Modern Leadership Theories and Trait Theories of Leadership: Jamie DiFiore

 

Modern Leadership Theories:

·         Began in the early 1900s –Alfred Binet tried to find average abilities and knowledge of children of various age groups.  Partnered with Lewis Terman and today we have the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test.

·         The Military started using the IQ test in World War 1.  Used to screen millions of new recruits to put them in positions where they were best suited. 

o   Higher Score-higher level executive jobs. 

o   Lower Score-infantry, custodial work, and menial jobs.  

Trait Theories of Leadership:

 

·         Trait theories investigations examined leaders’ innate personal characteristics.  First they thought you were born with these qualities and then it was believed that these traits could be learned to an extent. 

·         Ohio State Leadership Studies:

·         WW2 the GI Bill was enacted so there wouldn’t be so many workers in the field at once.  

·         Caroll Shartle was someone who was studying and teaching GIs in the college classrooms.  Inspired by George Marshall former army chief of staff and secretary of state to become a leader

·         Ohio State was the first to examine leadership from a multidisciplinary approach. 

Ralph Stodghill –part of Ohio leadership team 1948

·         Did a study that reviewed 100 leadership studies and posited that leadership might be situational and nature and should be considered, “in terms of interaction with variables which are in constant flux and change.”

·         He examined 28 traits in literature as associated with leadership that concluded that:

o   The average person that occupies a leadership position exceeds the average group member in: (1) intelligence; (2) scholarship (3) dependability in exercising responsibilities; (4) activity and social participation; and (5) socioeconomic status.  

o   The qualities, characteristics, and skills required in a leader are determined to a large extent by the demand of the situation in which he is to function as a leader. 

In the late 20^th century charismatic leadership began to take momentum.  

            1985 Bernard Bass’s book Leadership Beyond Expectations-integrated trait study with transformational leadership by including charisma as a quality of transformational leadership, initiating a reviewed interest in traits. 

  These traits provide a benchmark or goals of what we may want to see in our leaders …if we choose to become leaders in ourselves.  

   

 

1. How have leadership traits that were studied changed over time?

Leadership Style Theories: Jamie DiFiore

Leadership Style Theories – examines the leaders behavior. 

Basic Leadership Behaviors: Task and People

 

From the Ohio State Study John Hemphill and Alvin Coons, studied leadership behavior by having people take questionnaire about their leaders’ behavior.  They developed a 150-item Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire. 

·         Two Basic Leader Behaviors

o   Initiating Structure-leader behavior that deals with having concern for getting the job done, organizing and scheduling the work, maintaining lines of communication, and following procedures with subordinates. 

o    Consideration-building respect, trust, friendship, and concern for coworkers. 

Blake and Mouton’s Leadership Grid –business model for understanding managers’ behavior.  Deals with concern for production and people.

·         Two axis leadership model

·         First style is control-compliance (9,1) concern for production and structure. 

·         People and Results (9,9) concern for production and people

·         People Over Results (1,9) concern for people and little concern for results

·         Weak Management (1,1) little emphasis on the results or people involved. 

·         Moderate Management  (5,5) Moderate concern for results and people

It is important to know your leadership style; you have a better understanding of how you lead and how your coworkers perceive you. 

 

 

1. How does Blake and Mouton's grid work?

Leadership Contingency Theory: Kristy Vigilante

Leadership Contingency Theories – expands on leadership style by trying to match the appropriate leadership style with the particular situation’s characteristics.

v  Leader’s effectiveness is contingent upon how well the leader’s style fits the particular situation’s characteristics.

 

·         Most widely known contingency theory is Fred Fiedler’s theory.

Ø  Fiedler is a professor of management and research sociologist at the University of Illinois & the University of Washington.

Ø  Developed the Least Preferred Coworker (LPC) scale, which measures one’s leadership orientation.

§  Ranks items on an ordinal scale of 1-8 for 18 adjectives (ex: unfriendly to friendly; uncooperative to cooperative)

§  High LPC score = relationship-motivated person

§  Low score = task-motivated person

Ø  He suggested there is no ideal leader type; believes leaders can be effective if their leadership orientation fits the particular situational characteristics.

§  According to the model, three factors characterize situations: leader-member relations, task structure, and position power.

