26 Leadership: Concept, Styles, And Traits

Tejinder Sharma

1. Learning outcomes

After studying this module, you shall be able to

  • To know the concept and meaning of Leadership.
  • To understand the Styles and traits of Leadership.
  • To elaborate theories of Leadership

 

2. Concept and meaning of leadership

Leadership as the name suggests implies one’s ability to lead. A manager has to get the work done from his subordinates. In this process the manager has to constantly provide guidance to the subordinates. This role of providing guidance and influencing the behavior, attitude and willingness to work for the achievement of organizational objectives is called leadership.

Leadership is the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of a vision or set of goals.

“Leadership is the ability of a manager induces subordinates to work with confidence and zeal.” Koontz and O’Donnel

“Leadership is the activity of influencing people to strive willingly for group objectives.” George Terry

“Leadership is a set of interpersonal behaviors designed to influence employees to cooperate in the achievement of objectives.” Glueck

“Leadership is the process of influencing and supporting others to work enthusiastically toward achieving objectives.”– Barnard and Thomas

So from all above definitions we can say that leadership indicates the ability of an individual to maintain good interpersonal relations with followers and motivate them to contribute for achieving organisational objectives.

 

3. Characteristics of leadership

a) Leadership is a continuous process of behavior; it is not one-shot activity.

b) Leadership tries to bring change in the behavior of others.

c) Leadership may be seen in terms of relationship between a leader and his followers (individuals and/or groups) which arises out of their functioning for common goals.

d) Leadership is spontaneous, i.e., voluntary and is not imposed by anyone.

e) Leadership tries to brighten and sharpen the latent capabilities of subordinates.

f) Leadership gives experience of help to followers to attain common goals. It happen when the leader feels the importance of individuals, gives them recognition, and conveys them about the importance of activities performed by them.

g) Leadership is exercise in a particular situation, at a given point of time, and under specific set of circumstances.

 

4. Difference between leadership and management

5. Theories of leadership

A. Traditional Theories of Leadership:

a. Trait Theories of leadership: it differentiate leaders from nonleaders by focusing on personal qualities and characteristics. They are based on the premise that leaders are ‘born, not made’.Individuals such as Mahatma Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher, South Africa’s Nelson Mandela are recognized as leaders and described in terms such as charismatic, enthusiastic and courageous. Various research studies have given intelligence, attitudes , personality and biological factors such as ingredients for effective leaders. According to Stogdill, various trait theories have suggested these traits in a successful leader:

 

• Physical and constitutional factors (height, weight, physique, energy, health and appearance)

 

• Intelligence

 

• Self-confidence

 

• Sociability

 

• Will (initiative, persistence, ambition)

 

• Dominance

 

• Surgency (talkative, cheerfulness, geniality, enthusiasm, expressiveness, alertness and originality).

 

Implications of the theory

i. The theory emphasis that a leader requires some traits and qualities to be effective.

ii. Many of these qualities may be developed in individuals through training and development programmes.

Limitations of the Theory:

i. There cannot be generalization of traits for a successful leader.

ii. No evidence has been given about the degree of the various traits because people have various traits with different degrees.

iii. There is a problem of measuring the traits.

iv. People might be misleading in thinking that all good leaders have the core traits of the theory.

b. Behavioral Theory: Behavioral theory of leadership emphasizes that strong leadership is the result of effective role behavior. The most comprehensive and replicated of the behavioral theories resulted from research that began at Ohio State University in the late 1940s. They identified two dimensions of leader behavior i.e.

• Initiating structure: refers to the extent to which a leader is likely to define and structure his or her role and those of employees in the search for goal attainment. It includes behavior that attempts to organize work, work relationship, and goals.

• Consideration: is described as the extent to which a person is likely to have job relationship that are characterized by mutual trust, respect for employee’s ideas and regards for their feelings.

The Michigan Group also came up with two dimensions of leadership behavior:

• Employee-oriented leaders: described as emphasizing interpersonal relations; they took a personal interest in the needs of their employees and accepted individuals differences among members.

• Production-oriented leaders: emphasized the technical or task aspects of their jobs- their main concern was in accomplishing each group’s tasks, and the group members were a means to that end.

Implications of Theory:

They can shape their behavior which appears to be functional and discard the behavior which appears to be dysfunctional.

Limitations of Theory:

i. A particular behavior may be functional at a point of time but it may be dysfunctional at another point of time.

ii. Effectiveness of leadership behavior depends on various factors which are not in the leader but external to him like nature of followers and the situations under the leader’s behavior takes place.

