-
Fiedler’s Contingency Theory
- •If the members like the leader, trust the
- leader, have confidence in the leader, and generally have positive feelings
- about the leader, then leader-member relations
- are good; otherwise, they are poor.
- •task-structure:
- when tasks are clearly defined and the work procedures are clearly understood
- by the group members, then the task is structured; when the tasks are ambiguous
- and there are multiple ways the group members might seek to achieve the goals,
- then task is unstructured.
- •position power:
- the leader’s position power is strong if the leader has the authority to hire
- and fire group members, make pay raises, give bonuses or other financial
- rewards, and distribute various perks, status symbols, and desirable work
- assignments; otherwise, it is weak.
-Doesn't allow leaders to rated on both, lab studies differed in two quadrants & field studies only differed in 1
-
Relationship leaders, Task leaders
Relatnshp ldrs dislike disloyalty and untrustworthiness
Taks leaders dislike incompetence
-
The
Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership® Model (Hersey & Blanchard 1969)
- •S1 (high task, low relationship): the
- telling
- style
- consists of highly directive, low supportive leadership in which leaders give
- detailed instructions and use close monitoring with relatively little emotional
- support.
- •S2 (high task, high relationship): the selling
- style
- consists of highly directive, highly supportive leadership in which the leader
- focuses on setting goals and giving instructions while also giving
- encouragement.
- •S3 (high relationship, low task): the participating
- style
- has leaders encourage participation from subordinates in determining how the
- job is done and the leaders focus on listening to subordinates, giving praise
- and recognition, facilitating problem-solving and obtaining resources.
- •S4 (low relationship, low task): when
- using the delegating
- style
- leaders set the overall goals but turn day-to-day decision-making over to the
- employees.
- •The
- right leadership style depends on follower readiness: the (1) ability (job skills) and (2)
- willingness (psychological state) of employees to direct their own work
- •Vecchio, Bullis, and
- Brazil (2006) tested the model using 860 participants from 86 squads in the
- U.S. Military Academy
- •Fernandez
- and Vecchio
- (1997) surveyed 332 university employees and their 32 supervisors: only 16.9%
- of the cases would be correctly matched according to the four quadrants
- •Goodman,
- McGee, and Cashman
- (1986) surveyed 85 store managers, 56 assistant managers, and 318 sales clerks
- working for a national retail chain.
- •They found virtually no support for the
- pattern recommended by Hersey and Blanchard. Instead, they found support for the
- simpler model advocated by the High-High model.
-
Path-Goal
Theory
- •Leaders
- should act to increase their subordinates’ perceptions of payoffs. This is based on expectancy theory.
- •Leaders engage in
- path-clarification to let followers know what behaviors
- will be rewarded, to teach them how to achieve the task, and to remove other
- obstacles in the way of achievement.
-
House (1971) and House & Mitchell (1974), takes on path goal
- •Directive Leadership:
- an initiating structure style of leadership in which leaders give clear
- instructions about how to do the job, make rules, and set performance standards.
- •Supportive Leadership:
- similar to consideration leadership, leaders use this type of leadership to
- boost the confidence of their employees and to reduce boredom and increase job
- satisfaction.
- •Participative Leadership:
- leaders draw upon the expertise of their followers by inviting them to share
- their knowledge and opinions with the leader and to participate in
- decision-making.
- •Achievement Leadership:
- here the leaders set challenging goals for their followers while expressing
- confidence in their abilities.
-Overall leaders that use this will be effective to the extent that they help subordinates cope with enviromental uncertainty
-But Wofford and Liska Busted this up.
-
Wofford and Liska's meta analysis on House and Mitchell
- They examined 16 pssble moderators in a meta analysis and only six were significant in House and Mitchell's Hypothesis; when
- employees had low abilities initaitng structure had greater postiv
- effect on job satisfaction than when employees had high abilities.
- .Job
- scope moderated the relationship between consideration and performance: when
- employees performed a wide variety of tasks consideration leadership had less
- effect on performance
- •Opposite direction: . The
- effects of consideration on performance were stronger for unstructured task
- conditions than for structured ones.
- Task
- structure moderated the relationship between consideration and satisfaction
- with the leader:
- consideration
- was more important when tasks were structured. This suggests that during highly
- structured, potentially boring jobs that consideration type leadership boost
- satisfaction with the leader
-
Do people who are bored with their work die soon?
according to a survey of London civil servants, yes
-
Team Players Need Structure
- •task interdependence:
- the degree to which people must interact in a coordinated way to achieve goals
- •Winning
- coaches in high interdependence sports were higher on initiating structure than
- were the winning coaches in low interdependence sports
- •Winning
- coaches in low interdependence sports were considerably more likely to use
- consideration leadership than were the winning coaches in high interdependence
- sports
-
The Importance of Relative Task
Complexity
- •Study
- 1: Higher rates of order-giving increased perceptions of leadership ability
- when the managers performed either relatively more complex work, or relatively
- less complex work. Order-giving had no effect under equal complexity
- conditions.
- •Study
- 2: Subjects listed more directive traits when leaders performed relatively more
- complex work than their subordinates, but listed few directive traits in the
- equal complexity conditions.
- •When
- managers performed less complex work, subjects listed participatory as well as
- directive traits.
-
Your Turn to Reflect
- •Does
- a willingness to give orders show someone has leadership ability?
- •How
- should leaders make requests, issue orders, direct others, etc.? Do you have to
- act tough to give orders, or can you give orders in a more polite way?
- •Are
- the people who rise to the top in organizations those who respect authority
- figures and accept their requests as just and fair?
-
Jack Welch
- •Applications:
- Which do you think best characterizes your opinion of Welch: Neutron Jack, or
- Manager of the Century? Why?
- •Many
- other business leaders assumed that GE’s success was due to Jack’s tough
- leadership style and they tried to imitate him without much success.
- However,
- Jack’s downsizing of GE occurred mostly during the first quarter of his reign
- as CEO, and he had to abandon his policy of firing the bottom 10%. In contrast,
- his policies of generous bonuses and stock options continued throughout his
- career, as did his emphasis on best practices and on making GE a learning
- organization.
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