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Chapter 12

Leadership Perspectives

Case Study: Procter and Gamble’s Leadership Training Program

Case Questions:

Why does Procter and Gamble draw so many job applicants?

How did Procter and Gamble influence the creation of their industry as it pertains to safety?

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What Is Leadership?

A process of providing general direction from a position of influence to individuals or groups toward the successful attainment of goals

“As a leader, it’s a major responsibility on your shoulders to practice the behavior you want others to follow.”

—Himanshu Bhatia, Rose International, Inc

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LO 12.1 Explain the basic concept of leadership

The search for what makes a good leader has been going on for centuries and, in spite of myriad studies, there are no conclusive answers. Although many definitions exist, for our purposes, leadership is a process of providing general direction from a position of influence to individuals or groups toward the successful attainment of goals.

What makes a great leader? On what basis do you identify them as leaders? Popularity? Achievement? The way they communicate? Perhaps it’s something intangible, like a leader’s charisma.

Formal and Informal Leadership

Formal Leaders: A formal leader is officially designated by the organization, such as when the board of directors appoints a CEO.

Informal Leaders: An informal leader does not receive a title but is perceived by others as a leader.

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LO 12.2 Distinguish between formal and informal leadership and between leadership and management

Within most organizations, there are two types of leaders: formal and informal. A formal leader is officially designated by the organization, like a CEO who is appointed by the board of directors. For example, although Marillyn Hewson was only appointed CEO of Lockheed Martin in 2013, she has been named as the one of the best-performing CEOs in the world. An informal leader does not receive a title but is perceived by others as a leader. For example, in the teaching profession, teachers hold both formal and informal roles in order to provide leadership by example for their peers.

See, for instance, Neubert, M. J., & Taggar, S. (2004). Pathways to informal leadership: The moderating role of gender on the relationship of individual differences and team member network centrality to informal leadership emergence. Leadership Quarterly, 15, 175–194; Pan, J., Liu, S., Ma, B., & Qu, Z. (2018) How does proactive personality promote creativity? A multilevel examination of the interplay between formal and informal leadership. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology.

The best-performing CEOs in the world. Harvard Business Review, November 2016. https://hbr.org/2016/11/the-best-performing-ceos-in-the-world

Kearney, P. J. 5 Tips for teacher leaders. Huffington Post, August 23, 2017. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/five-tips-for-teacher-leaders_us_599dd57ae4b0b87d38cbe701

Formal and Informal Leadership

Leadership: Creating a vision, introducing change and movement, and influencing others to achieve goals.

Managers: Maintain the status quo, promote stability, and ensure the smooth running of operations.

Not all managers are leaders.

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Although management and leadership share some similarities, they do not mean the same thing. Both leaders and managers work with people, set goals, and influence others in order to achieve those goals, but several distinctions separate the two functions.

First, leadership has been around far longer than management. History records the strategies employed by military leaders such as Alexander the Great (336–323 bc) and Attila the Hun (406–453 bc). Managers, in contrast, are mainly a product of industrialization in the 20th century, an era when large-scale production and manufacturing demanded the organizational skills necessary to plan, organize, staff, and control the operation. These skills are still highly relevant in the 21st century workplace.

Second, leadership consists of creating a vision, introducing change and movement, and influencing others to achieve goals, while managers maintain the status quo, promote stability, and ensure the smooth running of operations. Chiu, C.-Y., Balkundi, P., & Weinberg, F. J. (2017). When managers become leaders: The role of manager network centralities, social power, and followers' perception of leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 28, 334–348; Clemens, J. K. Leaders versus managers: The case of captain Vere. Journal of Leadership Studies, 1, 117–128; Watkins, M. D. (2012) How managers become leaders. Harvard Business Review, 90, 64–72; Zaleznik, A. (1977). Managers and leaders: Are they different? Harvard Business Review, 55, 67–78.

