ORGANISATIONAL ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOURBEHAVIOUR

LEADERSHIPLEADERSHIP

DefinitionDefinition

Leadership is the ability to influence individuals or groups toward the achievement of goals.

Leadership, as a process, shapes the goals of a group or organization, motivates behavior toward the achievement of those goals, and helps define group or organizational culture.

It is primarily a process of influence.

Difference between A Manager & A Leader

A manager administers, but a leader innovates A manager maintains, while a leader develops A manager focuses on systems and structures,

whereas a leader’s focus is on people A manager relies on control, but a leader inspires

trust A manager keeps an eye on the bottom line, while

a leader has an eye on the horizon A manager does things right, a leader does the

right thing

Effective Leadership Qualities and Skills Effective Leadership Qualities and Skills

In order to become a leader, a person should be aware of nitty-gritty of the work that his team has to handle. Unless and until he knows about the work, he will not be able to lead the team in the right direction.

An effective leader needs to set example for his team members and become a role model for them. If he is lazy, dishonest and shirks from responsibilities, how can he expect others to be meticulous and sincere!

A leader should be totally unbiased. He should not have personal favorites in his team, to whom he gives more authority or less work. All the members in a team should be treated equally.

Patience is one of the most essential qualities needed in a leader. Constructive feedback is one of the skills that a leader should possess. He should always praise his team members if they perform well. At the same time, if they do wrong, he should be there to tell them where they went wrong and how can they put things back in orderA leader needs to motivate his team, so that they happily contribute towards the team work. He should be aware of the stimuli of different members and make judicious use of them.When a person becomes a leader, he needs to delegate his duties as well as responsibilities amongst his team members. For this, he should be aware of their strengths and weaknesses and delegate accordingly.

•Leader is the one who sets goal for the team and help them achieve it. He should possess the vision to aim right and at the same time, be able to mobilize people towards those goals.

•A leader should always be receptive to new ideas. Just because he is the leader doesn’t mean that the suggestions made by others will be useless. He must accept the useful ideas of his team members.

•An effective leader should have loads of understanding and always focus on the betterment of the group, as a whole, and not individual members. At the same time, he should be honest, trustworthy and easily approachable.

Successful Traits of Successful Traits of LeadersLeaders

(i) A strong desire for accomplishment

(ii) Persistent pursuit of goals

(iii)Creativity and intelligence used to solve problems

(iv) Initiative applied to social situations

(v) Self-assumed personality

(vi) Willingness to accept behavioral consequences

(vii) Low susceptibility to interpersonal stress

(viii) High tolerance of ambiguity

(ix) Ability to influence other people

(x) Ability to structure social interactions

Styles of LeadershipStyles of Leadership 1. Autocratic Leadership: Autocratic leadership is an extreme

form of leadership, where leaders have absolute power over their workers or team. Staff and team members have little opportunity to make suggestions, even if these would be in the team's or the organization's best interest . Most people tend to resent being treated like this. Therefore, autocratic leadership usually leads to high levels of absenteeism and staff turnover.

2. Bureaucratic leadership: Bureaucratic leaders work "by the book." They follow rules rigorously, and ensure that their staff follows procedures precisely. This is a very appropriate style for work involving serious safety risks (such as working with machinery, with toxic substances, or at dangerous heights) or where large sums of money are involved (such as handling cash).

3. Transformational leadership: People with this leadership style are true leaders who inspire their teams constantly with a shared vision of the future. While this leader's enthusiasm is often passed onto the team, he or she can need to be supported by "detail people.” The transformational leaders look after initiatives that add value.

4. Charismatic leadership: A charismatic leadership style can seem similar to transformational leadership, because these leaders inspire lots of enthusiasm in their teams and are very energetic in driving others forward. However, charismatic leaders can tend to believe more in themselves than in their teams, and this creates a risk that a project, or even an entire organization, might collapse if the leader leaves. As such, charismatic leadership carries great responsibility, and it needs a long-term commitment from the leader.

