This document provides an overview of several leadership theories: - Trait theory, which initially focused on identifying personality traits of great leaders. Research was unable to identify a consistent set of traits. - Behavioral theory shifted the focus to what leaders do and how they act, identifying two types of behaviors: task-oriented and relationship-oriented. - Leader-member exchange theory examines how relationships between leaders and followers develop over time and influence outcomes. It finds leaders form in-groups and out-groups. - Contingency theory matches leaders to situations based on leadership style and situational factors. Task-motivated leaders are most effective in very favorable/unfavorable situations while relationship-motivated leaders thrive

1. MNGT 5670 – Spring 2, 2012
TraitTheory
BehavioralTheory
Leader/Member ExchangeTheory
ContingencyTheory
Situational Leadership

2.  One of the first systematic attempts to study
leadership.
 It was believed that people were born with these
traits and only the great people possessed them
(hence the term “Great Man”).
 Research during this time concentrated on
identifying traits that differentiated leaders from
followers.
 The theories that were developed were often
referred to as “Great Man” theories because the
focused on identifying the traits found in great
social, military and political leaders.

3.  In a major review in 1948, Stogdill suggested that
no consistent set of traits differentiated leaders
and non-leaders across a variety of situations.
 In other words, an individual with leadership
traits who was a leader in one situation might
not be the leaders in another situation.
 In recent years, there has been a resurgence in
the trait approach, in explaining how traits
influence leadership.

5. Stogdill (1948)
- Intelligence
- Alertness
- Insight
- Responsibility
- Initiative
- Persistence
- Self-confidence
- Sociability
Mann (1959)
- Intelligence
- Masculinity
- Adjustment
- Dominance
- Extroversion
- Conservatism
Lord, DeVader, &
Alliger (1986)
- Intelligence
- Masculianity
- Dominance
Kirkpatrick &
Locke (1991)
- Drive
- Motivation
- Integrity
- Confidence
- Cognitive ability
-Task knowledge
Common trait themes: intelligence, self-confidence, determination,
integrity, sociability.

6.  Allows for personal awareness and development.
 As a theory, it is intuitively appealing.
 A century of research backs it up.
 Can provide greater depth on understanding what
a leaders is due to its singular focus.
 It provides benchmarks as to what to look for if
we want to be leaders ourselves.

7.  Failure to delineate a clear, consistent list of leadership traits.
 Studies over the years have been ambiguous and uncertain at
times.
 Fails to take situations and followers into account.
 Can result in highly subjective determinations of the “most
important” traits.
 Resulted in highly subjective determinations of the “most
important” leadership traits.
 Research does not effectively look at leadership traits in
relationship to leadership outcomes.
 Not a useful approach when it comes to training and
development of leadership.

8.  Very different from the trait approach:
 Trait approach emphasizes the personality
characteristics of the leader, this approach
emphasizes the behavior of the leader.
 A shift in emphasis from thinking about
leadership in terms of traits that someone has to
thinking about leadership as a form of activity.

9.  Researchers studying the behavioral approach
determined that leadership is comprised
essentially of two general kinds of behaviors:
▪ Task behaviors
▪ Relationship behaviors
 The central purpose of this approach is to explain
how leaders combine these two kinds of
behaviors to influence people to reach a goal.

10.  Conducted by Stogdill with the Leadership Behavior
Description Questionnaire (LBDQ) in 1948.
 Researchers found that responses of subordinate
questionnaires clustered around two general types
of leader behaviors:
▪ Initiating structure
▪ Consideration

11.  The findings (initiating structure and consideration)
are not two points on the same continuum – they
are concepts that are separate from one another.
 In other words: the degree to which a leader
exhibited one behavior was not related to how
much s/he exhibited another behavior.

