So some more on leadership

So what do we know so far?!!!!

Learning ObjectivesAt the end of these lessons, you should be able to:

• Identify the main types of leadership style

• Identify the main characteristics of different theories of leadership - trait, transactional, etc.

• Demonstrate an ability to apply different leadership styles and characteristics to different business situations

A Leadership Story:

• A group of workers and their leaders are set a task of clearing a road through a dense jungle on a remote island to get to the coast where an estuary provides a perfect site for a port.

• The leaders organise the labour into efficient units and monitor the distribution and use of capital assets – progress is excellent. The leaders continue to monitor and evaluate progress, making adjustments along the way to ensure the progress is maintained and efficiency increased wherever possible.

• Then, one day amidst all the hustle and bustle and activity, one person climbs up a nearby tree. The person surveys the scene from the top of the tree

• And shouts down to the assembled group below…

• “Wrong Way!”• (Story adapted from Stephen Covey (2004) “The Seven Habits

of Highly Effective People” Simon & Schuster).

• “Management is doing things right, leadership is doing the right things”

(Warren Bennis and Peter Drucker)

Leadership

Types of Leadership

Styles

• Democratic–Persuasive–Consultative

• Autocratic• Paternalistic (father figure)• Laissez-faire (let it be)

Democratic Approach

• This type of style involves the leader including employees in the decision making process (determining what to do and

how to do it).

However, sometimes managers have already made decisions and use a consultation exercise as a way of justifying them. If they can’t bring employees to their way of thinking, the leader’s authority will be undermined.

The leader maintains the final decision making authority.

This can be highly motivating for employees if they see their ideas put into practise

Democratic

Consultative • Leaders will discuss

processes and change strategies with employees before making a final decision.

• Empowering for employees and involves lower level workers in decision making, where often they have more knowledge than leaders in certain areas.

Persuasive • Leaders will encourage

(persuade) employees to side with the leader on decisions, often ones that are already made.

• Somewhat empowering for employees, and helps build good relationships within the workforce

Democratic Consultative

• Empowering for employees as it involves lower level workers in decision making, where often they have more knowledge than leaders in certain areas.

• Raises moral• Gives employees

ownership to decisions, and a (make it work responsibility)

• Can waste time by removing employees from their normal working environment, resulting in lower productivity

• Often employees input will only be valuable for certain decisions (relevant to their skillset)

• Can cause disputes

Democratic Persuasive

• Less authoritarian than autocratic

• Can help to build leader / employee relationships

• Can still involve asking opinions of employees, and if that is the decision made, they will think their input was valued

• More time consuming than autocratic

• May open up room for discussion and negotiation, reducing productivity

• Employees over time may grow wise to this

Autocratic leadership styleA leader with an autocratic or authoritarian

style will make all the decisions in a business. This type of leader will not delegate authority to anyone. There will be tight control over the activities and whereabouts of employees. The leader tells employees what he/she wants done and how it’s to be done

Advantage: The major advantage is that employees are always very clear exactly what is wanted and tasks are very precisely defined.

Disadvantage: The major disadvantage is that subordinates are not allowed to be creative or have any role in decision making. This means that their motivation and enthusiasm are likely to be low.

Bureaucratic

This style is very similar to authoritarian (Autocratic) in that there is no room for individual innovation or opinion. Management is carried out by rules and regulations that are laid down.

The main advantage is that of certainty – employees know how decisions will be made

The main disadvantage is that it is highly inflexible and as with authoritarian, it allows for no new ideas or suggestions

The ‘Laissez-Faire’ approach

This is the opposite of authoritarian management. Laissez-faire is French for ‘let it be’

Leaders with this type of style are usually very calm and assured. They will set very general guidelines and targets and give subordinates the freedom to achieve targets in their own way. Managers who adopt this style must have full trust and confidence in the people below in the hierarchy Advantage

It allows for innovation and new ideas and is highly motivating for employees. Disadvantage

Subordinates are not always clear what they are supposed to be doing, or are allowed to do. Conflicts can easily arise

Leadership is about what?

• Getting people to do things!!

Herzberg

“You can move people or motivate people”

Mr Ahern

Motivator

I’m a lazy

student

Douglas McGregor

• Theory X

• Theory Y

Theory X• In this theory, which has been proven counter-effective in most modern practice, management

assumes employees are inherently lazy and will avoid work if they can and that they inherently dislike work.