Formal and Informal Leadership

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Basic Leadership Types

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LO 12.3 Contrast the four basic types of leadership

Four distinct types of leadership behavior, originally proposed by Charles C. Manz and Henry P. Sims, Jr., and later refined by other leadership theorists, are directive leadership, transactional leadership, visionary leadership, and empowering leadership (also known as “superleadership”):

Early Leadership Perspectives

Trait Leadership Perspective

Behavioral Leadership Perspective

Contingency Leadership

Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Model

House’s Path-Goal Theory

Substituted for Leadership Model

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LO 12.4 Describe the trait, behavioral, and contingency leadership perspectives

There is no set definition or combination of characteristics that describes a good leader. However, in order to support our current understanding of leadership, it is useful to explore the early theories of leadership, each of which focuses on different ways in which a great leader is created. These include trait, behavioral, and contingency theories.

Early Leadership Perspectives

The trait leadership perspective is a theory that explores the relationship among leaders, personal qualities, and characteristics and the way their traits differentiate leaders from non-leaders.

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The trait leadership perspective is a theory that explores the relationship among leaders, personal qualities, and characteristics and the way their traits differentiate leaders from non-leaders. In another words, the theory assumes effective leaders are born, not made. Famous leaders such as Ghandi, Churchill, Lincoln, Joan of Arc, and Alexander the Great were studied by early trait theorists, who explored characteristics such as physical appearance, personality, and ability and sought to link them to individuals’ leadership qualities. However, trait theory has since been widely criticized for its limiting methodology and inaccurate conclusions.9 Researchers believed that traits in isolation could not predict leadership success.

Early Leadership Perspectives

Behavioral Leadership Perspective

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Early Leadership Perspectives

Behavioral Leadership Perspective: Ohio State University Studies

Initiating Structure

Consideration

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Ohio State University Studies

In the 1940s, researchers at Ohio State University administered a questionnaire to hundreds of people working in the military, business, and educational fields in order to assess leadership styles. The aim was to ascertain how employees perceived the types of leadership behavior exhibited by their superiors. From the results, researchers proposed a two-dimensional view of leadership behavior based on leadership styles they called initiating structure and consideration.12 Initiating structure is a behavior demonstrated by leaders who define the roles of the employees, set clear guidelines and procedures, and establish distinct patterns of organization and communication. Consideration is a behavior demonstrated by leaders who develop mutual trust and respect and actively build interpersonal relationships with their followers.

Early Leadership Perspectives

Behavioral Leadership Perspective: University of Michigan Studies

Job-Centered Leadership Style

Employee-Centered Leadership Style

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University of Michigan Studies

In an effort to identify the patterns of leadership behavior, University of Michigan researchers under the general direction of Rensis Likert in the 1950s interviewed leaders from both private and public companies and asked them to complete a questionnaire. The results helped the researchers establish two styles of leadership behavior: job-centered leadership style, a behavioral leadership style that emphasizes employee tasks and the methods used to accomplish them, and employee-centered leadership style, a behavioral leadership style that emphasizes the personal needs of employees and the development of interpersonal relationships.13

Researchers investigated the impact each leadership style had on rates of productivity, staff turnover, job satisfaction, and absenteeism and concluded that because employee-centered leaders had better results in these areas, they were more effective than job-centered leaders. However, there were some inconsistencies within the studies, mainly due to the fact that researchers were skeptical that leaders could possess characteristics from both styles rather than just one, which other theorists thought cast doubt on the results.

Early Leadership Perspectives

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As an extension of the results published from the Ohio State studies, management researchers Robert R. Blake and Jane S. Mouton designed the Leadership grid, an approach that plots concern for production on the horizontal axis and concern for people on the vertical axis. Each axis is a scale, with 1 representing the least concern and 9 the most. The five leadership styles are: country club, produce or perish, impoverished, middle of the road, and team leader.

Leaders who get a low score for production and a high score for people are known as “country club” leaders.

“Produce or Perish” leaders emphasize production over people and lead with an authoritarian rule, using punishment as a motivator. “Impoverished” leaders have very little concern for production or for people, which means they are ineffective for the most part. Leaders who are “middle-of-the road” appear to have achieved the right balance between concern for people and concern for production, but this requires compromise; the problem with compromise is that the needs of both factions are not fully met, resulting in an average performance. Finally, the “team leader” rates production needs and people needs equally highly. According to the Blake-Mouton model, the team leader is the ideal leader, because he or she creates an environment in which teams are motivated and committed to furthering the success of the organization, leading to high production and satisfied employees.

