Leadership

Leadership is defined as the process of directing and influencing the task related activities of group members[1] and it is also can be defined as the process of directing human resource effort toward organizational objective[2]. The leader needs to be decisive and a risk taker. The personal characteristics of the leader together with his/her style must be selected appropriately depending upon the situation at hand. A leader will involve an unequal distribution of power and need the ability to use the different form of power to influence followers behavior.
[1] Stoner, J.A.F, Management, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 6th Edition [2] Schermerhorm, John. R., Management for Productivity, John Willey and Sons, 2nd Edition.

Cont
From the definition, four important facts are derived: -

Leadership involves people-employees are follower. Leadership involves an equal distribution of power leaders and group members. Leadership involves the ability to use the different forms of power to influence followers behavior. Such as power used are reward power, referent power, expert power and legitimate power or authority. Leadership is about values: moral values, obligations and responsibilities toward employees.

Cont
Leadership is important to organization to: make contributions to organization enhance and elicit cooperation encourage teamwork motivate employees to generate good work

Leadership and Management

Leadership is the ability to influence peoples and gets them to do what the leader has envisioned[1]. There is a high power distance indicating a wide gap (power, privileges) between the leader and his subordinates. Authority is normally accepted perhaps as a result of the Malaysian background of having hierarchical society. Leaders are expected to have the knowledge, how, and vision.
[1] Gary A. Yukl, Leadership In Organizations, Prentice-Hall Inc. 1989

Leadership versus management

The terms leaders and managers are often used interchangeably, although there are fundamental differences between the two. Briefly, management is an activity, which deals with short-term problems and takes place within the internal hierarchical structure of the organization. The role of the manager is to establish clear targets, define standards, and encourage staff development, undertake appraisals, analyze short-term problems and make short-term decisions[1].
[1] Shamil Naoum : People and Organizational Management in Construction. 1st edition Thomas Telford 2001 pp192-227

Leadership versus management cont

A leader on the other hand, is usually viewed as a person who has the ability and personality to direct and guide people, influence their thoughts and behaviour, motivate them and control them to work towards goals that are regarded by the group and the organization as desirable and achievable. Leadership can take place within the internal and external hierarchical structure of the organization. A leader is usually viewed as a charismatic person who is prepared to take risks and brings about longterm changes in peoples attitudes, behaviour and culture.

characteristics of managers versus leaders

Manager characteristics
Administrate
A copy Maintains Focuses on systems and structure Relates on control Short-range view Asks how and when Eye on the bottom line Imitates Accepts the status quo Classic good soldier Does thing right

Leader characteristics
Innovates
An original Develops Focuses on people Inspires trust Long-range perspective Asks what and why Eye on the horizon Originates Challenges the status quo Own person Does the right thing

Leader versus Manager Qualities

Leader Qualities Soul Visionary Passionate Creative Flexible Inspiring Innovative Courageous Imaginative Experimental Initiates Change Personal Power

Manager Qualities Mind Rational Consulting Persistent Problem Solving Tough Minded Analytical Structured Deliberate Authoritative Stabilizing Position Power

Cont

One of the major differences between the leader and the manager relates to their source of power and the level of compliance it engenders within followers. Power is the potential ability to influence the behavior of others.[1] Power represents the resources with which a leader effects changes in employee behavior. Within organizations, there are typically five sources of power: legitimate, reward, coercive, expert, and referent.[2]. Sometimes power comes from a persons position in the organization, while other sources of power are based on personal characteristics.
[1] Hery Mintzberg: Power in and around Organization. Prentice Hall 1983 [2] (J. R. P. French, J.r, and B. Raven: The Bases of Social Power in Group Dynamics Evanson 1960 pp 607-623)

Leadership Power and Influence

The social nature is explained in terms of influence one person has over others. Based on this source of power, superior influence subordinates, directing their efforts toward fulfilling organizational objectives. There are five powers can be used to influence others behavior to accomplish preferred results.

Legitimate Power

Power coming from a formal management position in an organization and the authority granted to it is called legitimate power. For example, once a person has been selected as a supervisor, most workers understand that they are obligated to follow his or her direction with respect to work activities. Subordinates accept this source of power as legitimate, which is why they comply.

Reward Power

Another kind of power is reward power, stems from the authority to bestow rewards on other people. Managers may have access to formal rewards, such as pay increases or promotions. They also have at their disposal such rewards as praise, attention, and recognition. Managers can use rewards to influence subordinates behavior.

