Organizational

Behaviour, 2e
Dipak Kumar Bhattacharyya

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Chapter 12
Leadership

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 Introduction

• Understand the theories of leadership

• Understand the difference between a leader and a manager
• Understand the different styles of leadership
• Understand why leadership is essential for managing
organizational behaviour
• Understand the process of development of leadership ability

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 Definition
• In any work situation when two or more people join together to work for a goal, a structure or a
group develops and leadership emerges. The difference between success and failure whether in
business, sports, or any movement can be attributed to the leadership.

• Leadership, can be defined as an activity, which influences people to strive willingly for group
objectives. It exists only in relationships and only in the imagination and perceptions of ‘followers’.
Thus leadership is what something that goes with the people and not what is within a individual.

• Reviewing various definitions, we can define leadership, as a process of influencing people for
achieving intended goals in a given situation.

Characteristics :
 It is a personal quality
 It is a process of influencing others
 It regulates individual behaviour
 Existence of relationship between leaders and followers
 It is a continuous process
 Leadership is situational

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 Characteristics (Details)
• It is a personal quality. This quality makes other people follow a leader. Quality of a leader
is the aggregation of his intelligence, communications skills, emotional balance, inner drive,
energy, and other managerial skills (E.g. Conceptual, technical, human relations, etc.)

• It is a process of influencing others. Through the process of influence only a leader makes
others work for achieving goals. People may lack the initiative and the urge to do some
work and may feel de-motivated. Such behavioural characteristics may seriously impede
the achievement of organizational objectives. But a good leader through his influence can
turn the situation in his favour and motivate people to work willingly for achieving goals.

• It regulates individual behaviour. Individual behavioural attributes may stand against

achieving group goals. A leader through his process of influence can regulate the individual
behaviour and make an individual submit to the group norms.

• Existence of relationship between leaders and followers. A leader succeeds by developing

relationship with followers. He cannot flourish in a vacuum. That is why we also call
leadership as followership.

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 Characteristics (Details)
• It is a continuous process. Leadership is not a one-time influence of subordinates or
followers. In order to be a good leader, a manager should sustain the leadership
continuously. Hence, once a leader do not warrant always a leader.

• Leadership is situational. Leadership is exerted in a situation which varies from time

to time. Responding to varying situations requires different leadership approaches.
Another way of identifying characteristics and features of leadership was suggested
by Bolman and Deal. They have listed four important characteristics of leadership as
under:

 Ability to get others to do what organization wants (power).

 Motivate people to get things done—mostly through persuasion.

 Provide a vision.

 Empower people to do what they want.

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 Management and Leadership

• A good leader may be a poor manager and a good manager need

not be a leader.

• Therefore, leadership is part of management and not whole of

management. That is why, we often say “all managers are leaders
but all leaders are not managers.”

• Yet, we use the terms ‘manager and ‘leader’ interchangeably.

However, leadership and managership are not the same.

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 Difference between Managers and Leaders

MANAGERS LEADERS
1. A manager is more than a leader. Hence 1. A leader need not be a manager. Leadership is a
management is a more wide term. narrow term.
2. A manager fits well in an organized structure. 2. A leader may also be in an informal group

3. A manager exercises different functions of 3. A leader exerts influence on people to voluntarily

management to achieve group goals. achieve group goals. A leader performs only one
Therefore, a manager performs the functions aspect of the various management functions,
of management in a more holistic manner. that is, directing.

4. The authority of a manager stems from his 4. A leader earns his authority by virtue of his skills,
positional role, that is, it is delegated from knowledge, and abilities.
the top management.
5. To be successful as a manager, one has to be 5. Leaders need not be managers.
a good leader.

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 Significance of Leadership

• It improves motivation and morale of employees

• It leads to higher performance

• It is an aid to authority

• It determines organizational success

• It helps to respond to change

• It inculcates values

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 Leadership Qualities
• Be technically proficient
• A leader must seek responsibility and take responsibility for his actions.
• Leader must make sound and timely decisions.
• Leader must set the example
• Knowing people and thinking about their well being.
• Must keep followers informed
• A leader must develop a sense of responsibility among his/her followers
• He must ensure that tasks are understood, supervised, and accomplished.
• Must train followers as a team
• Developing full capabilities of organization
• A leader must know himself and continuously seek self-improvement

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 Organizational Leadership and Environment
• Leaders exert influence on the organizational environment in the following
manner:
 They establish the goals and performance standards.
 They establish the values for the organization.
 They establish the business and people concepts.

