3. Leadership Theories & Research
Perspectives
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▪ Leadership means different things to
different people.
▪ The meaning varies from country to country.
❖However, there are universally desired
leadership attributes (GLOBE research).
▪ The context in which leadership is practiced
is a central question to understanding it.
▪ Leaders are born, not made.
▪ Leadership is hierarchical, and you need to
hold a formal position (have status and
power) to be considered a leader.
▪ You have to have charisma to be an effective
leader.
▪ There is one standard way of leading.
▪ It is impossible to be a manager and a leader
at the same time.
▪ You only need to have “common sense” to
be an effective leader.
▪ Early 1900s definition portrays the leader as
controller of events and infers control over
people.
▪ Contemporary definitions focus on the
relationship processes between people
working toward a common goal.
▪ Symphony
▪ Consider roles of conductor and musicians.
▪ Jazz ensemble
▪ Consider roles of the musicians working together.
▪ Performance art
▪ Consider the balance of both process and
outcomes.
What kind is your leadership? Pause, feel, listen in to yourself.
Generations of Leadership Theories
Assumptions
▪ Leadership development is based on
Darwinistic principles.
▪ Leaders are born, not made.
▪ Leaders have natural abilities of power and
influence.
Critique
▪ Scientific research has not proved that
leadership is based on hereditary factors.
▪ Leadership was believed to exist only in a
few individuals.
Assumptions
▪ A leader has superior or endowed qualities.
▪ Certain individuals possess a natural ability to lead.
▪ Leaders have traits that differentiate them from
followers.
Critique
▪ The situation is not considered in this approach.
▪ Many traits are too obscure or abstract to measure
and observe.
▪ Studies have not adequately linked traits with
leadership effectiveness.
▪ Most trait studies omit leadership behaviors and
followers’ motivation as mediating variables.
Personal Characteristics of
Leaders
Sources: Bass and Stogdill’s Handbook of Leadership: Theory, Research, and Management Applications, 3rd ed. (New York: The Free Press, 1990), pp. 80–81;
S. A. Kirkpatrick and E. A. Locke, “Leadership: Do Traits Matter?” Academy of Management Executive 5, no. 2 (1991), pp. 48–60; and James M. Kouzes and
Barry Z. Posner, The Leadership Challenge: How to Get Extraordinary Things Done in Organizations (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1990)
Characteristics of Leaders (1 of 2)
Optimism
• Tendency to see the positive side of things
and expect that things will turn out well.
Self-confidence
• Assurance in one’s own judgments, decision
making, ideas, and capabilities.
Honesty
• Truthfulness and non-deception
Richard L. Daft, The Leadership Experience, 8th Edition. © 2023 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned,
copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
11
Characteristics of Leaders (2 of 2)
Integrity
Drive
Humility
• Quality of being whole, integrated, and acting
in accordance with solid ethical principles.
• High motivation that creates a high effort
level by a leader.
• Being unpretentious and modest rather than
arrogant and prideful.
Richard L. Daft, The Leadership Experience, 8th Edition. © 2023 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned,
copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
12
Know Your Strengths
• A leader does not need all skills to handle every problem
• Interdependence is the key to success. Leaders should:
• Hone their strengths
• Collaborate with others to make up for their weak points
Richard L. Daft, The Leadership Experience, 8th Edition. © 2023 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned,
copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
13
What are Strengths?
