Leadership I:
Theories of leadership
(coffee hour today after class)
Road Map for Course
• Personality
I
• Relationships I
• Group
• Context
I
I
I
I
Leadership
• Mastering relational dynamics
–
–
–
–
Influence
Communicate
Motivate
Exercise power
• Levesque and Iacocca
• 3 questions
– What do they do?
– What are they like as people?
– What makes them good leaders?
5 Approaches
•
•
•
•
•
Descriptive
Trait
Contingency
Normative
Functional
Descriptive
Models:
• Mintzberg followed CEO’s
What do
leaders do all
day?
•
– Decisions rely on heuristics
and intuition
– Unplanned firefighting
– Variety of very short tasks
• >50% tasks are less than 9 min
• <10% tasks is more than 1 hr
Debunks myth of “rational”
leader
Trait Models:
What are leader’s personal
characteristics?
• Leaders vs. non-leaders
– “Right” mix of demographics
• Effective vs. ineffective leaders
– “Right” mix of skills, personality
• Correlation between traits and
leadership effectiveness: r=.11
Contingency Theories
• Different skills are needed at
different times
• Trait x Situation
• Fiedler’s Least Preferred Coworker
(LPC) Scale
• Leadership effectiveness= “Fit”
between Leader Trait and Situation
Fiedler’s LPC Model
Task leaders
(Low LPC)
Leader
Effectiveness
Relational
leaders
(High LPC)
Low
Medium
Situational Control
High
Normative Models
• Camp Counselors
– Authoritarian
– Democratic
– Laissez-faire
• Vroom’s Decision Tree
– 3 styles:
• Autocratic
• Consultative
• Consensus
– 8 situational contingents
Problems with
Contingency/Normative Models
1. Over-attribute outcomes to
leadership
– Leaders-followers: causality?
– Manipulate follower’s behavior
• “Good” followers = democratic
leaders
• “Bad” followers = autocratic leaders
• Followers’ behavior > leader’s style
– Improve leaders by changing
followers?
Problems (con’t)
2. Complexity
– LPC Situational
Control
– Vroom decision tree
– But real leaders never
consult decision tree!
Problems (con’t)
3. Assumes we change styles
– Ability to change limited
– When the going gets tough,
default to “natural” styles
– Military: do not train
leaders to change styles,
manipulate situations
Midterm
• WHEN AND WHERE
– 10/26, EH1324, 9am-10am
• WHAT
– 30-40 multiple choice, 4-5
short answers
– Samples
– Lectures, text, coursepack,
section exercises
• BRING
– #2 pencil, pen
Review sessions
• Free-form Q & A
M 9-11 271 Denn
M 5-7 B247 EH
• Structured reviews in sections this week
(Section 8, 9 go to anyone below)
Th 10-12 224 Denn
Th 12-2 B239 EH
Th 4-6 B261 EH
F 9-11 222 WH
F 11-1 B261 EH
F 1-3
271 Denn