Chapter Twenty Five

Learn Leadership

Leadership is the ability to lead from the front with energy and enthusiasm. It is the process of setting goals, influencing people, building teams, motivating the team members and, finally, reaching the goals by aligning their actions and energies with the desired objectives. Leadership emphasizes on the two letter word we than the one letter word I. In case of failure, the leader says we have failed because of me. In case of success, the leader says we have succeeded because of the people behind me. Precisely, the leader spreads fame during success and takes the blame during failure.

Good leaders know the knack of uncorking the hidden potential among their followers. They know how to convert average individuals into extraordinary individuals. In fact, there is no fixed definition about leadership. The terms leadership and leader are widely searched in Google but there is no single way in which both these words can be defined.

Challenges in Learning Leadership

Why is learning leadership challenging for everyone? The basic problem people face is the lack of emotional intelligence quotient (EQ); this comes mostly by experience alone. When leaders are equipped with EQ their success rate as leaders becomes higher. While teaching leadership, educators seduce the audience through several inspirational stories and case studies. That is only one side of the coin. The other side is for the leaders to practice what has been learnt in the classroom. It is like learning about swimming. When one gets into water, one realizes the pressure of swimming. Similarly, people must practice leadership through practical involvement by trial and error method. However, having theoretical knowledge about the leadership concepts helps minimize their mistakes and prepares them for facing challenges head-on.

The Role of Leadership Educators

Wendell L. Willkie rightly said², ‘Education is the mother of leadership’. Hence, educators must prepare students for assuming leadership roles and responsibilities. They must share several leadership lessons they learnt the hard way with their students, to groom them as leaders. Today’s students are likely to face bigger challenges than their predecessors. Hence, educators must equip students with knowledge that can help them face challenges squarely.

Learning Leadership

Leadership is a trainable and transferable skill from one person to another. It is more of a behavioural skill that can be learnt through experience and proper training and grooming. Learning leadership involves both theoretical concepts and practical activities. You need to be equipped with the theoretical concepts so that you will be able to experiment in your real-life environment. During the course of experimentation, you tend to make mistakes and learn a lot from your experience. However, the theoretical concepts that you learn from various sources will help you minimize mistakes thus enhancing your success rate as an effective leader.

You learn about leadership from multiple sources such as books, observation at the workplace, training and practice, or even outside the workplace. You can also learn by reading good books. You can perfect your leadership skills by undergoing training programs wherein you are involved in role plays and practical activities through blended and experiential learning. Above all, you need to get your hands dirty to excel as an effective leader. Hence, learning the ropes of leadership is easier said than done.

Theories of Leadership

There are several theories of leadership such as trait, behavioural, situational and style, leader exchange and transformational to name a few. There is also a debate about whether leaders are born or made.

Currently, many organizations are spending a huge amount of money to find the right kind of leaders for them. They develop individuals into such leaders for their future needs. There are several theories which have been advocated in the history of leadership studies. Hence, organizations are in a dilemma as to which criteria would apply to them. So how do we know which kind of a leader would fit into an organization? Which theory is the most suitable in today’s business scenario? Is there only one kind of leadership style that is the best and the most effective? Or does the situation or the industry or the particular organization demand a particular kind of leader?

The various kinds of leadership theory have been discussed here:

Trait Theory

This theory says that leaders are born, not made. It says that leaders have certain traits, attributes or characteristics that give them a personality unique to them and others cannot be changed or groomed as leaders.

Trait theory may give an explanation of the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of leaders but fails to give a solution to the development of leaders as it says leaders cannot be developed. According to this theory, millions of dollars spent on leadership research is waste. Hence, this theory is redundant in the current context of leadership but it throws light on leadership and the common traits of effective leaders. Few such traits, which are also known as the Big Five Factor (OCEAN), are as follows:

• Openness—Intellect
• Conscientiousness—Integrity, honesty
• Extroversion—Communicative, sociable
• Agreeableness—Compliant, trusting, adjusting
• Neuroticism—Emotional Stability

(Popkins³)

Behavioural Theory

Based on behavioural sciences, this theory explains the capacity of any individual to become a leader. It asserts leaders are made, not born which is quite opposite to trait theory. This theory emphasizes on behaviour, attitudes and actions of effective leaders and how to develop them.

Blake—Mouton Managerial Grid

The managerial grid graph is a simple framework that elegantly crafts and defines five basic styles that characterize workplace behaviour and the resulting relationships. The five managerial grid styles are based on how two fundamental concerns (concern for people and concern for production) are manifested at varying levels whenever people interact. It distinguishes five different leadership styles, based on the concern for production and the concern for people.

Impoverished Style (Low Production/Low People)

It is a delegate-and-disappear management style. The leader shows low concern for both people and production. The leader avoids taking up challenges and the main concern is not to be held responsible for any actions and results. It results in disorganization, dissatisfaction and disharmony due to dearth of effective leadership.

Country Club Style (Low Production/High People)

It is basically one-sided, and gives thoughtful attention to the needs of the employees. This relationship-oriented leader has a high concern for people, but low concern for production. The leader pays a lot of attention to the security and comfort of the employees, resulting in a friendly atmosphere but not necessarily a very productive workplace.

Authoritarian Style (High Production/Low People)

It is also known as a produce or perish style of leadership. This task-oriented leader is autocratic and has a high concern for production and a low concern for people. This leader finds employee needs unimportant and simply a means to an end. The leader provides his/her employees with money and expects performance in return, resulting in high output in a short term with long-term disastrous effects.

Middle-of-the-Road Style (Medium Production/Medium People)

This style maintains a balance between the competing goals of the organization and the needs of the workers. The leader endeavours to provide some concern to both people and production, and hopes to achieve acceptable performance.

