Introduction

Definition And Nature Of Leadership :

Leadership is the quality of behaviour of a person whereby he is able to persuade others to seek group goals enthusiastically. It is the influence relationship in which one person (the leader) influences the behaviour of others (the led or followers) in a given situation to work together on related tasks to attain what the former desires. Leadership is that part of a manager’s job by which he influences the behaviour of his subordinates towards the desired goals.

Definitions of leadership given by eminent scholars are given below: “Leadership is the inter-personal influence exercised in a situation and directed through communication process towards the attainment of specified goals -Robert Tannenbaum

“Leadership is a process of influence on a group in a particular situation at a given point of time and in a specific set of circumstances that stimulates people to strive willingly to attain organisational objectives, giving them the experience of helping attain the common objectives and satisfaction with the type of leadership provided -James Gibbin

“Leadership is the process by which an executive imaginatively directs, guides and influences the work of others in choosing and attaining specified goals by mediating between the individuals and the organisation in such a manner that both will attain maximum satisfaction -Theo Haimann

Leadership is the process of influencing the behaviour and work of others in group effort towards the realisation of specified goals in a given situation From this it follows that managerial leadership is the process of influencing a group of subordinates to attain organisational objectives. It implies pursuit of common goals under the advice and guidance of the leader in the interest of individuals and the group as well as for the benefit of the organisation. The interaction between the leader and his followers is based on inter-personal relations.

 

Nature of Leadership :

The characteristics of leadership are as under :

1. It is a process of influence. The basic purpose of leadership is to influence the behaviour of followers.
2. It involves interaction between the leader and the followers.
3. It implies pursuit of common goals in the interest of individuals as well as the group as a whole.
4. Leadership is related to a situation. When we talk of leadership, it is always related to a particular situation, at a given point of time and under a specific set of circumstances.

 

Leadership v. Managership :

‘Management’ is the term used to represent planning, organising, staffing, directing and controlling the organisational operations to realise certain goals. But leadership is a process of influence which means the ability to affect the perceptions, attitudes or behaviour of others. It is a part of management, but not all of it. A manager is required to plan and organise, for example, but all we ask of a leader is that he gets others to follow him. The fact that he can get others to follow him is no guarantee that he is going in the right direction. That means a strong leader can be a weak manager because he is weak in planning or performing some other managerial duty.

All work done by a leader may not be management activities. This explains why, although a good manager must be an effective leader, many outstanding leaders have, in fact, been exceedingly poor managers. The reverse is also possible. A manager can be a weak leader and still be acceptable manager, especially if he happens to manage people who have strong inner achievement drives. But usually, it is essential that a person to be an effective manager must also be an effective leader. The distinction between a manager and a leader is discussed in Exhibit 1.

 

Distinction between Leader and Manager

Management (Manager)

Leadership (Leader)

1. Responsible for planning, organising, staffing, directing and controlling processes as they relate to the total organisation. 2. Formulating broad policies to guide organisational operations.   3. Responsible for defining and reshaping institutional mission and purpose and establishing objectives relating thereto.   4. Responsible for adapting the organisation to external forces.   5. Focuses on promoting the interests of the entire organisation by balancing interests of various groups.

1.  Influencing group processes resulting in the    establishment of goals that will contribute to a higher level of goal attainment and satisfaction.   2. Showing the way through demonstrating and initiating activity that will contribute to goal accomplishment.   3. Stimulating individual to contribute to goal accomplishment.     4. Has a major influence in establishing and modifying organisational climate.   5. Monitors , clarifies and influences the roles and task performance of individuals to maximise their personal rewards and simultaneously contribute to organisational goals.

 

Functions of Leadership :

The functions of a leader may be described as follows:

1. Setting Goals. A leader provides guidance to the group by setting and explaining goals to his subordinates. He acts as a guide of his followers by setting the main goals of the group.
2. The leader creates and moulds the organisation by assigning roles appropriate to individual abilities. He shapes the character of the group, shows the way and leads it towards the goals.
3. A leader creates and sustains enthusiasm among the followers. He inspires them to perform the allotted tasks with confidence and zeal. He establishes a motivational system that enables people to meet both organisational and personal goals.
4. A leader reconciles individual and common objectives. He resolves internal conflicts and creates a community of interests in the group. His main task is to develop voluntary cooperation and to foster mutual understanding and teamwork.
5. A leader represents the group to his superiors and peers. An effective leader is the guardian of the interests of the subordinates. He is the personal embodiment of the impersonal organisation, inside and outside the organisation. He also defends the integrity of the group by reconciling different viewpoints of group members.
6. The leader maintains order and discipline and creates positive response on the part of members of the group. Control also involves management of internal conflict. In the words of Drucker, “the first test of a leader’s competence is its ability to keep people working with minimum of disruption and the maximum of effectiveness.”

