CHAPTER SIX
PARTICIPATIVE
LEADERSHIP
BEHAVIOR
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Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter, you should be able to
do the following:
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Describe participative leadership behaviors and
provide examples of specific leader behaviors.
Explain why participative leadership can have
positive influences on follower behaviors.
Describe skills and abilities that are needed to be
an effective participative leader.
Describe the individual and organizational
benefits that can result from effective
participative leadership.
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Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter, you should be able to
do the following:
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Identify characteristics of followers that make
participative leadership highly effective and
characteristics that make it ineffective.
Identify organizational and task characteristics
that make participative leadership highly effective
and characteristics that make it ineffective.
Describe how leaders can modify situations to
increase the effectiveness of their participative
leadership.
Explain how leaders can modify followers’ work
situations to make followers less dependent on
the leader’s participative leadership.
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Participative Leadership
Participative leaders involve followers in the
decision processes. Participative leadership
includes describing a decision problem to a
group of followers and asking for their input
on the implications of various alternative
solutions already developed by the leader. It
also involves holding informal conversations
with individual followers to draw their ideas
out and listening carefully to understand and
incorporate their information into a decision
solution.
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Types of Participative
Leadership Behavior
Consulting
with
groups
Asking for
opinions about
alternatives
Consulting
with
individuals
Participative
Leadership
Behaviors
Joint decision
making with
followers
Obtaining
information
from followers
Delegation
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Degrees of Participation
Autocratic
Decision
LOW
Consultation
Consensus/Group
Decision
Influence by Followers
Delegation
HIGH
Source: Adapted from Gary Yukl (1998) Leadership in Organizations.
Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey
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Real Leaders

Real leaders vary their use of different forms of
participation. Some leaders, for example, use
consensus decision making with only one or two
trusted followers; others prefer large group meetings
where all points of view are heard. Some leaders use
delegation only after carefully specifying guidelines and
limits to the decision option chosen and may require
that the final decision be subjected to the leader’s
approval before implementation. Other leaders give
followers complete freedom in arriving at and
implementing a solution. Most leaders use different
combinations of participation at different times,
adapting them to each situation and group of followers.
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Effective Delegation
TO DELEGATE EFFECTIVELY
DO
AVOID
•Understand your authority &
responsibility
•Lack of agreement on authority &
responsibility
•Clearly communicate performance
expectations
•Lack of understanding of group’s
objectives
•Make followers responsible for
results
•Involvement of followers not trained
to effectively perform
•Delegate challenging
responsibilities
•Showing a lack of confidence in
followers
•Show confidence in followers’
ability to perform
•Requiring “nothing less than
perfection”
•Reward accomplishment
•Making followers feel insecure
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Skills, Traits and Sources of Power for Effective
Participative Leadership
Listening
Skills
Self-Monitoring
Skills
Conflict
Management
Skills
Skills, Traits & Sources
of Power for Effective
Participative Leadership
Assertiveness
Skills
Legitimate
Power
Expert
Power
Resource/Connection
Power
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Major Effects of Participative
Leadership
Follower Benefits
Group or Organizational
Benefits
• satisfaction with work and
leader
• increased performance
motivation
• less resistance to change
increased performance
improved development
•improved quality of decisions
•increased performance
•smoother implementation of
decisions
•less resistance to change
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Enhancers of Participative
Leadership Effectiveness
FOLLOWER
CHARACTERISTICS
• Job competence
• Needs for independence
and growth
• Internal locus of control
• Expect participation
SITUATIONAL FACTORS
THAT ENHANCE THE
EFFECTIVENESS OF
PARTICIPATIVE
LEADERSHIP
TASK
CHARACTERISTICS
• Important task
• Requires followers’
commitment
• Uncertainty
GROUP & LEADER
CHARACTERISTICS
• Group harmony
• Trust in leader
• Good leader skills in conflict management
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Situational Factors That Neutralize
Effectiveness of Participative Leadership
Tasks that are
highly structured
or complex
Large group size
SITUATIONAL FACTORS
THAT NEUTRALIZE
EFFECTIVENESS OF
PARTICIPATIVE LEADERSHIP
Passive followers, authoritarian
followers, followers willing to accept
autocratic leadership
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Overcoming Factors that Neutralize
Effectiveness of Participative Leadership
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Task redesign can be used to manipulate the structure
and complexity of followers’ tasks, and selection
procedures can help determine if specific personality
types are well matched with certain jobs.
