Leadership Theory

BMG 302 Organizational Leadership

Tom Peters Video

• Http://vimeo.com/1056137

Schools of Leadership Theory• Trait Theory

– Stodgill• Behavioural/Competence Theory

– Mc Gregor Theory X/Y– Blake and Mouton - Managerial Grid

• Contingency/Situational Theory– Tannenbaum and Schmidt– Hersey and Blanchard

• Transformational– Burns– Bass• Emotional Intelligence• Distributed/Relational Leadership (Dispersed,

shared, connective and brokered)

Trait (‘Great Man’) TheoryLeaders are born with certain characteristics

• Leaders are born with specific characteristics

• Stodgill’s classic review of 120 surveys revealed 23 different traits identified many inconsistencies

• Contemporary theories e.g transformational, emotional intelligence conform to the trait approach

Big Five TraitsSource: Based on Hogan, R, Curphy, G and Hogan, J. (1994) ‘What we Know About Personality:Leadership and Effectiveness’, American Psychologist, 49, pp493-504

Big Five Personality Traits Specific Traits

Surgency Extroversion (Outgoing)Energy/Activity LevelNeed for Power (Assertive)

Conscientiousness DependabilityPersonal IntegrityNeed for Achievement

Agreeableness Cheerful and optimisticNurturance (sympathetic,helpful)Need for affiliation

Adjustment Emotional stabilitySelf-esteemSelf-Control

Intellectance Curious and inquisitiveOpen-mindedLearning oriented

Kets De Vries - 1994• Identified a number of commonalities in trait leadership

research:– Conscientiousness– Extroversion– Dominance– Self-confidence– Energy– Agreeableness– Intelligence– Openness to experience– Emotional stability

• Suggested meaning is open-ended and traits would need to be tested using clinical methodologies

Kets De Vries, M.R.F. (1994) ‘The Leadership Mystique’, Academy of Management Executive, 8(3):73-92

Implications of Trait Theory • Creates a hegemonic or powerful elite with particular traits• This elite then creates entry barriers based on assessment of

these traits – ie homogenizing• Net effect inequality – race, gender, religion (See Reward

Data)• Privileges the role of the leader and emphasises

individualism/heroism• May prevent a questioning culture within the organization

which may be damaging/corrupting (E.g. Enron Case) • Ignores other aspects of the leadership dynamic ie context –

creates ‘one-size fits all’ model• Under-resourced management development• Resistance to change• Imbalanced leadership profiles

Top earning CEOs

No. NAME COMPANYTOTAL SALARY

PACKAGE, £m1 Bart Becht Reckitt Benckiser 36.76 2 Aidan Heavey Tullow Oil 28.84 3 Chip Goodyear BHP Billiton 23.82 4 Sir Martin Sorrell WPP 19.71 5 Arun Sarin Vodafone 13.75 6 John Pluthero Cable & Wireless 10.63 7 Jean-Pierre Garnier GSK 10.33 8 Frank Chapman BG Group 10.10 9 Paul Pindar Capita 9.86 10 Sir Terry Leahy Tesco 9.11

Top earning women

Rank Name Company Job titleTotal salary package, £m

1 Cynthia Carroll Anglo American CEO 3.98 2 Linda Cook Royal Dutch Shell Executive 3.88 3 Marjorie Scardino Pearson CEO 3.79 4 Bridget McIntyre RSA Executive 2.55 5 Lucy Neville-Rolfe Tesco Executive 2.41 6 Rona Fairhead Pearson Executive 2.04

7 Clara Furse London Stock Exchange

CEO 1.98

8 Alison Cooper Imperial Tobacco Executive 1.35 9 Kate Bostock Marks & Spencer Executive 1.2 10 Dorothy Thompson Drax CEO 0.89

Inequality of Leadership Reward – 2009 Guardian Executive Reward Survey

Rank Name Company Average wage

CEO total pay compared to average wage in company

1 Bart Becht Reckitt Benckiser

26749 1374.2

2 Sir Terry Leahy

Tesco 10047 907.0

3 Johannes Sittard

Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation

4311 643.7

4 Sir Martin Sorrell

WPP 31247 630.7

5 Paul Adams British American Tobacco

16362 391.2

6 Nick Buckles G4S 6295 328.4

7 Aidan Heavey Tullow Oil 88125 327.2

8 Graham Mackay

SABMiller 18358 214.7

9 Vladimir Kim Kazakhmys 7773 183.1

10 Micky Arison Carnival 11907 152.6

The biggest pay gaps – Guardian Executive Pay Survey 2009

Behavioural Thoery

• 1950’s research at Ohio State University explored the relevance of leader behaviour in the workplace

