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What Is Leadership?

Leadership occurs when particular individuals exert influence on the goal achievement of others

in an organizational context. Effective leadership exerts influence in a way that achieves

organizational goals by enhancing the productivity, innovation, satisfaction, and commitment of

the workforce.

Strategic leadership refers to a leader’s “ability to anticipate, envision, maintain flexibility, think

strategically, and work with others to initiate changes that will create a viable future for the

organization.” Strategic leaders are open and honest in their interactions with the organization’s

stakeholders, and they focus on the future

Some people occupy formal or assigned leadership roles in which they are expected to influence

others and are given specific authority to direct employees. Others may be informal leaders who

must rely on being well liked or perceived as highly skilled in order to exert influence.

Are Leaders Born? The Search for Leadership Traits

Throughout history, social observers have been fascinated by obvious examples of successful

interpersonal influence. The implicit assumption is that those who become leaders and do a good

job of it possess a special set of traits that distinguish them from the masses of followers. Trait

theories of leadership, however, did not receive serious scientific attention until the 1900s.

Research on Leadership Traits According to trait theory, those who become leaders and perform

well possess a special set of traits which distinguishes them from the masses of followers. Traits

are personal characteristics of the individual, including physical characteristics, intellectual

ability, and personality. Research studies indicate that some traits are associated with leadership.

In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in the study of leadership traits, and a number

of studies have shown that certain traits are closely linked to leadership including intelligence

and several of the “Big Five” personality dimensions (agreeableness, extraversion, and openness

to experience). However, the usefulness of these findings and the trait approach is questionable.

Limitations of the Trait Approach Even though some traits appear to be related to leadership,

there are several reasons why the trait approach is not the best means of understanding and

improving leadership. First, it is difficult for us to determine whether traits make the leader, or

the opportunity for leadership produces traits. Second, even if we know which traits are

associated with effective leadership, we have no information about the way to train and develop

leaders and no way to diagnose failures of leadership. The most crucial problem of the trait

approach to leadership is its failure to take into account the situation in which leadership occurs.

And although some traits are associated with leadership, traits are only a precondition for certain

actions that a leader must take in order to be successful.

The Behaviour of Assigned Leaders

What are the crucial behaviours that leaders engage in, and how do these behaviours influence

employee performance and satisfaction? The most involved, systematic study of leadership

begun at Ohio State University. This research had employees describe their superiors along a

number of behavioural dimensions. This revealed two basic types of leadership behaviour —

consideration and initiating structure.

Consideration and Initiating Structure Consideration is the extent to which a leader is

approachable and shows personal concern for employees. The considerate leader is seen as

friendly and egalitarian, expresses appreciation and support, and is protective of group welfare.

Initiating structure is the degree to which a leader concentrates on group goal attainment. The

structuring leader clearly defines and organizes his or her role and the roles of followers, stresses

standard procedures, schedules the work to be done, and assigns employees to particular tasks. A

leader can be high, low, or average on one or both dimensions.

The Consequences of Consideration and Structure

Research shows that consideration and initiating structure both contribute positively to

employees’ motivation, job satisfaction, and leader effectiveness. However, consideration is

more strongly related to follower satisfaction (leader satisfaction and job satisfaction),

motivation, and leader effectiveness, while initiating structure is slightly more strongly related to

leader job performance and group performance.

There is some evidence that the relative importance of consideration and initiating structure

varies according to the nature of the leadership situation:

• When employees are under a high degree of pressure due to deadlines, unclear tasks, or

external threat, initiating structure increases satisfaction and performance.

• When the task itself is intrinsically satisfying, the need for high consideration and high

structure is generally reduced.

• When the goals and methods of performing the job are very clear and certain, consideration

should promote employee satisfaction, while structure might promote dissatisfaction.

• When employees lack knowledge as to how to perform a job, or the job itself has vague goals

or methods, consideration becomes less important while initiating structure takes on additional

importance.