Early Leadership Perspectives

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Fiedler’s contingency model is designed to predict the effectiveness of leadership styles in certain situations, on a scale from 1 to 8. For example, in instances of high situational control where leader–member relations are good, task structure is low, and the leader has strong position power, the model gives a score of 3, suggesting a low LPC leadership or task-driven style is most effective. Conversely, in instances of low situational control when leader–member relations are poor, task structure is high, and the leader has weak position power, the model assigns a rating of 6, suggesting a high LPC leadership or relationship-driven style is best. Fiedler found that the most favorable situations occurred when leader–member relations, task structure, and position power are all high because then leaders have the most control over the situation. Although Fiedler’s model is useful for matching optimal leadership styles to certain situations, it has been criticized for its lack of flexibility, primarily its assumption that leadership styles cannot be changed.

Early Leadership Perspectives

Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Model

Telling (S1)

Selling (S2)

Participating (S3)

Delegating (S4)

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Developed in 1969 by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard, The Situational Leadership Model proposes that leaders should adapt their leadership style based on the types of people they are leading and the requirements of the task.16 Drawing from the findings of the Ohio State studies, Hersey and Blanchard applied concepts similar to “initiating structure” and “consideration” to the following four main leadership styles:

Telling (S1): Telling is a directive approach in which leaders give clear instructions and guidance to followers, informing them exactly how and when to complete the task. This leadership style works best within environments that have high initiating structure and low consideration, where the completion of the task takes precedence over the relationship with employees.

Selling (S2): Leaders who adopt the selling style provide support to followers through communicating and “selling” the goals of the task in order to gain commitment. This style is appropriate for issues with high initiating structure and high consideration.

Participating (S3): Leaders and followers work together and share in the decision-making responsibilities of the task in the participating style. It works best in situations where there is low initiating structure and high consideration.

Delegating (S4): Leaders give most of the responsibility to followers in the delegating style yet still monitor progress. Delegating occurs in instances of low initiating structure and low consideration.

Early Leadership Perspectives

House’s Path Goal Theory

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House describes how leadership effectiveness is influenced by the interaction between the four main leadership styles:

Directive leadership--Leadership behavior characterized by implementing guidelines, managing expectations, setting definite performance standards, and ensuring that individuals follow rules. This type of leadership is appropriate in the military, where commands are expected to be followed immediately and without question.

Supportive leadership--A type of leadership behavior characterized by friendliness and concern for the welfare of others. For example, a leader might work with followers struggling with a task until they feel empowered enough to carry out the task themselves.

Participative Leadership--Leadership behavior that consists of consulting with followers and considering their input in decision making. For example, a marketing leader might gather his or her followers to collect input about the possibility of launching a new product or taking a product off the market.

Achievement-oriented leadership--Leadership behavior characterized by setting challenging goals, improving performance, and assisting in employee training. This style of leadership is often used by football quarterbacks, who are expected to direct the team to perform certain plays at the right time in order to win the game.

Early Leadership Perspectives

Substitutes for Leadership Models:

Proposes that certain characteristics of individuals, the job, and/or the organization can act as substitutes for leadership or neutralize leadership impact altogether.

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While Path-Goal theory focused on the centrality of the leadership role to employee satisfaction and work performance, the Substitutes for Leadership Model18 proposes that certain characteristics of individuals, the job, and/or the organization can act as substitutes for leadership or neutralize leadership impact altogether. In this context, neutralizing means replacing leadership attributes that do not affect followers’ outcomes.