C. Contingency Theory of Leadership: Contingency theory was developed to focus on situational influences on leadership effectiveness suggested that under condition a, style x would be appropriate whereas style y would be more suitable for condition b. There are two contingencies theories:

i. Fiedler Model: The Fiedler contingency model for leadership was developed by Fred Fiedler. This model proposes that effective group performance depends on the proper match between leader’s style and the degree to which the situation gives control to the leader. He has identified leadership styles on two dimensions:

  • Task-directed style: it is primarily concerned with the achievement of task performance. The leader derives satisfaction out of the task performance.
  • Human relations style: it is concerned with achieving good interpersonal relations and achieving a position of personal prominence.

 

Fiedler used two types of scores to measure the style adopted by a leader:

a) Least Preferred Coworker (LPC) questionnaire: rating on this was based on an individual’s liking or disliking of working with other individuals in the group and measured in 16 items.

b) Assumed Similarity (AS) between opposites: rating on this was based on the degree to which leaders perceived group members to be like themselves.

Next step in the Fiedler model is to evaluate the situation in terms of three contingency variables:

• Position power is either strong or weak.
• Task structure is either high or low.
• Leader-member relations are either good or poor.

Leader-member Relations: refers to the degree to which followers have confidence, trust, and respect in the leader. All these situational variables taken together may define the situation to be favorable or unfavorable which is represented as follows:

Fiedler states that the better the leader-member relations, the more highly structured the job, and the stronger the position power, the more control the leader has. With the knowledge of an individual’s LPC and an assessment of the three contingency dimensions, the Fiedler model proposes matching them up to achieve maximum leadership effectivenss. Based on this research, Fiedler concluded that task-oriented leaders tend to perform better in situations that were very favorable to them and in situations that were very unfavorable. So Fiedler would predict that when faced with category I, II,III VII, or VIII situation, task-oriented leaders perform better. Relationship-oriented leaders, however, perform better in moderately favorable situations-categories IV through VI.

 

ii. Leader-Member Exchange Theory (LMX): This theory argues that because of time pressures, leaders establish a special relationship with a small group of their followers. These individuals make up the in-group: they are trusted and get a disproportionate amount of the leader’s attention. Others fall into the out-group- they get loss of the leader’s time, few of the preferred rewards that the leader controls, and have leader-follower relations based on formal authority interactions. LMX is a contingency theory because the leader’s actions vary depending on their relationship with each of their followers.

 

B. Contemporary Theories of Leadership:

a. Charismatic Leadership theory: This theory is also known as great man theory. John F.Kennedy, Martin Kay Ash and Steve Jobs (cofounder of Apple Computer) are individuals frequently cited as being charismatic leaders.

Abilities of charismatic leaders:

• They have a vision
• They are willing to take personal risks to achieve that vision
• They are sensitive to follower needs
• They exhibit behaviors that are out of the ordinary.

How Charismatic Leader influence Followers:

A 3-step process:

1. It begins by the leader articulating an appealing vision. The vision provides a sense of continuity for followers by linking the present with a better future for the organization. For example, Brijmohal Lall Munjal of Hero Honda had a clear and focused vision of what he wanted to do in his life, career, and in business.

2. Next, the leader conveys through words and actions, a new set of values and by his or her behavior, sets an example for followers to intimate.

3. Finally, the charismatic leader engages in emotion-inducing and often unconventional behavior to demonstrate courage and convictions about the vision.

 

a. Transformational Leadership: it occurs when leader and followers engage with one another in such a way that they raise one another to higher levels of morality and motivation. These leaders were known for growth in their organizations, bringing about mammoth acquisitions, diversifications, takeovers, mergers and vibrant operations. Transactional leaders are those kinds of leaders who guide or motivate their followers in the direction of established goals by clarifying role and task requirements.

Transactional and transformational leadership shouldn’t be viewed as opposing approaches to getting things done. Both they complement each other. Transformational leaders encourage their followers to be more innovative and creative. They are more effective because they themselves are more creative, but they are also more effective because they encourage those who follow them to be creative too.

b. Authentic Leadership: the authentic leader is one who remains true to his or her values, preferences, hopes and aspirations and acts in a way that is consistent with those values and beliefs. The primary quality produced by authentic leadership is trust. How does authentic leadership build trust? Authentic leaders share information, encourage open communication, and stick to their ideals. The result: People come to have faith in authentic leaders.

