Leadership
Leadership involves several important and distinct, yet interrelated, constructs
including:
 Influence
 Intention
 Personal responsibility
 Shared purpose or vision
 Followers
 Change
Management vs. Leadership?
Leaders inspire, motivate, empower, and move others!
There are three distinct managerial roles of leaders
 Interpersonal roles
 Informational roles
 Decisional roles
What are some of the most admired leader characteristics?
 Honesty
 Vision or Forward-looking
 Inspiring
 Competency
o Credibility
Kirkpatrick & Locke identify six core leadership traits that contribute to business
leader’s success
 Drive
 Motivation
 Honesty & Integrity
 Self-confidence
 Knowledge of the business
 Cognitive ability
Can leadership traits be developed?
YES! Leadership traits can be developed.
Effective leaders often have high EQ’s.
Are there gender differences in leadership?
 Men – more independent, instrumentally oriented, and competitive
behavior
 Women – greater affiliation, attachment, cooperation, and nurturing
behavior
 Situational characteristics are critical, too.
o Differences in influence strategies
 Men rely on power strategies
 Women rely on personal relationships and indirect influence
 Men often describe their leadership style as transactional or task oriented
 Women often describe their leadership styles as transformational or
interactive
o Interactive leaders
 Encourage participation
 Share power and information
 Enhance self-worth of others
 Energize others
Behavioral Approaches to Understanding Leadership
 University of Michigan – two distinct leadership styles
o Job-centered leaders
 The extent to which leaders take charge of getting the job done
o Employee-centered leaders
 Leaders engage in behaviors aimed at building trust, support,
and respect of the employees
 Ohio State University – two dimensions with four leadership styles
o Dimension one – consideration (employee centeredness) (high-low)
o Dimension two – initiating structure (job centeredness) (high-low)
McGregor’s - Theory X and Theory Y leaders
 Theory X leaders – Autocratic
o Task oriented
o Interested in details
o Efficiency minded
o Time and motion studies
o Product oriented
o Interested in promoting oneself
o Fast decision maker
o Somewhat extroverted
o Self-appointed or company appointed
o Close supervision
o Paternalistic
 Theory Y leaders – Participative
o Employee oriented
o Interested in generalizing
o Democratic to very permissive
o Sensitive to individual’s needs
o People oriented
o Aware of morale
o Slow decision maker
o Somewhat introverted
o Group appointed
o General supervision
o Maintenance specialist
o Democratic
o Consultive – encourage a high degree of involvement from
employees with the ultimate decisions the choice of the leader
o Democratic – confer final authority to the group and abides by
whatever the group decides, with no exceptions
Managerial Grid – A model based on a matrix value of 1 to 9 for two primary
dimensions
 manager’s concern for people
 manager’s concern for production (81 possible combinations)
Contingency Models
Seeks to explain how effective leadership behaviors differ by the specific
leadership context. These models argue that the most effective leadership behavior
depends upon the nature of the specific situation. There is no one best way to lead.
Path-goal Approach
The leader clarifies a path by which subordinates will be able to achieve
organizational goals.
Situational leadership
Suggests that leaders match styles of follower’s readiness levels and that there
are two dimensions to leadership (task and relationship behaviors)
Transformational leadership
Leaders are capable of effecting major changes in the organization because of
their compelling vision, their willingness to change the status quo of the
organization, and their effectiveness in enlisting the support of followers in working
towards achieving their vision by aligning it with the followers value systems and
priorities.
There are five practices of effective leaders
 Challenge the process
 Inspire a shared vision
 Enabling others to act
 Modeling the way
 Encouraging the heart
What are some of the emerging issues in leadership?
 Technology
 Globalization
 Workforce demographics
 Workplace diversity