      Leader-member relations: refers to the level of mutual trust, respect, and confidence that the group has for its leader.

      Task structure: refers to the extent to which the task requirements are clear and communicated effectively.

      Position power: refers to the amount of legitimate power or authority inherent in the leader’s position to provide rewards or punishments to the group or individuals within the group.

§  The three factors determine the favorableness of organizational situations:

      Favorable= good leader-member relations, clear task structure, strong position power.

      Unfavorable= poor leader-member relations, low task structure, weak position power.

      Moderately Favorable= situations are rated in middle areas

 

 

 

X axis: situation’s favorableness from high to low.

Y axis: leader’s effectiveness.

Dotted line: the task-oriented leader doing well in highly favorable and unfavorable situations.

Solid line: relationship-oriented leader doing well in moderately favorable situations.

 

v  Contingency theory research suggests that certain styles are more effective in different situations:

      Task-motivated leaders (low LPC scores) are effective when situations are very favorable and very unfavorable; effective in categories I, II, III, & VIII.

      Relationship-motivated leaders (high LPC scores) are effective in moderately favorable conditions; effective in categories IV, V, VI, and VII.

 

Contingency Theory in Practice

§  Not used widely in education settings

§  Interest in contingency theory has diminished over the years:

1)    Situational leadership models have surfaced with more explanatory power, allowing leaders to adapt their leadership style to fit the situation.

2)    The LPC scale has validity problems with what is actually measured and how it is measured.

3)    Contingency theory requires that the leader is changed or the situation is engineered to fit the leader when a mismatch occurs between the leader and the situation.

Situational Leadership Theory: Kristy Vigilante

 

Situational Leadership Theory- leadership style is situational; can and should change with the situation.

§  Most closely associated with Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard, American management experts.

Ø  Frequently used in training business executives.

Ø  Blanchard’s situational leadership (SL) II model training has been used in 318 of the current Fortune 500 companies.

A.   Dual-axis model; X-axis (“directive behavior”) depicts task orientation. Y-axis (“supportive behavior”) depicts the relationship orientation.

B.   Four quadrants; leadership styles (Ss) and the employees’ developmental or maturity levels (Ds) are equivalent to quadrants (Qs) 1-4:

ü  Quadrant 1 (Q1), S1, “directing behaviors”: leadership style that is high directive (high task orientation) and low supportive (low relationship orientation).

o   Behaviors stress how the job is to be accomplished, the importance of achieving the organizational goals, and frequently monitoring progress.

ü  Q2, S2, “coaching behaviors”: leadership style that is high directive and high supportive.

o   Behaviors emphasize meeting organizational goals while also encouraging and supporting team collegiality.

ü  Q3, S3, “supporting behaviors”: leadership style that is low directive (task) and high supportive (relationship).

o   Behaviors emphasize listening, sustaining, encouraging teamwork, seeking group input, and providing recognition.

ü  Q4, S4, “delegating behaviors”: leadership style characterized by low directive (task) and low supportive (relationship) behaviors.

 

Ø  There is no one correct leadership style as it depends on the situation.

A.   Deciding under what situations to use each of these leadership styles involves assessing the individual’s or group’s maturity or developmental level.

B.   Developmental level is the degree to which an individual or group has the competence (ability) and commitment (willingness) to accomplish the task

C.   Four developmental levels (D1-D4) math the four leadership styles (S1-S4) of this model:

ü  D1: low in competence and low in commitment; new teachers fresh out of college.

ü  D2: somewhat competent and low in commitment; teacher with job mastery but motivation to excel has worn off.

ü  D3: moderately high to high levels of competence and somewhat lower on commitment level; veteran teachers nearing retirement but need active and ongoing support to boost their willingness to perform at their best.

ü  D4: competent to complete the task and exhibit a high level of commitment to the task; master teacher who continues to inspire younger teachers with his or her classroom expertise and enthusiastic talk about education’s many benefits to society.

Situational Theory in Practice

§  Matches the leader’s behaviors to the employee’s developmental level.

§  Researched for more than 40 years in doctoral dissertations.

Path Goal Theory: Kristy Vigilante

Path-Goal Theory- leader uses a leadership style that matches the worker’s motivational needs in a particular situation.

