PSYCHOLOGY OF

LEADERSHIP
INSTRUCTOR: SAMEIA FARHAT
[email protected]

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LEADERSHIP
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 LEADERSHIP
▪Leadership is the ability to influence a group toward the
achievement of a vision or set of goals.
◦ Not all leaders are managers, nor are all managers leaders.

▪Non-sanctioned leadership is often as important or more

important than formal influence.

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 Leadership and Management
▪ Non-sanctioned ▪ To challenge
Not all leaders are managers
nor are all managers leaders

leadership is often the status ▪ Formulate

Leaders are needed today

as important or quo detailed plans
more important ▪ To create visions ▪ Create efficient

Managers
than formal of the future organizational
influence structures
▪ To inspire
▪ Strong leadership organizational ▪ Oversee day-to-day
and strong members to operations
management are achieve the
needed for optimal visions
effectiveness
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Trait Theories of
Leadership

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Summarize the Conclusions of Trait
Theories of Leadership
▪Trait theories of leadership focus on personal qualities and
characteristics.
▪A breakthrough came when researchers began organizing
traits around the Big Five personality framework.
▪Most of the dozens of traits in various leadership reviews fit
under one of the Big Five, giving strong support to traits as
predictors of leadership.

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Good leaders (as per Big 5)
The trait approach does have something to offer.
▪Like being around people.
▪Are able to assert themselves (extraverted).
▪Are disciplined and able to keep commitments they make
(conscientious).
▪Are creative and flexible (open).

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Emotional Intelligence in Leadership
Advocates of EI argue
Emotional intelligence (EI) o A person can have outstanding
• Another trait that may training, a highly analytical
indicate effective mind, a compelling vision, and
leadership an endless supply of terrific
• A core component of EI is ideas
empathy o But still not make a great
leader without EI

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Conclusions Based on the Latest
Findings

Traits do a better job

Contrary to what we
believed 20 years ago ▪ Predicting the emergence
of leaders and the
• Thanks to the Big Five appearance of leadership

• We can say that traits ▪ Than actually

can predict leadership distinguishing between
effective and ineffective
leaders

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Behavioral Theories

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Behavioral theories of leadership imply we can train people to be
leaders.

Ohio State Studies found two behaviors that accounted for most
leadership behavior:
◦ Initiating structure – the extent to which a leader is likely to define
and structure his role and those of employees in the search for goal
attainment.

◦ Consideration – the extent to which a person’s job relationships are

characterized by mutual trust, respect for employees’ ideas, and
regard for their feelings.

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The results of behavioral theory studies have been mixed.

Leaders high in consideration were more satisfied with their

jobs, were more motivated, and had more respect for their
leaders.

Initiating structure was more strongly related to higher

levels of group and organization productivity and more positive
performance evaluations.

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University of Michigan’s objectives also
identified two behavioral types:

◦ The employee-oriented leader emphasized interpersonal

relationships by taking a personal interest in the needs of
employees and accepting individual differences among
them.

◦ The production-oriented leader emphasized the technical

or task aspects of the job, focusing on accomplishing the
group’s tasks.
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 Summary of Trait and Behavioral
Theories

Leaders do appear to be
more effective They The
• Who have certain traits do not context
• Who display guarantee matters
consideration and
structuring behaviors
success. too.

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The GLOBE Study
(a study of 18,000 leaders from 825 organizations in 62 countries)

Suggests there are international differences

• In preference for initiating structure and consideration

Based on the values of Brazilian employees

• A U.S. manager leading a team in Brazil would need to be
team oriented, participative, and humane
• Leaders high in consideration would succeed best in this
culture
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Contingency Theories

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 Fiedler Model
Key factor is Define the situation
individual’s Evaluate the
with contingency
leadership style situation
dimensions
• Task Oriented vs. 1. Leader- • Leader-member
Relationship member relations: good
Oriented relations or bad
• Assumes leadership 2. Task structure • Task structure:
style is fixed 3. Position power high or low
• Position power:
strong or weak

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Evaluation of the Fiedler Model

There is considerable There are problems and the

evidence to support at least practical use of the model
substantial parts of the model that need to be addressed

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Situational Leadership Theory
• Is a contingency theory
Situational
• that focuses on the followers
leadership

• Is achieved by selecting the right

leadership style
Successful
leadership • Which is contingent on the level
of the followers’ readiness

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 Situational Leadership Theory
A leader should choose one of four behaviors depending on follower
readiness:
1. If followers are unable and unwilling to do a task, the leader
needs to give clear and specific directions
2. If they are unable but willing, the leader needs to display high
task orientation to compensate for followers’ lack of ability
3. If followers are able but unwilling, the leader needs to use a
supportive and participative style.
4. If they are both able and willing, the leader doesn’t need to do
much.
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Path-Goal Theory
▪Path-goal theory, developed by Robert House, one of the
most respected approaches to leadership.
▪A leader should be directive or supportive or should
demonstrate some other behavior depends on complex
analysis of the situation.

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Path-Goal Theory
▪Directive leadership yields greater satisfaction when tasks
are ambiguous or stressful than when they are highly
structured and well laid out
▪Supportive leadership results in high performance and
satisfaction when employees are performing structured tasks.
▪Directive leadership is likely to be perceived as redundant
among employees with high ability or considerable
experience.

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New Theories of
Leadership

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 Leader-Member Exchange Theory
(LMX)
▪Because of time pressures, leaders establish a special
relationship with a small group of their followers.
▪In-group—they are trusted, get a disproportionate amount of the
leader’s attention, and are more likely to receive special
privileges.
▪The leader implicitly categorizes the follower as an “in” or an
“out” and that relationship is relatively stable over time.
▪The leader does the choosing on the basis of the follower’s
characteristics.
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LMX Theory
▪Research to test LMX theory has been generally supportive,
with substantive evidence that leaders do differentiate
among followers.

▪Followers with in-group status will have higher performance

ratings, engage in more helping or “citizenship” behaviors at
work, and report greater satisfaction with their superior.

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Charismatic Leadership Theory
▪Charismatic leadership theory was proposed by Robert House,
stating that followers make attributions of heroic or
extraordinary leadership abilities when they observe certain
behaviors
▪General characteristics are: they have vision; they are willing
to take personal risk; they are sensitive to followers’ needs;
and they exhibit extraordinary behaviors.

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 Bring out the potential in
followers by tapping into their
emotions

Create a bond that inspires

others to follow Training
Individuals for
Develop the aura of charisma by
maintaining an optimistic view Charismatic
•Using passion as a catalyst for Behavior
generating enthusiasm
•Communicating with the whole
body, not just with words
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The Dark Side of Charismatic
Leadership
Don’t necessarily Research has Some charismatic
act in interest of shown leaders are too
companies successful
• Many have • Individuals who • Convincing
allowed their are narcissistic followers to
personal goals are also higher in pursue a vision
to override the some behaviors that can be
goals of the associated with disastrous
organization charismatic
leadership
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Transactional & Transformational
Leadership
▪Transactional Leaders guide or motivate their followers in
the direction of established goals by clarifying role and task
requirements.

▪Transformational Leaders inspire followers to transcend their

own self-interests and who are capable of having a profound
and extraordinary effect on followers.

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Support for Transformational Leadership
School Marine Ministers Presidents of
principals and commanders MBA
teachers associations

Military cadets Union shop Sales reps

agents

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Transformational Leadership Isn’t
Equally Effective

It may be more effective

It has a greater impact on
the bottom line • When leaders can directly
interact with the workforce
• In smaller, privately held and make decisions
firms • Than when they report to an
• Than in more complex external board of directors or
organizations deal with a complex structure

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