GREAT LEADERS: STYLES, ACTIVITIES AND SKILLS:Globalization and Leadership

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Organizational Psychology (PSY510)

LESSON 44

GREAT LEADERS: STYLES, ACTIVITIES AND SKILLS

The IOWA Leadership Studies

A series of pioneering leadership studies conducted in the late 1930s by Ronal Lippitt and Ralph K. White

under the general direction of Kurt Lewin at the University of Iowa have had a long lasting impact. The

studies found that:

1. People react aggressive or apathetically under authoritarian leaders

2. People react extremely aggressively under laissez faire leaders

3. People's reaction of aggression falls between those two extremes in democratic leaders

The Ohio State Leadership Studies

These studies were conducted in 1945 by the Bureau of Business Research at Ohio State University. These

researchers saw to identify independent dimension of leader behaviour. Beginning with over thousand

dimensions, they eventually narrowed the list in two categories that substantially accounted for most of the

leadership behaviour described by subordinates. These called these two dimensions, initiating structure and

consideration.

Initiating structure refers to the extent to which a leader is likely to define and structure his or her role

and those of subordinates in the search for goal attainment. It includes behaviour that attempts to organize

work, work relationships, and goals. The leader characterized as high in initiating structure would be

described in terms such as "assigns group members to particular tasks," "expects workers to maintain

definite standards of performance," and "emphasizes the meetings of deadlines."

Consideration is described as the extent to which a person is likely to have job relationships that are

characterized by mutual trust, respect for subordinates ideas, and regard for their feelings. He or she shows

concern for followers comfort, well being, status, and satisfaction. A leader high in consideration as one

who helps subordinates with personal problems, is friendly and approachable, and treats all subordinates as

equal.

Extensive research based on these definitions, found that leaders high in initiating structure and

considerations tended to achieve high subordinate performance and satisfaction more frequently than those

who were rated low on either of the two or both. However, the high-high did not always result in positive

consequences. For example, leader behaviour characterized as high on initiating structure lead to greater

rates of grievances, absents, and turnover and lower levels of job satisfaction for the workers performing

the routine tasks. Other studies found that high consideration was negatively related to performance ratings

of the leader by his or her superior. In conclusion, the Ohio state studies suggested that the high-high style

generally resulted in positive outcomes, but enough expectations were found to indicate that situational

factors needed to be integrated in to the theory.

The Michigan Leadership Studies

These studies were conducted around 1945 at the Survey Research Centre at the University of Michigan.

These studies had the research objective to locate behavioural characteristics of leaders that appear to be

related to measures of performance effectiveness.

The Michigan group also came up with two dimensions of leadership behaviour that they labelled employee

oriented and production oriented. Employee-oriented leaders were described as emphasizing interpersonal

relations; they took a personal interest in the needs of the subordinates and accepted individual differences

among members. The production-oriented leaders, in contrast, tended to emphasize the technical or task

aspects of the job; their main concern was in accomplishing their group's task and the group members were

a means to that end.

The conclusions arrived at by the Michigan researchers strongly favoured the leaders who were employee

oriented in their behaviour. Employee-oriented leaders were associated with higher group productivity and

higher job satisfaction.

Production-oriented leaders tended to be associated with low group productivity and lower job satisfaction.

Globalization and Leadership

Globalization may simply be defined as the free movement of:

o Capital

o Labour

o Goods and services

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across various countries of the world.

According to the Wikipedia online encyclopedia, Globalization refers to a process of increasing global

connectivity and integration between nation-states, households/individuals corporations and other

organizations. It is an umbrella term referring to increased interdependence in the economic, social,

technological, cultural, political, and ecological spheres. Globalization also has its impact on leadership. It is

affecting leadership in five ways:

1. Creating strategic vision

Leaders in the modern context need to have strategic visions that fit with the global village theme. As

the world gets closer and closer, competition due to foreign firms is constantly on the rise. Therefore,

in order to survive, the leader needs to develop a vision of global competitiveness and global expansion.

2. Empowering employees

Global leadership and management can no more be a one man show. Globalization has made it

imperative for leaders to empower employees to make decisions which are needed immediately. It is

impossible to keep pace with time if such decisions are left to the leader only.

3. Acquiring and sharing knowledge

As the world moves towards a global village, knowledge becomes the most important and worthwhile

asset of the companies. It has become imperative for the leaders to develop means and processes to

acquire and share knowledge from outside the organization and within the organization, in order for the

organization to survive.

4. Integrating knowledge

Acquiring and sharing knowledge is the solution to the global challenge. The acquired knowledge needs

to be integrated into the business processes and made full use of. Leaders have the responsibility of

doing so.

5. Challenging status quo

Leaders are also expected to challenge the status quo in face of globalization; organizations which do no

adapt to the changing environment and maintain the status quo are expected to be losers in the near

future.

Leadership Styles

Leadership style refers to the description of leader's functioning. Several researches have been conducted on

how leaders function in organizations, and how managers and leaders differ in their functions. The Ohio

State leadership studies came up with two types of leadership functions which were: Initiating structure and

Consideration. Initiating structure refers to the extent to which a leader is likely to define and structure his

or her role and those of subordinates in the search for goal attainment. Consideration is described as the

extent to which a person is likely to have job relationships that are characterized by mutual trust, respect for

subordinates ideas, and regard for their feelings. The Michigan group also came up with two dimensions of

leadership behaviour that they labelled employee oriented and production oriented. Both these studies

labelled the leaders as either somewhat, employee oriented or task oriented. However, four other researches

need to quoted in this regard:

David Nadler and Michael Tushman

David Nadler and Michael Tushman in 1990 came up with the following functions of a charismatic leader:

1. Envisioning

An envisioning leader is a one who presents a prosperous future to the followers; provides them hope

that the future would be better than the present and communicates effectively the vision to the

followers.

