PART THREE – LEADERSHIP AND GROUP BEHAVIOR

INTRODUCTION

The one thing that keeps a business from falling into chaos and disorder is its
leadership. Whether leaders take on the form of the owner, a CEO, a manager, a supervisor, or
the head of a team, they are a valuable asset for a business' continued success in society. They
are like the captain of a ship who keeps the crew working and guides the vessel safely through
dangerous waters. In this sense, it's rather easy to see that leadership would have an integral
part in organizational behavior as one of the primary controlling forces in a business.

Leadership has changed throughout history and not all leaders lead in the same way.
The circumstances of a situation dictate what kind of leader is needed and how successful they
will be as the head of the group. This lesson will look into what being a leader in an organization
truly means and what qualities are necessary for someone to efficiently lead others.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: After successful completion of this unit, you should be able to:

1. Exhibit an understanding of the nature, methods, applications, and general principles

governing Organizational Behavior;

2. Demonstrate knowledge in applying the general principles governing Organizational

Behavior; from the fundamental concepts to the complex dynamics of organizations;

3. Relate the principles of Organizational Behavior to real-life situations;

4. Explain the rationale of applying the principles and concepts of Organizational Behavior
in relation to real-life situations;

5. Evaluate the effectiveness of applying the principles and concepts of Organizational

Behavior.

COURSE MATERIALS

LESSON 7 - LEADERSHIP

What is Leadership?

 Leadership is a process by which an executive can direct, guide and influence the
behavior and work of others towards accomplishment of specific goals in a given
situation. Leadership is the ability of a manager to induce the subordinates to work with
confidence and zeal.
Human Behavior in Organizations/ Compiled by: Minera Laiza C. Acosta 1
  Leadership is the potential to influence behavior of others. It is also defined as the
capacity to influence a group towards the realization of a goal. Leaders are required to
develop future visions, and to motivate the organizational members to want to achieve
the visions.
 According to Keith Davis, “Leadership is the ability to persuade others to seek defined
objectives enthusiastically. It is the human factor which binds a group together and
motivates it towards goals.”

Characteristics of Leadership

 It is an inter-personal process in which a manager is into influencing and guiding workers

towards attainment of goals.
 It denotes a few qualities to be present in a person which includes intelligence, maturity
and personality.
 It is a group process. It involves two or more people interacting with each other.
 A leader is involved in shaping and molding the behavior of the group towards
accomplishment of organizational goals.
 Leadership is situation bound. There is no best style of leadership. It all depends upon
tackling with the situations.

Importance of Leadership

Leadership is an important function of management which helps to maximize efficiency and

to achieve organizational goals. The following points justify the importance of leadership in a
concern.

 Initiates action- Leader is a person who starts the work by communicating the policies
and plans to the subordinates from where the work actually starts.
 Motivation- A leader proves to be playing an incentive role in the concern’s working. He
motivates the employees with economic and non-economic rewards and thereby gets
the work from the subordinates.
 Providing guidance- A leader has to not only supervise but also play a guiding role for
the subordinates. Guidance here means instructing the subordinates the way they have
to perform their work effectively and efficiently.
 Creating confidence- Confidence is an important factor which can be achieved through
expressing the work efforts to the subordinates, explaining them clearly their role and
giving them guidelines to achieve the goals effectively. It is also important to hear the
employees with regards to their complaints and problems.
 Building morale- Morale denotes willing co-operation of the employees towards their
work and getting them into confidence and winning their trust. A leader can be a morale
booster by achieving full co-operation so that they perform with best of their abilities as
they work to achieve goals.
 Builds work environment- Management is getting things done from people. An efficient
work environment helps in sound and stable growth. Therefore, human relations should
be kept into mind by a leader. He should have personal contacts with employees and
Human Behavior in Organizations/ Compiled by: Minera Laiza C. Acosta 2
 should listen to their problems and solve them. He should treat employees on
humanitarian terms.
 Co-ordination- Co-ordination can be achieved through reconciling personal interests
with organizational goals. This synchronization can be achieved through proper and
effective co-ordination which should be primary motive of a leader.

