Chapter 3

Foundation of modern leadership

Instructor: Bui Thi Van Quynh (MBA)
Tình huống 1
Learning objectives
• Identify the three major eras in the study of leadership and their
contributions to modern leadership.
• Explore five theories of leadership namely:
➢The Great man theory
➢Fiedler’s Contingency Model
➢Transactional Model
➢Transformational Model
➢Path-Goal Theory Model
What is leadership theory?
• Leadership theories are shools of thought brought forward to explain
How and why certain individuals become leaders.
• The theories emphasize the traits and behaviors that individuals can
adopt to boost their own leadership abilities.
Part 1. Three major eras of leadership
• The trait era: 1800s to mid-1940s
• Focus on leader personality/trait
• The behavior era: mid-1940s to 1970s
• Focus on leader behavior
• The contingency era: early 1960s to present
• Focus on understanding both the leader and the
leadership situation
1. The Trait era-Early 1900s
1. The Trait era-Early 1900s

• The great man theory

• 5 most common traits in leaders
1- Intelligence
• Leaders are normally well-educated, extremly high intelligent than
average people
2- Self-confidence
• Leaders has a strong certainty about their competencies and skills
• High level of self-esteem and self assurance in their capacity to make
difference.
3. Determination
• The strong drive to move forward . It’s the Initiative, persistence,
perseverance to follow through despite many obstacles.
4- Integrity
• This means being honest, trustworthy, living by a clear set of principles
and taking responsibility for the actions.
• Follower trust the leaders and like them because they do what they say.
5-Sociability
• The tendency to engage in friendly, courteous and pleasant, social
relationships
• They are tactful, diplomatic and sensitive to other’s needs and well-
being → Good interpersonal skills
2. The behavior era: mid-1940s to 1970s

How the leader lead and act

1. Autocratic
2. Democratic
3. Laissez-faire
The Autocratic leadership
Characteristics of Autocratic style
• Authoritarian, boss-centered approach
• Assume full control of the group, goals, and decisions
• Centralized power
• Top-down communication approach
• A drive for control and compliance
• Seek little or no Input for decision making
How does this style relate to follower?
• High power distance
• Clear unequal dynamic with followers
• Rely on position of authority, not relationships
• Do not socialize with subordinates
Autocratic leadership style

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
✓ When quick, decisive decisions ✓ Demanding, strressfull style
are needed ✓ Leaders must give constant
✓ With low-skills followers who hands-on attention
need direction ✓ Foloower take less initiative
✓ when there’s a leadership void or ✓ Followers act out more and work
lack of direction less when the leaders leaves the
✓ Helps suppress conflict room
temporarily ✓ Turn over is high
Democratic leadership style
Charateristics of Democratic style
• Take a collaborative approach
• Solicit feedback and input to make
decisions
• Listen to a range of opinions
• Two-heads-are better- than-one philosophy
• Test ideas with followers
→ “hey, here is what I’ve been thinking of
doing things, what do you think?”
Characteristic of Democratic style
• Delegate many decisions to followers
• Decentralised power and authority
• Allow followers freedom to make choices
• Leader is still accountable if their follower make a bad decision.
→ He’s in charge of the final outcome of the team

