the various schools of thought regarding

leadership will be dealt with.

3.1 Frederick W. Taylor :

1. The basis for this severity in approach to management was

technological by nature.

2. Considered men as instruments or machines to be

manipulated by the leader.

3. The leader had to, therefore, set up performance criteria in

order to meet organisational objectives. The leader focussed all his

attention to the needs of the organisational rather than on the needs of

the individual.

3.2 Elton Mayo :

1. The emphasis in this movement was on human relations.

2. The real power centres in the organisation were the

interpersonal relationships.

3. The organisation was assumed to develop around the

worker and his feelings.

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4. The leader was, therefore, to facilitate the attainment of

organisational goals while at the same time ensuring the atmosphere for

personal growth and development. The emphasis was no longer only on

organisational needs but on individual needs as well.

3.3 Robert Tannenbaum and Warren H. Schmidt

1. Differentiated between the democratic and authoritarian

approach. While the authoritarian approach dealt with telling people how

to do things, the democratic approach dealt with sharing responsibility

by involving workers in both planning and execution of tasks.

2. In the authoritarian style, all policies are decided by the

leader. In the democratic set up all policies are decided upon in

consultation with the workers.

3.4 Michigan Leadership Studies

1. These studies identified two concepts - employee

orientation and production orientation.

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2. Employee-oriented leaders stress the relationship aspect of

jobs; the production oriented leaders stress the technical aspects of the

job.

3.5. Group-Dynamics Studies

1. Dorwin Cartwright and Alvin Zander summarizing the

findings of numerous studies claim that leadership in organisations falls

into two categories (a) the achievement of specific group goals, and (b)

the maintenance or strengthening of the group itself.

2. In (a), the leader “initiates action - keeps members attention

on the goals... clarifies the issue and develops a procedural plan.” In (b)

the leader “keeps interpersonal relations pleasant... arbitrates dispute..

provides encouragement.. gives the minority a chance to be heard.....

stimulates self direction.... and increase the interdependence among

member.

3.6 Ohio State Leadership Studies

1. These studies were initiated by the Bureau of Business

Research at Ohio State University in 1945.

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2. The study of leadership was divided into the following

categories. (a) Initiating structure (b) Consideration.

3. (a) refers to “the leader’s behaviour in delineating the

relationship between himself and members of the work group and in

endeavouring to establish well-defined patterns of organisation channels

of communication, and methods of procedure.

4. (b) refers to “behaviour indicative of friendship, mutual trust,

respect, and warmth in the relationship between the leader and the

members of his staff.”

3.7 Robert R. Blake and Jane S. Mouton

1. The findings of the Ohio State Studies as well as of

Cartwright and Zander were further developed and pupularised by Blake

and Mouton in the new approach called the “Managerial Grid.”

According to this approach, there are five leadership styles.

4. INTEGRATIVE MODEL OF LEADERSHIP

More recently, researchers have focused specifically on

contingency aspects that influence effective leadership. These

approaches have particularly important implications for comparative

management, which by definition concerns leadership in different

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situations. A general integrative model of leadership appears in Figure

1.

This model shows show leaders’ behaviour is affected by

situational, leader, and subordinate characteristics and how such

behavior affects performance outcomes. The model also easily captures

the role of culture. Leader characteristics, subordinate characteristics,

and the nature of the situation are all culturally determined. Differences

in these dimensions across cultures will yield different bahaviors and

different performance outcomes. Although this model is a general one,

there are more specific contingency models as well. Three well-known

situational theories are Fielder’s Contingency Theory (1967), Vroom and

Yetton’s Normative Model (1973) and the Path-Goals theory of

leadership (House & Mitchell, 1974).

Fiedler’s model of leadership, one of the best-known models, has

generated a considerable amount of research. This is a contingency

model because the situation is considered along with the leader’s

personality as a determinant of the leader’s effectiveness. According to

Fiedler, this model can help predict which leaders would be most

effective in which situations. The model, thus, has many implications for

recruiting selecting, and placing leaders. A central aspect of this theory

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is that leader differ in a personality variable (called LPC) that indicates

the extent of their social responsiveness. The LPC score measures and

leader’s feelings about an individual with whom they work least

effectively.