A team that is well-run, experienced, and organized might substitute for or neutralize the need for a task-oriented leader because the team already knows how to carry out the requirements of their roles. For example, organizations like W.L. Gore, tomato processor Morning Star, and steelmaker Worthington Industries cultivate an environment in which teams are largely left to manage themselves.19

Contemporary Leadership Perspectives

Leader–Member Exchange (LMX) Theory

Transformational leadership

Charismatic leadership

Follower-Centered Leadership Perspective

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LO 12.5 Compare the inspirational, relational, and follower-centered leadership perspectives

Contemporary Leadership Perspectives

Leadership–Member Exchange (LMX) Theory

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The Leader–Member Exchange (LMX) theory20 builds on the idea that leaders develop different relationships with different followers. The quality of the relationship determines whether the leader (often subconsciously) places the follower in the “In-Group Exchange” or the “Out-Group Exchange.”

In-group exchange: Typically, team members who are loyal, trustworthy, and skilled have high-quality relationships with leaders. The leader devotes more attention to this In-Group, assigns challenging tasks, and often spends more one-to-one time with members. People in this group are given more opportunities for growth and advancement and often mirror the leader’s work ethic and characteristics.

Out-Group exchange: People who are perceived to be incompetent, unmotivated, untrustworthy team members have low-quality relationships with their leaders. Leaders tend to assign simple, limited tasks to this group, communicate with them only when necessary, and often withhold opportunities for growth or advancement.

Contemporary Leadership Perspectives

Transformational Leadership

Idealized influence

Inspirational motivation

Intellectual stimulation

Individualized consideration

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Idealized influence (also referred to as charisma) is behavior that gains the admiration, trust, and respect of followers.

Inspirational motivation promotes commitment to a shared vision of the future.

Intellectual stimulation encourages people to view problems from a different perspective and to think about innovative and alternative ways to address them.

Individualized consideration creates mutual respect or trust and a genuine concern for the needs and desires of others.

Whereas the transactional leader rewards or disciplines followers based on performance, the transformational leader inspires them to transcend their self-interests for the good of the organization and commit to a shared vision, while also serving as a role model. Transformational leadership is becoming an increasingly popular model for today’s leaders. The four dimensions of transformational leadership are idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration.

In direct opposition to transformational leadership is laissez-faire leadership, in which a leader fully delegates responsibility to others. This type of leader has little involvement with followers, almost no control over the task, and little interest in making decisions unless forced into it. Investor Warren Buffett is an example of a laissez-faire leader, who prefers to give his management teams a lot of freedom to make decisions rather than monitoring them to any great degree.

Contemporary Leadership Perspectives

Charismatic Leadership

Use inspirational techniques to energize and motivate followers.

Place more emphasis on their own needs and interests and become caught up in their own hype.

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Transformational leadership theory was inspired by Max Weber’s concept of charismatic leadership, which is the ability of a leader to use his or her personality or charm to inspire, motivate, and acquire loyalty and commitment from employees.

Contemporary Leadership Perspectives

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Table 12.3 Differences Between Transactional, Transformational and Charismatic Leaders

Contemporary Leadership Perspectives

Follower-Centered Leadership Perspective

Focuses on how followers view leaders and how they view themselves.

Implicit leadership theories

Implicit followership theories

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Followership is the capacity of individuals to cooperate with leaders. The theory that studies it stems from cognitive categorization theory, which explores the idea that people tend to label others on the basis of a first impression.

The Follower-Centered Leadership Perspective focuses on how followers view leaders and how they view themselves. There are two types of theories in this approach: implicit leadership theories and implicit followership theories.

According to implicit leadership theories, we have a natural tendency to apply certain traits and attributes to others to determine whether they are leaders, such as charismatic, attractive, intelligent, dedicated, tyrannical, and strong. These traits are called leadership prototypes and are behaviors we associate with leadership.

According to implicit followership theories, we have preconceived notions about the types of behaviors that leaders believe characterize followers and non-followers. Common prototypes ascribed to good followers include enthusiasm, industriousness, and being a good citizen. Ineffective or non-followers are seen as easily influenced, arrogant, uneducated, slow, inexperienced, and rude. Like Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) theory, which is build on the idea that leaders develop different relationships with different followers, followership theories show that opinions based on first impressions or very quick judgments can prejudice our views of others and create negativity within the group.

