Supportive leadership behaviors include being friendly, encouraging, and considerate towards followers. This satisfies followers' psychological needs and helps keep them engaged. Supportive leadership is most effective in situations where followers have low confidence, the work is stressful or dissatisfying, or the group is new. It can increase follower satisfaction, commitment, and performance while decreasing stress and turnover. However, supportive behaviors may be less impactful for large or opinionated groups, or those doing highly skilled work. The effectiveness also depends on situational factors and the characteristics of the followers and tasks.

1. Supportive Leadership Behavior
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2. Types of Supportive Leadership
Behavior

3. Being friendly,
informative, and
encouraging

4. Being considerate
and
understanding

5. “Showing concern
for followers needs”

7. “Being
sympathetic
to other’s
problems”

8. “Helping followers
develop abilities and
careers”

9. Why Supportive Leadership is
Effective?

10. #1
They satisfy people’s needs to be liked
and appreciated by others, to be
respected as capable and valuable, and
to be continually improving; and

11. “Supportiveness helps keep a group together by
promoting cohesion among members and keeping
individuals from becoming alienated”
#2

12. Can Supportive Behavior ever be
Ineffective ?
• Yes!
• A short story
• A leader must be
careful how
supportive behavior
is used and tailor the
approach to the
needs and concerns
of followers.

13. How to Be Supportive:
Skills and Power Bases
Interpersonal
Skills
Communication Technical and
Skills professional
competence
Skills, Traits,
and Sources
of Power
Expert
Power Reward Power
Referent
Power

14. Communication skills as supportive leader behavior tool:
Interpersonal Skills as supportive leader behavior tool:
•Through positive, friendly interpersonal relations, leader supports
followers, cooperates with them, develops trust with them, and
assists them.
•Provides social support when followers are upset or under pressure.
•Shows appreciation and takes interest in followers’ lives.
•Sociable leaders enjoy spending time on a regular basis with each
follower. Maintain positive cheerful disposition, said to be easy to
get along with, show consideration and trust towards others.
Expertise as supportive leader behavior tool:
•Must have expertise to provide training and development.
•Supportive resource in solving problems
•Provide useful feedback on performance
•Increases leader’s confidence and willingness to support followers.

15. How to Be Supportive:
Skills and Power Bases
Interpersonal
Skills
Communication Technical and
Skills professional
competence
Skills, Traits,
and Sources
of Power
Expert
Power Reward Power
Referent
Power

16. In addition to developing specific skills, supportive leaders also work at
developing three different power bases from which they can effectively apply their
leadership skills: expert, referent, and reward
•Expert power helps leaders support followers by providing knowledge, skill and
ability in performing important tasks and solving problems. The more important
the follower’s problem, the greater the likelihood the leader will have to rely on
expert power. Effective leaders use expert power to support followers by
providing needed knowledge, being available as a source of technical advice,
helping individuals solve job problems, providing explanations of processes, and
referring followers to needed sources of information or assistance.
•Leaders whose personality, accomplishments, and integrity cause followers to
admire and identify with them acquire referent power. When leaders have referent
power, followers attribute favorable motives to the leaders, they want their leaders’
approval, and they interpret small, insignificant behaviors by the leader as
supportive (e.g. smile, or other friendly gesture).
•Reward power can be used to provide needed resources, a better work schedule, a
larger expense account, or advice to for followers. Therefore supportive leaders
should work toward acquiring reward power.

17. Communication
Skill • Effectively convey
their ideas and
feelings, listen actively,
and elicit ideas and
feelings from their
followers.
• Be responsive to
followers’ task-related
problems, complaints,
and personal problems.
• To indicate how much
followers are valued .

18. Where are Supportive Behaviors
Likely to be Employed?
• When superior is supportive
• Organizational mission
– Human services
– Work with volunteers
– High involvement, high commitment cultures

19. Supportive Behaviors
Around the World
• Britain - sharing of information
and welcoming follower
suggestions
• Japan & Hong Kong - interactions
with group in and out of work
• U.S. - Open door policies,
management by walking around

20. Who Should Receive Supportive
Behavior?
Propositions:
a) The leader should show the
most concern, be most
considerate, and provide the
greatest encouragement for the
best performers because
positive behavior should be
reinforced.
b) Interpersonal support should be
provided to followers as needed
regardless of performance.

21. Impact of Supportive Leadership
Follower Benefits:
• Satisfaction with work,
job & supervisor
• Increased commitment
• Reduced stress
• Increased self-
confidence
• Increased performance

22. Impact of Supportive Leadership
Organizational Benefits:
• Increased cohesiveness • Increased cooperation
& harmony • Increased productivity
• Lower turnover,
absenteeism, lateness,
grievances

23. Situations Where Supportiveness may
or may not be Effective
1) Followers are under high stress while trying to complete a
dangerous task.
2) Followers are new to the job and are unsure of their
abilities and positions.
3) Followers are small group of counselors in a student
services dept. of a state university.
4) Followers are very opinionated and stubborn in their point
of view.

