Brief Notes on Leadership and Leadership Theories

1. Leadership
Leadership Theories
Application to Nursing
By
Bitew Mekonnen(BSc, MSc, MBA)
bitewm@gmail.com
+251949236743
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2. Overview
• Define leadership
• Discuss the traditional theories of leadership
• Identify modern frameworks for leadership
• Relate the style implications from the classic studies & modern
theories of leadership
• Identify and analyze the skills needed for effective leadership
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3. THE LEADING FUNCTION
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4. Leadership
• What is the leadership?
“a process of social influence in which one
person can enlist the aid and support of
others in the accomplishment of a common
task".
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5. Leadership is an interpersonal
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• A traditional definition of leadership:
influence
directed toward the achievement of a goal or
goals.
• Three important parts of this definition are
the terms interpersonal, influence, and goal.

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The definition of leadership used in this
course follows.
Leadership is a dynamic relationship based on
mutual influence and common purpose
between leaders and collaborators in which
both are moved to higher levels of motivation
and moral development as they affect real,
intended change. (Kevin Freiberg and Jackie
Freiberg, , 1996, p. 298).

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• Three important parts of this definition are
the terms relationship, mutual, and
collaborators.
Relationship
people.
is the connection between
Mutual means shared in common.
Collaborators cooperate or work together.
Leadership is the process of influencing
employees to work toward the achievements
of organizational objectives.

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Management and Leadership
• Management and leadership are not the
same. A leader can be a manager, but a
manager is not necessarily a leader.
• If a manager is able to influence people to
achieve the goals of the organization, without
using his or her formal authority to do so,
then the manager is demonstrating
leadership.

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• Management is the process of setting and
the goals
the functions
of the organization
of management:
achieving
through
planning, organizing, directing (or leading),
and controlling.
• A manager is hired by the organization and is
given formal authority to direct the activity of
others in fulfilling organization goals. Thus,
leading is a major part of a manager's job. Yet
a manager must also plan, organize, and
control.

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• Generally,
interpersonal aspects of a manager's
leadership deals with the
job,
whereas planning, organizing, and controlling
deal with the administrative aspects.
• Leadership deals with change, inspiration,
motivation, and influence. Management deals
more with carrying out the organization's
goals.

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• The key point in differentiating between
leadership and management is the idea that:
employees willingly follow leaders because they
want to, not because they have to.
Leaders may not possess the formal power to
reward or sanction performance. However,
employees give the leader power by complying
with what he or she requests.
On the other hand, managers may have to rely
on formal authority to get employees to
accomplish goals.

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• The fundamental difference between leaders
and managers is that
– a manager focuses on the implementation of
company policy while,
– the leader tries to lead and inspire people to do
their best for the company.

14. The Complementarity of management
and leadership
Management characteristics
 Administers and problem-solves.
 Works within a system.
 Focuses on control.
 Short range view.
 Accepts the status quo.
 Sets things in motion by means of
methods and techniques.
 Attitude of doing.
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• Leadership Characteristics
 Innovates- means alertness to
opportunities, uses imagination and vis
to capitalize on them.
 Works on the system
 focuses on people.
 Inspires trust.
 Long range view.
 Challenges the status quo.
 Is a natural unforced ability to inspire
people.
 Attitude of serving

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Leadership Theories
Trait Theory
• The trait theory or leadership focused on
identifying the personal characteristics that
are responsible for effective leadership.
• It is based on the assumption that leaders are
born not made. That is good leaders are born
naturally, not made.
• The trait approach to understanding
leadership assumes that certain physical,
social, and personal characteristics are
inherent in leaders.

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Physical traits include being young to middle-aged,
energetic, tall, and handsome/attractive/good-looking.
Social background traits include being educated at the
"right" schools and being socially prominent .
 Social characteristics include being charismatic,
popular,
tactful,
charming,
diplomatic.
Personality
cooperative, and
traits include being self-confident,
adaptable, assertive, and emotionally stable.
Task-related characteristics include being driven to
excel, accepting of responsibility, having initiative, and
being results-oriented.

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The Behavioral Theory
Behavioral studies had their roots in the Ohio
Sate University and university of Michigan by
careful study of the behaviors of specific
leaders.
• Two basic leadership behaviors identified as
important for leadership are task-oriented
behavior and people-oriented behavior.
Ohio State and University of Michigan
Studies conducted at the Ohio State University
and the University of Michigan identified two
leadership styles and two types of leader
behaviors.

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• The Ohio State study identified two leadership
styles: considerate and initiating structure.
• The University of Michigan study classified
leaders' behaviors as being production- or
employee-centered.
• Considerate leaders are friendly, provide open
communication, develop teamwork, and are
oriented toward their subordinates’ welfare.
Initiating structure is the degree of task-
oriented behavior and directs subordinate
work activities toward goal attainment.

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A leader may have any of four styles:
high initiating structure–low consideration,
high initiating structure–high consideration,
low initiating structure–low consideration, or
 low initiating structure–high consideration.
• The Ohio State research found that the high
consideration–high initiating structure style
achieved better performance and greater
satisfaction than the other leader styles.

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• This theory tried to identify the behaviors
shown by leaders in the work environment
and they were generally able to identify two
sets of leaders.

