Leadership Excellence in Organizations: Term - IV

Leadership Excellence in
Organizations
Term – IV
By
Prof. Jyoti Verma
“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other”

Trait Approach
Major leadership traits are-
• Intelligence- IQ
• Self-Confidence (competency and skills)
• Integrity (take responsibility of their actions)
• Sociability (friendly, tactful, diplomacy)
• Determination (dominance at times)
Big Five Personality Traits- Neuroticism, Extraversion,
Openness, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness
Contd…
• Neuroticism- The tendency to be depressed, anxious,
insecure and hostile.
• Extraversion- the tendency to be social and assertive
(positive energy)
• Openness- the tendency to be informed, creative,
insightful and curious
• Agreeableness- the tendency to be accepting,
conforming, trusting and nurturing
• Conscientiousness- the tendency to be thorough,
organized, controlled, dependable and decisive.
How Does it Work?
• Focuses exclusively on the leaders and not on followers or
situation.
• This approach does not lay out a set of hypotheses about

what kind of leader is needed in a certain situation. Instead,
it emphasizes that to have effective leadership certain set of
traits are crucial.
• To have right people at managerial positions, organizations

may use personality assessment instrument.
Weaknesses of Trait Approach
• Only presents a sample of many traits
• Fail to take situations into account- emerge as leader Vs
maintaining leadership
• Subjective determination and interpretation of most
leadership trait.
• Fail to define the linkage of leadership traits with
particular outcomes like employee performance, employee
satisfaction or outcomes of groups and teams in
organizational settings.
• Not useful approach for T&D
Negative Side of Very High and
Very Low Trait Scores
Self-Confidence
too little: indecisive, avoid risks, and does not seek to influence others
too much: arrogant, acts too quickly, and takes too many risks
Need of Affiliation
too little: does not try to form strong relationships or build a social support
network
too much: overly concerned about been liked and accepted by others and will
nor risk popularity by asking for sacrifices
Need of Independence
too little: dependent on others for direction, rule oriented, avoids taking
initiative
too much: resents authority, quick to ignore rules and standard procedures
Skills Approach
• Emphasizes on skills and abilities that can be learned and
developed.
• Three-Skill Approach- technical, human and conceptual
skills.
• It is important for leaders to have all three skills.
• Some skills are more important than other at various

levels: supervisory, middle and top
Skill-Based Model
How Does it Work?
• The importance of certain leadership skills varies
depending where leaders are in management hierarchy.
• Related to the manifestation of effective leaders that

leadership outcomes are the direct result of a leader’s
competencies in problem solving skills, social judgment
skills and knowledge.
• Leadership can be learned through experience and

training.
Skills Model
Underlying elements of effective performance?
1) Why some leaders are good problem solvers and others

are not?
2) What specific skills do high performing leaders exhibit?
3) How do leaders’ individual characteristics, career
experiences, and environmental influences affect their job
performance?
Weaknesses of Skill Approach
• With the inclusion of constructs like general cognitive
intelligence and crystallized cognitive ability, this
approach seems to extend beyond boundaries of
leadership.
• It does not focus on how variations on skills affect

performance.
• Claiming not to be a trait model when in fact includes

individual attributes
Style Approach
• Leadership is composed of two general kind of
behaviors: task behaviors and relationship
behaviors
• Emphasizes the behavior of the leader how

leaders combine these two kinds of behaviour to
influence subordinates.
• Ohio State studies, Michigan studies and

studies by Blake and Mouton are the strongly
representative of the ideas in this approach
Ohio State Studies
Analyzed how individuals acted when they were leading
a group or organization
Focused on initiating structure behaviours

(organizing work, defining role and responsibilities)
and consideration behaviours (building
camaraderie, respect, trust, liking between leaders
and followers)
Being high on both behaviours is the best form of

leadership.
The University of Michigan
Studies
Employee orientation and people orientation.
Ohio+Michigan- how leaders can best combine their task

and relationship behaviours to maximize the impact of
these behaviours on the satisfaction and performance of
followers.
Blake and Mouton’s Leadership
Grid
• Concern of production and concern of people
• horizontal axis- leader’s concern for results
• vertical axis- leader’s concern for people
• Each axis drawn as 9 point scale, 1=minimum concern,
9=maximum concern
• Thus, leadership grid portrays five major leadership styles:
authority-compliance (9,1), country-club management
(1,9), impoverished management (1,1), middle-of-the road
management (5,5) and team management (9,9)
Leadership Grid
Authority-Compliance- emphasis on task and job
requirements
Country-Club Management- try to create a positive
environment
Impoverished management- minimum effort to get work
done just to sustain
Middle-of-the-road management- leader try to have a win-
win situation
Team Management- emphasis on both tasks and
interpersonal relationships.
Other Styles
• Paternalism/Maternalism- leader who uses 1,9 and
9,1 style but does not integrate the two. ‘Benevolent
dictator’
• Opportunism- combination of the basic five styles for

the purpose of personal advancement
Criticisms
• Not shows how leadership styles are associated with
performance outcomes.
• Failed to find a universal style of leadership that could

be effective in almost every situation.
• Most effective leadership style is a high-high style.

How Far Can You Go?
All Leaders Are Managers

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Leadership Excellence in

“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other”

• This approach does not lay out a set of hypotheses about

• To have right people at managerial positions, organizations

• Some skills are more important than other at various

• Related to the manifestation of effective leaders that

• Leadership can be learned through experience and

Underlying elements of effective performance?

1) Why some leaders are good problem solvers and others

• It does not focus on how variations on skills affect

• Claiming not to be a trait model when in fact includes

• Emphasizes the behavior of the leader how

• Ohio State studies, Michigan studies and

Focused on initiating structure behaviours

Being high on both behaviours is the best form of

Ohio+Michigan- how leaders can best combine their task

• Opportunism- combination of the basic five styles for

• Failed to find a universal style of leadership that could

• Most effective leadership style is a high-high style.

All Leaders Are Managers

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