Management and Organizational Behavior

Dr. Leigh Stelzer

REFERENCE OUTLINE: Leadership, W & N, Chapter 10

Ask if leadership is a perceptual trick or extraneous.

Persistent questions about leadership:

What is a leader?

What do leaders do? What should they do?

How are leaders linked to subordinate performance/productivity and satisfaction?

Four approaches to the question of who is a leader.

1. positional: Sits in the chair, occupies the position, holds the title of leader.

2. trait: Has particular attributes and skills associated with leaders.

3. follower: The leader is the person others follow. What are followers looking for? Getting?

4. situational: A man or woman for the times. (Erik Erikson)

A formal position gives a leader the following power.

Formal authority leads to legitimacy, acceptance (zone of acceptance, indifference)

Control over rewards and punishments, resources

Control over information. Centrality in the network, central location

Control over the physical environment / conditions, organization and job design, technology, social structure

Leader Traits

Traits are attributes: physical attributes, personality aspects, temperament, or needs.

The following traits have been associated with leaders.

Physical attributes

Height, weight, paunch, buff, male

Appearance: photogenic, telegenic, handsome, rugged, handsome.

Not associated? beautiful, pretty.

Emotional or psychological traits associated with leaders.

Self esteem

Emotional stability

Well adjusted

Adaptable to situations

Alert to social environment

Ambitious, achievement oriented

Assertive

Cooperative

Decisive

Dependable

Dominant

Energetic

Persistent

Self-confident

Tolerant of stress

Willing to assume responsibility

Aptitudes or skills associated with leaders

Intelligent, clever

Verbally fluent, smooth talking

Creative

Diplomatic, tactful

Knowledgeable about work

Organized, administrative abilities

Persuasive

Socially skilled

Energy level (high)

Need for power and achievement

Self esteem

Where does honesty and integrity fit into this list? Who wants a leader with integrity? See W&N, 417.

Stephen Robbins says leaders are "high self monitors" – able to "read" their effects on others and highly flexible in adjusting to changed situations.

There are traits that are associated with managerial effectiveness

Self confidence.

Oral presentation skills, symbolizing; finding concepts or analogies that communicate to others.

Strong socialized power.

Self efficacy, internal locus of control.

Interpersonal skills: negotiating, networking.

Group process skills: teambuilding.

N.B.: Despite a great deal of discussion of leadership traits, there is no single or group of traits that predicts to leadership. Formal leaders seem to come in all shapes and sizes. Yet there is the persistent belief that leaders have or need to have these traits. As you think about your leaders, do they have these traits?

Watch President Clinton and think about what it is that enables him to influence others and what about him that engenders the responses that he provokes in his supporters, defenders, and adversaries.

Ohio State, Stogdill and Coons;

Consideration and initiating structure, (actually reputations).

Called a behavioral leadership theory; Note it is not behaviors, but reports of behaviors that is the focus of this study.

University of Michigan (Likert) study introduces productivity and satisfaction. Finds employee centered (considerate) leaders get greater productivity than task-centered leader. However, study was not longitudinal.

Managerial Grid says you can be a 9.9. Both production and people. (Blake and Mouton)

Bales' interaction groups

Two leaders (task and socio-emotional) emerge as groups go through stages

Adaptation =Orientation identifying group resources

Goal attainment =conflict and challenge apply resources to goal

Integration = cohesion, acceptance. Socio emotional leader emerges to reduce stress induced by winning/losing associated with goal attainment

Gary Yukl: Managerial Practices associated with a leader effectiveness.

Leadership in Organizations, 4^th ed., 1998, Table 3-3, p. 60.

Plan and organize

Problem solve

Clarify

Inform

Monitor

Motivate

Consult

Delegate

Support

Develop and mentor

Manage conflict

Team build

Network

Recognize

Reward

Yukl subsequently added "change-oriented behavior": environmental scanning, strategizing, visioning, persuading of the need for change, encouraging experimentation and coalition building.

