Leading Business

Organisations
Topic 4: Leadership
:

BPP
BPP BUSINESS
SCHOOL OFSCHOOL
BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL
BUSINESS
Leadership

This topic includes:

Explain the relevance if individual characteristics and traits in relation to
leadership success
Select and apply appropriate decision making styles
Challenges to the effectiveness of leadership
Analyse leadership styles and theories:
Kotter’s model of Leadership and Management
Mintzberg’s Management roles
Vroom-Jago decision making model
Normative Decision Making Model

2 BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL

Key Reading…..

—What did you discover from the reading this

week?

3 BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL

Leadership

BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL

Definitions of Leadership

“A leader is any person who influences individuals and groups

within an organisation, helps them in the establishment of goals,
and guides them towards achievement of those goals, thereby
allowing them to be effective”. (Nahavandi, Art and Science of
Leadership)

“the behaviour of an individual… directing the activities of a

group towards a shared goal” (Hemphill & Coons, 1957)

“the ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and enable

others to contribute toward the effectiveness & success of the
organisation… (House et al., 1999)

“The leader’s job is to inspire and motivate.” (Alan Murray, 2010)

BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL

No One All Encompassing Theory – More a
Mosaic

“Different authors
categorise leadership
theories in different
ways”.

BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL

Eras of Modern Leadership

—The Trait Era – 1800s to mid 1940s

• Focus on leader personality
—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

BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL

Trait Era of
Leadership

BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL

The Trait Era – Assumptions and Findings

Assumptions
— Leaders are born
— Leaders have special characteristics and
traits – intelligence, honesty, self-
confidence, appearance etc
— Leaders and followers have different traits
Findings
— No single trait or set of traits clearly define
leaders
— Traits play a minimal role
— Traits are not the dominant factor in
leadership Emperor August
BC 63 to AD 14
(Declared A God)

3-9
BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL
 The Trait Approach Lasted Beyond the 1940’s
— Research in the early 20th Century focused on
leaders that had achieved a level of greatness
and hence became know as the Great Man
Approach
— In the 1940’s and 50’s researchers expanded
their efforts to include aptitude and
psychological tests
— Generally research found only a weak link
between personal traits and leader success
— 1948 – Stogdill looked at more than 100 studies
and identified several traits that appeared
consistent with effective leadership –
intelligence, initiative, interpersonal skills,
self-confidence, drive for responsibility and
personal integrity
— In further review between 1948 and 1970 Stogdill
added several additional traits – including
aggressiveness, independence and tolerance
for stress – but cautioned that the value of the
trait varied with the organisational situation.

BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL

Behavioural Era

BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL

The Behavior Era – Assumptions and Findings

Assumptions
—Behaviors rather than traits matter
—Behaviors are observable and measureable
—Behaviors can be taught
Findings
—Key behaviours are task/structuring and relationships/
consideration (consideration and initiating structure)
—Behaviors alone do not determine effective leadership
—No clear findings as to which behaviors are most
effective

BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL 3-12

The Blake-Mouton Leadership Grid – Based on the
Work at Ohio State & Michigan Universities (1950’s)
• Impoverished – exertion of
minimum effort to get required
work done and sustain
organisational membership
• Country Club – comfortable,
friendly organisation and work
tempo.
• Middle of the Road – adequate
performance though balancing
work and morale
• Produce or Perish – efficiency in
operations
• Team Leader – work
accomplished by committed
people.

BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL

Contingency Era

BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL

The Contingency Era

— The failure to find universal leader

traits or behaviours that would
always determine effective
leadership led researchers in a new
direction
— Leader behaviour was still
examined, the central focus of the
new research was the situation in Source: The Shackleton Foundation
which leadership occurred
— The basic tenet – behaviour
effective is some circumstances
might be ineffective under different
conditions
— The effectiveness of leader
behaviour is contingent upon
organisational situations

BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL

Summary of Contngency Theories
— Contingency (“It depends”) Approach
• for a leader to be effective there must be an appropriate fit
between the leader’s behaviour and style and the conditions in the
situation. What works in one situation may not work in another
• The most important contingencies are the situation and the
followers
• Fiedler’s Contingency Model – early model to link leadership style
with organisational situation
• Vroom - Jago Contingency Model – decision making
• Normative Decision Model – decision making
• Path - Goal Theory – leaders role is to increase motivation by
explaining the route to rewards or making the rewards more
attractive
• Substitutes for Leadership – goal achievement without leaders
• LMX – Leader Member Exchange

BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL

Task and Relationship-Motivated Leaders
Task-Motivated
(Low-LPC)
—Draws self-esteem from
task completion
—Focuses on task first
—Can be harsh with failing
followers
—Considers competence a
key follower trait
—Enjoys details
BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL 3-17
Relationship-Motivated
(High-LPC)
—Draws self-esteem from
interpersonal relationships
—Focuses on people first
—Likes to please others
—Considers loyalty to be
key follower trait
—Gets bored with details
 Fiedler’s Model – the Situation

Task-Oriented
(Low LPC)

Performance
Relationship
Oriented
(High LPC)

Very Very
Intermediate
Favourable Unfavourable
Leader-Member
Good Good Good Good Poor Poor Poor Poor
Relations

Task Structure Structured Unstructured Structured Unstructured

Leader Position
Strong Weak Strong Weak Strong Weak Strong Weak
Power

Situations 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL

Practical Implications of Fiedler’s Contingency
Model
—Leaders must understand their own style and their
leadership situation – the LPC assumption is that style
is fixed (or at least slow to change)
—Leaders should focus on changing their leadership
situation to match their style rather than try to change
their style
—A good relationship with followers is key to a leaders’
ability to lead
— Note that:
• Research in general finds some support for the model
• But, the LPC score seems simplistic to some researchers
• It’s also not clear how the model works over time
• The medium LPC leader, which some studies suggest are more
effective than high or low LPC leaders in most situations, is not
considered.

