PSYCHOLOGY 305 / 305G

Social Psychology

Leadership
Lecturer: James Neill
 Overview

 Questions
 Theories
 Issues
 Conclusions
 Questions

 What is leadership?
 What is followership?
 Is leadership the same as
management?
 What are the characteristics of
successful leaders?
 Do leaders show distinctive
patterns of behavior?
 What leadership styles are
there?
 Questions
 How does leaders’ behavior
vary with the situation?
 What sources of power and
influence are used by leaders?
 What are the effects of
different types of leadership?
 Can we do without leadership?
 How can leadership skills be
developed?
 A Leadership Story
 A group of workers and their leaders are set a task of
clearing a road through a dense jungle on a remote
island to get to the coast where an estuary provides a
perfect site for a port.
 The leaders organise the labour into efficient units and
monitor the distribution and use of capital assets –
progress is excellent. The leaders continue to monitor
and evaluate progress making adjustments along the
way to ensure the progress is maintained and efficiency
increased wherever possible.
 Then, one day amidst all the hustle and bustle and
activity, one person climbs up a nearby tree. The person
surveys the scene from the top of the tree.
 A Leadership Story
 And shouts down to the assembled group
below…
 “Wrong way!”

(Adapted from Stephen Covey (2004) “The Seven Habits

of Highly Effective People”.)
 Leadership vs. Management

“Management is doing
things right, leadership is
doing the right things”
(Warren Bennis and Peter
Drucker)
 LEADERS AND
MANAGERS
“Leaders . . .are often dramatic and unpredictable in style.
They tend to create an atmosphere of change, ferment
even chaos. They are often obsessed by their ideas,
which appear as visionary and consequently excite,
stimulate and drive other people to work hard to create
reality out of fantasy . . . Managers are typically hard-
working, analytical, tolerant and fair-minded. They have a
strong sense of belonging to the organisation, and take
great pride in perpetuating and improving the status quo.”
(French, 1987,
p475)
 Leaders Vs. Managers

Leaders Managers

 Innovate  Administer
 Develop  Maintain
 Inspire  Control
 Long-term view  Short-term view
 Ask what and why  Ask how and when
 Originate  Initiate
 Challenge the status  Accept the status quo
quo  Do things right
 Do the right thing
 Leadership vs Management

Leadership & management are distinct, yet

complementary systems of action

Effective leadership
Effective management
produces useful change
controls complexity

Effective leadership + good management =

healthy organizations
 Leaders and Managers:
Distinguishing their roles

Establish
organizational
mission

Leader’s Job
Formulate
Strategy for
implementing
mission

Implement
Manager’s Job organizational
strategy
 Social Psychology of Leadership?
Leadership is…
 A relationship
 A group phenomenon
 A form of social influence
 What is Leadership?
Leadership is…
the process of getting
the cooperation of
others in accomplishing
a desired goal.
Leadership is…
the ability to influence
a group toward the
achievement of goals.
 What is Leadership?
Leadership is defined in a variety of ways
depending on the philosophical and
sociological position of the definer or theorist.
Since leaders are found at all levels of
groups, organizations, and society, it seems
almost everyone intuitively has a concept or
opinion of what leadership is or should be,
and those concepts throughout history are as
diverse as the theoretical definitions present
in the literature. Thus, it is not surprising that
leadership has been conceptualized, studied,
and theorized in very different ways.
Organizational Leadership

Organizational
Leadership…
is the ability to
influence employees
to voluntarily pursue
an organization’s
goals.
 Leadership Characteristics