• Successful organizations have good leaders who set high standards and goals
such as strategies, market leadership, plans, presentations, productivity, quality,
and reliability. Values reflect the concern an organization has for its employees,
customers, investors, vendors, and the local community. These values define the
manner in which business is to be conducted and the type of business the
organization will engage in. Concepts define the products or services that the
organization will offer and the methods and processes that will be opted for
conducting business. These goals, values, and concepts make up the
organization's ‘personality.
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 Culture and Climate of Leadership
• Each organization has its own distinctive culture. It is a combination of the
founders, past leadership, current leadership, crises, events, history, and size.
This results in rites: the routines, rituals, and the ‘way we do things’. These rites
impact individual behaviour on what it takes to be in good standing (the norm)
and direct the appropriate behaviour for each event.

• The climate is the feel of the organization, the individual, and shared
perceptions and attitudes of the organization's members. While the culture is
the deeply rooted nature of the organization that is a result of long-held formal
and informal systems, rules, traditions, and customs; climate is a short-term
phenomenon created by the current leadership. Climate represents the beliefs
about the ‘feel of the organization’ by its members. This individual perception of
the ‘feel of the organization’ comes from what people believe about the
activities that occur in the organization.

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 Leadership and Power
• Power, in the case of leadership, is divided into six categories. However, each
can be linked with the other, as they are all inter-related. Expert and
informational power are concerned with skills, knowledge, and information, by
which the holders of such abilities are able to influence others, that is,
technicians and computer personnel. Reward and coercive power, differ from
the previously mentioned power, as they involve the ability to either reward or
punish persons being influenced, in order to gain compliance. Legitimate power,
is the power that has been confirmed by the very role-structure of the group or
organization itself, and is accepted by all as correct and without dispute, such as
in the case of the armed forces or the police force. Referent power, on the
other hand, involves those being influenced identifying with the leader, that is,
rock or film personalities using their image to enter the political arena.

• Most leaders make use of a combination of these six types of power, depending
on the leadership style used.

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 Leadership Styles
• The problem of leadership style is basically concerned with deciding the
extent to which a manager should be dictatorial and the extent to which he
should be participative or consultative.

Different leadership styles can be categorized as follows :

 Authoritarian or leader-centred or autocratic style

 Democratic or participative or consultative or group centred style
 Laissez-faire or free-rein style.
 Paternalistic leadership

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 Leadership Styles - Details
• Autocratic style of leadership : the autocratic style is characterized by centralization
of authority and decision making in the leader and very limited participation by
subordinates of the group.

• Democratic style of leadership : this is characterized by allowing substantial

participation by members of the group in management and in the decision-making
process of the leaders

• Laissez-faire style of leadership : under this style, the leader depends largely upon
the group and its members to establish their own goals and make their own decisions.
The leader is passive and assumes the role of just another member of the group.

• Paternalistic leadership : this type of leader assumes the role of a father. He treats
his followers as member of family and guides them as the head of the family. He likes
to help his followers to do the work, guides, protects, and keeps them happy to work
as family members.

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 Leadership Attitudes

• Empathy - it is generally described as the ability of a person to look at things

or problems from another person’s point of view. It involves projecting one’s
self into the position of the subordinates who are being directed and led.

• Objectivity - in his task of leading, any pre-conceived notions about the

attitude and behaviour of his subordinates should not guide the manager.
Problems and their causes should be observed very objectively and
unemotionally.

• Self-awareness - a manager may think himself to be fair and objective but

subordinates may view him otherwise. He should, therefore, know for himself
how he appears to others and the effect of his attitude and behaviour on the
subordinates

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 Leadership Skills
• As a leader, one has to play many roles in organizations to achieve the intended goals and
objectives. What skill-sets are important is difficult to define. But, from a general perspective, we
can classify the requirement of such-skill sets in the following categories :

 Human skill : people-oriented issues than job-related issues.

