MNL2601
STUDY NOTES
YEAR 2022
, Chapter 2: Leadership, Power & Influence
NB: influence is a key element in leadership– the individual needs the ability to influence
his/her followers, to motivate and enable them to contribute to the success of the
organisation
Trait Theory of Leadership
❖ Leadership is seen as characteristics/traits that certain individuals possess and bring to the
arena.
❖ Leaders with these particular traits (mentioned below), are seen as superior and if they lack
these traits, are not seen as leaders.
Table 1.1: Key Leadership Traits
Trait Description
Drive Achievement, motivation, ambition, energy,
tenacity, initiative
Leadership Motivation Desire to lead: Seeking power
Social power motive-achieve desired goals
Honesty & integrity Trustworthiness
Cognitive Ability Analyze situations accurately, solve problems,
make decisions
Self Confidence Assertive & decisive
Knowledge of the business Able to gather extensive information about
company, industry, develop strategies &
business plans
Contingency/ Situational Leadership Theory
❖ Psychologist, Ralph Stogdill concluded that a person does not become a leader by possession
of traits.
❖ Concluded that leadership is a combination of an individual’s traits interacting with a
situation on hand.
❖ Thus leadership is focused on handling a situation on hand, thus known as the contingency
theory approach.
The effectiveness of leadership is dependent on the combination of 3 things:
1. Relationship between leader & follower
2. Structure & clarity on the task to be achieved
3. Formal position that the leader occupies the power to lea
, GRINT – 4 Leadership Approaches
Approach Key Question Definition
1. Leadership as person who This approach asks the
question: “Is
it WHO leaders are that
makes them
leaders?”
2. Leadership as process how This approach asks the
question: “Is it
HOW leaders get things done
that makes
them leaders?”
3. Leadership as position where This approach asks the
question: “Is it
WHERE leaders operate that
makes them
leaders?”
4. Leadership as results what This approach asks the
question: “Is it
WHAT leaders achieve that
makes them
leaders?”
GRINTS 4 LEADERSHIP APPROACHES CAN ALSO BE USED TO EXPLORE THE CONCEPT OF POWER.
Leadership & Power
p25
“Power is the product of the position that a person holds in an organisation”
“The ability to mobilize resources to get things done”
“The absolute capacity of an individual to influence the behaviour or attitudes of one or more
designated target persons at a given point in time.
Sources of power:
Power is the ability and potential of a leader to secure a change in the belief, attitude or behaviour
of a follower through the usage of resources available.
Positional Power – Power related to position
Personal Power – an individuals own aspects that he/she can transfer between positions
Different Sources of Power:
1.Informational power: the ability to provide information about a subject or task in such a way that
the recipient (or follower) will accept that information and behave in the way that the leader
suggests. (Positional power) (hard power)
2. Reward power: the ability to reward or threaten a follower. (Positional power) (hard power)
3.Coercive power: the ability to enforce compliance through fear. (Positional power) (hard power)
,4.Legitimate power: the follower accepts that the leader has the right to direct, request or demand
a change. (Positional power) (hard power)
5.Expert power: the leader is believed to possess knowledge or insights that are accepted as
superior and s/he can therefore influence the follower to change his/her behaviour. (Personal
Power) (soft power)
6.Referent power: the follower holds the leader in high regard, admires his/her behaviour and trusts
his/her judgement, and so is happy to emulate him/her (Personal Power) (soft power)
Sources of power can further be classified into 2 groups:
Hard Power – power which comes from a position of authority.
Soft Power – power which is personal, the ability to work relationships to achieve an end goal.
A last source of power is called ecological power, which refers to the power to change
the physical work environment through activities such as creating open-plan offices for
staff or the power to change technology.
Leadership & Influence
’ P33
There are 11 proactive influencing tactics that leaders can use
Proactive Influence Tactic Description
1. Rational Persuasion Using logical arguments & factual evidence
2. Apprising Explains how performing tasks will benefit the
target personally or help advance their career
3. Inspirational Appeals Makes appeals to values & ideas and targets
emotions to gain a commitment
4. Consultation Involves followers
5. Collaboration Agent offers to provide resources and
assistance if target carries out the request
6. Ingratiation Use of flattery & praise or express confidence in
the targets ability to perform a task
7. Personal Appeals Asks target to carry out request based on
friendship or requests personal favour before
revealing task
8. Exchange Agent offers incentives or something of value
9. Coalition Tactics Agent uses others to persuade target to agree
10. Legitimating Tactics Agent uses position in terms of rules, policies,
contracts
11. Pressure Agent uses demands, threats, persistent
reminders
,Categories of Influence:
Overt Influence:
❖ Force - the blunt instrument of power. The person deploying this tactic has a large physical
presence and perhaps control over resources. Bullying is an obvious example of this form of
influence.
❖ Exchange - a transaction which depends on one actor having something that the other actor
values. This could take the form of a normal business transaction, a trade -off between senior
managers or, in extreme cases, a bribe.
❖ Rules & Procedures - the power behind this form of influence comes mainly from position
and resource power, as the instigator and implementer of the rules must be seen to have
both the accepted authority to introduce rules and the ability to reward or punish those who
follow or break the rules.
❖ Persuasion - based on the skills of critical thinking (facts, logic, assumptions, inference and
argument) and on expert and personal power. Persuasion is the preferred method of
influencing and the one most people try first, before resorting to other means, if necessary.