-
How democratic leader interact with their
followers?
• Low power distance
• Gap of inequality is not emphasized
• Approachable, make efforts to connect
• Good communication
• Rely on relational influence
• Trust their followers
• Many followers prefer to work with democratic leaders
Democratic leadership style
WEAKNESSES
STRENGTHS ✓ Not as helpful when pressure is
✓ High-quality, informed decsions high and time is short
✓ Followers are more creative and ✓ Not practical when concensus
innovative as they’re given room and harmony are not possible.
for decision making ✓ Not as useful when followers
✓ Followers are consitently aren’t trustworthy
productive, even when the leader
is not in the room
✓ Good communication with
follower
✓ Followers have high satisfaction
levels
Laissez-faire leadeship style
Laissez-faire leadeship style
• Giving the follower space to work and they can be at their best
• Hands-off style, let the follower make their own decision and solve
the problems
Characteristics of Laissez-faire leadeship style
• Provide the overal direction, deadlines, goals, and resources
• Encourage followers to do it on their own
• Hold fewer meetings and are less likely to check in
• Don’t observe directly very often
How Laissez-faire leader interact with their
followers?
• More likely to listen than give advice
• Guidance is general
• Don't micro-manage
• Trust their followers to figure it out
Example
• Warren Buffet is the fourth
wealthiest person in the world,
runs Berkshire Hathaway.
• Famous for scheduling about 3 or
4 meetings a month
• He doesn’t watching people very
closely.
In fact, this style is not generally effective
✓it can cause stress to followers→ “he lets us figured things out too
much”
✓In real-life, no effective leaders are 100% hands-off
➢No leaders can avoid accountability
➢Laiser-faize leaders also set expectation or results from their followers
Laissez-faire leadership style
STRENGTHS
✓ Works when followers are highly
educated, skilled and motivated
✓ Can work in creative industries
when workers are driven
✓ Requires less top-down pressure
WEAKNESSES
✓ Results in low productivity in
most cases
✓ Not helpful when follower’s
ambiguity is high
✓ Leader may not detect
underperformance, bullying,
conflict, etc.
3. The contingency era- Assumptions
➢No one best way to lead
➢Simple traits or behaviors alone do not explain or predict leadership
➢Understanding both leader trait/ behavior and situation is needed
➢Personal and situational factors affect leadership effectiveness
Fiedler’s Contingency model
• Leadership effectiveness is a function of the match or fit between
leader’s style and the leadership situation
• The leader’s style has a trait-like quality and cannot be changed
from one situation to another
• The leader must change the situation to fit his or her style
Elements of Fiedler’s Contingency Model
• The leader style
➢Task or relationship motivation measured by the LPC scale
• Situational control
➢Leader-member relations
➢Task structure
➢Position power
Use the scale to generate a
cumulative score based on
perception of coworker
charater, traits and attitude
Situational leadership model
Hersey and Blanchard model
• Tied the situtation that the follower are in and type of approach the
leader should use in response
• There’s more guidance in this model
• The premise of this model is leaders should change their style
according to their follower. Two demensions of follower that leaders
must look at:
➢Follower’s ability or “skills” to do the job Follower’s
➢Follower’s willingness or Motivation to do the job Readiness
Leader consider
• Tasks
• Communication
• Motivation
James McGregor Burns - 1970s

Transactional leadership
Transformational leadership
Transactional leadership
 Transactional leadership theory
• Based on Maslow’s Hierarchy
• Concerning with satisfying the
physological, safety and belonging
neeeds of followers→ Focus on Only the
low level of need
• The leaders “exchange” rewards and
privilliges for disireable outcomes
➢Ex:
“ You do a good job, you’ve got the rewards”
“if I do this for you, you’re supposed to do
that for me”
Transactional factors
• Proposed by Bernard Bass & Associate suggests how the leader
reward and act:

Leader provides rewards

and show recognition

Leader steps in and

intervience, giving
feedaback
Transactional leadership style example

• Setting clear goals and he sees clear

goals is national motivation to help
followers know how they can
succeed
• He’s not a particular inspirational
figure when people hear him talk and
the way he leads but he does help his
follower reach their goals and ger
rewarded
What transactional leadership looks like:
Transactional leadership style
Tranformational leadership theory
• Tranformational leadership attempt to engage the person and
Tranform them into the leader by fullfiling the higher need on the
hierarchy.
5 key characters of tranformational leaders
1. Creative
2. Interactive: communicate a lot with follower (Obama)
3. Visonary: Able to explain precisely where they want to take the
organization to the future, energize people and create standards of
excellence that inspires followers. ( Martin Luther King Jr.)
4. Empowering: Delegating important jobs, support the followers to
help them reach the highest level of need and transform them into
leader themselves ( Phil- Knight- Founder of Nike)
5. Passionate: A true beliver in what they do and electrify people to
do the same ( Mother Terersa)
Charismatic leadership theory
“Are some people born with charisma?”
What is Charisma?
5 typical characteristics of charismatic leaders
1. Strong role models (Ganhdi)
2. Demonstrate competence ( they know what they’re doing)
3. Communicate goals
4. High expectections: set high standard for the followers, give them
the confidence to succeed ( Steve Jobs- Reality distortion )
5. Arouse motives: “ Ask not what the country can do for you, ask
what you can do for your country”- John Frankline Kenedy (JFK)
Key theme of charismatic leadership style
• Focus on Follower: if ttheir follower is nor exceited, not motivate, not
engaged then they are not qualified as CHARISMATIC
• Context: in tough/difficult situation, or the follower feel stress, leader
are supposed to show up and show the followers the way