LECTURE 13 NOTES
LEADERSHIP
SUMMARY:
Lecture 13 begins the student’s study of leadership, the process of directing the
behavior of others toward the attainment of organizational objectives. Through
leadership, managers work with influencing individuals to act in a certain way or to
follow a particular course of action. The central theme of leadership is getting things
accomplished through people.
This discusses how to define leadership, the difference between a leader and a manager,
the trait approach to leadership, the situational approach to leadership, leadership
today, and finally current topics in leadership.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1. A working definition of leadership
2. An understanding of early approaches to leadership
3. An appreciation for more recent approaches to leadership
4. Insights into how leaders should make decisions
5. Hints on how leaders change organizations
6. An understanding of how leaders should coach
7. An appreciation for emerging leadership concepts
TARGET SKILLS:
Leadership Skill: the ability to direct the behavior of others toward the
accomplishment of objectives
OUTLINE:
This is divided into seven sections:
1. Defining Leadership
2. Early Approaches to Leadership
3. More Recent Approaches to Leadership
4. A Special Situation: How Leaders Make Decisions
5. Leaders Changing Organizations
6. Leaders Coaching Others
7. Leadership: Emerging Concepts for Modern Times
Defining Leadership:
This section introduces students to the leadership process. It is extremely important that
managers – and students – have a thorough understanding of what leadership entails.

Leadership
o The process of directing the behavior of others toward the accomplishment of
an objective

o Directing – causing individuals to act in a certain way or to follow a particular
course of action
o Central theme of leadership is getting things accomplished through people
Leader Versus Manager
o Leading is not the same as managing
o Leadership is a subset of management
o Management focuses on both nonbehavioral as well as behavioral issues –
Leadership primarily emphasizes behavioral issues
o Figure 13.1 illustrates that most effective managers over the long term are also
leaders
o Managers need to understand the difference between managing and leading
and how to combine the two roles to achieve organizational success
o A manager makes sure a job gets done – A leader cares about and focuses on
the people who do the job
o Combining management and leadership requires demonstrating a calculated
and logical focus on organizational processes (management) along with a
genuine concern for workers as people (leadership)
Early Approaches to Leadership:
This section introduces students to the Trait and Behavioral approaches to leadership – two
early sets of research and leadership studies.


The Trait Approach to Leadership
o Early research assuming leaders are born and not made
o Intent was to describe leaders as precisely as possible based on a set of
characteristics/traits
o If an individual had these traits, it was thought they were leaders and should
be placed into leadership positions
o Commonly used traits include:
 Intelligence, including judgment and verbal ability
 Past achievement in scholarship and athletics
 Emotional maturity and stability
 Dependability, persistence, and a drive for continuing achievement
 Skill to participate socially and adapt to various groups
 Desire for status and socioeconomic position
o Evaluation of trait studies showed inconsistency – no one set of qualities can
be used to differentiate leaders from nonleaders – no one set of traits or
combination of traits indicates an individual will be a successful leader
o Contemporary research today believes leaders can be made and therefore it is
possible to train individuals to be good leaders
Behavioral Approaches to Leadership
o Looks at what good leaders do
o Two major behavioral studies:
 Ohio State – the OSU Studies
 University of Michigan – the Michigan Studies
o The OSU Studies
 Leaders exhibit two types of behavior:
 Structure Behavior
o Leadership activities that delineate the relationship
between the leader and the leader’s followers
o Leadership activities that establish well-defined
procedures the followers should adhere to when
performing their jobs
o Used by leaders to minimize activities by followers that
don’t significantly contribute to the attainment of the
organization’s goals
 The key is to be careful to not discourage follower
activity that will contribute to the organization’s
goals
 Consideration Behavior
o Leadership behavior that reflects friendship, mutual
trust, respect, and warmth in the relationship between
leader and followers
o Generally aimed at developing and maintaining a good
relationship between the leader and the followers
 Lore International Institute’s research showed that leaders need to
demonstrate trustworthiness, honesty, and ability to collaborate
 This trustworthiness is ruined when leaders exhibit the
following behaviors:
o Credit Hogs – take credit for the good ideas of others
o Lone Rangers – work mostly by themselves and not
closely with other workers
o Egomaniacs – believe success will come only through
management’s efforts and no success comes from the
workers
o Mules – being stubborn and inflexible
 OSU’s studies can be graphed in a matrix as shown in Figure 13.2 in the
text
 The matrix reveals four leadership styles
o Leadership styles are behaviors that leaders exhibit
while guiding organization members in appropriate
directions
o Each of the four styles is a combination of structure and
consideration behavior
 The central ideas of the OSU studies are still integral to the
study of leadership effectiveness today
o The Michigan Studies
 Rensis Likert – University of Michigan leadership studies
 Pinpointed two basic types of leader behavior
 Job-centered behavior
 Employee-centered behavior
Job-centered behavior
 Focuses primarily on the work a subordinate is doing
 Leader is interested in the job a subordinate is doing and in
how well the subordinate is performing that job
 Employee-centered behavior
 Focuses primarily on subordinates as people
 Leader is attentive to personal needs of subordinates and
interested in building cooperative work teams that are
satisfying to subordinates and advantageous for the
organization
 Aligned with the Pygmalion effect – the more leaders believe
their subordinates can achieve, the more the subordinates
actually do achieve
o Results from OSU and Michigan are very similar:
 Both point to two primary dimensions of leader behavior
 Work dimension – Structure behavior/Job-Centered behavior
 People dimension – Consideration behavior/EmployeeCentered behavior
o Effectiveness of Various Leadership Styles
 Research has shown desirable leadership behavior is associated with
strong leader emphasis on both structure and consideration
 Undesirable leadership behavior is associated with weak leader
emphasis on both dimensions
 Managerial grid from chapter 11 showed the most effective leadership
style includes a high level of consideration and an effective structure
 Recent research shows subordinates always prefer a high level of
consideration
o Comparing Styles
 Leadership situations are varied so saying one leadership style is most
effective is an oversimplification
 Leaders need to link leadership styles to appropriate situations

