Great Man TheoryLeaders are born, not made. This approach emphasized that a person is born with or without the necessary traits of leaderships.Early explanations of leadership studied the “traits” of great leaders“Great man” theories (Gandhi, Lincoln, Napoleon)Belief that people were born with these traits and only the great people possessed themGreat Man approach actually emphasis “charismatic” leadership. charisma being the Greek word for gift. No matter what group such a natural leader finds himself in, he will always be recognized for what he is. According to the great man theory of leadership, leadership calls for certain qualities like commanding personality, charm, courage, intelligence, persuasiveness and aggressiveness.

Trait theory

Leadership Traits:Ambition and energyThe desire to leadHonesty and integritySelf-confidenceIntelligenceJob-relevant knowledgeThe trait theory is based on the great man theory, but it is more systematic in its analysis of leaders. Like the great man theory, this theory assumes that the leader’s personal traits are the key to leadership success.Traits of LeadersIntelligence Physical Features Inner Motivation Maturity Vision & ForesightAcceptance of Responsibility Open-Minded and adaptability Self-confidence Human Relations Attitude Fairness and Objectivity Limitations:No universal traits that predict leadership in all situations.Traits predict behavior better in “weak” than “strong” situations.Unclear evidence of the cause and effect of relationship of leadership and traits.Better predictor of the appearance of leadership than distinguishing effective and ineffective leaders.

Behavioral TheoryIn contrast with trait theory, behavioural theory attempts to describe leadership in terms of what leaders do, while trait theory seeks to explain leadership on the basis of what leaders are. Leadership according to this approach is the result of effective role behaviour. Leadership is shown by a person’s acts more than by his traits. This is an appropriate new research strategy adopted by Michigan Researchers in the sense that the emphasis on the traits is replaced by the emphasis on leader behaviour (which could be measured). Theories proposing that specific behaviors differentiate leaders from non leaders.

• Pattern of actions used by different individuals determines leadership potential

• Examples– Autocratic, democratic and laissez-faire– Michigan Studies: Employee centered versus

task centered– Theories that attempt to isolate behaviors that

differentiate effective leaders from ineffective leaders

– Behavioral studies focus on identifying critical behavioral determinants of leadership that, in turn, could be used to train people to become leaders

Ohio State Studies

University of Michigan Studies

Contingency TheoriesWhile trait and behavior theories do help us understand leadership, an important component is missing: the environment in which the leader exists.Contingency Theory deals with this additional aspect of leadership effectiveness studies.

1. Identifying Leadership Style• Fiedler believes a key factor in leadership success is the

individual’s basic leadership styleSo he created the Least Prefer Co-worker (LPC) Questionnaire

• LPC:-An instrument that tells to measure whether a person is task or relationship oriented

• If the low LPC score then the person is task oriented• If the high LPC score then the person is relationship

oriented• If the low LPC score then the person is task oriented

2) Defining the SituationFiedler identified three contingency dimensions that define the key situational factors1. Leader-member relations:The degree of confidence, trust, and respect, members have in the

leader 2. Task structure:The degree to which the job assignments are procedurized 3. Position Power:The degree of influence a leader has over power variables such as hiring, firing, promotion etc.3) Matching leaders and SituationsAfter knowing the leadership style through LPC and defining all the situations, we will chose the leader who will fit for the situation.Two ways in which to improve leader effectiveness1)Change the leader to fit the situation2)Change the situation to fit the leader

Cognitive Resource TheoryA theory of leadership that states that stress unfavorably effects the situation, and intelligence, and experience can lessen the influence of stress on the leader.A refinement of Fielder’s original model:Focuses on stress as the enemy of rationality and creator of unfavorable conditionsA leader’s intelligence and experience influence his or her reaction to that stressStress Levels:Low Stress: Intellectual abilities are effectiveHigh Stress: Leader experiences are effectiveResearch is supporting the theoryHersey & Blanchard’s Situational Leadership (SLT)A model that focuses on follower “readiness”Followers can accept or reject the leaderEffectiveness depends on the followers’ response to the leader’s actions“Readiness” is the extent to which people have the ability and willingness to accomplish a specific taskA paternal model: As the child matures, the adult releases more and more control over the situationAs the workers become more ready, the leader becomes more laissez-faireHersey and Blencherd identify four specific leader behaviorsThe most effective behavior depends on the follower’s ability and motivation

