LEADERSHIP DEFINED

OBNotes.HTM by WILF H. RATZBURG

. Leadership: What is it?
Leadership involves attempts of a leader  to influence the behavior of followers...

... the individuals taking the roles of influencer and influencee may vary with the situation.

Leadership is the ability to influence individuals or groups toward the achievement of goals.

Leadership, as a process, shapes the goals of a group or organization, motivates behavior toward the achievement of those goals, and helps define group or organizational culture. It is primarily a process of influence.

Leadership is a dynamic or changing process in the sense that, while influence is always present, the persons exercising that influence may change. Possession of influence depends upon the situation and upon the relevancy of the individual's skills and abilities to any particular situation. For example, if a particular individual has the expertise -- Bill is the only one on his team who knows enough about JavaScript to be able to incorporate that language into the team's web-design project -- that is required to solve a problem, then that individual may be assumed to have some degree of influence over others. Likely, other team members will follow the lead of the knowledgeable team member.
. Leadership versus Management
Leadership and management are different concepts.
  • Leadership is needed to create change.
  • Management is needed to create orderly results.
Although some managers are able to influence followers to work toward the achievement of organizational goals, the conferring of formal authority upon a manager does not necessarily make that individual a leader. Yes, that individual has authority, but whether or not they are able to influence their subordinates may depend on more that just that authority.

Not all leaders are managers, and similarly, not all managers are leaders. Within a team environment, manager and leader are simply roles taken on by members of the team. Most teams require a manager to "manage" -- coordinate, schedule, liaise, contact, organize, procure -- their affairs. The functions of this role may well be quite different from those of the leader (to motivate followers towards the achievement of team goals). Management roles need not presuppose any ability to influence. A leader, on the other hand, must have the ability to influence other team members.

There is an interesting story, the source of which I have forgotten (perhaps Douglas MacGregor?), which nicely illustrates the difference between a manager and a leader.

Newly appointed to the position of supervisor in a large industrial plant, a  manager decided to impress his subordinates with his authority. Striding purposefully onto the plant floor, the manager carefully chose the subject of his well-rehearsed address. Once he had arrived at the workstation manned by the union shop steward, he announced, in words loud enough for most workers to hear, "I want to make one thing perfectly clear: I RUN THIS PLANT!"

Unimpressed, the shop steward help up his hand. On seeing his signal, all the workers shut off their equipment. Then, in the eerie silence of the large plant, the shop steward challenged the manager: "OK. So, let's see you run it."

Clearly, by virtue of his appointment to the position of manager, the supervisor hadauthority. However, without followers, he was no leader. In this scenario, the union shop steward is the leader. In spite of the authority inherent in the position of supervisor, the workers chose to follow the directives of the shop steward.

A leader must, by definition, have followers. To understand leadership, we must explore the relationship leaders have with their followers.

Conceptually, leadership is a reciprocal, transactional, and transformational process in which individuals are permitted to influence and motivate others to promote the attaining of group and individual goals. One view of leadership sees it as a transactional process between leaders and followers. Similar to the exchange theory discussed previously (see Equity Theory of Motivation), leaders and subordinates may be viewed as bargaining agents whose relative power regulates an exchange process as benefits are issued and received. Thus, a follower may follow a leader so long as that leader is perceived to be in a position to "deliver" some important needs.

For example, the followers of a political leader may be very fickle; if the desired needs of the followers are not met by the policies enacted by that leader's government, these followers may readily give their vote -- follow another -- at the next election.

Transformational leadership, on the other hand, moves beyond transactional leadership -- the leader-subordinate influencing relationship is one of mutual excitement where relative power is fused to pursue organizational and personal goals.
leaders and subordinates affect each other in a bidirectional fashion  
. Who will lead a group, team, or organization? Leadership emergence depends to a large extent on group members' perceptions. Groups generally require leaders when interpersonal processes need improvement or the efforts of individual members must be better coordinated.

Emergence of a leader depends on team members' perceptions with respect to the need for a leader and on the qualities of the individuals available to fill that role.

A number of factors may determine who emerges as a group's leader:

(1) physical characteristics such as height, weight, age, and gender;

(2) intelligence;

(3) personality traits;

(4) task abilities; and

(5) participation rates.
Why do Followers Follow?
Followers follow, if their leaders are perceived to be in a position to provide them with the means by which they can satisfy their needs...

 

To be a leader, you have to make people want to follow you, and nobody wants to follow someone who doesn't know where he is going. -- Joe Namath

Although the number of reasons followers follow may be as numerous as the number of followers, we may generalize by saying that followers expect their needs to be satisfied. If the leader somehow provides the follower with the means by which he or she may satisfy needs, then it is likely that the leader will have followers. This assumption is consistent with Maslow's assumptions about motivation.

Followers are motivated to follow -- to do whatever is requested of them by the leader -- if they are in a position to satisfy their own, dominant needs. Similarly, Expectancy Theory assumes that people are motivated -- will see a reason to follow -- if there exists a perceived expectation that their efforts (the following) will lead to positive job outcomes and, finally, positive rewards.

Transactional leadership is based on the notion of a social exchange;  leaders control followers' behaviors by imposing authority and power on the one hand and satisfying followers' needs on the other. That is, leaders offer organizational resources in exchange for followers' compliance and responsiveness.

Unlike transformational leadership, in this transactional relationship, the leader makes no particular effort to change followers' values or involve them in a process by which they internalize organizational values.
. In times of crisis, people become sensitive to the adequacy of their leadership. If they have confidence in it, they are willing to assign more than usual responsibility to the leader. However, if they lack that confidence, they are less tolerant of the leader than usual.

Furthermore, people are more likely to follow and to have critical decisions made by the leader if they feel that somehow they, the followers, are taking part in the decision-making process.

Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.  --Warren G. Bennis

Although, the formal definition of leadership given above will serve us in our future discussions of leadership, Warren Bennis suggests a definition which is also interesting.
. Warren Bennis: Leadership, Vision, and Communication
Generally, leaders attempt to increase followers' compliance with and commitment to the organization's vision.

...shared vision may act as a motivational force that enables leaders and followers to reach the desired objective

If leadership is to be pro-active, it requires vision. This vision is a shared image of a desirable objective, shaped and defined by the leader and the followers.

However, vision itself is not enough. In order to get others -- followers -- to move in the direction of the desired goal (the vision), the leader must also be able to communicate that vision and the followers must be motivated to follow.

Ideally, the followers will internalize and fulfill this shared vision. If the followers are inclined to act on reasoned argument, then communication will serve to convey the rationale for the vision. On the other hand, the act of communicating may also touch the followers in an emotional way.
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Definitions of Leadership

The source of some of the definitions to the right is unknown (except that they were "mined", as is, from the internet - - I know, I'm shameless).
  • Leadership is the behavior of an individual when he is directing the activities of a group toward a shared goal. (Hemphill & Coons, 1957, p.7)
  • Leadership is interpersonal influence, exercised in a situation, and directed, through the communication process, toward the attainment of a specified goal or goals. (Tannenbaum,Weschler & Massarik, 1961, p.24)
  • Leadership is the initiation and maintenance of structure in expectation and interaction. (Stogdill, 1974, p.411)
  • Leadership is the influential increment over and above mechanical compliance with the routine directives of the organization. (Katz & Kahn, 1978, p. 528)
  • Leadership is the process of influencing the activities of an organized group toward goal achievement. (Rauch & Behling, 1984 p.46)
  • Leadership is a process of giving purpose (meaningful direction) to collective effort, and causing willing effort to be expended to achieve purpose. (Jacobs & Jaques, 1990, p.281)
  • Leaders are those who consistently make effective contributions to social order, and who are expected and perceived to do so. (Hosking, 1988, p.153)
  • The previous definitions were quoted in: Yukl, Gary. Leadership in Organizations Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1994 p.2-3.
  • Leadership is the process of influencing the activities of an individual or a group in efforts toward goal achievement in a given situation. Hersey, P. & Blanchard, K. Management of Organizational Behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. 1988 p. 86
  • Leadership is an attempt at influencing the activities of followers through the communication process and toward the attainment of some goal or goals. Donelly, J.H. & Ivancevich, J. M. & Gibson, J.L. Organizations: behavior, structure, processes 5th Ed. Plano,TX: Business Publications Inc. 1985 p362.
  • Leadership(according to John Sculley) revolves around vision, ideas, direction, and has more to do with inspiring people as to direction and goals than with day-to-day implementation. A leader must be able to leverage more than his own capabilities. He must be capable of inspiring other people to do things without actually sitting on top of them with a checklist.p 139 Bennis, W. On Becoming a Leader Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing, 1989 p.139
  • Leadership is the accomplishment of a goal through the direction of human assistants. A leader is one who successfully marshals his human collaborators to achieve particular ends. Prentice, W.C.H. "Understanding Leadership" Harvard Business Review September/October 1961 vol. 39 no. 5 p.143
  • Leadership requires using power to influence the thoughts and actions of other people. Zalenik, A. "Managers and Leaders: are they different? Harvard Business Review March/April 1992 p.126
  • Leadership is the art of mobilizing others to want to struggle for shared aspirations. Kouzes, J.M. & Posner, B.Z. The Leadership Challenge San Francisco:Jossey-Bass 1995 p.30
  • Leadership is that process in which one person sets the purpose or direction for one or more other persons and gets them to move along together with him or her and with each other in that direction with competence and full commitment. Jaques E. & Clement, S.D. Executive Leadership: a practical guide to managing complexity Cambridge, MA: Carson-Hall & Co. Publishers 1994 p.4
  • Leadership is an influence process that enable managers to get their people to do willingly what must be done, do well what ought to be done. Cribbin, J.J. Leadership: strategies for organizational effectiveness New York: AMACOM 1981
  • Leaders are individuals who establish direction for a working group of individuals who gain commitment form these group of members to this direction and who then motivate these members to achieve the direction's outcomes. Conger, J.A. Learning to Lead San Francisco: Jossey-Bass 1992 p18
  • Leadership is the art of influencing others to their maximum performance to accomplish any task, objective or project. Cohen, W.A. The Art of a Leader Englewood Cliffs,NJ: Prentice Hall 1990 p. 9
  • Leadership may be considered as the process (act) of influencing the activities of an organized group in its efforts toward goal setting and goal achievement (Stogdill, 1950, p.3) Bryman, A. Leadership and Organizations London: Routledge & Kegan Paul 1986 p.2
  • Leadership is a process of influence between a leader and those who are followers (Hollander,1978, p.1) Bryman, A. Leadership and Organizations London: Routledge & Kegan Paul 1986 p.2
  • Leadership is the behavior of an individual when he is directing the activities of a group toward a shared goals (Hemphill & Coons, 1957, p.7) Bryman, A. Leadership and Organizations London: Routledge & Kegan Paul 1986 p.2
  • Leadership is defined as the process of influencing the activities of an organized group toward goal achievement (Rauch & Behling, 1984 p.46) Bryman, A. Leadership and Organizations London: Routledge & Kegan Paul 1986 p.2
  • Leadership is a development of a clear and complete system of expectations in order to identify evoke and use the strengths of all resources in the organization the most important of which is people Batten, J.D. Tough-minded Leadership New York: AMACOM 1989 p. 35
  • Leadership is discovering the company's destiny and having the courage to follow it. JoeJaworski  (Organizational Learning Center at MIT)

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This site last updated 01/10/13