CHAPTER-13 LEADERSHIP

13.1 Meaning of Leadership

13.2 Nature of Leadership

13.3 Significance of Leadership

13.4 Comparison between Leadership and Management

13.5 Leadership Styles

13.6 Theories of Leadership

13.7 Followership
 INTRODUCTION
“The power of leadership is the power of integrating. The leader stimulates what is best in us he unites and concentrates what we feel only
gropingly and shatteringly. The person who influences me most is not he who does great Deeds, but he who makes me feel that I can do great
deeds.” Marry Parker Follet. Leadership is the ability to build up confidence and zeal among people and to create an urge in them to be led.
To be a successful leader, a manager must possess the qualities of foresight, drive, initiative, self-confidence and personal integrity. Different
situations may demand different types of leadership.

Stogdill has rightly remarked that there are almost as many definitions of leadership as there are people who have tried to define it.

Koontz and O’Donnell, “Leadership is the ability of a manager to induce subordinates to work with confidence and zeal”.

Peter F Drucker “Leadership is not making friends and influencing people, i.e., salesmanship it is the lifting of man’s visions to higher
sights, the raising of man’s personality beyond its normal limitations”.

In the various definitions of leadership, the emphasis is on the capacity of an individual to influence and direct group effort towards the
achievement of organizational goals. Thus, leadership is the practice of influence that stimulates subordinates or followers to do their best
towards the achievement of desired goals.
 NATURE OF LEADERSHIP
PERSONAL QUALITY

NO FOLLOWERS, NO LEADERSHIP

WILLINGNESS TO FOLLOW

PROCESS OF INFLUENCE

REALIZATION OF COMMON GOALS

READINESS TO ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY

STIMULATING THE FOLLOWERS

CHANGE UNDER DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES

 SIGNIFICANCE OF LEADERSHIP

Emphasis on
Motive Power to
Aid to Authority Human
Group Efforts
Performance

Integration of
Formal with Basis for
Informal Cooperation
Organizations
 COMPARISON BETWEEN LEADERSHIP AND
MANAGEMENT
BASIS FOR COMPARISON LEADERSHIP MANAGEMENT

Meaning Leadership is a skill of leading others Management is an art of systematically organizing and
by examples. coordinating things in an efficient way.

Basis Trust Control

Emphasis on Inspiring People Managing activities

Power Influence Rule

Focus on Encouraging change Bringing stability

Strategy Proactive Reactive

Formulation of Principles and guidelines Policies and Procedures

Perspective Leadership requires good Management has a short range perspective.

foresightedness.
•STYLES OF LEADERSHIP
 1. Autocratic or Authoritarian Style Leader:
• An autocratic, also known as authoritarian style of leadership implies
yielding absolute power. Under this style, the leader expects complete
obedience from his subordinates and all decision-making is
centralized in the leader. There is no participation by subordinates in
decision-making process. No suggestions or initiative from
subordinates is entertained. All decisions, major or small, are taken by
the leader and subordinates are forced to obey them without
questioning. An autocratic leader is, in fact, no leader. He is merely
the formal head of the organization and is generally disliked by the
subordinates.
2. Laissez-Fare or Free-Rein Style Leader:
• Under this type of leadership, maximum freedom is allowed to
subordinates. They are given free hand in deciding their own policies
and methods and take their own decisions. The leader provides help
only when required by his subordinates otherwise he does not
interfere in their work. This style of leadership creates self-confidence
in the subordinates and provides them an opportunity to develop
their talents. This type of leadership may not work under all situations
and with all types of subordinates. Such leadership can be employed
with success where subordinates are competent, sincere and self-
disciplined.
3. Democratic or Participative Style Leader:
• The democratic or participative style of leadership implies compromise between the
two extremes of autocratic and laissez-faire style of leadership. Under this style, the
leader acts according to the mutual consent and the decisions are reached after
consulting the subordinates. Subordinates are encouraged to make suggestions and
take initiative. It provides necessary motivation to the workers by ensuring their
participation and acceptance of work methods. Mutual trust and confidence is also
created resulting in job satisfaction and improved morale of workers.
• Features:
• i. Decisions are taken after consulting subordinates.
• ii. There is a delegation of authority.
• iii. Decentralization is followed in decision making process.
• iv. There is a both way communication.
• v. Co-operation of subordinates is taken in making important decisions.
 THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP

