LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOUR DEFINATION AND THEORIES

COUNSELLING IN
ORGANIZATIONAL
SETTINGS
LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOUR
DEFINATION AND THEORIES

LEADERSHIP
MEANING
Leadership is a commonly used word. It is common because every
society, organization, institution, country and the world require
leaders to lead the people towards achievement of their common
goals.
Leadership provides direction, guidance, restores confidence and
makes the way easy for achieving the objectives.
Leader activates the people. He makes them work.
Leadership influences behaviour of the people

Leadership has the ability to attract others and cause them to follow. It is a role
individual plays in a group at a given time.
Leadership acquires dominance and the followers accept his directives and
control. Leadership provides direction and vision for future.
Wendell French has defined leadership as, “the process of influencing the
behavior of others in the direction of a goal or set of goals or, more broadly,
toward a vision of the future.”
It is a process of influencing behavior of individual or group to accomplish
organizational goals.
It is a group effort, cooperation of all individuals sought by leader for attaining a
productive purpose.

DEFINITIONS
According to Keith Davis, “Leadership is the process of encouraging and
helping others to work enthusiastically towards objectives.”
Koontz and O’Donnell defined leadership as, “influence, the art or process
of influencing people so that they will strive willingly towards the achievement
of group goals.”
Peter Drucker defends it as, “the lifting of man’s visions to higher sights, the
raising of man’s performance to higher standard, the building of man’s
personality beyond its normal limitations.”
A. Gouldner defined leadership as, “a role which an individual occupies at a
given time in a given group.”

Essences of Leadership
1. Leadership is the process of influencing behaviour of others.
2. Leadership uses non-coercive method to direct and coordinate the
activities of the members.
3. Leadership directs the people to attain some goal.
4. Leadership occupies a role for a given time and for a group.
5. A leader possesses qualities to influence others.
6. Leadership gives people a vision for future.

7. It is a group activity. Leader influences his followers and followers
also exercise influence over his leader. Leadership interacts.
8. Leadership is meant for a given situation.
9. Leadership is continuous process of influencing behavior. It instils
dynamism in the group.
10. It is a psychological process and multi-dimensional in character.

TYPES OF LEADERSHIP
The Personnel Research Board of the Ohio University has classified leadership into five
types as Bureaucrat, Autocrat, Diplomat, Expert, and Quarterback.
1. Bureaucrat:
He is the leader who follows rules and regulations and engages himself in
pleasing his superiors and deliberately avoids his subordinates.
2. Autocrat:
He issues directives and wants obedience. Subordinates oppose his attitudes.
3. Diplomat:
A most opportunistic type of leadership. He exploits people. People do not
trust him.

4. Expert:
He is more concerned about his area of specialization. He is fair to his
subordinates and treats them on par.
5. Quarter-back:
He does not make any difference between him and subordinates. This
attitude brings him more enemies from superior ranks.
In addition to the above types, leadership may be classified into the following types:
Functional:
As the name suggests the leadership is according to functions e.g. a leader is an
expert in some area then his advice is accepted by all.

Personal:
Some leaders possess attractive personality and have personal contacts with people.
The supervisor directs and motivates people through their personal contacts.
Impersonal:
Leaders have no personal contacts. This type of leadership is similar to bureaucrat
type who leads people through instructions given to his subordinates.
Formal and Informal:
When formal authority vested in the executive is exercised to influence behavior of
people, the leadership is said to be formal. Official position of the authority plays a vital
role in this type.
As against formal, informal leadership has no formal authority, yet it is very effective
in exercising its influence to direct the behavior of people. The personality traits of a
leader play a vital role in this type of leadership.

Positive and Negative Leadership:
Positive leadership adopts positive attitudes towards subordinates. It takes
them into confidence, issues orders and interprets them, recognizes the talents
among subordinates and delegates authority for proper implementation of his
orders.
Negative leadership uses coercive methods to motivate subordinates. His
subordinates remain under threat and fear. The negative leaders dominate
subordinates through false exhibition of superiority.

