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MBA609 Study Guide

Unit 1: What is Leadership?

1a. Explain the difference between the behavioral and trait theories of leadership

 
Why do you think the generally accepted principles of management and leadership have changed over time?
What contributions did Max Weber make to management theories? What about Fayol's contributions?
How does Blake and Mouton's Managerial Grid apply to behavioral leadership styles versus trait theory on leadership?
 
This section focused on the history of management in business. There were clearly early origins of leadership, even in ancient times. During the Industrial Revolution, in the 1800s, we saw business changes as goods and services were standardized, making it more effective for people to buy goods rather than make them themselves. During this period, we saw factories built to mass produce goods. However, during the Taylor Movement, there emerged research on how to help people be more efficient in their work. After this movement, the Human Relations Movement became popular, which addressed the need to understand people in order to better motivate them. From that point, many theories emerged on how to properly motivate and reward people at work, which you will learn about in this course.
 
Another important concept is the idea there are theories related to behavior in leadership, and traits. Behavioral means actions a leader takes. For example, a leader can focus on job-centered behaviors, such as planning and scheduling, while employee-member behaviors are more focused on support for employees. The trait leadership approach focuses on personality traits that make the leader effective, such as drive, motivation, and self-confidence. The difference between the two is that behavioral leadership is the actions a leader takes, while trait leadership is an approach that focuses on personality traits, such as drive and self-confidence.
 
To review, see A Situational Approach to Leadership, What Traits Make a Leader?, and What Behaviors Make a Leader?.
 

1b. Explain the difference between management and leadership

  • Why do you think interpersonal skills are necessary for leadership?
  • What are the different levels of management hierarchy?
  • Of the four functions of management, which do you think is the most important, and why?

You were introduced to the concept of management, and how management relates to leadership. Management involves planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Leadership, on the other hand, is the set of skills that help organizations to achieve goals, usually, involving interpersonal skills. The difference between the two is that management is more focuses on day to day tasks, while leadership is part of management, it is an important topic all on its own because it applies interpersonal skills to make the management side of things more effective. There are three main levels of management, executive, middle, and first-line, and each requires a different skills set. Executive managers tend to need more conceptual skills, while first line managers need more technical skills. When managers plan, this involves strategic planning, operational planning, tactical planning, and contingency planning. Within the organizing role, the manager will divide tasks and assign authority and responsibility to employees. Leading involves guiding and motivating employees to help the organization to reach their goals. The controlling role of management involves looking at performance standards and goals and comparing the outcomes to the goals that were set forth.
 
To review, see The Role of a Manager, What Traits Make a Leader?, and Management v. Leadership.
 

1c. Choose the best leadership or decision-making theory to apply to a given situation 

  • What does followership in the context of leadership mean to you? What makes a good follower?
  •  Why is it so important to understand the situation when deciding the best way to lead individuals?
  • What traits and behaviors should be applied to choose the best leadership style for a group of employees?

While traits of leaders are important, the behaviors a leader enacts are important to the success of managing people. Fiedler's Contingency Model of Leader-situation is one way to choose the best leadership style. With this model, the leader would look at leader member relations, task structure, and position power in order to lead in the appropriate manner.
 
The goal-path theory of leadership states that this method is effective when the leader shows the path to a valued goal. The model looks at leader behavior and situational factors (like work environment), and combines these to include the employees.
 
You also learned about other styles of leadership, such as autocratic, authentic leadership, democratic leadership, and laissez faire leadership. In addition, understanding followership, and the role of being a follower in order to be a good leader is an important concept to note.


To review, see A Situational Approach to Leadership and What is Followership?.
 

Unit 1 Vocabulary 

This vocabulary list includes terms you will need to know to successfully complete the final exam.

  • behavioral leadership
  • Fiedler's Contingency Model of Leader-situation
  • goal-path theory of leadership
  • leadership
  • management
  • trait leadership