Leaders with low LPC scores are their least-preferred co-worker in

negative terms, whereas the high LPC leaders do not impute negative

attributes to those with whom they have difficulty working. The

correlation between a leader’s LPC score and group effectiveness is

highly related to the favourableness of the situation. A very favorable

situation is one in which the task is structured, the leader has high

position power, and leader-member relations are good).

The basic thesis is that low LPC leaders do well in extremely

favourable and unfavourable situations whereas high LPC leaders do

well in moderately favorable situations. It is unclear exactly what the

LPC scale measures and whether such differences would also be

apparent in non-Western societies. However, this line of research has

clearly demonstrated the importance of the situation in determining

leader effectiveness.

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From a cross-cultural perspective, a contingency theory seems

appealing. Conditions vary across cultures; a theory that has some

applicability in one culture may be irrelevant in another. For example,

Bennett (1977) found that high-performing bank managers in the

Philippines are low in Fiedler’s LPC scale, whereas comparable

manages in Hong Kong score was high on it. Just as contingencies vary

across culture, so does the relationship between LPC scores and

performances.

5. PATH-GOAL THEORY

The path-goal theory is another contingency theory that seeks to

explain the leadership style most conducive to group satisfaction and

effectiveness. Figure 2 summarizes the various path-goal relationships.

In recent years, Evan (1970) and House (1971) have popularized

this theory. It postulates that leaders most try to influence their

subordinates’ perception of the paths for achieving goals and of the

goals’ desirability. The leadership style most appropriate for increasing

motivation depends as well on the subordinates personal characteristics

and on the native of the task demands.

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The leadership model (see Figure 2) shows the nature of the

various leadership styles - instrumental, supportive, participative and

achievement oriented. It also shows how subordinates’ characteristics

and the nature of the work environment influence these styles. A cultural

dimension exists within this theory : after all, cultures are likely to differ

in terms of subordinates’ and leaders’ personal characteristics, thus

implying that different managerial styles will be appropriate in dealing

with them.

The path-goal theory is not explicitly normative, but because the

optimal style depends on the nature of the contingency. it does have

normative implications. Vroom and Yetton’s model (1973), on the other

hand, is prescriptive and is based on the assumption that no single

leadership style is applicable to all situations.

This model’s focus is the degree of subordinate participation that

is appropriate in a given situation. Vroom and Yetton have developed a

series of problem attributes that together determine the appropriate

managerial style, ranging from no subordinate participation to group

decision making. Again, it is questionable whether these problem

attributes are transferable to non-Western cultures; however, the

significant conclusion (from a comparative management point of view) is

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that styles ranging from highly autocratic to highly democratic can be

effective in particular situations. They clearly implies that managers

must fit the decision-making process to a particular situation and that a

leadership style that is effective is one culture may be ineffective in

another.

Although all these theories are useful in emphasizing the various

important facets to leadership, we must remember that much of the

underlying research took place within a particular country. Moreover,

reporting of cultural differences in leadership in the business literature

before 1966 was almost entirely anecdotal. The formal study of such

differences had been the domain of cultural anthropologists ; it was

hardly considered an area of legitimate concern for international

business research. The systematic study of cross-cultural variations in

leadership began with the publications of major research findings by

Haire, Ghiselli, and Porter in 1966. Since the publication of their book,

Managerial Thinking - An International Study, the volume of research in

cross-cultural leadership has increased dramatically ; as a result, more

is now understood regarding both similarities and differences in

leadership styles across cultures (in particular, see Bass, 1981 : Heller &

Wilpert, 1981 : Tannenbaum, 1980 : Bass & Burger, 1979; and Barrett &

Bass, 1976).

