Study Guide
Unit 2: Leadership Theory
2a. Identify the key traits of effective leaders
- According to Raymond Cattrell's (1954) research, what are the eight traits of effective leaders?
- What other personality traits must contemporary leaders have?
- What are the eight traits of successful entrepreneurs?
Identifying effective leadership traits means knowing a lot of lists. Cattrell's traits include emotional stability, dominance, enthusiasm, conscientiousness, social boldness, tough-mindedness, self-assurance, and compulsiveness. These traits were determined based on military leaders in the mid-20th century, so their literal definitions may not accurately determine success today. However, if you define them more generally, they are still applicable. Other effective traits are personality-based, such as high energy, intuitiveness, maturity, team orientation, empathy, and charisma. They are used to inspire and engage followers in a leader's vision.
Finally, the traits of successful entrepreneurs are more specific than those already listed. They are strong leadership qualities, high self-motivation, strong basic ethics and integrity, willingness to fail, being a serial innovator, knowing what you don't know, competitive spirit, and understanding the value of a strong peer network. These traits focus on what it takes to persist in building your own enterprise from start to success.
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2b. Compare and contrast the competing behavioral theories of leadership
- What are the definitions of the four overall theories of leadership?
- How do general theories differ from situational theories?
- Under what conditions would transformational leadership not be appropriate to use?
Theories of leadership are split into trait theories, behavioral theories, situational theories, and visionary theories, each with several sub-theories within. Early theories of leadership discussed leadership as general characteristics that people were born with (traits) or could learn (behaviors). The problem with these theories is they focus on determining the best way to lead. Later, researchers discovered that successful leadership depends on adaptation to the work situation. Employee contingencies, such as workers' psychological traits and levels of skill and experience, and environmental contingencies, such as hierarchical structure and the nature of the task, would determine the effectiveness of different leadership styles on performance.
Transformational leadership is a current buzzword. Many leaders try to adopt that leadership style. However, becoming a transformational leader takes tremendous time, skill, and effort that may not be necessary or appropriate for your organization. If small, incremental changes are enough to maintain competitive advantage; if your employees are purely extrinsically motivated; if they do not respond to value-based inspiration or intellectual challenge; if you do not have a clear vision or the skill to communicate it; or if your organization does not require much creativity, innovation, experimentation, or risk-taking, a transformational leadership approach will be overkill and one of the other styles more appropriate.
To review, see:
- Trait Theory
- Behavioral Approaches to Leadership
- What Do Leaders Do?
- Blake and Mouton
- The Role of Context
- Contingency Approaches
- The Seven Qualities of Visionary Leaders
- Transformational Leaders
2c. Analyze the impact of situations on leadership effectiveness
- What is the main contextual situation underlying Fiedler's contingency theory of leadership effectiveness?
- How does Fiedler's theory fall short, and why is it no longer used today?
- What is the basic premise of the path-goal theory?
- How would you define the four leadership styles of path-goal theory?
Situational theories of leadership describe leadership success that results from leadership behaviors modified by employee and situational contingencies, or events that are likely to happen in connection with or as a consequence of something else. In other words, leaders must adapt their leadership styles to the environment to achieve the highest productivity. In the first situational theory, Fiedler called this combination of contingencies situational favorableness. He suggested that a work situation was either favorable or unfavorable based on its least-preferred co-worker score, which was determined by the leader-worker relationship, the leader's position power, and the structure of the task. The problem with this theory is it assumes leadership styles do not change. Therefore, leaders must either change situations to suit their styles or organizations must find new leaders as situations change.
Another situational theory, path-goal theory, has leaders setting goals for success with their subordinates and then clearing a path of obstacles to allow workers to achieve the goals effectively. The four styles of doing this are directive, supportive, participative, and achievement-oriented. This theory is the basis of most other situational theories studied today.
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2d. Evaluate the skills associated with effective leadership
- What is the degree to which leaders encourage followers to be innovative and creative, and what behaviors does it include?
- How do leaders demonstrate purpose and meaning that provides the energy to drive their followers forward, and what is this ability called?
- How do leaders act as role models for their followers, and what is the name for these behaviors?
Transformational leaders challenge followers with an attractive vision and tie it to a strategy for its achievement. First, they show individualized consideration by discussing and empathizing with the needs of individual employees, making interpersonal connections with employees, showing genuine compassion, and encouraging ongoing professional development and personal growth of employees. Next, leaders embrace intellectual stimulation by encouraging employees, creating, challenging the status quo, aiming for consistent innovation, empowering employees to disagree with leadership, and risk-taking when appropriate to achieve goals.
Then, they demonstrate inspirational motivation by inspiring employees to improve their outcomes, explaining how the organization will change over time, fostering a strong sense of purpose among employees, linking individual employee and organizational goals, and aiding employees to succeed to an even greater extent than they expect. Finally, they become idealized influences by promoting a broad, inclusive vision, leading by example, showing a strong commitment to goals, creating trust and confidence in employees, and representing organizational goals, culture, and mission.
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2e. Assess the effectiveness of visionary leadership
- What are the three major qualities of a vision?
- What two traits are lacking in leaders without vision?
- What are the seven qualities of visionary leaders?
Visions for organizations are not simply leaders' thoughts about what the organization should look like in the future. When we say a vision is a clear, distinctive, and specific view of the future that is usually connected with a leader's strategic advances, we refer to its impact on the organization's employees. A vision:
- creates vitality;
- focuses energy; and
- explains purpose.
All of this works together to inspire, encourage, and challenge employees to transform the organization through innovation. Leaders without vision are uncharismatic and fail to emit hope. They are optimistic about the future, focused on the best in their people, never satisfied but always content. They are consumed with making tomorrow better than today, accepting change, and inviting others into their vision, never excluding them. Finally, they carry their vision inside them, which makes it easy to share with others.
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Unit 2 Vocabulary
This vocabulary list includes terms you will need to know to successfully complete the final exam.
- contingencies
- idealized influences
- individualized consideration
- inspirational motivation
- intellectual stimulation
- least-preferred co-worker score
- path-goal theory
- situational favorableness
- situational theories
- theories of leadership
- vision