Leadership

What is Leadership?

Leadership is defined as the ability to influence and guide others in achieving common goals. It’s a term that has been debated for centuries, with various viewpoints on its meaning and nature. From Eastern philosophies like the Mandate of Heaven to Western theories involving traits and situational interaction, leadership remains a complex and multifaceted concept.

Historical Views of Leadership

The historical views of leadership are as varied as they are fascinating. Think about it—how can something so fundamental be interpreted in such different ways? In ancient China, the Mandate of Heaven dictated that leaders were chosen by divine sanction. Contrast this with modern democracies where meritocratic leaders rise to power based on their abilities and achievements.

Genetics vs. Virtues

Some view leadership as dependent on genetics or divine sanction, while others emphasize the importance of virtues such as intelligence, trustworthiness, humaneness, courage, and discipline. It’s like asking whether a leader is born with certain qualities or if they can be developed over time.

The Evolution of Leadership Theory

The study of leadership began in earnest in the 19th century, with philosophical writings exploring what qualities distinguish an individual as a leader. The ‘trait theory of leadership’ posits that leadership is rooted in individual attributes, while researchers such as Thomas Carlyle and Francis Galton explored this idea through their work.

From Trait to Situational Leadership

However, by the late 1940s and early 1950s, a series of qualitative reviews prompted researchers to shift away from trait theory. Instead, they focused on leader behaviors that were effective in certain situations. This led to an investigation of situational approaches to leadership.

Contemporary Leadership Theories

In the 1980s, advancements in research methods and statistical analysis allowed researchers to reestablish trait theory as a viable approach to studying leadership. The round-robin research design methodology revealed that individuals can emerge as leaders across various situations and tasks, while meta-analyses provided a comprehensive picture of previous leadership research.

Behavioral Leadership

Theories such as McClelland’s personality-based approach, Lewin et al.’s style theories, the Ohio State University study, and the Michigan State Studies have identified particular behaviors that are reflective of leadership effectiveness. These include task-oriented behaviors, social-oriented behaviors, participative behavior, and a managerial grid model with five different leadership styles.

Positive Reinforcement in Leadership

Positive reinforcement is based on B.F. Skinner’s concept of increasing desired behaviors by presenting positive stimuli in response to them. The manager praises an employee for showing up on time, resulting in the employee arriving on time more often because they like praise. This technique is a successful way to motivate desired behaviors and increase productivity.

Situational Leadership

Situational theory rejects the trait theory of leadership, suggesting that different situations call for different characteristics. This theory assumes that characteristics of the situation are more important than personality traits when it comes to leadership effectiveness.

Contingency Theories

The Fiedler contingency model defines a leader’s effectiveness based on their relationship orientation and the situational favorability. The Vroom-Yetton decision model connects leadership styles to situational variables, defining which approach is most suitable for each situation.

The Path-Goal Theory of Leadership

The path-goal theory of leadership was developed by Robert House, building on Victor Vroom’s expectancy theory. According to House, leaders engage in behaviors that complement subordinates’ environments and abilities. Four leader behaviors are identified: achievement-oriented, directive, participative, and supportive.

Functional Leadership Theory

Theories such as the Integrated Psychological Theory of leadership integrate older theories while emphasizing the need for leaders to develop psychological mastery, leadership presence, and behavioral flexibility. These behaviors address what Scouller called ‘the four dimensions of leadership’. Public leadership focuses on 34 behaviors involving two or more people, while private leadership covers 14 behaviors for one-to-one influence.

Self-Mastery in Leadership

The concept of self-mastery includes mindfulness meditation and outlines principles and techniques for leaders’ development. Two types of leadership exist: transactional, which involves exchange of labor for rewards, and transformational, based on concern for employees, intellectual stimulation, and providing a group vision.

Leader-Member Exchange Theory

Leader-member exchange theory recognizes the interaction between leaders and individual followers as a fair exchange of benefits and reciprocation. However, this interaction can lead to the creation of in-groups and out-groups, where in-group members receive more rewards and recognition than out-group members.

The Emotion-Laden Process of Leadership

Leadership is an emotion-laden process, with emotions entwined with the social influence process. A leader’s mood affects group members in three levels: individual moods, group affective tone, and group processes like coordination and task strategy.

Mood Contagion

Mood contagion allows leaders to transmit their moods to other group members, influencing individual moods. Groups with positive leaders have a more positive affective tone than groups with negative leaders. Leaders’ expressions of mood signal goals, intentions, and attitudes, which impact group processes.

Emotional Intelligence in Leadership

Emotional intelligence is essential for effective leadership as it enables understanding and management of moods and emotions in oneself and others. The neo-emergent theory views leadership as an impression formed through communication, rather than actions. This perspective suggests that leaders’ reputations are constructed by media outlets and may not accurately reflect their genuine leadership attributes.

Constructivists and Leadership

Constructivists question whether leadership exists or is merely a social construct. An ontological-phenomenological model defines leadership as an exercise in language that realizes a future, fulfilling the concerns of relevant parties. Leadership emergence is the idea that people born with specific characteristics become leaders, while those without these characteristics do not.

Genetics and Leadership

Research indicates that up to 30% of leader emergence has a genetic basis, but no ‘leadership gene’ has been found. Traits such as affective identity, non-calculative, and social-normative motivation are common among leaders. Curvilinear relationships between assertiveness and leadership emerge have been observed, with individuals who are low or high in assertiveness being less likely to be identified as leaders.

Birth Order and Leadership

Birth order may play a role in leadership emergence, with first-borns and only children being more driven to seek leadership and control. Character strengths such as honesty, hope, bravery, industry, and teamwork are also linked to leadership positions. Dominance is associated with acting as leaders in small-group situations, while emotional intelligence is a key predictor of successful leadership.