• TRAIT THEORY OF LEADERSHIP

• BEHAVIOURAL THEORY OF LEADERSHIP

• SITUATIONAL THEORY OF LEADERSHIP

1. Trait theory of leadership
• The trait model of leadership is based on the characteristics of many
leaders - both successful and unsuccessful - and is used to predict
leadership effectiveness. The resulting lists of traits are then compared to
those of potential leaders to assess their likelihood of success or failure.
• Scholars taking the trait approach attempted to identify physiological
(appearance, height, and weight), demographic (age, education and
socioeconomic background), personality, self-confidence, and
aggressiveness), intellective (intelligence, decisiveness, judgment, and
knowledge), task-related (achievement drive, initiative, and persistence),
and social characteristics (sociability and cooperativeness) with leader
emergence and leader effectiveness.
Important traits of an effective leader
• 1. Intelligence
• 2. Physical features
• 3. Emotional stability
• 4. Maturity
• 5. Vision and foresight
• 6. Open-mindedness and Adaptability
• 7. Empathy
• 8. HR Attitude
• 9. Fairness and Objectivity
• 10. Inner Motivation Drive
• 11. Self confidence
• 12. Acceptance of responsibility
2. Behavioural theories of leadership
• The shortcomings of the Trait Theory led to a significant change in the
emphasis of leadership approach. This shift in emphasis began to
focus an attention on the actual behaviour and actions of leaders as
against personal qualities or traits of leaders. According to this
approach, leadership involves an interpersonal relationship between a
leader and subordinates in which the behaviour of the leader towards
the subordinates constitutes the most critical element. The good
behaviour of the leader raises the morale, builds up confidence and
spirit among the team members and the lack of good behaviour will
discard him as a leader.
• Two important behavioural theories are:
• (i) Michigan Studies and
• (ii) Ohio State University Leadership Studies:
• Michigan Studies:
• These empirical studies were conducted slightly after World War II by
the Institute of Social Research at the University of Michigan. The
purpose of these studies was to identify styles of leadership behaviour
that results in higher performance and satisfaction of a group.
These studies distinguished between two distinct styles of leadership:
1. Production Centered Leadership:
• This leadership is also known as task oriented leadership.
• The production oriented leadership stressed on certain points:
• (i) Rigid work standards, procedure and rules
• (ii) Close supervision of the subordinates
• (iii) Technical aspect of the job
(iv) Employees were not to be considered as human beings but as tools to
accomplish the goals of the organisations.
2. Employee Centered Leadership:
• This style is also known as relation oriented leadership because it emphasize
on human relations.
• The main parts which are concentrated upon in this approach are:
(i) To treat subordinates as human beings.
(ii) To show concern for the employees needs, welfare, advancement etc.
(iii) To encourage employee participation in goal setting and in other work
related decisions.
(iv) To help ensure high performance by inspiring respect and trust.
The findings of Michigan studies-
• (i) These studies found that both the styles of leadership led to
increase in production, but it was slightly more in case of production
oriented style.
• (ii) On the other hand, production oriented style led to decreased
satisfaction and increased turnover and absenteeism.
• (iii) The employee centred approach led to improved work flow
procedures and more cohesions in interactions resulting in increased
satisfaction and decreased turnover and absenteeism.
• Thus, the employees’ oriented style was considered more superior.
3. Managerial grid theory of leadership
• Blake and Mouton of the University of Texas developed a two-dimensional
concept of leadership style called ‘Managerial Grid’—built on the work of the
Ohio State and Michigan Studies—to explain leadership behaviour.
• They pointed out that leadership style is a blend wherein task-oriented and
relation-oriented behaviour are mixed in different degrees.