1. If followers are unable and unwilling to do a task,the leader needs to give specific and clear directions.

2. If followers are unable and willing,The leader need to display a high task orientation.

3. If the followers are able and unwilling,The leader needs to use a supportive and participative style.

4. If followers are both able and willing,The leader doesn't need to do much.

Leader Member Exchange TheoryLeaders create in-groups and out-groups, and subordinates with ingroup status will have higher performances ratings, less turnover,and greater satisfaction with their superior.LMX Premise:Because of time pressures, leaders form a special relationship with asmall group of followers: the “in-group”This in-group is trusted and gets more time and attention from the

leader (more “exchanges”)All other followers are in the “out-group” and get less of the leader’s

attention and tend to have formal relationships with the leader (fewer “exchanges”)

Leaders pick group members early in the relationship

House path goal theoryThe theory that a leader’s behavior is acceptable to subordinates

insofar as they view it as a source of either immediate or future satisfaction.

The Theory: Leaders provide followers with information, support, and resources

to help them achieve their goalsLeaders help clarify the “path” to the worker’s goalsLeaders can display multiple leadership types

Four types of leaders:Directive: focuses on the work to be doneSupportive: focuses on the well-being of the workerParticipative: consults with employees in decision-makingAchievement-Oriented: sets challenging goalsYroom & Yetton’s Leader-Participation ModelA leadership theory that provides a set of rules to determine the

form and amount of participative decision making in different situations.

How a leader makes decisions is as important as what is decidedPremise:Leader behaviors must adjust to reflect task structure“Normative” model: tells leaders how participative to be in their

decision-making of a decision tree.

Case Study No. 4

Problem:

Employers face major challenges when they consider the increasing difficulty of finding skilled people, a younger workforce with different attitudes about work, and a growing population of older workers heading toward retirement. HR executives state the single greatest challenge they have in managing the workforce is their organization's inability to recruit and retain good employees and managers.

The organization experiencing a high turnover in their employees. His Human Resources staff was spending more and more time recruiting, hiring, and training replacements. As soon as they got them trained, they would be gone in six months. Customers were upset and complaints were increasing.

Solution:

The CEO decided to explore the main reasons people were quitting. He identified new strategies and tactics such as creating an emerging leaders program, providing training for managers, and improving their employee recognition program. As a result, they are now attracting better talent and more importantly, have retained their

best people. The Human Resource Department is happier because they are not spending all their time conducting training. The CEO can improve their ability to attract, retain and improve productivity by applying the following five-step PRIDE process:

P - Provide a Positive Working EnvironmentR - Recognize, Reward and Reinforce the Right BehaviorI - Involve and EngageD - Develop Skills and PotentialE - Evaluate and Measure

One of the main reasons employees quit is the relationship with their first-line supervisor. The fact is many supervisors and managers are unaware how their actions and decisions affect employee turnover. A critical aspect of an effective retention strategy is manager training. Properly trained managers play a major role in an effective recruitment and retention strategy. Managers need the skills, tools, and knowledge to help them understand their employees' retention needs and be able to implement a retention plan designed to increase employee engagement in the organization. Money and benefits may attract people to the front door, but something else has to keep them from going out the back. People have a basic human need to feel appreciated and proud of their work. Recognition and incentive programs help meet that need. People may show up for work, but are they engaged and productive? People are more committed and engaged when they can contribute their ideas and suggestions. This gives them a sense of ownership. For most people, career opportunities are just as important as the money they make. In a study by Linkage, Inc. more than 40 percent of the respondents said they would consider leaving their present employer for another job with the same benefits if that job provided better career development and greater challenges. Continuous evaluation and never-ending improvement is the final step of the PRIDE system. The primary purpose of evaluation is to measure progress and determine what satisfies and de-satisfies your workforce. The evaluation process includes the measurement of attitudes, morale, turnover, and the engagement level of the workforce. Here is a checklist of items that should be included in your evaluation and measurement process.