FUNCTIONS OF LEADERSHIP
1. A leader should act as a friend, philosopher and guide to the people whom he is
leading. He must have the capacity to recognize their potentialities and transform
them into realities.
2. A leader should win the confidence of his people and seek their cooperation and
convince them of policies, procedures and the goals to be achieved.
3. He maintains discipline among his group and develops a sense of responsibility.
4. He should motivate his subordinates to achieve goals. He seeks their
commitments to attain the objectives of the organisation.
5. He should try to raise high moral and ethical standards among his people.

THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP
Theories on leadership exhibit the evolution of thoughts and development in thinking
process from one dimension of leadership to the other.
The important aspects of theories are the development of thoughts. In the various
theories different aspects of leadership are explained by the experts.
Some of the important theories are:
• GREAT MAN THEORIES (1840s)
• TRAIT THEORIES (1930s – 1940s)
• BEHAVIOURAL THEORIES (1940s – 1950s)
• CONTIGENCY THEORIES (1960s)
• TRANSACTIONAL LEADERSHIP THEORIES (1970s)
• TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP THEORIES (1980s)

1). "Great Man" Theories
Great man theories assume that the capacity for leadership is inherent – that great
leaders are born, not made.
According to this point of view, great leaders are simply born with the necessary
internal characteristics such as charisma, confidence, intelligence, and social skills
that make them natural-born leaders.
The term "Great Man" was used because, at the time, leadership was thought of
primarily as a male quality.
Such theories suggest that people cannot really learn how to become strong leaders.
It's either something you are born with or born without.
These individuals often included aristocratic rulers who achieved their position through
birth right. Because people of a lesser social status had fewer opportunities to practice
and achieve leadership roles, it contributed to the idea that leadership is an inherent
ability.

2) TRAIT THEORY
Trait theories often identify a particular personality or behavioural characteristics
shared by leaders. For example, traits like extroversion, self-confidence, and courage
are all traits that could potentially be linked to great leaders.
The trait theory of leadership focuses on identifying different personality traits and
characteristics that are linked to successful leadership across a variety of
situations.
The trait theory of leadership focused on analysing mental, physical and social
characteristic in order to gain more understanding of what is the characteristic or
the combination of characteristics that are common among leaders.

The earliest writers believed that important leadership traits included:
• Brighter: Leaders tend to be brighter and more intelligent than other
people. They are visionaries who can direct people to follow them.
• Empathetic, sensitive: Leaders have an empathic attitude towards their
followers. They tend to think in terms of their people rather than only work.
• Self-confidence: Leaders are people who are high at self-confidence
and tend to believe in themselves.
• Confidence in followers: Leaders are people who tend to have
confidence in their followers and expect their followers to do the right things.
• High EQ: Relating to the empathic element, leaders are high at Emotional
Quotient, i.e. they have the ability to understand the emotions of others and
use them for the benefit of everyone involved.

• Integrity: Leaders are people who have sound integrity and govern respect.
• Drive: Leaders are high at motivation levels
• Good Physique: Good health, vitality, energetic, enthusiast, endurance,
forcefulness, masculinity.
• Creativity and Intelligence: Problem solving talents, sound judgment,
teaching ability, rational attitude, scientific outlook, self-understanding,
decision making prowess, better education, risk taking, hard work.
• Social Traits: Fearless, ability to inspire, knowledge of human psychology,
ability to influence people, social interaction, self-confidence, ability to
pursue, initiative, tactfulness.
• Moral Traits: Moral power, will power, sense of integrity, fairness, tolerance.
All above qualities can be developed in a leader.

3) BEHAVIOURAL THEORY
The emphasis was given on the behavior of leaders than their personality
traits. According to behavioral approach the actions of the leader in attaining goals are
important.
It studies the kind and types of behavior that affect the job performance of the
subordinates and their job satisfaction.
To study the behavior of leaders, two major research programs were started by two
different universities namely, the Ohio State Leadership Studies and the University of
Michigan Studies.