Leader Reward and Punishment Behaviours

Two additional leader behaviours that have been the focus of research are leader reward

behaviour and leader punishment behaviour. Leader reward behaviour provides employees with

compliments, tangible benefits, and deserved special treatment. Leader punishment behaviour

involves the use of reprimands or unfavourable task assignments and the active withholding of

raises, promotions, and other rewards. Contingent leader reward and punishment behaviour is

positively related to employees’ perceptions (e.g., trust in supervisor), attitudes (e.g., job

satisfaction and organizational commitment), and behaviour (e.g., effort, performance,

organizational citizenship behaviour). Noncontingent punishment behaviour is negatively related

to these outcomes. The manner in which leaders administer rewards and punishment is a critical

determinant of their effectiveness. Leader reward and punishment behaviour is related to

employee attitudes and behaviours because it leads to more positive perceptions of justice and

lower role ambiguity.

Situational Theories of Leadership

The situation refers to the setting in which influence attempts occur. The setting includes the

characteristics of the employees, the nature of the task they are performing, and characteristics of

the organization. According to situational theories of leadership, the effectiveness of a leader’s

style or behaviour depends on the situation. Two situational theories of leadership that are among

the best known and most studied are Fiedler’s Contingency Theory and House’s Path Goal

Theory.

Fiedler’s Contingency Theory

Fiedler’s Contingency Theory suggests that the association between leadership orientation and

group effectiveness is contingent on how favourable the situation is for the exerting influence.

Fiedler has measured leadership orientation by having leaders describe their Least Preferred Co-

Worker (LPC), a current or past co-worker with whom the leader had a difficult time

accomplishing a task. The leader who describes the LPC relatively favourably (a high LPC

score) is considered relationship oriented, while the leader who describes the LPC unfavourably

(a low LPC score) is considered task oriented. High LPC leaders are motivated to maintain

interpersonal relations, while low LPC leaders are motivated to accomplish the task. Fiedler has

argued that the LPC score reveals a personality trait that reflects the leader’s motivational

structure.

Situational Favourableness.

Situational favourableness is the “contingency” part of Contingency Theory as it specifies when

a particular LPC orientation should contribute most to group effectiveness. The factors that affect

situational favourableness, in order of importance, are leader-member relations, task structure,

and position power.

The situation is most favourable for leadership when leader-member relations are good, the task

is structured, and the leader has strong position power. The situation is least favourable when

leader-member relations are poor, the task is unstructured, and the leader has weak position

power.

Fiedler’s model suggests that a task orientation is most effective when the leadership situation is

very favourable or when it is very unfavourable. In conditions of medium favourability, a

relationship orientation will be most effective.

Research Evidence. Although there is reasonable support for Fiedler’s Contingency Theory,

several studies have found some evidence to be contradictory. It now appears that a major source

of the many inconsistent findings regarding Contingency Theory is the small sample sizes that

researchers used in many of the studies. Advances in correcting for this problem statistically

have led recent reviewers to conclude that there is reasonable support for the theory. Cognitive

Resource Theory. Cognitive Resource Theory (CRT) focuses on the conditions in which a

leader’s cognitive resources (intelligence, expertise, and experience) contribute to effective

leadership. The essence of CRT is that the importance of intelligence for leadership effectiveness

depends on the directiveness of the leader, group support for the leader, and the stressfulness of

the situation. Research on CRT has found that experience predicts performance in high-stress

situations, while intelligence predicts performance in low-stress situations. Leader intelligence is

more strongly related to group performance when the leader is directive and has the support of

the group.

House’s Path-Goal Theory

Path-Goal Theory is concerned with the situations under which various leader behaviours are

most effective.

The Theory. According to Path-Goal Theory, the most important activities of leaders are those

that clarify the paths to various goals of interest to employees. The opportunity to achieve such

goals promotes job satisfaction, leader acceptance, and high effort. To provide job satisfaction

and leader acceptance, leader behaviour must be perceived as either immediately satisfying or

leading to future satisfaction. To promote employee effort, leaders must make rewards dependent

on performance and ensure that employees have a clear understanding of how these rewards can

be achieved. The effective leader forms a connection between employee goals and organizational

goals.

Leader Behaviour. There are four specific kinds of leader behaviour in Path-Goal Theory.