 

Role and Importance of Leadership :

Leadership is regarded as the most crucial quality of behaviour of the  managers. The importance of leadership can be discussed as follows:

1. Providing Inspiration to Employees. A leader creates a strong urge in employees for higher performance. By showing the proper way to do their job, the leader helps employees to give their best to the organisation. As pointed out by Terry, ‘leadership triggers a person’s will-to-do and transforms lukewarm desires for achievement into burning passions for successful accomplishment.”
2. Securing Cooperation. A dynamic leader brings life into the group. He influences the behaviour of employees in such a way that they readily work for organisational objectives. He makes them realise that by translating plans into action, they can earn adequate rewards. He, thus, inculcates a sense of collectivism in the employees and forces them to work as a team. Leadership is essential to group action. Without sound leadership, cooperative effort towards a goal is not possible.
3. Creation of Confidence. Sometimes, individuals fail to recognize their qualities and capabilities. The leader creates confidence among them by his superior knowledge. He provides psychological support and infuses the spirit of enthusiasm in the followers by his conduct and expression.
4. Providing Conducive Environment. Efficiency of performance depends on the work environment. Leadership aims at creating and maintaining a satisfactory environment for employees to contribute their maximum towards achieving the goals. The leader or manager encourages subordinates to take initiative and helps them in their personal advancement.
5. Building Higher Morale. Good leadership is indispensable in building high employee morale. The leader shapes the thinking and attitudes of the group and maintains discipline. He develops good human relations and facilitates interactions between the members of the group. He maintains voluntary cooperation and discipline among the followers.
6. Facilitation of Change. Dynamic leadership is the cornerstone of organisational change and development. A good leader prepares the people for change and gives them the necessary support to adapt to change.

 

Types Of Leaders :

Various kinds of leaders are found in different spheres of life. Alford and Beatty have classified them into the following categories.

1. Intellectual Leaders. As the term implies, intellectual leaders are those who win the confidence of their followers by their superior intellect or knowledge. Nearly in all big organisation, there are experts whose advice is sought on matters in which they are experts. He may be a purchase specialist, a production expert, a job analyst or an advertising specialist. Regardless of his function, he is able to get results through others because of his superior knowledge.

2. Democratic Leaders. A democratic leader is one who acts according to the wishes of his followers. He does what the group wants. He follows the majority opinion as expressed by his group. He holds his leadership position because he is loyal to his group, is always concerned with their interests, is friendly and helpful to them, and is always ready to defend them, individually and collectively.

3. Autocratic Leaders. Such a leader dominates and drives his group through coercion, command and the instilling of fear in his followers. Such leaders prefer the use of power in promoting their own ends. They never like to delegate their power for the fear that they may lose their authority in this way.

4. Persuasive Leaders. The persuasive leader possesses magnetic personality that enables him to influence his followers to join him in doing things. He is the type who can say, “Let’s go, guys” and the whole group responds because they love and respect him, have confidence in him.

5. Creative Leaders. The creative leader uses the technique of ‘circular response so ably described by Follett to encourage ideas to flow from the group to him as well as from him to the group. He draws out the best in his followers without exerting an undue personal influence on the people. The the members of his group directed by him towards specific goals which are creative leader controls through united, voluntary, enthusiastic activities by satisfactory and worthwhile to all.

6. Institutional Leaders. An institutional leader holds his position because of force of prestige attached to his office. The position he holds enables him to influence his followers, sometimes because of the habits of obedience that certain followers have, sometimes, because of respect for the position and beyond that for the enterprise as a whole, and sometimes because of the dependence of the subordinate upon his superior for certain benefits.

 

Styles Leadership :

The behavioural pattern which a leader exhibits is known as his style of leadership. Different leadership styles exist among leaders in different times and in different situations. The leadership style in a particular situation is determined by the leader’s personality, experience and value system, nature of followers and nature of environment. There are three important leadership styles which are based on use of authority. These are :

1. Autocratic leadership;
2. Participative leadership; and
3. Free rein leadership.

 

1. Autocratic Leader. It is also known as authoritarian or directive style of leadership. The autocratic leaders gives orders which must be obeyed by the subordinates. He centralises decision-making power in himself. He takes decisions for the group without consulting the tells group members and simply telling the group what the members have to do.  The autocratic leaders gives personal praise or criticism to each member on his own initiative and remains aloof from the group for most of the time. There are three categories of autocratic leaders as follows:

a. Strict autocrat: He relies on negative influences and gives orders which the subordinates must accept. He follows negative motivational style to get the work done. Negative motivation includes imposing penalty, criticising subordinates, and on.

b. Benevolent autocrat: An autocratic leader may also follow positive style of using his power to disburse rewards to the subordinates. A benevolent autocrat is effective in getting higher productivity in many situations and  developing effective human relationships.

c. Manipulative autocrat: Such a leader makes the subordinates feels that they are participating in decision making, but he takes all the decisions himself. Autocratic leaders have proved to be successful in many cases. In particular, subordinates who depend upon the boss and do not want to take any initiative get satisfaction from this style. Autocratic style has also proved successful in cases where there is a need of quick decisions. Autocratic style is not liked by the people who are enlightened and want to participate in decision-making. Autocratic style of leadership may jeopardise the organisational efficiency. Another drawback of autocratic leadership is that it does not help develop future leaders in the organisation.

