Definition of Leadership
Leadership can simply be defined as the ability to influence others. In the course of his survey of leadership theories and research, Stogdil came across innumerable definitions of leadership. For our purpose, we may define leadership as the process of directing and influencing people so that they will strive willingly and enthusiastically towards the achievement of group objectives. Ideally, people should be encouraged to develop not only willingness to work but also willingness to work with confidence and zeal. Confidence reflects experience and technical expertise; zeal is earnestness, and intensity in the execution of work. A leader acts to help a group achieve objectives through the exploitation of its maximum capabilities. A leader does not stand behind a group to push and prod; she/he places herself/himself before the group, facilitates progress, and inspires the group to accomplish organisational goals.
Qualities/Ingredients of Leadership
Undoubtedly, leadership is one of the most talked about, written about, and researched topics in the field of management. It is inherent in management. Every group of people that performs satisfactorily has somebody among them who is more skilled than any of them in the art of leadership. This skill is a compound of at least four major ingredients:
a) The ability to use power effectively and in a responsible manner b) The ability to comprehend that human beings have different motivational forces at different times and in different situations c) The ability to inspire
d) The ability to act in a manner that will develop a climate conducive to responding and arousing motivations
These are elaborated below:
a) Power: This is the first ingredient of leadership. Power is the potential ability to affect the behaviour of others. The word potential suggests that one can have power without actually using it. In organisational settings, there are usually five kinds of power - legitimate, reward, coercive, referent, and expert power. A manager may have one or more of these kinds of power.
(i) Legitimate power: This power is granted through the organisational hierarchy. It is the same as authority. All managers have legitimate power over their subordinates. (ii) Reward power: Reward power is the power to give or withhold rewards. In general, the greater the number of rewards controlled by a manager and the more important the rewards are to the subordinates, the greater the manager's reward power. (iii) Coercive power: This type of power is the power to force compliance via psychological, emotional, or physical threat. In some isolated settings, coercion can take the form of physical punishment. It is likely that the more a manager uses coercive power, the more likely he or she is to provoke resentment and hostility. (iv) Referent Power: Referent power is more abstract than the other types of power. It is usually based on identification or imitation. That is, followers may react favourably to a leader because somehow they identify with the leader, who may be like them in background, attitude, affiliation, or personality. Referent power may also take the form of charisma, an intangible attribute in the leader's personality that inspires loyalty and enthusiasm. (v) Expert power: Expert power is derived from expertise. A scientist who is capable of achieving an important technical breakthrough or a manager who knows how to deal with an important but eccentric customer are examples of expert power.
b) Fundamental understanding of people: It is not enough to know the theoretical aspects of motivation. The more important is the ability of the manager to apply them to real people and situations. But a manager who understands the elements of motivation and motivation theories is more aware of the nature and strength of human needs and is better able to define and design ways of satisfying them and to administer so as to get the desired responses.
c) The ability to inspire followers to apply their full capabilities: Inspiration to do something usually comes from leaders, who may have qualities of charm and appeal that give rise to loyalty, devotion, and a strong desire on the part of followers to promote what leaders want. This is not a matter of need satisfaction; rather, it is a matter of unselfish support from followers to their leader. The best examples of inspirational leadership come from hopeless and frightening situations. The workers of a dying concern may come forward and follow the leader to overcome crises.
d) The ability to develop a climate conducive to arousing motivation: This ingredient of leadership has to do with the style of the leader and the climate she or he develops. As we know, the strength of motivation greatly depends on factors that are part of an environment, as well as an organisational climate. There is no denying the fact that the primary tasks of managers are the design and maintenance of an environment for performance. The fundamental principle of leadership is this - since people tend to follow those who, in their view, offer them a means of satisfying their own personal goals, the more managers understand what motivates their subordinates and how these motivations operate, and the more they reflect this understanding in carrying out their managerial actions, the more effective they are likely to be their leaders.
