Chapter Six

Leading Function
Leading is one of the Five key functions of management, along with planning, organizing, and
controlling. Leadership involves influencing and guiding individuals or teams toward achieving
organizational goals. It is a crucial aspect of effective management and is closely linked to the
interpersonal skills of a manager.
Definition of Leading:
Leading refers to the process of influencing and motivating individuals or groups to work toward
the accomplishment of organizational objectives. It involves inspiring a shared vision, providing
guidance, and fostering a positive work environment to enhance the overall performance of the
team or organization.
Key Elements of Leading:
Motivation:
●Leaders inspire and motivate individuals to give their best effort toward achieving common
goals.
●Motivation involves understanding individual needs, providing recognition, and creating a
positive work culture.
Communication:
●Effective communication is a cornerstone of leading. Leaders convey information,
expectations, and feedback to ensure clarity and understanding.
●Two-way communication encourages openness and helps build trust within the team.
Influence:
●Leaders use their influence to guide and direct the actions of others. This influence can be based
on authority, expertise, or personal qualities.
●Positive influence involves inspiring commitment rather than relying solely on formal
authority. Inspiration and Vision:
●Leaders provide a vision for the future and inspire others to share that vision. A compelling
vision motivates individuals to work toward a common purpose.
●Effective leaders communicate the "why" behind tasks, fostering a sense of purpose among
team members.
Conflict Resolution:
●Leading involves addressing conflicts and challenges within the team. Leaders should be
skilled in identifying and resolving conflicts to maintain a harmonious work environment.
●Conflict resolution promotes collaboration and prevents disruptions to productivity.
Decision-Making:
●Leaders play a crucial role in decision-making. They are responsible for making informed and
timely decisions that align with organizational goals.
●Inclusive decision-making, where team members are involved, can enhance commitment and
acceptance of decisions.
Coaching and Development:
●Effective leaders mentor, coach, and develop their team members. This involves providing
guidance, feedback, and opportunities for skill enhancement.
●Coaching contributes to employee growth and the overall capabilities of the team.

Power and Leadership

One of the differences between manager and leader relates to their sources of power and the level
of compliances it engenders within followers.
The foundation of leadership is power. Leaders have power over their followers and they wield
this power to exert their influence.
According to Mintzberg 1983, power is the potential ability to influence the behavior of
others. It represents the resources with which a leader effects in employee behavior.
There are five basic types of power that can be used by leaders, according to French and Raven,
1960. These types of power can be classified into two categories: Position power and Personal
power.

1. Position power
The traditional manager power comes from the organization. The manager’s position gives him
or her the power to reward or punish employees in order to influence their behavior. Legitimate
power, reward power and coercive power are all forms of position power used by managers to
influence/change employee’s behavior.
(i) Legitimate Power
This is the power that comes from a formal management position in an organization and
the authority granted to it. For example, once a person has been appointed as a
supervisor, the employees understand that they are obliged to follow him or her with respect to
work activities.
This is based on the perception that the leader has the right to exercise influence because of his
position and roles.
(ii) Reward Power
This power stems from the authority to grant rewards on other people. Managers may
have access to formal rewards, such as pay increase, promotions, praise, recognition, etc. The
greater and the more important the reward, the more power a leader has.
(iii) Coercive Power
Coercive power refers to the authority to punish or recommend punishment. Managers
have coercive power when they have the right to fire or demote employees, criticize or withdraw
pay increases. It is also defined as power to force compliance through psychological, emotional
or physical threat. In industrial organizations coercion may be subtle through oral reprimands,
fines, layoffs, demotion. In military organizations coercion could actually be physical.

2. Personal Power
Personal power most often comes from internal sources, such as a persons’ special knowledge or
personality characteristics. Employees follow a leader because of the respect, admiration or
caring they feel for the individual, and his or her ideas. Personal power is becoming increasingly
important as more businesses are run by team of workers who are less tolerant of authoritarian
management (Conger, 1998).
(iv) Expert Power
Power resulting from a leader’s special knowledge or skills regarding the tasks performed
by followers. When the leader is a true expert, employees go along with recommendations
because of his or her superior knowledge. Leaders at supervisory level often have experience in
the production process that gains them promotion. The more knowledge one has and the fewer
the people who are aware of it, the more power he has.
(v) Referent Power
This is the Power that comes from leader personality characteristics that command
employee identification, respect and admiration so that they wish to emulate the leader. When
subordinate admire a supervisor because of the way he or she deals with them, the
influence is based on referent power. Referent power depends on the leader’s personal
characteristics rather than on a formal title or position, and almost visible in the area of
charismatic leadership. The follower reaction most often generated by expert power is
commitment.