2. Participative Democratic Leader. A democratic leader is one who gives order after consulting the group. He sees to it that policies are worked out in group discussions and with the acceptance of the group. He never asks people to do things without sketching out the long-term plans on which they are working and makes it clear that praise or blame will be shared by all the group members. His decisions are not unilateral because they arise from consultation with followers and participation by then. Unlike an autocratic manager who controls through the official authority, a participative manager exercises control mostly by using forces within the group.

Participative leadership increases the acceptance of management’s ideas and reduces resistance to change. It increases their morale. It also leads to reduction in the number of grievances of the workers. Participative leadership may lead to the following advantages:

a. Active participation in decision-making by the employees ensures greater productivity and satisfaction.

b. Workers develop a greater sense of self-esteem, due to importance given to their ideas and their contribution.

c. Workers become more committed to changes that may be brought about by policy changes, since they themselves participated in bringing about these changes.

d. The leadership induces confidence, cooperation and loyalty among the employees. € The morale of the employees is increased.

3. Laissez Faire or Free Rein Leader. A free rein leader does not lead, but leaves the group entirely to itself. He is represented by the chairman of the board who leaves all responsibility for most of the work to his subordinates. The free rein manager avoids using power. He depends largely upon the group to establish its own goals and work out its own problems. Group members work themselves and provide their own motivation. The manager serves as a contact man with the outsiders to bring for his group the information and resources it needs to accomplish its goals.

This type of leadership is evident in research laboratories where the scientists are fairly free to conduct their research and make their decisions. Similarly, in a college, the Principal does not interfere in the faculty teaching methods, but only assigns the courses to be taught. From then onwards, the faculty members are free to decide about the method of teaching, books to be recommended and various teaching aids to be used.

The possible advantages of free rein style of leadership are as under:

a. It creates an environment of freedom, individuality as well as team spirit.

b. With a free and informal work environment, it is highly conducive to creative work.

c. It is very suitable where people are highly motivated and achievement oriented.

 

Leadership Skills :

According to Hellreigel, there are four kinds of leadership skills:

1. Visionary Skills– People are willing to follow leaders because of their visionary skills. The followers become committed to leader’s vision which involves values and goals and is, in itself, confidence-giving.
2. Communication Skills– Following on from the above, successful leaders clearly have the skill to communicate this compelling vision that evokes enthusiasm and commitment.
3. Sensitivity Skills– Effective leaders are both powerful and sensitive to the needs of others and so they allow their followers to share in developing goals and the satisfaction derived from reaching these goals.
4. Self-awareness Skills– Effective leaders welcome feedback on their performance and continually take an inventory of themselves.

 

Traits Or Qualities Of A Good Leader :

Traditionally it is believed that leaders are born not made. Successful leaders are said to possess certain qualities that separate them from the ‘crowd’. Some of the qualities that commonly make for good leadership are:

1. Intelligence. A leader should be intelligent enough to examine in the right perspective. He should have the ability to think scientifically, and analyse accurately the problems before a person. It is a problems natural quality of individuals to a great extent.
2. Physical Features. Physical characteristics and level of maturity determine personality of an individual which is an important factor in determining success of leadership. Height, weight, physique, health and appearance of an individual are important for leadership to A leader should some extent.
3. Maturity. A leader should possess a high level of emotional stability and cool temperament. He needs a high degree of tolerance. He must have an open mind to absorb new ideas as and when necessary. He also requires social maturity and breadth.
4. Vision and Foresight. A leader should be able to visualise events well in advance. He should have a high degree of imagination, breadth and determination.
5. Inner Motivation. Leaders have a strong personal motivation to accomplish something. To initiate suitable action in proper time is the main task of a leader. This initiative is due to strong inner motivation.
6. Sense of Responsibility. A reliable leader is prepared to shoulder the responsibility for the consequence of any steps he contemplates or takes. He is aware of the duties and obligations associated with the position he holds.
7. Empathy. The ability of a leader to look at things from others’ point of view is known as empathy. To be a good leader, the manager must understand the needs and aspirations of his subordinates. The effect of his own behaviour on followers can also be anticipated by the leader with empathy.
8. Human Relations Attitude. A good leader should develop friendly relations with his followers. He should maintain personal contact and should be able to recognise the problems and feelings of his followers. He must be conversant with human behaviour.
9. Emotional Balance. A leader must hold his own emotions well in control, especially in critical situations. He should neither be crushed by defeat nor over-elated by victory. He should have high frustration tolerance. He should be free from bias, logical in his actions and refrain from any demonstration of emotion such as impatience, anger or contempt for any of his followers.

 

Leadership Theories/Approaches To Leadership:

Recent efforts by behaviourists have shown a trend towards integrating the numerous theories of leadership. There appear to be three broad leadership theory categories.

