Defining Leadership

leadership as the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of a vision or

set of goals.
Stephen Robbins

―Leadership is the ability to persuade others to seek defined objectives

enthusiastically. It is the human factor which binds a group together and motivates
it towards goals.‖
Keith Davis
Differences between Management and Leadership
While managers lay down the structure and delegates authority and responsibility, leaders provides
direction by developing the organizational vision and communicating it to the employees and
inspiring them to achieve it.

Management focus on planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling; leadership is mainly a
part of directing function of management. Leaders focus on listening, building relationships,
teamwork, inspiring, motivating and persuading the followers.

A leader gets his authority from his followers while a manager gets his authority by virtue of his
position in the organization.

Managers follow the organization’s policies and procedure; the leaders follow their own instinct.
Authority vs. Leadership
The authority exercised is a kind of legitimate power and people follow
figures exercising it, because their positions demand so irrespective of the
person holding the position.

Leaders in organizations and elsewhere may have formal authorities but

they mostly rely on the informal authority that they exercise on people to
influence them.
Leadership Styles
Autocratic leadership style

The Laissez Faire Leadership Style

Democratic/Participative leadership style

Autocratic leadership style: In this style of leadership, a leader has complete

command and hold over their employees/team. The team cannot put forward their
views even if they are best for the team’s or organizational interests. They cannot
criticize or question the leader’s way of getting things done. The leader himself gets
the things done.
The Laissez Faire Leadership Style: Here, the leader totally trusts
their employees/team to perform the job themselves. He just
concentrates on the intellectual/rational aspect of his work and does
not focus on the management aspect of his work. The
team/employees are welcomed to share their views and provide
suggestions which are best for organizational interests. This
leadership style works only when the employees are skilled, loyal,
experienced and intellectual.
Democratic/Participative leadership style: The leaders invite and
encourage the team members to play an important role in decision-
making process, though the ultimate decision-making power rests
with the leader. The leader guides the employees on what to perform
and how to perform, while the employees communicate to the leader
their experience and the suggestions if any.
A perfect leadership style is one which assists a leader in getting the
best out of the people who follow him.
 Great Man Theory

Trait Theory

Managerial Grid
Theories of Behavioral Theories
Ohio State Leadership
Leadership Studies

Fiedler’s Contingency Least

Preferred Co worker Theory
Contingency
Theories
Hersey and Blanchard’s
Situation Theory
 Great man Theory of Leadership
Great Man Theory of leadership asserts that leaders are born and not made.

The theory states that some people are born with the necessary attributes that set them apart from
others and that these traits are responsible for their assuming positions of power and authority.

According to the theory, leadership calls for certain qualities like charm, persuasiveness,
commanding personality, high degree of intuition, judgment, courage, intelligence, aggressiveness
and action orientation which are of such a nature that they cannot be taught or learnt in a formal
sense.

One either has them or does not have them. Leadership qualities are carried in the genes. In other
words, they are inborn, or something inherited in family from generation-to-generation.

Examples: Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln.

Earlier leadership was considered as a quality associated mostly with the males, and therefore the
theory was named as the great man theory. But later with the emergence of many great women
leaders as well, the theory was recognized as the great person theory.
Trait Theory of Leadership
This theory consider personal qualities and characteristics that differentiate leaders
from nonleaders.

The search for personality, social, physical, or intellectual attributes that

differentiate leaders from non-leaders goes back to the earliest stages of leadership
research.

Criticism

The list of Traits is not uniform and different authors have given different list of traits

It fails to take into account influence of other factors on leadership.

The personal qualities and traits of Indra Nooyi
make her a great leader. Nooyi is Former CEO
and board chairman of PepsiCo, the second
largest food and beverage firm in the world. She
is described as fun- loving, sociable, agreeable,
conscientious, emotionally stable, and open to
experiences.
Behavioral Theories of Leadership
Behavioral Theories of Leadership propose that specific behaviors
differentiate leaders from non-leaders.
Focus on Leader behavior rather than trait.
Assumes that leader behaviours are crucial for explaining performance and
other organizational outcomes.
Major Behavioural Theories are
◦ Managerial Grid
◦ Ohio state university Leadership Studies
Managerial Grid

• Given By Robert R. Blake and Janes S.

Mouton.

• They Identified five basic leadership styles of

practicing managers.

• Managerial Grid is a graphical presentation of

alternative combinations of management
styles or behavior on a two-dimensional
space.

• According to this theory leaders are most

effective when they achieve high and
balanced concern for people and for tasks.
 Ohio State leadership Studies
Following two dimensions substantially accounted for most of the leadership
behavior described by employees:

1. Initiating Structure and

2. Consideration

Initiating Structure

The extent to which a leader is likely to define and structure his or her role
and those of employees in the search for goal attainment.

Establishing formal lines of communication and determine how tasks will be

performed.

Specifying the task to be performed by each member of his group, sets down
deadlines, gives directions and puts pressure on them for its fulfillment.
Consideration

Extent to which a person’s job relationships are characterized by mutual trust, respect for
employees’ ideas, and regard for their feelings.

A leader high in consideration helps employees with personal problems, is friendly and
approachable, treats all employees as equals, and expresses appreciation and support.

The study reports that leaders high in initiating structure as well as in consideration generally
results in positive outcomes but there are exceptions which indicate that situational factors
should be integrated into the theory.
Contingency Theories of Leadership
Contingency theory is a class of Behavioural theory that claims that
there is no best way to organize a corporation, to lead a company or
to make decisions. Instead, the optimal course of action is contingent
(dependent upon the internal or external situation.

There are several contingency theories like

◦ Fiedler’s Contingency Least Preferred Co worker Theory
◦ Hersey and Blanchard’s Situation Theory
Fiedler’s Contingency Model

Fiedler argued that effectiveness of leadership depends on the

combination of leader’s personality and the situation in which he
functions.

•Leader-member relations - The degree to which the leaders is

trusted and liked by the group members, and the willingness of the
group members to follow the leader’s guidance.

•Task structure - The degree to which the group’s task has been
described as structured or unstructured, has been clearly defined
and the extent to which it can be carried out by detailed instructions.

•Position power - The power of the leader by virtue of the

organizational position and the degree to which the leader can
exercise authority on group members in order to comply with and
accept his direction and leadership.
 Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Theory
Hersey and Blanchard developed four types of leadership styles based on the task and
relationships that leaders experience in the workplace. According to the model, the
following are styles of leadership managers can use:

Delegating style: A low-task, low-relationship style wherein the leader allows the group
to take responsibility for task decisions. This is best used with high maturity followers.

• Participating style: A low-task, high-relationship style that emphasizes shared ideas

and decisions. Managers can use this style with moderate followers who are
experienced but may lack the confidence to do the tasks assigned.

• Selling style: A high-task, high-relationship style in which the leader attempts to sell
their ideas to the group by explaining task directions in a persuasive manner. This, too,
is used with moderate followers. Unlike the previous style, these followers have the
ability but are unwilling to do the job.

• Telling style: A high-task, low-relationship style wherein the leader gives explicit
directions and supervises work closely. This style is geared toward low maturity
followers.