Unit-8

Leadership
1. Concept of leadership.
Leadership is the art of influencing and inspiring the behavior of
subordinates in accordance with requirements. It is the personal quality
of individuals who organize the effort of individuals and directs them to
achieve organizational objectives.
According to Stephen P. Robbins, “Leadership is the ability to influence
a group towards achievement of goal.”
Nature/characteristics:
a. Leaders and followers.
b. Process of interpersonal influence.
c. Common goals.
d. Continuous activity.
e. Rest on power.
f. Leadership is situational.

2. Functions/roles of leadership:
a. set vision and goals: This is the primary function of the leader. As a
leader of the organization, he has to determine the vision and long
term objectives of the organization. Leaders show the detection to the
organization by establishing the long term goals. Leaders in the
organization attempt to realize their goals by making their organization
more flexible and adapt to rapidly changing environment.
b. communication: Communication is an essential component of
effective leadership. Effective leaders communicate the vision to the
members, encourage and influence people through proper means of
communication. The group members may require instruction, guidance
and suggestion from the leader and the leader may need regular
feedback of the performance during work activities.
c. Direct and motivate organizational members: Leaders in the
organization direct their followers by sharing vision and setting
performance standards. Direction helps organizational members to
perform the activities in a planned way. The leader explains and defines
the goals, plans and decisions, organizes group activities, solves
problems and best utilizes of potential of group members.
d. Represent the organization: As a leader, a manager represents his
group and also the organization. He makes agreement and contract
with outside organizations and authorities on behalf of the
organization. He also represents the organization while participation in
meetings, conferences, seminars etc.
e. Encourage teamwork: It is the responsibility of the leader to
encourage all the subordinates to work as a group. For this purpose, he
has to maintain the coordination among different departments and
individual working in an organization.
f. Control and supervision: A managerial leader should control the
organizational activities by comparing actual performance with
standard performance and finding out the deviation between them to
take corrective action. Similarly, the leader should also supervise the
work perform by subordinates according to time and situation.
3. Leadership styles.
There are mainly 3 types of leadership styles which are discussed
below:
A. Autocratic leadership: This is also known as authoritarian and
dictatorial leadership. In this leadership style, the leader has a sole
authority to take decision. In other words, a leader believes in
centralized power and makes all the decision himself without
consulting with subordinates. Under this style leader himself
formulates different types of plans and policy and implements without
consulting subordinates.
In autocratic leadership, there is the system of one-way
communication. The information of instruction and guidance flows only
from top level to bottom level. Autocratic leadership can be classified
into two parts.
i. Strict autocracy: Leader always uses negative motivation like penalty,
punishment, demotion etc. to motivate employees.
ii. Benevolent autocracy: Leader always uses positive motivation like
promotion. Incentives, prizes etc. to motivate employees.
Advantages:
a. Quick decision: Under autocratic leadership, leader does not take
any suggestion from the subordinates while taking the decision. He
takes decision in accordance with his knowledge experience and logic.
Therefore, decision making is quick.
b. Strict discipline: In autocratic leadership, there is the provision of
strict discipline among the subordinates. Everyone is assured to follow
rules and regulations of the organization set by leaders.
c. Frequent implementation: Under this leadership, manager can
implement his decision frequently as subordinates can’t ignore his
instruction. Subordinates have to perform their work according to
instruction from leader.
d. Provide strong motivation: In this leadership, the leader motivates
the subordinates according to his will and requirements. He uses his
authority and power to motivate subordinates.
Disadvantages:
a. Negative motivation style: This leadership give emphasis on negative
motivation like demotion, minimization of salaries, penalties etc. leader
never feel about reward and facilities to employees.
b. Decrease organizational efficiency: In such leadership employees
perform their works under pressure. They cannot perform the work
according to their will. This reduces the efficiency of the organization.
c. Instability: Under this leadership style, employees have to perform
their work under pressure so they cannot perform their work for a long
period of time. They feel job in security and as far as possible they try
to leave the organization.
d. Lack of creativity: Since, the employees cannot perform the work
according to their interest they should follow the strict instruction from
the leader to perform the work. This decrease employee’s level of
creativity.
B. Democratic leadership: This is also known as participative
leadership. Under this leadership style, the leader takes suggestion,
guidance and information from their subordinates while making the
decision. In democratic leadership there is two-way communication
system. The information of instruction and guidance flow from top level
to subordinates level where as information of problems and suggestion
flows from subordinate’s level to upper level. Under this style, leader
always uses positive motivation like promotion, reward, incentives to
motivate employees.
Advantages:
a. Positive motivation style: Under this leadership style, leader always
uses positive motivation like promotion, reward, incentives to motivate
employees.
b. Better decision: Under this style of leadership, decisions are taken by
the involvement of both higher and lower level staff. Therefore, there is
always chance of taking better decision.
c. Increase productivity: In democratic leadership, there is the
provision of two-way communication system. The manager always
encourages and inspires for better performance. Therefore, it helps to
increase productivity.
d. Increase in group cooperation: The democratic leadership is also
known as participative leadership. Decision is made by the involvement
of different level of employees. This helps to maintain group
cooperation.
Disadvantages:
a. Delay in decision making: Under this leadership, the decision is
made by taking the suggestion, ideas and information from different
level of employees. Therefore, it needs more time to take decisions.
b. Absence of discipline: Under this leadership style, there is some time
lack of discipline among the employees. Employees may misuse their
authority which results negative outcome in organizational
performance.
c. Inefficient employees: Some freedom and independency is given to
employees to do their work in democratic leadership. The leader gives
only instruction and guidance. Therefore, employees cannot perform
the work in efficient manner.
C. Laissez faire leadership: This leadership style is also known as free
rein leadership. Under this style, leaders don’t hold the power and
responsibility. They grant authority and responsibility to groups. The
role of leader is to provide advice and direction as per the requirement
of the subordinates. This style is suitable for highly trained and
professional staffs.
Features of laissez fair leadership:
a. The leaders don’t hold the power and responsibility.
b. Responsibility is given to the group members.
c. Leader only plays the role of coordinator and director.
d. Group members prepare and implement plans and policies.
e. Such leadership is suitable for highly trained and professional staffs.