• Involves noncoercive influence

• Is goal directed
• Requires followers
Formal vs. Informal Leadership
 Formal Leadership
– The process of influencing relevant others to
pursue official organizational objectives.
 Informal Leadership
– The process of influencing other to pursue
unofficial objectives that may or may not
serve the organization’s interests.
 What is a Follower?
 A follower is an individual who follows the
ideas, goals, or tasks of a leader.
 Followers are developed by working
together to identify goals and strategies
for achieving the goals.
 Leadership History
The study of leadership is not new:
“The study of leadership rivals in age the
emergence of civilization, which shaped
its leaders as much as it was shaped by
them. From its infancy, the study of
history has been the study of leaders –
what they did and why they did it.
(1990, Bass and Stogdill’s Handbook of
Leadership. 3rd Ed. p.3)
Evolution of Leadership Theory
Overview of Traditional Leadership
Theories
 Dispositional theories: there are certain
attributes which make a great leader
 Behavior theories: great leadership is
based on what someone does
 Situational (contingency) theories:
interaction between leader and situation is
important
 Leadership Theory
 Leadership as a Person (Traits)
 Leadership as Role (Contingency Theories)
– A person may be an effective leader in one
circumstance but perform poorly in a different
circumstance.
 Leadership as a Person x Role
 Leadership as power & influence
 New perspectives
 Modern Thought on Leadership
 The end of WW1 brought the demise of
hereditary leadership
 First theories on personal qualities or traits
 After WW2, shift to observable behaviours
 1960’s - Situational leadership
 Recently - transactional to transformational
leadership
 Leadership: Person and Role:
what personality goes with style?
 Personality traits: introversion, optimism,
need for power, flamboyance
 Role attributes: Theory X, expressive,
participative
 Situational characteristics: stability,
uncertainty, complexity (remember
“contingency”)
Leadership: Traditional
Explanations

Person-based Theories

Situational Theories

Dispersed Theories

Exchange Theories
 The trait approach

Early research into leadership can be characterized as a

search for ‘the great man’. Personal characteristics of
leaders were emphasized and the implicit idea was that
leaders are born rather than made. All leaders were
supposed to have certain stable characteristics that made
them into leaders. The focus was on identifying and
measuring traits that distinguished leaders from non-leaders
or effective from ineffective leaders. There was the hope that
a profile of an ‘ideal’ leader could be derived from the above
that could serve as the basis for selection of future leaders.
Trait Theories

Leadership Traits:
• Ambition and energy
• The desire to lead
• Honesty and
integrity
• Self-confidence
• Intelligence
• Job-relevant
knowledge
The Trait Approach

Great Person Theory

The view that leaders
possess special traits
that set them apart
from others and that
these traits are
responsible for their
assuming positions of
power and authority.
 Great Man - Trait Theories
Early research attempted to identify specific traits
differentiating leaders from followers.
Personality, social, physical, and intellectual
traits were found to differentiate leaders from
others.
– Bernard, 1926
– Bingham, 1927
– Kilbourne, 1935
– Mann, 1959
– Stogdill, 1948
– Tead, 1929
 Trait Theories
People tend to perceive that someone is a leader
when he or she exhibits certain:
 Physical qualities
 Character attributes
 Intellectual qualities
 Personal qualities
 Attribution Theory
of Leadership

Traits of a Leader

•Drive and Ambition •Self-Confidence

•Desire to Lead •Intelligence
•Honesty and Integrity •Technical Expertise

Prentice Hall, 2000 Chapter 10 31

 Big 5 Personality Predictors of
Leadership Ability

 Extroversion
 Agreeableness
 Conscientiousness
 Lack of Neuroticism
 Openness to experience
 Motivation and Leadership
 Leader Motive Pattern
– High need for power
– High need for achievement
– Low need for affiliation
 Negative leadership traits that
prevent individuals from being leaders

 Uninformed
 Non-participative
 Rigid
 Authoritarian
 Offensive
 Criticisms – Trait Theories
 No universal traits predict leadership in all situations
 Unclear evidence of the cause and effect of relationship
of leadership and traits.
(Which comes first, trait or leadership position?)
 Traits predict behavior better in “weak” than “strong”
situations.
 Provides little guidance concerning what advice or
training to give current or soon-to-be leaders
 Better predictor of the appearance of leadership than
distinguishing effective and ineffective leaders.
 Overlooks needs of followers
 Fails to clarify trait's relative importance.
 Summary and Conclusions
–Great deal of literature examining
the impact of individual differences
on leadership
–Literature provides some support
for the role of individual differences
 Appear to be key skill and traits for
associated with effective leadership
 Style Approach