Power-Distributing Leadership Perspectives

Empowering leadership:

The practice of delegating power that motivates employees and inspires them to achieve goals

Leading by example, coaching, participative decision-making

Informing

Showing concern

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LO 12.6 Discuss the power-distributing leadership perspectives of empowering, shared, and self-leadership

The concept of “distributed leadership” has grown in popularity over the last few years and serves as an alternative to those theories that have focused on leadership traits, characteristics, and behaviors. Instead, distributed leadership calls for sharing the power and influence within organizations. Let us return to our case to further explore the three main facets of power-distributing leadership: empowering, shared, and self-leadership.

Power-Distributing Leadership Perspectives

Shared leadership:

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Power-Distributing Leadership Perspectives

Self-Leadership

A process whereby people intentionally influence their thinking and behavior to achieve their objectives.

Three main categories

Behavior-focused strategies

Natural reward strategies

Constructive thought pattern strategies

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Self-leadership is a process whereby people intentionally influence their thinking and behavior to achieve their objectives.37 In other words, people can deliberately guide themselves toward attaining favorable outcomes. Behavior-focused strategies are targeted toward increasing our self-awareness and managing our own conduct. They include self-observation, self-goal setting, self-reward, self-correcting feedback, and self-cueing. Natural reward strategies help us to find pleasure in certain aspects of our roles, leading to an enhanced sense of competence, self-discipline, and application. Constructive thought pattern strategies focus on the modification of certain key mental processes. Mental imagery is one strategy we can use to shape our thought processes, by visualizing the successful attainment of the goal before we begin. This is a common technique among top athletes; for example, Brazilian footballer Ronaldinho uses mental imagery to prepare for a game and to plan his strategy on the pitch.

Values-Based Leadership Perspectives

Authentic Leadership

A pattern of leadership behavior based on honesty, practicality, and ethicality

Focus on empowerment and trust

LO 12.7 Describe the values-based leadership perspectives of authentic, spiritual, servant, and ethical leadership

Authentic leadership is a pattern of leadership behavior based on honesty, practicality, and ethicality. Warren Buffett, for instance, empowers his advisors to point out flaws in his reasoning. Support for this type of leadership has been gaining ground as a reaction to the number of corporate scandals and blunders made by high-profile leaders. When authentic leaders find their “true north” or moral compass, they are more focused on empowering their employees, forming meaningful relationships, and fostering an ethical environment.6 Authentic leadership has been associated with improved job performance, increased job satisfaction, greater trust in the leader/follower relationship, and organizational commitment.

Values-Based Leadership Perspectives

Spiritual Leadership

A values-based style of leadership that motivates employees through faith, hope, and vision and encourages positive social emotions such has forgiveness and gratitude.

Not necessarily religion, but shared values

Spiritual Leadership is a values-based style of leadership that motivates employees through faith, hope, and vision and encourages positive social emotions such has forgiveness and gratitude. The concept of spirituality is not necessarily connected with religion; rather it is communicated in the workplace through shared values, attitudes, and behaviors. Spiritual leaders use their charisma to unite followers and to encourage them to view their roles as an opportunity for growth and meaningful contribution. Spiritual leadership may be linked to higher organizational commitment and productivity.

Values-Based Leadership Perspectives

Servant Leadership

A pattern of leadership that places an emphasis on employees and the community rather than on the leader

“Leading from behind”

Servant leaders are empathic and perceptive.

Servant leadership is a pattern of leadership that places an emphasis on employees and the community rather than on the leader. Servant leaders share their power and tend to “lead from behind,” ensuring the team (not the leader) receives recognition for hard work. They are usually empathic, good listeners, perceptive, and committed to growth in the organization and the community. Servant leadership has been connected with high morale, loyalty, and ethics.

Richard Murphy (1944-2013) is a good example of a servant leader. Murphy, at one time New York City’s commissioner of youth services, founded the Harlem Children’s Zone in New York and created numerous other community learning centers to serve thousands of city students after school hours. He was also the innovator of ground-breaking ideas such as a youth helpline. Uninterested in earning profit or being in the public eye, Murphy was primarily motivated to ensure the well-being of children in disadvantaged areas. Behind the scenes, he championed and supported other leaders and spent his life fighting for social change.

