Leader: someone who can influence others and who has managerial authority

Leadership: what leaders do; the process of influencing a group to achieve goals

Researchers have found specific characteristics which differentiated leaders from nonleaders:

• Drive, desire to lead, honesty and integrity, self-confidence, job-relevant knowledge, and extraversion

Behavioural Theories:

Include all of the actions to enhance the behavior of the employees, individually and in groups, choose behaviors which are personally fulfilling, productive, and socially acceptable in order to develop the organization.

1. Democratic style: involving subordinates, delegating, authority, and encouraging participation

→ involvement, high participation, feedback

2. Autocratic style: dictating work methods, centralising decision making, and limiting participation

→ centralised authority, low participation

3. Laissez-faire style: giving group freedom to make decisions and complete work

→ hands-off management

→ Researchers found out that employees work better under a democratic leader than an autocratic leader

Behaviour Dimensions:

• Employee oriented: emphasised interpersonal relationship and taking care of employees’ needs

• Production-oriented (consideration): emphasised technical or task aspects of a job

→ Evidence indicated that situational factors appeared to strongly influence leadership effectiveness

• Initiating structure: role of the leader in defining their role and the role of groups members

• Consideration: the leader’s mutual trust and respect for group members’ ideas and feelings

→ Leaders who are employee oriented are strongly associated with high groups productivity and high job satisfaction.

Managerial Grid:

• Concern for people: measured leader’s concern for subordinates on a scale of 1 to 9

• Concern for production: measured leader’s concern for getting job done on a scale of 1 to 9

→ leaders are able to perform well in both areas (balancing concern for both equally)

Contingency Leadership:

• Transactional leadership: leaders who guide or motivate their followers in the direction of established goals by clarifying role and task requirements

• Transformational leadership: leaders who inspire their employees to transcend their own self-interests for the good of the organisation by clarifying role and task requirements

• Leaders who are capable of having a profound and extraordinary effect on their followers

• Charismatic leadership: an enthusiastic, self-confident leader whose personality and actions influence people to behave in certain ways

• Visionary leadership: a leader who creates and articulates a realistic, credible, and attractive vision of the future that improves upon the present situation

• They have to explain the vision to others, express the vision (by action), extend or apply the vision to different leadership context

• Team leadership: having patience to share information, being able to trust others and to give up authority, understanding when to intervene

→ Managing the team’s external boundary, facilitating the team process (coaching, communication)