• The two-dimensional model and five different types of leadership styles are
shown. In the grid, the X-axis represents the ‘concern for production’ while the
Y-axis represents the ‘concern for people’. Concern for production means the
managerial attitudes about the volume of output, procedures and efficiency of
work, etc.
• And, concern for people refers to the degree of personal commitment,
responsibility based on trust and satisfying inter-personal relations, self-
esteem of the workers, etc. A manager is concerned with both the task and the
people as he has to get things done through people
The managerial grid identifies five combinations of these
two factors.
• 1. Impoverished (1-1) Management Style:
In this style, the manager shows less concern for both production and people. It
implies the manager’s less interest in the position. In this situation minimum effort
is needed for getting the work done and sustaining organisation membership. The
leader acts as an observer, avoiding controversy and confrontation.
• 2. Country Club (1-9) Management Style:
• Under this style the manager is highly concerned with’ the people. He tries to
establish close personal relationship. Adequate attention to the needs of people
leads to a comfortable organisation environment and work culture. The leader
has maximum concern for people and minimum concern for production.
 The managerial grid identifies five
combinations of these two factors.
• 3. Middle of the Road (5-5) Management Style:
• In this case, the manager gives emphasis on both production and relationship with the
people. Proper organisation performance is possible through balancing the necessity of
getting work done through maintaining morale of the people at a satisfactory level. The
leader balances tasks with concern for people through compromise.
• 4. Task (9-1) Management Style:
• In this situation, the manager is mainly concerned with production and has little
concern for people. He gives emphasis on getting the tasks done to increase
production. The task is well-planned and the authority is well-defined. This is the task-
oriented or autocratic style of leadership. The leader leads the people with instructions
and discipline.
The managerial grid identifies five
combinations of these two factors.
• 5. Team (9-9) Management Style:
• In this case, the manager has maximum concern for both production and people. This is
the team leadership style in which the leader consults with his team and harmonies
organisational goals. Work performed by committed people and inter-dependence
through common organisational goals leads to the relationships of trust and respect. This
style is considered to be the best leadership style.
• Managerial grid approach helps the managers to identify their own leadership styles. It
is a useful framework for assessing the styles of leadership. It has been used successfully
in improving the attitudes and behaviour of people throughout an organisation.
• This approach is very popular among the managers. But it is highly controversial among
the theorists who consider it to be only a tool, not a theory of leadership—because it
lacks empirical evidence. According to their opinion, it is an attitudinal and conceptual
description of leadership. It does not point out the reason for failure of a manager in
one part of the grid or the other.
SITUATIONAL THEORY OF LEADERSHIP
Fiedler’s Contingency Model:

• Widely respected as the father of the contingency theory of leadership,

Fred Fiedler developed the leadership contingency model. Fiedler’s
theory assumes leaders are predisposed to a particular set of leadership
behaviours. Leaders are either task oriented or relationship oriented.
Task oriented leaders are-directive, structure situations, set deadlines
and make task assignments.
• Relationship oriented leaders focus on people, are considerate and are
not strongly directive. Although the two types of leaders are similar to
the leaders discussed in behavioural theories, there is an important
distinction between contingency theory and behavioural theories.
Fiedler’s theory assumes that the predisposition to a particular style of
leadership is difficult to change, a basic disposition of the leader with
almost personality like qualities.
• Fiedler suggested that three major situational variables determine
whether a given situation is favourable to leaders:
• (i) Their personal relations with the members of their group (leader-
member relations)