Styles/Types of Leadership Leadership styles/types can be classified under the following categories:
Leadership style based on the use of authority
Leadership continuum, involving a variety of styles ranging from a maximum to a minimum use of power and influence
Leadership styles described in Managerial Grid by Blake and Mouton
Systems of management by Rensis Likert
Leadership Style Based on the Use of Authority The traditional way of classifying leadership is based on the use of authority by the leader. Those classifications are:
a) Autocratic leadership: This type of leadership is based on the use of coercive power. An autocratic leader gives orders and expects compliance. He is dogmatic and leads by the ability to withhold or give punishment or rewards. However, some autocratic leaders may happen to be "benevolent autocrats". Usually, they are willing to hear and consider subordinates' ideas and suggestions but when a decision is to be made, they turn to be more autocratic than benevolent.
b) Democratic leadership: The type or style of leadership that uses legitimate power can be called democratic leadership. A democratic leader usually consults with subordinates on proposed actions and decisions and encourages participation from them. This type of leader ranges from the person who does not take action without subordinates’ concurrence to the one who makes decisions but consults with subordinates before doing so.
c) Free-rein leadership: The leadership style which allows maximum freedom to followers may be called free-rein leadership. A free-rein manager gives workers a high degree of independence in their operations. He or she depends largely on subordinates to set their own goals and the means of achieving them, and they see their role as one of aiding the operations of followers by furnishing them with information and acting primarily as a contact with the groups' external environment.
The use of any style may depend on the situation. A democratic leader may turn into an autocrat in an emergency. The reverse may also happen when an autocratic manager finds no alternative to winning the cooperation of his subordinates in combating a crisis.
Leadership Continuum Robert Tennenbaum and Warren H. Schmidt developed the leadership continuum depicting the adaptation of different leadership styles to different contingencies (situations), ranging from one that is highly subordinate-centred to one that is highly boss-centred. The styles vary with the degree of freedom a leader or manager grants to the subordinates. Thus, instead of suggesting a choice between the two styles of leadership, democratic or autocratic, this approach offers a range of styles.
Robert Tannenbaum and Warren H. Schmidt described the various factors thought to influence a manager's choice of leadership style. While they personally favour the employee-centred type, they suggest that a manager considers three sets of "forces" before choosing a leadership style: forces in the manager, forces in employees (subordinates), and forces in the situation.
Leadership Styles in Managerial Grid A most useful approach to describing leadership styles is the managerial grid, developed by Robert Blake and Jane Mouton. The grid has two dimensions - concern for people and concern for production. Concern for people may include such elements as provision of good working conditions, placement of responsibility on the basis of trust rather than obedience, maintenance of self-esteem of workers, and good interpersonal relations. Concern for production may also include the attitudes of a supervisor toward a wide variety of things, such as quality of staff services, work efficiency, volume, and quality of output.
The bi-dimensional managerial grid identifies a range of management behaviours based on the various ways that task-oriented and employee-oriented styles (each expressed as a continuum on a scale of 1 to 9) can interact with each other.
Systems of Management by Rensis Likert Professor Rensis Likert of Michigan University studied the patterns and styles of managers and leaders for three decades. He suggests four styles of management as:
a) Exploitative-authoritative management: Under this type, the managers are highly autocratic, have little trust in subordinates, motivate people through fear and punishment, engage in downward communication, and limit decision-making to the top.
b) Benevolent-authoritative management: Managers under this type have a patronising confidence and trust in subordinates, motivate with rewards and some punishment, permit some upward communication, solicit some ideas and opinions from subordinates, and allow some delegation of decision-making but with close policy control.
c) Consultative management: Under this type of management, managers have substantial but not complete confidence and trust in subordinates, use rewards for motivation with occasional punishment and some participation, usually try to make use of subordinates' ideas and opinions, engage in communication flow both up and down, make broad policy and general decisions at the top while allowing specific decisions to be made at lower levels and act consultatively in other ways.
d) Participative management: This is the most democratic type of management. Under this type, managers have complete confidence and trust in subordinates in all matters. They use group participation and involvement in decision-making, provide ample communication in all directions, and encourage a high degree of commitment to organisational goals and a strong team spirit among workers.