Leadership Styles
Leadership styles can vary based on the leader's approach to influencing and motivating others.
Common leadership styles include:

1. Autocratic or Authoritarian Leader

These leaders keep the decision-making authority and control in their hands and take full
responsibility for all actions. They structure the situations in their own way and expect the
workers to follow their orders. They will not allow any deviation from their orders. The
subordinates are instructed to carry out their orders without any question. Also the subordinates
entirely depend on their leader and normally they suffer in the absence of their leaders. Some
autocratic leaders are tough and highly dictatorial and are a source of fear or intimidation. Some
leaders are paternalistic depending on the approach of the leader.

The motivational approach of the leader can be threat and punishment or appreciation and
rewards. When highly dictatorial, the subordinates develop a kind of fear, sense of insecurity,
frustration, low morale, and will avoid responsibility. The drive and initiative in them is killed
and they do not display their innovative behavior. The autocratic leader believes that his
leadership is unquestionable as it is conferred upon him because of the position he enjoys. He
also believes that his knowledge is superior, power to punish or reward is his privilege. They
even impose penalty on subordinates or use abusive language in front of others and criticize.
Rely on threats and punishment to influence staff. Autocratic leaders neither trust staff nor allow
for employees input.

This style permits quick decisions, as there is only a single person to take decisions. There are
also many members who prefer working under strict discipline and under central authority.
However a majority of members do not like strictness and discipline especially because
motivation is negative.

Advantage
Autocratic Leadership most effective when:
 New, untrained staff do not know which tasks to perform or which procedures to follow
 Effective supervision provided only through detailed orders and instructions
 Staff do not respond to any other leadership style
 Limited time in which to make a decision
 Work needs to be coordinated with another department or organization
Disadvantage
Autocratic leadership should not be used or ineffective when:
 Staff become tense, fearful, or resentful
  Staff depend on their leader to make all their decisions
 Low staff morale, high turnover and absenteeism and work stoppage
2. Democratic or Participative Leadership

In this type of leadership style, subordinates are consulted and their feedback is taken into
decision-making process. Also known as participative style and this style encourage staff to be a
part of the decision making. The leader Keeps staff informed about everything that affects their
work and shares decision making and problem solving responsibilities. The leader makes the
final decision, he acts more as a moderator and of course he takes responsibility for the results.
The management in this type recognizes the fact that there are employees who are capable to
give innovative ideas, intelligent, skillful, competent, suggestive etc. obviously the group
members get an opportunity to display their talents and are encouraged to demonstrate initiative
and creativity. The members thus get a chance to participate in decision-making. This
incidentally leads to a good management-labor understanding or relations, higher morale and
greater job satisfaction.

This style is very useful when you have educated labor, experienced, dedicated and ready to
work independently with nil or least directives. By this you are developing a set-up conducive
to growth and development. Good climate is generated for growth and individual personality
development too.

Advantages
Most effective When:
 Wants to keep staff informed about matters that affect them.
 Wants staff to share in decision-making and problem-solving duties.
 Wants to provide opportunities for staff to develop a high sense of personal growth and
job satisfaction.
 A large or complex problem that requires lots of input to solve
 Changes must be made or problems solved that affect staff
 Want to encourage team building and participation

Disadvantages
 Not enough time to get everyone’s input
  Manager feels threatened by this type of leadership
 Staff safety is a critical concern
3. Laissez-Faire or Free Rein Leadership Style
This style also known as the “hands-off¨ style. In this style, a leader provides little or no
direction and gives staff as much freedom as possible. All authority or power given to the staff
and they determine goals, make decisions, and resolve problems on their own.
Here the group members perform everything and the manager keeps liaison with outside only to
get materials for the group to perform. This style leaves everything to subordinates, who make
their own decisions and it helps subordinates to develop independent personality.

The leader consciously makes a decision to pass the focus of power to members, to allow them
freedom of action ‘to do as they think best’, and not to interfere; but is readily available if help is
needed. Laissez faire leader does not exercise the formal authority of a leader

Advantages
An effective style to use when:
 Staff highly skilled, experienced, and educated
 Staff have pride in their work and the drive to do it successfully on their own
 Outside experts, such as staff specialists or consultants used
 Staff trustworthy and experienced

Disadvantage
 Staff feel insecure at the unavailability of a leader
 The leader cannot provide regular feedback to staff on how well they are doing
 leader unable to thank staff for their good work
 The leader doesn’t understand his or her responsibilities
Types of Leaders
1. Transformational Leaders:
●Focuses on inspiring and motivating followers to achieve exceptional performance.
2. Transactional Leaders:
●Emphasizes structured processes, rewards, and punishments to achieve specific goals.
3. Servant Leaders:
●Centers on serving and supporting the needs of others, with a focus on empathy and humility.
4. Democratic Leaders:
●Involves involving team members in decision-making, fostering a collaborative environment.
5. Autocratic Leaders:
●Involves making decisions unilaterally without much input from team members.