They are:

1. Trait theories
2. Personal behavioural theories
3. Situational or contingency theories.

The trait and personal behaviour approaches can be integrated to some degree to yield the situational approach. Some of the situational theories emerging have borrowed from the trait approaches and from various personal behavioural approaches as shown in given figure.

Fig. Leadership theories

Trait Theory: This Is the traditional theory of leadership which rests on the assumption that individual important situation and consequently if we can identify the distinctive traits of successful leaders, we can have the clue to leadership problem i.e., if we can not make good leaders. According to this theory, it is believed that leader possesses certain inborn special traits. The trait theory explains leadership in terms of personal abilities. Thus, an effective leader is supposed to possess certain abilities such as to prove others’ mind, to predict future events, to command predictable obedience, etc. Leadership under this theory is generally thought in terms of personal qualities rather than as an organisation function. By 1950, there had been over 100 studies on this kind of basis. Most of them single out the following traits of a leader :

1. Psychological characteristics : Age, height, weight.
2. Background characteristics : Education, experience, social status, mobility.
3. Intelligence: Ability, judgement, knowledge.
4. Personality: Self confidence, enthusiasm, decisiveness, aggressiveness, extroversion alertness, dominance, authoritarianism, independence.
5. Task related characteristics: Initiative persistence, need for achievement, responsibility.
6. Social characteristics: Tact, diplomacy, prestige, supervisory ability, cooperativeness, popularity. Trait theory is oversimplistic in explaining the complex concept. of leadership. We still do not have a set of traits which discriminates leaders and non-leaders. Many people have trait specified for leaders and still do not show leadership. Some of the traits may describe a successful leader but predicting successful leaders on the basis of traits alone is not a correct approach. The theory does not take into account the followers and the situations who make at leader successful. Besides, there is no agreement over the traits also.

 

Likert System Of Management (Four Systems Theory):

In 1961, Rensis Likert, then Director of Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, published the results of his years of research in the area of leadership. His book New Patterns of Management is a classic in its field. Basically, Likert feels that the patterns or styles of leadership or management employed by a particular organisation can be categorized into four styles. He has identified and labelled these styles as follows:

System I: Exploitive Authoritative – Authoritarian form of management that attempts to exploit subordinates.

System II: Benevolent Authoritative – Authoritarian form of management but is paternalistic in nature.

System III: Consultative – Manager requests and receives inputs from subordinates but maintains the authority to make the final decision.

System IV: Participative – Manager gives some direction but decisions are made by consensus and majority, based on total participation.

Likert used a questionnaire to determine the style of leadership and management pattern employed in the organisation as a whole. The results of his studies indicated the most effective style of management to be system IV and that organisations should strive to develop a management pattern analogous to this system.

 

Situational Approach :

Both the trait and behavioural approach theories failed to answer as to what makes a leader effective. These theories emphasized only on one of the broad dimension (i.e., trait or behaviour) of leadership and thus were myopic in their approach. These theories constructed a theoretical base based on controversial questionnaire methods and fell into over simplification. They searched for magic key to leadership that was devoid of situational context and follower behaviour and personality. Leadership is a complex, social and interpersonal process and is immensely influenced by situational forces. Situational theories believe that there can not be any single variable which will make a leader effective. Besides, the personality traits and the behaviour of the leader, the other situational factors, such as the nature of goals and tasks, the nature of followers, the power system, the time framework, social and cultural environment, legal constituents etc. are also essential to consider and the leader must be flexible enough. To adapt himself to the time of circumstances. The situation theory based on contingency approach is gaining ground these days. The contingency theories include:

1. Fiedler’s Contingency Model
2. Path Goal Theory
3. Life Cycle Theory

1. Fiedler’s Contingency Model: This theory represents a significant departure from earlier trait and behavioural leadership models because Fiedler contents that group performance is contingent upon the three organisational variables, defined by him as leader-member relations, task structure and position power.

Leader-member relations refer to the degree that others trust and respect the leader, and to the leader’s congeniality.

Task structure is the degree to which the job tasks are structured. For example, assembly line jobs are more structured than managerial occupations.

Situation              1		2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Leader-Member Relations	Good	Good	Good	Good	Good	Good	Good	Good
Task Structure	Structured	Structured	Unstructured	Unstructured	Structured	Structured	Unstructured	Unstructured
Positioned Power	Strong	Weak	Strong	Weak	Strong	Weak	Strong	Weak

 

Fig. Fiedler’s Classification of Situation

 

Position power refers to the power and influence that go with the job. A manager has more position power if the manager is able to hire, fire and maintain discipline. Position power is analogous to coercion, reward and legitimate power.