Components of Authentic Leadership:

  • Self- awareness
  • Unbiased or balanced processing
  • Being true to self and motivated by personal convictions
  • Relational authenticity or transparency.

c. Shared Leadership: it is a dynamic interactive influence process among individuals in groups in which the objective is to lead one another to their achievement of group or organizational goals.

d. Positive Leadership: Kim Cameron has developed an approach he calls positive leadership. It is primarily concerned with facilitating extraordinary performance, affirming human potential and facilitating the best of the human condition.

 

6. Style of leadership

I. Approach Based Leadership Style: The supervisor motivates their subordinates in two ways i.e. positively and negatively.

1. Positive Leadership: It leads to higher job satisfaction and work performance. Rewards may be in the form of increase in pay, bonus, work productivity allowance, profit-sharing ratio or in the form of better status, more recognition; promotion better working quality life or job-enrichment.

2. Negative Leadership: Negative leaders use penalties and coercive measures to get the desired behavior pattern. They use demotion, reduction in pay, threatening and compelling modes to compel their subordinates to do the job which is delegated to them.

 

II. Authority Based Leadership Style: The supervisors in this category are classified depending upon how much authority is retained by them Vs how much authority is delegated to them. Following are the styles of this type of leadership:

1. Autocratic Leadership: It is also known as authoritarian leadership. In this, a person has full authority and control over decision making. This type of leadership is applicable when the organization is small and he has limited number of employees. Authoritarian leaders make decisions independently with little or no input from the rest of the group.

Advantages of Autocratic Leadership

• it provides strong motivation and reward for the leader.

• Quick decision making is guaranteed because single person decides for the whole group.

• No need of initiative in decision making, planning or organizing.

• Possibility of strict control and supervision.

• In an autocratic work environment, the leader typically keeps a close watch on the activities of the workers.

• Because one individual has complete control over an operation, there is less of a need for layers of management or bureaucracy.

• The autocratic, or “do this or else,” type of leadership is intuitive, easy to learn and does not require specialized training or knowledge of leadership theory.

Disadvantages of Autocratic Leadership:

• People in the organization dislike it especially when it is strict and the motivational style is negative.

• Employees lack motivation. Frustration, low morale, and conflict develop in the organization jeopardizing the organizational efficiency.

• There is more dependency and less individuality in the organisaiton.

2. Participative Leadership: this style is also called democratic, consultative or ideographic. A participative manager decentralizes his decision making process. Here decisions are not unilateral but they arise from consultation with followers and participation by them. Subordinates feel that their ideas are honored and they are given importance. There are three categories of participative leaders:

i. Consultative Participative: In this supervisors take opinions from the group before taking a decision, with clear very clear understanding that he may or may not incorporate that opinion in his final decision makings.

ii. Consensual Participative: A group discussion is held on the problems and decision is taken after consensus of the group members.

iii. Democratic Participative: Here full authority is given to the subordinates.

 

3. Free-Rein Leaders: It is also called laissez-faire. In this supervisor gives free hand to the subordinates to take their decisions. Such type of leadership gives chance for open discussion and creativity.

Advantages of Free-rein leadership:

• It needs very little guidance and directions from supervisors.
• Gives full freedom to subordinates to take decisions.
• Offers more creative decisions.
• Group will exercise self-control.
• Problem solving on their own by subordinates.

Disadvantages of Free-rein leadership:

• It results in delay in decision-making.
• It creates miscommunication among managers and group members.
• It may lead to chaos and confusion.
• Fear of failure or wrong decisions by the group.
• Lack of feedback.

4. Task Based Leadership Style: It is the style in which leader places more importance to the task to be performed or the people performing the task. There are four combinations of this type of style:

i. High Relationship and Low Task: Such supervisor gives more encouragement and support and less guidance and instructions. This style represents supportive style of leadership.

ii. High Task and High Relationship: In this style, supervisor spends considerable time in guiding the subordinates to complete the task. This style represents participative leadership.

iii. Low Task and Low Relationship: Subordinates are given considerable latitude in performing their tasks and they also get very little support, encouragement, motivation or appreciation. This style represents a free-rein leadership style.

iv. High Task and Low Relationship: This type of leader focuses more on task rather than on people. Strict instructions are provided by the supervisors to perform their work.

 

5. People Based Leadership Style: This type of style is based on the willingness of the employees to do the work.

i. Theory X: This assumes that employees are naturally unmotivated and dislike working, and this encourages an authoritarian style of management.

  • Employees dislike work.
  • Avoidance of the work
  • Ignore the responsibilities
  • Little ambition

ii. Theory Y: It assumes self-directed and self-disciplined employees who love to work. They are committed persons. They get satisfaction out of work.

• Employees love work

• Committed to their goals

• Self-directed and self –controlled persons

• Innovative support

• Accept responsibilities

 

References: 

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