This document provides an overview of early and contemporary approaches to leadership. It discusses trait, behavioral, situational, path-goal, and contingency theories as early approaches. Contemporary approaches covered include transformational leadership, which inspires followers to strive for a shared vision, transactional leadership, which links performance to rewards, charismatic leadership, and level-5 leadership, which combines determination and humility. The document examines key elements and characteristics of each approach.

1. Leadership - Early & Contemporary
Approaches to Leadership
Dr. G C Mohanta, BE, MSc(Engg), MBA, PhD(Mgt)
Professor

2. Leaders
 Leaders are individuals who exert influence to help
meet group goals:
 Formal
 Informal
 Leader effectiveness is the extent to which a leader
actually does help

3. What is Leadership?
 The ability to influence, motivate, and enable others to
contribute to the effectiveness and success of the
organizations of which they are members.
 Robert House (2004)
 The ability to influence a group toward the
achievement of a vision or set of goals.
 Robbins & Judge (2008)

4. Early Approaches to
Leadership
 Trait Approach
 Behavioral Approach
 Job-Centered and Employee-Centered Approach
 Least Preferred Coworker (LPC) Approach
 Path-Goal Approach
 Vroom’s Decision Tree Approach
 Leader-Member Exchange Approach
 Hersey and Blanchard Model
 Fiedler’s Contingency Approach

5. Trait Approach
 The trait approach seeks to identify
personal characteristics that effective
leaders possess.

6. Some Traits/Characteristics
of Effective Leader
 Intelligence
 Task-relevant
knowledge
 Dominance
 Self-confidence
 Drive
 Motivation
 Energy/activity levels
 Tolerance for stress
 Integrity and honesty
 Emotional maturity
 Cognitive ability
 Knowledge of the
business
 Charisma

7. Behavioral Approach
The behavior approach focuses
on the behaviors that effective
leaders engage in.
 Consideration behavior
 Initiating Structure behavior
 Leader Reward Behavior
 Leader Punishing Behavior

8. Consideration & Initiating-
structure Behavior
Consideration behavior – involves
being concerned with subordinates’
feelings & respecting subordinates’ ideas
Initiating-structure behavior –
involves clearly defining the leader-
subordinate roles so that subordinates
know what is expected of them

9. Job-Centered and Employee-
Centered Approach
 Leaders exhibiting job-centered behaviors:
 Pay close attention to the work of subordinates
 Explain all work procedures
 Are interested mainly in performance and effective
completion of the task
 Leaders exhibiting employee-centered behaviors:
 Pay close attention to the human aspects of the group
 Attempt to build effective work groups with high
performance goals
 Employee-centered leader behavior is more likely
to result in effective group performance than job-
centered leader behavior.

10. Least Preferred Coworker (LPC)
Approach
 Developed by Fred Fiedler, attempts to explain and
reconcile both the leader’s personality and the
complexities of the situation.
 Contends that a leader’s effectiveness depends on
the situation and, as a result, some leaders may be
effective in one situation or organization but not in
another.

11. Elements of LPC Approach
 Task Motivation Versus Relationship
Motivation
 Fiedler and his associates maintain that leadership
effectiveness depends on the match between the leader’s
personality and the situation.
 Fiedler also identified three factors that
determine the favorableness of the situation:
 Leader-member relations
 Task structure
 Leader position power

12. Path-Goal Approach
 Originated with expectancy theory of
motivation
 Paths = Employee expectancies
 Goals = Employee performance
 States that effective leaders ensure that
employees who perform their jobs well
receive more valued rewards than those
who perform poorly

13. Path-Goal Approach

14. Path-Goal Leadership Model
Employee
Contingencies
Environmental
Contingencies
Leader
Behaviors
• Directive
• Supportive
• Participative
• Achievement-
oriented
Leader
Effectiveness
• Employee
motivation
• Employee
satisfaction
• Acceptance
of leader

15. Path-Goal Leadership Styles
 Directive
 Provide psychological structure to jobs
 Task-oriented behaviors
 Supportive
 Provide psychological support
 People-oriented behaviors
 Participative
 Encourage/facilitate employee involvement
 Achievement-oriented
 Encourage peak performance through goal setting
and positive self-fulfilling prophecy