 

Path Goal Theory Of Leadership:

Path goal leadership theory draws heavily on expectancy motivation theory and high concerns for both people and work. The theory has been proposed by Robert House and has been expanded and refined by him and others over the last decade. The theory can be summarized as follows:

1. The leader can improve subordinate motivation by making the rewards for performance more attractive. By giving the people raises, promotions and recognition, the leader can increase the subordinates’ valence (preference) for goal achievement.
2. If the worker’s assignments are poorly defined, the leader can increase motivation by providing structure in the form of helpful supervision, subordinate training and goal clarification. Reducing the ambiguity of the job makes it easier for the subordinate to pursue the goals. Expectancy (the likelihood of attaining this first level outcome) should increase. If we take these two steps together, we can see that in the first, valence is increased and in the second, expectancy is increased. Now, as per the expectancy theory of motivation, since motivational force = valence x expectancy, it is obvious that path goal theory is designed to increase worker’s motivation.
3. If the work of the subordinates is already greatly structured, as in the case of assembly line workers or mechanists, the leader should refrain from introducing any more structure. Such actions will be viewed as unnecessary and overly directive. Instead of worrying about the work, the leader should now spend more time being concerned with the personal needs of the people by giving them attention, praise and support.

Path goal theory provides three important benefits:

1. It helps integrate expectancy theory and contingency leadership.
2. It re-emphasizes the importance of high leader concerns for both the work and the people.
3. It encourages the leader to analyse the situation in determining the right degree of each concern for structure and concern for people that will be required.

 

Ohio State Leadership Studies :

The leadership studies initiated by the Bureau of Research at Ohio State University attempted to identify various dimensions of leader behaviour. The researchers developed a scale, called the Leader Behaviour Description Questionnaire, that asked subordinates to indicate the extent to which leaders engaged in particular behaviours. When the scale was administered to members of bomber crews, it was found that two independent underlying factors were most important in explaining crew members’ responses. Those two dimensions were:

1. Consideration connotes rapport between the leader and the group, a mutual warmth and trust, a concern for the needs of the members of the work group, an attitude that encourages participative management, two-way communication and respect for the feedback of the followers.
2. Initiating structure involves creating a work environment so that the work of the group is organised, coordinated, sequential, organisationally relevant so that people know exactly what is to be done and how it is to be done. The structure involves having the leader organise and define the role each member is to assume, assign tasks to them and push for the realisation of organisational goals.

EXIHIBIT

 

Illustration of Consideration and Initiating Structure

Consideration : He does personal favours for group members. He finds time to listen to group members. He backs up the members in their actions. He treats all group members as his equals. He puts suggestions made by the group into operation. Initiating Structure : He rules with an iron hand. He criticises poor work. He assigns group members to particular tasks. He schedules the work to be done. He emphasises the meeting of deadlines.

 

The research studies revealed that initiating structure and consideration are two separate distinct dimensions and are not mutually exclusive. A low score on one does not require high score on the other. Thus, leadership behaviour can be plotted on two separate axes rather than on a single continuum. In Fig. given below, the four quadrants show various combinations of initiating structure and consideration. In each quadrant, there is a relative mixture of initiating structure and consideration and a manager can adopt any one style.

 

High Consideration and Low Structure	High Consideration And high Structure
Low Structure And Low Consideration	High Structure And Low Consideration

(Low) – Initiating Structure – (High)

Fig. The Ohio State Leadership Quadrants.

 

Behavioural Approach :

The theory is based on the premise that effective leadership is the result of effective role behaviour. Success in leadership depends more on what the leader does than on his traits. A leader uses technical, conceptual and human skills to influence the behaviour of his subordinates. Leadership, therefore, becomes a dynamic interaction between the leader and the led.

The behavioural theory is useful in so far as it suggests the functions and activities of a leader. Several experts have tried to find out appropriate behavioural patterns of leadership types. The behavioural theories include:

1. Likert systems of management
2. Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid
3. Leadership continuum
4. Ohio State studies
5. Michigan University studies.

Behavioural approach is an improvement over the trait theory. But it does not consider the time factor in leadership. A particular behaviour may be effective at one time or situation and ineffective at other times.

 

Managerial Grid :

A widely known approach of leadership styles is the managerial grid developed by Blake and Mouton. They emphasise that leadership style consists of factors of both the task-oriented and relation-oriented behaviour in varying degrees. The ‘concern for’ phrase has been used to convey how managers are concerned for people or production, rather than how much production getting out of group. Thus, it does not represent real production or the extent to which human relationship needs are being satisfied. Concem for production means the attitudes of superiors towards a variety of things, such as, quality of policy decisions, procedures and processes, creativeness of research, quality of staff services, work efficiency, and volume of output. Concern for people includes degree of personal commitment towards goal achievement, maintaining the self-esteem of workers, responsibility based on trust, and satisfying inter-personal relations. The managerial grid identifies five leadership styles based upon these two factors

1-9 (Country Club)	9-9 (Team)
1-1 (Impoverished)	9-1 (Task)

found in organisations. These are shown in given Fig.