Importance of Leading in Management:

Employee Engagement:
●Effective leading contributes to high levels of employee engagement, satisfaction, and
commitment.
Organizational Culture:
●Leaders shape the organizational culture by setting the tone for values, attitudes, and behavior.
Goal Achievement:
●Leading is essential for aligning individual and team efforts with organizational goals, ensuring
successful outcomes.
Adaptability:
●Leaders guide their teams through change and uncertainties, promoting adaptability and
resilience.
Team Dynamics:
●Effective leading fosters positive team dynamics, collaboration, and a sense of belonging.

The Managerial grid

In considering the
leadership orientation
that a manager can take,
it appears that he can
either be
people oriented or
production oriented. A
people-oriented leader is
concerned with the
human
aspects of the
organization. A
production-oriented
leader's main concern
is the tasks—seeing
that work is
accomplished. The best
managers are both
people and production
oriented. By
combining his people
and production scores
a manager will obtain
his managerial score
according to the grid. The
managerial grid was
developed by Blake and
Mouton and its objective
is to bring about a
managerial style that
maximizes concern for
both people and
production. A
low score in either area is
a good indication of a
poor approach to
management. The points
on
the grid give these types
of management.
The Managerial grid
In considering the
leadership orientation
that a manager can take,
it appears that he can
either be
people oriented or
production oriented. A
people-oriented leader is
concerned with the
human
aspects of the
organization. A
production-oriented
leader's main concern
is the tasks—seeing
that work is
accomplished. The best
managers are both
people and production
oriented. By
combining his people
and production scores
a manager will obtain
his managerial score
according to the grid. The
managerial grid was
developed by Blake and
Mouton and its objective
is to bring about a
managerial style that
maximizes concern for
both people and
production. A
low score in either area is
a good indication of a
poor approach to
management. The points
on
the grid give these types
of management.
The Managerial Grid Model
In considering the leadership orientation that a manager can take, it appears that he can either be
people oriented or production oriented.
A people-oriented leader is concerned with the human aspects of the organization.
A production-oriented leader's main concern is the tasks—seeing that work is accomplished.
When the model refers to concern for production, it means the attitude of superiors towards a
variety of things like quality of policy decision, procedures, work efficiency, volume of output,
creativeness of research, processes etc. Concern for people refers to the degree of personal
commitment towards goal achievement, maintaining the self-esteem of workers, responsibility
based on trust, satisfying interpersonal relations.
The best managers are both people and production oriented.
By combining his people and production scores a manager will obtain his managerial
score according to the grid. The managerial grid was developed by Blake and Mouton and its
objective is to bring about a managerial style that maximizes concern for both people and
production.
A low score in either area is a good indication of a poor approach to management.
The points on the grid give these types of management.
9 1,9 9,9

High 8
Concern 7
for 6
People 5 5,5

1 1,1 9,1

low 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
High
 Figure 6.1 The Managerial grid
1. Impoverished Management
Has no concern for people and also little concern for production. Effective production cannot be
achieved because people are lazy, apathetic and indifferent. Sound and mature relationships are
unobtainable.
2. Task Management
Maximum concern for production and low concern for people. People are seen as a commodity
just like machines. The manager aims to plan, direct and control peoples‟ activities.
3. Country-Club Management
Highest concern for people but little concern for production. Production is incidental to lack of
conflict and good interpersonal relations.
4. Dampened Pendulum (middle of the road)
"Be fair and firm", push for production but not all the way, "give some but not all attitude
of management"

5. Team Management
Highest concern for both people and production. Production is seen as a function of the
integration of task and human requirements. Better managers are described by points towards
this type of management.
Personal Qualities of Leaders
(i) Ability to inspire others through example (vi) Dedication to the goals of the
organization
(ii) Ability to understand human behavior.
(vii) Willingness to take risk
(iii) Similarity with the group
(viii) Willingness to assume full
(iv) Verbal assertiveness
responsibility for the group
(v) Willingness to communicate honestly
(ix) Skill in the art of compromise
(x) Ability to tolerate criticism
Factors Influencing Leadership effectiveness
Identification of situational factors within the work environs and the choice of
appropriate leadership style is the essence of effective leadership.
The following factors influences leader effectiveness in different work situations:
1. Leader personality and past experiences 4. Tasks requirements
2. Expectation of superiors 5. Organizational climate and policy
3. Subordinates characteristics and 6. Peer expectation and behaviour
expectations
In summary, leading as a function of management involves influencing, motivating, and guiding
individuals and teams to achieve organizational objectives.
Successful leadership contributes to a positive work environment, high employee engagement,
and the overall success of the organization.