12.  While the OSU studies were going on, Michigan was
also conducting studies of its own (1950s).
 The Michigan Studies focused on the impact of
leaders’ behaviors on the performance of small
groups.
 Researchers identified two types of leadership
behaviors:
▪ Employee orientation (human relations)
▪ Production orientation (technical and aspects of
the job)

13.  Unlike the Ohio State studies, the Michigan
studies viewed these behaviors (employee
and production orientations) as opposite end
of the same continuum.
 Implication: a leader can be strong in one
area at the expense of the other

14. 14
1,9
Country Club
Management
9,9
Team
Management
5,5
Middle-of-the-
Road
Management
Impoverished Management
1,1
Authority-
Compliance
Management
9,1
Low
Low Concern for Results High
High
ConcernforPeople
The Leadership Grid
®

15. 15
People-Oriented Task-Oriented
Ohio State University
(circa 1948)
Consideration Initiating Structure
University of Michigan
(circa 1952)
Employee-Centered Job-Centered
University of Texas
(circa 1991)
Concern for People Concern for Production

16.  The behavioral approach provides a
framework for assessing leadership in a broad
way.
 It marks a major shift in the general focus of
leadership research by broadening the scope
of study.
 It expanded to include what leaders did and how
they acted.

17.  The wide range of studies validates and gives
credibility to the basic tenants of the
behavioral approach.
 The significance of the two major leader
behaviors (task and relationship) cannot be
understated.
 It applies to nearly everything a leader does.

18.  While the research is extensive, it does not show
how leaders’ behaviors are associated with
performance outcomes.
▪ The only strong finding is that leaders who are
considerate have followers who are more satisfied.
 It fails to find a universal style of leadership that
could be effective in any situation.
 The behavioral approach implies that the most
effective leadership style is one that is
simultaneously high-task and high-relationship.

19.  An individualized leadership model that
explores how leader-member relationships
develop over time and how the quality of
exchange relationships impacts outcomes.
 Focuses on building relationships.
 Has been referred to as ‘leadership making.’
 Offers insights as to how mangers can
improve their own leadership behavior.

20. 20
In-group
 Discusses objectives; gives
employee freedom to use
his or her own approach in
solving problems and
reaching goals
 Listens to employee’s
suggestions and ideas
about how work is done
 Treats mistakes as learning
opportunities
Out-Group
 Gives employee specific
directives for how to
accomplish tasks and
attain goals
 Shows little interest in
employee’s comments and
suggestions
 Criticizes or punishes
mistakes

21. 21
In-Group
 Gives employee
interesting
assignments; may
allow employee to
choose assignment
 Sometimes defers to
subordinate’s opinion
 Praises
accomplishments
Out-Group
 Assigns primarily
routine jobs and
monitors employee
closely
 Usually imposes own
views
 Focuses on areas of
poor performance

22. 22
1. Vertical Dyad Linkage
Leaders’ behaviors and traits have
different impacts across
followers, creating in-groups and out-
groups.
2. Leader-Member Exchange
Leadership is individualized for each
subordinate. Each dyad involves a
unique exchange independent of other
dyads.
3. Partnership Building
Leaders can reach out to create a
positive exchange with every
subordinate. Doing so increases
performance.
4. Systems and Networks
Leader dyads can be created in all
directions across levels and boundaries
to build networks that enhance
performance.

23.  Provides insights into manager/follower
relationships; how they develop and evolve.
 Provides insights as to how leadership
networks can develop.
 Has broad application in a variety of
organizational settings.
 Raises awareness as to how subordinates
can/should be treated.

24.  On the surface, it runs counter to the basic
human value of fairness.
 Out-group discrimination.
 Basic ideas of the theory are not fully
developed (i.e., why high-quality LM
exchanges are developed, how relationship-
building concepts work together.).
 Questions regarding measurement (differing
scales).

25.  Fiedler (1967) is the name most associated with
contingency theory.
 This theory is a “leader-match” theory, which means
it tries to match leaders to appropriate situations.
 Basic premise: to understand the performance of
leaders, it is essential to understand the situations in
which they lead.

26. 26
UniversalApproach
Contingency Approach
Leadership
(traits/behaviors)
Leader
Style
Traits
Behavior
Position
Followers
Needs
Maturity
Training
Cohesion
Situation
Task
Structure
Systems
Env.
Outcomes
(Performance, satisfaction, etc.)
Outcomes
(Performance, satisfaction, etc.)