 

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

 

1         2          3         4         5           6          7          8        9

(Low) – Concern for Production – (High)

Fig. Managerial Grid

 

The 9, 1 Managerial Style (Task)- Under this style, the leader has maximum concern for production (level 9) combined with minimum concern for people (level 1). He attempts to maximize production by using authority and power to achieve control over subordinates. These leaders decide on work assignments, provide subordinates with detailed instructions and supervise closely to make sure their directives are properly carried out. Subordinates are expected to carry out orders with an unquestioning obedience. They are taken as merely a means for doing the tasks assigned to them. Little attention is given to their development or to communicating with them beyond the issuing of instructions or orders.

The 1, 9 Managerial Style (Country Club)- The managers who employ this style have a minimum concern for production coupled with a maximum concern for people. Since 1,9 managers believe that attitudes and feelings are of utmost importance, their emphasis is on promoting good feelings. The 1,9 manager may be highly motivated to work hard, but that motivation is based on a need for approval and acceptance rather than on a commitment to the production goals of the organisation.

The 1, 1 Managerial Style (Impoverished)- Such a manager exerts minimum influence on the contacts with the group members. He expresses little concern for production or people. In a supervisory position, he is most likely to be found executing messenger carrier functions communicating orders from the layer above to the layer below. He is an expert in passing on blame to others for failures in such a way that he absolves himself from responsibilities, yet he rarely initiates criticism spontaneously. His criticism is strictly in self-defence. He wants minimum involvement in the organisation’s purpose and with its people.

The 9, 9 Managerial Style (Team)- The 9, 9 style meets the people’s need to be involved and committed to work. A major difference between 9, 9 style and other managerial styles is in goal setting and its use as a basic management approach to a large variety of problems. The capacity of people to be involved in organisational objectives through commitment to objectives is fundamental. In other words, the 9, 9 orientation aims at integrating the for growth. The key is the involvement and participation of those responsible people and production dimension of work under conditions of high concern for it in planning and execution of work. This brings about team spirit that leads to high performance.

The 5, 5 Managerial Style (Mid of the Road)- The 5, 5 style seeks to maintain a balance between the people dimension and production dimension. A basic assumption of this style is that people work willingly and do as they are told if the reasons for doing so are explained to them. However, just on. If too much is told, it is feared that they might resist. Enough concern is enough is communicated so that people have a general sense of what is going shown for the people so that adequate production may be achieved. This is seen in the 5, approach to management development, communication and performance reviews. Meetings are held to listen to the suggestions of subordinates and to create a sense of belonging.

Each of the five styles given by Blake and Mouton points out the relative concern for production and people and implies that the most desirable leadership behaviour is 9, 9; i.e., maximum concern for both production and people. It may be noted that the five positions emphasised in the managerial grid are rarely found in their pure form in actual life. That means a manager may have a style of 8, 2 or 4, 6 or some other. Nevertheless, managerial grid is widely used as means of managerial training and of identifying various combinations of leadership styles.

 

Continuum Of Leader Behaviour :

Tannenbaum and Schmidt have identified the range of possible leadership styles and presented them on a continuum ranging from authoritarian leadership behaviour at one end to free rein faire) behaviour at the other end.

As one moves away from one end to another, the use of authority by superior decreases and the freedom of subordinates increases. The leadership styles form a continuum or scale with different gradation of sharing of authority and freedom among the manager and the subordinates.  The task centred leader is concerned primarily with the performance of assigned tasks by the subordinates. He uses reward and punishment to keep subordinates constantly busy in work. Such leadership style is authoritarian in nature. On the other hand, the employee centred manager is fully democratic as he grants considerable freedom to subordinates and allows them to participate in decision making process. In practice, managers have both task orientation and employee orientation in different degrees as shown in fig. 16.7 which indicates seven different styles of leadership behaviour.  The concept of leadership continuum presents a composite view of leadership behaviour. It helps to understand changes in the leader’s behaviour. It also shows that there is no ideal or more mature style. A leader, who adapts his style according to the demands of the situation, is likely to be more successful in influencing the behaviour of his followers.

 

 

Autocratic                                                                                                                                         Free Rein

(Superior Centred Leadership)                                                                  (Subordinate Centred Leadership)

Use of Authority by Manager Area of Freedom to Subordinates

Fig. Continuum of Leader Behaviour

 

Life Cycle Theory: 

The life cycle theory of Paul Hersey and Kenneth Blanchard (1982) reflects a systematic conceptionalisation of situational factors as related to leadership behaviour. It is based on the curvilinear relationship between task and relationships and maturity of followers. The focus is clearly on followers ignoring other situational variables like supervision, job demands, time element and organisation etc. While all these situational variables are equally important, the emphasis in the situational leadership is on the behaviour of a leader in such a situation. This is probably due to the fact that followers in any situation are vital not only because individually they accept or reject the leader.  Situational leadership is based on the interplay among three variables- task behaviour, relationship behaviour and the maturity of the followers.

Task Behaviour- It is seen in terms of the amount of guidance and direction a leader gives.

