Chapter One

The Nature and

Importance of
Leadership
LEADERSHIP
Andrew J. DuBrin, 7th Edition

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Learning Objectives

• Explain the meaning of leadership and how it differs from

management.
• Describe how leadership influences organizational
performance.
• Pinpoint several important leadership roles.
• Identify the major satisfactions and frustrations associated
with the leadership role.
• Describe a framework for understanding leadership.
• Recognize how leadership skills are developed.
• Pinpoint several traits, behaviors, and attitudes of a successful
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follower.
The Meaning of Leadership

• The ability to inspire confidence and support among the

people who are needed to achieve organizational goals.

• Leadership Effectiveness refers to attaining desirable

outcomes such as productivity, quality, and satisfaction in a
given situation.

• Leadership Process elements include:

• Leader
• Group Members
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• Context of the Situation
Leadership is a Partnership
and a Shared Responsibility
• Leadership is a partnership between leaders and group
members and thus involves a sharing of leadership
responsibility.
• The power between leaders and group members is
approximately balanced meaning this partnership occurs
when control shifts away from authoritarianism toward shared
decision making.
• Additionally, leadership often shifts depending on the
expertise needed as most relevant at the moment. What this
means is that the most senior individual on a work team is not
always the leader based on seniority.
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Leadership is a Partnership
and a Shared Responsibility
• Factors necessary for a valid partnership and shared
responsibility include:

• Exchange of purpose
• A right to say no
• Joint accountability
• Absolute honesty

• The leadership role within a team is seldom the responsibility

of only one person.
• Leadership may shift, depending on whose expertise is the
most relevant at the moment. 5
Leadership is a Relationship
• Leadership is a relationship between the leader and the
people being led.

• “Leadership isn’t something you do to people. It’s something

you do with them.” - Ken Blanchard

• How leaders build this relationship has changed as technology

and the use of social media and email has increased.

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Leadership vs. Management
MANAGEMENT: LEADERSHIP:
• Provides order, • Provides change and
consistency, and adaptability
predictability
• Top-level managers • Top-level leaders
manage/maintain transform organizations
organizations
• Implements a vision • Creates a vision
• Effective managers also • Effective leaders also
lead manage 7
Leaders versus Managers

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Does Leadership Impact
Organizational Performance?
• Research shows leadership matters when:
• Leader is perceived to be responsible and inspirational.
• Leaders throughout the organization are involved in making
decisions and these individuals are knowledgeable about the
problem to be resolved.
• Leaders change, company performance changes.
• Statistical analysis suggests the leader might be responsible
for between 15-45 percent of a firm’s performance.
• Study findings have shown the leader’s activities have a 66
percent probability of achieving a positive outcome in an
organization’s performance. 9
The Anti-Leadership Argument:
Leadership Does Not Matter
• Arguments against the importance of leadership include:

• Substitutes exist for leadership; factors in the work environment

that provide guidance and incentives to perform, make the
leader’s role almost superfluous

• Leaders can be irrelevant; people lead themselves and outside

influences can overwhelm them; factors outside the leader’s
control have a larger impact on business outcomes than do
leadership actions

• Organizational systems are far too complex to attribute success

to leadership; forces outside the leader’s control determine a 10
company’s fate
Substitutes for Leadership
• At times, competent leadership is not necessary, and
incompetent leadership can be counterbalanced by factors in
the work situation.

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Leadership Roles
• Figurehead
• Spokesperson
• Negotiator
• Coach and Motivator
• Team Builder
• Team Player
• Technical Problem Solver
• Entrepreneur
• Strategic Planner
• Executor
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Is Leadership
Satisfying or Frustrating?
Satisfying: Frustrating:
• Power and prestige • Uncompensated overtime
• Help others grow & • Too many “headaches”
develop • Perform – or – perish
• Increase income • Insufficient authority
• Loneliness
• Respect & status
• Too many people problems
• Opportunity to advance
• Organizational politics
• “Being in on” things
• Pursuit of conflicting goals
• Control money & other • Unethical perceptions
resources 13
Our Framework for
Studying Leadership
• Leadership is a function of both the leader – those being led –
and the complexity of the situational and environmental
context.