• Directive behaviour. Directive behaviour is essentially the same as initiating structure.

• Supportive behaviour. Supportive behaviour is essentially the same as consideration.

• Participative behaviour. Participative leaders consult with employees about work-related

matters and consider their opinions.

• Achievement-oriented behaviour. These leaders encourage employees to exert high effort and

strive for a high level of goal accomplishment.

Situational Factors.

The impact of leader behaviour on employee satisfaction, effort, and acceptance of the leader

depends on employee characteristics and the work environment. Different types of employees

need or prefer different forms of leadership. For example, employees who are high need

achievers should work well under achievement-oriented leadership. The effectiveness of

leadership behaviour also depends on the particular work environment. For example, when tasks

are clear and routine, employees will perceive directive leadership as redundant and unnecessary.

When tasks are challenging but ambiguous, employees should appreciate both directive and

participative leadership. Frustrating, dissatisfying jobs should increase employee appreciation of

supportive behaviour. Thus, effective leadership should take advantage of the motivating and

satisfying aspects of jobs while offsetting or compensating for those job aspects that demotivate

or dissatisfy.

Research Evidence. In general, there is some research support for the situational propositions of

the theory. Supportive or considerate leader behaviour is most beneficial in supervising routine,

frustrating, or dissatisfying jobs. Directive or structuring leader behaviour is most effective on

ambiguous, less structured jobs. As well, the theory is more effective in predicting employee job

satisfaction and acceptance of the leader than in predicting employee performance.

Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory

Right in the name of this leadership theory, you can get a great indication of what it is all about.

The term 'situational' indicates that leaders should vary their approach based on the people they

are leading, and the circumstances that surround the task at hand. Indeed, the Hersey-Blanchard

Situational Leadership Theory is one that is based around variable leadership, depending on a

variety of circumstances. When a leader is able to adapt to the situation as quickly as possible,

everyone will benefit in the end.

Specifically, this theory has to do with the maturity of those who are being led. To those who

have worked as leaders in the past, it is no surprise that maturity should be considered when

working on finding the right leadership style. For example, someone who is inexperienced in

their field will likely lack the skills or confidence to take on tasks that would be comfortable for

a more experienced employee.

Only when a leader is able to mold their approach to the maturity and talent of those that make

up the team will the overall performance be up to par.

The Situational Leadership Theory offers up four potential leadership styles, and then four

maturity levels that define the members of a team. Let's quickly look at each of the four styles

and levels that can then be paired up for optimal performance.

Four Leadership Styles

The four leadership styles that are presented in this theory are:

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

Starting with Telling, this is the most direct form of leadership. The leader of the group simply

tells each member what to do, and how they would like them to do it. This approach is less

collaborative, and more directive in nature. There is very little working together between the

leader and the team members, instead the leader simply provides specific instructions for the

team members to follow through with.

The second leadership style, Selling, is one with a little more room for collaboration. While the

team members are still directed by the leader, the leader is more likely to engage with the team

members along the way. The 'Selling' title comes from the idea that the leader may need to

convince some of the team members to follow his or her lead and do things in a specific way.

Moving on to the third option, Participating is a process where the leader tries to build

relationships with those on the team - really becoming part of the team. This is quite a departure

from the Telling style, as the leader will blend in more fully with those who are working as part

of the team. In fact, the leader might not even make all of the decisions in this style, perhaps

deferring at certain points to members of the team with more experience or knowledge in a given

area.

Finally, Delegating represents the leader passing on most of the responsibilities for a given

project or task to various members of the team. This style is something that leaders of

experienced teams will often use, since the employees that are being led may not need much in

the way of direction at this point in their careers.

Four Corresponding Maturity Levels

To go along with those four leadership styles, the Hersey Blanchard Situational Leadership

Theory also provides four maturity levels that describe those who are making up the team. To

identify these levels, the abbreviations M1, M2, M3, and M4 are used. Below is a quick

description of each of these four levels.

