Question

1. What is the difference between trait theories and behavioral theories of leadership?

2. Suggest the sources of power that would be available to the leader of a student government organization.  What sources of power may not be available? 

3. What is transformational leadership? Give examples of organizational situations that would call for transformational, transactional, and charismatic leadership.

4. Which is the optimal leadership style according to Mouton-Blake model of leadership grid?

Answer 1

1. Trait theories and Behavioral theories

Trait- Defines a leader's effectiveness based on individual characteristics.

- Assumes that leaders are born.

- Theories goal; Select the leaders

- A leader must have certain inherent, innate qualities.

- Focus on the mental qualities.

- Based on the characteristics of leaders and are used to determine and forecast the effectiveness of leadership.

- The traits are emotional maturity, cognitive ability, self confidence, business knowledge, honesty and integrity, leadership motivation.

Behavioral- Defines a leader's effectiveness based on task and relationship orientation

-Assumes that leaders can be trained

-Theories goal; Develop leaders

- More "democratic kind of qualities

- Focus on the actions of leaders.

- Focus more on the specific behaviors of leaders, it stipulates that a leader's behavior rather than traits is the best indicator of leadership ability.

2.Positional power- A major source of power in any organization is that accruing to individuals who have an official position in the institution. Formal positions confer authority on their holders, who have a recognized right to make decisions or to play a key role in the policy making process.

Authority of expertise- It is the power that is vested in someone because of their acknowledged expertise. Schools and colleges employ many staff who have specialist knowledge of aspects in curriculam.

Personal power- Individuals who are charismatic or possess verbal skills or certain other characteristics may be able to exercise personal power.

The powers the student leader dont have is Coercive power a power that is backed by the threat of sanctions, rests on ability to constrain, to block, to interfere, or to punish. and the control of rewards is the another power a leader do not have.

3. Leadership Expert James McGregor Burns introduced the concept of transformational leadership in his 1978 book, "Leadership". He defined transformational leadership as a process where "leaders and their followers raise one another to higher levels of morality and motivation". It is a leadership style in which leaders encourage, inspire and motivate employees to innovate and create change that will help grow and shape the future success of the company. This is accomplished by setting an example at the executive level through a strong sense of corporate culture, employee ownership and independence in the workplace.

The examples are- Example for transformational leadership is;

Transformation in streaming industry

Reed Hastings, The CEO of Netflix, is one of the most successful examples of transformational leadership in the past decade. Netflix, founded in 1997, is a subscription-based video streaming service that offers original content such as its own movies and tv shows, as well as films and series from other networks and producers. When Hastings first launched Netflix, it was a DVD rental company that quickly surpassed Blockbuster as a favorite of movie lovers. But Hastings had a larger vision, one that wasn't hampered by years of toiling in the entertainment business. In fact, Hastings had previously worked in the software industry, so he had no preconceived notions about how to run a streaming entertainment company.

That freedom allowed him to introduce bold, new ideas, the biggest of which was a push into original content. Hastings and his team revolutionized the use of complex algorithms about viewer consumption to create their own original content that would match the needs of their subscribers. The bold gambit paid off, and as of the first quarter of 2018, Netflix has 125 million subscribers, nearly three times more than HBO. In 2018, Netflix also broke HBO's 17-year streak for the most Emmy nominations in a year by earning 112 nominations to HBOs 108 nominationans.

-Transactional leadership is likely to succeed in a crises or in projects that require linear and specific processes. It emphasis results, stay within the existing structure of an organization and measure success according to that organization's system of rewards and penalties.

Bill Gates is a great example, a transactional leader. Bill Gates was born in Seattle in 1955. In his early teens, he met Paul Allen at the Lakeside School, where they both developed computer programs as a hobby. When Gates went to Harvard, Allen went to work as a programmer for Honeywell in Boston. In 1975, they started Microsoft, and by 1978, the company had grossed $2.5 million, when Gates was 23. In 1985, Microsoft launched windows. Bill gates is now one of the richest people in the world. As a transactional leader, he used to visit new product teams and ask difficult questions until he was satisfied that the teams were on track and understood the goal.

- Mother Theresa is a great example of charismatic leader. She might not be a conventional example of a leader, but she perfectly fits the definition of a charismatic leader. Mother Theresa, who was born in Macedonia, became a Roman Catholic nun and started working with the poor.

She left her teaching position at the St Mary's School for girls in 1946 in order to start serving the poor in the slums of calcutta. In the 1950's and 1960's, she established different facilities in the slums to help the poor survive disease and malnutrition. Later also opened charities elsewhere in the world. She once said " I alone cannot change the world, but i can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples" This highlights one of the important parts of charismatic leadership. having others following you.

4. The optimal leadership style in the model of leadership grid is Team leadership- High production and high people

At Team leadership, the manager pays high concern to both people and production. Motivation is high. This soft style is based on the propositions of Theory Y of Douglas McGregor. The manager encourages teamwork and commitment among the employees. This style emphasizes making employees feel part of the company-Family and involving them in understanding the organizational purpose and determining production needs. This method relies heavily on making employees feel they are constructive parts of the company. And this will result in team environment organization based on trust and respect, which leads to high satisfaction and motivation and, as a result, high production.