ADM 612- Leadership

Lecture 1 The Functions of

Leadership and Early Leadership
Theory

The Functions of Leadership in

Organization
Leadership is a process of social influence
in which one person is able to enlist the aid
and support of others in the accomplishment
of a common task.
Key points:
Leadership is a group activity.
Leadership is based on social influence.
Leadership revolves around a common task.

The Functions of Leadership in

Organization
The specification seems simple, but the
reality of leadership is complex.
Intrapersonal factors (i.e., thoughts and
emotions) interact with;
Interpersonal processes (i.e., attraction,
communication, influence) to have effects on;
A dynamic external environment.

Organizational Functions
Groups and organizations are by nature
inefficient.
If one person could accomplish a job, the
creation or assignment of a group would not
be warranted.
Groups require coordination of the efforts
of their members.

Organizational Functions
The time and energy spent in that
coordination are diverted from productive
activity.
Organizations, which are groups of groups,
demand even greater resources applied to
coordination.

Organizational Functions
But, most of the productive activities in
society cannot be accomplished by
individuals.
Organizations are essential to the realization
of the goals of productive endeavor, and
leaders are essential to organizational
coordination.

Organizational Functions
Internal maintenance.
The primary function that an organization must
achieve is the regularization of activities to
provide a stable base for productive operation
Reliability recurrent events are responded to
in the same way every time they occur.

Organizational Functions
Internal maintenance (contd.).
Predictability members of the organization
know what is likely to occur and when.
Accountability reliability and predictability
allows leaders to allocate responsibility for
errors and identify methods of correction.

Organizational Functions
External adaptability.
Organizations must know what is going on
around them and adapt to changes in the
environment.
Sensitivity.
Flexibility.
Responsiveness.

Organizational Functions
Balancing contradictory demands.
Problem: procedures that ensure reliability and
predictability reduce flexibility and responsiveness.
Organizational survival is a question of balance.
Organizations with stable environments will benefit from the
efficiencies of regularized processes.
Organizations with competitive, unstable environments will
need to sacrifice reliability to enhance responsiveness.

The Organizational Functions of

Leadership
Leadership is a process of social influence
through which one person is able to enlist
the aid of others in reaching a goal.

The Organizational Functions of

Leadership
In an orderly, structured, and wellunderstood environment, the primary
responsibilities are guidance and
motivation.
Assign people to tasks or responsibilities, to
outline what is expected, and to facilitate and
encourage goal attainment.

The Organizational Functions of

Leadership
In a less orderly environment calling for
external adaptability, the crucial functions
are problem solving and innovation.
The leader must create the kind of atmosphere
that encourages sensitivity, flexibility, and
creativity.
The leader must be a change agent.

Status Differentiation
The concept of leadership implies a
differentiation of authority and
responsibilities between group members.
This differentiation is known as status.

The Functions of Status Bestowal

Positive functions.
The elevation of competence.
The assignment of authority.
The distribution of rewards.
The modeling of normative expectancies.
The facilitation of innovation.

The Functions of Status Bestowal

Negative functions.
Means-end reversal (status for its own sake).
Distortion of communication.
Rigidification of the status structure.
Primogeniture.
Territoriality, cronyism, and petty competition.

The Cultural Evolution of

Effective Leadership
The desirability of leadership characteristics will
be influenced by social context.
Every culture (whether religious, national, or
organizational) prescribes which behaviors are
normative in a social context.
Culture is the way in which a social unit adapts to
its environment over time.
The culture is first determined by external adaptability,
then internal maintenance processes are brought into
coherence.

The Cultural Evolution of

Effective Leadership
Examples: if climate or lack of arable land
make hunting and gathering more feasible
than agriculture, hunting and gathering will
tend to be adopted as the primary means of
subsistence.
Hunting and gathering cultures must
encourage cooperation while developing
independent and resourceful members.

The Cultural Evolution of

Effective Leadership
Democratic political structures (e.g., tribal
councils) and egalitarian religious systems
help to encourage the growth of selfsufficient and cooperative group members.
An unpredictable supply of food makes
creativity in resource use important and
making sharing necessary to reduce the
problems of temporary shortages.

The Cultural Evolution of

Effective Leadership
A premium on cooperation and a penalty for
competition.
Leadership is situational (temporary roles
for particular tasks) or generalized (roles
determined by progress through the life
cycle).

The Cultural Evolution of

Effective Leadership
The transition to horticulture increased the
opportunities for the society to exploit its
environment to generate surpluses.
Created a type of semiegalitarian leadership called
managerial leadership with power over
redistribution of goods and services.
Primary skills are persuasion and negotiation.

The redistributor model may lead to more

autocratic structures.

The Cultural Evolution of

Effective Leadership
Large scale agrarian societies tend to
develop hierarchical power structures and
restrict access to leadership roles.
Agrarian economies place a primary
premium not on resourcefulness but on
reliability.

The Cultural Evolution of

Effective Leadership
The most prized personality trait of the
masses is obedience.
Autocratic leadership style, high on
direction and low on participation combined
with benevolent paternalism.

The Cultural Evolution of

Effective Leadership
Many modern organizations reflect the experiences
of the hunter-gatherer or agrarian cultures.
Organizations with complex and unpredictable
environments draw on hunter-gatherer leadership
structures.
Organizations with stable and predictable
environments more closely reflect agrarian
societies.

Early Research on Leadership

Exactly what should leaders do to be
effective?

Popular Conceptions of Ideal

Leadership
Throughout human history, social and
political observers have recognized the
importance of leadership and have
contemplated the most appropriate form it
should take.
Generally the beliefs of social philosophers,
practitioners of leadership, or the followers who
observe leadership.