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Work centered (concerned for task) leaders
• This approach is also refereed to as initiating
structure, job centeredness and task orientation.
• This considers leaders who are authoritarian,
autocratic, production oriented and activity
focused.
• A leader with such behavior mostly tends to
• plan and define work
• Assign task responsibilities
• set clear work standards
• urge for tasks completion
• Monitors performance results persistently,

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Employee centered (people centered) leaders
• Such leaders are also known as democratic, considerate
consultative and participative leaders.
• A leader with such behavior tends to
 Respects the feeling of followers
 Develops social rapport with followers
 Is highly sensitive to the needs of followers
Shows trust and confidence in followers.
encourage participation, and
support the team work for high levels of task accomplishment.
Act warmly and supportive to followers

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Situational Theory
• Situational leadership theory attempts to
determine the appropriate leadership style for
various situations.
• Successful leaders must be able to identify
clues in an environment and adapt their
leader behavior to meet the needs of their
followers and of the particular situation.
• Even with good diagnostic skills, leaders may
not be effective unless they can adapt their
leadership style to meet the demands of their
environment.

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Theory X and Theory Y-assumptions
• Are assumptions about human nature developed
by Douglas Mc Gregor.
• He developed the assumptions based on the
attitude that managers have about workers.
• Theory X and Theory Y each represent different
ways in which leaders view employees.
Theory X managers believe that employees are
motivated mainly by money, are lazy,
uncooperative, and have poor work habits.
Theory Y managers believe that subordinates
work hard, are cooperative, and have positive
attitudes.

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Leadership styles
• Based on the degree to which managers share
decision making authority with subordinates,
leadership styles can be classified in to three:
Autocratic, democratic , and laissez-faire.
Autocratic Style- a leadership style in which a
manager does not share decision-making
authority with subordinates.
• Managers, who tend to be
heavily work – centered,
placing most of their emphasis
accomplishment and
little on the human elements.
on task

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Democratic Leadership style- is a leadership
approach in which a manager shares decision
–making authority with subordinates.
In democratic leadership, managers
• are not much sensitive about their authority
• participate employees in decision making
• Appreciate suggestions from subordinates
• Motivate subordinates with rewards

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Laissez-Faire( Free-Rein Style) –
• is leadership approach in which a manager
develops a framework for subordinates in
which they can act and leave decision making
authority to the subordinates and remain for
consultation.
• This type of leadership is mostly applied in
organizations with highly skilled and well-
trained professional.

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Situational Leadership style-
 is leadership approach in which managers
utilize the combination of the above style
depending on the situation in external
environment.

38. Types of Leadership Style
• Paternalistic:
– Leader acts as a „father figure‟
• – Paternalistic leader makes decision but may consult
• – Believes in the need to support staff
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42. 6 Leadership Styles
No Styles Summed up in
one phrase
Work Best when
1 The
pacesetting
leader
Do as I do,
now.
the team is already motivated
and skilled, and the leader
needs quick results.
2 The
authoritative
leader
“Come with
me.”
the team needs a new vision
/explicit guidance is not
required
3 The affiliative
leader
“People
come first.”
in times of stress, teammates
need to heal from a trauma,
or when the team needs to
rebuild trust.
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43. 6 Leadership Styles
No Type Summed up in
one phrase
Work Best when
4 The
coaching
leader
“Try this.” the leader wants to help
teammates build lasting
personal strengths that make
them more successful overall
5 The coercive
leader
“Do what I
tell you.”
in times of crisis, such as in a
company turnaround or a
takeover attempt, or during an
actual emergency like a tornado
or a fire.
6 The
democratic
leader
“What do
you think?”
the leader needs the team to
buy into or have ownership of a
decision, plan, or goal,
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44. Servant leadership
• Servant leadership is both a leadership philosophy and set of
leadership practices. Traditional leadership generally involves the
accumulation and exercise of power by one at the “top of the
pyramid.” By comparison, the servant-leader shares power, puts the
needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as
highly as possible
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45. Servant leadership
• This term, coined by Robert Greenleaf in the 1970s, describes a
leader who is often not formally recognized as such. When someone,
at any level within an organization, leads simply by virtue of meeting
the needs of his or her team, he or she is described as a "servant
leader". In many ways, servant leadership is a form of democratic
leadership, as the whole team tends to be involved in decision-
making.
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48. Who is a leader?
• A leader is "a person who influences a group of people
towards the achievement of a goal". A mnemonic for this
definition would be 3P's - Person, People and Purpose as
illustrated by the following diagram.
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49. Who is a leader?
• A leader leads based on strengths, not titles.
• A leader by its meaning is one who goes first and leads by example,
so that others are motivated to follow him.
• To be a leader, a person must have a deep-rooted commitment to
the goal that he will strive to achieve it even if nobody follows him!
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50. The Role of Leaders
Develop ethical behavioral
 Influences
 Provide sound ethics training
Instill strong organizational values
Implement plans and strategi
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51. Application to Nursing
All nurse managers possess some degree of legitimate power-authority
to carry out organizational decisions and goals.
This authority is supplemented by the nurse managers’ power to
reward of coerces.
Nurse Managers become leaders through the development of referent
and expert power bases that inspire others’ obedience and loyalty.
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52. • By developing referent and expert power, a nurse leader need not rely
on legitimate power
• A nurse manager and nurse leader can use various sources of power
to effect change at the unit, organizational, and professional level
(Sullivan, 1990).
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53. The End
Thank you
Any Question email at (bitewm@gmail.com)