More Recent Approaches to Leadership:
This section provides a discussion of additional leadership studies managers can learn from to
further their knowledge about situational approaches to leadership.

Situational Approach to Leadership
o Based on the assumption each instance of leadership is different and thus
requires a unique combination of leaders, followers, and leadership situations
o Expressed in a formula, successful leadership is a function of a leader, a
follower, and a situation that are appropriate for one another
 SL = f(L, F, S)
 SL = successful leadership
 f = function of
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
 L = leader
 F = follower
 S = situation
The Life Cycle Theory of Leadership
o Rationale for linking leadership styles with various situations to ensure
effective leadership
o Similar to OSU studies but calls Structure – Task and calls Consideration –
Relationships
o Based on the relationship that leadership style should reflect the maturity
level of the followers
 Maturity refers to the ability of followers to perform their jobs
independently, assume additional responsibilities, and desire to
achieve success
 The more of these attributes the followers possess, the more mature
they are said to be
o Figure 13.3 illustrates the life cycle theory of leadership model
o The model reflects that a leader’s behavior should shift from high-task/lowrelationships behavior to high-task/high-relationships behavior to highrelationships/low-task behavior to low-task/low-relationships behavior as
followers progress from immaturity to maturity
 A manager’s leadership style will be effective only if it is appropriate
for the maturity level of the followers
o Applying Life Cycle Theory
 The text provides an example of how the life cycle theory applies to a
fictitious situation
 The life cycle approach more than likely owes its acceptance to its
intuitive appeal – Although it appears to be a useful leadership
concept, managers should bear in mind that little scientific
investigation has been conducted to verify its worth – and therefore
applied with caution
Fiedler’s Contingency Theory
o Situational theories of leadership are based on the concept of leader flexibility
 Successful leaders must change their leadership styles as they
encounter different situations
o Unfortunately this can be easier said than done with obstacles getting in the
way of leader flexibility
 A leader whose style is so ingrained in him/herself it takes years to get
the leader to be willing to accept flexibility
 Leaders who have experienced much success in basically static
situations so their believing developing a flexible style is unnecessary
 A leader’s belief that in order to be considered successful in a new role,
they need to generate “quick wins” and show immediate, significant
success to the organization right after assuming their leadership role