 Emphasizes the behavior of leader

 Two kinds of behavior: task behaviors
(help group members to achieve their
goals) and relationship behaviors (help
subordinates feel comfortable with
themselves, with each other, and with
the situation)
 Style studies since late 1940’s
 Leadership Style &
Emotional Climate
Autocratic style -
the leader uses Democratic style -
strong, directive, the leader takes Laissez-fair style -
controlling actions collaborative, the leader fails to
to enforce the rules, reciprocal, accept the
regulations, interactive actions responsibilities of
activities, & with followers; the position;
relationships in the followers have high creates chaos in
work environment; degree of the work
followers have little discretionary environment
discretionary influence
influence
 Leadership Roles
 Early studies identified three different
styles:
 Autocratic
 Democratic
 Laissez-faire
 Leadership as Behavior
 Leadership as Behavior or Function (Skills)
 Leadership consists of certain behaviors, or
functions, that groups must have performed.
– 1. Task orientation
– 2. People orientation
– 3. Change-oriented behaviors
 Leadership
 Leadership Styles
– Manz and Sims (2001) reported:
1. The quality of group output was better under
democratic leadership.
2. Democratic leadership took more time than
autocratic.
3. Member satisfaction was higher under democratic
leadership.
4. The democratic group had the lowest
absenteeism.
5. The democratic group fostered more
independence.
 Contemporary Approaches to
Leadership
 Attribution theory
 Charismatic leadership
 Visionary leadership
 Transactional leadership
 Transformational leadership
 Emotional Intelligence
 TASK-ORIENTED V PEOPLE-
ORIENTED LEADERSHIP (Blake
and Mouton, 1964)
 TASK-ORIENTED  PEOPLE-ORIENTED
– task is uppermost; – concern for
– employee needs close subordinates’ needs;
supervision; – climate building;
– supervisor upset when – inquiries about
tasks not accomplished; problems;
– human aspect – can be
neglected; counterproductive if
– regular checks on work “overdone”.
progress;
– perceived as “tough”;
 Contingency Approach

Effective
leadership
behavior
depends on
the situation at
hand
 Contingency Leadership Theory
 Given the right context, every leadership
theory or model is the correct one.
 There is no one best style of leadership
 Leadership style must match the situation
The Continuum of Leadership Behavior
(Tannenbaum, 1974)

PUSH
Tells
Boss Sells
[Tests]
AUTOCRAT

Consults Employee

Joins

PULL
DEMOCRAT
 Autocractic or Democratic?

Reasons for a more participative or

democratic style:
 Information or expertise exists among
subordinates
 Greater understanding, acceptance and
support of decision by subordinates
LEADERSHIP STYLE MATRIX
High Supportive or Human- Participative or
relations Leadership Democratic Leadership

High Concern for People; High Concern for People;

Low Concern for Task High Concern for Task
People
Focus Directive or Autocratic
Abdicative or Laissez-
faire Leadership Leadership

Low Concern for People; Low Concern for People;

Low Concern for Task High Concern for Task
Low
Low High
Task Focus
Situational Leadership Theory
 Situational Leadership
 Strengths
– Practical: easy to understand and apply
– Prescriptive: tells what to do or what to do not
in various situations
– Leader’s flexibility: employees and leading
styles differ from situation to situation
 Criticisms
– Leader’s styles and employee’s development
level do not always match, there exist other
factors too
 Task vs. Relationship

Is best under
Task-oriented situations of high
Leadership or low control
Relationship-oriented
Leadership Is best under
situations of
moderate control
The Managerial Grid
 Contingency Leadership
Framework Variables