Motivation is the driving force that causes the flux

from desire to will in life. For example, hunger is a motivation that elicits a desire to eat.

Motivation has been shown to have roots in physiological, behavioral, cognitive, and social areas. Motivation may be rooted in a basic impulse to optimize well-being, minimize physical pain and maximize pleasure. It can also originate from specific physical needs such as eating, sleeping or resting, and sex.

Motivation is an inner drive to behave or act in a certain manner. These inner conditions such as wishes, desires and goals, activate to move in a particular direction in behavior.

FUNSome workers really want to enjoy the work they do. Many who enjoy the activities they participate in at work look forward to the day each morning. The opposite also can be true when workers don’t enjoy the tasks they perform at work, but they may like their social activities after work (golf, softball leagues, shows, movies, going out with friends, community events). These are the individuals that get excited at the end of the day — knowing that the fun can now begin. Leaders should take notice of these signs. If your workers are more excited at the end of the day (to leave) than they are at the

beginning of the day (to arrive), then there is probably a lack of motivation taking place in the area of intrinsic process — or FUN.Here are 20 things leaders can do to make the workplace and the experience of working more enjoyable for workers:

1. Find out which tasks are each of your employee’s favorites.2. Find ways to assign more of the tasks they enjoy and fewer of the

ones they don’t like to do.3. If you are a good joke teller, tell lots of them.4. If you aren’t much of a joke teller, buy a joke book and learn one

joke a day to tell to your workers (keep them appropriate for your work setting).

5. Many people love to laugh on the job — a happy worker is a good worker — so let there be laughter in the workplace.

6. If you know of a worker with a great sense of humor, ask them every day if they’ve heard any good jokes lately.

7. Do something interesting with the lunchroom or breakroom to give it more personality.

8. Create a quote of the week board for people who have said the funniest things on the job.

9. Create a social calendar or events board so employees can link up for activities after work.

10. Make laughter a priority when interacting with your employees.11. Plan social events for your employees.12. Organize a company ball (softball, baseball, basketball, volleyball,

football) game.13. Sponsor a company barbecue.14. Take your employees out to dinner or invite them to your house for

dinner.15. Organize a company golf outing.16. Schedule important meetings off-site at out-of-the-ordinary

locations.17. Always start a meeting with something social or fun before you get

down to business.18. Make sure that every meeting has some scheduled fun time.19. Have company-wide events that are intended to let everyone have

fun.20. Take your employees to a state tournament game in the

community.REWARDSMany workers need to know their work will be rewarded to be motivated to perform. Many leaders read this statement and will say, “Hey, I’m paying this person X per hour to do this job, so that should be enough.” This may be somewhat true, you may be paying this person X amount of money to perform the job. But for a person motivated in this way, this is expected. This is the bare minimum. No frills. Per hour pay is what keeps people coming to work, but this isn’t what will motivate them to excel in their work. People motivated by rewards will look beyond whether they are getting something tangible for their work. They will also consider what others are getting for their work and often will compare their output with others. For example, if a worker notices that he or she consistently outperforms coworkers, but knows that that coworkers earn a higher salary, this will not sit well with a person motivated by rewards. In fact, it will make a worker want to work less hard if colleagues earn more without being more productive. The opposite also works against motivating an instrumentally motivated worker. If a worker earns more than a colleague, but is less productive than the other worker, this won’t cause this person to work harder. It will not cause this person to change their effort level at all. The reason for this is that if a worker motivated by REWARDS doesn’t think that his or her pay really depends on how well they perform, then they won’t be motivated to work harder. Extra effort and hard work will come from these individuals only when it is clearly rewarded and when it will affect their REWARDS. Here are 20 ways to motivate people motivated by REWARDS.

