Leadership

5.1 Leadership Styles

Kurt Lewin's Leadership Styles (1939):

Style	Description	Best When
Autocratic	Leader makes all decisions; subordinates follow	Crisis, unskilled workers, urgent tasks
Democratic/Participative	Leader involves subordinates in decisions	Skilled team; complex problems; creativity needed
Laissez-faire	Leader delegates fully; minimal guidance	Highly skilled/motivated experts; creative teams

5.2 Trait Theory vs. Behavioral Theory

Trait Theory (pre-1950s): Leaders are born with specific traits — intelligence, self-confidence, initiative, integrity, sociability. Limitation: no universal set of traits predicts leadership across all situations.

Behavioral Theory (Ohio State + Michigan Studies, 1940s–50s):

• Initiating Structure (Ohio State): Degree to which leader defines roles, establishes patterns, channels of communication, sets goals
• Consideration (Ohio State): Degree to which leader builds mutual trust, respects subordinates' ideas, shows concern for feelings
• Production-Centred (Michigan): Focus on technical task performance
• Employee-Centred (Michigan): Focus on interpersonal relations

Blake and Mouton's Managerial Grid (1964):

• X-axis: Concern for Production (1–9)
• Y-axis: Concern for People (1–9)
• 9,9 — Team Management: High concern for both people and production; ideal style
• 1,9 — Country Club: High people, low production — pleasant but unproductive
• 9,1 — Authority-Compliance: Task-focused, people ignored — military/crisis style
• 1,1 — Impoverished: Low both — disengaged leader
• 5,5 — Middle of the Road: Compromise between both

5.3 Contingency/Situational Theories

Fiedler's Contingency Model (1967): Leadership effectiveness depends on match between leader's style and situational favorableness. Three situational variables: leader-member relations, task structure, position power. Task-oriented leaders do better in very favourable or very unfavourable situations; relationship-oriented better in moderate situations.

Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership (1969): Leadership style should vary with follower maturity/readiness:

• Low maturity → Telling (directive)
• Moderate-low → Selling (persuasive)
• Moderate-high → Participating (supportive)
• High maturity → Delegating

Path-Goal Theory (Robert House, 1971) — PYQ 2023:
Leader's role is to clarify the path for subordinates to achieve their goals by removing obstacles. Four leadership behaviors:

1. Directive: Tells what to do, how, when — useful for ambiguous, unstructured tasks
2. Supportive: Shows concern for subordinates' needs — useful for stressful, tedious tasks
3. Participative: Consults subordinates before deciding — useful for skilled subordinates with high need for autonomy
4. Achievement-Oriented: Sets challenging goals; expects high performance — useful for high-nAch subordinates in complex tasks

Charismatic Leadership (PYQ 2021):
Four key attributes: (1) Vision and articulation — compelling picture of future; (2) Sensitivity to followers' needs; (3) Unconventional behavior — takes risks, acts outside norms; (4) Willingness to take personal risks — demonstrates commitment to vision through self-sacrifice.

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