Reminder:

Assignment
Leader Portrait &
Leadership Report

about a female
business leader with
an ethnic minority
background.
 Support on Moodle

KEEP
CALM
&
GET
SUPPORT
What will we
learn today?
Learning Objectives  We will learn how leadership research
evolved
 We will understand how we will learn and
build up our knowledge in this module and
how we will be assessed
 We will understand the idea of the person-
centred leadership approach
 We get some insight into our own motivation
to lead

3
Introduction
What is leadership? Share your view
It’s not that simple, but let’s try to
define leadership
 Rost (1993) has found 221 definitions of leadership in 587 publications he
examined

For example:
 A leader can be defined as an “individual in the group (or organisation)
given the task of directing or coordinating activities (Fiedler, 1967, p.8)

 Leadership is a social process, an interaction between two or more

individuals that often involves structuring and restructuring of the situation”
(Brass, 2008, pp 25-26)
Think,
pair,
share
Key Question:
What does it take to
be endorsed and
effective as a leader?
Key approaches to understand leadership and
when and why leaders are effective
 Overview leadership theories
Perceptual and Leader-
Person-centred Group
contingency Follower
approach approach
approach approach

Traits / Charisma Implicit theories Power Identity Leadership

Behaviours Contingent Transactional Inter-group leadership

Genes Evolution Transformational

Approach developed LMX

in the 1900-1970s;
Present 1970-Present 1970-Present 1970-Present
How it all started
  Person-centred approach
This week’s  Personality and charisma
leadership  Motivation to lead
 Perceptual approach
approach &  Context and contingency approach
concepts  Leader-Follower approach
 Group approach
 Inter-group approach

10
Person- Assumption
centred Leaders are somehow superior to
followers.
approach
The Great Man and Whenever we think in terms of
‘his’ Charisma ‘leadership’, we create dichotomy:
(1) leaders, a select and privileged
few, and
(2) followers the vast majority.

Nielsen (2004)
Person-  View that leaders possess
personality characteristics that
centred set them apart from ordinary
approach people:
 E.g., “charisma”, “height”
The Great Man and
‘his’ Charisma
 Stogdill (1948) compared the
characteristics of leaders to non-
leaders
 E.g., intelligence, dominance,
sociability, … height.
Criticism on the person-centred approach
 Week empirical correlation between personality variables and
leadership (data from Mann, 1959)
Personality No. of tests Median absolute Variance Strength of
Dimension correlation explained (r2) association
Intelligence 196 .25 %5 weak
Adjustment 164 .15 2.3% weak
Extroversion 119 .15 2.3% weak
Sensitivity 101 <.10 <1% weak
Masculinity 70 <.10 <1% weak
Dominance 39 .20 4% weak

Note. Table has been retrieved from Haslam, Reicher, & Platow (2011, p. 9).
Person-
centred
approach
Motivation to Lead

Chan et al., (2001)

See optional reading
Person-  Do you think of yourself as a
leader?
centred
approach
 Test yourself and find out more
Motivation to Lead about your own motivation to lead
in the tutorial tomorrow.
What should I read for more inspiration
(and knowledge)?
Essential Readings Optional Readings
Kiefer, T. (2021). What Chan, K. Y., & Drasgow, F. (2001). Toward a theory of individual differences and leaders
motivates people to be hip: understanding the motivation to lead.
come a leader? Journal of applied psychology, 86(3), 481.
WBS News.
Schyns, B., Kiefer, T., & Foti, R. J. (2020). Does thinking of myself as leader make me wa
nt to lead? The role of congruence in self-theories and implicit leadership theories in
motivation to lead.
Journal of Vocational Behavior, 122, 103477.
Book Leadership in Organisations
by Gary Yukl
Click here for online
access to book.