Leadership Approaches

Leadership is “the process of motivating others to work to meet specific objectives.” It is distinct from management: management is about planning, organizing, and controlling resources; leadership is about inspiring, influencing, and directing people.

graph LR
    A[Trait Approach
1900s–1940s
Leaders are born] --> B[Behavioural Approach
1950s–60s
Leaders are made]
    B --> C[Situational Approach
1970s–80s
Leaders adapt]
    C --> D[Recent Approaches
1990s–present]

    D --> E[Transformational]
    D --> F[Transactional]
    D --> G[Charismatic]
    D --> H[Ethical / Virtual / Strategic]

How It Appears Per Course

ADMN 201

Leadership is treated as a core management skill. The chapter traces how leadership theory evolved over the 20th century — from trait-based “great man” theories, through behavioural and situational models, to modern frameworks like transformational and charismatic leadership.

Power and Influence

Before leading, a leader must have a source of power:

Type	Source
Legitimate	Formal position (title, authority)
Reward	Ability to give or withhold rewards
Coercive	Ability to punish
Expert	Knowledge, skills, expertise
Referent	Personal charisma; people admire and identify with the leader

1. Trait Approach

Assumes leaders are born with innate characteristics that distinguish them from followers. Researchers tried to identify universal leadership traits: intelligence, dominance, self-confidence, energy, integrity.

Problem: No consistent trait set predicted leadership across all situations. Fell out of favour by mid-20th century.

2. Behavioural Approach

Shifted focus to what leaders do, not who they are. Two independent dimensions emerged:

Task-focused behaviour: Setting goals, defining roles, directing work Employee-focused behaviour: Building relationships, showing concern for people

Leadership Styles:

• Autocratic: Leader makes decisions alone, announces them. Fast but limits buy-in.
• Democratic: Leader consults the group, considers input, then decides. Slower but higher commitment.
• Free-rein (laissez-faire): Leader delegates fully; group has maximum autonomy. Works when team is highly skilled and self-directed.

3. Situational / Contingency Approach

No single best leadership style exists — it depends on the situation. Key models:

• Path-Goal Theory: Leader’s job is to clarify the path to goals and remove obstacles. Style adapts to follower needs and task characteristics.
• Decision Tree (Vroom-Yetton): A diagnostic tool — asks a series of questions about the situation to determine how much follower participation is appropriate.
• Leader-Member Exchange (LMX): Leaders form different quality relationships with different followers — an in-group (trusted, given more responsibility) and out-group (treated more formally).

4. Recent Approaches

Transformational vs. Transactional

	Transformational	Transactional
Focus	Change and vision	Routine and stability
How	Inspires beyond self-interest	Exchange: do this, get that
Best for	Periods of major change	Day-to-day operations

Both are needed — organizations require stability AND the capacity to change.

Charismatic Leadership

Influence based on the leader’s personal charisma and vision. Three behaviours:

• Envisioning: Articulating an inspiring future state
• Energizing: Creating excitement and urgency
• Enabling: Supporting followers emotionally and practically

Risk: charismatic leaders can lead followers in destructive directions (cult-of-personality problem).

Leaders as Coaches

Shift from directing to developing. Instead of giving answers, a coaching leader asks questions that help subordinates discover their own solutions. Builds long-term capability.

Ethical Leadership

Integrity, transparency, and fairness at the core. Leaders model the values they want to see. Particularly important given corporate scandals.

Virtual Leadership

Leading teams that interact electronically rather than face-to-face. Challenges: building trust without physical presence, communication gaps, cultural differences across distributed teams.

Strategic Leadership

A leader’s ability to understand both internal organizational complexity and external environmental forces, and to lead change that improves competitive position. Operates at the highest level — sees patterns others miss.

Cross-Course Connections

MotivationTheories — effective leaders apply motivation theory to understand and influence follower behaviour EmployeeBehaviour — leadership directly shapes whether employee behaviour is productive or counterproductive PsychologicalContract — leadership style affects whether employees feel the org is fulfilling its side of the contract

Key Points for Exam/Study

• Trait → Behavioural → Situational → Recent: know the arc and why each emerged
• Autocratic vs. Democratic vs. Free-rein: know the trade-offs
• Transformational (change/vision) vs. Transactional (routine/exchange) — not mutually exclusive
• Five power types: Legitimate, Reward, Coercive, Expert, Referent
• Charismatic leadership: envisioning, energizing, enabling
• Situational approach: no one best style — effectiveness depends on context

Open Questions

• Can a manager be effective without using formal (legitimate/reward/coercive) power at all?
• How does virtual leadership change the effectiveness of charismatic leadership specifically?