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A Closer Look at Leadership
Effectiveness
• Whether or not a leader is effective depends on four sets of
variables:
• Leader Characteristics & Traits –
• Leader’s inner qualities that help the leader function effectively in many
situations
• Examples include self-confidence and problem-solving ability
• Leader Behavior & Style –
• Activities the leader engages in, including his/her characteristic approach
• Examples include participative leadership, task-orientation behavior
• Group Member Characteristics –
• Attributes of the group members
• Examples include their intelligence and high level of motivation assist the
leader with doing an outstanding job
• Internal & External Environment –
• Elements/forces of the situation that may or may not be within the
leader’s control
• Examples include economy, diversity of workforce, organizational culture 15
Skill Development in
Leadership
• Studying the textbook assists with developing your personal
leadership skills through the following textbook elements:

• Conceptual information and behavioral guidelines

• Conceptual information demonstrated by examples and brief
descriptions of leaders in action
• Experiential exercises
• Feedback on skill utilization, or performance, from others
• Practice in natural settings

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Followership: Being an
Effective Group Member
• To be an effective leader, one needs good followers.
• Leaders cannot exist without followers.

• Key Aspects of Effective Group Members:

• Types of followers (model as defined by Barbara Kellerman,
Harvard Business School)
• Personal characteristics of productive followers
• Importance of collaboration between leaders and followers

• Followers differ in their individual engagement approach to

being a group member
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TYPES OF FOLLOWERS

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Types of FOLLOWERS
• ISOLATES:
• Completely detached
• There to do what they must to get by and nothing more
• Alienated from the system, the group, the organization
• Silent and ignored

By default, they strengthen leaders who already have the upper

hand

From “Followership” by Barbara Kellerman, Harvard Business School

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Types of FOLLOWERS
• BYSTANDERS:
• Observe, but do not participate
• Make deliberate decisions to stand aside and disengage from leaders
and the group dynamic
• Their withdrawal is a declaration of neutrality that amounts to
support for whoever
• They do nothing even when doing something is not especially costly
or especially risky
• Free riders – content to let others make the group’s decisions and do
the group’s work

The fact is that followers who stand by and do nothing give other
followers a bad name – to withdraw is to cede to those who have more
power, authority, & influence than do we to make decisions.
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From “Followership” by Barbara Kellerman, Harvard Business School
Types of FOLLOWERS
• PARTICIPANTS:
• Are in some way engaged
• They either clearly favor their leaders and groups and
organization – OR – they are clearly opposed
• They invest their engagement to try to have an impact
• By and large, leaders WANT followers who are participants –
assuming they are in support and not in opposition
• There are those followers who while generally supportive of their
leader and of the organization of which they are members,
nevertheless go their own way

From “Followership” by Barbara Kellerman, Harvard Business School 21

Types of FOLLOWERS
• ACTIVISTS:
• Feel strongly about their leaders and act accordingly
• They are eager, energetic, and engaged
• They work hard either on behalf of their leaders – OR – to
undermine and unseat them
• They are either a major resource or a major bane
• They care – they care a great deal
• They care about their leaders, pro or con
• They care about each other, presumably pro
• They care about the whole of which they are a part
• They can be dangerous when they are so determined to have an
impact that is ill-considered or wrongheaded
• They should be watched and they should be judged
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From “Followership” by Barbara Kellerman, Harvard Business School
Types of FOLLOWERS
• DIEHARDS:
• Are prepared to die if necessary for their cause, whether an
individual, an idea, or both
• Deeply devoted to their leaders – OR – ready to remove them
from positions of power, authority, and influence by any means
necessary
• Defined by their dedication
• Is all-consuming – it is who you are – it determines what you do
• They are rare – fortunately
• There are only so many diehards a society can take – And, there
are only so many followers willing to play the part
Once exception is the military – subordinates follow orders –
everyone, from top to bottom, is prepared to be wounded or even
killed in battle 23
From “Followership” by Barbara Kellerman, Harvard Business School
Summary
• Leadership is a long-term partnership and shared responsibility
between leaders and group members. When effective, leadership
inspires confidence and support among people who are needed to
achieve organizational goals.
• Although some research supports the theory leaders do affect
organizational performance, the concepts of substitutes, leader
irrelevance, and complexity theory offer an alternative view.
• Leadership involves carrying out at least ten different roles.
• There are many sources of both satisfaction and frustration to
leaders.
• Leadership is a function of leader characteristics and traits, leader
behavior and style, group member characteristics, and the internal
and external environments.
• Leadership is multilevel, involving the individual, the small group,
and the organization.
• To be an effective leader, one needs good followers. 24
• Followers differ in terms of their engagement to the firm’s goals.