 Conceptual skill : this skill requires sensing the organization from an overall
perspective.

 Technical skill : technical skill involves specialized knowledge, analytical skills,

and competence (competence is the aggregation of skills,
knowledge, and abilities) for doing a job.

 Personal skill : to get the best from the followers, a leader should also have the
personal skills such as intelligence, emotional maturity, personal
motivation, integrity, and flexibility of mind.

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 Leadership Theories
• Contingency theories : there is a general agreement that the ‘right’ or an
effective leadership style varies according to the context. The Blake and
Mouton's managerial grid (1964) which explains this well, has been very
influential in organizational-development practices.

• Instrumental theories: under this style of leadership, the leader places

emphasis on tasks and person-oriented behaviour (E.g. Participation,
delegation) to gain effective performance from others.

• Inspirational / transformational leadership theories: these theories, on the

other hand, include charismatic leaders and transformational leadership. The
leader of this category appeals to values and vision and enthuses others by
raising their confidence-levels and motivating them for change.

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 Leadership Theories
• Informal leadership this type of leadership looks at behaviours associated with those
who are not appointed to authority but assume leadership in other ways.

• Path-goal theory of Robert House (1991) the path-goal theory looks at what leaders
must do to motivate people to perform well and to get satisfaction from work. It draws on
the expectancy theory of motivation and it has four leadership styles: supportive,
directive, participative, and achievement oriented

• Fielder (1972) one of the pioneers of the contingency school offered a continuum
ranging from task-focused to people-focused leadership. He argued that the most
effective style depended on the quality of relationships, relative power position between
the leader and the led, and the nature of the task.

• Hersey and Blanchard’s situational leadership situational leadership (1999 ) dimensions

are linked to task and relational behaviour. Task behaviour focuses on defining roles and
responsibilities, whereas relational behaviour is more about providing support to teams.

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 Widely Acclaimed Studies on Leadership
• Iowa leadership studies (1939) – Ronald Lippitt and Ralph K. White (1939 ) conducted this
study under the supervision of Kurt Lewin at the university of Iowa forming hobby clubs
for 10-year-old boys. Each club was put under three different styles of leadership, that is,
authoritarian, democratic, and laissez fair. The authoritarian leader was very directive and
did not allow any participation. The democratic leader encouraged discussion and
participation and the laissez-faire leader gave complete freedom.

• Ohio state leadership studies (1945) – business research group of Ohio state university
with an inter-disciplinary team (psychologists, sociologists, and economists) of researchers
analysed leadership influences on different groups with researchers using a structured
leader behaviour description questionnaire (LBDO). ‘Consideration’ and ‘initiating’
structure of leadership

• Michigan studies on leadership styles (1961 ) – in this study, Rensis Likert and his group
identified two major styles of leadership—employee participation and production
orientation. The employee-centred style resulted in higher performance compared to the
production-centred style.

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 Leadership Continuum
AUTHORITARIAN TASK DEMOCRATIC RELATIONSHIP
ORIENTED ORIENTED

USE OF AUTHORITY BY THE

LEADER

AREA OF FREEDOM FOR

SUBORDINATES

LEADER LEADER SELLS LEADER LEADERS LEADRED LEADER LEADERS

MAKES DECISION PRESENT PRESENTS PRESENTS DEFINES PERMITS
DECISIO IDEAS & TENTATIVE PROBLEMS. LIMITS. ASK SUBORDINATE
N& INVITES IDEA DECISIIONS GETS GROUPS TO TO FUNCTION
ANNOUN SUBJECT TO SUGGESTIONS MAKE WITHIN LIMITS
CES IT CHANGE & MAKES DECISION DEFINED BY
DECISION SUPERIIOR

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 Managerial Grid
• Robert R. Blake and Jane S. Mouton have integrated the authoritarian and democratic concepts in a new
concept known as the ‘managerial grid.’ They recognized that leadership style is not either authoritarian or
democratic but an admixture of the two philosophies and the degree of the two components in the
mixture will vary according to situations.
In the managerial grid, five different types of leadership. Based on concern for production (task) and
concern for people (relationships) are located in the four quadrants as shown below:
(1 , 9 ) (9,9)
COUNTRY CLUB TEAM

(5,5)
CONCERN FOR PEOPLE

MIDDLE OF THE ROAD

(1,1) (9,1)
IMPOVERISHED TASK ORIENTED

CONCERN FOR PRODUCTION

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 Managerial Grid
• The five leadership styles are described as follows

 Impoverished (low-low, 1, 1) – leader exerts minimum effort, avoids controversy, and confrontation
and takes the position of an observer to just meet the situation.

