L2: Traditional Leadership Theories

Question 1

Name 2 Studies of Leadership Traits and Characteristics

Answer 1

• Lord, DeVader, and Alliger (1986)
  Intelligence
  Masculinity
  Dominance

- Kirkpatrick and Locke (1991) 
Drive 
Motivation 
Integrity 
Confidence 
Cognitive- ability 
Task- knowledge 

- Zaccarp, Kemp and Bader (2004) 
Cognitive abilities 
Extraversion 
Conscientiousness
Emotional stability 
Openness
Agreeableness 
Motivation 
Social intelligence 
Self-monitoring 
Emotional- intelligence
Problem solving

Question 2

From the Leadership Trait Research we can list 5 Key Traits to be perceived as an effective Leader

Answer 2

Determination
Intelligence
Integrity
Socialbility
Self-confidence
[DIISS]

Question 3

What are the 5 Big Personality Factors and Leadership Traits?

Accronym?

Author and Year?

Answer 3

Opennes to Experience (Imaginative/Conventional)
Conscientiousness (Organised/Spontaneous)(wanting to do your work well)
Extraversion (Outgoing/Solitary)
Agreeableness (Trusting/Competitive)
Neutroticism (Prone to Stress/Emotionally stable)(durastic emotional reactions)

OCEAN

Judge et al. (2002)

Question 4

Strengths of 5 Big Personality Factors and Leadership Traits? (4)

Weaknesses (6)

Answer 4

Strengths
Intuitively appealing 
Confirms popular portrayal of leaders being a special kind of person 
A century of research into it 
Focuses purely on the leader aspect
Provides a benchmark 

Weaknesses
No definitive list
Research is largely subjective 
Focuses exclusively on the leader
Gender bias 
Limited evidence that these traits result in outcomes 
Focuses on heroic leaders 
Spencer’s (1860) counter-argument to Great Man Theory - great men are the products of their societies, their actions would be impossible without the social conditions built before their lifetimes

Question 5

Three-Skill Approach to Effective Leader

Author, Year

Answer 5

Technical Skills
Human Skill
Conceptual Skill

Katz, 1955

Question 6

Strengths (4) and Weaknesses (4) of Three-Skill Approach to Effective Leader

Answer 6

Strengths
Leader centred that focuses on developing skills
Learned skill at the heart of effective leadership and management
Makes leadership available to everyone
Widens the view on leadership

Weaknesses
Too broad? goes beyond just leadership skills or skills needed for all of us
Weak predicative value – how do skills lead to effective leadership performance?
Claims not to be trait based but includes a number of traits – personality, motivation etc.
Based on research in a particular context

Question 7

Name 4 Major Studies of Leadership Behaviour/Styles and Who conducted them

Answer 7

Ohio State University 1940s based on Stogdill’s work – more to leadership than traits

University of Michigan - how leadership functioned in small groups

Blake and Mouton, 1960s – how managers used tasks and relationship behaviour in organisations

Vroom’s Continuum - styles typologies

Question 8

2 findings from the Ohio State study of how leaders acted?

How was study conducted?

Answer 8

Initiating structure - emphasis on performance
Consideration - sensitivity to relationships

Subordinates completed questionnaires about their leaders

Question 9

2 Findings from Michigan study of Leadership in Small Groups?

Answer 9

Employee orientation – take an interest in employees, their needs
Production orientation – stress the technical and production aspects of the job

Question 10

Blake and Moutons Managerial (Leadership) Grid 1960s

What is on the axis?

What are the 5 positions?

Answer 10

Concern for Results (X axis)

Concern for people (Y axis)

Impoverished Management 1,1
Authority-Compliance management 9,1
Country-Club management 1,9
Middle of the road management 5,5
Team Management 9,9

Question 11

What are at the three main leadership decision-making styles of Vroom’s Continuum?

Answer 11

Autocratic/Directive

Democratic/Participative

Laissez-faire/Delegative

Question 12

4 weaknesses of these studies, particularly Leadership Grid

Answer 12

Not linked to performance – morale, job satisfaction, productivity

Yukl, 1994 – results are most contradictory and inconclusive

Failed to find a universal style of leadership that is useful in every situation

Only limited support for a universal high-high style being the best – certain situations require different styles

Question 13

Contingency Theory

What is it? Leader’s effectiveness depends on… ?
Authors?

Answer 13

Leader’s effectiveness depends on how well the leader’s style fits the context
Effective leadership is contingent on matching a leader’s style to the right setting

Contingency theory is a leader-match theory (Fiedler & Chemers, 1974)

Question 14

Leadership personality can be broken up into two main motivation schools of thought for leaders.

Answer 14

• Task-motivated (Low LPCs)
  Leaders are concerned primarily with reaching a goal
• Relationship-motivated (High LPCs)
  Leaders are concerned with developing close interpersonal relationships

Question 15

The way that Fiedler suggests individuals determine their motivation preference is through …

Answer 15

The way that Fiedler suggests individuals determine their motivation preference is through the Least Preferred Co-Worker Score or LPC

Question 16

What is the LPC Score?

Answer 16

The LPC scale asks a leader to think of all the people with whom they have ever worked and then describe the person with whom they have worked least well, using a series of bipolar scales of 1 to 8

Question 17

What does a high and low LPC score indicate?

Answer 17

A high score indicates the test taker is relational in style and a low score indicates the test taker is more task orientated in style.

Question 18

Situational favorable-ness was described by Fiedler in terms of three empirically derived dimensions: (Situational Analysis)

Answer 18

1. Leader-member relationship – high if the leader is generally accepted and respected by followers
2. Degree of task structure – high if the task is very structured
3. Leader’s position power – high if a great deal of authority and power are formally attributed to the leader’s position

Question 19

Weaknesses of LPC Approach? (4)

Answer 19

Doesn’t take account of how people can develop
Ignores a lot of other aspects of the situation
Why are particular leadership styles are more effective in some situations than others
LPC scale does not correlate well with other standard leadership measures
Cumbersome to use in real-world settings

Question 20

Who propsed that no single leadership style is better than another. Instead of focusing on workplace factors, the model suggests leaders adjust their styles to those they lead and their abilities? YEAR?

Answer 20

Hersey & Blanchard, 1969

Question 21

What type of style is key to the the Hersey and Blanchard Situational Approach Model?

Answer 21

Adapting Styling of leadership - different situations demand different kinds of leadership.

Question 22

Leaders evaluate employees to assess their _____ and ______ to perform a given task

Answer 22

Leaders evaluate employees to assess their competence and commitment to perform a given task

Question 23

What are the four different Leadership Styles with different behaviours?
What are the related employee competence and commitment for each of these?

Answer 23

S1 – Directing
High Directive
Low Supportive
(low competence and high commitment)

S2 – Coaching
High Directive
High Supportive
(Some Competence Low Commitment)

S3 – Supporting
High Supportive
Low Directive
(Mid-high competence and low commitment)

S4 – Delegating
Low Supportive
Low Directive
(High competence and high commitment)

Question 24

4 strengths of the Adaptive Approach?

Answer 24

Marketplace approval - Often used in consulting
Practicality – easy to apply
Leader flexibility
Offers a structured way of deciding which style to use according to the features of the situation
Applicability in virtually all types of organizations and levels of management in organizations
Allows for different types of leader

Question 25

4 weaknesses of the Adaptive Approach?

Answer 25

One-to-one versus group leadership?
Still based on quite traditional concepts of leadership style
Are leaders are capable of perceiving situations accurately and adjusting their style?
Tend to overlook the possibility that leaders can create or change the situation