Coercive Power

The opposite of reward power is coercive power: It 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. For example, if a salesman, does not perform as expected, his supervisor has the coercive power to criticize him, reprimand him, put a negative letter in his file, and hurt his chance for a raise.

Cont

Legitimate power and reward powers are most likely to generate follower compliance. Compliance means that workers will obey orders and carry out instructions, although they may personally disagree with them and may not be enthusiastic. Coercive power most often generates resistance. Resistance means that workers will deliberately try to avoid carrying out instructions or will attempt to disobey orders.

Expert Power
Power resulting from a leaders special knowledge or skill regarding the tasks performed by followers is referred to as expert power. When the leader is a true expert, subordinates go along with recommendations because of his or her superior knowledge. Leaders at supervisory levels often have experience in the production process that gains them promotion. At top management levels, however, leaders may lack expert power because subordinates know more about technical details than they do

Referent Power
The last kind of power is referent power, comes from leader personality characteristics that command subordinates identification, respect, and admiration so they wish to emulate the leader. When workers admire a supervisor because of the way she/he deals with them, the influence is based on referent power. Referent power depends on the leaders personal characteristics rather than on a formal title or position and is most visible in the area of charismatic leadership.

power
Authority

Control over Rewards

Control over Punishments

Power

Appealing Personal Characteristics

Expertise

Leadership Theories

Leadership has been studied in different ways, dependent on researchers conception of leadership and methodological preferences. According to Laurie J Mullions (1996) approaches to leadership is due to its complex and variable nature there are many ways of analyzing leadership[1] A framework suggested is as follow.

Trait theory (also known as characteristics or Qualities or Traits Approach) Contingency theory (also known as Situational Approach) Style theory (also known as behavioural approach)

[1] (Laurie J Mullins:, Management And Organizational Behaviour 4th Edition, Pitman Publishing 1996 pp. 245-283).

Trait theories (also known as Characteristic or Quality Approach)

Qualities or Trait Approaches assume that individual is important than situation. According to Stephen Robbins (1998) trait theories that sought personality, social, physical or intellectual traits that differentiated leaders from non-leaders. However to find every characteristic would seem to be an impossible task. The only common traits found in leaders were intelligence and initiatives. Individuals who become leaders come from difficult background and culture. Therefore the traits posses by them are different. Effective leadership does not depend upon a particular set of traits. Whether leaders managing factories or construction is effective or not is actually depend how well the leaders traits match the requirement of the situation that he or she in.[1]
[1] Stephen P. Robbins, Organizational Behaviour 8th Edition, Prentice Hall. Inc. 1998 pp.346-393

List of Successful Leader

Source: Shamil Naoum: People and Organization Management in Construction Thomas Telford pp. 196-197.

Vision. Good leaders display an ideological vision that is congruent with the deeply held values of followers, a vision that describes a better future to which the followers have a moral right. Intelligence. Good leaders should be above average but not of genius level. They should be particularly good at solving complex and abstract problems. Decisiveness. Good leaders should have the ability to make calculated decisions and act swiftly according to the situation. Confidence. This implies that good leaders should be confident in themselves and in the ability of their followers to meet a high-performance outcome. Supervision. Good leaders should have' the ability to watch and direct individuals and the group. Individuality. Individual leaders can have there own ways of doing things. It might appear weird sometimes but it helps to give the leader a degree of uniqueness, which can pay off when managing people. Integrity. Good leaders having the quality of being honest and upright in their character. Image building. Outstanding leaders are self-conscious about their own image. They recognize that followers must perceive them as competent, credible and trustworthy. This image building will set the stage for effective role modeling because followers identify with the values of role models that are perceived positively. Inspirational communication. Outstanding leaders often, but not always, communicate their messages in an inspirational manner using vivid stories, slogans, symbols and ceremonies. Sociability. This refers to good leaders who have the ability of mixing with their people and have a social relationship with them.

Whether a leader is born or?

As to the question of whether a leader is born with these characteristics or made for them, previous studies of trait theories were not consistent in their conclusions. While some writers believe that people are born with leadership qualities, other writers have stated that leadership cannot be created or promoted and cannot be taught or learned. It is safe then to say that there are certain characteristics, which a good leader can learn by experience throughout his/her professional career, such as the ability to have a vision or planning an effective company strategy. These can be called interpersonal characteristics. On the other hand, there are other characteristics which a leader is born with and which are difficult (though not impossible) to learn, such as intelligence or integrity. These could be called personnel characteristics. An outstanding leader needs to have a combination of these two types of characteristics. However, the degree of need depends on the situation that he/she is dealing with at the time, such as the task and the people to be led.