Unseen Influence:
❖ Ecology - the potential of leaders to use the physical environment to influence the
behaviours of many employees. The physical environment refers to the office space and
arrangement of people, the levels of heat, light and noise, the organisation of business
processes and individual job descriptions, the structure of the business and its geographical
spread, and other physical factors under the control of leaders, such as the climate of the
organisation.
❖ Magnetism - derived from the personal power a leader may have. This is the acceptance of
influence from someone we like, admire, trust and respect. Influence based on magnetism is
easily shattered, as once trust is broken it is difficult to regain.
A modern leader is one who has the ability to develop good relationships with peers, colleagues and
followers. The leader works through relationships to empower and engage the organisation,
generating collaborative approaches that focus on achieving a common goal. Leadership, then, is
about developing the skills needed to build coalitions that will move an organisation closer to its
defined ends.
, Chapter 3: THE LEADERSHIP/MANAGEMENT DEBATE
The Historical origins of leadership
❖ Deskilled – Refers to the replacement of skilled workers with technology that is often
operated by semi-skilled workers or even unskilled workers.
Frederick Winslow Taylor
❖ Core ideas of ‘scientific management’ developed in 1880’s – 1890’s
❖ Noticed natural differences in workers in terms of productivity, talent, intelligence, or
motivation.
❖ Taylor was one of the first to apply scientific methods to problems of production &
manufacturing.
❖ Taylor believed that practices based on standardization would produce better quality
outputs and more effective production than the old ‘rule of thumb’. This belief is known as
Taylorism.
❖ This belief system implemented specified step-by-step procedures, increasing managerial
supervision and leading to more management than workers, causing the friction/tension
between ‘blue collar’ and white-collar classes.
❖ Instead of being a leader who motivated workers, systems were implemented that forced
workers to keep up with specific paces.
Taylor and a number of his followers tried (unsuccessfully) to implement his scientific approach to
management.
Reasons for their failure include the fact that
• (1)different people have different talents and skills, and the application of the scientific
approach to management failed to take into account that the most effective way of working
for one person could be totally different from the effective way for another person;
• (2)the economic interests of workers differ tremendously from those of management, which
has an impact on how new methods are viewed by each party. By applying the scientific
approach to management, workers felt they were being exploited by business owners.
Taylor recognised these challenges, but was still unable to make a lasting success of any of his trials
of scientific management.
Henry Gantt
❖ Developed Gantt chart – displays series of horizontal lines to indicate amount of work done
or production completed within a certain time period.
❖ Gantt developed the ‘task and bonus’ system which paid bonuses to managers based on
how well they trained their employees to improve performance.
❖ He believed businesses have obligations to the welfare of the society in which they operate
– the forerunner of today’s writing on corporate governance, as well as corporate and social
responsibility.
,Henri Fayol
❖ Was a French mining engineer who developed a general theory for business administration
known as Fayolism
❖ Fayolism (business administration) became one of the most influential contributions to
modern concepts of management.
❖ Business Administration consists of Performance or management of business operations
❖ Fayolism refers to the general theory of business administration and refers to the all-
encompassing process of organising people and resources efficiently so as to direct
activities toward common goals and objectives.
❖ It is clearly recognisable as ‘management’ as we know it today. Fayol’s was one of the first
comprehensive statements of a general theory of management: it put forward six primary
functions of management, namely
1. Forecasting
2. Planning
3. Organising
4. Commanding
5. Co-ordinating
6. Controlling
❖ Fayol also proposed 14 principles of management
Management Principle Explanation
1. Division of work or labour Fayol’s principle was based on the belief
that specialisation increases the output or
performance of a worker by making
him/her more efficient
The division of work refers to the practice
of dividing a job, task, assignment or
contract into smaller tasks, and may
include a schedule for these tasks.
2. Authority Fayol believed managers must have
authority and give orders to employees
3. Discipline Employees need to obey and respect the
rules that govern the organisation
4. Unity of command Each individual employee should receive
orders from only one superior
5. Unity of direction All the efforts of a group need to be
focused on one goal, directed by one
manager, using one plan
6. Subordination of individual The interest of the organisation should
interests to the general interest always be deemed more important than
the interest of an individual
7. Remuneration Workers must be paid a fair wage for their
service
8. Centralisation The optimum degree of centralisation
(management) and decentralisation
(workers) needs to be found for each
situation
, 9. Chain of command Communications should follow from top
management down to lower ranks unless
otherwise agreed
10. Order People and materials should be in the right
place at the right time
11. Equity Managers should be kind and fair to
subordinates
12. Stability of tenure of personnel High employee turnovers are inefficient.
Management needs to ensure
replacements are available for vacancies.
13. Initiative Employees who are allowed to originate
and carry out plans will exert high levels of
effort
14. Esprit de corps Promoting team spirit will build harmony
and unity within the organisation.
None of the researchers and contributors to our body of knowledge regarding leadership
versus management (discussed above) differentiated between leadership and management.
The first researcher to do so was Max Weber
Max Weber:
❖ Weber focused on understanding bureaucracy and classifications of authority.
❖ He divided authority into three types, namely
1. legitimate,(ability to influence others based on authority and position)
2. traditional (someone who depends on established tradition or order)
3. charismatic (power that draws legitimacy from personal qualities)
❖ Here we have the first sense of a difference between leadership and management, and the
impending rise of the latter in importance both as a practice and an academic area of study
❖ Weber defined charismatic authority as power which drew its legitimacy from the leader’s
exceptional personal qualities or accomplishments, which were such that they inspired
loyalty and obedience in followers.
❖ In this definition we can clearly see the origins of charismatic leadership and the notion that
a ‘leader’ is somehow more than, or different from, a manager.
The Difference between leadership & management
