Leadership

"If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall

in the ditch."
 Introduction
 The study of leadership in organizations is very crucial in the field of OB.
 An effective leader is capable of inspiring and motivating even the most inefficient
employees to strive towards attaining the goals of the organization.
 “Failing organizations are usually over-managed and under-led”

 Leadership is “ the process of influencing and supporting others to work enthusiastically

toward achieving objectives”
 -John NewStrom and Keith Davis
 Leader functions

In management, leadership has a creative role. A leader has to

fulfill many functions:
1)He has to lay down specific policies and objectives and inspire
subordinates to work towards the attainment of the goal.
2)The leader has to frame policies and plans to achieve the objectives
and ensure proper implementation of plans.
3) He must encourage the innovative ideas to run the organisation.
4) The leader must be independent and should be able to take
decisions on all vital aspects of administration
5) He should encourage team spirit and develop his group in to a
cohesive unit
6) The leader must represent his followers and his organisation.
7) The leader must treat his follower in a fair and impartial manner.
8) The leader should solve disputes and conflicts among his
followers.
9) He should be able to delegate responsibilities to his
subordinates.
10)The leader should be able to adapt his style of leadership to the
requirements of the situation and according to the needs of his
followers.
 NATURE OF LEADERSHIP
Distinction between Leadership and Management

 Leaders take a personal and active interests in achieving goals whereas

managers tend to play a relatively passive role in accomplishing the goals.

 Managers need power to be entrusted to them by the organization to deal with

people . Leaders have power within themselves and the required drive to lead
people and motivate them to work enthusiastically towards achieving goals.

 Managers limit their interactions with people to the minimum extent required
to carry out their managerial responsibilities. Leaders interact with people
frequently and in a more natural way. In the process they inspire people,
motivate them and lead them.
Traits of Effective Leaders
 Although there are no specific characteristics that can define the leadership
qualities in a person , most researches have shown that there are certain traits
that differentiate leaders from non-leaders.

Few Leadership Traits

 Initiative
 Ambition
 Desire to lead
 Self confidence
 Analytical ability
 Knowledge – process,technology,inductry,etc
 Creative
 Flexibility
Leadership Skills
 Behavioral expert Robert Katz, had identified that the leaders primarily use three skills
– technical, human and conceptual skills.
TECHNICAL SKILLS
 A technical skill is to have knowledge and be competent and proficient in a specific
work or activity. For example, to use excel and know how to implement macros is an
advanced technical skill. To drive a 300 Ton truck is also an advanced technical skill.
Just like these there are thousands of examples of technical skills in every organization.
HUMAN SKILLS
 A human skill is one that enables you to develop the ability to work with people. These
abilities are the ones that we recognize as the ones that helps us to get along with
people, to communicate and work with your team, crew or associates. These are the
fundamental abilities in every human activity, in order to get the most of the groups
you work with.
CONCEPTUAL SKILLS
 A conceptual skill is one that enables us to understand and better decide the actions
and measures that has to be taken in a particular field of work.
 Based on his observations Katz stated that the level of importance of each set of skills
(technical, human and conceptual) was directly correlated with the level that the person
has in the organization. The next figure displays this relationship.
 LEADERSHIP STYLE
The Managerial Grid by Robert R. Blake and Jane S.
Mouton
 The Managerial Grid graphic below is a very simple framework that
elegantly defines FIVE basic styles that characterize workplace
behaviour and the resulting relationships. The FIVE managerial Grid
styles are based on how two fundamental concerns (concern for people
and concern for results) are manifested at varying levels whenever
people interact.
 The concept distinguishes 5 different leadership styles, based on the concern for people and
the concern for production:
Authority Obedience style(High Production / Low People)(9:1)
 Description: Authoritarian or compliance leader.
 Characteristics: The task-oriented manager is autocratic, has a high concern for
production, and a low concern for people. He finds employee needs unimportant and
simply a means to an end. He provides his employees with money and expects
performance back. There is little or no allowance for cooperation or collaboration. He
pressures his  employees through rules and punishments to achieve the company goals.
Heavily task-oriented people are very strong on schedules. They are intolerant of what
they see as dissent (it may just be someone's creativity).
Country Club style (Low Production / High People)(1:9)
 Description: One-sided, thoughtful attention to the needs of employees.
 Characteristics: The relationship-oriented manager has a high concern for people, but a
low concern for production. He pays much attention to the security and comfort of the
employees. He hopes that this will increase performance. He is almost incapable of
employing the more punitive, coercive and legitimate powers. This inability results from
fear that using such powers could jeopardize relationships with the other team members.
 Results in: A usually friendly atmosphere, but not necessarily very productive.
Impoverished management style (Low Production / Low People) (1:1)
 Description: A delegate-and-disappear management style. A basically lazy approach.
 Characteristics: The manager shows a low concern for both people and production. He
(or she) avoids to get into trouble. His main concern is not to be held responsible for any
mistakes.
 Results in: Disorganization, dissatisfaction and disharmony due to lack of effective
leadership.
Organisational-man management style (Medium Production /
Medium People). (5:5)
Description: The manager tries to balance between the competing
goals of the company and the needs of the workers.
Characteristics: The manager gives some concern to both people
and production, hoping to achieve acceptable performance. He
believes this is the most anyone can do.
Results in: No Compromises in the production nor the people
needs are fully met.