Qualities of a Leader

A leader has got multidimensional traits in him which makes him appealing and effective in
behavior. The following are the requisites to be present in a good leader:

 Physical appearance- A leader must have a pleasing appearance. Physique and health
are very important for a good leader.
 Vision and foresight- A leader cannot maintain influence unless he exhibits that he is
forward looking. He has to visualize situations and thereby has to frame logical
programs.
 Intelligence- A leader should be intelligent enough to examine problems and difficult
situations. He should be analytical who weighs pros and cons and then summarizes the
situation. Therefore, a positive bent of mind and mature outlook is very important.
 Communicative skills- A leader must be able to communicate the policies and
procedures clearly, precisely and effectively. This can be helpful in persuasion and
stimulation.
 Objective- A leader has to be having a fair outlook which is free from bias and which
does not reflects his willingness towards a particular individual. He should develop his
own opinion and should base his judgement on facts and logic.
 Knowledge of work- A leader should be very precisely knowing the nature of work of
his subordinates because it is then he can win the trust and confidence of his
subordinates.
 Sense of responsibility- Responsibility and accountability towards an individual’s work
is very important to bring a sense of influence. A leader must have a sense of
responsibility towards organizational goals because only then he can get maximum of
capabilities exploited in a real sense. For this, he has to motivate himself and arouse
and urge to give best of his abilities. Only then he can motivate the subordinates to the
best.
 Self-confidence and will-power- Confidence in himself is important to earn the
confidence of the subordinates. He should be trustworthy and should handle the
situations with full will power.
 Humanist-This trait to be present in a leader is essential because he deals with human
beings and is in personal contact with them. He has to handle the personal problems of
his subordinates with great care and attention. Therefore, treating the human beings on
humanitarian grounds is essential for building a congenial environment.
 Empathy- It is an old adage “Stepping into the shoes of others”. This is very important
because fair judgement and objectivity comes only then. A leader should understand the
problems and complaints of employees and should also have a complete view of the

Human Behavior in Organizations/ Compiled by: Minera Laiza C. Acosta 3

 needs and aspirations of the employees. This helps in improving human relations and
personal contacts with the employees.

From the above qualities present in a leader, one can understand the scope of leadership
and its importance for scope of business. A leader cannot have all traits at one time. But a
few of them helps in achieving effective results.

Leadership and Management - Relationship & Differences

 Leadership and management are the terms that are often considered synonymous. It is
essential to understand that leadership is an essential part of effective management. As
a crucial component of management, remarkable leadership behaviour stresses upon
building an environment in which each and every employee develops and excels.
Leadership is defined as the potential to influence and drive the group efforts towards
the accomplishment of goals. This influence may originate from formal sources, such as
that provided by acquisition of managerial position in an organization.
 A manager must have traits of a leader, i.e., he must possess leadership qualities.
Leaders develop and begin strategies that build and sustain competitive advantage.
Organizations require robust leadership and robust management for optimal
organizational efficiency.

Differences between Leadership and Management

Leadership differs from management in a sense that:

 While managers lay down the structure and delegates authority and responsibility,
leaders provide direction by developing the organizational vision and communicating it to
the employees and inspiring them to achieve it.
 While management includes focus on planning, organizing, staffing, directing and
controlling; leadership is mainly a part of directing function of management. Leaders
focus on listening, building relationships, teamwork, inspiring, motivating and persuading
the followers.
 While a leader gets his authority from his followers, a manager gets his authority by
virtue of his position in the organization.
 While managers follow the organization’s policies and procedure, the leaders follow their
own instinct.
 Management is more of science as the managers are exact, planned, standard, logical
and more of mind. Leadership, on the other hand, is an art. In an organization, if the
managers are required, then leaders are a must/essential.
 While management deals with the technical dimension in an organization or the job
content; leadership deals with the people aspect in an organization.
 While management measures/evaluates people by their name, past records, present
performance; leadership sees and evaluates individuals as having potential for things
that can’t be measured, i.e., it deals with future and the performance of people if their
potential is fully extracted.

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  If management is reactive, leadership is proactive.

Management is based more on written communication, while leadership is based more on

verbal communication.

 The organizations which are over managed and under-led do not perform upto the
benchmark. Leadership accompanied by management sets a new direction and makes
efficient use of resources to achieve it. Both leadership and management are essential
for individual as well as organizational success.

Leader versus Manager

 “Leadership and managership are two synonymous terms” is an incorrect statement.