Fiedler's contingency model introduces the situation; leader style (LPC) and conditions (situational favorableness made up of three contingency variables; position power, acceptance (group acceptance) and task structure). Which leader is most effective under which situation. High LPC leaders get the best performance under moderately favorable conditions. Low LPC leaders perform well when the group has a structured task, good group atmosphere and high leader power. Fiedler says leaders can't change and recommends that leader should alter situation to fit his style. Figure 10.2

Hersey and Blanchard: Life Cycle Model

Leader alters style between relationship (supportive) and task (directive) behavior depending on readiness of follower. Four leader styles: telling, selling, participating, delegating. Note leader style should be contingent on follower’s "readiness." Readiness is a function of follower’s emotional maturity and knowledge of the task.

House's Path-goal:

The leader uses different styles for different followers depending on the follower's needs or desires:

1. need for support/affiliation
2. need for direction/information/structure
3. need for participation/power
4. need for achievement

Derived from expectancy theory, leaders are instrumental to worker goal attainment. Various employee goals/needs (Maslow) and task characteristics call for different leadership styles. The path-goal model says that subordinates estimate the probability of achieving organization goals and the degree to which performance will lead to personally valued outcomes or rewards. The leader's behavior (supportive, directive, participative, achievement oriented) will motivate subordinate effort if the leader:

1. makes valued rewards contingent on successful performance
2. encourages the subordinate's belief that rewards will follow performance
3. supports the subordinate's efforts by considering the subordinate's particular needs, by reducing frustrating barriers to success, and by providing support in times of stress

In other words, the leader should make the path to the subordinate's goals as smooth as possible. Can this be related to "servant leadership"?

Path-goal also tries to factor in situational characteristics: task structure, authority system, and work group. The following hypotheses have been supported (but it is unclear how they might vary with follower needs).

If subordinates have an unstructured task and no clear understanding of the job, directive leadership should have a positive effect on their performance.

If subordinates have a highly structured and routine task and a clear understanding of the job, considerate leadership will probably lead to higher levels of satisfaction. Directive leadership would be viewed as overbearing.

Vroom and Jago decision tree model prescribes appropriate leadership styles ( autocratic, consultative, collaborative) for specified conditions.

Attribution Models, W&N 403

Both leaders and followers make attributions. The implicit theory of personality says we impute personality characteristics to others based on our interactions. Do we give our leaders more positive traits than they really have? Do we exaggerate their intelligence, height, wit, etc? Do we attribute leadership to people who are there when something happens. Is Clinton a great leader (leader approval rating) because the economy is booming?

Transformational leaders radically change followers ways of thinking. They create new meaning, give meaning to events, represent meaning.

Transactional leaders offer followers quid pro quos.

Charismatic leaders have almost mystical attraction for followers. Associated with high self confidence, dominance, and strongly held beliefs.

Visionary leaders offer a vision.

Drucker says charismatic leadership is no leadership. What are the circumstances in which followers will give up their own critical capacities and follow leaders blindly? Is charisma more in the follower than the leader.

President Bush was criticized for not articulating a vision. Did he lack vision or a program? Recall the economy was down after the Iraq attack, and Bush would only tell people that prosperity was just around the corner. Clinton presented a vision but it fell flat because he offered the wrong program. Is the issue articulation or is it fighting for something and getting it passed? Clinton now offers tiny programs to appeal to interest groups. Drucker says it is performance that counts. Is it performance that voters look at?

Leadership may be extraneous when dealing with self-managed professionals in routine circumstances. They have norms, values, and operational conventions, that give them self direction. They don't need leaders. They look to reference groups for standards. Norms and professional ethics as well as routines are substitutes for leadership.

Feedback can be a substitute for leadership. By building feedback into a task, you can reduce the need for supervision.

What is the sexual attraction of leaders and power? Is power an aphrodisiac?

How are leader-subordinate relationships influenced by gender. This is a very important question as women gain equality in the work place.

How do men and women differ in leadership styles? W&N 401 At one time women were told to learn the rules of football and act like men. More recently they have been told there is a female advantage to acting like a women: new management calls for feminine-side skills. Does the situation mute differences?

Empowerment is the skill of sharing power (influence and control) with employees.

Real power comes from giving power to others. Transformational and servant leaders empower followers.