Chapter 13
Leadership
Psychology Applied to Work®
Learning Objectives
• Describe the major theoretical approaches to the study of
leadership: trait, behavioral, power and influence,
contingency, full-leadership model, authentic leadership,
servant leadership, implicit leadership, and substitutes for
leadership.
• Understand the points of convergence among the
leadership approaches.
• Describe the dark side of leadership.
• Explain how leadership is directed toward teams.
• Understand cross-cultural leadership issues.
• Understand diversity issues in leadership.
• Understand the concept of entrepreneurship.
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Overview
• Scientific debate: Leadership vs.
management / administration
• How important are leaders to leadership?
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Theoretical Approaches to Leaderships
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The Trait Approach
The Behavioral Approach
The Power and Influence Approach
The Contingency Approach
Leader-Member Exchange Theory
Full-Range Leadership Theory
Authentic Leadership
Servant Leadership
Implicit Leadership Theory
Substitutes for Leadership
Psychology Applied to Work®
The Trait Approach
• Are leaders born?
• Includes extensive list of personality characteristics
• Research shows characteristics may be associated
with leader success, but does not guarantee success
• Motivation – McClelland’s three leader motives
– Need for power (authority and influence)
– Need for achievement (solve problems, attain results)
– Need for affiliation (affiliate, support, help others)
• Traits can distinguish effective leaders from
ineffective ones
Psychology Applied to Work®
The Behavioral Approach
• Are leaders made?
• Leadership behaviors identified through research
• Two independent behavioral dimensions (Ohio State
University)
– Initiating structure (how the work gets done)
• This factor predicts leader effectiveness
– Consideration (how leader interacts with workers)
• This factor predicts individual satisfaction with the leader
• Effective leader behaviors
– Monitoring employee’s work and finding a solution
– Clarifying a problem by delegating to able employees
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The Power and Influence Approach
• Identification of meaning of power and the tactics of
influence
• French and Raven’s power types
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The Power and Influence Approach
(cont’d)
• Possible outcomes from using influence:
– Commitment
– Compliance
– Resistance
• Individuals differ to the extent they use
these various bases of power
• Gender differences in the use of power
Psychology Applied to Work®
The Contingency Approach
• Considers the situation in which leadership occurs
– Fiedler's contingency model
• A leader's effectiveness depends on his/her orientation and
situation favorabilty
• Leader's orientation
– Task-oriented
– Relationship-oriented
– Mix of task-oriented and relationship-oriented
• Favorability of the situation determined by three factors:
– Leader-member relations
– Degree of task structure
– Leader's position power
• Situations do matter, and yet they change - so leader
adaptability is crucial
Psychology Applied to Work®
Leader-Member Exchange Theory
• Leaders differentiate their followers in terms of:
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Perceived competence and skill
The extent to which they can be trusted
Motivation for more responsibility
In-group vs. out-group
• Employees compare LMX relationships with
others
• Updated version of LMX: Leader Motivated
Xcellence - exchange relationships in the form
of alliances are formed that are mutually
beneficial
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Full-Range Leadership Theory
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Authentic Leadership
• Focus on leaders being genuine in thoughts
and actions
– Four main components:
• Self-awareness
• Relational transparency
• Balanced processing
• Internalized moral perspective
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Servant Leadership
• Strong emphasis on ethics and leaderfollower relationships
• Servant leaders
– entice followers to go above and beyond normal
task requirements
– care more about the organization's success than
their own success
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Implicit Leadership Theory
• Attribution theory of leadership; social
information processing theory
• “The romance of leadership”
• Follower-centered perspective of leadership
• Leader effectiveness seen when
confirmation of expectations
• Leadership serves as a symbolic role
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Substitutes for Leadership
• Employees seek guidance (structure) and recognition
(good feelings)
• Environmental sources can provide structure to
employees
– Job itself
– Technology
– Work unit
• Other means of self-directing:
– Peers can provide support
– Some can attain self-leadership
• Series of processes or functions
• Don’t need to be from a person in a formal position
Psychology Applied to Work®
Points of Convergence Among
Approaches
• Three consistent themes in leadership
research
1. Importance of Influencing and Motivating
2. Importance of Maintaining Effective
Relationships
3. Importance of Making Decisions
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Dark Side of Leadership
• A look at factors that can make leaders more
effective in their absence
• Some leaders are "toxic" - bad personality (e.g.,
narcissism, psychopathy) or maladjustment
• Abusive supervision - bullying by the leader
• Harm followers as well as the organization and
its reputation
• Toxic triangle of destructive leadership followers and environment impact toxic leader
• Conformers vs. colluders
Psychology Applied to Work®
Cross-Cultural Leadership Issues
• GLOBE Project (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior
Effectiveness) major findings:
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Leader role denigrated vs. romanticized
22 leadership traits that are universally desirable (e.g., foresight)
8 leadership traits are universally undesirable (e.g., irritable)
Leadership traits were desirable in some, undesirable in others
Different cultures have similar views on leadership
Six styles of leadership
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Charismatic
Team-oriented
Participative
Autonomous
Humane-oriented
Self-protective
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Diversity Issues in Leadership
• Impact of workforce diversity on leadership
– Gender differences in leadership but no
empirical basis for so few women
– The "glass labyrinth" vs. the "glass ceiling"
– The role of agentic vs. communal gender roles
– The issue of "lack of fit" for women in
leadership roles
Psychology Applied to Work®
Entrepreneurship
• A business development process requiring leadership
skills
• Six step process
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Existence of opportunity
Discovery of opportunity
Decision to pursue opportunity
Resource acquisition
Entrepreneurial strategy
Organizing process
• Is entrepreneurship different from leadership?
• High rate of failure for entrepreneurs
Psychology Applied to Work®
Concluding Comments
• Research on “motivation” to lead found people are
drawn to leadership by different reasons
• Three types of people who desire to lead:
1. See themselves as having leadership skills/qualities and
are outgoing extraverts who value competition and
achievement
2. Agreeable disposition without expecting rewards to
flow from leading
3. Motivated by sense of social duty and obligation,
whether or not they believe in their own abilities
• Leadership is a contagious process that can manifest
itself throughout an organization
Psychology Applied to Work®