§  Developed in the early 1970’s by Robert House, a professor of organizational studies and management at the University of Pennsylvania.
§  Leader behaviors depend on two situational factors: the subordinate conditions and the task characteristics.
§  House & Mitchell examined four leader behaviors that meet directive, supportive, participative, and achievement oriented needs; these behaviors help workers avoid obstacles while moving along the path toward the goal:

ü  Directive-oriented leadership: leader clearly directs, instructs, and monitors workers in the time, quality, and expectations for how the task is to be accomplished

ü  Supportive-orientated leadership: leader takes genuine interest in the workers’ well being and their working conditions.

ü  Participative-oriented leadership: leader consults and shares information with the group to obtain their input into the decision-making process as a means to implement a superior solution.

ü  Achievement-oriented leadership: leader expresses challenging goals with a high standard for excellent performance.

Path-Goal Theory in Practice

§  Purpose: increase worker effort, performance, and job satisfaction in each situation.

 

 

§  Path-Goal Theory into Practice Table 4-3 identifies a situation, the specific leadership behavior recommended according to the path-goal theory, the impact of this leadership behavior on the follower, and the outcome.

o   Directive leadership: followers prefer authoritarian leadership, task is complex and ambiguous, & the rules and regulations are unclear about how to complete the task.

o   Supportive leadership: followers lack self-confidence and need affiliation and support; task is menial, boring, and repetitive.

o   Achievement-oriented leadership: followers have high expectations and a need for task accomplishment; task is complex, ambiguous, and challenging (or it may have a lack of challenge).

o   Participative leadership: followers have a high level of competence, cooperation, and a need to excel; task may be unclear or unstructured and the reward may not be appropriate to the goal.

v  Workers with a high level of internal locus of control (those who believe their outcomes are a result of their own hard work and good decisions) tend to be more satisfied working with leaders who use participative leadership styles.

v  Workers with a high level of external locus of control (those who see outcomes as a result of external factors or luck) tend to be more satisfied working with leaders using directive leadership styles.

v  Educational leaders should be able to apply the path-goal theory by assessing the needs of the school workers and the particular situation and then apply the correct leadership style.

v  Path-goal theory allows school leaders to increase the probability of increased worker effort, performance, and job satisfaction, as well as build staff capacity to confront and solve new tasks.

Transformational Leadership Theory: Michelle Loconte

 



In 1978, James MacGregor Burns developed the concept of transformational leadership.  Before the transformational leadership theory, earlier theories identified three different leadership styles:

• laissez-faire- this style applied to leaders who had minimal use of authority.  Laissez-faire leadership was meant for followers that were highly capable and highly motivated.  A leader to these types of followers does not need to initiate structure because it is already there.  These followers need  little supportive behavior from their leader because they are self-motivated.
• democratic leadership- this style allows workers to be involved in decision-making.  This style could cause problems if the workplace had a wide range of viewpoints.  Although problems may arise, studies have found that the democratic leadership style is the most effective.
• autocratic leadership- the style of leadership is characterized by low level of follower involvement- especially in making decisions.  An autocratic leader is high-task behavior and low-relationship behavior.  Autocratic leadership would apply to workers at low developmental stages, but it also causes workers to become unhappy.

When Burns developed the transformational leadership theory, he defined it as a process where leaders and followers help each other to advance to a higher level of morale and motivation.  After developing the theory, another concept approached that differed greatly from transformational leadership; the concept of transactional leadership.  Transactional leadership is a style in which the leader gives something to get something or withholds something to get something.  This style greatly involves the use of power in a leadership/follower relationship.  In comparison to transactional leadership, the concept of transformational leadership is on the opposite end of the spectrum.  Transformational leadership encompasses three major concepts that dive much deeper into a leader/follower relationship than transactional leadership's exchange level could.  These three transformational leadership concepts include:

1. The leader becomes the moral exemplar of the organization's mission.  Just as Gandhi exemplified non-violent protest, a leader must become the epitome of the organization's vision.
2. The leader articulate the vision and builds awareness, but also tends to the needs, concerns, and motives of the followers.  Gandhi built a foundation around non-violent protest, but he also listened to his followers and took their opinions into account.
3. The leader helps followers by building the team's capacity both morally and technically.

