MGMT452 "What you would do" paper
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Ch4-ContingencyTheories-BB.pptContingency
Leadership
Theories
Chapter 4
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Contingency Leadership Theories
States that good leadership “depends”
Effective leadership is contingent on other factors besides the leader
There is no one best way to lead
Attempt to explain the appropriate leadership style based on the leader, followers, and situation
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Framework for Contingency Leadership Variables
FOLLOWERS LEADER SITUATION
Capability Personality traits Task
Motivation Behavior Structure
Experience Environment
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Path-Goal Theory of Leadership
(House, 1971)
“The motivational function of the leader consists of:
- increasing personal payoffs to subordinates for work-goal attainment
- making the path to these payoffs easier to travel by clarifying it, reducing roadblocks and pitfalls, and,
- increasing the opportunities for personal satisfaction with the leader”
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Path-Goal (cont.)
- Explanatory Processes – Expectancy Theory
- Leader Behaviors
- Supportive leadership
- Directive leadership
- Participative leadership
- Achievement-oriented leadership
- Situational Variables
- Task characteristics (routine, novel or complex, structured or unstructured)
- Subordinate characteristics (self-efficacy, motivation levels, level of experience)
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Leadership Styles
Directive
The leader provides high structure
Is appropriate when:
The followers want authoritative leadership
The followers have external locus of control
Follower ability is low
The environmental task is complex or ambiguous
Formal authority is strong
The work group provides job satisfaction
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Leadership Styles (cont.)
Supportive
The leader provides high consideration
Is appropriate when:
The followers do not want authority leadership
The followers have internal locus of control
Follower ability is high
The environmental tasks are simple
Formal authority is weak
The work group does not provide job satisfaction
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Leadership Styles (cont.)
Participative
The leader includes employee input into decision making
Is appropriate when:
Followers want to be involved
Followers have internal locus of control
Follower ability is high
The environmental task is complex
Authority is either strong or weak
Job satisfaction is either high or low
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Leadership Styles (cont.)
Achievement-oriented
The leader provides both high directive (structure) and high supportive (consideration) behavior
Is appropriate when:
Followers are open to autocratic leadership
Followers have external locus of control
Follower ability is high
The environmental task is simple or complex
Followers have a need to excel
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Situational Leadership Theory
(Hersey & Blanchard, 1977)
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There are factors outside the leader’s control that neutralize or substitute for leadership
Have a larger impact on outcomes than do leadership actions
Include characteristics of the subordinate, task, and organization that replace the need for a leader
Leadership Substitutes Theory
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Leader Substitutes
Follower Characteristics:
- Ability
- Knowledge
- Experience
- Training
- Need for autonomy
- Indifference to org rewards
- Professional orientation
Task Characteristics:
- Clarity
- Routine
- Provision of feedback on accomplishment
- Intrinsic satisfaction
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Substitutes and Neutralizers (cont.)
Characteristics of the organization:
Formalization
Highly specified and active advisory and staff functions
Closely knit, cohesive work groups
Organizational rewards not within the leader’s control
Spatial distance between leader and followers
