MGMT433:

Introduction

What is leadership?

Can you answer that question? Now go out and ask someone else the same question. Most likely, you will find the answer to be similar to yours, but also different.

Lesson 1 provides an overview of what leadership is and begins to introduce the theories and research that have been collected to help others become leaders.

Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this lesson, you should be able to do the following things:

• Explain classical leadership styles.
• Identify the differences among each classical leadership style.
• Discuss the difference between a born leader and a made leader.
• Identify the Big Five personality traits.
• Demonstrate awareness of key leadership theories comparing and contrasting being born to lead and being made to lead.

Lesson Readings and Activities

By the end of this lesson, make sure you have completed the readings and activities found in the Lesson 1 Course Schedule.

Defining Leadership

   Have you ever searched for the definition of leadership? How many definitions did you come across? Take a moment here and search. 

Many definitions of and books about leadership exist thanks to an age-old debate among a variety of schools of thought, which have all provided different explanations for where leaders come from and how they can be discovered.

What Is Leadership?

While there are numerous definitions of leadership, most theories agree on the following elements: The process of leadership involves a complex interaction among the leader, the followers, and the situation. Leadership can occur at multiple levels in an organization, including individual, group, and organizational levels. Its primary focus is goal accomplishment. Leadership effectiveness isn't completely in the leader's control; followers' expectations, attitudes, and behavior affect how well the presumed leader can lead.

According to Northouse (2013), "Leadership is the process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal" (p. 5). The source of this influence may be formal, meaning that the person is in a leadership role because of their position in the organization. Leaders can also emerge in an informal fashion by influencing others outside of the formal organizational structure.

A leader is "a person who can influence others to be more effective in working to achieve their mutual goals and maintain effective working relationships among members" (Johnson & Johnson, 2013, p. 168). Generally speaking, the role of a leader is to develop individuals (the followers), build effective teams, and attain specific goals.

Leadership is often compared and contrasted with management. Managers typically perform functions associated with planning, supervising, and organizing; they're focused on efficiency and manage resources accordingly. Leaders, on the other hand, are visionary. They deal with the interpersonal aspects of a manager’s job and inspire their followers. It's typically part of the manager’s job to execute the vision outlined by the leader. Table 1.1 shows common differences between leaders and managers.

Classic Leadership Styles

Early social scientist Kurt Lewin and his colleagues identified three basic leadership styles. To some degree, these styles are still incorporated into modern leadership theories. Lewin’s classic leadership styles are authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-faire; each varies in the amount of power and control shared with followers. Leaders create climates reflective of their styles, and “these styles influence the leader–follower relationship, group success, group risk-taking, group problem-solving strategies, group morale, and group relations” (UNESCO, 2016, p. 16). 

Authoritarian Leaders

Authoritarian leaders, also referred to as autocratic leaders, share very little power and control with their followers. They are characterized as domineering and may also be somewhat aloof. Authoritarian leaders make decisions with little to no input from others and tend to maintain their positions through demands, orders, policies, regulations, and even threats of punishment. Authoritarian leadership is typically seen as outdated, although there are some scenarios that require this style, in particular militaristic organizations and organizations that require large-scale coordination and mechanistic, routine labor. Authoritarian leaders are more likely to have followers who are dissatisfied and who subsequently look for employment elsewhere.

Democratic Leaders

Democratic leaders share power and control with their followers by seeking their input on important decisions and incorporating their ideas. Democratic leaders tend to build camaraderie among their followers and are viewed as participative and inclusive. Member empowerment is a key feature of democratic leadership. Authority is gained through accountability, cooperation, and delegation of tasks. Democratic leaders see themselves as part of the group and are quick to praise and encourage followers and to share the limelight of successes. Some settings call for more democracy, like a worker-owned cooperative, cross-functional team, or university governing body.

Laissez-Faire Leaders

The laissez-faire style of leadership is actually an absence of leadership. Laissez-faire leaders are typically uninvolved with their followers and make minimal group-related decisions. Instead, followers or group members are responsible for all group activities, including goal achievement. Laissez-faire leaders have a high degree of trust in their followers to make appropriate decisions. Environments involving highly skilled, self-directed professionals (professors, scientists, etc.) are suitable for a laissez-faire leadership style. Followers who need an abundance of feedback, direction, and oversight would not be successful in a laissez-faire leadership climate.

Early studies by Lewin and his colleagues noted that the same groups of people responded differently to autocratic and democratic styles of leadership. Generally speaking, groups under autocratic leaders were more dependent on the leader and somewhat hostile toward their peers. Under democratic leaders, the groups took more initiative and responsibility and were friendlier toward their peers; they continued to work even when the leader left the room. Later studies that assessed the impact of both autocratic and democratic styles of leadership on productivity were somewhat inconclusive, but group-member satisfaction is more strongly associated with a democratic style. These early studies were the cornerstones for today’s vast field and extensive body of knowledge on leadership.

Are Leaders Born or Made?

Leadership style is only one aspect of leadership. Many have asked the question of how leaders come to be. Are leaders born, or are they made? Leadership in this context can be identified as a set of qualities that must be possessed or a set of actions that must be mastered.

Born to Lead

Trait theory, or "great man" theory, is based on the idea that effective leaders are born with specific traits that have been proven important. Most of these traits or qualities are basic personality characteristics. Trait theories of leadership—those seeking to identify the personal traits that differentiate leaders from others—dominated leadership thought in the first half of the 20th century. Hundreds of traits, both physical and psychological, were studied over the course of about 40 years. Studies that sought to understand traits that predicted who would become a leader were largely inconclusive.