 

 

 

Over time, researchers have developed four common factors that are associated with transformational leadership:

1. idealized influence: This factor is the leader's ability to affect follower loyalty.  The leader sets a moral example and sharing a vision and mission with the followers.  A charismatic leader is often followed after the old way has failed.  The followers are under stress, and a charismatic leader happens to be in the right place at the right time.  For example a failing school may require a new leader who is enthusiastic and encouraging change.  When the school finds success, they must develop policies and protocols to keep the influence stable and endure.
2. inspirational motivation: This factor relates to the leader's ability to communicate effectively.  A leader who communicates and motivates workers to consistently improve can accomplish goals.  The expectations of the followers must be shared.  When expectations are reached, they must increase the expectations.  This constant increase rate will help workers gain confidence and create better and more productive work.
3. intellectual stimulation: Leaders challenge traditional organizational assumptions and followers confront their own beliefs and behaviors.  The leaders encourage works to become problem solvers.  Roles change as followers solve problems and leaders take guidance from follower input.  Leaders help followers develop capabilities and collaboration skills. 
4. individualized consideration: Leaders must also attend to individual needs through coaching and mentoring.  This factor involves low task behavior and high relationship behavior.  Consideration is involved on group levels and individual levels.  Some leaders will give out a variety of management level responsibilities to followers based on their individual talents and abilities.  One leader that used this method often was Andrew Carnegie.  He was a leader who was sensitive to the needs of blue-collar and white-collar workers. 

 



Transformational leadership is often considered as a goal, not a leadership style.  The four factors of successful transformational leadership are built over time and experience in relationships, people, and issues.  However, Gary Yukl developed a list of ideas to help leaders become transformational:

 

• develop a challenging vision with followers
• link the vision with a strategy for achievement
• develop a specific vision and translate it into actions
• express confidence and optimism about the vision and its implementations
• accomplish the vision through small, planned successes moving toward its full implementation





1. List some potential problems with following a charismatic leader.
2. Provide an example of transactional leadership today.

Authentic Leadership Theory: Michelle Loconte

Authentic leaders are ethical and have integrity.  What they say is the same as what they do.  This leadership theory is fairly new, although its values are not.  Authentic leadership has several different definitions but an authentic leader is generally characterized as having:

• a desire to serve
• integrity and ethics
• a strong moral compass and core values
• pursuit of worthy objectives
• a desire to empower workers for the good of the organization
• positive organizational citizenship

An authentic leader becomes genuine because they know themselves.  They are reliable and dependable.  Relationships between authentic leaders and their "followers" are often characterized as:

• open and trusting
• guided toward worthy objectives
• emphasis on follower development

Authentic leaders want their followers to grow into authentic leadership roles, too.  Authentic leaders build relationships based on honesty, trust, and a moral purpose.  There are two major components to authentic leadership.  Those components are self-awareness and self-regulation.  The figure below shows us what authentic leadership and authentic followership looks like.  Our self-awareness and self-regulation often stems from events in our life, personal history or trigger events.  Personal history events are our role models in life, our upbringing, and our experiences through education and work.  Trigger events are events that were extremely significant in our lives or crisis-centered that helped us to grow.  In the authentic leadership theory, it is believed that these two types of events help shape us into the leaders that we will become. 

 

 

When a leader becomes more self-aware and self-regulated, they are able to find balance between their words and their actions.  They are able to be truthful within their dealings and true to their own values at the same time.  When this occurs, it is often referred to as rational transparency. 

 

Authentic leadership creates a positive work environment.  When followers feel that their leader is being honest, ethical, and truthful, they tend to be more honest, ethical, and truthful.  When followers see that their leader is dedicating service to their shared values, they will be motivated to dedicate service to their shared values. 

 

However, one negative or untrustworthy experience with an authentic leader can disrupt the entire system.  It is important as an authentic leader to make sure that your values and goals are the same as the organizations.  It is important to remain honest and trustworthy at all times.  It is important as an authentic leader to genuinely value positive, professional relationships with followers.  It is important to remain consistent and available.

 

 

 

1. Why do you think it is important to self-reflect as an authentic leader?
2. How transparent is too transparent?
3. Think of an example of when a leader's actions may differ from their words.