Popular Conceptions of Ideal

Leadership
Views reflect either an overarching philosophical
position (Plato or Hobbes) or principles derived
through the observation of exemplary leaders of
the past (Macchiavelli or Confucius).
The discussions usually reflect the influence of
strong cultural assumptions about the bases of
human nature (individualism in Europe;
collectivism in Asia) and by contemporary
political struggles or global economic trends.

Popular Conceptions of Ideal

Leadership
Most discussions are normative (ought to)
rather than descriptive (is). Best use may
be in reflecting how societal values affect
leadership patterns.

Popular Conceptions of Ideal

Leadership
Modern organizational example: Bennis and
Nanus (1985).
Unstructured interviews with purposive sample
of 60 private and 30 public leaders with
exemplary reputations.

Popular Conceptions of Ideal

Leadership
Four strategies for effective leaders (Bennis and
Nanus).
The articulation of a compelling vision.
Communication of the vision with a clarity and vibrancy that
creates a shared meaning.
Leaders must be seen as trustworthy by adopting an
unwavering commitment to the vision.
Successful leaders are able to make the fullest use of their
personal resources of intelligence, energy, and commitment
because they are confident about their capabilities and
optimistic about the eventual success of their efforts.

Popular Conceptions of Ideal

Leadership
Modern conception of a leader.
Inspiring goal or inspiring way of describing a
goal.
Trustworthy, honest, and fair.
Confident, optimistic, and energetic.

Most popular views of leadership are

uniform across all situations.

Early Research in Leadership

The search for the leadership trait.
A common historical view of leadership has been that
there is something about the leader as a person that
provides unique qualifications for that persons
ascendancy.
Thomas Carlyle Great Man Theory of leadership
great leaders are possessed of some special trait or
characteristic that allowed them to rise to positions of
prominence regardless of setting or situation.

Early Research in Leadership

The search for the leadership trait (contd.).
Early work on intelligence led to the analysis of
individual traits in psychology.
From the early 1900s to the Second World War,
trait investigations were the dominant research
strategy in leadership.
Reputation, position, biography, case study.

Early Research in Leadership

The search for the leadership trait (contd.).
Stodgills survey of trait studies (1948).
All traits studied were related to leadership to some
degree, but none was sufficiently or universally
associated with leadership enough to explain leadership
emergence or predict who might become a leader.
Weak support for traits associated with capacity or
ability, achievement, responsibility, participation.

Early Research in Leadership

The search for the leadership trait (contd.).
Stodgill A person does not become a leader by virtue
of the possession of some combination of traits, but the
pattern of personal characteristics of the leader must bear
some relevant relationship to the characteristics,
activities, and goals of the followers. Thus, leadership
must be conceived in terms of the interaction of variables
which are in constant flux and change . . . the persistence
of individual patterns of human behavior in the face of
constant situational change appears to be the primary
obstacle encountered not only in the practice of
leadership, but in the selection and placement of leaders.

The Search for Effective Leader

Behaviors
Leadership styles.
Kurt Lewin democrat leadership styles generated
greater satisfaction than autocratic or laissez faire
styles.
Lippitt and White Autocratic groups are more
productive, but only when the leader is present.
Subsequent research Related to characteristics of the
followers. Employees high on authoritarianism and low
on independence worked better with authoritarian
leadership; while the opposite preferred democratic
leadership styles.

The Search for Effective Leader

Behaviors
Identifying leader behavior patterns.
Shartle (Ohio State); Kahn and Katz (University of
Michigan); Bales and associates (Harvard University);
Couch and Carter.
General conclusions two distinctive styles of
leadership behavior.
One pattern focused on accomplishing the assigned task by
organizing and directing the work of others.
The other pattern attempted to maintain a positive emotional
interpersonal atmosphere among the group members.

The Search for Effective Leader

Behaviors
Relating leader behavior to organizational
outcomes.
Leader behavior was generally related to both
successful outcomes and satisfaction, but the
relationships are inconsistent and
noncontinuous.
Direction of causality not clear. Do behaviors
cause outcomes or do outcomes influence
behavior?

Situational Factors in Leadership

Not studied consistently, but some studies
concluded that aspects of the context in
which the leader functioned could have
important effects on leadership emergence
and subsequent behavior.

Situational Factors in Leadership

Hemphill argued that the motivation to attempt to
assert influence in groups, that is, to lead, depends
on:
The person must believe that the influence attempts will
be accepted by other group members;
The potential leader must perceive a sufficiently high
probability that they will be able to accomplish the task
or achieve the goal.
The leader must feel that the rewards of goal attainment
will be attractive and worthwhile.

Situational Factors in Leadership

Central location in the communication
chain is critical.
Influence attempts that receive the support
of other group members.
Previous leaders behavior.
The type of task to be performed.

Conclusions
Simple answers involving traits, behaviors,
and styles are unlikely to explain the
leadership dynamic.

Conclusions
Traits: stable personal dispositions have
influence.
Situation: leaders position in the organization;
The policies, procedures, and climate of the
organization; Societal culture.
Variations in immediate situation.
Followers acceptance and support.
Nature of the groups task.
Authority relationships.

A Preview of the Integrative

Model
Effective leadership consists of three functions:
Image management.
Relationship development.
Resource utilization.

Success is determined by the match principle.

Image matches templates.
Relationships matches needs and expectations.
Strategies match the demands of the environment.

Different Views of Leadership

Management Versus Leadership