o Changing the Organization to Fit the Leader
 Fiedler proposed a way to overcome the above obstacles was to
change the organizational situation to fit the leader’s style, rather than
change the leader’s style to fit the organizational situation.
 When applied to the life cycle theory of leadership, this means an
organization would find it easier to shift leaders to situations
appropriate for their leadership style than to expect those leaders to
change styles as situations change.
 Contingency Theory of Leadership, Leader-Member Relations, Task
Structure, and the Position Power of the leader are three primary
factors that should be considered when moving leaders into situations
appropriate for their leadership style:
 Leader-Member Relations – degree leader feels accepted by the
followers
 Task Structure – degree to which the goals and work to be done
and other situational factors are clearly outlined
 Position Power – degree to which the leader has control over
the rewards and punishments followers receive
 Table 13.1 illustrates how these three factors can be arranged into eight
different combinations, known as octants
 Figure 13.4 illustrates how effective leadership style varies with Fiedler’s
eight octants – The figure implies management should attempt to
match permissive, passive, and considerate leaders with situations
reflecting the middle of the continuum – and also implies management
should try to match controlling, active, and structuring leaders with
the extremes of the continuum
o To modify the leadership situation, Fiedler recommended:
 Change the individual’s task assignment
 Change the leader’s position power
 Change the leader-member relations in the group
o Fiedler’s work definitely disproved the thought that there is only one best
way to lead and that leaders are born and not made – his work goes on to say
that anyone in an organization can be a leader if placed in a situation
appropriate to that person’s leadership style
The Path-Goal Theory of Leadership
o Primary activities of a leader are to make desirable and achievable rewards
available to organization members who attain organizational goals and to
clarify the kinds of behavior that must be performed to earn those rewards
o Basic premise is leader outlines the goals for followers and clears the path
that followers should take to achieve those goals and earn the rewards
contingent on doing so
o Managers can facilitate job performance by showing employees how their
performance directly affects their receiving desired results
o Leadership Behavior – leaders exhibit four primary types of behavior in the
Path-Goal theory of leadership
Directive Behavior
 Telling followers what to do and how to do it
 Supportive Behavior
 Being friendly with followers and showing interest in them as
human beings
 Participative Behavior
 Seek suggestions from followers regarding business operations
to the extent that followers are involved in making important
organizational decisions
 Achievement Behavior
 Setting challenging goals for followers to reach and expressing
and demonstrating confidence they measure up to the challenge
o Adapting Behavior to Situations
 Theory proposes leaders are more successful when they appropriately
match the four behaviors to the situations they are facing
 Primary focus of the theory is on how leaders can increase employee
effort and productivity by clarifying performance goals AND the path
to be taken to achieve those goals
 The theory has gained credibility over the years, and research shows
the theory is highly promising for enhancing employee commitment to
achieving organizational goals and therefore increase the probability
that organizations will be successful

A Special Situation: How Leaders Make Decisions:
This section focuses on the fact that leaders need to make sound decisions as all practical and
legitimate leadership thinking emphasizes decision making.

The Tannenbaum and Schmidt Leadership Continuum
o Tannenbaum and Schmidt wrote one of the most quoted and used articles
related to how leaders make decisions across a variety of situations
 Managers will be successful decision makers only if the method they
use to make decisions appropriately reflect the leader, the follower,
and the situation
o Figure 13.5 in the text provides an illustration of the Continuum
o Each type of decision-making behavior along the continuum includes both a
corresponding degree of authority used by the manager and a related amount
of freedom available to subordinates
o Subordinate-Centered Leaders are those who display leadership behavior
toward the right side of the model and are more democratic
o Boss-Centered Leaders are those who display leadership behavior toward the
left side of the model and are more autocratic
o Leadership behavior demonstrated on the continuum:
 Manager makes the decision and announces it
 Manager “sells” the decision
 Managers presents ideas and invites questions
Manager presents a tentative decision that is subject to change
Manager presents the problem, gets suggestions, and then makes the
decision
 Manager defines the limits and asks the group to make a decision
 Manager permits the group to make decisions within prescribed limits
o Determining How to Make Decisions as a Leader
 The authors propose that three primary factors or forces influence a
manager’s determination of which leadership behavior to use in
making decisions
 Forces in the Manager
o Manager’s values
o Level of confidence in subordinates
o Personal leadership strengths
o Tolerance for ambiguity
 Forces in Subordinates
o Need for independence
o Readiness for decision making
o Tolerance for ambiguity
o Interest in problem and problem solving
o Understand and identify with organization’s goals
o Knowledge and experience to deal with the problem
o Expectation to share in decision making
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Forces in the Situation
o Type of organization
o Effectiveness of a group
o Problem to be solved
o Time available to make a decision
o Determining How to Make Decisions as a Leader: An Update
 The success of the Tannenbaum/Schmidt article showed when
Harvard Business Review asked them in the 1970s to update their
original work
 In the update, the authors warned that in today’s modern
organizations, the relationship among forces within the manager,
subordinates, and situation has become more complex and more
interrelated since the 1950s when the original article was written –
obviously this all makes it harder for managers to determine just how
they should lead
The Vroom-Yetton-Jago Model (VYJ)
o Focuses on how much participation to allow subordinates in the decisionmaking process
o Built on two premises:
 Organizational decisions should be of high quality – meaning they
should have a beneficial impact on performance
Subordinates should accept and be committed to organizational
decisions that are made
Decision Styles
 VYJ proposes five different decision styles or ways that leaders make
decisions
 Figure 13.6 shows five different decision styles within the VYJ
model
o Manager makes decision alone
o Manager asks for information from subordinates but
makes decision alone
o Manager shares situation with individual subordinates
and asks for information and evaluation
o Manager and subordinates meet as a group to discuss
situation but manager makes decision
o Manager and subordinates meet as a group to discuss
situation and group makes the decision
Using the Model
 Figure 13.7 illustrates the VYJ model as a method for determining when
a leader should use which decision style
 Model really is a decision tree – Leader starts at the left side of the tree
by stating the organizational problem being addressed – Through a
series of questions about the problem, the leader progresses through
the structure of the tree until he or she arrives at the decision style
appropriate for the situation at the far right side of the model
VYJ model is promising – the model has yielded some evidence that
managerial decisions consistent with the model are more successful than are
managerial decisions inappropriate with the model
The main challenge is the complexity of the model and therefore the difficulty
in applying the model
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Leaders Changing Organizations:
This section provides a discussion of transformational leadership.