5. Democratic leadership or participative Leadership: Although democratic leaders make the final decisions, they invite other members of the team to contribute to the decision-making process. This not only increases job satisfaction by involving team members, but it also helps to develop people's skills. Team members feel in control of their own destiny, so they're motivated to work hard by more than just a financial reward. Because participation takes time, this approach can take more time, but often the end result is better. The approach can be most suitable when working as a team is essential, and when quality is more important than speed to market or productivity.

Four Key Leader BehavioursFour Key Leader Behaviours

The Managerial Grid

Leadership Theories

Trait TheoryTrait Theory IntelligenceIntelligence Physiological factorsPhysiological factors Emotional StabilityEmotional Stability Intense Inner Motivational DriveIntense Inner Motivational Drive Human relations attitudeHuman relations attitude Vision & ForesightVision & Foresight EmpathyEmpathy FairnessFairness Technical SkillsTechnical Skills Open mind & AdaptabilityOpen mind & Adaptability Art of CommunicationArt of Communication Social SkillsSocial Skills

Behavioral Approach Behavioral Approach

Leadership involves an interpersonal Leadership involves an interpersonal relationship between leader & subordinates in relationship between leader & subordinates in which behaviour of the leader constitute the which behaviour of the leader constitute the most critical element.most critical element.

Michigan StudiesMichigan Studies Ohio State University Leadership Studies.Ohio State University Leadership Studies. IOWA Studies.IOWA Studies.

Michigan StudiesMichigan Studies

Conducted by ISR at University of Michigan Conducted by ISR at University of Michigan after World war IIafter World war II

These studies distinguishes between 2 distinct These studies distinguishes between 2 distinct styles of leadershipstyles of leadership

1.1. Production Centered LeadershipProduction Centered Leadership

2.2. Employee centered LeadershipEmployee centered Leadership

Ohio StudiesOhio Studies

These studies Narrowed the description of leader These studies Narrowed the description of leader behaviour in two Dimensionsbehaviour in two Dimensions

1.Initiating Structure1.Initiating Structure

2. Consideration2. Consideration

Leader Behaviours and Leadership Styles

IOWA StudiesIOWA Studies

Kurt Lewin indentifies three main styles.Kurt Lewin indentifies three main styles.

1.1. AutocraticAutocratic

2.2. DemocraticDemocratic

3.3. Free Rein styleFree Rein style

Situational Contingency Situational Contingency ApproachApproach

Fiedler modelFiedler model Path goalPath goal

Leadership Effectiveness in the Contingency Leadership Effectiveness in the Contingency TheoryTheory

The Path-goal Theory of LeadershipThe Path-goal Theory of Leadership

Leader Behaviour Dimensions in Path-Goal Theory

1. Leader Directiveness

Letting subordinates know what’s expected.Providing specific guidance as to what should

be done and how.Making leader’s part in the group understood.Scheduling work to be done.Maintaining definite standards of performance.

2. Leader Supportiveness

Showing concern for status and well-being of subordinates.

Doing little things to make the work more pleasant.

Treating members as equals.Being friendly and approachable.

3.Leader Participativeness

Consulting with subordinates.Soliciting subordinate suggestions.Taking these suggestions seriously.Maintaining definite standards of performance.

4. Leader Achievement-orientedness

Setting challenging goals.Expecting subordinates to perform at their peak

levels.Showing a high degree of confidence in

subordinates.Constantly emphasising excellence in performance.

Example of Applying Path-Goal Theory

The Situational Theory of Leadership

Situation – Style Match

Situation Recommended Leadership Style

1. People in a state of confusion or panic because of crisis High task and low relationship or such as materials shortage, equipment failure, or authoritarian.natural disaster.

2. Complex technology, inexperienced employees. High task and low relationship at the outset

3. Undesirable, repetitive jobs, average employees. High relationship and low task. 4. Self-sufficient, capable workers performing job. Low task and low relationship 5. Employees dislike working, job is undesirable. High relationship and high task. 6. Start-up of new operation, job descriptions are vague. High relationship and high task. 7. Group of people “doing time” until retirement. High relationship and low task. 8. Inexperienced but well meaning employees. High relationship and high task. 9. Repetitive work; employees with average motivation. High relationship and low task. 10. Employees are performing independent tasks requiring High task; emphasis on relationship

coordination by leader. depends on emotional maturity of employees.

