Leadership Defined

Leading is establishing direction and influencing others to follow that direction. But this definition isn't as simple as it sounds because leadership has many variations and different areas of emphasis.



Common to all definitions of leadership is the notion that leaders are individuals who, by their actions, facilitate the movement of a group of people toward a common or shared goal. This definition implies that leadership is an influence process.
The distinction between leader and leadership is important, but potentially confusing. The leader is an individual; leadership is the function or activity this individual performs. The word leader is often used interchangeably with the word manager to describe those individuals in an organization who have positions of formal authority, regardless of how they actually act in those jobs. But just because a manager is supposed to be a formal leader in an organization doesn't mean that he or she exercises leadership.
An issue often debated among business professionals is whether leadership is a different function and activity from management. Harvard's John Kotter says that management is about coping with complexity, and leadership, in contrast, is about coping with change. He also states that leadership is an important part of management, but only a part; management also requires planning, organizing, staffing, and controlling. Management produces a degree of predictability and order. Leadership produces change. Kotter believes that most organizations are underled and overmanaged. He sees both strong leadership and strong management as necessary for optimal organizational effectiveness.
Leadership traits

Theories abound to explain what makes an effective leader. The oldest theories attempt to identify the common traits or skills that make an effective leader. Contemporary theorists and theories concentrate on actions of leaders rather than characteristics.
A number of traits that appear regularly in leaders include ambition, energy, the desire to lead, self-confidence, and intelligence. Although certain traits are helpful, these attributes provide no guarantees that a person possessing them is an effective leader. Underlying the trait approach is the assumption that some people are natural leaders and are endowed with certain traits not possessed by other individuals. This research compared successful and unsuccessful leaders to see how they differed in physical characteristics, personality, and ability.
A recent published analysis of leadership traits (S.A. Kirkpatrick and E.A. Locke, “Leadership: Do Traits Really Matter?” Academy of Management Executive 5 [1991]) identified six core characteristics that the majority of effective leaders possess:
·Drive. Leaders are ambitious and take initiative.
·Motivation. Leaders want to lead and are willing to take charge.
·Honesty and integrity. Leaders are truthful and do what they say they will do.
·Self-confidence. Leaders are assertive and decisive and enjoy taking risks. They admit mistakes and foster trust and commitment to a vision. Leaders are emotionally stable rather than recklessly adventurous.
·Cognitive ability. Leaders are intelligent, perceptive, and conceptually skilled, but are not necessarily geniuses. They show analytical ability, good judgment, and the capacity to think strategically.
·Business knowledge. Leaders tend to have technical expertise in their businesses.
Traits do a better job at predicting that a manger may be an effective leader rather than actually distinguishing between an effective or ineffective leader. Because workplace situations vary, leadership requirements vary. As a result, researchers began to examine what effective leaders do rather than what effective leaders are.
Leadership skills

Whereas traits are the characteristics of leaders, skills are the knowledge and abilities, or competencies, of leaders. The competencies a leader needs depends upon the situation.
These competencies depend on a variety of factors:
·The number of people following the leader
·The extent of the leader's leadership skills
·The leader's basic nature and values
·The group or organization's background, such as whether it's for profit or not-for-profit, new or long established, large or small
·The particular culture (or values and associated behaviors) of whomever is being led
To help managers refine these skills, leadership-training programs typically propose guidelines for making decisions, solving problems, exercising power and influence, and building trust.
Peter Drucker, one of the best-known contemporary management theorists, offers a pragmatic approach to leadership in the workplace. He believes that consistency is the key to good leadership, and that successful leaders share the following three abilities which are based on what he refers to as good old-fashioned hard work:
·To define and establish a sense of mission. Good leaders set goals, priorities, and standards, making sure that these objectives not only are communicated but maintained.
·To accept leadership as a responsibility rather than a rank. Good leaders aren't afraid to surround themselves with talented, capable people; they do not blame others when things go wrong.
·To earn and keep the trust of others. Good leaders have personal integrity and inspire trust among their followers; their actions are consistent with what they say.
In Drucker's words, “Effective leadership is not based on being clever, it is based primarily on being consistent.”
Very simply put, leading is establishing direction and influencing others to follow that direction. Keep in mind that no list of leadership traits and skills is definitive because no two successful leaders are alike. What is important is that leaders exhibit some positive characteristics that make them effective managers at any level in an organization.
Leadership styles