Contingency theories (also known as Situational Approach)

The trait theories and the style theories discussed above fall short in establishing a significant relationship between leadership behaviour and successful performance. Neither theory takes into account the situational factors, which the leader is likely to face at the time. This led theorists to apply the concept of contingency theory into leadership effectiveness. Contingency theory states that there is no one best way to organize or to manage the organization. Effective management is contingent upon the purpose that the organization is seeking to fulfill and upon the nature of the tasks that have to be managed. According to proponents of the situational approach to leadership, universally important traits and behaviors dont exist. They believe effective leader behaviors vary from situation to situation. The leader should first analyze the situation and then decide what to do. In other words, look before you lead.[1]
[1] Bateman Snell: Management Building Competitive Advantage 4th Edition Irwin Mc Graw Hill 1999 pp. 404 437

Style theories (also known as Behavioural Approach)

According to Laurie J Mullins (1996) leadership style is the way in which the functions of leadership are carried out, the way in which the manager typically behaves towards member of the group. The style of managerial leadership towards subordinate staff and the factory of power can be classified as Authoritarian (Autocratic), Democratic style and a genuine laissez-faire style.[1] To be effective, project managers will need to apply certain management skill like the theory of win-win negotiations. Art of Conflict management, Public Relation Skills in inter human relationship, management by objectives (MBO) and creative synergy whether to be autocratic, democratic and genuine laissez-faire style it will depends on situation and the level of organization structure which the Project Manager deal with it. A leader should also have a style of leadership, which distinguishes him/her from other managers and can influence the people to do the specific task willingly. The styles are usually referred to as a continuum between autocratic and democratic dimensions. With an autocratic leadership, the power of making a decision is placed in the centre by the leader who alone exercises this authority. In a democratic leadership system, the power is shared among members of the working group.
[1] (Laurie J Mullins:, Management And Organizational Behaviour 4th Edition, Pitman Publishing 1996 pp. 245-283).

Leadership Style

Generally leadership can be categorized into Three mains styles There are:

Autocratic Leadership Democratic / Participate Leadership Laissez Faire leadership

(Laurie J Mullins:, Management And Organizational Behaviour 4th Edition, Pitman Publishing 1996 pp. 245-283).

Autocratic Leadership

Autocratic leaders are task-oriented people, working towards targets and deadlines. This works centered approach tends to look at workers as one if the factors of production that have to be managed like machines and money.
Autocratic leader would want to know about everything that is going on within the organization. They would want to make practically all the decisions and have the final say. Communication flow tends to be one way only, with the leader ordering his subordinates about. There us minimal information flow from bottom up. If at all it happens, it could be status reports or answers to specific inquires the leader may have asked. The following figure illustrates this;

Autocratic Leadership Style

LEADER

Subordinate

Subordinate

Subordinate

Source:

Tannenbaum and Schmidt How to Choose the Leadership Pattern

An autocratic style has its pluses and minuses in a project management context. On the plus side, the autocratic approach may be appropriate for routine, low risk projects, where the staff merely carries out the plan exactly as specified. In such a situation, feedback from staff is not as crucial as in a high-risk, high flux project. The autocratic approach is also effective when quick decisions need to be made. Since autocrats are not concerned with achieving consensus and gathering large amounts of data on which to base their decision, they are able to make decisions speedily. On the minus side, the autocratic approach may lead to demoralization of the staff, since they contribute no meaningful input into the decision making process. Creative and intelligent knowledge workers want their views to count, if they determine that their bosses dont want to hear their views, they will be unhappy. Another drawback of the autocratic approach is that it may lead to bad decision making, since the boss often bases his or her decisions on insufficient outside information.

Democratic/Participate Leadership

Democratic leaders believe in letting people have say in decision making. A multiple directional flow of information takes place in an organization that has this type of leadership. Subordinates are allowed to speak their mind. They very nature of democratic leadership allow for a bigger role on the part of subordinates in the running of the organization. Feedback from subordinates is always encouraged because it is not only good for the subordinate but also provides for better decision making as well.

Democratic Leadership Style

LEADER

Subordinate

Subordinate

Subordinate

Source:

Tannenbaum and Schmidt How to Choose the Leadership Pattern

A democratic group decision making would appear to offer a number of advantages:

Provided a pooling of resources, and can bring together a range of complementary knowledge and expertise. Interaction among members can have a snowball effect and provoke future thoughts and ideas in the minds of others. Group discussion leads to the evaluation and correction of possible decision. Provided full participation, decisions will have the acceptance of most members and they are more likely to be committed to decisions made and their implementation.