When leaders face emergency decisions or those with
short time deadlines, participation is not effective. In
some cases, the leader may be able to extend deadlines
or learn of needed decisions sooner and thus provide
more time for participative leadership.
Large groups may be split into subgroups. These
subgroups can operate with some autonomy but will
allow the leader to involve members in useful
discussions of decision issues.
Charismatic leadership behaviors may be effective in
overcoming apathetic and passive behavior.
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Process Model of the
Participative Leadership Process
LEADER PARTICIPATIVENESS
SITUATIONAL FACTORS
INCREASING LEADER
EFFECTIVENESS
Enhancers
• Task importance
• Task requires followers
commitment
• Environmental uncertainty
• Leader’s conflict
management skills
• Group harmony
• Followers’ job competence
and information
• Followers’ need for
independence
• Followers’ internal locus of
control
• Expected participation
Substitutes
• Many formal rules and
procedures
• Drawing out & listening to followers
• Holding meetings to share decision problems &
gather input
• Consulting with followers on decisions
• Giving serious consideration to followers’ input
• Reaching consensus with followers & leaders as
equals
• Delegating decisions to capable followers
FOLLOWER/GROUP PSYCHOLOGICAL
REACTIONS
• Satisfaction of needs for competence, selfcontrol, independence, & personal growth
• Satisfaction with supervisor, work, &
organization
• Motivation & commitment to decisions
SITUATIONAL FACTORS
DECREASING LEADER
EFFECTIVENESS
Neutralizers
• Highly structured task
• Task complexity with
professional followers
• Large group size
• Short time deadlines
• Passive followers
• Authoritarian followers
• Followers willing to
accept autocratic
leadership
FOLLOWER BEHAVIORS AND
OUTCOMES
•
•
•
•
Increased performance & productivity
Quality of decisions
Development of followers’ potential
Time-consuming, expensive, possible resistance
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Applying the Model of Participative
Leadership
1. DIAGNOSING THE SITUATION
1. Are followers highly competent and knowledgeable; do they work on important tasks; is
their commitment essential to carry out the leader’s decisions?
2. Do followers value achievement, independence and self fulfillment; do they view
themselves as controlling their own lives; feel harmony and trust with the leader; and
expect to participate in decisions?
3. Is the leader effective in obtaining follower input and skilled at conflict management?
4. Is there much environmental uncertainty?
If “yes” to one or more of these questions, followers will expect and value participative
leadership
3. MODIFYING FOLLOWERS &
SITUATIONS
Leaders also act to:
• Increase formal rules and procedures which
prescribe how to deal with emergencies and
short time deadlines
• Redesign tasks to increase their importance &
followers’ independence
• Build group harmony
• Develop followers’ job competence and
knowledge
• Eliminate highly structured tasks & large
group
• Reassign followers who are passive,
authoritarian or desire autocratic leadership
2. PROVIDING DIRECTIVE LEADERSHIP
Leaders demonstrate participative behaviors with
followers by:
• Holding informal conversations with individual
followers to obtain information related to decisions
• Sharing decision problems with groups of followers to
solicit their ideas or suggested solutions
• Assigning a decision problem to followers who are
competent and desire to handle it
• Allowing “air time” for all followers who desire it when
discussing decision problems
• Inviting input and discussion on points of
disagreement regarding decision problems
• Explaining to followers why ideas or solutions are not
implemented
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