27.  Leadership Styles:
▪ Described as task motivated or relationship motivated
▪ Fiedler developed the Least Preferred Co-Worker (LPC) scale.
 Situational variables:
▪ Situations can be categorized by assessing three factors:
▪ Leader member relations (atmosphere and confidence)
▪ Task structure (clarity of requirements)
▪ Position power (authority of the leader to reward or punish)
 Together, these variables determine the “favorableness”
of the situation.
▪ Most favorable: High leader/member relations, high task clarity,
strong leader position power.
▪ Least favorable: Poor leader/member relations, low task clarity,
weak leader position power.

28.  By measuring a leader’s LPC and and the three
situational variables, one can predict whether or
not a leader is going to be effective in a particular
situation:
 Those with a low LPC score (task motivated) will be
effective in both very favorable and in very unfavorable
situations.
 Those with a high LPC score (relationship motivated)
will be effective in moderately favorable situations.
- Leaders will not be effective in all situations -

29.  Supported by a great deal of research.
 Broadens our understanding of by having us
consider the impact of situations on leaders.
 The theory is predictive.
 It does not require everyone to be effective in all
situations.
 It provides data on leader styles that can be useful
to organizations in developing leaders profiles.

30.  It fails to full explain why individuals with certain
styles are more effective in some situations than
others.
 The LPC is not really a standard scale or
measurement. It asks the leader to characterize the
another person’s behavior.
 It is a cumbersome and complex theory to apply in
real world settings.
 It fails to suggests what an organization should do
when there is a mismatch between the leader and
the situation.

31.  One of the most widely recognized approaches.
 Developed by Hersey and Blanchard (1969) an has
been revised since then.
 As the name implies, this approach focuses on
leadership in situations.
 This approach stresses that leadership is composed
of both a directive and supportive dimension, and
each is to be applied appropriately in a given
situation.

32.  This approach expects the following form the
leader:
 An evaluation of the competency and commitment of
group members
 A matching of the leader’s style to these assumptions.
 The SL-II Model:
 Believes that group members move forward and
backwards along a developmental continuum in terms
of their competency and commitment.

33. Directive Behavior
(Low)
(High)
(High)
“Delegating” or
“Facilitating”
Turn over
responsibility for
decisions and
implementation
“Participating” or
“Supporting”
Share ideas and
facilitate in
decision making
“Selling” or
“Coaching”
Explain decisions and
provide opportunity
for clarification
“Telling” or
“Directing”
Provide specific
instructions and closely
supervise performance
S3 S2
S4 S1
D4 D3 D2 D1
High Moderate Low
Development of Group Members
DevelopingDeveloped

34.  It identifies major leadership styles.
 It is concerned with the development levels of group
members.
 One of the most well-known and widely used models in
a variety of settings.
 It’s very practical.
 It is prescriptive.
 Emphasizes the concept of leaders flexibility.

35.  Time consuming.
 Assessing group member levels of development
is as ambiguous as it is subjective.

36. TransformationalLeadership
 Core elements
 TL is concerned with
emotions, values, ethics, standards, and long-term goals
 includes assessing followers’ motives, satisfying their
needs, and treating them as full human beings
 Encompassing approach
 TL describes a wide range of leadership influence
 Specific: one-to-one with followers
 Broad: whole organizations or entire cultures
 follower(s) and leader are inextricably bound together in
the transformation process

37. TransformationalLeadership&Charisma
 Charisma - A special personality
characteristic that gives a person
superhuman or exceptional powers and is
reserved for a few, is of divine origin, and
results in the person being treated as a leader
(Weber, 1947)
 Charismatic LeadershipTheory (House, 1976)
 Charismatic leaders act in unique ways that have specific
charismatic effects on their follower (such as MLK)

38. TheoryofCharismaticLeadership(House,1976)

39. AdditiveEffect of
TransformationalLeadership
Julio