Relationship Behaviour- It is determined by socio-emotional support provided by the leader.

Maturity of followers- It is reflected by the readiness level exhibited by subordinates in performing a given task.

Maturity is the crux of life cycle theory. It is the social benchmark for choosing the appropriate style. Maturity is defined here in terms of achievement motivation, i.e., an ability and willingness of people to take responsibility for directing their own behaviour. Ability refers to the knowledge and skill for the follower to do the job and is called job maturity. Willingness to the psychological maturity has much to do with confidence and commitment to the following. The concept of maturity is somewhat similar to the Argyris immaturity – maturity continuum. Maturity is a relative concept and hence is a question of degree. Thus, an individual or group is not mature or immature in a total sense. All persons exhibit maturity in relation to task, function, or objective a leader is attempting to accomplish through their efforts. For example, a student may be very responsible while preparing for the final examination and somewhat irresponsible when dealing with class assignment.

Given Fig. shows that leadership style is also a factor of two dimensions that are similar to those found in the Michigan and Ohio State studies.

 

Style of Leader

High Relationship And Low Task PARTICIPATING	High Task And High Relationship SELLING
DELEGATING Low Relationship And Low Task	TELLING High Task And Low Relationship

(High)

(Low)

Task Behaviour

(Low)                                                                                                                     (High)

Maturity of Followers

(Mature)                                                                                                            (Immature)

Fig. Life Cycle Theory of Leadership

1. Task Behaviour (concern for task), and
2. Relationship behaviour (concern for people).

The appropriate leadership style is described by a perscriptive curve that follows the association between the superior and subordinates through a life cycle of four phases:

1. Telling
2. Selling
3. Participating
4. Delegating.

Telling- In the initial phase of life cycle, when subordinate first enters the work group, the manager use a telling leadership style, as subordinates must be instructed in their tasks and working environment. During this introductory stage, the manager must assume responsibility for subordinates, because workers at this level can not take responsibility and have not matured enough emotionally to accept responsibility. Workers expect the directive, telling style of leadership at this stage.

Selling- At the second level of worker maturity, managers tend to use a selling leadership style of support, tempered by direction in an effort to get workers to “buy into” the desired performance level. Often, subordinates at the stage of maturity are willing but unable to assume responsibility for their own work behaviour.

Participating- With workers at the moderately high level of maturity, the manager can shift to a participating leadership style. Subordinates are now capable but may lack the confidence needed to assume responsibility for their performance. Subordinates need. Support, so the manager provides participative support.

Delegating- When subordinates achieve a high level of maturity, they have both the ability and the willingness to perform responsibility. They no longer need direction or support, so the delegating leadership style gives subordinates the opportunity to be autonomous.

 

Vroom-Yetton Model of Leadership :

Over a decade back Victor Vroom and Philip Yetton have developed a normative and intriguing model of leadership focusing on the decision making function of leader. The decision making model indicates different situations in which various degrees of participation of subordinates is appropriate. Vroom and Yetton contended that the effectiveness of leaders is largely reflected in their track record of making right decisions. It is in the light of this decision making that this model was developed. Since it is developed around the idea that different degrees of participation is appropriate in different types of problems, it is widely known as ‘Decision participation model’.

According to Vroom and Yetton, such terms as “Concern for production”, “Concern for people” and task orientation or “interpersonal orientation” are too imprecise to be operational. They conclude that a normative theory of a leadership effectiveness should specify leader behaviour precisely enough that a person may determine with certainty whether or not he is acting in accordance with the prescriptions offered by the theory. In fact, many early theories on optimum leadership behaviour had autocratic orientation, emphasizing the centralised decision making. But behavioural scientists suggested that subordinates should be invited in the decision making process. Vroom-Yetton model is a step in this direction. It is also labelled as ‘situational theory’ because it identifies specific situation where a particular style of leadership is appropriate. Vroom-Yetton do not talk of autocratic and participative style of leadership but autocratic and participative situations. In the words of Vroom, “it makes more sense to talk about participative and autocratic situation than it does to talk about participative and autocratic managers”.

 

Mc. Gregor Theory X And Theory Y :

The work of E. Mayo and his associates paved the way for the development of a popular classification scheme of aceptable and unacceptable managerial styles in management literature. Me Gregor termed classification as theory X and theory Y. Mc Gregor believed that the managers normally attempt to motivate employees by one of the two basic approaches.

Theory X – Assumptions of theory X are:

1. The average person inherently dislikes work and will avoid  it if possible.
2. Because of his disliking for work, most people must be coerced, controlled, directed and threatened with punishment to get them to perform work effectively.
3. The average human being lacks ambition, avoids, responsibility and seeks security and economic rewards above all else.
4. Most people lack creative ability and are resistant to  change.
5. Since most people are self centred, they are not concerned with the goals of the organisation. Thus, the central principle of theory X is that an organisation is controlled and directed through the exercise of authority. Mc Gregor firmly believed that attempts to control employees will forces them towards organisational goals based on the assumptions of theory X and may fail to motivate individuals to work towards organisational goals.