Leadership doesn’t require any managerial position to act as a leader. On the other
hand, a manager can be a true manager only if he has got the traits of leader in him. By
virtue of his position, manager has to provide leadership to his group. A manager has to
perform all five functions to achieve goals, i.e., Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing,
and Controlling. Leadership is a part of these functions. Leadership as a general term is
not related to managership. A person can be a leader by virtue of qualities in him. For
example: leader of a club, class, welfare association, social organization, etc. Therefore,
it is true to say that, “All managers are leaders, but all leaders are not managers.”
 A leader is one who influences the behavior and work of others in group efforts towards
achievement of specified goals in a given situation. On the other hand, manager can be
a true manager only if he has got traits of leader in him. Manager at all levels are
expected to be the leaders of work groups so that subordinates willingly carry
instructions and accept their guidance. A person can be a leader by virtue of all qualities
in him.

Leaders and Managers can be compared on the following basis:

** Please refer to the illustration below

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Leadership Styles

Different leadership styles exist in work environments. The culture and goal of an organization
determine which leadership style fits best. Some organizations offer different leadership styles
within an organization, depending on the necessary tasks to complete and departmental needs.

We find five different leadership styles in the corporate world. They are as follows −

Laissez-Faire

 A laissez-faire leader does not directly supervise employees and fails to provide regular
updates to those under his supervision. Highly experienced and trained employees with
minimal requirement of supervision fall under the laissez-faire leadership style.

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  But not all employees possess these features. This leadership style blocks the
production of employees needing supervision. The laissez-faire style implements no
leadership or supervision efforts from managers, which can lead to poor production, lack
of control and increasing costs.

Autocratic

 The autocratic leadership style permits managers to make decisions alone without the
input of others. Managers access total authority and impose their will on employees. No
one opposes the decisions of autocratic leaders. Countries like Cuba and North Korea
operate under the autocratic leadership style.
 This leadership style benefits those who require direct supervision. Creative employees
who participate in group functions detest this leadership style.

Participative

 This is also known as the democratic leadership style. It values the input of team
members and peers, but the responsibility of making the final decision rests with the
participative leader. Participative leadership motivates employee morale because
employees make contributions to the decision-making process. It accounts to a feeling
that their opinions matter.
 When an organization needs to make changes within itself, that is internally, the
participative leadership style helps employees accept changes easily as they play a role
in the process. This leadership style meets challenges when companies need to make a
decision in a short period of time.

Transactional

 Transactional leadership style is formed by the concept of reward and punishment.

Transactional leaders believe that the employee's performance is completely dependent
on these two factors. When there is an encouragement, the workers put in their best
effort and the bonus is in monetary terms in most of the cases. In case they fail to
achieve the set target they are given a negative appraisal.
 Transactional leaders pay more attention to physical and security requirements of the
employees.

Transformational

 Transformational leadership has the ability to affect employee's perceptions through the
returns that organization gets in the form of human capital benefits. These leaders have
the ability to reap higher benefits by introducing knowledge management processes,
encouraging interpersonal communication among employees and creating healthy
organizational culture.
 It helps in flourishing organizational innovation by creating a participative environment or
culture. It promotes a culture where the employees have autonomy to speak about their
experiences and share knowledge.
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  It has been seen that transformational leaders are more innovative than transactional
and laisse-faire leaders.

SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS/REFERENCES:

• Bauer, T. & Berrin, E. 2012. An Introduction to Organizational Behavior. Creative

Commons by-nc-sa 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/
3.0/) license.

• Ditan, Carol D. 2016. Understanding and Managing Organizational Behavior. Anvil

Publishing, Inc.

• Inc. (n.d.). Employee Reward and Recognition Systems.

https://www.inc.com/encyclopedia/employee-reward-and-recognition-
systems.html

• Management Study Guide. (n.d.). Leadership Basics.

https://www.managementstudyguide.com/leadership_basics.htm

• Newstrom, John W. 2011. Organizational Behavior: Human Behavior at Work 13th

Edition. Boston, McGraw-Hill

• Tutorials Point. (n.d.) Organizational Behavior – Leadership.

https://www.tutorialspoint.com/organizational_behavior/
organizational_behavior_leadership.htm

ACTIVITIES/ASSESSMENTS: (Group Work)

Questions for Discussion:

1. A manager once told a subordinate, “To be a good leader, you must first become a good
follower.” Discuss what it means to be a good follower, whether you agree with the
statement, and why or why not.
2. Think of situations in which you were a leader. What leadership style did you use?
Using hindsight and the material in this lesson, what would you have done differently?

Human Behavior in Organizations/ Compiled by: Minera Laiza C. Acosta 8