3-
19 BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL
Substitute
Leadership

BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL

 Substitutes for Leadership

Variable Task Oriented People- Oriented

Leadership Leadersip
Organisational Group Cohesiveness Substitutes for Substitutes for
Variables Formalisation Substitutes for No Effect On
Inflexibility Neutralises No Effect On
Low leader power Neutralises Neutralises
Physical Separation Neutralises Neutralises
Task Highly structured task Substitutes for No Effect On
Characteristics Automatic feedback Substitutes for No Effect On
Intrinsic satisfaction No Effect On Substitutes for

Follower Professionalism Substitutes for Substitutes for

Characteristics Training/Experience Substitutes for No Effect On
Low value of rewards Neutralises Neutralises
• A substitute for leadership makes the leadership style unnecessary or
redundant
• A neutraliser counteracts the leadership style and prevents the leader from
displaying certain behaviours.
BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL
Practical Implications of the SLM

—Leaders can use various substitutes to free up

their time or to empower and develop followers
—Technology can support the development of
substitutes
—Teams and autonomous work groups can use
substitutes positively
—Note – the model has not been tested
extensively and has been criticised, but it does
have intuitive merit.

BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL

Goleman –
Leadership Thinkers

BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL

Leadership Thinkers – Daniel Goleman

Emotional Intelligence

Visionary

Coaching Pacesetting

New Leaders – 6
Leadership Styles
Affiliative Commanding

Democratic

BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL

Decision Making

BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL

 Autocratic and Democratic Behaviours – Kurt
Lewin 1939
— Autocratic – centralises authority and derive power from position, control
of rewards and coercion
— Democratic – delegates authority to others, encourages participation,
relies on subordinates knowledge for completion of tasks and depends on
subordinate respect for influence
— The research shows that there is a spectrum of behaviour and that the
extent to which a leader should be boss-centred or subordinate centred
depended on organisational circumstance.

Boss- Use of Authority By Subordinate

Centred Manager -Centred
Area of Freedom for
subordinates
Manager makes Manager presents Manager permits
decision and tentative subordinates to function
announces it decision, subject within limits defined by
to change Manager defines superior
Manager “sells” limits, asks group
decision to make decision
Source - Daft
BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL
Vroom – Jago Contingency Model c1988
— The model focuses specifically on varying degrees of
participative leadership and how each level of participation
influences quality and accountability of decisions
— Starts with the idea that the leader faces a problems that
needs a solution
— Decisions to solve the problems might be made by the
leader alone, or through the inclusion of a number of
followers
— Model has three components:
• Leader participation styles
• Diagnostic questions to analyse the situation
• Decision rules

BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL

 Five Leader Decision Styles

Area of Freedom for Group

Area of Influence By The
Leader
Decide Consult Consult Group Facilitate Delegate
Individually

Make the Get Present the Act as the Permit the

decision alone suggestions problem to the facilitator, group to make
and announce individually and group and get defining the the decision.
or sell it to the then make the their problem and the Provide behind
group decision. suggestions, boundaries the scenes
then make the within which the support and
decision decision must encouragement.
be made

BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL

Diagnostic Questions

— Decision significance – if high importance the leader has to be involved

— Importance of commitment – if implementation requires a high level of
subordinate commitment leaders should involve subordinates in the
decision process
— Leader Expertise – if leader lacks knowledge, expertise or information
then then seek help from subordinates
— Likelihood of commitment – if subordinates typically go along with the
leaders decision then their involvement is less important
— Group support for goals – if group support for the goal is low the
leader must be involved
— Goal Expertise – if the subordinates have a high level of expertise more
responsibility can be delegated
— Team competence – if the team has high skills and is working well then
more decision power can be delegated to them.

BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL

Selecting A Decision Style

—Two further additions to the Vroom-Jago model:

• Concern for time
• Concern for follower development
• In selecting the decision style the leader considers the
relative importance of time and follower development
in selecting a decision style.
• The Vroom-Jago model has been criticised for being
less than perfect – but it is useful to decision makers
and is supported by research. Leaders can learn to
use the model to make timely, high quality decisions

BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL

The Normative Decision Model (Vroom Yetton)

—Leaders are effective when they use decision

styles that match the situation
—Leaders can learn to change and use
different decision styles
—Understanding the leadership situation is
essential to effectiveness

3-
31 BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL
Elements of the Normative Decision Model

—The leaders’ decision style

• Autocratic
• Consultative
• Group/delegation
—Situational contingency factors
• Quality of the decision
• Acceptance of decision by subordinates

BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL 3-32

Practical Implications of the Normative
Decision Model
—Leaders must understand their leadership
situation
—Leaders must learn different decision styles
—Participation is not always desirable
—Leaders’ must pay attention to their followers’
needs and reactions when making decisions

3-
BPP BUSINESS SCHOOL
Any Questions ???

34