16. Vroom’s Decision Tree Approach
 The key component of this approach is
determining how much to involve
subordinates in making decisions.
 The approach requires that managers use
one of two different decision trees:
 Time-driven model (tree) – intended for use in
making an effective decision as quickly as
possible
 Development-driven model (tree) –used for
developing the decision-making skills of others

17. Vroom’s Decision Tree (continued)
 Situational Factors
 After choosing a tree, the leader assesses the
situation in terms of several factors to determine
whether the given factor is “high” or “low.”
 Factors include:
 Decision significance
 The importance & likelihood of commitment by
followers
 The leader and group’s expertise
 Group support
 Team competence

18. Vroom’s Decision Tree (continued)
Decision Styles and Subordinate
Participation
 Five decision styles are:
 Decide
 Delegate
 Consult (individually)
 Consult (group)
 Facilitate
 The model is a tool mangers can apply in
deciding how much subordinates should
participate in the decision-making process.

19. Leader-Member Exchange
Approach
 This model stresses that leaders develop
unique working relationships with each of
their subordinates.
 They establish a special relationship with a small
number of trusted subordinates referred to as the in-
group; subordinates who are not part of this group are
called the out-group.
 In-group usually receives special duties requiring
responsibility and autonomy; members may also receive
special privileges.
 In-group members have a higher level of performance
and satisfaction than out-group members.

20. Hersey and Blanchard Model
 The Hersey and Blanchard Model identifies
different combinations of leadership
presumed to work best with different levels
of organizational maturing on the part of
subordinates.
 As the maturity of the followers improves,
the leader’s leadership style can shift from a
“telling” style to a “selling” style and, finally,
to a “delegating” style.

21. Fiedler’s Contingency Approach
Leadership effectiveness determined by
 The characteristic of individuals
 The situations in which they find
themselves
Distinct leadership styles
 Relationship-oriented
 Task-oriented

22. Relationship-oriented &
Task-oriented
Relationship-oriented
 Wants to be liked by
and to get along well
with subordinates
 Getting job done is
second priority
Task-oriented
 Wants high
performance and
accomplishment of all
tasks
 Getting job done is
first priority

23. Contemporary Approaches
to Leadership
Transformational Leadership Approach
Transactional leadership Approach
Charismatic Leadership Approach
Level-5 Leadership Approach

24. Transformational Leadership
Approach
 A leadership perspective that explains how
leaders change teams or organizations by
creating, communicating, and modeling a
vision for the organization or work unit, and
inspiring employees to strive for that vision
 Inspire followers to transcend their own
self-interests for the good of the
organization

25. Transformational Leadership
Elements
1. Create a strategic vision
Depiction of company’s attractive future
 motivates and bonds employees
Leader champions the vision
2. Communicate the vision
Frame message around a grand purpose
Create a shared mental model of the future
Use symbols, metaphors

26. Transformational Leadership
Elements (contd.)
3. Model the vision
 Walk the talk
 Symbolize/demonstrate the vision through behavior
 Builds employee trust in the leader
4. Build commitment to the vision
 Increased through communicating and modeling the
vision
 Increased through employee involvement in shaping the
shared vision

27. Transactional Leadership
Approach
Transactional leaders
 Leaders who guide or motivate their followers
in the direction of established goals by
clarifying role and task requirements
 Managing & achieving current objectives
more efficiently
 link job performance to rewards
 ensure employees have necessary resources

28. Charismatic Leadership Approach
 A person who is dominant, self-confident,
convinced of the moral righteousness of his
beliefs, and able to arouse a sense of excitement
and adventure in followers.
 Four characteristics of charismatic leaders
 Have a vision
 Are willing to take personal risks to achieve the vision
 Are sensitive to follower needs
 Exhibit behaviors that are out of the ordinary

29. How Charismatic Leaders
Influence Followers
 A four-step process:
1. Leader articulates an attractive vision
 Vision Statement:
A formal, long-term strategy to attain goals
 Links past, present, and future
2. Leader communicates high performance expectations
and confidence in follower ability
3. Leader conveys a new set of values by setting an
example
4. Leader engages in emotion-inducing and often
unconventional behavior to demonstrate convictions
about the vision

30. Level-5 Leadership Approach
Level-5 Leader are very effective leaders
who possess four typical leadership traits:
 Individual competency
 Team skills
 Managerial competence
 Ability to stimulate others to high
performance
Plus a combination of strong
professional will (determination) and
humility that builds enduring greatness.