UNDERSTANDING THE

FOUNDATION OF MODERN
LEADERSHIP & SOCIETY

WEEK 3

UL03002: LEADERSHIP & SOCIETY

INSTRUCTOR: DR ROMZI ATIONG

 Understand the
Foundation of
Modern
Leadership

LEARNING
OUTCOMES

Understand
the Foundation
of Modern
Society

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Early Theories: The
The
Foundations of Development
Modern Leadership Process
The Trait Era
(1800s to mid
1940s)
Modern
Era/Perspectives
(1980s to present)

The Behavior Era

(mid 1940s to 1970s)
The Contingency Era
(early 1960s to
1980s)

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 Theories of Leadership
 Theories can be concerned with what leaders should do and what leaders
actually do (theories for leaders vs. theories of leadership)
 Two broad categories: classical and modern

The Foundation of Leadership Study: Traditional and Contemporary Leadership Theory

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 “Leaders are born; they have special characteristics and traits”
•The Theorists: Stogdill (1948; 1974; Yukl (1998)

Some traits are related to leadership

The Trait Era/ No one trait defines leaders or effective leaders
perspective Although traits play a role, they are not the dominant factor in
leadership
 Early research on leadership focused on how those in leadership positions possess ‘superior qualities or attributes compared with the
traits possessed by non-leaders’
 Great Man Theories – what about diverse leaders, female leaders?
 Stogdill (1948; 1974) associates a cluster of traits with leadership: positive physical characteristics (stamina); SES factors (‘class
position’); intelligence, fluency in speech; task-related (desire to excel); social attributes (tact, diplomacy).
 Yukl (1998) argued for a mix of traits linked to leadership: energy, internal locus of control, self-confidence, emotional maturity,
integrity, power motivation, achievement orientation, low need for affiliation.
 Weaknesses:
- A neglect of context
- Failure to recognise the role of national culture (are there really universally positive traits?)
- What about the role of followers?
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 “Behaviors can be learned” Two key categories of behavior:
•The Theorists: 1.Task
2.Relationship Orientations
Examples of Major Leadership Behaviors:
-Structuring/Task -Set goals
-Behaviors alone do not determine effective leadership -Clarify expectations -Set schedules
The Behavior Era / -Not clear which behaviors are most effective
-Assign tasks
Perspective -Relationship/Consideration
-Show empathy and understanding
 Focus on leaders’ behaviours, rather than their personal characteristics -Be friendly and approachable
-Allow participation
 Michigan and Ohio programs of research:
 Task-orientated vs. people-orientated/relationship behaviours (Michigan)
 Initiating behaviour and consideration (Ohio)
 Essentially a focus on goals/tasks/standards/role structures vs. a focus on
trust/nurturing relationships/employee welfare/respect.
 What leadership style is most effective?
 High initiating structure = greater effectiveness
 High consideration = higher employee satisfaction
 Ohio – high on both = most effective leaders
 Research has tended to confirm these frameworks 7
Leadership Behavior - Consideration

 This leader is friendly, approachable, looks out for the personal welfare of the group, keeps
the group abreast of new developments, and does small favours
 The degree to which one is trusting and supportive; the leader creates an environment of
friendliness
 Proven to improve job satisfaction, satisfaction with the leader, worker motivation, and
leader effectiveness

Relationship-oriented leadership
Process-focused
Concern for People

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 Leadership Behavior - Initiating Structure

 This leader assigns specific tasks, specifies procedures to be followed, schedules work, and
clarifies expectations for team members
 The degree to which one is task-oriented
 Proven to increase job performance, group performance, and organisation performance, as
well as satisfaction.

Task-oriented leadership
Results-focused
Concern for production

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 The Leadership Grid

 For leadership training - allows trainees to assess

current levels of task-oriented and people-oriented
leadership styles.
 Two core dimensions parallel McGregor’s Theories X
and Y.
 Blake and McCanse identify five basic combinations
of concern for production and concern for people.
 The styles are: authority-compliance style; country-
club; impoverished management; middle-of-the-road
management; and team management.
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Leadership Grid Styles

Limitations:
Behaviour-performance
outcome relationship is tenuous
Effectiveness of ‘high-high’
style has been questioned
There is no ‘one best way to
lead’ – we need to look to
situational characteristics

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 Contingency Era
Simple traits or behaviors alone do not
/ Perspective fully explain leadership success

Understanding both leader traits/behaviors and the situation is critical

Personal and situational factors affect leadership effectiveness

“No one best way to lead”

 Based on the notion that the most effective style depends on contextual factors (leader + follower +
situation)
 Whether a set of traits or behaviours will result in leadership success is contingent (it depends) upon
situational variables
 Most contingency theories assume effective leaders must be flexible and adapt their behaviours and
styles to match the situation
 There are three types of contingency theory:
 Fiedler’s Leadership Contingency Theory
 Path-Goal Theory
 Situational Leadership (Hersey and Blanchard, 1969)
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 Fiedler’s Contingency Theory

