Leadership and Influence Processes

Chapter 11: Leadership and Influence Processes

Learning Objectives

  • Understand basic concepts of Leadership.
  • Explore Leadership and Power dynamics.
  • Examine Generic Approaches to Leadership.
  • Investigate Situational Approaches to Leadership.

The Nature of Leadership

  • Leadership is a process:
    • Involves the use of noncoercive influence to shape group or organizational goals.
    • Motivates behavior toward the achievement of those goals.
    • Helps define group or organizational culture.
  • Leadership is a property:
    • A set of characteristics attributed to individuals perceived as leaders.
  • A leader is someone who can influence others.
    • Can be effective or ineffective.
  • A leader is accepted by others as a leader.

Personal Leadership Style

  • The specific ways in which a manager chooses to influence other people.
    • Influences how they lead subordinates and how they perform management tasks.
    • Leaders may delegate and support subordinates, while others are authoritarian.

Managers vs. Leaders

  • Management
    • Creating an agenda: Planning and budgeting by establishing detailed steps and timetables for achieving results and allocating resources.
    • Developing a human network for achieving the agenda: Organizing and staffing, establishing structure, delegating responsibility, providing policies and procedures, and creating monitoring systems.
    • Executing plans: Controlling and problem-solving by monitoring results, identifying deviations, and planning solutions.
    • Outcomes: Produces predictability and order, with the potential for consistent results for stakeholders.
  • Leadership
    • Establishing direction: Developing a vision of the future and strategies for change.
    • Aligning people: Communicating the direction to gain cooperation and build teams that understand and accept the vision and strategies.
    • Motivating and inspiring: Energizing people to overcome barriers by satisfying basic human needs.
    • Outcomes: Produces change, often dramatic, with the potential for useful innovations and competitive advantages.

Leadership and Power

  • Power: The ability to affect the behavior of others.
  • Types of Power:
    • Reward
    • Coercive
    • Legitimate
    • Expert
    • Referent

Types of Power Explained

  • Legitimate power
    • Power granted through the organizational hierarchy.
  • Reward power
    • The power to give or withhold rewards (salary increases, bonuses, promotions, praise, recognition, job assignments).
  • Coercive power
    • The power to force compliance through psychological, emotional, or physical threats.
  • Expert power
    • Personal power based on information or expertise.
  • Referent power
    • Personal power based on identification, imitation, loyalty, or charisma.

Generic Approaches to Leadership

  • Leadership Traits
    • The idea that a basic set of personal traits differentiates leaders from non-leaders.
    • However, empirical relationships between traits and recognized leaders could not be consistently established.
  • Leadership Behaviors
    • The assumption that effective leaders behave differently from ineffective ones.
    • Aims to develop a fuller understanding of specific leadership behaviors.

Leadership Behaviors: Michigan Studies

  • Job-centered leader behavior
    • Involves closely monitoring subordinates' work, explaining procedures, and maintaining a strong interest in performance.
  • Employee-centered leader behavior
    • Involves developing cohesive work groups and ensuring employee satisfaction.

Leadership Behaviors: Ohio State Studies

  • Initiating Structure Behavior
    • Leaders define leader-subordinate roles, establish formal communication lines, and determine task performance methods.
  • Consideration Behavior
    • Leaders show concern for subordinates and create a warm, friendly, and supportive climate.

Leadership Behaviors: Managerial Grid

  • Concern for Production
    • Focuses on job and task aspects of leadership.
  • Concern for People
    • Focuses on the human aspects of leadership.

Situational Approaches to Leadership

  • Assumptions:
    • Appropriate leader behavior varies depending on the situation.
    • Situational factors that determine appropriate leader behavior can be identified.
  • Situational Theories:
    • Least Preferred Coworker (LPC) theory
    • Path-goal theory
    • Leader-member exchange (LMX) approach
    • Leadership Substitutes Model

Situational Approaches: Least Preferred Coworker (LPC) Theory

  • Also known as Fiedler Contingency Model.
  • Leadership style should vary with situational favorableness.
  • LPC Measure
    • Asks leaders to describe the person they can work with least well.
    • High score indicates relationship orientation.
    • Low score indicates task orientation.

LPC Theory: Situational Favorableness

  • Variables:
    • Leader-member relations
      • The nature of the relationship between the leader and the work group.
    • Task structure
      • The degree to which the group’s task is defined.
    • Position power
      • The power vested in the leader’s position.

LPC Theory: Leader Behavior Recommendations

  • Very Favorable Situation: Task-oriented behavior recommended.
  • Moderately Favorable Situation: Person-oriented behavior recommended.
  • Very Unfavorable Situation: Task-oriented behavior recommended.

Situational Approaches: Path-Goal Theory

  • Leadership behaviors:
    • Directive
      • Letting subordinates know what is expected, giving guidance, and scheduling work.
    • Supportive
      • Being friendly and approachable, showing concern for welfare, and treating subordinates as equals.
    • Participative
      • Consulting with subordinates, soliciting suggestions, and allowing participation in decision-making.
    • Achievement-oriented
      • Setting challenging goals, expecting high performance, encouraging, and showing confidence.

Situational Approaches: LMX Theory (Leader-Member Exchange)

  • Leaders have different relationships with different subordinates.
  • Vertical dyads
    • Each superior-subordinate pair.
  • In-groups
  • Out-groups

Situational Approaches: Leadership Substitutes Model

  • Leader behaviors are neutralized or replaced by:
    • Subordinate characteristics
    • Task characteristics
    • Organization characteristics
  • Subordinate Characteristics:
    • Ability
    • Experience
    • Need for independence
    • Professional orientation
    • Indifference towards organizational goals
  • Task Characteristics:
    • Routineness
    • The availability of feedback
    • Intrinsic satisfaction
  • Organization Characteristics:
    • Formalization
    • Group cohesion
    • Inflexibility
    • A rigid reward structure

Wrap Up!

  • LEADERSHIP IS AN ACTION NOT A TITLE.