Chapter 9: Leadership and Decision Making
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I. The Nature of Leadership
Leadership includes the processes and behaviors used by someone, such as a manager, to motivate,
inspire, and influence the behaviors of others.
II. Early Approaches to Leadership
A. Trait Approaches to Leadership:
The trait approach to leadership focuses on identifying the essential leadership traits in individuals.
Although the trait approach was all but abandoned several decades ago, in recent years, it has
resurfaced.
B.
Behavioral Approaches to Leadership:
The behavioral approach to leadership focuses on the behaviors employed by effective leaders; this
research led to the identification of two basic forms of leader behavior: task-focused leader behavior,
which occurs when a leader focuses on how tasks should be performed in order to meet certain goals;
and employee-focused leader behavior, which occurs when a leader focuses on the satisfaction,
motivation, and well-being of his or her employees.
III. The Situational Approach to Leadership
The situational approach to leadership assumes that the appropriate leader behavior varies from one
situation to another. This approach was first proposed as a continuum of leadership behavior. This
continuum ranges from the one extreme of having the leader make decisions alone (i.e., task-focused) to
having employees make decisions with only minimal guidance from the leader.
IV. Leadership through the Eyes of Followers
Another recent perspective that has been adopted by some leadership experts focuses on how leaders
are seen through the eyes of their followers.
A. Transformational Leadership:
Transformational leadership focuses on the importance of leading for change it is the set of abilities that
allows a leader to recognize the need for change, to create a vision to guide that change, and to execute
the change effectively. Transactional leadership is essentially the same as management in that it
involves routine, regimented activities.
B.
Charismatic Leadership:
Charismatic leadership is a type of influence based on a leader’s personal charisma; charismatic leaders
are likely to have a lot of self-confidence, confidence in their beliefs and ideals, and a strong need to
influence people.
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V. Special Issues in Leadership
A. Leadership Substitutes:
Leadership substitutes are individual, task, and organizational characteristics that tend to outweigh the
need for a leader to initiate or direct employee performance. Examples of leadership substitutes include:
individual ability, experience, training, knowledge, motivation, and professional orientation.
C.
Leadership Neutralizers:
Leadership neutralizers are factors that may render certain leadership behaviors ineffective. Examples
of leadership neutralizers include norms, group cohesion, elements of the job, and organizational
factors.
VI. The Changing Nature of Leadership
A. Leaders as Coaches:
Many organizations are becoming less hierarchical, changing the role of the leader from “overseer” to
“coach.” Mentoring helps less-experienced employees learn the ropes and better prepares them to
advance within the organization.
B.
Gender and Leadership:
Contrary to stereotypes, female leaders are not necessarily more nurturing or supportive than male
leaders; and male leaders are not systematically more harsh, controlling, or task-focused than female
leaders. Females do tend to be more democratic in making decisions; males tend to be more autocratic.
C.
Cross-Cultural Leadership:
Culture encompasses both international differences and diversity-based differences within one culture.
Cross-cultural factors play a growing role in organizations as their workforces become more diverse.
VII. Emerging Issues in Leadership
A. Strategic Leadership:
Strategic leadership is a leader’s ability to understand the complexities of both the organization and its
environment and to lead change in the organization.
B.
Ethical Leadership:
Ethical leadership is a leader’s ability to maintain high ethical standards for his or her own conduct, to
unfailingly exhibit ethical behavior, and to hold others in the organization to the same standards.
C.
Virtual Leadership:
Virtual leadership refers to leadership that is exhibited when leaders and their employees work in
locations that are far from one another.
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VIII. Leadership, Management, and Decision Making
Decision making—choosing one alternative from among several options—is a critical management skill.
A. Rational Decision Making There are a number of steps in the rational decision-making process.
1.
Recognizing and Defining the Decision Situation. There must be a stimulus or spark to initiate the process;
managers must develop a complete understanding of the problem, its causes, and its relationship to other
factors.
2.
Identifying Alternatives. Alternative courses of action must be developed; the more important the
decision, the more attention is directed to developing alternatives.
3.
Evaluating Alternatives. Managers must weigh the pros and cons and the feasibility of all alternatives to
the problem.
4.
Selecting the Best Alternative. Finding multiple acceptable alternatives may be possible; selecting just one
alternative and rejecting all the others might not be necessary.
5.
Implementing the Chosen Alternative. Implementation is sometimes fairly easy, whereas in other
situations, implementation is difficult.
6.
Following Up and Evaluating the Results. Managers should make sure that the chosen alternative has
served it original purpose.
B. Behavioral Aspects of Decision Making
1.
Political Forces in Decision Making: Political forces contribute to the behavioral nature of decision making.
A coalition is an informal alliance of individuals or groups formed to achieve a common goal.
2.
Intuition: Intuition is an innate belief about something, often without conscious consideration; intuition is
often thought of as a “hunch.”
3.
Escalation of Commitment: Escalation of commitment occurs when managers become so committed to
the course of action they have chosen that they stay with it, even when it appears to have been wrong.
4.
Risk Propensity and Decision Making: Risk propensity is the extent to which a decision maker is willing to
gamble when making a decision.
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