 Fit between the leader’s need structure and the favourableness of the leader’s situation
determines team effectiveness in accomplishing their work.
 Assumes leaders are either task-oriented (tasks, getting work done) or relationship-oriented
(interpersonal relationships), and that leaders can’t change their orientations.
 Least Preferred Co-Worker (LPC) Scale
 Suggests that leadership style is dependent on three inter-related factors (is situation favourable
or unfavourable for the leader?):
 Leader-member relations – does the leader have the respect/support of employees?
 Task structure – amount of structure in tasks (high vs. low)
 Position power – does the leader have formal authority?
 Research suggests better supported in laboratory studies than in field studies

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Fiedler’s Contingency Theory

Figure: A representation of Fiedler’s Contingency Model of Leadership

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Path-Goal Theory

Draws on the <what> theory of

motivation????

Leaders can, by their actions, affect

the motivation, job satisfaction and
performance of their work group.
E->P; P->Reward
Main aim is to smooth the follower’s
path to the goal – four leader
behavioural styles.
What will best help followers achieve
their goals?
Leaders can adapt their styles
depending on the situational variables
(rather than have one dominant style as
per Feidler)

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 Situational Leadership Theory
 Hersey and Blanchard
 Focuses on followers’ readiness – choosing the right leadership style depends on this
 Why focus on the follower? They either accept (make) or reject (break) the leader
 Readiness = the extent to which people have the ability and willingness to accomplish a specific task
 Focuses on task (directive/giving guidance) and relationship (supportive) behaviours - sound familiar?!
 Adjustment of managerial behaviour depends on development of employees

 Directing (telling) – if followers are unable and unwilling – clear and specific directions are needed.
 Coaching (selling) – if followers are unable but willing, then need ↑ task and r/ship orientation to compensate for
ability and get ‘buy-in’ for what they’re doing.
 Supporting (participating) – if followers are able but unwilling, then need to focus on participative style to
increase commitment.
 Delegating – if followers are willing and able, can turn over some decisions/implementation to them.

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 Hersey & Blanchard’s Situational Model of Leadership
See Du Brin, A. (2010 or 2013). Leadership:
Research Findings, Practice and Skills, Cengage:
OH. (Chapter 5)

Low Task Behavior

High
High
R3: High competence; Variable/low commitment R2: Some competence; High commitment
(able, but unwilling/insecure) (unable, but motivated, willing)

Supporting (Participating) Coaching (Selling)

Relationship S3 S2
Behavior
S4 S1
Delegating Directing (Telling)

R4: High competence; High commitment R1: Low competence; Low

(willing and able) commitment (unable, unwilling,
Low insecure)
Developmental Level
R1 R2 R3 R4
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Low Developmental Level (leader-directed) High Developmental Level (follower-directed) 7
 Substitutes for Leadership

 Is leadership even necessary????!!!!

 Situational variables substitute for or
neutralise formal leadership, making a
leader’s behaviour unnecessary.
 These situational variables are termed
‘substitutes for leadership’
 Leadership neutraliser – when any type of
leadership is negated
 Suggests managers should be attentive to
potential substitutes as these can impact
directly on motivators.
 Research on the approach mixed

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Contemporary Leadership Theories
Transactional Leadership - classical leadership concerned with transactions. Leaders:
•Clarify expectations and establish the rewards for meeting these expectations;
•Monitor subordinates’ behaviour, anticipate problems and take corrective actions before the behaviour
creates serious difficulties;
•Wait until the behaviour has created problems before taking action.
•Start by using contingent rewards to motivate, then exert corrective action and possible punishment when
employees don’t reach performance expectations.

Transformational leadership - emphasises symbolic behaviour, visionary and inspirational appeal to values and
self-sacrifice. Leaders:
•Display conviction, take stands, appeal to others on an emotional level
•Communicate optimism about future goal attainment, provide meaning and provide challenge with high
standards
•Stimulate creativity and risk-taking
•Coach/mentor, listen to employees’ concerns and attend to employees’ needs.