4. Leadership quality.
It can be categorized into two types i.e. Personal qualities and
Managerial qualities.
A. Personal qualities: It includes the following qualities:
a. Physical fitness: A leader must be physically a sound person. He
should be impressive in outlook. Generally physical fitness is an
ordinary and natural requirement of a leader.
b. Self-confidence: A leader must have confidence for any kind of work
he is doing. He should have knowledge about the outcome of decisions
and activities, which are done in organization.
c. Character: A leadership should have a very fair character. He should
possess features like honesty, loyalty, self-discipline and devotion to
organization.
d. Intelligence: It is the mental quality of leader. A leader must have
ability to deal complex and difficulty types of problems and situation in
confident manner. He should have ability to study, analyze and take
decision confidently.
e. Sense of responsibility: A leader must be responsible person. He
must feel morally responsible for each and every activity which is done
within his supervision.
B. Managerial qualities: It includes the following qualities:
a. Technical knowledge: A manager must have a basic technical
knowledge on all the activities done in the organization. The technical
knowledge helps the manager in making the effective decision.
b. Organizing ability: A leader must have organizing ability. He must
have ability to make appropriate division of works among the
subordinates. Besides, he should also have ability to arrange the
available resources.
c. Motivation and communication: A successful leader must have
motivating skills. He should have inspired his subordinates to achieve
organizational objectives. besides, he should also have communication
skill to maintain up to date relation with subordinates and other
authorities.
d. Human relation expert: A successful leader is one who is expert in
human relation. A leader should maintain warm relation with different
types of stakeholder like consumer, visitors, subordinates, suppliers etc.
e. Ability of judgement: A successful leader must have ability to
maintain right decision at right time. While taking any decision he must
avoid the feeling of close relation, friendship, favoritism etc.