• Natural talent or ability that has been
supported and reinforced with learned
knowledge and skills
• Acts as the central point of focus in life
– Enables leadership to be based on:
• Energy
• Enthusiasm
• Effectiveness
Matching Strengths with
Roles
• Operational role
– Vertically oriented leadership role
– Executive has direct control over people and
resources and the position power to
accomplish results
– Leaders
• Traditional line and general management positions
• Focus on results
• Self-confident and assertive
• Analytical and knowledgeable
• Translate knowledge into vision
Matching Strengths with
Roles
• Collaborative role
– Horizontal leadership role
– Leader works behind the scenes and uses
personal power to influence others and get
things done
– Leaders
• Project managers, matrix managers, team
leaders
• People skills for networking and building
relationships
• Proactive, flexible; able to manage ambiguity
and uncertainty
Matching Strengths with
Roles
• Advisory role
– Provides advice, guidance, and support
– Responsible for developing broad
organizational capabilities rather than
accomplishing specific business results
– Leaders
• Legal, finance, and human resource
departments
• People skills
• Ability to influence others
• High levels of honesty and integrity
Three Types of Leadership Roles
Assumptions
▪ There is one best way to lead.
▪ Leaders who express high concern for both
people and production or consideration and
structure will be effective.
Critique
▪ Situational variables and group processes are
ignored; studies failed to identify the situations in
which specific types of leadership behaviors are
relevant.
Behavior Approaches
Autocratic
• Centralizes authority and derives power from position,
control of rewards, and coercion
• Effective when the skill difference between the leader and
subordinates is high
Democratic
• Delegates authority to others, encourages participation,
relies on subordinates for completion of tasks, and
depends on subordinate respect for influence
• Effective if subordinates possess decision-making skills
Leadership Continuum
Source: Harvard Business Review. An exhibit from Robert Tannenbaum and Warren Schmidt, “How to Choose a Leadership Pattern” (May–
June 1973). Copyright 1973 by the president and Fellows of Harvard College
Ohio State Studies
• Developed and administered the Leader
Behavior Description Questionnaire
(LBDQ)to employees
– Resulted in:
• Consideration: Extent to which a leader is
sensitive to subordinates, respects their ideas
and feelings, and establishes mutual trust
• Initiating structure: Extent to which a leader is
task oriented and directs subordinates’ work
activities toward goal achievement
University of Michigan
Studies
Employee-centered
• Leadership behavior that displays a focus on the human
needs of subordinates
Job-centered
• Leadership behavior in which leaders direct activities
toward efficiency, cost cutting, and scheduling
• Dimensions
• Goal emphasis
• Work facilitation
The Leadership Grid
• Describes major leadership styles based on
measuring both concern for people and
concern for production
– Two-dimensional model
– Proposed by the University of Texas
The Leadership Grid®
(University of Texas)
Source: The Leadership Grid figure from Leadership Dilemma—Grid Solutions by Robert R. Blake and Anne Adams McCanse (formerly the Managerial Grid by
Robert R. Blake and Jane S. Mouton). Houston: Gulf Publishing Company, p. 29. Copyright 1991 by Scientific Methods, Inc. Reproduced by permission of the
owners
Themes of Leader Behavior
Research
Sources: Based on Marilyn R. Zuckerman and Lewis J. Hatala, Incredibly American: Releasing the Heart of Quality (Milwaukee, WI: American Society for
Quality, 1992), pp. 141–142; and Mark O’Connell, Gary Yukl, and Thomas Taber, “Leader Behavior and LMX: A Constructive Replication,” Journal of
Managerial Psychology 27, no. 2 (2012), pp. 143–154
Individualized Leadership
• Notion that a leader develops a unique
relationship with each group member,
determining:
– Leader's behavior toward the member
– Member's response to the leader
Stages of Development of
Individualized Leadership
Sources: Based on Fred Danereau, “A Dyadic Approach to Leadership: Creating and Nurturing This Approach Under Fire,” Leadership
Quarterly 6, no. 4 (1995), pp. 479–490, and George B. Graen and Mary Uhl-Bien, “Relationship-Based Approach to Leadership: Development of
Leader–Member Exchange (LMX) Theory of Leadership over 25 Years: Applying a Multi-Level, Multi-Domain Approach,” Leadership
Quarterly 6, no. 2 (1995), pp. 219–247
Vertical Dyad Linkage
(VDL) Model
• Argues for the importance of the dyad
formed by a leader with each member of
the group
– In-group relationship - Seen among
members with whom leaders spend a
disproportionate amount of time
– Out-group relationship - Seen among
members of the group who did not
experience a sense of trust and extra
consideration
Leader Behavior Toward In-Group
versus Out-Group Members
Sources: Based on Jean François Manzoni and Jean-Louis Barsoux, “The Set-Up-to-Fail Syndrome,” Harvard Business Review (March–April 1988), pp. 110–113;
and Mark O’Donnell, Gary Yukl, and Thomas Taber, “Leader Behavior and LMX: A Constructive Replication,” Journal of Management Psychology 27, no. 2
(2012), pp. 143–154.