Values-Based Leadership Perspectives

Ethical Leadership

A means of influencing others through personal values, morals, and beliefs.

Importance of honesty, accountability, and fairness

Ethical leadership is a means of influencing others through personal values, morals, and beliefs. By following their own personal values as well as the organization’s values, ethical leaders are role models for ethical conduct. They communicate honestly and openly about the importance of ethical behavior and hold their followers accountable for failing to uphold organizational values, often rewarding those who consistently demonstrate ethical behavior. Typically, they are fair, honest, principled people who excel at making fair, balanced decisions and who practice what they preach.

Cross-Cultural Leadership

The process of leading across different cultures

Cross-cultural Leadership Dimensions:

Charismatic/value-based

Team-oriented

Participative

Humane-oriented

Autonomous

Self-Protective

LO 12.8 Discuss leadership across cultures

Cross-cultural leadership (CLT) is the process of leading across different cultures. Many companies and organizations of all sizes employ people from different cultural backgrounds, have branches in other countries, or outsource parts of their business abroad. The six dimensions of the CLT leadership profiles are:57

The charismatic/value-based dimension captures the leader’s capacity to inspire, motivate, and expect high-performance outcomes from others.

Team orientation highlights effective team building and the implementation of a common purpose or goal among team members.

The participative dimension describes the extent to which managers engage others in making and implementing decisions.

The humane-oriented dimension signifies supportive, considerate compassionate and generous leadership was thought to be only a moderate contributor to outstanding leadership across all the cultures.

Autonomy describes independent and individualistic leadership. Unlike the other dimensions, autonomous leadership is thought to impede or only slightly facilitate outstanding leadership.

The self-protective dimension describes the self-interests of the leader in terms of face-saving, safety, and security and is generally reported to inhibit outstanding leadership.

Cross-Cultural Leadership

The findings of GLOBE’s empirical study (illustrated in Table 12.4) have improved our knowledge of what professionals across 62 societies perceive to be the key contributors to outstanding leadership. This evidence is essential to today’s leaders who will be expected to exhibit cross-cultural skills in most aspects of their roles.

Leadership and Gender

Causes of inequality

Leadership style and expectations

Family and career demands

Professional networks

Discrimination and stereotypes

LO 12.9 Identify gender issues in the context of leadership

Leadership and Gender

Minimize prejudice and adjust culture

Adjust evaluation process

Adopt open-recruitment methods

Redress the balance

Encourage networking

Keep the doors open

Provide management opportunities

Establish family-friendly practices

Encourage men to use family-friendly benefits

Allow time to achieve

Ways to Challenge Patterns of Inequality:

Leadership and Gender

Ways to protect LGBTQ employees in the workplace:

Foster LGBTQ networks

Create a culture of inclusiveness

Support LGBTQ issues outside of the organization

In the U.S., it is legal in 28 states for companies to fire employees if they are gay or transgender. Yet, these laws do not reflect public opinion. According to a recent PRRI poll, 70% of Americans support laws to protect LBGT people from discrimination in the workplace and outside. But despite this support, 40% of gays and bisexuals still experience discrimination and harassment at work, with 97% of transgender employees reporting similar ill-treatment.

Regardless of their sexual orientation, all employees should feel respected, comfortable, and accepted in the workplace. Here are three ways managers can ensure LGBT people are protected from discrimination at work:

Bellis, R. (2017). Here’s everywhere in the U.S. You can still get fired for being gay or trans. Fast Company. https://www.fastcompany.com/40456937/heres-everywhere-in-the-u-s-you-can-still-get-fired-for-being-gay-or-trans

Baksh, K. (2017). Workplace discrimination: The LGBT workforce. Huffington Post. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/kurina-baksh/workplace-discrimination-_b_10606030.html

Miller-Merrell, J. (2017). 4 Ways to create an LGBT friendly workplace. Rework. https://www.cornerstoneondemand.com/rework/4-ways-create-lgbt-friendly-workplace