5. Approaches to leadership.
There are three approaches to leadership which are as follows:
A. Trait approach to leadership: Trait approach assumes that a good
leader is born and not made. This theory of leadership emphasizes that
there are certain identifiable qualities that good leaders must possess.
Leadership qualities may be in-born or they may be acquired through
higher education, training and practice. The common traits necessary
for successful leadership are intelligence, initiative, imagination,
optimism, enthusiasm, courage, creativity, originality, communicative
ability, self-confidence, human understanding and a sense of fair play.
Following are the six traits that differentiate leaders from non-leaders:
a. Drive: Leaders show a high level of effort. They have a relatively high
desire for achievement. They are motivated, they have a lot of energy,
they are tirelessly persistent in their activities and they show initiatives.
b. Desire to lead: Leaders have a strong desire to influence and lead
others. They prove the willingness to take responsibility.
c. Honesty and indignity: Leaders build trusting relation between
themselves and followers by being honest or by showing high
uniformity between words and effort.
d. self-confidence: Followers look to leaders for an absence of self-
doubt. Therefore, leaders need to show self confidence in order to
convince followers of the appropriateness of goals and decisions.
e. Intelligence: Leaders need to be intelligent enough to gather,
produce, and interpret large amount of information and to be able to
crate vision, solve problems and make correct decision.
f. Job relevant knowledge: Effective leaders have a high degree of
knowledge about the company, industry and technical matters.
Detailed knowledge allows leaders to make well informed decisions and
to understand the implications of those decisions.
B. Behavioral approach to leadership: The overall goal of the
behavioral approach is to identify and measure relevant leadership
actions and behavior that leads to enhance subordinate’s productivity
and morale. Three studies describe the leadership behavior which are
as follows:
a. The Ohio state studies: The basic aim of this study was to identify
the independent dimensions of leader behavior and to determine the
effect of these dimensions on the work performance and satisfaction.
The researchers concluded that there were two dimensions of a leader’
s behavior: initiating structure and consideration. Initiating structure
refers to the extent to which a leader is likely to set goals, define and
structure his or her roles, define and organize the tasks which his
followers have to. Consideration described as the extent to which the
leader has supportive work relationship characterized by warmth and
mutual trust of group members. The studies concluded that
combination of initiating structure, and consideration helps in achieving
high productivity and satisfaction at the same time.
b. University of Michigan studies: The aim of this study was to identify
behavioral characteristics of leaders that were related to performance
effectiveness. The researchers concluded that there were two
dimensions of leader’s behavior: employees centered and production
centered. Employees centered leader’s behavior allowed sufficient
freedom and provide necessary guidance to subordinates. They
emphasized on interpersonal relations and took a personal interest on
their employees. Production centered leader paid close attention to
subordinate’s work, explained work producers and regarded group
members as central point. The studies concluded that employees
centered leadership provides higher productivity and satisfaction
whereas production oriented leadership provides lower productivity
and lower satisfaction.
C. Managerial grid: This theory states that leaders are most effective
when they achieve a high and balance concern for both people and
task. It has two dimensions: concern for people which deals with
human aspect of leadership behavior and concern for production which
deals with task aspect of leadership behavior. It is 9*9 matrix outlining
81 different styles of leadership. Following are the 5 styles of
leadership:
a. Impoverish management: There is little concern for both production
and people. This is the worse style of leadership. The attitude of the
leaders toward getting things done and maintaining relation with
people are careless.
b. Country club management: There is high concern for people and
little concern for production. The leader tries to maintain friendly
relations with subordinates to motivate people to work.
c. Task management: There is high concern for production and little
concern for people. Leader focusses on tasks by planning and
controlling the production function.
d. Team management: This leadership is practiced by those leaders
who want to achieve high production through effective use of
participation and involvement of people.
e. Middle-of-the-road-management: This is a safe style of leadership
where there is balance concern for production and people.
C. Situational approach to leadership: Situational approach assumes
that the effectiveness of leadership depends on the interaction of the
leader’s personal characteristics, the leader’s behavior and factors in
the leadership situation. As the situation changes, the leader must
change his style of leadership. The situational theory resists that there
is no one best style of leadership universally applicable in all situations.
The situational approach to leadership is based on the assumption that
all examples of successful leadership are somewhat different and
requires a unique combination of leaders, followers and situations.
Some of the major studies based on situational perspectives are
described below:
a. Fielder Model: Fielder model proposed that effective group
performance depends on the proper match between the leader’s style
of interacting with his followers and the degree to which the situation
allowed the leader to control and influence. This model differentiated
two leadership personalities which are task oriented and human
relations oriented leaders. Fiedler’s model suggests that the best
leadership style depends on the level of situational control; that is, the
degree of power and influence that the leaders possess in a particular
situation. The situational control is affected by leader member
relations, task structure and position power.
b. Path goal theory: The path goal theory attempts to predict
leadership effectiveness in different situations. The term path goal is
derived from the belief that effective leaders clarify the path to help
their followers get from where they are to achieve their work goal and
make the journey along the path easier by reducing road-blacks. The
leader has to facilitate overall learning by helping followers better
understand how their actions are linked to organizational rewards.
Employees make optimum contribution to the organizational goals
where they perceive that their personal satisfaction is dependent on
their effective performance. Path goal theory identifies four types of
leader behavior to motivate and satisfy employees such as directive
behavior, supportive behavior, participative behavior, achievement
oriented behavior.