The Ohio State University Studies: A group of researchers at Ohio State
University prepared a questionnaire to be surveyed in military and industrial
setups, to determine the perception of the subordinates for the actual
behavior of their leaders.
From their findings, the researchers identified two major categories of leader
behavior-
Consideration: The leaders are attentive towards their subordinates and build up
an excellent inter-personnel relationship with them. They are very supportive
and friendly. This was termed as ‘people-oriented behaviour’.
Initiating structure: The leaders are majorly concerned about the achievement
of goals and schedule and structure work accordingly. For such leaders,
subordinates are just resources, and they have to make the optimal utilization
of them. This was termed as ‘task-oriented behaviour’

The University of Michigan Studies: This study is based on how the leader’s
behavior is related to group performance.
Researchers made a comparison of effective managers with the ineffective ones and
found that the two can be discriminated on the basis of their behavior, i.e. job-centric
behavior and organizational-member centric behavior.
Thus, Behavioral theories of leadership are based upon the belief that great leaders
are made, not born.
This leadership theory focuses on the actions of leaders, not on mental qualities or
internal states.
According to this theory, people can learn to become leaders through teaching,
learning and observation.

Contingency Theory:
Contingency theories of leadership state that effective leadership comprises of all
the three factors, i.e. traits, behavior and situation. A leader’s behavior varies as
per the situation.
The Contingency Leadership theory argues that there is no single way of leading
and that every leadership style should be based on certain situations.
It states that a leader’s effectiveness is contingent upon with how his or her
leadership style matches to the situation. Ex boss and design engineers.
Two popularly studied contingency theories are:
• Fiedler’s Contingency Model
• House’s Path-Goal Theory

The Contingency Theory of leadership was developed by Fred Fiedler in 1958
during his research of leader effectiveness in group situations .Fiedler believed
that one’s effectiveness to lead depended on their control of the situation and the
style of leadership.
This theory assumes that styles are fixed, and that they cannot be adapted or
modified (Gupta, 2009). A leader is most effective when his or her attributes and
style of leadership is matched with the situation and environment around them
(Gupta, 2009).
How Fiedler’s Contingency Theory Works
The Contingency theory is not concerned with having the leader adapt to a
situation, rather the goal is to match the leader’s style with a compatible situation.

To make best use of this theory, it is important to find what style a leader has.
This is done through the Least Preferred Co-worker Scale (LPC) (Gupta, 2009).
The LPC is a list of questions designed to find out what kind of characteristics a
leader has, and in turn shows the leaders style (Gupta, 2009). Fiedler’s
Contingency Model attempts to match the leader’s style using LPC to the
situation in which they would thrive
High LPC Score– leader with good personal skills and relies on relationships with
others to accomplish tasks. (people/relationship-oriented)
Low LPC Score– leader that accomplishes goals through focus on the task and
positional power .( task-oriented)

Task-oriented leaders are most effective when their positional power is high, as well
as the task structure (Gupta, 2009).
People or relation-oriented leaders perform their best when the relationship levels
between themselves and followers are at their greatest.
After finding the style of the leader, Fiedler’s Model states that finding the best
situation for the leader, also known as “situational favorableness”

A situation is defined by three factors in the contingency theory:
Leader-Member Relation- how the leader interacts with employees (Gupta,
2009).
Task Structure- how tasks are set up by the leader. Is it straightforward and
structured or vague and unstructured.
Positional Power- the amount of power and formal authority a leader has
over followers.
These three factors combine to form the situation in which a leader’s style is
effective or ineffective. If the three factors match up to the style of the leader,
success is projected. By using the results from the LPC to find a person’s
leadership style, and analyzing their preferred leader-member relation, task
structure, and positional power, finding the right job or position for someone
can be more accurately accomplished .