Some traits, however, seemed to appear consistently in individuals who were already leaders, including intelligence, enthusiasm, dominance, and self-confidence—but these attributes also appeared in non-leaders. Thus, by the middle of the 20th century, most leadership scholars concluded that further efforts to identify a universal set of leadership traits was pointless.

Big Five Personality Traits

Personality can be thought of as the persistent and enduring attributes, traits, and characteristics that make individuals unique. A generally accepted model—the Big Five—asserts that the basic personality structure can be broken into five dimensions: extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience.

Personality Traits 

Extroversion refers to an individual’s interest in and enthusiasm for things outside of themselves. Traits associated with extroversion involve being outgoing, gregarious, social, and talkative. The opposite of extroversion is introversion, which refers generally to being shy and reserved. Individuals high in extroversion gain energy from being with others. The concepts of extroversion and introversion appear in a number of personality theories. In some models (see Figure 1.1), they're conceptualized as opposite ends of a continuum, where being high in one necessitates being low in the other. In other models (see Figure 1.2), they're seen as two separate dimensions, where individuals can be high or low on either.

 

 

 

Agreeableness refers to the extent to which an individual is cooperative and friendly. Traits associated with agreeableness involve being polite, flexible, tolerant, kind, and cooperative. Individuals high on agreeableness are more likely to seek compromise and to be empathetic and trusting. They tend to view the world from a place of optimism, seeing and believing in the good in people.  

Conscientiousness is the extent to which individuals are reliable, prompt, hardworking, and ambitious. Individuals that have a high degree of conscientiousness tend to be more organized and thorough than those with lower degrees of conscientiousness. In some studies, conscientiousness may be referred to as dependability.

Neuroticism, sometimes referred to as emotionality, refers to feelings of anxiousness and nervousness. Individuals high on neuroticism tend to be worriers; they are often contrasted with those who are emotionally stable and even-tempered.  

Openness to experience refers to being imaginative and innovative, curious, and progressive.

There is a vast amount of literature on the relationships among the Big Five personality factors and leadership.

Learn to Lead

Behavioral theories of leadership seek to identify the specific leader behaviors that result in higher group performance. In contrast to the trait approach, this approach contends that leaders are made, not born. Behavioral leadership theories assume that there are distinctive actions that effective leaders take and, by extension, that these actions or behaviors can be taught.

The most well-known behavioral theories of leadership originated at Ohio State and the University of Michigan in the mid-20th century. The main contributions of each are highlighted below. 

Scientists at the Ohio State University developed the Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire (LBDQ), which asks respondents to assess their leaders' behaviors toward them on two dimensions. The first dimension, initiating structure, describes the extent to which leaders define not only their relationship with their followers, but also the role that they expect each member to play in the group. Sample items from the initiating structure section of the original LBDQ include "He makes sure that his part in the organization is understood by all group members" and "He schedules the work to be done" (Halpin, 1957). 

The second dimension, consideration, describes the extent to which leaders work to support and to develop trust, respect, and friendship with their followers. Sample items measuring consideration in the original LBDQ include "He finds time to listen to group members" and "He puts suggestions made by the group into operation" (Halpin, 1957).

Leaders who score high on initiating structure tend to establish well-defined modes of communication and procedures for getting the job done. Those who score high on consideration, who are typically helpful and respectful, have amiable relationships with their followers. More updated versions of the LBDQ are not gender-specific, given the increased number of women in the workforce since its original publication. Additionally, the term task-oriented is typically substituted for initiating structure, as is relationship-oriented for consideration.

Studies at the University of Michigan gave special attention to the impact of leaders’ behaviors on worker motivation and group performance, describing two similar dimensions of leader behavior: job-centered (practically the same as initiating structure) and employee-centered (the same as consideration).

These early behavioral studies and their associated dimensions laid the groundwork for subsequent models and theories. Current research supports the notion that leader behaviors have a greater impact on leadership effectiveness than traits do.

Lesson Summary

Though defined in a variety of ways, leadership is well documented and plays a key role in relationships, organizations, and societies. Understanding leadership requires a thorough examination of theory and experience as to how leaders come to be.

This lesson introduced the age-old debate over whether leaders are born or made. From this context, leadership was broken down into traits possessed by leaders (including a strong focus on the Big Five personality traits) and then compared to sets of behaviors that must be learned within a leadership role.

Leadership is a complex interaction between leaders and followers coming together through a shared experience, goal, or interaction. This course focuses on developing leadership skills in order to build effective teams. The next lesson will provide a deeper dive into other, more modern leadership theories.

References

• Northouse, P. (2013). G.(2013). Leadership Theory and Practice: Kepemimpinan Teori dan Praktek. Edisi keenam. PT. Indeks, p. 5.
• Johnson, P. (2017). Joining Together Group Theory and Group Skills by David W. Johnson and Frank P. Johnson. Groupwork, 27(3), 110-111.
• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). (2016). Global Education Monitoring Report Summary 2016: Education for People and Planet: Creating Sustainable Futures for All, p. 16.
• Cherry, K. (2006). Leadership styles. Retrieved from academia.edu.
• Behavorial Theories of Leadership. Scale originated from Halpin, A.W. (1957). Manual for the leader behavior description questionnaire. Columbus, OH: The Ohio State University.