No matter what their traits or skills, leaders carry out their roles in a wide variety of styles. Some leaders are autocratic. Others are democratic. Some are participatory, and others are hands off. Often, the leadership style depends on the situation, including where the organization is in its life cycle.
The following are common leadership styles:
·Autocratic. The manager makes all the decisions and dominates team members. This approach generally results in passive resistance from team members and requires continual pressure and direction from the leader in order to get things done. Generally, this approach is not a good way to get the best performance from a team. However, this style may be appropriate when urgent action is necessary or when subordinates actually prefer this style.
·Participative. The manager involves the subordinates in decision making by consulting team members (while still maintaining control), which encourages employee ownership for the decisions.
A good participative leader encourages participation and delegates wisely, but never loses sight of the fact that he or she bears the crucial responsibility of leadership. The leader values group discussions and input from team members; he or she maximizes the members' strong points in order to obtain the best performance from the entire team. The participative leader motivates team members by empowering them to direct themselves; he or she guides them with a loose rein. The downside, however, is that a participative leader may be seen as unsure, and team members may feel that everything is a matter for group discussion and decision.
·Laissez-faire (also called free-rein). In this hands-off approach, the leader encourages team members to function independently and work out their problems by themselves, although he or she is available for advice and assistance. The leader usually has little control over team members, leaving them to sort out their roles and tackle their work assignments without personally participating in these processes. In general, this approach leaves the team floundering with little direction or motivation. Laissez-faire is usually only appropriate when the team is highly motivated and skilled, and has a history of producing excellent work.
Many experts believe that overall leadership style depends largely on a manager's beliefs, values, and assumptions. How managers approach the following three elements—motivation, decision making, and task orientation—affect their leadership styles:
·Motivation. Leaders influence others to reach goals through their approaches to motivation. They can use either positive or negative motivation. A positive style uses praise, recognition, and rewards, and increases employee security and responsibility. A negative style uses punishment, penalties, potential job loss, suspension, threats, and reprimands.
·Decision making. The second element of a manager's leadership style is the degree of decision authority the manager grants employees—ranging from no involvement to group decision making.
·Task and employee orientation. The final element of leadership style is the manager's perspective on the most effective way to get the work done. Managers who favor task orientation emphasize getting work done by using better methods or equipment, controlling the work environment, assigning and organizing work, and monitoring performance. Managers who favor employee orientation emphasize getting work done through meeting the human needs of subordinates. Teamwork, positive relationships, trust, and problem solving are the major focuses of the employee-oriented manager.
Keep in mind that managers may exhibit both task and employee orientations to some degree.
The managerial grid model, shown in Figure 1 and developed by Robert Blake and Jane Mouton, identifies five leadership styles with varying concerns for people and production:



·The impoverished style, located at the lower left-hand corner of the grid, point (1, 1), is characterized by low concern for both people and production; its primary objective is for managers to stay out of trouble.
·The country club style, located at the upper left-hand corner of the grid, point (1, 9), is distinguished by high concern for people and a low concern for production; its primary objective is to create a secure and comfortable atmosphere where managers trust that subordinates will respond positively.
·The authoritarian style, located at the lower right-hand corner of the grid, point (9,1), is identified by high concern for production and low concern for people; its primary objective is to achieve the organization's goals, and employee needs are not relevant in this process.
·The middle-of-the-road style, located at the middle of the grid, point (5, 5), maintains a balance between workers' needs and the organization's productivity goals; its primary objective is to maintain employee morale at a level sufficient to get the organization's work done.
·The team style, located at the upper right-hand of the grid, point (9, 9), is characterized by high concern for people and production; its primary objective is to establish cohesion and foster a feeling of commitment among workers.
The Managerial Grid model suggests that competent leaders should use a style that reflects the highest concern for both people and production—point (9, 9), team-oriented style.
Power versus authority