• M1. These are the least experienced of workers. At this point, they will need to be instructed on

how to do just about everything that makes up the task they are responsible for. While this

usually means a leader is dealing with younger and less experienced employees, it could also be

that the employees simply don't have much knowledge or background in the task at hand for a

specific project. This maturity level matches up with the Telling leadership style, as the

employees at this point will require complete direction for almost every task.

• M2. Moving up a step, these are still inexperienced people who possess only slightly more

knowledge and skill than those at the M1 level. Maturity is not only a measure of the ability than

an individual has to deal with a task, but their willingness to take on the task in the first place.

M2 team members are those who are more eager to work on a job, even if they aren't yet ready to

do it correctly without the help of the leader of the group. The Selling leadership style is the

proper match when dealing with M2 level team members.

• M3. Getting close to the top of the scale, this group would include employees who are excited

to work on a job and have most of the skill they need to get it done right. While they might not

be able to quite get all of the job done without some help, they can get most of the way their on

their own. The Participating style is the one that matches with M3 individuals, because they don't

need full direction and are more able to engage with the leader for positive collaboration.

• M4. At the top of the scale, those that are rated as M4 are completely capable of handling a task

- and they know that they can get the job done without the help of the leader. Delegating is the

leadership style of choice at this point simply because there is no need to be more involved than

that. The team members have confidence, and expect to work independently.

The Hersey Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory promotes flexible leaders that are able to

match their style to the experience and ability of those they are leading. Most people would agree

that a good leader is a flexible one, and this theory falls right in line with that manner of thinking

Participative Leadership: Involving Employees in Decisions

An important topic of leadership is participative leadership.

What Is Participation?

Participative leadership means involving employees in making work-related decisions.

Participation might range from obtaining employee opinions before making the decisions to

allowing employees to make their own decisions within agreed-upon limits. Participation can

involve individual employees or a group of employees. The choice of a participation strategy

should be tailored to specific situations.

Potential Advantages of Participative Leadership

Participation can be a useful leadership technique for three reasons.

1. Motivation. Participation increases the motivation of employees. Participation allows them to contribute to the establishment of work goals and to decide how these goals can

be accomplished. Also, participation may increase intrinsic motivation by enriching

employees’ jobs.

2. Quality. Participation leads to higher quality decisions than the leader could make alone, particularly when employees have special knowledge to contribute to the decision.

Participation empowers employees to take direct action to solve problems without

checking every detail with the boss and gives employees the authority, opportunity, and

motivation to take initiative and solve problems.

3. Acceptance. Participation increases employees’ acceptance of decisions, especially in issues of fairness.

Potential Problems of Participative Leadership

Participation has some potential difficulties.

• Time and Energy. Participation requires specific behaviours from the leader and these behaviours use time and energy. Participation is not an appropriate strategy when quick

decisions have to be made.

• Loss of Power. Some leaders feel that a participative style will reduce their power and influence.

• Lack of Receptivity or Knowledge. Participation may fail because employees are not receptive to participation or lack the knowledge to contribute effectively to decisions.

Vroom and Jago’s Situational Model of Participation

The Vroom and Jago Model attempts to specify when participation should be used and to what

extent it should be used. Vroom and Jago recognize that various degrees of participation can be

exhibited by a leader, ranging from “do it yourself” to “accept group decision.” The most

effective tactic depends on factors such as the demand for decision quality, knowledge possessed

by the leader and the group, the importance of employee commitment, and the potential for

conflict.

This model takes into account various degrees of participation that can be exhibited by the leader

including autocratic, consultative, and group consensus. The most effective strategy depends on

the situation or problem at hand. In general, the leader’s goal should be to make high-quality

decisions to which employees will be adequately committed without undue delay. To do this he

or she must consider a number of questions in a decision tree. By taking a problem through the

decision tree, the leader can determine the correct degree of participation for the problem solving

situation..

Research Evidence. Following the Vroom and Jago model prescriptions is more likely to lead to

successful managerial decisions than unsuccessful decisions. The model has been used

frequently in management development seminars. In general, employees who participate in job-

related decisions are more satisfied than those who do not. Thus, most workers seem to prefer a

participative work environment. However, the effects of participation on productivity are still

open to question. Participation should work best when employees feel favourably toward it,

when they are intelligent and knowledgeable about the issue at hand, and when the task is

complex enough to make participation useful. Like any other leadership strategy, the usefulness

of participation depends on the constraints of the situation.

Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Theory

Leader Member Exchange or LMX Theory is a theory of leadership that focuses on the quality of

the relationship that develops between a leader and an employee. Unlike other theories of

leadership that focus on leader characteristics or the situation, the focus of LMX theory is the

relationship between a leader and an employee. The basic idea is that the relationship between a

leader and his or her employees will differ in terms of the quality of the relationship. High

quality relationships or high LMX involve a high degree of mutual influence and obligation as

well as trust, loyalty, and respect between a leader and an employee. Low-quality relationships

or low LMX is characterized by low trust, respect, obligation, and mutual support.

Research Evidence. Research has found that the quality of LMX is related to employee job

performance, overall satisfaction, satisfaction with supervision, commitment, role conflict, role

clarity, and turnover intentions. Higher quality LMX relationships have positive consequences

for leaders, employees, work units, and organizations.

Transactional and Transformational Leadership

Transactional leadership is leadership that is based on a fairly straightforward exchange between

the leader and the followers—employees perform well, and the leader rewards them; the leader

uses a participatory style, and the employees come up with good ideas. Transactional leadership

involves contingent reward behaviour and management by exception. Management by exception

is the degree to which the leader takes corrective action on the basis of results of leader–follower

transactions. They monitor follower behaviour, anticipate problems, and take corrective actions

before the behaviour creates serious problems.

Transformational leadership involves providing followers with a new vision that instills true

commitment. Transformational leaders change the beliefs and attitudes of followers to

correspond to a new vision (for a project, department, or organization), and motivates them to

achieve performance beyond expectations.

Bernard Bass notes four qualities of transformational leaders: Intellectual stimulation,

individualized consideration, inspirational motivation, and charisma.

1. Intellectual Stimulation This contributes in part to the “new vision” aspect of transformational leadership. People are stimulated to think about problems, issues, and

strategies in new ways.

2. Individualized Consideration This involves treating employees as distinct individuals, indicating concern for their personal development, and serving as a mentor when

appropriate. The emphasis is a one-on-one attempt to meet the needs of the individual in

question in the context of the overall goal or mission.

3. Inspirational Motivation This involves the communication of visions that are appealing and inspiring to followers and stimulates enthusiasm, challenges followers with high

standards, communicates optimism about future goal attainment, and provides meaning

for the task at hand.

4. Charisma

Charisma is by far the most important, aspect of transformational leadership. Charisma is a term

stemming from a Greek word meaning favoured or gifted. Charismatic leaders have personal

qualities that give them the potential to have extraordinary influence over others. They tend to

command strong loyalty and devotion from followers, and this, in turn, inspires enthusiastic

dedication and effort dedicated toward the leader’s chosen mission. Charisma provides the

emotional aspect of transformational leadership. Other charismatic characteristics include self-

confidence and dominance; strong conviction in their own beliefs; high expectations for follower

performance; ideological or moral goals; and articulate followers’ repressed feelings. These

factors work together to give charismatics their extraordinary potential for influence.

Charismatic leadership has been found to be strongly related to follower satisfaction and

leadership effectiveness. Although CEOs who are perceived to be more charismatic tend to be

perceived as more effective, only one study has found charismatic leadership to be directly

related to firm performance and two studies found a relationship, but only when the environment

was perceived to be uncertain. However, several studies have found that CEO transformational

leadership is positively related to organizational performance. Charisma also has a dark side

when charismatic leaders abuse their strong influence over others for purely personal reasons.

Research Evidence. Transformational leadership has been found to be strongly related to

follower motivation and satisfaction (satisfaction with leader and job satisfaction), leader

performance, leader effectiveness, and group and organization performance. It appears that

transformational behaviours are instrumental in developing high-quality LMX relationships,

identification with one’s work unit, self-efficacy, and for enhancing employees’ perceptions of

the five core job characteristics of the job characteristics model. Research supports the

contention that the best leaders are both transformational and transactional. However,

transformational leadership is especially effective during times of change and for obtaining

employees’ commitment to a change.