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6. SITUATIONAL VERSUS TRAIT APPROACH TO THE STUDY

OF LEADERSHIP

In the past there were various approaches to the study of

leadership. Some of these graphology, the analysis of handwriting;

phrenology, the study of the shapes of the skulls; and sometimes

biography, the study of the lives of the leaders; demography, the study

of the family background of leaders. However, all these approaches

failed to give much insight into the causes of leadership.

More recently the study of leadership has been concentrated on

leadership per se. This suggests that there are certain characteristics

essential for leadership. This is known as the “trait approach.” The trait

approach to leadership was very popular during the period of 1930 to

1950. A review of the literature dealing with the trait approach to

leadership scarcely reveals any consistent findings. Eugene. E.

Jennings concludes. “Fifty years of study have failed to produce one

personally trait or set of qualities that can be used to discriminate

leaders and non-leaders”. Trait study has not produced the clear results

because it doe snot consider the whole leadership environment.

Personal characteristics or traits are only one part of the whole

environment. Although a certain trait may exist in an individual it will

continue to remain dormant unless activated by the environment.

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Empirical studies have shown that leadership is a dynamic process,

which varies from one situation to another, depending on the change in

leaders, the followers and the situations. Today, therefore, the tendency

is towards situational rather than the trait approach to leadership.

On the other hand, in the situational approach, the focus is on the

observed behavior - not on any hypothetical ability or inborn trait of the

leader. The emphasised is on the behaviour and his group in any given

situation. It is therefore encouraging to note that with the emphasis on

the behavior rather than or traits, it’s possible to train individuals to

become leaders. By observing the behavior of individual in certain

situations, models or patterns of behavior in particular situation can be

evolved which in their turn can help leaders.

7. LEADERSHIP STYLES

7.1 Spectrum of ways to influence

“The leadership style of an individual is the behavior pattern that

person exhibits when attempting to influence the activities of others as

perceived by those others.. A person’s leadership style involves some

combination of either task behavior or relationship behaviour. In the

following figure, a spectrum of ways to influence behavior is indicated.

Several distinct means are identified-emulation, suggestion, persuasion

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and coercion - ranging from indirect or subtle approaches to very

forceful method.

Emulation : Striving to equal or excel;

Imitating with effort to equal or surpass;

Approaching or attaining equality.

Suggestion : Placing or bringing an idea, proposition or plan before

a person’s mind for consideration or possible action.

Persuasion : To prevail on a person by advice, inducements,

cajoling, urging.

Coercion : Constrain, force, compel - to the extent of using

physical pressure.

In discussion leadership styles, it becomes essential to

differentiate between power and authority. Power and/or authority

underlie and entire spectrum of ways of influence behaviour.

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Power : Power is the ability to induce psychological or

behavioral change. Power is latent force which even when remaining

latent can influence behaviour.

Authority : Authority is generally defined as “institutional power.”

It is special subclass of power. It is the institutionalised right of an

individual to induce psychological or behavioural change in another.

Authority is generally described in terms of three basic categories :

1. Charismatic - Leaders who are charismatic usually possess

‘magical’ qualities. Charismatic authority evolves into institutionalised

authority over a period of time through a process of stabilisation.

2. Traditional authority evolves into rational authority through formal

legitimisation.

3. Rational authority is formal, institutional authority that has the

sanction of the governed.

The power of authority, depends on the consent of the governed.

Authority gives a person power to act officially. However, this power

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becomes meaningless unless those governed accept it and respond to

it.

Although there are several power classifications, the most widely

used is the schedule of power developed by French and Raven.

According to them there are five different basis of power :

1. Coercive Power - this is based on fear and therefore the change

in the behaviour of the governed is only temporary of short lived. As long

as the fear of punishment is there - the change is there.

2. Legitimate Power - is legalised power. The governed comply by

virtue of the position of the leader in the organisation.

3. Expert Power - is dependent on the leader’s skill or expertise. The

respect those governed have for the leader’s expertise entitles him to

their compliance.

4. Reward Power - is based on the leader’s ability to provide

rewards to those he governs.

5. Referrent Power - personal traits of the leader. He is generally

liked by his subordinates and hence able to influence them.