6. Concept and formation of work group.

Work group is defined as two or more interacting and interdependent
individuals who work together to achieve common goals.
Reasons for joining groups:
a. Security.
b. Status.
c. Self-esteem.
d. Affiliation.
e. Power.
f. Goal achievement.
Stages of group formation and development:
a. Forming.
b. Storming.
c. Norming.
d. Performing.
e. Adjourning.
Characteristics of group:
a. Collection of people.
b. Interaction.
c. Group leader.
d. Shared goal and interest.
e. Status.
Types of groups:
a. Formal group: Formal group is a work unit that is formed as a part of
the organization structure by virtue of management decisions to
perform organizational jobs. They are controlled by certain
organizational rules and work assignment. It has two types:
i. Command group: A command group consists of a manager and a set
of his immediate subordinates directly reporting to him. It is specified
by the organizational hierarchy, usually outlined in the chart.
ii. Task group: A task group is formed for performing a specific task. It
consists of a member of employees who work together to complete a
specific project or job.
b. Informal group: Group which emerge naturally due to the response
and common interests of the members of an organization who can
easily identify with goals. They are not controlled by certain
organizational rules and work assignment. It has two types:
i. Interest group: Interest groups are formed to share a common
interest in some job related event or possible outcome. Holidays,
cafeteria, sports, library, and overtime facilities etc. are the common
interest of employees.
ii. Friendship group: friendship groups are formed in an organization
because of the social affiliation needs of the members such as needs for
belonging, for affiliation, acceptance etc.

7. Team management.
A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are
committed to common purpose, set a performance goal and approach
for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.
Characteristics:
a. A team is a small group of people with complementary skills.
b. All team members must have common goals.
c. A team has individual and mutual accountability.
d. A team has unified commitment to achieve goal.
e. A team has two-way communication.
f. A team has leadership roles.
Types/classification of team:
a. Problem solving team: These are the teams composed of five to
twelve employees from the same department to improve quality,
efficiency and work environment.
b. Self-managed work team: Self-managed work team is a formal group
of employees consisting of 5 to 15 members that operate without a
manager and is responsible for complete a work process.
c. Cross functional team: Cross functional team consists of employees
from about the same hierarchical level but from different work areas in
an organization. It helps to exchange information, develop new ideas,
solve problems and coordinate complex tasks.
d. Virtual team: A virtual team uses computer technology to tie
together physically dispersed members in order to achieve a common
goal. Team members use video conferencing email, electronic chat
rooms, internet etc. for the successful operation.

8. Differences between team and group.

Following are the difference between team and group:
Team
It has a shared leadership.
It has individual and mutual
accountability.
Specific team purposes that the
team itself delivers.
It encourages open ended
discussion and active problem
solving meetings.
It has collective work products.
Group
It has a focused leadership.
It has individual accountability.
The group’s purpose is the same
as the broader organizational
mission.
It runs efficient meetings.
It has individual work products.
9. Meaning of conflict.
Conflict is a disagreement that results from the differences in opinion
between two or more people. Conflict may arise when there is lack of
understanding and compatibility between them. Conflict can produce
emotions and anxiety and finally decrease performance.
Features:
a. Conflict arise when there is lack of understanding and compatibility
between two parties.
b. Conflict is the opposite of cooperation.
c. Conflict is a dynamic process.
Types:
a. Intra-personal conflict: Intra-personal conflict arises inside an
individual due to divergent goals and multiple roles, which the
individual is expected to play.
b. Interpersonal conflict: Interpersonal conflict arise when two or more
persons interact with one another such as conflict between seniors and
subordinates. The main causes of interpersonal conflict are personality
differences, perceptions, interest, scarcity of resources etc.
c. Inter group conflict: Conflict between two or more groups of an
organization is known as inter group conflict. The major causes of inter
group conflict are competition for scarce resources, joint decision
making etc.
d. Inter organizational conflict: Conflict that arises between two
organizations is known as inter organizational conflict. It is the result of
business competition when both of the conflicting parties generally
engage in providing similar type of service or product.