Robert House's Path-Goal Theory
The path-goal theory is based on the idea that a follower's motivations
are based on three assumptions:
If effort is given, the goal can be achieved (expectancy)
If the goal is achieved, there will be a reward (instrumentality)
The reward is considered valuable (valance)
The basic idea behind Path-Goal theory is that the role of the leader is
really to help his or her subordinates to become successful.
Stated differently, the function of the leader is to show subordinates the
“path to the goal”

The Path-Goal Theory identifies four styles of leadership:
Directive - This leader provides direct and authoritative communication
to his/her followers. This is ideal for followers who may have less
knowledge or experience. A leader who meets with subordinates once a
week to give out work assignments is exhibiting directive leadership.
Achievement-Oriented - This leader sets high expectations for followers.
He/she will challenge their subordinates and show confidence in their
ability to achieve good results. It aims in helping the employees to
improve their performance.
Participative - This leader works with his/her followers, considering their
ideas and listening to them. A leader who regularly seeks the inputs of
subordinates before making important decision is exhibiting participative
leadership.

Supportive - This leader come alongside his/her subordinates showing
care and concern for their needs and well-being.
Thus path-goal theory states that a leader must be able to adapt his or her
leadership style to the subordinates being supervised and to the situation.
House proposed that, to be successful, a leader must be capable of
utilizing all the four different leadership styles.

TRANSFORMATIONAL and CHARISMATIC LEADERSHIP THEORIES
Transformational leadership is a style of leadership in which the leader identifies the
needed change, creates a vision to guide change through inspiration, and
executes the change with the commitment of the members of the group.
Transformational leadership was first introduced by a political historian by the name of
James Mac Gregor Burns. He described the process as how “leaders and followers
help each other to advance to a higher level of morale and motivation” (Burns, 1978).
Through transformational leaders, followers are able to be inspired to change their
expectations, perceptions, and motivations in order to work together to accomplish
common goals.

Main Ideas of Transformational Leadership Theory
• Create a Vision
When a leader adapts this theory, they need to take a good look at the vision,
mission, goals, and objectives in order to understand what the organization is
trying to accomplish, what has been done in the past to accomplish it, what they
can do in order to accomplish it, and why it must be accomplished.
Then comes the task to inspire and motivate everyone within the organization to
contribute to the task.

• Growth mind-set
Growing and expanding a business is necessary to the overall well-being and
success of the company.
Growth mind-set is a positive approach meant to assist in the advancement of the
business as well as the people involved in the business.
Recognizing the individuals who help run the business day-to-day for their efforts
will improve overall performance.
Investing time into business and people equally is the key to understanding and
properly applying growth mind-set.

CHARISMATIC COMMUNICATION STYLE/AUTHENCITY.
In order to become an effective transformational leader, one must
communicate effectively. For someone to be successful in this form of
leadership, they must listen to those being led. One of the main aspects
of transformational leadership is to listen to use the constructive
criticism, views, needs of the subordinates.
They may have certain traits like captivating tone of voice, direct eye
contact, and powerful, confident and dynamic communication style.

•Creativity
Transformational Leadership encourages new ideas and creative thinking.
Taking the time to listen to the employees throughout the company makes
them feel valued, and can also provide opportunities to improve outdated
rules or systems.
Being open to new ideas or accepting constructive criticism is what
makes a good leader. Having double standards, or refusing to take any
ideas into account except for your own, can lead to lower company moral, a
poor work ethic, and a high turnover rate.

Transactional Leadership Theory:
Transactional Leadership Theory emphasizes the realization of a desired
outcome and result. The leaders motivate the followers by way of a reward
system, i.e. rewarding the performers and punishing the non-
performers.
The theory emphasizes maintaining a cordial relationship with the
followers, leaders and followers must work mutually to meet organizational
goals.
A transactional leader is the one who makes sure that the
subordinates get the job done and follows the rules of the organization.

Transactional leaders do not inspire subordinates or facilitate meaningful
change in the organization
The Transactional Leadership style also focuses on the idea of a management process
that includes three basic concepts: organizing, controlling, and short-term
planning.
Organizing for a leader might look something like making sure that the group or
organization has a set plan, providing set meetings where the group or organization
can meet to discuss goals and objectives.
Controlling as a leader would include giving the group or organization proper
guidance or telling them what is or what is not acceptable.
Short-term planning for a leader might focus on goals that the organization should
have for the near future, or guiding the group to make positive changes in a very quick
manner.

LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOUR DEFINATION AND THEORIES

LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOUR DEFINATION AND THEORIES

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