Team Management Style (High Production/High People)

It is the ideal one where the leader displays high concern for both people and production. Motivation is high. The leader encourages teamwork and commitment among employees. This style emphasizes on making employees feel as if they are a part of the company, like a family, involving them in understanding organizational purpose and determining production needs. The team environment is based on trust and respect, which leads to high satisfaction and motivation, resulting in high production.

Situational or Contingency Theories

The contingency theory says that according to the situation, a particular leadership style is more effective than others. It says that no leadership style can be ideal. It all depends on various variables that need consideration in a particular situation and environment. Every leader must carefully analyse the situation before adopting a style that best suits the requirements of the situation. The five contingency models of leadership styles are:

1. Fiedler’s Contingency Model
2. Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Theory
3. Leader-member Exchange Theory
4. Leadership–participation Model
5. Path Goal Theory

We will now discuss some of the contingency theories:

Fiedler’s Contingency Theory

In the late 1940s, the emphasis in leadership research shifted from traits and personal characteristics of leaders to leadership styles and behaviours. From the late 1960s to 1980s, leadership interests again shifted to the concept of contingency models of leadership. One of the earliest and best known is Fiedler’s contingency model of leadership effectiveness. Fred Fiedler was the pioneer in contingency theory. He outlined Least Preferred Co-worker (LPC), an instrument to gauge the task or relationship orientation of the leader. High LPC leaders described their LPC in positive terms and vice-versa. Hence, it can be said that high LPC leaders are relationship-oriented and low LPC leaders are more task-oriented in nature. This is based on the favourable nature of the situation which is determined by three key factors, namely:

• Acceptance of the leader among his/her team members
• Level of detail of the task structure
• Position power of the leader Book

He said that it was possible to determine which kind of leader was more suitable to the organization. High LPC leaders were seemingly more suitable to favourable situations and low LPC leaders were suitable to the unfavourable. This is a practical and applicable theory to judge the suitability of the leaders.

But the main problem with this theory is that it does not give an answer when the leader is not suitable to the organization. The only remedy it offers is to replace the leader or the structure of the organization—both options are not so feasible. Also, the situation keeps changing all the time while this theory asserts that the leader’s personality will not. Therefore, this theory is only useful for a short-term and fails to deliver in the long run.

Blanchard-Hershey’s Situational Leadership Theory

This situational theory asserts that the leader needs to act according to the situation and no specific style of leadership is ideal. The matrix developed by Blanchard and Hershey looks similar to the Blake-Mouton Grid but Blake-Mouton model suggests an obvious favourableness to the ‘Team Manager’ while the Blanchard-Hershey Matrix suggests different kinds of behaviour to different situations such as:

• Telling—giving clear instructions in the case of new employees.
• Selling—speaking freely in a supportive conversation when employees need motivation and confidence; the leader should also direct others in the tasks to be done.
• Participating—when the employees are motivated but not confident; leaders should allow people to manage their own work.
• Delegating—when the employees are competent and committed; leaders should encourage employees to find their own way of doing the task. They tell them what to do but not how to do.

Each kind of behaviour is well-suited for different situations. This model gives the ideal kind of behaviour for a given situation, but it fails to give an adequate measure to evaluate the situation as there are other variables in the situation apart from employee motivation and competency levels. This is again a kind of a post-situation analysis where the leader’s style can be evaluated based on his/her directive and supportive behaviour seen in the situation.

Path Goal Theory

Robert House developed this theory. In this theory, the leader provides the necessary support and guidance to his/her followers and helps them achieve organizational goals. The leader defines the individual or group goals and helps in their achievement. As per the theory, leaders are accepted by their subordinates when they find that the satisfaction of their needs depend upon their effective performance. They are provided with guidance, support and rewards needed for effective performance. Robert House suggested four types of leadership by this model:

• Directive Leadership
• Supportive Leadership
• Participative Leadership
• Achievement-oriented Leadership

The Impact of Various Leadership Styles in Today’s World

At times, putting theories to practice is a risky thing as there might not be any correlation. However, theories provide adequate inputs. Here is a quick glance at various leadership styles you may choose from as per the situation:

• Autocratic leadership: The leader makes the decision without consulting others. This style is good when time is short and there is a need to maintain confidentiality.
• Democratic leadership: The leader consults group members and makes decisions. This is good when there is enough time to deliberate.
• Bureaucratic leadership: The leader goes by rules and regulations and books and hierarchy.
• Laissez-faire leadership: The leader delegates the decision-making powers to subordinates. This is good when the subordinate is competent and when the routine decisions need to be taken. This is also good when the leader can pass on his/her weaknesses to the subordinate and it unfolds into strengths for the subordinate.
• Transactional leadership: The leader has task orientation and follows the principle of carrot and stick policy.
• Transformational leadership: The leader believes in making a difference in the lives of others by going the extra mile. This also happens when the leader transforms ordinary people into extraordinary people.
• Charismatic leadership: The leader makes use of charm, etiquette, communication skills and influences others through charisma.
• Servant leadership: The leader behaves and treats himself/ herself like a servant and wins the trust and confidence of others.
• Soft leadership: Professor M. S. Rao, the co-author of this book coined this concept through his thorough research. It is a new style of leadership, blending soft skills with leadership and providing a soft touch to leadership. It asserts that the present and the future world demands soft leadership replacing traditional leadership styles. (Rao 2012)

The quality of our lives depends on good leadership, whether it is in the personal, professional or social life. There is no quick-fix solution to current leadership challenges that are faced globally. However, leaders have to be situational to be successful despite having several leadership styles. To conclude, there is a huge potential in leadership research to unlock the hidden potential among the people in order to make a difference in their lives.