unit 3

• Leadership (as a process)


  The use of non-coercive influence to direct and coordinate the activities of group members to meet a goal
• Leadership (as a property)


  The set of characteristics attributed to someone who is perceived to use influence successfully
• Influence


  The ability to affect the perceptions, beliefs, attitudes, motivation and behaviours of others
• Leadership and Management are related but they are not the same thing
• Early Approaches to Leadership

  • TRAIT
  • SITUATIONAL
  • BEHAVIOURAL
• Trait Approaches to Leadership

  • Early researchers believed that leaders had a unique set of characteristics that set them apart from the people around them
  • Characteristics are relatively stable and enduring
  • The trait approach to leadership, attempted to identify stable and enduring character traits that differentiated effective leaders from non-leaders
• Behavioural Approaches to Leadership


  • Identified behaviours that differentiated effective leaders from non-leaders
  • MICHIGAN STUDIES: Purpose was to identify the pattern of leadership behaviours that resulted in effective group performance
  • Two basic forms of leader-behaviour were identified - Job-centred and Employee-centred
• Behavioural Approaches to Leadership

  • OHIO STATE STUDIES: Researchers developed a questionnaire that they administered to subordinates in the military and in the industry
  • Purpose was to understand the subordinates' perceptions of their leader's behaviours
  • Two basic forms of leader-behaviour were identified - Consideration behaviour and Initiating-structure behaviour
• Behavioural Approaches to Leadership

  • LEADERSHIP GRID: Initially called the Managerial Grid, provides a means for evaluating leadership styles and then training managers to move towards an ideal style of behavior
• Situational Approaches to Leadership

  • Realisation that although interpersonal traits and task orientations may be important for describing leaders, they were not very good at predicting leadership
  • Leadership behaviours vary from one situation to another
  • Foundation is Tannenbaum Schmidt's Leadership Continuum
• Situational Approaches to Leadership


  • The LPC Theory Of Leadership: A leader's effectiveness depends on the situation
  • Originally known as the Contingency theory, attempts to reconcile the leader's personality with the situation
• Situational Approaches to Leadership

  • The Path-Goal Theory Of Leadership: Suggests that effective leaders clarify the paths that will lead to desired rewards
  • Major difference between the LPC theory and Path-Goal is that it is believed that leaders can quickly adapt to different situations
  • Grounded in the Expectancy theory
• Situational Approaches to Leadership


  • Vroom's Decision Tree Approach To Leadership: Developed by Victor Vroom and Phillip Yetton, then revised by Vroom and Arthur Jago and then further refined by Vroom
  • Vroom's Decision Tree determines how much participation subordinates should be allowed in decision making
  • Like the path-goal theory, a leader may use different styles or behaviours in different situations, also tries to prescribe a best style of leadership in a situation
  • The characteristics of the situation will dictate how much subordinates should participate in decision making