Overview of the Chapter

Leadership is a key ingredient in effective management. When leaders are effective, their subordinates are highly motivated, committed, and high performing. When leaders are ineffective, chances are good that their subordinates do not perform to the level of their capabilities, lack motivation, and may be dissatisfied. This chapter describes what leadership is and examines major leadership models and theories that have been developed by various researchers. It also describes how managers engaging in transformational leadership can have a dramatic impact upon their organization and discusses the impact of gender on leadership.

Learning Objectives

1. Describe what leadership is, when leaders are effective and ineffective, and the sources of power that enable managers to be effective leaders.
2. Identify the traits that show the strongest relationship to leadership, the behaviors leaders engage in, and the limitations of the trait and behavior models of leadership.
3. Explain how contingency models of leadership enhance our understanding of effective leadership and management in organization.
4. Describe what transformational leadership is, and explain how managers can engage in it.
5. Characterize the relationship between gender and leadership.

MANAGEMENT SNAPSHOT: EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP STYLES FOR TOUGH TIMES: LESSONS FROM HOWARD SCHULTZ, RICHARD SCHULZE, DAVID FARR, AND LOU GERSTNER

Each of these persons is a current or former chairman or CEO. Their companies compete within different industries. What they have in common is that as leaders, they developed effective strategies that helped their respective companies to deal successfully with the challenges that it faced. Each focused on building their company’s competitive strengths, which enabled it to weather and eventually overcome tough economic times with less fallout than most competitors.

1. How do we know that each of these leaders has been effective?

When leaders are effective, the influence they exert helps a group achieve its performance goals. Effective leadership increases an organization’s ability to meet and overcome challenges in order to succeed. In this case, each of these CEOs developed an effective leadership style that enabled their company to perform successfully in spite of the challenge presented by tough times.

2. Can these leaders be described as transformational?

Yes, each of them is a transformational manager. Transformational leaders are excited and enthusiastic about their vision and clearly communicate it to their subordinates. Each of these leaders had a vision of how things could be improved in their organization that contrasted with the status quo, and each led the way toward towards positive change, resulting in improved organizational performance.

LECTURE OUTLINE

I. THE NATURE OF LEADERSHIP

Leadership is the process by which a person exerts influence over other people and inspires, motivates, and directs their activities to help achieve group or organizational goals.

When leaders are effective, the influence they exert helps a group achieve its performance goals. When leaders are ineffective, their influence does not contribute to, and often detracts from, goal attainment.

Effective leadership increases an organization’s ability to meet all challenges, including the need to obtain a competitive advantage, the need to foster ethical behavior, and the need to manage a diverse workforce fairly and equitably.

Personal Leadership Style and Managerial Tasks

A manager’s personal leadership style illustrates the specific ways in which a manager chooses to influence other people and shapes the way that manager approaches the principle tasks of managing.

Managers at all levels have their own personal leadership styles, which determine how they lead and how they perform the other management tasks.

Developing an effective leadership style is often a challenge for