Ethical and Authentic Leadership

Ethical leadership involves the demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct (e.g.,

openness and honesty) through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, and the

promotion of such conduct to followers through two-way communication, reinforcement, and

decision making. Ethical leaders model what is deemed to be normatively appropriate behaviour,

make ethics salient in the workplace, and draw attention to it by engaging in explicit ethics-

related communications and by setting ethical standards. They reward ethical conduct and

discipline those who don’t follow ethical standards and consider the ethical consequences of

their decisions. They make principled and fair decisions that can be observed and emulated by

others.

To develop an ethical culture and workplace, leaders must have a strong commitment to ethics

and raise awareness of and reinforce the importance of ethics. This involves:

• Communicate a clear and consistent positive ethics message from the top

• Create and embrace opportunities for everyone in the organization to communicate positive

ethics, values, and practices.

• Ensure consequences for ethical and unethical conduct.

Research Evidence. Ethical leadership has been found to be positively associated with employee

perceptions of honesty, fairness, and effectiveness and with less counterproductive behaviour.

Employees of ethical leaders are more satisfied with their supervisor, more willing to devote

extra effort to one’s job, and more willing to report problems to management. The extent to

which ethics is an important part of an organization’s culture is influenced by the ethics and

moral development of the leader. The ethical leadership of immediate supervisors is likely to

have the greatest effect on employees.

Authentic Leadership

Authentic leadership is a positive form of leadership that involves being true to oneself.

Authentic leaders know and act upon their true values, beliefs, and strengths and they help others

do the same. Their conduct and behaviour is guided by their internal values. Authentic leadership

consists of four related but distinct dimensions:

• Self-awareness. An understanding of one’s strengths and weaknesses and an awareness of

one’s impact on others.

• Relational transparency. The presenting of one’s true or authentic self to others and the sharing

of information and expressions of one’s true thoughts and feelings.

• Balanced processing. The objective analysis of relevant information before making a decision

and consideration of views that challenge one’s own position.

• Internalized moral perspective. The internal moral standards and values that guide one’s

behaviour and decision making.

Research Evidence. Followers of authentic leaders report higher organizational citizenship

behaviour, organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and satisfaction with their supervisor,

and that they have higher job performance. Authentic leadership promotes trust and respect

towards organizational leaders.

Culture and Global Leadership

The Global Leadership and Organizational Behaviour (GLOBE) research project involved 170

researchers who worked together for 10 years collecting and analyzing data on cultural values

and practices and leadership attributes from over 17 000 managers in 62 societal cultures. The

project team identified the following nine cultural dimensions that distinguish one society from

another and have important managerial implications:

• Performance Orientation

• Assertiveness

• Future Orientation

• Humane Orientation

• Institutional Collectivism

• In-Group Collectivism

• Gender Egalitarianism

• Power Distance

• Uncertainty Avoidance

Using these nine dimensions, GLOBE identified 10 culture clusters from the 62 culture samples.

The culture clusters differ with respect to how they score on the nine culture dimensions.

Second, GLOBE found was that citizens in each nation have implicit assumptions regarding

requisite leadership qualities, something known as implicit leadership theory. According to

implicit leadership theory, individuals hold a set of beliefs about the kinds of attributes,

personality characteristics, skills, and behaviours that contribute to or impede outstanding

leadership. GLOBE found that these belief systems are shared among individuals in common

cultures, something they call culturally endorsed implicit leadership theory (CLT). They

identified 21 primary and 6 global leadership dimensions that are contributors to or inhibitors of

outstanding leadership. The six global leadership dimensions are:

• Charismatic/Value-Based

• Team-Oriented

• Participative

• Humane-Oriented

• Autonomous

• Self-Protective

GLOBE found that cultures and clusters differ significantly on all six of the global leadership

dimensions and that while the cultures do differ on many aspects of leadership effectiveness,

they also have many similarities. Many attributes such as being honest, decisive, motivational,

and dynamic are universally desirable and are believed to facilitate outstanding leadership in all

GLOBE countries. Leadership attributes such as loners, irritable, egocentric, and ruthless are

deemed ineffective in all GLOBE countries. Some attributes are culturally contingent and

effective in some cultures but are either ineffective or even dysfunctional in others.