Team Management style (High Production / High People).(9:9)

Description: The ultimate. The manager pays high concern to both
people and production. Motivation is high.
Characteristics: The manager encourages teamwork and
commitment among employees. This style emphasizes making
employees feel part of the company-family, and involving them in
understanding organizational purpose and determining production
needs.
Results in: Team environment based on trust and respect, which
leads to high satisfaction and motivation and, as a result, high
production.
 Fiedler’s Contingency Theory For Leadership
 The Fiedler contingency model is a leadership theory of industrial and organizational
psychology developed by Fred Fiedler
 Fiedler (1967), differentiated situation from contingency.  He emphasised the fact
that differing roles, traits and behaviours of leaders did not just require an specific
understanding of interactions with subordinate, it also required favourable conditions.
 Fiedler's model assumes that group performance depends on: Leadership style,
described in terms of task motivation and relationship motivation.
Situational favourableness, determined by three factors:
 1. Leader-member relations - Degree to which a leader is accepted and
supported by the group members.
 2. Task structure - Extent to which the task is structured and defined,
with clear goals and procedures.
 3. Position power or the leader’s position - The ability of a leader to
control subordinates through reward and punishment.
 High levels of these three factors give the most favourable situation, low
levels, the least favourable. Relationship-motivated leaders are most
effective in moderately favourable situations. Task-motivated leaders are
most effective at either end of the scale.
Fiedler suggests that it may be easier for leaders to change their situation
to achieve effectiveness, rather than change their leadership style.
Hersey and Blanchard’s situational theory
 The situational leadership model focuses on the fit of leadership style and
followers maturity .
 In contrast to Fiedler’s contingency leadership model and its underlying
assumption that leadership style is hard to change, the Hersey-Blanchard
situational leadership model suggests that successful leaders do adjust their
styles.
 The situational leadership model views leaders as varying their emphasis on
task and relationship behaviors to best deal with different levels of follower
maturity.
 The two-by-two matrix shown in the figure indicates that four leadership
styles are possible.
Telling Style — giving specific task directions and closely supervising
work; this is a high-task, low-relationship style.
Selling Style —explaining task directions in a supportive and persuasive
way; this is a high-task, high-relationship style.
Delegating Style —allowing the group to take responsibility for task
decisions; this is a low-task, low-relationship style.
Leader-member exchange theory
According to this theory, leaders often behave
differently with different subordinates. They establish
close relationships with a small group of subordinates
early in their interactions.
In – Group :Good relation with leaders and high
frequency of interactions.
Out-Group: Formal relation with leader and less
frequency of interaction compared to in-group.
The theory suggests that the leaders give promotions to
the in-group employees quickly and also that
employee turnover rate in such groups is low.