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Chapter 1

Definition and Significance of

Leadership

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 Learning Objectives

• Define leadership and leadership effectiveness

• Discuss the major obstacles to effective leadership
• Compare and contrast leadership and management
• List the roles and functions of leaders and managers
• Explain the changes in organizations and how they
affect leaders
• Summarize the debate over the role and impact of
leadership in organizations

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 The Leadership
Question

Some leaders are focused on getting things

done while others put taking care of their
followers first. Some look at the big picture
and others hone in on the details. Is one
approach better than the other? Which one
do you prefer?

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 Definition of Leadership

A leader is any person who influences

individuals and groups within an
organization, helps them establish
goals, and guides them toward
achievement of those goals, thereby
allowing them to be effective.

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Key Elements of Leadership

• Group phenomenon
• Interpersonal influence
• Goal and action oriented
• Assumes hierarchy in a group

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Effectiveness vs. Success

Effective leaders Successful leaders

• Focus on the work • Focus on politics
• Focus on and networking
employees/followers • Promoted quickly
• Satisfied and • Network with
productive employees outsiders
• Take care of • Take care of
employees/followers supervisor

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 Key Elements of
Effectiveness

1. Goal achievement
2. Smooth internal processes
3. External adaptability

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Definition of Effectiveness

Leaders are effective when their

followers achieve their goals, can
function well together, and can adapt
to changing demands from external
forces.

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 The Leadership
Question Revisited

• Leadership involves the tasks, people, big

picture, details, etc.
• What works depends on the leader, the
followers, and the situation
• Many styles and approaches can work
• Understanding the situation is key

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Why Do We Need Leaders?

• To keep groups orderly

• To keep focus on group goals
• To accomplish complex tasks
• To help make sense of the world by
providing validation
• As a romantic ideal

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 Why Leaders Matter
• Leadership is one of many factors that affect the
performance of organizations
• Leadership can indirectly impact other performance
factors
• Leadership is essential in providing vision and direction
• Identifying the situations in which leadership matters is
essential
• The combination of leaders with followers and other
organizational factors
• Makes an impact

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 Obstacles to Effective
Leadership

• Environmental uncertainty
• Organizational rigidity
• Falling back on old ideas and
simplistic solutions
• Established organizational culture
• Inaccessible research

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 Leadership and
Management
Managers Leaders
• Focus on the present • Focus on the future
• Maintain the status quo • Create change
• Implement policy • Initiate policy
• Maintain existing culture • Create new culture
and structure and structure
• Remain aloof and • Establish emotional
objective bonds with followers
• Use position power • Use personal power

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 Managerial Roles

• Figurehead • Entrepreneur
• Leader • Disturbance
• Liaison handler
• Monitor • Resource
• Disseminator allocator
• Spokesperson • Negotiator

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 Gender Differences in Roles

Male managers Female managers

• Unrelenting pace of work • Calm steady pace of work
• Do a wide variety of tasks • Frequent breaks
• Frequent interruptions • Did not perceive
interruptions
• Little time to communicate • Schedule time for
• Few nonwork activities communication
• Isolation • Many nonwork activities
• Identity tied to work • Connected to others
• Complex network • Multifaceted identities
• Prefer face-to-face • Complex network
• Prefer face-to-face
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Leader’s Role in Shaping
Organizational Culture

Leader
Vision and Strategy
mission Hiring and structure
Role
modeling Reward decisions
system

Organizational
culture

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 New Roles for Leaders
Control-oriented leadership Result-oriented leadership
Plan Lead Plan
and
Organize Control organize

Lead
Do
Control
Results
Do
Leader assumes responsibility
Follower assumes responsibility
Results
Follower assumes responsibility

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Factors Fueling Change

Increased
global and local
competition

Changes in
organizations and their
leadership

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 Diversity in the U.S.
Population

Asian, 5
Native
American, 1.2 Hispanic, 16.7

African
American,
13.1
White , 78.1

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U.S. Demographic Trends

• In 2007 20.3% of the U.S population spoke a

language other than English at home
• More than half of the U.S. workforce consists
of women and minorities
• By 2016, minorities will make up one-third of
the U.S population
• By 2025
– The percentage of Europeans will drop from
72% to 62%
– Hispanics will be 21% of the population
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U.S. Demographic Trends

• By 2025
– The average age will be close to 40 as
opposed to 35 in 2000
– More than 50% of the population in
Hawaii, California, New Mexico, and Texas
will be from a minority group
• By 2050
– The average U.S. resident will be non-
European
– Only 62% of the entrants into the labor
force will be white and half will be female
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 Barriers to Change

• Perceived financial pressures

• Short-term orientation
• Top management still focused on one person
• Traditional organizations
• Employee input and creativity not fully
considered
• Focus on individual rather than group
performance
• Traditional management styles

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 What Do You Do?

You have started on a new job, and based on the

interview and discussion with people prior to
accepting the job, you were led to believe that the
company strongly believes in employee
participation, engagement, and flexibility. After a
couple of months of working with your new boss,
however, all you see is command-and-control, with
little opportunity for you to provide any input.

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Leadership Challenge
• Challenges for new leaders
– Learning new duties
– Adapting to new roles
– Maintaining old relationships and building new
networks
• Actions that help
– Training
– Clear message
– Patience
• Things to avoid
– Over managing—taking charge
– Jumping into action too fast—too many changes
– Trying to remain “one of the gang”

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Leading Change: The
Container Store

• Unique culture based on employees

and customers
• Communication and inclusion are at the
heart of leadership
• Careful selection and training of
employees to fit the culture

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 Leadership in Action:
Neeleman

• Founder of several airlines

• Highly creative and entrepreneurial
• Focus on treating employees and
customers well
• Stay close to followers—listen
• Nimble organization and leader—able to
change

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