• (ii) The degree of structure in the task that their group has been assigned
to perform (task structure) and
• (iii) The power and authority that their position provides (position
power).
• Leader- member relations describe the quality of the relationship between
subordinates and the leader.
• This dimension includes the amount of trust between the leader and the
subordinates and whether the leader is liked and respected by the
subordinates or not. Task Structure describes the extent to which the work
is well defined and standardized or ambiguous and vague. When task
structure is high, the work is predictable and can be planned. Low task
structure describes an ambiguous situation with changing circumstances
and unpredictable events.
• Position Power refers to the formal authority of the leader. A situation with high
position power lets the leader hire people and directly reward or punish behaviour.
A leader with low position power cannot take such actions. In the latter situation,
policies may constrain the leader from using any rewards or punishments.
• Fiedler defined the favorableness of a situation as “the degree to which the
situation enables the leader to exert influence over the group.” The most
favourable situation for leaders to influence their groups is one in which they are
well liked by the members (good leader member relations), have a powerful
position (strong position power) and are directing a well defined job (high task
structure) e.g. a well liked general making an inspection in an army camp. On the
other hand, the most unfavorable situation for leaders is one in which they are
disliked, have little position power and face an unstructured task.
Fielder perceived eight possible combinations of the three
situational variables as shown in the following figure:
• In a reexamination of old leadership studies and an analysis of new studies,
Fiedler concluded that:
• (i) Task oriented leaders tend to perform best in group situations that are
either very favourable or very unfavourable to the leader.
• (ii) Relationship oriented leaders tend to perform best in situations that are
intermediate in favourableness.
• These conclusions are summarized in the following figure:
b. Hersey Blanchard Situational Theory: The Hersey-Blanchard Situational Theory states that the style of leadership depends
upon the maturity of the subordinates; accordingly, the following four styles were developed:

i. Telling: When a new person enters the organisation, he has to be told everything, i.e. he is given training and orientation to make him
understand the task to be performed.

ii. Selling: The leader leads by providing social and emotional support to the subordinates and convincing the groups to give maximum
output.

iii. Delegating: The leaders are least concerned about and hardly interferes with the execution of the tasks. They are not even concerned
about the subordinates and their issues.

iv. Participating: It is a democratic style where subordinates are allowed to participate in the decision-making process. Here, the leader is
less focussed on the achievement of objectives.
Types of Leaders
 1. Charismatic Leaders: A charismatic leader must possess some extraordinary and exceptional qualities to become an
effective leader. Such leaders lead by their key traits i.e.

a. Envisioning/Foreseeing: Leaders foresees future possibilities and create a vision accordingly, usually having high
expectations and dreams.

b. Energizing/Empowering: Leaders are highly enthusiastic, proactive, energetic and confidently aiming towards success.

c. Enabling/Guiding: Leaders provide complete support and guidance and show compassion and trust in followers. Such
leaders are highly focussed and committed towards their goal accomplishment.
2. Transactional Leaders: Transactional Leaders emphasises the realisation of a desired outcome and result. The leaders motivate the followers by way
of a reward system, i.e. rewarding the performers and punishing the non-performers. They emphasises on maintaining a cordial relationship with the
followers, leaders and followers must work mutually to meet organisational goals.

3. Transformational Leaders: The transformational leader is effective only if he can transform or change the perceptions, behaviour and expectations
of the followers and direct them towards a common goal which will lead to the accomplishment of the leader’s vision. Such leaders have a charismatic
and influential personality.

Following are the key factors behind Transformational Leadership:

a. Psychological transformation: Bring about a change in the perception and mindset of the follower.

b. Influential: Creates a strong impact on the followers.

c. Motivational: Generates positive energy within followers.

d. Inspirational: Encourages them to achieve something.

e. Individual impact: Creates a powerful effect on the behaviour and perception of the followers.
•FOLLOWER-SHIP
Qualities of good followers
The important traits for effective followers in an organisation are discussed below-
• Active engagement
• Competence
• Sound judgement
• Honesty and integrity
• Courage
• Commitment and loyalty
• Independent and critical thinking
• Self Motivated
Robert Kelley’s Theory on followership
 5 Types of followers according to Kelly’s
theory-
• The Passive followership ( Low independence, Passive)
• Conformist followership or Yes People ( Low independence, Active)

• The Pragmatics followers (Average on both the dimensions)

• The Alienated Followers ( High independence, Passive)

• Exemplary followership or Star Followers ( High independence, Active)

• Effective followers are as important for an organisation as effective
leaders.
• Kelly identified the following effective qualities of effective followers:
a. Self management
b. Commitment
c. Competence and focus
d. Courage