 Country club (low-high, 1, 9) – leader pays the highest attention to the needs of the people for
developing a satisfying relationship which leads to a comfortable and friendly organizational and work
atmosphere.

 Task-oriented (high-low, 9, 1) – this is the authoritarian, task oriented, low human-relation model.
Efficiency in operations results from arranging conditions of work in such a way that there is minimum
amount of human interference.

 Middle on the road (middle, 5, 5) – this type of leader strikes an optimum balance between high
production and employee satisfaction to achieve effective performance by his/her group.

 Team (high-high, 9,9) – this is the style of a team leader. This leader is extremely concerned about
the task as well as people. He is concerned for work accomplishment from committed people, inter-
dependence through a ‘common stake’ in organization and also strives for a relationship of trust and
respect.
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 Reddin’s Three-Dimensional Grid (1971)
• The three-dimensional axes represent task-orientation, relationship-orientation, and effectiveness.
Task-orientation (to) is defined as the leader’s direction given to followers in connection with
achievement of goals. It is concerned with planning, organizing, and controlling. Relationship-
orientation (RO) is defined as the extent of personal relationships of leaders with followers. It is
achieved through mutual trust and respect to followers’ ideas. If the style of a leader is appropriate
to a given situation, we call it effective and vice versa. Effectiveness and ineffectiveness is measured
in terms of appropriateness of behaviour in a given situation.

TASK AND RELATIONSHIP ORIENTATION

MODEL
RELATIONSHIP
ORIENTATION

RELATED INTEGRATED

SEPARATED DEDICATED

TASK ORIENTATION

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 Four Framework Model
• The four framework model of leadership was suggested by Bolman and Deal (1991), attributing leadership to
structural, human relations, political, and symbolic types. Depending on the situations, a leader adopts one style or
the other and accordingly varies the behavioural pattern. The effectiveness or otherwise of the behavioural pattern.

 Symbolic framework - leaders of this type inspires their followers, and captivates their attention, by effectively
communicating the vision. They help the followers to dream and to make efforts to transform the dreams into
reality

 Structural framework – leaders who adopt structural framework, play the role of a social architect and become
analytic in every situation and behave accordingly. They behave like a system- and structure bound bureaucrat, ,but
at the same time, become adaptable to the environmental needs, while drawing their strategy.

 Human resource framework – in this case the leaders act as catalyst, support and empower their followers, repose
trust in them. And believe in transparency in decision making. This type of leader enjoys greater participation from
followers who respect such leaders, and comply with their directives for achieving the organizational goals and
objectives

 Political framework – a political leader with a positive outlook become an advocate and helps in team building. A
political leader with a negative outlook is a manipulator. These leaders balance the distribution of power and
interest by establishing linkages with various stakeholders

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 Trait Theory of Leadership
• The trait theory seeks to determine personal characteristics of effective leaders. It points out that
the personal traits or personal characteristics of a person make him/her an effective or successful
leader.

 Good personality
Physical characteristics and level of maturity determine the personality of an individual.

 Intellectual ability
the level of intelligence of a leader should be higher than that of his followers.

 Initiative
a leader should take the initiative to start activities on time.

 Imagination
this is also an essential trait for a successful leader.

 Maturity
A leader should have emotional maturity and balanced temperament.

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 Trait Theory of Leadership
 Being considerate
A leader who is considerate with the followers is able to win their cooperation , which adds to
his/her success

 Self-confidence
A leader should be self-confident. His self-confidence will motivate his followers and boost their
morale.

 Flexibility and adaptability

To become flexible and adaptable, a leader should have an open mind to accept others’ view points.