Effective leaders develop and use power, or the ability to influence others. The traditional manager's power comes from his or her position within the organization. Legitimate, reward, and coercive are all forms of power used by managers to change employee behavior and are defined as follows:
·Legitimate power stems from a formal management position in an organization and the authority granted to it. Subordinates accept this as a legitimate source of power and comply with it.
·Reward power stems from the authority to reward others. Managers can give formal rewards, such as pay increases or promotions, and may also use praise, attention, and recognition to influence behavior.
·Coercive power is the opposite of reward power and stems from the authority to punish or to recommend punishment. Managers have coercive power when they have the right to fire or demote employees, criticize them, withhold pay increases, give reprimands, make negative entries in employee files, and so on.
Keep in mind that different types of position power receive different responses in followers. Legitimate power and reward power are most likely to generate compliance, where workers obey orders even though they may personally disagree with them. Coercive power most often generates resistance, which may lead workers to deliberately avoid carrying out instructions or to disobey orders.
Unlike external sources of position power, personal power most often comes from internal sources, such as a person's special knowledge or personality characteristics. Personal power is the tool of a leader. Subordinates follow a leader because of respect, admiration, or caring they feel for this individual and his or her ideas. The following two types of personal power exist:
·Expert power results from a leader's special knowledge or skills regarding the tasks performed by followers. When a leader is a true expert, subordinates tend to go along quickly with his or her recommendations.
·Referent power results from leadership characteristics that command identification, respect, and admiration from subordinates who then desire to emulate the leader. When workers admire a supervisor because of the way he or she deals with them, the influence is based on referent power. Referent power depends on a leader's personal characteristics rather than on his or her formal title or position, and is most visible in the area of charismatic leadership.
The most common follower response to expert power and referent power is commitment. Commitment means that workers share the leader's point of view and enthusiastically carry out instructions. Needless to say, commitment is preferred to compliance or resistance. Commitment helps followers overcome fear of change, and it is especially important in those instances.
Keep in mind that the different types of power described in this section are interrelated. Most leaders use a combination of these types of power, depending on the leadership style used. Authoritarian leaders, for example, use a mixture of legitimate, coercive, and reward powers to dictate the policies, plans, and activities of a group. In comparison, a participative leader uses mainly referent power, involving all members of the group in the decision-making process.

Situational Approaches to Leadership

The theme in early approaches to understanding leadership was the desire to identify traits or behaviors that effective leaders had in common. A common set of characteristics proved to be elusive, however. Researchers were continually frustrated by the lack of consistent support for their findings and conclusions. As a result, research began to focus on what style of leadership was most effective in a particular situation. Contingency or situational theories examine the fit between the leader and the situation and provide guidelines for managers to achieve this effective fit.



The theorists in this section believe that managers choose leadership styles based on leadership situations. Managers adjust their decision-making, orientation, and motivational approaches based upon a unique combination of factors in their situations: characteristics of employees, types of work, organizational structures, personal preferences, and upper-level management's influences.
The following sections describe the three most well-known situational theories.
Fiedler's contingency theory

Fred E. Fiedler's contingency theory centers on the belief that there is no best way for managers to lead. Different situations create different leadership style requirements for managers. The style that works in one environment may not work in another.
Fiedler looked at three elements that dictate a leader's situational control. These elements are:
·Task structure. Is the job highly structured, fairly unstructured, or somewhere in between? The spelling out in detail (favorable) of what is required of subordinates affects task structure.
·Leader/member relations. This element applies to the amount of loyalty, dependability, and support that a leader receives from his or her employees. In a favorable relationship, a manager has a highly formed task structure and is able to reward and/or punish employees without any problems. In an unfavorable relationship, the task structure is usually poorly formed, and the leader possesses limited authority.
·Positioning power. Positioning power measures the amount of power or authority a manager perceives the organization has given him or her for the purpose of directing, rewarding, and punishing subordinates. Positioning powers of managers depends on the taking away (favorable) or increasing (unfavorable) of the decision-making power of employees.
Fiedler then rated managers as to whether they were relationship oriented or task oriented. Task-oriented managers tended to do better in situations with good leader/member relationships, structured tasks, and either weak or strong position power. They also did well when the tasks were unstructured but position power was strong, as well as when the leader/member relations were moderate to poor and the tasks were unstructured. Relationship-oriented managers, on the other hand, do better in all other situations.
The task-motivated style leader experiences pride and satisfaction in task accomplishment for his or her organization, while the relationship-motivated style leader seeks to build interpersonal relations and extend extra help for team development in his or her organization.
Judging whether a leadership style is good or bad can be difficult. Each manager has his or her own preferences for leadership. Task-motivated leaders are at their best when their teams perform successfully—such as achieving new sales records or outperforming major competitors. Relationship-oriented leaders are at their best when greater customer satisfaction is gained and positive company images are established.
Hersey-Blanchard's situational model

The Hersey-Blanchard Model of Situational Leadership, shown in Figure 1 , is based on the amount of direction (task behavior) and amount of socioemotional support (relationship behavior) a leader must provide given the situation and the level of maturity of the followers.