• Primarily researched by questionnaire data

• Generated lists of behaviours and reduced this to 150 items of good examples or important leadership functions

McGregor’s Theory X and Y (1960:33-4)

• Theory X– people dislike work– people lack ambition

or goals– people must be

coerced, controlled, directed

– punishments/threats must be used to control behaviour

• Theory Y– work is natural people

enjoy it– people can self-direct

and self-control– under the right

conditions people accept responsibility

– people are creative

McGregor,D. (1960) The Human Side of Enterprise. New York:McGraw-Hill

Implications

• Theory X managers supervise directly, control all aspects of work and really on coercive power and threats of punishment to direct behaviour and use one way communication (autocratic)

• Theory Y managers give staff freedom and scope, encourage people to use initiative and rely on two way communication (democratic)

Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid

Blake and Mouton• Leader’s behaviour is influenced by two

variables

1 Concern for Production– Degree of emphasis placed on achieving

tasks and getting results

2 Concern for People– Degree of emphasis a manager gives to

the needs and expectations of staff

Implications of Behavioural Theory

• Investment in leadership development• Focus on performance management• Development of ‘fast-track’ or accelerated career programmes• But• Creates a homogenized model of leadership behaviour• Potential for inequality• Questionnaire technique open to bias ie ambiguous items –

Yukl (2006:55)• Causality of behaviour and effect difficult to prove i.e

– Considerate behaviour results in increased subordinate behaviour

– Or – Leaders are more supportive of high performing subordinates

Yukl, G. (2006) ‘Leadership in Organizations’, Sixth Edition, Pearson Education:New Jersey

Contingency/Situational Theory• Tannenbaum and Schmidt Leadership

Continuum (1958)• Appropriate behaviour influenced by three forces:

– Forces in the manager ( personality, values, preferences, beliefs, confidence in subordinates)

– Forces in the subordinates (need for independence, tolerance of ambiguity, knowledge of the problem, involvement)

– Forces in the situation (organisational norms, size and location of work groups, effectiveness of team working, nature of the problem)

Tannenbaum, R., and Scmidt, W.H. (1958) ‘How to choose a leadership pattern’, Harvard Business Review, 36 (March-April), 95-101

Tannenbaum and Schmidt Leadership Continuum

Hersey and Blanchard 1977• Situational Leadership model

• Four basic leadership styles:– S1 Telling - high amounts of task behaviour,

telling subordinates what, when and how to do it, little relationship behaviour

– S2 Selling - high amounts of task and relationship behaviour

– S3 Participating - lots of relationship and support, but little direction or task behaviour

– S4 Delegating - not much task or relationship behaviour

Hersey, P., and Blanchard, K.H. (1977) The management of organizational behavior, 3rd Edition, Englewood Cliffs, NJ:Prentice HAll

Implications of Contingency/Situational Theory

• Attempts to address other variables but often oversimplifies complex frameworks

• Variables of the leadership dynamic are infinite (?) organization size,competitive position, customer base, employee groups, market complexity etc etc

Charismatic Leadership

• Some theorists distinguish charismatic leadership and transformational others do not

• Charisma originates in Greek ‘divinely inspired gift’ used by Weber (1947) to ‘describe a form of influence based not on formal authority but on follower perceptions that the leader is endowed with exceptional qualities’ (Yukl,2006:249)

• Charisma linked to leaders that: create an appealing vision; are uncoventional; take risks and make sacrifices; are confident; inspire through emotional appeals.

Negative Consequences of Charismatic Leaders

• May reduce good suggestions by followers

• Desire for leader acceptance inhibits criticisms

• Adoration by followers create sense of infallibility in leader

• Over-confidence may mask risks

• Denial of problems diminishes organisationl learning

• Taking complete credit for success may alienate some followers

• Impulsive , unconventional behaviour creates opponents

• Dependence on leader inhibits development of successors

• Lack of succession present leadership crisis

• Source : Yukl, 2006:260

Conclusions

• Leadership is a broad-based discipline• There are many conventional frameworks for

analysing leadership in organisations• There are strengths and limitations present in each

model both at empirical and theoretical levels• A unitarist perspective is one which is leader-

centred and derived from a perception that the leader’s behaviour, traits or abilities direct the leadership process

• What other dimensions of the leadership process or relationship exist and how do these impact on its delivery?