Leader-Member Exchange (LMX)
• Explores how leader-member relationships
develop over time and how the quality of
exchange relationships affects outcomes
• Higher-quality relationship will lead to
higher performance
– Leading to greater job satisfaction for ingroup members
Partnership Building
• Leaders strive to develop a positive
relationship with each subordinate
– Positive relationship will have a different
form for each person
– Performance and productivity gains can be
achieved if the leader develops positive
relationships with each subordinate
– Third phase of the research
Entrepreneurial Traits and
Behaviors
• Entrepreneurship
– Initiating a business venture, organizing
the necessary resources, and assuming the
associated risks and rewards
• Need to be:
– Strongly driven
– Enthusiastic
– Driven by a vision
Entrepreneurial Traits and
Behaviors
• Leaders are:
– Persistent
– Independent
– Action oriented
– Drawn to new opportunities
– Innovative
– Creative
– Highly self-motivated
Assumptions
▪ Leaders act differently, depending on the situation.
▪ The situation determines who will emerge as a leader.
▪ Different leadership behaviors are required for different
situations.
Critique
▪ Most contingency theories are ambiguous, making it
difficult to formulate specific, testable propositions.
▪ Theories lack accurate measures.
Contingency and Contingency
Approaches
Contingency
• Theory meaning one thing depends on other
things
Contingency approaches
• Seek to delineate the characteristics of
situations and followers and examine the
leadership styles that can be used effectively
Comparing the Universalistic and
Contingency Approaches to Leadership
Meta-Categories of Leader Behavior
and Four Leader Styles
Source: Based on Gary Yukl, Angela Gordon, and Tom Taber, “A Hierarchical Taxonomy of Leadership Behavior: Integrating a Half
Century of Behavior Research,” Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies 9, no. 1 (2002), pp. 15–32.
Hersey and Blanchard’s
Situational Theory
• Focuses on the characteristics of followers
as the important element of the situation,
and consequently, of determining effective
leader behavior
– Subordinates vary in readiness level
Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational
Theory - Leadership Style
Telling style
• Directive approach that reflects a high concern for tasks and
a low concern for people and relationships
Selling style
• Based on a high concern for both relationships and tasks
Participating style
• Characterized by high relationship and low task behavior
Delegating style
• Reflects a low concern for both tasks and relationships
The Situational Model of Leadership
Source: Adapted from The Hersey and Blanchard
Situational Leadership Model/The Center for Leadership
Studies, Inc.
Richard L. Daft, The Leadership Experience, 8th Edition. © 2023 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned,
copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
41
Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Theory—
Follower Readiness
Low readiness
• Use the telling leader style
Moderate readiness
• Use the selling leader style
High readiness
• Use the participating leader style
Very high readiness
• Use the delegating leader style
Richard L. Daft, The Leadership Experience, 8th Edition. © 2023 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned,
copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
42
Fiedler’s Contingency Model
Designed to diagnose whether a leader
is task-oriented or relationshiporiented and match leader style to the
situation
Fiedler’s Contingency Model Leadership Styles
• Relationship-oriented
– Concerned with people
– Establishes mutual trust and respect
– Listens to employees’ needs
• Task-oriented
– Motivated by task accomplishment
– Provides clear direction and performance
standards
• Measured with a least preferred coworker
(LPC) scale
Situation
Leader-member relations
• Group atmosphere and members’ attitudes toward
and acceptance of the leader
Task structure
• Extent to which tasks performed by the group are
defined, involve specific procedures, and have clear,
explicit goals
Position power
• Extent to which the leader has formal authority over
subordinates
Fiedler’s Classification: How Leader Style
Fits the Situation
Source: Based on Fred E. Fiedler, “The Effects of Leadership Training and Experience: A Contingency Model Interpretation,”
Administrative Science Quarterly 17 (1972), p. 455.