Intelligence and Leadership

Intelligence is correlated with leadership emergence, but groups generally prefer leaders who do not exceed the average member’s prowess by a wide margin. Self-efficacy for leadership is a characteristic that can become emergent and is associated with increased willingness to accept a leadership role.

Motivation in Leadership

Research has identified three factors that motivate leaders: affective identity (enjoyment of leading), non-calculative (leading earns reinforcement), and social-normative (sense of obligation). Individuals who believe they can learn and improve are more likely to assume leadership roles. High self-monitors tend to take on leadership roles due to their interest in elevating status and conforming to situations.

Leadership Styles

Different situations require different leadership styles, such as autocratic or democratic styles. Leadership style is influenced by a leader’s philosophy, personality, and experience. Effective leadership balances the interests of individual members while achieving group objectives. Autocratic management can be successful due to strong motivation for the manager and quick decision-making.

Democratic Leadership

Democratic leadership involves active sharing of decision-making responsibilities with group members to promote collaboration, inclusivity, and open communication. Laissez-faire leadership gives subordinates autonomy to make decisions, promoting independence and self-directed objectives. Task-oriented leaders focus on achieving specific production objectives through systematic solutions, prioritizing deadlines over group well-being.

Relationship-Oriented Leadership

Relationship-oriented leaders prioritize the overall well-being and satisfaction of group members, emphasizing communication and trust. Paternalism involves a hierarchical structure with limited member choices, providing professional and personal direction but restricting autonomy. Servant leadership focuses on externalized leadership as a guardian of methodology, serving the team through common culture, goals, and values.

Transactional vs. Transformational Leadership

The ‘transactional’ and ‘transformational’ leadership refer to an exchange relationship between a leader and followers where both strive to meet their self-interests. Transactional leadership includes forms such as contingent reward, management-by-exception, and laissez-faire, while transformational leadership involves idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration.

Gender in Leadership

The leadership dynamic is affected by the leader’s gender, with women continuing to be underrepresented in leadership positions despite being equal or more effective than men. Research has focused on leadership traits, behaviors, styles, emergence, and effectiveness, as well as situational, cultural, and individual variables that moderate gender difference effects.

Contextual Factors

Contextual factors such as globalization and national culture also affect leadership dynamics, with countries differing in their views on stereotypes about men and women leaders. Scholars acknowledge a need for more research on cross-cultural leadership. Some researchers argue that leadership’s impact on organizational outcomes is overstated, but it’s widely accepted that leadership affects key outcomes.

Measuring Leadership

To assess leadership performance, various measures exist, including job performance, career success, group or organization performance, leader emergence, and follower outcomes. Measuring leadership is complex due to subjective perceptions and varying factors influencing groups. Leadership traits like intelligence, assertiveness, determination, cognitive capacity, and self-confidence are considered important but not fixed or universal.

Integrity in Leadership

Integrity is demonstrated in leaders who are truthful, trustworthy, principled, consistent, dependable, loyal, and not deceptive. Leaders with integrity often share these values with their followers, as this trait is mainly an ethics issue. Sociability describes leaders who are friendly, extroverted, tactful, flexible, and interpersonally competent.

Self-Leadership

The process of developing one’s sense of self, goals, and abilities is known as self-leadership. It affects emotions, behaviors, and communication. Mark van Vugt and Anjana Ahuja discuss leadership in non-human animals, suggesting that leadership has a long evolutionary history.

Human Leadership

In humans, leadership is distinct from dominance. Testosterone correlates with dominance but not leadership. Richard Wrangham and Dale Peterson suggest that only humans and chimpanzees share a tendency for violence, territoriality, and competition behind a single chief male. Many animals are territorial, competitive, and exhibit social structures with dominant males, challenging Wrangham and Peterson’s evidence.

Leadership in Non-Human Animals

Other species like elephants, meerkats, and sheep have matriarchal societies that show different leadership dynamics. Bonobos, the closest relatives of humans, do not follow a chief male but instead have female-led coalitions.

The Misunderstood Concept of Leadership

Leadership is a misunderstood concept across cultures, with myths such as leadership being innate, possessing power over others, or entirely controlling outcomes. Effective leadership develops through hard work and observation, rather than just natural talent, and can be positive or negative in nature.

The Impact of Leaders

The impact of leaders on group influence and outcomes is not always the sole determining factor in Western cultures, where a ‘cult of leadership’ exists. This romanticized view of leadership overestimates a leader’s control over their group and ignores other influential factors, such as group cohesion and individual personality traits.

Shared Leadership

Not all groups need a designated leader; some may share responsibilities among members due to diffusion of responsibility. Group members’ dependence on leaders can reduce self-reliance and overall group strength. Action-oriented environments require effective functional leadership for critical or reactive tasks in remote and changeable settings.

The Skills of Leadership

Leadership requires different skills than front-line management, such as operating remotely and negotiating individual, team, and task needs. The ‘Great Man theory’ emphasizes leading individuals, but has been criticized by others who argue that leaders can mislead and make mistakes.

Critical Thinking in Leadership

Critical thinkers, like Noam Chomsky, assert that people should question subjection to a leader’s will if they are not a subject-matter expert. Concepts like autogestion, employeeship, and common civic virtue challenge the anti-democratic nature of leadership by stressing individual responsibility and group authority.

Leadership and Historical Calamities

The principle of leadership has been linked to historical calamities, such as World War II, in societies that rely on dictatorship. Critics argue that society should pay less deference to the idea of leadership. The idea of leaderism paints leadership and its excesses in a negative light.