11. Emotionally immature employees; average skill level. High task and low relationship. 12. Employees are child like or “prima donnas” but talented. High relationship and low task.

Behavioural Components of Charismatic and Non- Charismatic Leaders

Non-charismatic Leader Charismatic Leader

Relation to Status Quo Essentially agrees with status quo Essentially opposed to status quo and and strives to maintain it strives to change it

Future Goal Goal not too discrepant from status Idealised vision which is highly discrepant quo from status quo

Likableness Shared perspective makes him/her Shared perspective and idealized vision likable makes him/her a likable

and honourable hero worthy of identification and imitationTrustworthiness Disinterested advocacy in persuasion Disinterested advocacy by incurring great

attempts personal risk and costExpertise Expert in using available means to Expert in using unconventional means to

achieve goals within the framework of transcend the existing orderthe existing order

Behaviour Conventional, conforming to existing Unconventional or counter normativenorms

Environmental Sensitivity Low need for environmental sensitivity High need for environmental sensitivity for

to maintain status quo changing the status quoArticulation Weak articulation of goals and Strong articulation of future vision and

motivation to lead motivation to leadPower Base Position power and personal power Personal power (based on expertise,

(based on reward, expertise and respect and admiration for a unique hero)liking for a friend who is a similar other)

Leader-Follower Egalitarian, consensus seeking, or Elitist, entrepreneur and exemplary. directive. Nudges or orders people to Transforms people to the radical changes share his/her views advocated

SummarySummary Leadership refers to the process of influencing others to follow

enthusiastically towards realisation of shared goals. Influence is a two – way process. The leader influences and is influenced by followers.

Leadership is important to commit a group of people towards specific goals and to make use their potentials to realise the goals. Leadership has the ultimate aim of raising the level of human conduct and the ethical aspirations of people.

There is talk about formal leadership and informal leadership. Formal leadership occurs when a manager leads by exercising formal authority. Informal leadership arises when a person without formal authority is influential in directing the behaviour of others.

Different leadership styles are distinguished. In this book leadership styles are divided into four types : (i) those that are based on the amount of authority retained; (ii) those that place relative emphasis on people versus task; (iii) those that are based on leader’s assumptions about people; and (iv) entrepreneurship styles.

Among the theories of leadership, the most discussed theory is trait theory. According to this theory, certain characteristics make successful leaders distinct from unsuccessful ones. These qualities have been identified, though not successfully. A successful leader is said to possess biological, psychological and social qualities.

Next in importance are the behaviour theories, which focus on what the leaders do while influencing the behaviour of subordinates. The behaviours of leaders can be acquired. Ohio State University studies and the University of Michigan studies are the research studies conducted in support of the behavioural theories.

Contingency theories (including Fiedler’s model and the path – goal model of Robert House) stress on the fact that leadership effectiveness depends on situations and not on traits or behaviours of leaders.

Situational leadership theory propounded by Paul Hersey and Kenneth Blanchard, adds a new dimension to leadership, viz., maturity. The theory hypothesises that the leader’s style depends on the maturity level of the subordinate employees.

McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y remind the leaders that contrary to popular belief, individuals are under Theory Y. Accordingly, leaders must adopt participative styles to influence the followers.

The discussion of theories is highly useful to leaders in more than one way. The traits theory underlines that an individual possessing the necessary qualities must be appointed as leader.

Behavioural theories postulate that the behaviour of leaders is more important than their qualities. These behaviours can be acquired unlike traits, which are generally inherited.

Contingency theories emphasise that the situation in which a leader operates is the most important determinant of his effectiveness.

Three contemporary issues on leadership should not be missed by any reader. First one relates to the need for transformational leadership and not mere transactional leadership. The second issue relates to the women as leaders. Surprisingly, women are not inferior to men in skills and abilities but the latter are generally preferred for leadership positions in our male dominated society. The third issue relates to charismatic leadership which is needed when an organisation is introducing a totally new product.

Key TermsKey Terms

Authoritarian leadership

Contingency theory Leadership Least preferred co-worker Managerial Grid Leadership styles

Charismatic leadership Free-rein style Leadership match Participative style Transformational

leadership