Richard L. Daft, The Leadership Experience, 8th Edition. © 2023 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned,
copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
46
Path-Goal Theory
• Contingency approach to leadership in
which the leader’s responsibility is to
increase subordinates’ motivation
– By clarifying the behaviors necessary for
task accomplishment and rewards
Leader Roles in the Path-Goal
Model
Reprinted from Organizational Dynamics, 13 (Winter 1985), Bernard M. Bass, “Leadership: Good, Better, Best”, pp. 26–40, Copyright 1985, with permission
from Elsevier.
Leader Behavior
Supportive leadership
• Shows concern for subordinates’ well-being and
personal needs
• Leadership behavior is open, friendly, and
approachable, and the leader creates a team climate
and treats subordinates as equals
Directive leadership
• Tells subordinates exactly what they are supposed to do
• Leader behavior includes planning, making schedules,
setting performance goals and behavior standards,
and stressing adherence to rules and regulations
Leader Behavior
Participative leadership
• Consults with subordinates about decisions
• Leader behavior includes asking for opinions and
suggestions, encouraging participation in decision
making, and meeting with subordinates in their
workplaces
Achievement-oriented leadership
• Sets clear and challenging goals for subordinates
• Leader behavior stresses high-quality performance and
improvement over current performance
Situational Contingencies
• Personal characteristics of group members
– Ability and skills
– Needs and motivations
• Work environment
– Degree of task structure
– Nature of the formal authority system
– Work group itself
Path-Goal Situations and
Preferred Leader Behaviors
The Vroom-Jago Contingency
Model
• Focuses on varying degrees of participative
leadership, and how each level of participation
influences quality and accountability of
decisions
• Situational factors shape the likelihood that
either a more participative or more autocratic
approach will produce the best outcome
• Tells the leader precisely the correct amount
of participation by subordinates to use in
making a particular decision
Five Leader Decision Styles
Diagnostic Questions
Decision significance
• How significant is this decision for the project or organization?
Importance of commitment
• How important is subordinate commitment to carrying out the
decision?
Leader expertise
• What is the level of the leader’s expertise in relation to the
problem?
Likelihood of commitment
• If the leader were to make the decision alone, would
subordinates have high or low commitment to the decision?
Diagnostic Questions
Group support for goals
• What is the degree of subordinate support for the team’s or
organization’s objectives at stake in this decision?
Goal expertise
• What is the level of group members’ knowledge and
expertise in relation to the problem?
Team competence
• How skilled and committed are group members to working
together as a team to solve problems?
Selecting a Decision Style
• Timesaving-based model
• Use when a decision must be made
immediately
• Development-based model
• Use when it is important to develop the
thinking and decision-making skills of
followers
Richard L. Daft, The Leadership Experience, 8th Edition. © 2023 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned,
copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
57
Substitutes for Leadership
Substitute
• Situational variable that makes leadership
unnecessary or redundant
Neutralizer
• Situational characteristic that counteracts the
leadership style and prevents the leader from
displaying certain behaviors
Substitutes and Neutralizers for
Leadership
▪ Influence on followers is based on the leader’s
charismatic personality rather than on traditional
power and authority.
▪ The context of the situation and the needs of the
followers are particularly relevant considerations in
determining what makes a leader charismatic.
▪ Deference to a leader based on charm can lead to
blind followership and misuses of power.
Several reciprocal theories are explored here. All of
these theories:
▪ Focus on the reciprocal nature of leader-follower
interactions
▪ Emphasize collective goals rather than the leader’s
goal
▪ Elevate the importance of the role of followers in the
leadership process
▪ The leader’s role is to serve the followers.