Leader
Followers Personality
Situation
Capability Task
traits
Motivation Structure
Behavior
Environment
Experience
 Leadership Continuum
“A continuum of leadership style extending
from complete retention of power by the
manager to complete freedom for
subordinates"
 Autocratic ("Telling")
 Diplomatic ("Selling)
 Consultative ("Consulting")
 Participative ("Joining")
What are the situational or contingency
leadership approaches?
 Leader traits and behaviors can act in
conjunction with situational contingencies.
 The effects of leader traits are enhanced by their
relevance to situational contingencies.
 Major situational contingency theories.
– Fiedler’s leadership contingency theory.
– House’s path-goal theory of leadership.
– Hersey and Blanchard’s situational leadership model.
– Vroom-Jago Normative decision theory
– Substitutes for Leadership
 Contingency Leadership
Theories
 The appropriate style of  Least Preferred Coworker
leadership is contingent on the (LPC)
requirements of the particular – Fiedler (1964, 1967, 1971)
situation and the situational
variables mediating the
interaction between leadership  Path-Goal Theory
behavior and situations – House (1971)
resulting in effectiveness or – House and Mitchell (1974)
“situational favorableness”
 Normative Decision-Making
 Only the leader possessing Model
particular qualities will arise – Vroom and Yetton (1973)
due to the specific situational – Vroom and Jago (1988)
circumstances requiring
specific leadership abilities
Path-Goal Theory
“You know what makes leadership? It is the
ability to get men to do what they don't
want to do and like it.” --Harry Truman
 Path-Goal Theory

 A theory of leadership suggesting that subordinates

will be motivated by a leader only to the extent they
perceive this individual as helping them to attain
valued goals.
 Four basic leadership styles:
– Instrumental (directive): An approach focused on providing
specific guidance and establishing work schedules and rules.
– Supportive: A style focused on establishing good relations with
subordinates and satisfying their needs.
– Participative: A pattern in which the leader consults with
subordinates, permitting them to participate in decisions.
– Achievement Oriented: An approach in which the leader sets
challenging goals and seeks improvements in performance.
 Path-Goal Leadership Model

Used to select the

leadership style that is
appropriate to the
situation to maximize
performance and job
satisfaction.
4 Basic Path-Goal Leadership Types

Instrumental (directive): An approach focused

on providing specific guidance and
establishing work schedules and rules.
Supportive: A style focused on establishing
good relations with subordinates and
satisfying their needs.
Participative: A pattern in which the leader
consults with subordinates, permitting them
to participate in decisions.
Achievement Oriented: An approach in which
the leader sets challenging goals and seeks
improvements in performance.
 Path-Goal Guidelines to Be
Effective Leader
 Determine the outcomes subordinates want
– e.g., good pay, job security, interesting work, and
autonomy to do one’s job, etc.
 Reward individuals with their desired outcomes
when they perform well
 Be clear with expectations
– Let individuals know what they need to do to receive
rewards (the path to the goal)
– Remove barriers that prevent high performance
– Express confidence that individuals have the ability to
perform well
 Path-Goal Leadership Styles
 Directive
– Informs subordinates of expectations, gives
guidance, shows how to do tasks
 Supportive
– Friendly and approachable, shows concern for
status, well-being and needs of subordinates
 Path-Goal Leadership Styles
 Participative
– Consults with subordinates, solicits suggestions, takes
suggestions into consideration
 Achievement oriented
– Sets challenging goals, expects subordinates to
perform at highest level, continuously seeks
improvement in performance, has confidence in
highest motivations of employees
 The Path-Goal Theory
Environmental
Situational Factors

Leader
Outcomes
Behavior

Subordinate
Situational Factors

Prentice Hall, 2000 Chapter 10 67

Transformational Leadership

 Since late 1970’s

 Part of the ’New leadership’ paradigm
 Attention to the charismatic and affective
elements of leadership
 A process that changes and transforms
individuals
 Emotions, values, ethics, standards, long-
term goals
 Incorporates charismatic and visionary
leadership
 Transactional and
Transformational Leaders

Transactional Transformational

Use formal rewards and Uses personal attributes to

punishments inspire followers

Deal making Excites followers

Contractual obligations
“The most powerful kind of
leadership is to offer people
pathways and permissions to do
things they want to do but feel
unable to do for themselves. That
sort of energy evokes energies
within people that far exceed the
powers of coercion.”