Times of stress vs. times of stability

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Transformational leadership

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 Charisma Defined
The effects of charisma – where does it come from?
Extension of trait theory – charismatic and
transformational leaders THINK BIG:
Do we like you? Comes from a
Do you know stuff? Based on a
 In leadership, charisma is a special quality person’s desirable traits, their
person's specialised or high level
perceived attractiveness, people’s
of leaders whose purposes, powers, and admiration/respect for them. knowledge, skill and ability
extraordinary determination differentiate
them from others
 In general use, charisma is having a
charming and colorful personality

Charisma = a positive and compelling quality of

a person that makes many others want to be
led by that person Do you make me interested in my
job? Ability to get group members
excited about their work = job
satisfaction = org commitment

Halpert’s Dimensions of Charisma Halpert, 1990 2

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Types of Charismatic Leaders
1. Socialised charismatics restrain the use of power in the interests of others – use their
power for the good of others.
 Formulates and pursues goals that fulfill the needs of group members
 Followers are autonomous, empowered and responsible
 Socialised charismatics impart positive values to group members

2. Personalised charismatics use power to serve their own interests.

 Impose self-serving goals, offer support only when it suits their ends
 Followers have an obedient, submissive, and
dependent work style
 Can lead followers down an unethical path

Howell, 1988

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 Distributed (Shared) Leadership
• Gifted leaders empower their subordinates by acting as a teacher or coach
rather than an ‘all-knowing commandant’.
• Leader as ‘designer, steward, teacher’ (Senge, p. 340)
• Heterarchy, not hierarchy – leadership is shared throughout the
organisation. Any person at any level can be a leader.
• Leaders can have more power and control if they share power with
others.
• Research has shown it can reduce indirect costs and free up time for top
execs to engage in strategic behaviours.

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 Power, Gender and Cross-Cultural Issues

 Critical analysts emphasise that leadership is intrinsically rooted in

power.
 Power-influence approach – understanding the amount and type of power
of a leader and how it is exercised.
 Gender theory has led to diverse research:
 Whether women lead differently to men
 Whether women have a more interactive style
 Whether feminist leadership characteristics can be identified: consensus building/shared power/diversity
 Whether there is a female leadership style and whether jobs are gendered

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 Is Leadership Important?

 Difficult to show causal links between leadership and performance

 Different stakeholders will evaluate effectiveness in different ways – e.g.
employees, government, shareholders, etc.
 Influence on group, innovation, learning – explorative vs. exploitative
innovation (transformational vs. transactional leadership style).
 Role of organisational and national culture in ‘filtering’ and guiding
leadership behaviours.
 Sometimes leaders appear of little importance.

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The Foundation of Society
• (Group of) People with common values
• Culture and beliefs of a people
• (Group of) People in common setting
• Group of people with common goals
Defining Society • Structure and organization of ...
• People and how they interact with their environment
• The state of all the above changes over time

(a) Notions of Society
• Social interaction or association
• A unity, having boundaries which mark it
off from other, surrounding societies, e.g.
(b) Possible
nation-state. However,
– Need not be a “unit” – e.g. could be
perceived to be open system
– Need not have clearly demarcated
boundaries e.g. Islamic society
• A society is a system which people live together in organized
communities having shared customs, law, organization and living
in a particular region
• A Society can be understood as a social system. As a social system
has many parts (family, religion, economy, science), that are
interdependent, giving the society a structure
Definitions • Civil society is one where people come together to pursue the
interests they hold in common - not for profit or the exercise of
political power, but because they care enough about something to
take collective action. In this sense, all organisations and
associations between family and state are part of civil society
(World Bank, defining civil society)

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 (c) Features of a Society
• Results in specifiable overall “clustering of
institutions” across time and space
• Association between the social system and a
specific locale or territory
– Locales occupied by societies are not
necessarily fixed e.g. nomadic societies
• Existence of norms for claim to the
legitimate occupation of the locale
• •
Prevalence, among members, of feelings
that they have some sort of common identity
(d) E.g.Characteristics of Islamic Society
• Enjoying what is good
• Forbidding what is bad
• Faith in Allah
• A community of moderation
• One Muslim community
• An international community
• Conducting affairs by mutual consultation
Application of the concept brotherhood
• Reciprocal responsibility of the individual and
the community, etc.
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 Theories of Society