▪ What do they need in order to accomplish their
goal? (training, encouragement, coaching, etc.)
▪ The leader is motivated by a desire to make a
positive difference for others.
Critique
▪ Is not a measurable model, so not supported by
research.
▪ Followers have a more traditional, passive role.
“…a process where leaders and followers raise one
another to higher levels of morality and motivation.”
―James MacGregor Burns
Major Assumptions
▪ Leaders motivate by appealing to “higher ideals and
moral values such as liberty, justice, equality, peace, and
humanitarianism” rather than a transactional exchange of
rewards or punishments
▪ The group’s process matters as much as results.
▪ Through the experience, both leaders and followers are
transformed to higher ethical aspirations and conduct.
Major Criticism
▪ It is a vague theory, making it difficult to measure. Hard to
prove the degree that leaders and followers are
transformed
▪ It is more leader-centric than most reciprocal theories.
▪ An ambitious, broad and deep intrinsic motivation-
based theory that seeks to incorporate both the roles
of leaders and followers, as well as the needs of the
organisations, and the impact on stakeholders.
▪ SLT encompasses ideas related to servant leadership,
Level 5 leadership, ethical leadership, mindful
leadership, transformational leadership theory, and
even authentic leadership theory. There is overlap
and similarity, and all are values-based approaches to
leadership.
▪ Gaining in research popularity due to its emphasis on
a leader’s rich inner life, altruistic love and
selflessness, inspiring followers towards a sense of
calling and membership, thus helping an organisation
achieve a a much higher performance level and
strives for balance in the 3Ps of the Triple Bottom Line
model (People, Planet, Profit), which fits in with the
present focus on sustainable development.
“Leadership is not the influence of an
individual but is embedded in a complex
interplay of numerous interacting forces.”
Uhl-Bien, M., Marion, R., & McKelvey, B. (2007). Complexity
leadership theory: Shifting Leadership from the industrial
age to the knowledge era. The Leadership Quarterly, 18,
298–318.
Major Assumptions
▪ The source of change is attributed to the interactive
dynamics of all the people and ideas influencing the
process.
▪ People at all levels of the organization interact and
adapt to rapidly shifting realities as they work toward
their goal.
Rather than getting followers to do the leader’s
wishes, leadership occurs when interacting
individuals generate adaptive outcomes that are
needed to accomplish their goal.
▪ Group members no longer rely on formal leaders to
provide direction or authorization.
▪ Requires group members with emotional
intelligence and a strong sense of common values
and goals.
“A dynamic, interactive influence process among
individuals in groups for which the objective is to
lead one another to the achievement of the group or
organizational goals or both….Leadership is
broadly distributed among a set of individuals
instead of centralized in hands of a single individual
who acts in the role of a superior.”
Pearce, C. L., & Conger, J. A. (2003). Shared leadership: Reframing the hows
and whys of leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
▪ Leadership is owned by the whole system as
opposed to the formal leader.
▪ Leadership is distributed among interdependent
group members.
▪ Leadership is embedded in social interactions, it
occurs through relationships, with followers
influencing and initiating leadership.
▪ Leadership requires mutual learning, heightened
understanding by learning from each other’s
perspectives.
▪ There are a growing number of organizations (public and
private) that practice shared/distributed
approaches/structures to leadership.
▪ These organizations are not merely “flat” but have worked
hard to build a cultures of trust, discipline, freedom,
autonomy, transparency, collaboration, and responsibility.
Power and authority are dispersed and distributed;
decentralization is a key characteristic.
▪ These organizations provide a tremendously high amount
of empowerment, self-management, with very little
emphasis on bureaucracy and hierarchy. Selection and
recruitment is done very stringently (“only responsible
adults need apply”).
