Organizational Behaviour
Social Behaviour
Leadership
Defining Leadership
• The use of influence to achieve goals
The trait perspective of
leadership –
The Great Man approach
• Traits = distinguishing personal
characteristics that are generally not
mutable (changeable)
– Weak but consistent support for a variety of
leadership traits
Self-confidence
Honesty/Integrity
Energy
achievement
Need for
Ohio State studies of
leadership
• Two key dimensions were related to
leadership
– Consideration – the extent to which the leader
is approachable and shows personal concern
for subordinates
and
– Initiating structure – the extent to which the
leader is task oriented and directs the group
toward goal attainment
Fiedler’s Contingency Theory
• Leader motivation
– Relationship oriented - high LPC score
– Task oriented - low LPC score
• Situational conditions
– Leader-member relations – favourable
when there is support, trust, and
cooperation
– Task structure – favourable when there is
high task structure: clear goals,
procedures, and objective measures of
Fiedler’s Contingency Theory
Favourableness
High
Low
Good
Leader-member
relations
Structured
Poor
Unstructured
Structured
Unstructured
Task structure
Position power
Effective leader
orientation
Strong
Weak
Strong
Weak
Strong
Weak
Strong
Weak
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
Task
Relationship
Task
Path-Goal Theory
•
Leader behaviour types
1. Directive behaviour – schedules work,
sets performance standards, gives
direction
2. Supportive behaviour – friendly,
approachable, expresses concern
3. Participative behaviour – uses
consultative processes, shares work
problems, considers suggestions
4. Achievement oriented – demanding and
supportive, seeks continual improvement
Path-Goal Theory
• Subordinate characteristics
– Locus of control
– Self-confidence - subordinate perception of
their abilities – skills and experience
• Situational characteristics
– Task structure– clear and routine versus
challenging and ambiguous
– Team dynamics - work group norms and
influence
Participative Leadership
Model
• Purpose:
– To motivate – increases enrichment and
autonomy
– To increase acceptance of the decision – in
issues of fairness or change
– To create quality – adds more information
into the problem solving
Participative Model
• Downsides
– Time and energy – involves a slower
process and less experienced participants
– Lack or receptivity or knowledge – not
everyone is interested or skilled enough
– Organizational climate or leader attributes
– the organization or leader may not be
predisposed to use participatory methods
Participative Leadership
Theory
•
Four key considerations:
1. Quality requirement – can the decision turn out
badly; are all options equal in quality (is one
option really just as good as any other)
2. Commitment/Acceptance decision - will
employees be committed enough to the decision
to implement it properly
3. How cohesive is the group – does everyone
cooperate or is there conflict among group
members or between group and leader
4. Time availability – how efficiently must the
decision be made
leader participation contingency variables
• QR Quality Requirement–is the technical quality of this
decision important
• LI Leader information – does the leader have sufficient
information to create a high quality decision
• ST Problem Structure – is the problem well structure
• CR (AR) Commitment/Acceptance Requirement- is
subordinate commitment to the decision important
• CP (AP) Commitment/Acceptance Probability – if you made the
decision yourself, is it reasonably certain that subordinates
would be committed to the decision
• GC Goal Congruence – Do subordinates share the
organizational goals to be attained by solving this problem
• CO Subordinate Conflict – Is conflict among subordinates likely
in the preferred solution
• SI Subordinate Information – Do subordinates have sufficient
information to make a high quality decision
leader participation
contingency variables
• Added considerations:
TC
Time Constraint – Is there a time
constraint that limits your ability to involve
subordinates
MD Motivation Development – Is it
important to maximize the opportunities for
subordinate development
Participative Leadership
• Issues:
– Not all subordinates are equally skilled or
interested
– Not all managers are equally skilled or
interested
– Not all organizational cultures support flexible
decision styles
Leader-Member Exchange
(LMX)
• Examines the dyadic relationship between
leaders and followers.
• In-group members versus out-group
members based upon compatibility
• In-group members do extra things for the
leader, perform beyond the requirements
of the job and the leader in turn gives
rewards beyond those allotted to outgroup members
Transactional Leaders
• Power is derived through our acceptance of
organizational structures and hierarchy
• Through the ability to reward and punish
• The leader clears and defines the pathway so
that followers know what is expected
• Takes into consideration followers needs
Transformational leaders
• Influence comes from follower
acceptance of values and vision which
guide all decisions and behaviours
• Transformational Leaders:
– Intellectually stimulate followers
– Give individualized consideration
– Are charismatic
Neutralizers of leadership
People oriented
leadership
-Knowledgeable, experienced subordinates
-Subordinates with high need for independence
-”Professional” subordinates
-Subordinates indifferent to organizational rewards
-Subordinates doing routine or standardized work
-Task has built in feedback
-Task is intrinsically satisfying
-Organization is highly formalized (written rules)
-Work group is cohesive
-Rewards cannot be affected by the supervisor
-Large distance between supervisor and subordinate
x
x
x
Task oriented
leadership
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
What are the
neutralizers/substitutes
• Julian is an extremely experienced sales
person of sophisticated electronic
equipment. He has a M.Sc. in electrical
engineering and is on the road 11 months
of the year. He really enjoys his job and
likes the commissions he receives.