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Later Raven in collaboration with Kruglanksi identified a sixth

power - information power.

6. Information Power - is dependent on the leader’s access to

information that is considered valuable by subordinates.

7. Connection Power - is based on the leader’s “connections” with

influential or important persons. More powerful the connection, more

powerful the power.

7.2 Determinants of style.

The style of leaders is the behaviour patterns they consistently

use when working with other people. These patterns are “perceived” by

others and the patterns emerge over a period of time. Tannenbaum and

Schmidt suggest that those internal forces influence are individual’s

leadership style :

The individual’s value system.

The degree of confidence in his subordinates.

His personal inclinations

His feelings of security in situations of uncertainty.

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It is important to note that leadership style has nothing to do with

what leaders think or do in a situation - but rather how their followers

perceive their behaviour. It is therefore important for a leader to know

whether he is “reaching out” to others. People are often not honest

about this in their relationship with one another.

A common method is T-Group Training. This method was

developed by Leland P. Brandfod and Kenneth D. Berge at Bathel,

Maine, in 1947. It is based on the assumption that individuals who meet

in an informal open group will develop working conditions that will help

them learn about themselves as perceived by others.

The training process relates primarily and almost exclusively to

the behaviour experienced by the participant... In short, the participants

learn to analyse and become more sensitive to the process of human

interaction and acquire concepts to order and control these phenomena.

What are the basic leadership styles ? How does each style differ

from the other ? These questions are answered in the following table.

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Leadership Styles.

------------------------------------Authoritarian Democratic Laissez-faire

------------------------------------

1. Policy All policies are Policies are a matter Complete freedom

by the leader of discussion of the for policy making

group, encouraged with a minimum of

and assisted by the leader participation

2. Techniques Techniques dictated Technique result of Leader supplies

by leader, gradually group discussion and information only

or one at a group perception when asked. Does

time so that future taken into not take an active

remains uncertain consideration, the part in the

leader may only discussion

suggest alternative

procedures.

3. Involve- The leader dictates The division of tasks Total non-participa-

ment the quantum of work and the manner of tion of leader

and the manner of execution left to the

carrying it out. group.

4. Obser- The leader tends to be The leader is both Spontaneous thou-

vation “aloof” from the group objective, yet invol- gh infrequent

There is scarcely and ved with the group comments and

and personal contact makes no attempt

to regulate the

course of events

---------------------------------------

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8. SYNTHESIZING MANAGEMENT THEORY : A HOLISTIC

APPROACH

8.1 SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND MOTIVATION

One way classifying high strength motives is Maslow’s hierarchy

of needs, goals that tend to satisfy these needs can be described by

Herzberg’s hygiene factors and motivators. Both these framework can

be integrated in Situational Leadership in terms of their relation to

various maturity levels and appropriate leadership styles that have a

high probability of satisfying these needs or providing the corresponding

goals, as illustrated in Figure 3.

It should be stressed that the relationship of theories (Maslow and

Herzberg) to maturity levels in Situational Leadership are not

necessarily absolute, direct correlations; they are integrative bench

marks for practitioners to use in attempting to make better decisions for

managing human resources. As a result, styles suggested as

appropriate for one concept might not be exclusively for that concept;

other styles may also satisfy these needs or goals to some degree. This

caution will hold true throughout our discussion in this chapter.

Upon examining Figure 3, one can begin to plot the styles that

tend to be appropriate for working with people motivated by the various

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high strength needs described by Maslow. At the same time, leadership

styles S1, S2, S3 tend to provide goals consistent with satisfying

hygiene factors, where styles S3 and S4 seem to facilitate the

occurrence of the motivators.

8.2 SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND ORGANISATIONAL

GROWTH

Organizations might be able to grow and develop over time

without the crisis of revolutionary phases. This could occur if after the

phase of creativity managers moved their organization through the

growth phases in an order consistent with Situational Leadership.