(Palmer 1993)
 True Leader
"A leader is best when people barely know
he exists.
Not so good when people obey and acclaim
him.
Worse when they despise him.
But of a good leader who talks little, when
his work is done and his aim fulfilled, they
will say, "We did it ourselves."
-- Lao Tsu, 600 B.C.
 Bass’s Theory of Transformational and
Transactional Leadership
 Transformational leaders possess charismatic-leader
characteristics (vision, rhetorical skills, etc.).
 Transactional leaders do not possess these leader
characteristics, nor are they able to develop strong
emotional bonds with followers or inspire followers
to do more than they thought they could. Instead,
transactional leaders motivate followers by setting
goals and promising rewards for desired
performance.
 Transactional &
Transformational Leadership
As a
transactional leader,
I use formal rewards
& punishments.

As a
transformational leader,
I inspire and excite
followers to high levels
of performance.
 Transformational Leadership
Theory
 Transformational leaders
– Are capable of charting new courses for their
organization.
– Are visionaries who challenge people to do
exceptional things, above and beyond the
plan.
 Transactional leaders
– Monitor people to see that they do the
expected, according to plan in order to
maintain the status quo.
– Get people to do things by offering a reward
 Understanding Transformational
Leadership
 Transactional leaders – pursue an economic
exchange with the employee in return for
contracted services rendered

 Transformational leaders – support employee’s

needs to move to higher levels of achievement
while simultaneously encouraging them to
transcend their own self-interest for the sake of
the team or organization
 REMEMBER . . .

25% of organisational productivity

is due to

employee satisfaction.
 Chris Argyris:
Personality and Organization
 Traditional management principles produce
conflict between people and organizations.
– Task specialization produces narrow, boring jobs that require
few skills.
– Directive leadership makes workers dependent and treats
them like children.
 Workers adapt to frustration in several ways:
– Withdraw—absenteeism or quitting
– Become passive, apathetic
– Resist top-down control through deception, featherbedding,
or sabotage
– Climb the hierarchy
– Form groups (such as labor unions)
– Train children to believe work is unrewarding
ZONE OF INDIFFERENCE

The Area Within Which

an Individual Will Comply
With Directives Without
Question.
 Follower Characteristics
 Identification with the leader and the
vision
 Heightened emotional levels
 Willing subordination to the leader
 Feelings of empowerment
 Five Types of Followers

Independent, critical thinking

Alienated Effective
followers followers

Survivors
Passive Active

Yes
Sheep people
Source: R. E. Kelley, “In Praise of
Followers,” Harvard Business Review 66
(1988): 145.

Independent, uncritical thinking

Dynamic Follower
 Responsible
steward of his or
her job
 Effective in
managing the
relationship with
the boss
 Practices self-
management
McGregor’s Theory X & Theory Y
McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y. (2
assumptions about basic nature)
 Theory X
– Workers are passive and lazy
– Prefer to be led
– Resist change
 Theory Y
– Management’s basis task is to ensure that workers
meet their important needs while they work
 Either theory can be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
 Motivation
McGregor’s Theory of
Motivation