Task behavior is the extent to which the leader engages in spelling out the duties and responsibilities to an individual or group. This behavior includes telling people what to do, how to do it, when to do it, and where to do it. In task behavior, the leader engages in one-way communication. Relationship behavior, on the other hand, is the extent to which the leader engages in two-way or multiway communications. This behavior includes listening to, facilitating, and supporting employees. And maturity is the willingness and ability of a person to take responsibility for directing his own behavior. Employees tend to have varying degrees of maturity, depending on the specific tasks, functions, or objectives that they attempt to accomplish.
To determine the appropriate leadership style to use in a given situation, a leader must first determine the maturity levels of his or her followers in relationship to the specific task. As employee maturity levels increase, a leader should begin to reduce task behavior and increase relationship behavior until his or her followers reach moderate maturity levels. As the employees move into above-average maturity levels, the leader should decrease not only task behavior but also relationship behavior.
Once maturity levels are identified, a manager can determine the appropriate leadership style: telling, selling, participating, or delegating.
·Telling. This style reflects high task/low relationship behavior (S1). The leader provides clear instructions and specific direction. Telling style is best matched with a low follower readiness level.

·Selling. This style reflects high task/high relationship behavior (S2). The leader encourages two-way communication and helps build confidence and motivation on the part of the employee, although the leader still has responsibility and controls decision making. Selling style is best matched with a moderate follower readiness level.
·Participating. This style reflects high relationship/low task behavior (S3). With this style, the leader and followers share decision making and no longer need or expect the relationship to be directive. Participating style is best matched with a moderate follower readiness level.
·Delegating. This style reflects low relationship/low task behavior (S4). Delegating style is appropriate for leaders whose followers are ready to accomplish a particular task and are both competent and motivated to take full responsibility. This style is best matched with a high follower readiness level.
House's path-goal theory

The path-goal theory, developed by Robert House, is based on the expectancy theory of motivation. A manager's job is to coach or guide workers to choose the best paths for reaching their goals. Based on the goal-setting theory, leaders engage in different types of leadership behaviors depending on the nature and demands of a particular situation.
A leader's behavior is acceptable to subordinates when viewed as a source of satisfaction. He or she is motivational when need satisfaction is contingent on performance; this leader facilitates, coaches, and rewards effective performance. Path-goal theory identifies several leadership styles:
·Achievement-oriented. The leader sets challenging goals for followers, expects them to perform at their highest levels, and shows confidence in their abilities to meet these expectations. This style is appropriate when followers lack job challenges.

·Directive. The leader lets followers know what is expected of them and tells them how to perform their tasks. This style is appropriate when followers hold ambiguous jobs.

·Participative. The leader consults with followers and asks them for suggestions before making a decision. This style is appropriate when followers are using improper procedures or are making poor decisions.

·Supportive. The leader is friendly and approachable. He or she shows concern for the followers' psychological well-being. This style is appropriate when followers lack confidence.
Path-goal theory assumes that leaders are flexible and that they can change their styles as situations require. This theory proposes two contingency variables that moderate the leader behavior-outcome relationship:
·Environment characteristics are outside the control of followers, task structure, authority system, and work group. Environmental factors determine the type of leader behavior required if follower outcomes are to be maximized.

·Follower characteristics are the focus of control, experience, and perceived ability. Personal characteristics of subordinates determine how the environment and leader behavior are interpreted.
Effective leaders clarify the path to help their followers achieve their goals, and make their journeys easier by reducing roadblocks and pitfalls. Research demonstrates that employee performance and satisfaction are positively influenced when leaders compensate for shortcomings in either their employees or the work settings.

Challenges Facing Leaders

Organizations today place multiple demands on leaders, requiring them to impart vision, initiate change, and make difficult decisions. To handle these demands, leaders must be flexible and adaptable.
Transformational leadership

Transformational leadership blends the behavioral theories with a little dab of trait theories. Transactional leaders, such as those identified in contingency theories, guide followers in the direction of established goals by clarifying role and task requirements. However, transformational leaders, who are charismatic and visionary, can inspire followers to transcend their own self-interest for the good of their organizations.
Transformational leaders appeal to followers' ideals and moral values and inspire them to think about problems in new or different ways. These leaders influence followers through vision, framing, and impression management.
Vision is the ability of the leader to bind people together with an idea. Framing is the process whereby leaders define the purpose of their movements in highly meaningful terms. Impression management is an attempt to control the impressions that others form of a leader by practicing behaviors that make him or her more attractive and appealing to others.
A transformational leader instills feelings of confidence, admiration, and commitment in his or her followers. This type of leader is charismatic, creating a special bond with followers and articulating a vision with which his or her followers identify and for which these followers are willing to work. Each follower is coached, advised, and delegated some authority. The transformational leader stimulates followers intellectually, arousing them to develop new ways to think about problems. This leader uses contingent rewards to positively reinforce performances that are consistent with his or her wishes. Management is by exception. Transformational leaders take initiative only when problems occur and are not actively involved when things are going well. He or she commits people to actions and converts followers into leaders.
Research indicates that transformational, as compared to transactional, leadership is more strongly correlated with lower turnover rates, higher productivity, and higher employee satisfaction.
Transformational leaders are relevant to today's workplace because they are flexible and innovative. Although it is important to have leaders with the appropriate orientation defining tasks and managing interrelationships, it is even more important to have leaders who can bring organizations into futures they have not yet imagined. Transformational leadership is the essence of creating and sustaining competitive advantage.
Change leadership