Global Leadership Global leadership involves leadership capabilities to function effectively in

different cultures and being able to cross language, social, economic, and political borders. The

essence of global leadership is the ability to influence people who are not like the leader and

come from different cultural backgrounds. Global leaders need to have a global mindset, tolerate

high levels of ambiguity, and exhibit cultural adaptability and flexibility.

Global leaders have the following four characteristics:

• Unbridled Inquisitiveness. Global leaders relish the opportunity to see and experience new things. Constant learning and inquisitiveness are necessary for success.

• Personal Character. Global leaders form an emotional connection to people from different cultures and exhibit uncompromising integrity.

• Duality. Global leaders must be able to manage uncertainty and balance global and local tensions.

• Savvy. Global leaders have business and organizational savvy. They understand the conditions they face in different countries and they are well informed of their

organization’s capabilities and international ventures.

Individuals with the potential to become global leaders have experience working or living in

different cultures, they speak more than one language, and have an aptitude for global business.

However, in order to become true global leaders, they require extensive training and

development that includes: travel; working in teams with members of diverse backgrounds;

instruction on topics such as international and global strategy, business, and ethics as well as

cross-cultural communication and multicultural team leadership; and action learning projects.

The most powerful strategy for developing global leaders is work experience, transfers, and

international assignments. Long-term international assignments are considered to be especially

effective.

Although most organizations report that they do not have enough global leaders now or for the

future, Canadian organizations are way ahead of most organizations in big countries like the

United States. This is because Canada is a middle economy and Canadian leaders need to

understand and empathize with persons in other cultures. As well, Canadians learn from the

cradle to take into account other perspectives. Living in a multicultural environment like Canada

is excellent preparation for being a global leader.

Gender and Leadership Style

Research by Eagley and Johnson concludes that there are differences in leadership style between

men and women. Women are more apt to adopt a participative and democratic style than men.

This may be because of negative reactions to women adopting stereotypically male styles such as

directive or autocratic. Further, in a review of the leadership styles of men and women, women

leaders were found to be more transformational than men leaders, and they also engaged in more

of the contingent reward behaviours of transactional leadership. Men leaders engaged in more of

the other components of transactional leadership such as management by exception and

laissezfaire style leadership which is the avoidance or absence of leadership. These findings

attest to the ability of women to be highly effective leaders. However, women hold very few top

leadership positions in Canadian organizations and a minority of senior leadership positions in

the United States and Europe. For decades the explanation has been the glass ceiling metaphor—

the invisible barrier that prevents women from advancing to senior leadership positions in

organizations. However, Alice Eagly and Linda Carli have suggested that a more accurate

metaphor is a labyrinth, because of the many twists, turns, detours, and dead ends that women

encounter along their way up the organizational hierarchy. The lack of women leaders is the sum

of all of the barriers women face rather than one particular barrier. These barriers include:

• Vestiges of prejudice. Men continue to receive higher wages and faster promotions than women

with equal qualifications at all organizational levels.

• Resistance to women’s leadership. Men are perceived as having agentic traits, which convey

assertion and control and are generally associated with effective leadership. Women are

perceived as having communal traits, which convey a concern for the compassionate treatment of

others.

• Issues of leadership style. Women leaders often struggle to find an appropriate leadership style

that reconciles the communal traits associated with females and the agentic traits associated with

leaders. This results in a double bind. When women exhibit an agentic style they are criticized

for lacking communal traits, and when they exhibit a communal style they are criticized for not

being agentic enough to be a leader.

• Demands of family life. Women remain more responsible for domestic work and child rearing

and as a result they have fewer years of work experience and fewer hours of employment. This

slows their career progress and results in lower pay.

• Underinvestment in social capital. Women have less time for socializing with colleagues and

developing social networks and often have difficulty breaking in to social networks because

these are predominantly male.

226 Johns/Saks, Organizational Behaviour, Eighth Edition