THEORY Y
 Work is necessary to man’s psychological
growth
THEORY X
 Man wants to be interested in his work
 Man dislikes work and will avoid it if
and, under the right conditions he can
he can.
enjoy it
 Man must be forced or bribed to
 Man will direct himself towards an
put out the right effort.
accepted target
 Man would rather be directed than
 Man will seek, and accept responsibility
accept responsibility, which he
under the right conditions
avoids.
 The discipline a man imposes on himself
 Man is motivated mainly by money.
is more effective, and can be more
 Man is motivated by anxiety about severe, than any imposed on him
his security.
 Under the right conditions man is
 Most men have little creativity - motivated by the desire to realise his
except when it comes to getting own potential
round management rules!
 Creativity and ingenuity are widely
distributed and grossly underused.
Servant Leadership
Servant Leaders focus
on providing increased
service to others—meeting
the goals of both the
followers and the
organization—rather than
themselves
 Ten Characteristics
of the Servant Leader
1. Focus on listening
2. Ability to empathize with others’ feelings
3. Focus on healing suffering
4. Self-awareness of strengths and weaknesses
5. Use of persuasion rather than positional
authority to influence others
 Ten Characteristics of
the Servant Leader
6. Broad-based conceptual thinking
7. Ability to foresee future outcomes
8. Belief that they are stewards of their
employees and resources
9. Commitment to the growth of people
10. Drive to build community within and outside
the organization
 Benefits of Leading Without
Authority
 Latitude for creative deviance
– Easier to raise questions
 Issue focus
– Freedom to focus on single issue, rather than
many issues
 Frontline information
– Often closer to the people who have the
information
 Substitutes for Leadership
 In some situations, leader may not be
necessary
– Other factors may substitute for or neutralize
leader’s influence
 Potential substitutes:
– Individual characteristics
– Job structure
– Organizational characteristics
SUBSTITUTES FOR
LEADERSHIP
Subordinate Characteristics
 Ability
 Experience
 Training
 Knowledge
 Professional Orientation

Task Characteristics
 Unambiguous and Routine
 Methodologically Invariant
 Providing Feedback Itself
 Intrinsically Satisfying

Task Characteristics
 Closely-knit, Cohesive Work
Group
 Workers That Are Jobs That Are
Experienced or Unambiguous or
Highly-Trained Highly Satisfying

Is Leadership
Always Relevant?

Goals That Are

Workgroups
Formalized or
That Are Cohesive
Rules That Are Rigid
Prentice Hall, 2000 Chapter 10 90
 Implicit Leadership Theory
 We have a subjective mental prototype of
what leaders are like
– Attribute typical set of traits to leaders
– People who fit the prototype more likely to be
judged as effective leaders
 Prototypes and gender
 Leadership as Power
Power is the extent to which one person can
exert more force on other group members
than they, in turn, can exert to resist the
leader's intentions
 What is power?

 Power is the ability to …

– Get someone to do something you want done.
– Make things happen in the way you want.
 Influence is …
– What you have when you exercise power.
– Expressed by others’ behavioral response to
your exercise of power.
 Five Sources of Power

1. Legitimate Power all managers have; results

from managers’ formal positions within the
organization
2. Reward Power all managers have; results from
manager’s authority to reward their subordinates
3. Coercive Power all managers have; results from
the manager’s authority to punish subordinates
4. Expert Power is power resulting from one’s
specialized information or expertise
5. Referent Power power derived from one’s
personal attraction
 Outcomes of Power Use
 Commitment
– Influence target agrees with and internalizes request
– Referent & expert power
 Compliance
– Influence target is apathetic about request but agrees to carry it out
– Legitimate & reward power
 Resistance
– Influence target opposes request and avoids carrying it out
– Coercive power
Men’s and Women’s Leadership
Styles
 In general, women fall back on a democratic
leadership style
– Encourage participation
– Share power and information
– Attempt to enhance followers’ self-worth
– Prefer to lead through inclusion
 Men feel more comfortable with a directive
command-and-control style
– Rely on formal authority
Cultural Issues in Leadership
 Societal cultural values and practices
affect leaders:
– Shape the leader’s values and norms
– Influence decisions and actions

 Some features of leadership are

universal, others differ across cultures
– “Charismatic visionary” seems to be
universal
– Participative leadership works better in
some cultures than others
 Conclusions
 Leadership plays a central part in understanding
group behavior.
 Our understanding of leadership and the dynamics
continues to grow.
 Theories offer incomplete explanations.
 A lot of research has been done, illustrating the
complexity of leadership
 Leadership as person, role, & situation.
 Leader as an active, flexible pursuer of vision who
influences others towards achievement of vision.
 Conclusions
 Male and female leadership styles tend to
be more alike than different.
 No one style of leadership is always the
preferred leadership style.
 Leadership is not value free and culturally-
bound.