For the people X, the manager has to exercise centralised control and supervision and emphasise on autocratic type of leadership style and downward communication.

Theory Y- Assumptions of theory Y are:

1. The expenditure of physical and mental effort in work is as natural as play or rest.
2. People will exercise self direction and self control in the service of objectives to which they are committed.
3. Commitment to objective is the function of the rewards associated with achievement.
4. The average person learns under proper conditions, not only to accept but also to seek responsibility.
5. The capacity to exercise a relatively high degree of imagination, ingenuity and creativity in the solution of organisational problems is widely, not narrowly, distributed in the population.
6. Under the conditions of modern industrial life, the intellectual potentialities of the average person are only partly utilised.

The theory Y emphasises the creating of opportunities, removing obstacles, encouraging growth and providing guidance.

Mc Gregor believed that for motivating the persons Y decentralised organisation, democratic leadership and two way communication will help to create the congenial environment of work.

 

Leadership Failure :

Leaders often fail to produce the results expected by their employing institutions and by their subordinates or followers. What causes leadership failure? What can be learned from studying leadership failure ?

A study (Mc Call and Lombordo, 1983) of corporate leaders who had been moving up their corporate holders and than were retailed (terminated, demoted, or somehow denied further promotions), were identified along with the reasons given for their derailment. It was determined that no leader was derailed for a single reason. Instead, derailment was usually the result of a cluster of reasons. The ten most common reasons found leader derailment are as follows:

1. Abrasive, intimidating and insensitive to others.
2. Arrogant, cold and aloof.
3. Betrayl of trust and failure to meet commitments.
4. Overly ambitious, pushy, and tries too hard to get ahead by playing politics.
5. Failure to properly handle specific performance problems, trying to cover up problems and shifting the blame to others.
6. Over managing – unable to delegate or to build a work team.
7. Unable to think broadly, strategically or intuitively – too much attention given to detail and technical problems.
8. Unable to select and develop an effective staff.
9. Unable to adopt to a superior with different leadership style.
10. Overdependence on a superior or a mentor. Management failure on the international scene may also involve issues of cultural sensitivity and the need to modify leadership styles to match different cultures.

 

Leadership Style In India Organisations :

India is one of the countries where even today the sons and grandsons of entrepreneurs automatically get promoted to the top with no tests given or questions asked. This is management by inheritance or management by Chromosomes, with the result that most of the companies in India are highly centralized and family oriented in their organisational structure and are authoritarian in their approach to their employees. Myers, from his interview with industrialists, government officials, labour leaders and managers in both Indian and foreign owned firms, concluded that though there are some exceptional companies, “many Indian top managements are relatively authoritarian in their relationships with lower managements and with labour”. The Prevalence of high degree of control is also highlighted in Ganguli’s study of leadership behaviour in an engineering factory. In a survey by Punekar and Savur of the relations between white collar employees and their supervisors in different organisations such as bank, insurance companies, manufacturing firms, government offices, a state owned public utility company and an educational institution, it was found that only 3 superiors out of the sample of 73 believed that subordinates can work without supervision and only 6 thought that giving responsibility to the white collar employees is the best way to get that work done. Most superiors (70%) expressed the belief the subordinates can only work in the supervision and have no sense of responsibility.

Having surveyed some available research data on the value system of Indian managers vis-à-vis managers in some other countries, Nitish has found that though Indian managers profess a belief in group based participative decision making, they have little faith in the capacity of workers for taking initiative and responsibility.

 

Charismatic Leadership :

Charisma is a leadership trait that can help influence employees to take early and sustained action. Charismatic leaders are dynamic risk takers who show their expertise and self confidence, express high performance expectations, and use symbols and language to inspire others. They can also be warm mentors who treat employees individually and guide them to take action.

But charismatic leadership may not always be needed to achieve high levels of employee performance. It may be most appropriate when the follower’s task has an ideological component. This may explain why, when charismatic leaders surface, it is more likely to be in politics, religion, war time or when a business firm is introducing a radically new product or facing a life threatening crisis. Such conditions tend to involve ideological concerns.

Charismatic leaders may become a liability to an organisation once the crisis and need for dramatic change subside. This is so because, in times of peace, charismatic leader’s overwhelming self confidence often becomes a liability. He or she is unable to listen to others, becomes uncomfortable when challenged by aggressive subordinates and begins to hold an unjustifiable belief in his or her ‘rightness’ on issues.

Peter F. Drucker observes that charisma makes a leader inflexible, convinced of his own infallibility, with inability to change. “History knows” writes he, “no more charismatic leaders that this century’s triad of Stalin, Hitler and Mao – the misleaders who inflicted as much evil and suffering on humanity as have ever been recorded. This is what happened to Stalin, Hitler and Mao, and it is a common place in the study of ancient history, that only Alexander the Great’s early death saved him from becoming an ineffectual failure.