Transformational Leadership
o Leadership that inspires organizational success by profoundly affecting
followers’ beliefs in what an organization should be as well as their values,
such as justice and integrity
o Closely related to the concepts of charismatic and inspirational leadership
o Ben & Jerry’s ice cream brand co-founders are examples of transformational
leadership as profitability is only one of their goals along with creating an
environmentally responsible enterprise and one that gives back to society
o Recent studies have found evidence linking certain traits of hope, optimism,
and resiliency, to the success of transformational leaders
The Tasks of Transformational Leaders
o Raise follower awareness of organizational issues

o Create a vision of what the organization should be, build commitment to that
vision throughout the organization, and facilitate organizational changes that
support the vision
o Consistent with the organization’s strategic management process
The Steps for Success box in the text provides a discussion on Becoming a
Transformational Leader
Leaders Coaching Others:
This section discusses the concept of coaching in leadership.
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

Coaching
o Leadership that instructs followers on how to meet the specific organizational
challenges they face
o Leaders operate like an athletic coach identifying inappropriate behavior in
followers and suggesting how they might correct that behavior
Table 13.2 lists characteristics of an effective coach
Coaching Behavior
o Characteristics:
 Listens closely
 Gives emotional support
 Shows by example what constitutes appropriate behavior
o Each of the leadership concepts focuses on a different but critical situation
that leaders face:
 Making decisions
 Changing organizations
 Coaching others
o Leaders should internalize all of these concepts so that they make better
decisions, change organizations, and coach others as related leadership
challenges occur
Leadership: Emerging Concepts for Modern Times:
This section discusses the concept of emerging leadership approaches: Servant Leadership,
Level 5 Leadership, and Authentic Leadership. These are all examples of leadership
approaches that focus on more modern problems and the situations facing managers today.

Leadership approaches are emerging to handle new, nontraditional situations. Figure
13.8 in the text provides a listing of the characteristics of the emerging leader versus
characteristics of a manager.

Servant Leadership
o Approach to leading in which leaders view their primary role as helping
followers in their quests to satisfy personal needs, aspirations, and interests
o See pursuit of their own personal needs, aspirations, and interests as
secondary to their followers’ pursuits of these factors
o Place high value on service to others over their own self-interests


o See their main responsibility as caring for the human resources of the
organization
o Human resources are the most valuable resources in the organization and the
leader works toward transforming followers into wiser, more autonomous
individuals
o Tony Hsieh of Zappos is an example of a servant leader because of his focus
on building organizations emphasizing helping followers be more effective in
fulfilling their personal needs, aspirations, and interests
o Servant leader characteristics:
 Good listeners
 Persuasive
 Aware of their surroundings
 Empathetic
 Stewards
Level 5 Leadership
o Jim Collins – Good to Great book – concluded one thing all 11 companies
written about in his book have in common is Level 5 leadership
 An approach to leadership that blends personal humility with an
intense will to build long-range organizational success
 Level 5 leadership is said to be the most effective level in spurring an
organization from good to great performance
o Personal Humility
 Being modest or unassuming when it comes to citing personal
accomplishments
o Professional Will
 Strong and unwavering commitment to do whatever is necessary to
build long-term company success
o Figure 13.9 shows there are four other levels of leadership also pinpointed by
the research
Authentic Leadership
o Leadership that entails leaders who are deeply aware of their own and others’
moral perspectives and who are confident, hopeful, optimistic, resilient, and
of high moral character
o Leaders are clear on their personal moral beliefs and values, make them
known to others, and use them as a basis for action
o Moral Courage – strength to take actions that are consistent with moral
beliefs despite pressures from either the inside or outside of the organization
 Much is written today about how leaders bow to pressure to make
profits in the short run by taking actions against their moral beliefs
o Is not a large body of research exploring the merits of authentic leadership on
organizational success