Leadership Theories

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Leadership Theories

• Andrea Reger

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Theories

• Trait Approach
• Skills Approach
• Style Approach
• Situational Approach
• Contingency Theory
• Path-Goal Theory

• Leader Member Exchange
• Transformational
• Transactional
• Team Leadership

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• Leader Member Exchange

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Leader Member Exchange Theory (LMX)

• Leadership is a process that is centered on the
  interactions between leaders and followers.
• LMX makes the dyadic relationship between leaders
  and followers the focal point of the leadership
  process.
• Focus is also placed on the differences that
  might exist between the leader and each of his or
  her followers the leader can not treat all the
  followers the same.

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Leader Member Exchange
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LMX

• Two kinds of relationships that each follower
  falls into based on how well they work with the
  leader and how well the leader works with them.
  Personality and other personal characteristics
  are also related to this process.
• In groups based on expanded and negotiated role
  responsibilities. Followers go far beyond their
  formal job description, and the leader in turn
  does more for these followers.
• Out group based on the formal employment
  contract. Followers are not interested in taking
  on new and different job responsibilities.

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Leader Member Exchange
In-Group more information, influence,
confidence concern from Leader more
dependable, highly involved communicative than
out-group
Out-Group
In-Group
Leader
Out-Group less compatible with Leader usually
just come to work, do their job go home
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LMX

• Researchers found that high quality leader member
  exchanges produced less employee turnover, more
  positive performance evaluations, higher
  frequency of promotions, greater organizational
  commitment, more desirable work assignments,
  better job attitudes, more attention and support
  from the leader, greater participation, and
  faster career progress over 25 years.
• When leaders and followers have good exchanges,
  they feel better, accomplish more, and the
  organization prospers.

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LMX
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• Stranger
• Interactions within the leader-subordinate dyad
  are generally rule bound
• Rely on contractual relationships
• Relate to each other within prescribed
  organizational roles
• Experience lower quality exchanges
• Motives of subordinate directed toward
  self-interest rather than good of the group
• Acquaintance
• Begins with an offer by leader/subordinate for
  improved career-oriented social exchanges
• Testing period for both, assessing whether
• the subordinate is interested in taking on new
  roles
• leader is willing to provide new challenges
• Shift in dyad from formalized interactions to
  new ways of relating
• Quality of exchanges improve along with greater
  trust respect
• Less focus on self-interest, more on goals of
  the group
• Mature Partnership
• Marked by high-quality leader-member exchanges
• Experience high degree of mutual trust, respect,
  and obligation toward each other
• Tested relationship and found it dependable
• High degree of reciprocity between leaders and
  subordinates

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Leader Member Exchange

• Strengths
• It makes sense by describing work in terms of
  those who contribute more and those who do the
  bare minimum.
• Unique because it is the only theory to identify
  the dyadic relationship. Effective leader member
  exchanges are important
• Notes the importance of communication in
  leadership
• Reminds leaders to be fair about who they let
  into the in group this is based on work
  performance not race, sex, ethnicity, religion,
  etc
• Large amount of research supports this theory

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Leader Member Exchange

• Weakness
• On the surface this theory doesnt seem fair
  because it does not treat everyone equally. Also
  can support the development of privileged groups
  in the work place.
• The basic ideas of the theory are not fully
  developed. Fails to explain how high quality
  exchanges are created.
• No part of the research uses dyadic measures to
  analyze the LMX process

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• Transformational Leadership

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Transformational Leadership

• A process that changes and transforms people. It
  is concerned with emotions, values, ethics,
  standards and long term goals and includes
  assessing followers motives, satisfying their
  needs, and treating them as full human beings.
• Incorporates charismatic and visionary leadership
  and though the leader plays a pivotal role in
  precipitation change, followers and leaders are
  inextricably bound together in the transformation
  process.
• The process whereby a person engages with others
  and creates a connection that raises the level of
  motivation and morality in both the leader and
  the follower.

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Transformational Leadership

• It describes how leaders can initiate, develop
  and carry out significant changes in
  organizations.
• Rather than being a model that tells leaders what
  to do, transformational leadership provides a
  broad set of generalizations of what is typical
  of leaders who are transforming or who work in
  transforming contexts
• Provides a general way of thinking about
  leadership that emphasized ideals, inspiration,
  innovation and individual concerns.

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Transformational Leadership

• Charisma
• A special personality characteristic that gives a
  person superhuman or exceptional powers and is
  reserved for a few, is of divine origin, and
  results in the person being treated as a leader.
• Charismatic leaders act in unique ways that have
  specific charismatic effects on their followers

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Personality Characteristics, Behaviors, and
Effects of Followers of Charismatic Leadership
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Transformational Leadership Factors The Four Is

• Idealized Influence- describes leaders who act as
  strong role models for followers. Followers
  identify with these leaders and want very much to
  emulate them
• Inspirational Motivation- leaders who communicate
  high expectations to followers and inspire them
  through motivation to become committed to and a
  part of the shared vision
• Intellectual Stimulation- leadership that
  stimulates followers to be creative and
  innovative and to challenge their own beliefs and
  values as well as those of the leader
• Individual consideration- leaders who provide a
  supportive climate in which they listen carefully
  to the individual needs of the followers

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Transformational Leadership

• Bennis and Nanus research
• Leaders had a clear vision of the future state of
  their organizations
• Leaders were social architects for their
  organizations
• Leaders created trust in their organizations by
  making their own positions clearly known and then
  standing by them
• Leaders used creative deployment of self through
  positive self-regard

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Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire

• Not at all once in while sometimes
  Fairly Often Frequently
• 0 1 2 3 4
• Idealized influence (attributes) I go beyond self
  interest for the good of the group ___
• Idealized influence (behaviors) I consider the
  moral and ethical consequences of decisions
  ____
• Inspirational motivation I talk optimistically
  about the future ____
• Intellectual stimulation I re-examine critical
  assumptions to question whether they are
  appropriate ____
• Individualized consideration I help others to
  develop their strengths ____
• (Also used comparisons to transactional
  leadership and passive avoidant leadership styles)

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Transformational Leadership

• Pros
• It has been widely researched since 1970s
• It has an intuitive appeal (consistent with
  societys popular notion of what leadership
  means)
• It treats leadership as a process that occurs
  between followers and leaders
• It provides a broader view of leadership that
  augments other leadership models
• It places a strong emphasis on followers needs,
  values, and morals
• Evidence supports this theory it does work!

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Transformational Leadership

• Cons
• - lacks clarity it is difficult to define the
  parameters
• Difficult to measure. Idealized influence,
  inspirational motivation, intellectual
  stimulation and individualized consideration are
  all similar and can be hard to make distinct from
  each other
• Transformational leadership can be seen as a
  personality trait or personal disposition rather
  than a behavior in which people can be instructed
• It is elitist and antidemocratic because it gives
  the impression that the leader is acting
  independently of the followers
• It has the potential to be abused
• It only works in situations that require change!
  This may not work in an organization that is not
  open for a tranformation.

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References

• Northouse, P.G. (2007) Leadership Theory and
  Practice. Sage Publications, Inc. Thousand
  Oaks, CA.