24. Situations Where Supportiveness may
or may not be Effective
5) Followers are a large group (over 30)
who work at widely varying tasks at
different locations.
6) Tasks require creativity and new
learning with much competition and
possible conflict with other groups.
7) Work involves designing & testing
computer programs. Personnel is
highly trained and competent and
obtain a great deal of satisfaction
from their work

25. • Favorable environments: 1,2,3, & 6. They reflect a need for
supportiveness that can enhance or increase leadership
effectiveness.
• Decrease or neutralize: 4 & 5. Indicate followers who may
resist or are immune to the positive effects of supportiveness.
When supportive behaviors are present, they will likely
produce little or no impact in follower reactions. May be
subject to other types of influence.
• Replacement of followers’ need for supportiveness:
Environment 7. When workers find tasks especially satisfying
and basis for high follower commitment and performance,
little supportiveness from leader is necessary.

26. Situational Factors that Increase Effectiveness
of Supportive Leadership
Follower Characteristics Organizational
•Low self-confidence and Group
Characteristics
•Low self-esteem
•External
•Insecurity Conflict
•Expectation that leader •Newly formed
will be supportive group
•High growth needs •Cohesive group
Situational with shared
beliefs in leader
Factors
Task Characteristics •Formal plans,
goals, and
•Dissatisfying procedures
•Stressful
•Mission
•Highly structured emphasizing
•Requires creativity human services
•Requires learning •Authoritarian
superior

27. Task Influences: Showing confidence in workers, treating them with empathy relieves
stress and allows works to be more effective.
Organizational and group influences: External Group conflicts - workers appreciate
leader reassurance. Also newly formed groups highly influenced by supportive leader
when he/she helps define goals and role definitions. These people need more support
and attention than other groups.
A cohesive group has a high degree of solidarity, unity, and felt closeness among the
members, and supportive leadership often pays off well in increased productivity as
well as worker attitudes. Group norms can influence outcome here--if favorable to
leader, works for, if not favorable will work against and decrease the positive effects of
a leader’s supportive behavior.
Followers in bureaucratic organizations respond well to supportive behaviors.
Apparently seen as rare caring human rather than organizational machine.
Follower Characteristic Influences: Followers w/above characteristics see supportive
leader as considerate and understanding as a source of comfort and encouragement and
therefore show positive reactions to this behavior. Leaders who are supportive in
individuals reaching their goals is well received.

28. Situational Factors that Decrease
Effectiveness
Dogmatic Followers Large Group
Factors that
Decrease
Effectiveness
Broad Task Scope High Level Job

29. Situational Factors that Replace the Need
for Supportive Leadership
Intrinsically Feedback from
satisfying task Task
•Interesting Situational •Rapid
Factors •Specific
•Gratifying
•Meaningful •Accurate
High importance placed on
organizational rewards
•Pay Raises
•Promotions

30. Leadership Process Model for Supportive
Leadership
Leader Supportiveness
Enhancers of Neutralizers of
Supportiveness Supportiveness
Follower
Replacements for
Psychological
Supportiveness
Reactions
Follower
Behavioral
Outcomes

31. This is a pictorial of the model of supportive leader behavior.
Starting at the top, supportive leader behaviors are shown to
influence follower/group psychological reactions, which in turn
affect the followers’ behavioral outcomes. Situational factors that
can increase or decrease the effectiveness of supportive behavior
are shown on each side and their impact comes to play when they
interact with the supportive behavior. The arrows from the leader
supportiveness box to situational factor boxes indicate that the
leader sometimes can manipulate situations to improve followers’
reactions indirectly and thereby replace the need to provide
supportive behaviors.

32. Leader
Supportiveness
•Concerned, trusting, and
respectful of followers
•Considerate understanding
attitude
•Friendly, encouraging,
communicative
•Fostering follower
development

33. Enhancers of Supportiveness
•Dissatisfying or stressful job
•Low follower self-confidence, insecurity, or self esteem
•Follower expectations of high growth needs
•Structured work tasks
•Complex creative task
•External group conflict
•New or cohesive group
•Organizational mission
•Authoritarian superior

34. Neutralizers of Supportiveness
•Dogmatic followers
•Large group
•Broad task scope
•High job level

35. Follower Psychological Reactions
•Satisfaction of esteem and acceptance of need
•Satisfaction with work and supervisor
•Overall job satisfaction
•Organizational commitment
•Lower perceived stress and burnout
•Group harmony and cohesion

36. Follower Behavioral Outcomes
•Lower Turnover, tardiness, absenteeism, and grievance
rates
•Increased individual and group performance

37. THE LEADER is ...
YOU