 Objectivity and fairness

In dealing with followers, a leader should be objective and fair.

 Desire to accept responsibility

Accepting responsibility for his actions (irrespective of the results) creates a positive impression in
the minds of the followers.

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 Theories of Leadership
• Behavioural theory of leadership :
As per this theory, a particular behaviour of a leader provides greater satisfaction to the followers. Such behavioural
attribute enables followers to recognize a leader. This theory is based on the premise that a leader plays a role-
behaviour, using his conceptual, human, and technical skills, which influence the behaviour of followers.

• Situational or contingency theory of leadership :

This theory holds that leadership emerges from a situation, that is how a leader performs in a given situation.
Followers tend to follow a leader who is capable of fulfilling their aspirations in a given situation. A leader performs
as per the need of the situation. Hence, his style may differ from situation to situation. Primarily, this theory focuses
on three factors:
 Task requirements
 Peers’ expectations and behaviour
 Organizational culture and policies

• Fiedler’s contingency approach to leadership :

Fiedler’s contingency approach rests on the premise that people become leaders not only on the strength of their
personality attributes, but also on the strength of different situational factors and the interactions between the
leaders and the followers..

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 Theories of Leadership
• Path-goal theory :
This theory is mainly the outcome of research of Robert J. House and Terence R. Mitchell. The
theory explains that a leader can achieve the best results by showing the subordinates the best
path, removing their obstacles and thus helping them accomplish the organizational goals. Based
on this premise, this theory suggests four leadership styles; instrumental, supportive,
participative, and achievement oriented leadership. Instrumental leadership behaviour can give
clear guidelines to subordinates, by describing the work methods, schedules, standards,
evaluation parameters, and rewards. Supportive-leadership behaviour creates a pleasant
organizational climate, showing concern for the subordinates. Participative leadership entails
participation of subordinates in decision making and encouraging them to make suggestions.

• Vroom-Yetton model :
This model, pioneered by Victor Vroom and Philip Yetton, suggests the extent to which a manager
should involve employees in solving specific problems and that he/she should accordingly decide the
appropriate style of leadership.

• Hersey and Blanchard’s situational leadership model :

The basic premise of this model is that leaders need to alter their behavioural style, keeping pace
with the major situational factor and the readiness of the followers. Readiness is the desire for
achievement, willingness to accept responsibility, and the ability of the subordinates to handle a
particular task.
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 Vroom – Yetton Model (Details)
 Autocratic i (ai) – this type of leader or manager solves the problem or makes the decision
himself/herself, using available information.

 Autocratic ii (aii) – in this case, leaders or managers obtain information from subordinates and then
make their own decisions.

 Consultative i (ci) – in this case, leaders or managers discuss the problems with the relevant
subordinates individually, obtain their ideas and suggestions, and then decide the courses of action,
which may or may not have the inputs obtained from the subordinates.

 Consultative ii (cii) – in this case, leaders or managers discuss the problems with the subordinates as
a group, obtain their ideas and suggestions, and then take decisions, which again may or may not be
influenced by subordinates’ views.

 Group ii (g ii) – in this approach, managers discuss the problems with the subordinates as a group,
generate and analyse alternatives together, reach a consensus, and then take a decision. Here
leaders or managers do not try to impose their decisions, but rather help them to come out with
their own solution models, based on the inputs shared.

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 Entrepreneurial Leadership
• An entrepreneurial leader functions like a self-employed person. Attitudinally they become more
proactive and take initiatives on their own to improve things in the organization. This type of leader
demonstrates entrepreneurial creativity, and always explores new opportunities, takes risks, ventures
into new areas, and provides strategic direction and inspiration to their people. Attitudinally, this
type of leader also takes responsibility for the failures of their team members.

• Language of leaders :
The language used by leaders is their powerful tool to motivate people, to win people and turn
things their way. A few important examples of the language used by leaders is given below:

 The six most important words: ‘i admit i made a mistake.’

 The five most important words: ‘you did a good job.’
 The four most important words: ‘what is your opinion.’
 The three most important words: ‘if you please.’
 The two most important words: ‘thank you.’
 The one most important word: ‘we’
 The least most important word: ‘i’

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