Session 6

LEADERSHIP

Lecture overview
• The nature of leadership
• Leadership for contemporary times
• Leadership versus management (power)
• Leadership traits
• Autocratic versus democratic leaders
• Behavioural approaches
• Contingency approaches
• Leading change
• Contemporary leaders
• Post-heroic leadership for turbulent times

The nature of leadership

Definition:

‘Leadership….is the ability to influence

people towards the attainment of
organisational goals.’

(Samson and Daft 2009: 552)

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Leadership for contemporary
times
• Leadership approaches are influenced by many
factors, more recently
– The turbulence and uncertainty of the environment
– Ethical and economic difficulties
– Corporate governance concerns
– Globalisation
– Technology
– New ways of working
– Shifting employee expectations
– Significant social transitions

Leadership for contemporary

times
• Post-heroic approach
– Focuses on subtle, unseen and often
unrewarded acts everyday by leaders.
– Post-heroic leaders are humble, quietly
building strong and enduring companies by
developing and supporting others.

Leadership versus
management
• Leaders versus managers
– Sources of power
• Position power
• Personal power
• Empowerment

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 Leadership versus
management
• Position power
– Legitimate power
• Power derived from a person’s position or job
(managerial hierarchy) in an organisation.
– Reward power
• Power based on the capacity to provide valued
rewards to others. Examples include money,
promotions, compliments or enriched jobs.

Leadership versus
management
• Position power
– Coercive power
• Power based on the ability to punish and threaten
others.
– e.g. a manager may threaten to withhold a pay
raise or a transfer, demote or even recommend the
firing of a subordinate who does not act as desired.

Leadership versus
management
• Personal power
– Expert power
• Power that stems from special knowledge of or
skill in the tasks performed by employees.
– Referent power
• Power that results from characteristics that
command employee’s identification, respect and
admiration, so that they wish to emulate the
leader.
• Empowerment

3
 Leadership traits
• Distinguishing personal characteristics, such
as intelligence, values and appearance.
• Focus on great leaders (examine traits).
• Only weak relationship is evident between
traits and leader success.
• Also examined physical, social and work-
related characteristics of leaders.
• Some traits do not suit every organisation or
situation.

10

Autocratic versus democratic

leaders
• Autocratic leader
– Tends to centralise authority and rely on
legitimate, reward and coercive power.
• Democratic leader
– Delegates authority to others, encourages
participation, and relies on expert and
referent power.

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Behavioural approaches
• Ohio State studies
• Michigan studies
• The leadership grid

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4
 Behavioural approaches
• Ohio State studies
– Consideration
• The extent to which a leader is sensitive to
employees, respects their ideas and feelings, and
establishes mutual trust.
– Initiating structure
• The extent to which a leader is task-oriented and
directs employee’s work activities towards goal
achievement.

13

Behavioural approaches
• Michigan studies
– Employee-centred leaders
• Effective supervisors focused on employees’
human needs.
• Build effective work groups with high performance
goals.
– Job-centred leaders
• Meeting schedules, keeping costs low, achieving
production efficiency.

14

Behavioural approaches
• The leadership grid
– Two dimensions
• Concern for production
• Concern for people

15

5
 Behavioural approaches
•The leadership grid

16

Contingency approaches
• Fiedler’s contingency theory
• Hersey and Blanchard’s situational
theory
• Path–goal theory
• Substitutes for leadership

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Contingency approaches
• Fiedler’s contingency theory
– Leadership style
• Relationship-oriented
• Task-oriented
– Situation
1 Leader-member relations
2 Task structure
3 Position power
– Contingency theory

• Which leadership style is best for any

of eight combinations of the three
situations? 18

6
 Contingency approaches

• Fiedler’s contingency theory

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Contingency approaches

• Hersey and Blanchard’s situational

theory
– A contingency approach to leadership that
links the leader’s behavioural style with the
task readiness of employees.
– Characteristics of employees
• Level of readiness (R1 low, R2, R3, R4 high).
– What leadership style is required for each
level of readiness?

20

Contingency approaches
• Hersey and Blanchard’s situational
theory
– Leadership styles
• S1 – Telling
• S2 – Selling
• S3 – Participating
• S4 – Delegating

21

7
 Contingency approaches
• Hersey and Blanchard’s situational
theory

22

Contingency approaches
• Path–goal theory
– A contingency approach to leadership
specifying that the leader’s responsibility is
to increase employees’ motivation by
clarifying the behaviours necessary for task
accomplishment and rewards.
– Path clarification.
– Increasing rewards.

23

Contingency approaches
• Path-goal theory
– Leader behaviour
• Supportive leadership
• Directive leadership
• Participative leadership
• Achievement-oriented leadership
– Situational contingencies
• Personal characteristics of group members
• The work environment
– Use of rewards

24

8
 Contingency approaches
• Path-goal theory
– The use of rewards

25

Contingency approaches
• Substitutes for leadership
– A situational variable that makes a
leadership style redundant or unnecessary.
• e.g. High level of professional knowledge
substitutes for initiating structure leadership.
• Neutralisers
– A situational variable that counteracts a
leadership style.
• e.g. No position power, or physically removed
from employees.

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Leading change
• Transactional leaders
– Clarifies employees’ role and task
requirements, initiates structure, provides
rewards and displays consideration.
• Charismatic leaders
– Ability to motivate employees to transcend
their expected performance.
• Transformational leaders
– Distinguished by a special ability to bring
about innovation and change.
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9
 Leading change
• Interpersonal influence tactics
– Use rational persuasion
– Make people like you
– Rely on the rule of reciprocity
– Develop allies
– Ask for what you want
– Make use of higher authority
– Reward behaviours that want

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Contemporary leaders
• Great leaders are able to
– Set vision and strategy
– Communicate/inspire
– Have integrity
– Be tough and performance orientated
– Be humble
– Be empathic
– Be knowledge focused
– Use energy and passion
– Be smart (IQ)
– Be agile/flexible
– Be customer focused 29

Contemporary leaders
• Australasian businesswomen as leaders
– Under-represented in leadership roles.
– Growing in number, driving culture change in
organisations.

• Leaders in small Australasian businesses

– Need to do a wide range of tasks
themselves.
– Younger, entrepreneurial leaders can start
and grow organisations even in mature
markets.
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10
 Post-heroic leadership for
turbulent times
• Servant leadership
• Level 5 leadership
– Level 1: Highly capable individual
– Level 2: Contributing team member
– Level 3: Competent manager
– Level 4: The effective executive
– Level 5: The level 5 leader
• Builds an enduring, great organisation through a
combination of personal humility and professional
resolve.

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Post-heroic leadership for

turbulent times
• Interactive leadership
– The focus on minimising personal ambition
and developing others.
• E-leadership
– Virtual teams, no face-to-face meetings.
• Moral leadership
– Distinguishing right from wrong and
choosing to do right in the practice of
leadership.
– Requires courage.
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