An illustrated in Figure 4 the crisps of leadership might be averted

by moving from the phase of creativity right into the phase of direction;

the crisis of autonomy, control, and red tape might be averted by moving

from the direction phase right into the coordination, phase, then into the

collaboration phase, and finally into delegation.

8.3 SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND CHANGE

Whenever we talk about initiating change a first step is

determining the maturity level of the people with whom we are working.

If they are low in maturity - dependent and unwilling to take

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responsibility for the change - they will tend to require more unfreezing

than if you are working with people who are moderate or high on

maturity. As illustrated in Figure 5, leadership styles S1 and S2 tend to

play a major role in terms of unfreezing; the emphasis in S2 and S3

styles is on the change process; and S3 and S4 stress the refreezing

process.

One of the techniques used to increase maturity is behavior

modification as illustrated in Figure 6. When working with immature

people, at first leader tend to cut back on structure, giving individuals an

opportunity to take some responsibility. When leaders get the smallest

approximation of mature behaviour, they must immediately increase the

socioemotional support as positive reinforcement. This starlike process

(cut back on structure and then increase socioemotional support)

continues until the change or changes start to become a habit as the

people mature. At that point, leaders tend also to cut back on

reinforcement as they move toward S4 and a low relationship/low task

style. If done earlier, this cutback on socioemotional support would have

appeared as punishment to low or moderately mature people. But to

people of high maturity, the fact that their leader tends to leave them

alone is positive reinforcement not only in terms of the task but also in

terms of socioemotional support. Concept of contingency contracting

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illustrates the gradual development movement (associated with

behaviour modification) from leader control (S1) to partial control by

follower (S2) to equal control (S2 and S3) to partial control by leader

(S3) and finally to follower control (S4).

An illustrated in Figure 7, S1 and S2 styles seem to be consistent

with the behaviours associated with a directive change cycle, while S3

and S4 are more representative of a participative change cycle. In a

participative change cycle, the change beings at the knowledge level

and eventually moves to the organization level, while the directive

change cycle starts with changes in the organization and gradually

moves toward changes in knowledge and attitudes.

An also shown in Figure 7 S1 and S2 styles tend to be

appropriate for building on strong driving forces; S3 and S4 styles seem

appropriate for attempting to overcome restraining forces. In increasing

the driving forces, the emphasis seems to be on short-term output; when

attempting to eliminate restraining forces, the concern is more with

building intervening variables and concentrating on long-term goals. It

should be emphasized that these are only tendencies and bench-marks,

and it should be recognized that under certain conditions other styles

might be appropriate.

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REFERENCE

1. Mercy Anselm, Organizational Behaviour : Towards an integrated

Organization ; Himalaya Publishing House, Bombay PP. 134-137.

2. Ronen Simcha, Comparative & Multinational Management, Wiley

Series International Business,1986, New York pp. 194-197.

3. Heeley Paul Blanchard Ken, Management of Organization

Behaviour : Utilizing Human Resources. 4th edition, Prentice Hall of

India Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi. 1985.

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LEADERSHIP

CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION1

2. LEADERSHIP DEFINED2

3. STUDIES ON LEADERSHIP3

3.1 Frederich W.Taylor4

3.2 Fulton Mayo4

3.3 Robert Tannenbaum and Waven H. Schmidt5

3.4 Machigan Leadership Studies5

3.5 Group - Dynamics Studies6

3.6 Ohio State Ledearship Studies6

3.7 Robert R. Blake and Jane S. Mouton7

4. INTEGRATIVE MODEL OF LEADERSHIP8

5. PATH-GOAL THEORY10

6. SITUATIONAL VS TRAIT APPROACH13

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7. LEADERSHIP STYLES.15

7.1 Spectrum of ways to Influence15

7.2 Determinants of Leadership Style18

8. SYNTHESIZING MANAGEMENT THEORY :

A HOLISTIC APPROACH21

8.1 Situational Leadership and Motivation21

8.2 Situational Leadership and Organizational Growth22

8.3 Situational Leadership and Change.22

REFERENCE