Lecture 7
Leadership
BBA 352 Organizational Behavior
Department of Business Administration
Dr. S.Chan
Charmaine@chuhai.edu.hk http://home.chuhai.hk/~charmaine/
17-0
Virgin Group
Richard Branson, British entrepreneur, a
great leader characterized as fun loving,
sensitive to the needs to others, hard
working, innovative, charismatic,
enthusiastic, energetic, decisive and risk
taking.
Chapter Learning Objectives
 After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
– Define leadership
– Summarize the conclusions of trait theories.
– Identify the central tenets and main limitations of behavioral
theories.
– Assess contingency theories of leadership by their level of support.
– Contrast the interactive theories (path-goal and leader-member
exchange).
– Identify the situational variables in the leader-participation model.
– Show how U.S. managers might need to adjust their leadership
approaches in Brazil, France, Egypt, and China.
12-2
What Is Leadership?
 Leadership
– The ability to influence a group, both formally and
informally toward the achievement of a vision or set of goals
Leadership Theories
1.Trait Theories
2.Behavioral Theories
3.Contingency Theories
4.Leader-Member Exchange Theory
1. Trait Theories
-Theories that consider personal qualities and characteristics that
differentiate leaders from non-leaders
e.g. Thatcher confident, iron willed, determined, decisive
- Common description: Charismatic, enthusiastic and courageous,
ambition and energy
- Leadership Traits: extraversion, conscientiousness and openness
and EI proved to be strongly related to leader effectiveness
- Leaders who are extraverted (who like being around people and
are able to assert themselves), conscientious (who are disciplined
and keep commitment they make), open (who are creative and
flexible), emotional intelligent (EI, caring others needs, listening &
empathetic) are common traits of good leaders
-Traits can predict leadership, but they are better at predicting
leader emergence than effectiveness.
Behavioral Theories of Leadership
 Theories proposing that specific behaviors differentiate
leaders from non-leaders
 Differences between theories of leadership:
– Trait theory: leadership is inherent, so we must identify the
leader based on his or her traits
– Behavioral theory: leadership is a skill set and can be taught
to anyone, so we must identify the proper behaviors to teach
potential leaders
Important Behavioral Studies
 Ohio State University 1940s
– Found two key dimensions of leader behavior:
• Initiating structure – the defining and structuring of roles, e.g
behavior that attempts to organize work, work relationship, goals.
• Consideration – job relationships that reflect trust and respect, eg
leaders help employees with personal problems, friendly and
approachable, treat employees equal, etc.
• Both are important
 University of Michigan
– Also found two key dimensions of leader behavior:
• Employee-oriented – emphasizes interpersonal relationships and
is the most powerful dimension
• Production-oriented – emphasizes the technical aspects of the job
– The dimensions of the two studies are very similar
Contingency Theories
 While trait and behavior theories do help us understand
leadership, an important component is missing: the
environment in which the leader exists
 Contingency Theory deals with this additional aspect of
leadership effectiveness studies
 THREE key theories:
1. Fiedler’s Model
2. Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory
3. Path Theory
1. Fiedler Contingency Model
 The theory that effective groups depend on a proper
match between a leader’s style of interacting with
subordinates and the degree to which the situation gives
control and influence to the leader
– Assumes that leadership style (based on orientation revealed in
Least Preferred Coworker-LPC questionnaire) is fixed
 Considers Three Situational Factors:
– Leader-member relations: degree of confidence and trust and
respect subordinates have in the leader
– Task structure: degree of structure in the jobs
– Position power: leader’s ability to hire, fire, and reward eg give
salary increase
 For effective leadership: must change to a leader who fits
the situation or change the situational variables to fit the
current leader
Assessment of Fiedler’s Model
 Positives:
– Considerable evidence supports the model, especially if the
original eight situations are grouped into three
 Problems:
– The logic behind the LPC scale is not well understood
– LPC scores are not stable
– Contingency variables are complex and hard to determine
Fiedler’s Cognitive Resource Theory
 A refinement of Fiedler’s original model:
– Focuses on stress as the enemy of rationality and creator of
unfavorable conditions
– A leader’s intelligence and experience influence his or her
reaction to that stress
Stress Level
• Low
• High
Intellectual
Abilities
• Effective
• Ineffective
 Research is supporting the theory.
Leader’s
Experience
• Ineffective
• Effective
Hersey & Blanchard’s Situational Leadership
 A model that focuses on follower “readiness”
– Followers can accept or reject the leader
– Effectiveness depends on the followers’ response to the
leader’s actions
– “Readiness” is the extent to which people have the ability
and willingness to accomplish a specific task
Hersey & Blanchard’s Situational Leadership
 Four READINESS stages of employees
–
–
–
–
Not able and not willing to do
Not able but willing to do
Able but not willing to do
Able and willing to do
Hersey & Blanchard’s Situational Leadership
 Four Leadership style
– Telling (高任務-低人際關係): what, how,
when, where to do
– Selling (高任務-高人際關係): directive +
supportive
– Participating (低任務-高人際關係):
facilitating + communicating
– Delegating (低任務-低人際關係): little
direction or support
 A paternal model:
– As the child matures, the adult releases
more and more control over the situation
– As the workers become more ready, the
leader becomes more laissez-faire
House’s Path-Goal Theory
 Builds from the Ohio State studies and the expectancy
theory of motivation
 The Theory:
– Leaders provide followers with information, support, and
resources to help them achieve their goals
– Leaders help clarify the “path” to the worker’s goals
– Leaders can display multiple leadership types
 Four types of leaders:
–
–
–
–
Directive: focuses on the work to be done
Supportive: focuses on the well-being of the worker
Participative: consults with employees in decision-making
Achievement-Oriented: sets challenging goals
Path-Goal Model
 Two classes of contingency variables:
– Environmental are outside of employee control
– Subordinate factors are internal to employee
 Mixed support in the research findings
Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Theory
 A response to the failing of contingency theories to
account for followers and heterogeneous leadership
approaches to individual workers
 LMX Premise:
– Because of time pressures, leaders form a special
relationship with a small group of followers: the “in-group”
– This in-group is trusted and gets more time and attention
from the leader (more “exchanges”)
– All other followers are in the “out-group” and get less of the
leader’s attention and tend to have formal relationships with
the leader (fewer “exchanges”)
– Leaders pick group members early in the relationship
LMX Model
 How groups are assigned is unclear
– Follower characteristics determine group membership
 Leaders control by keeping favorites close
 Research has been generally supportive
Global Implications
 These leadership theories are primarily studied in
English-speaking countries
 GLOBE does have some country-specific insights
– Brazilian teams prefer leaders who are high in consideration,
participative, and have high LPC scores
– French workers want a leader who is high on initiating
structure and task-oriented
– Egyptian employees value team-oriented, participative
leadership, while keeping a high-power distance
– Chinese workers may favor a moderately participative style
 Leaders should take culture into account
Summary and Managerial Implications
 Leadership is central to understanding group behavior
as the leader provides the direction
 Extroversion, conscientiousness, and openness all show
consistent relationships to leadership
 Behavioral approaches have narrowed leadership down
into two usable dimensions
 Need to take into account the situational variables,
especially the impact of followers