1. Create incentive-laden pay scales (less output = less pay, more output = more pay).

2. Create a sales contest (if applicable) with several prizes to go to the top performers.

3. Create clear work objectives and goals for workers to pursue in order to earn salary increments (no performance = no raise).

4. If workers know they must perform to achieve good salary increases, they will be motivated to work hard.

5. Remind workers of what they will get for their efforts.6. Avoid across-the-board raises (this sends the message that it

doesn’t matter whether you work hard or not).7. Create incentives attached to predetermined objectives and tasks.8. Offer to pay part or all of country or health club membership dues

for the outstanding performer of the year.9. Create a generous bonus structure with a benchmark that may seem

unreachable, then watch them reach it.10. Give special rewards to top performers on a regular basis.

11. Remind workers that performance evaluations are just around the corner (if they are) and that what you are asking them to do will affect their review.

12. Make clear expectations of what you expect from your workers and hold them to it when it comes time to putting your “money where your mouth is.”

13. If workers don’t perform to expectations, hold them accountable by giving them no raise, no bonus, or no promotion.

14. Offer extra holiday time for outstanding performers (make sure that workers know about the incentive well in advance).

15. Develop perks or prizes for individuals who can perform the best in a functional area for a given week (make sure you give the prize to the worker who performed best).

16. Don’t pass out rewards evenly to all employees in an effort to include everyone. This demotivates the instrumentally motivated person.

17. Be fair! These workers will watch closely to see what the consequences are of everyone’s actions.

18. Follow through on all of your promises.19. Make sure that workers do not receive perks if they haven’t earned

them.20. Remind workers which tasks will be most important for their

performance evaluations.REPUTATIONPeople motivated by reputation have a strong need to enhance their image or esteem with others. There are a lot of people out there who want others to think highly of them. Many people are just plain hungry, starving in fact, for some attention and accolades. Individuals striving for popularity or fame characterize the self-concept — external motivation. Many workers will not work hard unless they believe their efforts will be noticed and recognized. Workers often say things like, “My boss doesn’t really care what I do or how I do it.” Other workers will work hard for a short while until they realize that their boss doesn’t verbalize any appreciation for their efforts. When this happens, motivation disappears. People motivated by this source will go to great lengths to save face in the public eye. These are the individuals who take great pride in their appearance, in the clothes they wear, the cars they drive, the neighborhood they live, and other outward things. These people are seeking approval from others. Here are 18 ways to motivate persons who are motivated by their REPUTATION.

1. Give workers lots of feedback about the way they are performing.2. Give praise in front of other people (the more people that know

they did well the better!).3. Criticize these individuals only in private (never in front of others).4. Give unsolicited compliments and positive reinforcement to

workers for jobs with which you are satisfied.5. Tell your workers that you appreciate the work they do.6. Start a suggestion box and publish the best suggestion made each

week on the company bulletin board (make sure everyone knows that the best suggestions will be published).

7. Tell people they are important both to the business and to you.8. Ask workers if anything interesting happened to them this

weekend (they love to share their stories).9. Make sure that you give credit to everyone that contributes (never

leave people out when they make an impact).10. Give out certificates of appreciation to anyone who does

extraordinarily well for the company.11. Recognize the outstanding performers in the group at every staff

meeting.12. Consider starting an employee recognition system (employee of

the month, department employee of the month).13. Create plaques and awards for top sales people, staff, producers,

etc.14. Put up an achievement board in the lunchroom to highlight some

of the great things that have happened in the company and who was responsible!

15. Put up pictures and biographies of all your employees in a central place.

16. Sponsor an awards ceremony to recognize all of the award winners.

17. Include unique pieces of information about each employee and change these items from week to week (example: favorite ice cream flavor, worst day ever, thing that I’m most proud of, etc.).

