Leadership: styles and behavior

Definition of leadership:

Use of power and influence to direct activities of followers toward
goal achievement

Leader member exchange theory / Leader effectiveness:

Degree to which leader actions achieve unit goals, maintain employee
commitment, and build trust/obligation in leader–member dyads.

High-quality Leader member excahnge

more trust, support, obligation

role taking phase

Leader sets expectations; follower attempts to meet them

Role making phase

Mutual exchange, negotiation of responsibilities, exchange of
resources/opportunities.

Leader effectiveness is the degree to which the leaders actions result in the following : 

• Achievement of the units gaols 

• Continued commitment of the units employees 

• Development of mutual trust, respect, and obligation in leader, ember dyads 

Leader decision making styles

-Autocratic:
-Consultative:
-Facilitative:

-Delegative style

Autocratic style

Leader decides alone

Consultative style

Leader asks opinions, keeps final authority. at the end still makes its own decsion

Facilitative style:

leader presents the problem to a group of employees and seeks consensus on a solution, making sure that the leader's own opinion receives no more weight than anyone else's. 

Delegative style:

leader gives an individual employee or a group of employees the responsibility for making the decision within some set of specified boundary conditions 

Time driven model of leadership

Choose decision style based on situation

(decision significance, need for commitment, leader expertise, employee expertise, shared objectives, teamwork skills, likelihood of commitment).

Time driven model of leadership - Managers tend to overuse what style?

consultative style — model says vary style by situation

Day-to-day leaderships 

• Initiation 

• Organization 

• Production

• Membership

• consideration

Day-to-day leader behaviors (two dimensions)

Initiating structure and Consideration

Initiating structure:

Define roles, set goals, schedule, standards.

Consideration:

Build trust, show concern, supportive behaviors.

Life cycle theory of leadership

The optimal combination of initiating structure and consideration depends on the readiness of the employees in the work unit .

Readiness:

ability + willingness

• degree of which employees have the ability and the willingness to accomplish their specific tasks

R1 (low readiness):

Telling: leader provides specific instructions and closely supervises performance

high structure, low consideration)

R2 (some ability, low confidence):

Selling: leader provides support and encouragement to protect the confidence levels of employees.

(high structure, high consideration).

R3 (moderate readiness):

Participating:  leader shares ideas and helps the group conduct its affairs 

(low structure, high consideration).

R4 (high readiness):

Delegating: leader turns responsibility for key behaviors over to the employee

(low structure, low consideration).

Transformational leadership behavior 

• Inspires followers to commit to a shared vision that provides meaning to their work 

• Est the leader as a role model who helps followers reach their potential, view problems from a new perspective 

Strongly linked to higher performance & commitment.

Transactional leadership behavoir

relies on rewards and punishments 

Contingent reward; management by exception (active/passive).

Laissez-faire leadership

 is the absence of action