2. Energizing

He energizes the members of the group and is able to motivate them towards the goal or the vision.

3. Enabling

He helps the people psychologically and physiologically in face of challenge, giving them the courage

and ability to get out of difficult situations.

Robert Tannenbaum and Warren Schmidt

Robert Tannenbaum and Warren Schmidt came up with their explanation of leadership styles as follows:

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1. Boss-centred leadership

The characteristics of a boss centred leader are, he believes in theory X, is autocratic, is production

centred, initiating structure, task directed and directive. In other words, he has little concern for the

employees and is more focused on the task at hand.

2. Employee-centred leadership

This type of a leader is a proponent of theory Y, is democratic, considerate, maintains good human

relations, supportive and participative. Therefore, the employee centred leader has a high concern for

his employees.

Robert Blake's and Jane Mouton's Managerial Grid

The Managerial Grid Model (1964) is a behavioural leadership model developed by Robert Blake and Jane

Mouton. This model identifies five different leadership styles based on the concern for people and the

concern for production. The optimal leadership style in this model is based on Theory Y.

As shown in the figure, the model is represented as a grid with concern for production as the X-axis and

concern for people as the Y-axis; each axis ranges from 1 (Low) to 9 (High).

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Organizational Psychology (PSY510)

The five resulting leadership styles are as follows:

The impoverished style (1,1)

In this style, managers have low concern for both people and production. Managers use this style to avoid

getting into trouble. The main concern for the manager is not to be held responsible for any mistakes,

which results in less innovative decisions.

Features 1. Does only enough to preserve job and job seniority. 2. Gives little and enjoys little. 3. Protects

himself by not being noticed by others.

Implications 1. Tries to stay in the same post for a long time.

The country club style (1,9)

This style has a high concern for people and a low concern for production. Managers using this style pay

much attention to the security and comfort of the employees, in hopes that this would increase

performance. The resulting atmosphere is usually friendly, but not necessarily that productive.

The produce or perish style (9,1)

With a high concern for production, and a low concern for people, managers using this style find employee

needs unimportant; they provide their employees with money and expect performance back. Managers

using this style also pressure their employees through rules and punishments to achieve the company goals.

This dictatorial style is based on Theory X of Douglas McGregor, and is commonly applied by companies

on the edge of real or perceived failure.This is used in case of crisis management.

The middle-of-the-road style (5,5)

Managers using this style try to balance between company goals and workers' needs. By giving some

concern to both people and production, managers who use this style hope to achieve acceptable

performance.

The team style (9,9)

In this style, high concern is paid both to people and production. As suggested by the propositions of

Theory Y, managers choosing to use this style encourage teamwork and commitment among employees.

This method relies heavily on making employees feel as a constructive part of the company.

Paul Hersey and Kenneth Blanchards

Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard have developed a leadership model that has gained a strong following

among management development specialists. This model--called situational leadership theory--has been

used as a major training device at Fortune 500 companies. Situational leadership uses the same two

leadership dimensions that Fiedler identified: task and relationship behaviours. However, Hersey and

Blanchard go a step further by considering each as either high or low and then combining them into four

specific behaviours:

1. Telling style: (High Task-Low Relationship) the leader defines roles and tell people what, how, when,

and where to do various tasks. It emphasizes directive behaviour.

2. Selling style: (High Task-High Relationship) the leader provides both directive behaviour and

supportive behaviour.

3. Participating style: (Low Task-High Relationship) the leader and follower share in decision making, with

the main role of the leader being facilitating and communicating.

4. Delegating style: (Low Task-Low Relationship) the leader provides little direction or support.

REFERENCES

· Luthans, Fred. (2005). Organizational Behaviour (Tenth Edition). United States: McGraw Hill Irwin.

· Mejia, Gomez. Balkin, David & Cardy, Rober. (2006). Managing Human Resources (Fourth Edition).

India: Dorling Kidersley Pvt. Ltd., licensee of Pearson Education in South Asia.

· Robbins, P., Stephen. (1996). Organizational Behaviour (Seventh Edition). India: Prentice Hall, Delhi.

· Huczynski, Andrzej & Buchanan, David. (1991). Organizational Behaviour: An Introductory Text

(Second Edition). Prentice Hall. New York.

· Moorhead, Gregory & Griffin, Ricky. (2001). Organizational Behaviour (First Edition). A.I.T.B.S.

Publishers & Distributors. Delhi.

· Robert

Blake

and

Jane

Mouton;

Managerial

Grid:

Retrieved

from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Managerial_grid_model

· Levitt, Theodore. Globalization of markets, Harvard Business Review, 1983

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FURTHER READING

Ohio State Leadership Studies:

http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/actions/ohio_state.htm

Early Years of the Ohio State University Leadership Studies:

http://jom.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/5/2/127

Michigan Leadership Studies: http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/actions/michigan.htm

Leadership Studies: http://www.ebsdublin.com/Subjects/Grad%20Dip/Leadership%20Studies%20-

%20Grad%20Dip.pdf

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