Leadership and management
Week 1: Leadership
Successful leadership depends on selecting the right leadership style contingent on the
followers’ readiness: the extent to which followers are willing(or motivated, confident) and
able to perform a given task.
Draws upon Ohio State Studies: consideration versus initiating structure as two independent
dimensions, leading to 4 leadership styles:
1. TELLING: high on initiating structure and low on consideration
give detailed instructions, describe exactly what to do
2. SELLING: high on initiating structure and high on consideration
explain decisions and provide clarification
3. PARTICIPATING: low on initiating structure and high on consideration
Share ideas and facilitate decision making
4. DELEGATING: low on initiating structure and low on consideration
Give them the responsibility (empower/laissez-faire)
,Day, D. V., & Antonakis, J. (2012). Leadership: Past, present, future. In D. V. Day & J.
Antonakis (Eds.), The Nature of Leadership(2nd ed., pp. 3-25). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Focus on the nature and essence of leadership. Leadership is an evolving construct,
therefore it is essential to gain some background information about the history of leadership
research.
What is leadership
One of social science’s most examined phenomena: it is a universal activity evident in
humankind and in animal species. Leadership is often easy to identify in practice but it is
difficult to define precisely. Given the complex nature of leadership, a specific and widely
accepted definition of leadership does not exist and might never be found.
Broad definition of leadership
Leadership can be defined in terms of
(a) an influencing process—and its resultant outcomes—that occurs between a leader and
followers and
(b) how this influencing process is explained by the leader’s dispositional characteristics and
behaviors, follower perceptions and attributions of the leader, and the context in which the
influencing process occurs.
This definition is heavily “leader centric” in describing mainly one-way effects associated
with the personal characteristics of a leader; however, it also includes aspects of
- The interaction between leader and follower (in terms of perceptions and attributions)
- The definition of leadership as an effect with regard to the resulting outcomes (e.g.,
goal achievement).
➔ Overall definition of leadership includes:
- The leader as person (dispositional characteristics),
, - leader behavior,
- the effects of a leader,
- the interaction process between a leader and follower(s),
- and the importance of context
Leadership is seen as purpose-driven action that brings about change or transformation
based on values, ideals, vision, symbols, and emotional exchanges. Leadership has to be
differentiated from power and management:
Power refers to the means leaders have to potentially influence others.
Management is objectives driven, resulting in stability grounded in rationality, bureaucratic
means, and the fulfillment of contractual obligations.
Leadership is effective and necessary
1. Supervisory level:
- Leadership is required to complement organizational systems
- Establish and recognize group goals and values,
- Recognize and integrate various individual styles and personalities in a group
- Maximize the use of group members’ abilities
- Help resolve problems and conflicts in a group
* from a functional perspective, a leader is a “completer” who does or gets done whatever is not being
adequately handled by a group
2. Strategy level:
Ensure the coordinated functioning of the organization as it interacts with a dynamic
external environment
- The organization must adapt to its context; for this to occur, its leaders must
monitor the external and internal environments, formulate a strategy based
on the strengths and weakness of the organizations and the opportunities
presented by the environment, and monitor outcomes so that its strategic
goals are met
➔ Leadership is required to direct and guide organizational and human resources
toward the strategic objectives of the organization and ensure that organizational
functions are aligned with the external environment
The history of leadership
, Traits: Who is the leader (up to late 60’s)
Trait theories suggest that leaders are born (i.e., selection is important). They consider how
personality, social, physical and/or intellectual traits may differentiate leaders from non-
leaders.
Personality has not been found to be very predictive, but in terms of the big five personality
framework:
- Extraversion is found to be the most important factor of the big 5 although it’s more
predictive of leader emergence (verschijning) than leader effectiveness. i.e.,
sociable/assertive people are more likely to assert themselves in group situations.
- Conscientiousness and openness to experience also show strong and consistent
relationships to leadership.
For physical traits height is associated with leadership whereas overweight tend to get lower
leadership ratings. - possible evolutionary explanation.
While traits can predict leadership, they are better at predicting leader emergence than
effectiveness. Also, while traits help us to predict leadership, they don’t help us to explain
leadership. There is always an indirect effect between a trait and the outcome of leadership.
Styles: What does a leader do (Late 40’s - 60’s)
Behavior is directly observable.There are universally effective leadership behaviours
Behavior can more easily be changed and has a direct relationship with leadership
effectiveness.
Approach to research: Being able to distinguish (in)effective leadership behavior will help us
to design leadership talent management systems: hire, develop, and promote the skills
necessary for leadership success.