• Theories outlined look at a society as a whole (macro-

sociology) as compared to the study of individuals in society
(micro-sociology)
• Sociology is the study of “social facts” and of the ways in which
society influences the behaviour of individuals
• Theories or perspectives are:
– Functionalism
– Conflict
– Interactionist
– Post Modernism
– Relativism
– Structuration
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 (a) Functionalism: Society as a System
• Conception of individual & society:
Individual born into an ongoing social
system, which exists independently of &
determines his/her behaviour (or roles &
actions)
• Genesis: Emerged in Europe in 19th century
to respond to a perceived crisis of social
order in response to:
– Emergence of new industrial society
with it’s subsequent loss of community –
increase in crime, poverty, etc.
– French revolution which suggested
ideals of equality, happiness and
freedom of the individual
• Main ideas:
a. Basis of an orderly society is the existence
of a central value system that imposes
common values on all its members
b. Social world is composed of
relatively empirical artifacts (parts)
and relationships that can be
identified, studied and measured
through approaches derived from
natural sciences (positivism)
c. Societies have basic needs –
functional requirements which
must be met if society is to survive
– Functionalists concerned with:
• the contribution of the
various parts of society to
those needs
• the desirability for social
order and stability to prevail
in society (how the parts
function to maintain social
order)
d. Various parts of society interact with
one another
– Interaction produces a dynamic
and ever-changing system e.g. Gvt
favouring single mothers in social
welfare will encourage ladies to
have babies out of wedlock –
negatively impacting family
structure
e. Change occurs when there is a gap or
imbalance between what the system
does and what it is supposed to do e.g.
prolonged periods of recession
necessitating reduced family size
• Problems:
– does not address conflict in society
(a “consensus” theory)
– Human affairs cannot be explained
entirely from rational and
positivist approaches
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 (b) Conflict: Society as Synthesis
• Perspective: change and conflict are integral
parts of society
• Genesis: Associated with Radical Weberians or
Structuralists who:
– Were interested in r/ship b/n the State and
bureaucratization
– Sought to understand ways in which state
apparatus dominates the wider social
structure within which it exists
– Concerned with interests, conflict and
power relationships in society (political
science area)
• Main ideas:
a. Society reflects an interplay of social forces
– A collective definition of reality (“thesis”)
travels through time
– Thesis is maintained by groups of persons
who benefit from it. They want to maintain
the status quo
– Social structure emerges out of this exercise
of power
b. Change occurs when there is a
b. Exploitation is one
byproduct of emerging
social structure
– Exploitation increases as
thesis is maintained
– To maintain the status
quo, power is used to
maintain the belief that
the status quo is correct
or inevitable e.g.
Africans are unable to
govern themselves was
used by colonialists to
extend the colonial
period and the
associated exploitation
conflict between thesis and one or
more antithesis (individuals and
groups have alternative values and
beliefs and have their identities tied
to these values and beliefs)
– Collision of thesis and antithesis
produces conflict
– Outcome of conflict is a
“synthesis” – something new, e.g. a
new idea, way of life, belief system
e.g. the challenge by feminists of
the unequal treatment of men and
women has produced a synthesis
e.g. representation of women in
key decision-making positions in
Gvt, gender sensitivity in job
opportunities, treatment of women
as disadvantaged communities,
etc.
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 (c) Interactionism: Reality is Socially Created
• Perspective: Society is created by
ongoing interaction of humans i.e.
human interaction produces a
collectively created reality in
which we live
• Main ideas:
a. Social parts, structures and
systems exist because we create
them and then symbolically define
them to exist
– Society emerges from human
interactions, past, present and
future e.g. constitutional debate
– Social reality is created and
sustained by inter-subjectively
shared meaning
b. We maintain our own definitions of the world but at c. Change occurs through
the same time are reliant on a collective, more the redefinition of reality
objective definition of reality i.e. if we want to change
– The things that we agree exist make it possible for action, we need to
us to act without needing to reinvent reality every redefine the situation
time we need it. At the same time, social world is a
result of subjective construction of individual
human being
– e.g.1 we stop every time we see the Red traffic sign.
It represents a collective social force and when we
see it we exhibit the same behaviour.
– e.g.2 a defendant may be persuaded to plead guilty
in exchange for a reduced charge and sentense – a
reality has been socially created via interaction and
negotiation (of otherwise rigid legal process)
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 (d) Structuration
• By Anthony Giddens in 20th Century –
synthesis of existing theories
• Main ideas:
1. Human beings are knowledgeable agents
– “objectivism” fails to appreciate the
complexity of social action produced by
actors operating with knowledge &
understanding as part of their
consciousness
2. Extent of people’s knowledge of the world
is bordered on the one side by the
unconscious & on the other by the
unacknowledged conditions and intended
consequences of action
3. Day-to-day human interactions
reproduces social reality (Interactionism)
3. The predominant form of day-to-day activity takes the form of routine
– even behaviour which appears to outsiders as extreme and bizarre becomes
routine after a while e.g. corruption or grabbing public land became routine
for those who practiced it
4. Constraints on human behaviour by the social context is only one type of
constraint. Human behaviour also influences social context. Indeed Social
context is both a medium and outcome of human behaviour or social interaction
• Outcome – social interactions produces new social structures or context
(Interactionism)
• Medium – social context is drawn on in human behaviour e.g. using the
constitution in making a decision
5. Power is not a secondary issue in human behaviour – Power is a means to an end
and hence is directly involved in the actions of every person (Conflict)
6. People are knowledgeable
– Their everyday knowledge feeds into their behaviour
– They have reasons for doing what they do (not determined by social system or
context as Functionalists assert)
– People are responsible for their actions
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 Issues for Discussion
Leaders are interested in improving their
leadership quality for the sake of society.
• Why do they do it?
• How long is the leadership improvement process and
why?
• Can society sustain in the absence of a good leader?
• How exactly leadership shape developments in
society?

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Thanks