▪ Organizations that practice shared/distributed leadership
value strong teams. Systems and infrastructure are
developed to ensure clear communication and sharing of
resources. Expectations, goals, tasks, and roles are
clarified from the beginning. Everyone can lead, and in
some companies, all get to vote in key decisions. Team
members often know each other’s tasks and can cover for
one another when the need arises.
▪ One of the key strengths of such organizations is the
ability to be nimble, flexible, learn, reconfigure,
reallocate, and adapt quickly to fluid, rapidly changing
circumstances.
▪ These organizations behave a lot like a network, or a
complex web of connections and interactions.
▪ Some key organizational examples in the world
today of shared/distributed leadership practices (in
varying degrees, with some intensely democratic
and decentralized, and others slightly more
structured):
❖W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc.
❖SEMCO, Brazil
❖The Morning Star Company
❖Netflix
❖U.S. Military
❖Google
To paraphrase management thinker,
Gary Hamel, author of
Humanocracy:
Are we working hard enough at
creating companies that are “fit for
humans” and “fit for the future”?
▪ A vibrant, unique theory that invites and challenges
leaders to embrace the reality that leadership
consists of many “paradoxes” that leaders must
learn to hold in tension all at the same time.
▪ A paradox refers to ideas or situations that seem to
oppose and contradict one another, but in reality, all
are true at the same time.
▪ Leaders must learn to hold these truths together,
and flow back and forth between them. Examples:
Providing autonomy, trust, and empowerment, while
needing to monitor and measure performance;
ensuring profitability of the company, while being
socially and environmentally responsible and
ethical; focus on performance excellence, while
demonstrating compassion and being human, and
more.
▪ Leaders must move away from “either/or” mindset,
and develop “both/all” mindset.
Effective followers
▪ Manage themselves well.
▪ Are committed to the organization and to a purpose,
principle, or person outside themselves.
▪ Build their competence and focus their efforts for
maximum impact.
▪ Are courageous, honest, and credible.
Kelley, R. E. (1988). “In Praise of Followers”. Harvard Business Review, 66(6),
142–148.
Industrial Paradigm
▪ Structural-functionalist
▪ Management-oriented
▪ Leader-centric (little
attention to the role of
others in the group)
▪ Goal-achievement
dominated
▪ Self-interested and
individualistic in outlook
▪ Male-oriented
▪ Utilitarian and materialistic
in ethical perspective
▪ Linear and scientific in
language and methodology
Post-Industrial Paradigm
▪ More attention to relationships
than organizational structure
▪ Attention given to the
interdependent roles of
everyone in the group
▪ Emphasis on good process as
well as good results
▪ Emphasis on good outcomes
for everyone, not just the
leader
▪ Nonlinear approach. No stepby-step easy answers, but
requires ability to adapt and
respond
The world:
▪ Is inherently unpredictable
▪ While at another level it displays a “hidden
pattern”
▪ Is made of connected wholes, rather than distinct
parts
▪ Cannot be controlled, but can be influenced
The way things “ought” to
be:
▪ Perfection is expected the
first time.
▪ Goals are predictable with
complete certainty.
▪ Control is expected.
▪ Efficiency is the standard
of competence.
▪ Predictability is assumed.
The way things actually are :
▪ Informed experimentation is
necessary.
▪ Additional and new goals will
always appear.
▪ Absolute control is rare and
cannot be maintained over
the long term.
▪ Redundancy and detours fuel
creativity and innovation.
▪ Probabilities are the norm.
Allen, K. E., & Cherrey, C. (2000). Systemic leadership: Enriching the
meaning of our work. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, p. 20.
▪ Authentic leaders know who they are, what they
value, and act transparently.
▪ Leadership relationships have
▪ Transparency, openness, and trust
▪ Are working toward worthy objectives
▪ Emphasis on personal development of
followers
George, B. (2007). True North – Discover Your Authentic Leadership.
Jossey-Bass.
George, B., Sims, P., McLean, A.N. & Mayer, D. (2007). “Discover Your
Authentic Leadership”. Harvard Business Review.