• As a result of this, management believes that workers need to be closely supervised and comprehensive systems of controls developed. A hierarchical structure is needed with narrow span of control at each and every level. According to this theory, employees will show little ambition without an enticing incentive program and will avoid responsibility whenever they can.

• Theory X managers rely heavily on threat and coercion to gain their employees' compliance. Beliefs of this theory lead to mistrust, highly restrictive supervision, and a bad atmosphere. The Theory X manager tends to believe that everything must end in blaming someone. He or she thinks all prospective employees are only out for themselves.

• Usually these managers feel the sole purpose of the employee's interest in the job is money. They will blame the person first in most situations, without questioning whether it may be the system, policy, or lack of training that deserves the blame.

• A Theory X manager believes that his or her employees do not really want to work, that they would rather avoid responsibility and that it is the manager's job to structure the work and energize the employee. One major flaw of this management style is it is much more likely to cause diseconomies of scale in large businesses.

Theory x ('authoritarian management' style)

• The average person dislikes work and will avoid it if he/she can.

• Therefore most people must be forced with the threat of punishment to work towards organisational objectives.

• The average person prefers to be directed; to avoid responsibility; is relatively un-ambitious, and wants security above all else.

McGregor’s Theory X

• Theory X Managers Believe– Workers cannot be trusted. – They work only for the money.– They do as little as possible.– They cannot be relied on.– They have to be told what to do. – They must be supervised closely– They avoid responsibility.

Theory Y• In this theory, management assumes employees may be ambitious and self-motivated and exercise

self-control. It is believed that employees enjoy their mental and physical work duties. work is as natural as play.

• They possess the ability for creative problem solving, but their talents are underused in most organizations. Given the proper conditions, theory Y managers believe that employees will learn to seek out and accept responsibility and to exercise self-control and self-direction in accomplishing objectives to which they are committed.

• A Theory Y manager believes that, given the right conditions, most people will want to do well at work. They believe that the satisfaction of doing a good job is a strong motivation. Many people interpret Theory Y as a positive set of beliefs about workers.

• McGregor thinks that Theory Y managers are more likely than Theory X managers to develop the climate of trust with employees that is required for human resource development. It's human resource development that is a crucial aspect of any organization. This would include managers communicating openly with subordinates, minimizing the difference between superior-subordinate relationships, creating a comfortable environment in which subordinates can develop and use their abilities. This climate would include the sharing of decision making so that subordinates have say in decisions that influence them.

Theory y ('participative management' style)

• Effort in work is as natural as work and play. • People will apply self-control and self-direction in the

pursuit of organisational objectives, without external control or the threat of punishment.

• Commitment to objectives is a function of rewards associated with their achievement.

• People usually accept and often seek responsibility. • The capacity to use a high degree of imagination and

creativity in solving organisational problems is wide.

McGregor’s Theory Y

Theory Y Managers Believe:• Workers enjoy their work• They work hard and expect to be reasonably paid. • They are honest and trustworthy• They are able to organise themselves• They can take initiatives.• They enjoy responsibility. • They are willing to make decisions.• They can work without supervision.• Money is not their only motivation.

Your turn

• OK tell me which leadership style applies to the following examples.

• http://youtu.be/Bv16yctXaFM

Examples

• Military Sargent • Small IT consultant • Clothes shop manager• School teacher with

students• Builder • Supermarket manager• Political leader• Hospital manager

• Manager of teachers• Hair dresser owner• Factory (make TV’s) manager• Basketball coach• Lead singer in a band• Restaurant owner• Masseuses manager

Do leaders just use one style of leadership?

They change styles

• Leadership is very dependent on the situation

• In times of crisis Autocratic is normally best, a good leader will change their style to get the best results in all situations

Its about best fit

• Leadership is like shoes

• Some people have big feet

• Some people have small feet

• The leader should try to fit their style to the workforce and task

So what do we know?

• Democratic• Persuasive• Consultative

• Autocratic• Bureaucratic• Paternalistic • Laissez-faire • McGregor’s

• Theory X• Theory Y

Well done

• You are now clearly masters of leadership– So we will do some work on it now, and not return

back to this till revision time for the exam

– I will place key revision areas of this on the class blog

– And when I figure out how to upload my Power Point Presentations to it, this too