18. At company-wide meetings, create and announce serious and fun “superlatives” (example: hardest worker, cleanest car, spiffiest dressed, most versatile, cleanest shoes, most athletic, most reliable).

CHALLENGE

Research shows that most leaders in this state and in the nation seem to have extraordinary levels of self-concept — internal. This means that leaders tend to be motivated from within and like to challenge themselves with new skills and developmental opportunities. Some leaders think that this is the only way that people are motivated. Many leaders believe if people aren’t motivated in this way, then they are simply unmotivated. This is a classic example that highlights the fact that motivation is not one-size-fits-all. Leaders must be aware that not all people are motivated in the same way or by the same things. In Nebraska, this source of motivation is the predominant but not the exclusive way to motivate. This does not mean that leaders can ignore the other four sources of motivation. University of Nebraska–Lincoln researchers have yet to find a single individual in the state or country that is motivated solely by any ONE source of motivation. Even though self-concept — internal is highest (on average) in Nebraska, the other four sources of motivation are just as important to learn and to develop ways to tap.Here are 10 ways to motivate people motivated by CHALLENGE.

1. Stay out of their way and let them do the work if they know how to do it.

2. Assign tasks that require their skills and talents.3. Find out what they think is their best skill and encourage them to

use this with the tasks you assign.4. Find out what area this person wants to most improve in and find

ways for them to work on this skill.5. Find ways to help them to continually develop their abilities.6. Avoid assigning mundane tasks to these workers.7. Play devil’s advocate and challenge them by saying, “I’m not sure

if you are up to this challenge, but...”8. Give them a challenge, then get out of their way.9. Give them autonomy to structure and perform their job as they see

best.10. Don’t insult them by asking them to do something that just about

anybody could do (they need to know that they are uniquely qualified to do it).

PURPOSEIndividuals who are motivated by purpose look beyond themselves. They really aren’t concerned with their own self-interests or with who may notice what they’ve done or whether they are being pushed and challenged. What matters to a person motivated by a strong sense of purpose is that they must believe in what the organization is doing. If they agree with what the company stands for and what the company is trying to do, then they will join in and give their fullest efforts to achieve the organization goals. However, if these individuals don’t feel called by the vision or PURPOSE, they will seem rather lethargic or uninterested in what’s going on. Instead their best efforts will be reserved for other causes in their lives more deserving (to them) of their heart and soul effort. These are the individuals who commonly will work very hard on community-based problems or charity drives. These individuals often volunteer for Red Cross or the United Way, trying to make a positive impact for society as a whole. If you’re a boss and notice that some of your average or below-average workers are exceptional at charity drives or much more enthusiastic about their volunteer and service projects than their day job, this may indicate that the person is motivated by goal internalization (purpose).Nine ways to motivate people high in PURPOSE or goal internalization are listed below.

1. Communicate the purpose of tasks being assigned.2. Make sure the company has a vision and mission that it is

pursuing.3. Communicate the organization’s vision and purpose on a daily

basis.4. Refer to the purpose of the organization and “why we exist” when

outlining strategies and goals.5. Remind employees of who depends on this organization to succeed

(families, communities, industry, producers).6. Discuss why (in terms of contributing to the mission) things need

to occur.7. Remind workers how their efforts make a difference for the

company in its pursuit of it vision.8. Make links between their work and the company vision so they can

see how they fit into the bigger picture.9. Include workers in the visioning and strategic planning process so

that they feel they have a stake in the organizational outcomes.If you can find ways to tap all five sources of motivation described in this publication, you will tap into everyone’s motivation and you also will have the most productive, energetic, and upbeat organization that you could ever imagine. Research has shown that leaders capable of tapping the five motives experience less turnover, less absenteeism, higher productivity, and higher profits in their organizations. In today’s society, it’s not just the decisions and strategies of leaders that matter, it’s also their ability to motivate their employees. Find a great motivator and you’ve found a great leader.