Today's business world is highly competitive. The way for an organization to survive is by reshaping to meet the needs of a rapidly changing world. Resistance to change is a dead-end street for employees and for the organization. Leaders need to emphasize action to make the change as quickly and smoothly as possible.
Organizations go through a four-stage life cycle. For some organizations, the four periods of growth come and go very rapidly; for others, that process may take decades. Failure to follow through with the needed changes in any of the four growth periods could mean the end for an organization.
Throughout these periods of change, which is just about all the time for a good organization, leaders must concentrate on having their people go from change avoidance to change acceptance. The five steps that accompany change—for individuals facing life-altering circumstances and for organizations facing fundamental shifts—are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally, acceptance.
Often a worker's first reaction to change is to resist it. An employee becomes comfortable performing tasks and processes a certain way. These comfort levels provide employees with the security of knowing that they are the masters of their work environment. Employees fear that change could disrupt their lives by making their jobs harder or causing them to lose their sense of control.
Leaders can help the change process by changing their employees' attitudes from avoidance into acceptance. This change is accomplished by managers as strong leaders transforming their employees' avoidance questions and statements into acceptance questions:
·From “Why?” to “What new opportunities will this change provide?” When employees ask “why,” a manager should focus on the benefits that the change will provide employees and the organization.

·From “How will this affect me?” to “What problems will this solve?” Managers should let employees know what the problem is and how they will be part of the solution.

·From “We do not do it this way” to “What will be the result if we do it this new way?” One of the first reactions is that a process never has been done this way. Managers should provide explanations and empathy.

·From “When will this be over so that we can get back to work?” to “What can I do to help?” Managers should get employees involved in implementing the change.
Managers need to keep in mind that feelings are contagious. By positively promoting a change, a leader makes others want to be part of it. Managers should also give employees the necessary authority and control to help bring the change about. So that employees do not feel powerless, managers should share their responsibilities. A manager should want his or her team members to feel useful and enthusiastic. Employees should be made to feel as though the change could not have happened without them.
Leading in the learning organization

An organization that encourages learning among its people is referred to as a learning organization. In a learning organization, employees are engaged in identifying and solving problems, enabling the organization to continuously experiment, change, and improve. Thus, the organization can increase its capacity to grow, learn, and achieve its purpose.
In the learning organization, all employees look for problems, such as understanding special customer needs. Employees also solve problems, which means putting things together in unique ways to meet customer needs. A learning organization promotes exchanges of information among employees, which creates a more knowledgeable workforce. Learning organizations exhibit flexibility because employees accept and adapt to new ideas and changes through a shared vision.
Today's increased pace of change is one reason the learning organization is popular. The corporation that is able to quickly shape and motivate their workers is better able to transform its work practices to keep pace with the constantly changing environment.
Leadership in learning organizations requires something more than the traditional approach of setting goals, making decisions, and directing the troops. In learning organizations, managers learn to think in terms of “control with” rather than “control over” employees. They “control with” employees by building relationships based on shared visions and shaping the cultures of their organizations so that all can help achieve the same visions. A leader in this learning environment can help facilitate teamwork, initiate change, and expand the capacity of employees to shape their organization's future. Leaders who understand how the learning organization operates can help other leaders adapt to this organizational style.
Visionary leadership, a team-based structure, participative strategy, a strong, adaptive internal culture, empowered employees, and open information characterize the learning organization. Consultant Peter Senge, author of the popular book, The Fifth Discipline, identifies the following ingredients of learning organizations:
·Mental models—setting aside of old ways of thinking
·Personal mastery—self-awareness and ability to remain open to others
·Systems thinking—understanding of the plan of action
·Shared vision—mutual agreement to the plan of action
·Team learning—working together to accomplish the plan of action
Senge's concept of the learning organization places high value on developing the ability to learn and then make that learning continuously available to all organizational members.