Commerce 2BA3
Leadership
Week 11 (Part A)
Dr. Teal McAteer
DeGroote School of Business
McMaster University
What is Leadership?
• The influence that particular individuals
exert on the goal achievement of others in
an organizational context.
Formal vs. Informal
• Formal
– Legitimacy
– Role/position
• Informal
– No legitimate title
– Positive power always
– Critical knowledge and experience
Leaders versus Managers
• The role of the leader and the role of the
manager are not the same.
• Is it possible to be a manager yet not have
influence?
Transformational vs Transactional
• Transformational
– Arouse intense feelings
– Inspirational
– Rely on personal sources of power
– Charisma
• Transactional
– Motivate by exchanging rewards for services
– Manager-like role
Trait – Innate
Universal
Transformational
Leaders
Behaviour –
Can be Trained
Socio-emotional
& Task Leaders
Situation Contingent
Fiedler’s
Contingency
Model of
Leadership
-Path-Goal
Theory
-Vroom-Yetton’s
Model
Universal Leader Influence
Universal Trait Theories or Approaches
- belief that certain individuals are destined
to be leaders regardless of the situation.
- traits: individual characteristics such as
physical attributes, intellectual ability, and
personality.
-limitations of the trait approach
Universal Leader Influence cont.
Universal Behaviour Theories/Approaches
Task Leader
- A leader who is concerned with
accomplishing a task by organizing
others, planning strategy, and dividing
labour.
Social-emotional Leader
- A leader who is concerned with reducing
tension, patching up disagreements, and
maintaining morale.
The Ohio State Studies
- Initiating Consideration: the extent to
which a leader is approachable and shows
personal concern for employees
- Initiating Structure: the degree to which a
leader concentrates on group goal
attainment.
- Overall study effects
Situation-Contingent Leader
Influence
Contingency Trait Theories/Approaches
Fiedler’s Contingency Theory
- The association between leadership
orientation and group effectiveness is
contingent on how favourable the
situation is for exerting influence
1.Leadership Orientation
2.Situational Favourableness
1. Leadership Orientation
- Least Preferred Co-Worker Scale
- LPC: A current of past co-worker with
whom a leader has had a difficult time
accomplishing a task.
2. Situational Favourableness
- leader-member relations
- task structure
- position power
3. The Contingency Model (Exhibit 9.2, p. 306)
Situation Contingent Leader
Influence cont..
Contingency Behaviour Theories
House’s Path-Goal Theory
- This theory is concerned with the
situations under which various leader
behaviours are most effective.
1. Leader Behaviour
2. Situational Factors
House’s Path-Goal Theory cont..
1. Leader Behaviour
- Directive behaviour
- Supportive behaviour
- Participative behaviour
- Achievement-oriented behaviour
2. Situational Factors
Employee Characteristics:
- level of authoritarianism
- locus of control
- level of ability
Environmental Factors
- nature of the task
- formal authority
3. The Path-Goal Model (Exh. 9.3, p. 308)
Contingency Behaviour Theories cont..
1. What is Participative Leadership?
- involving employees in making
work-related decisions
2. Advantages of Participative Leadership
- motivation
- quality
- acceptance
3. Problems with Participative Leadership
- time and energy
- loss of power
- lack of receptivity or knowledge
Vroom and Jago’s Model of Participative
Leadership
- specifies when leaders should use
participation and to what extent they
should use it.
- model suggests various degrees of
participation that a leader can exhibit
- range: AI, AII, CI, CII, GII (A for autocratic;
C for consultative; G fro group)
- model (Exh. 9.5, p. 287)
Alternative Theories of Leadership
1. Leader-Member Exchange (LNX) Theory
- A theory of leadership that focuses on
the quality of the relationship that
develops between a leader and an
employee.
2. Developmental Leadership
- A style of leadership that involves
working with organizational members as
partners and using persuasion and
negotiation rather than formal power and
authority to achieve high levels of
commitment rather than compliance.
- self-management
- empowerment
- persuasion and negotiation
3. Strategic Leadership
- Leadership that involves the ability to
anticipate, envision, maintain flexibility,
think strategically, and work with others
to initiate changes that will create a
viable future for the organization
4. Global Leadership
- A set of leadership capabilities required
to function effectively in different cultures
and the ability to cross language, social,
economic, and political borders.
-inquisitiveness
-personal character
-duality
-savvy
Neutralizers and Substitutes for
Leadership
Neutralizers of Leadership
-factors in the work setting that reduce a
leader’s opportunity to exercise influence
(employee, task and organizational factors)
Substitutes for Leadership
- factors in the work setting that can take
the place of active leadership, making it
unnecessary or redundant.
(employee, task and organizational factors)