Chapter 11 Managing Organization Design
What is the LPC theory of leadership?
-Fred Fiedler -attempts to explain and reconcile both the leader's personality and the complexities of the situation -LPC stands for least preferred coworker -contends that a leader's effectiveness depends on the situation and as a result, some leaders may be effective in one situation or organization but no in another -leaders can't readily adapt to different situations
What is the Path-Goal Theory of Leadership?
-Martin Evans and Robert House -focuses on the situation and leader behaviors rather than on fixed traits of the leader -suggests that leaders can readily adapt to different situations; that a leader may behave in different ways in different situations -roots in the expectancy theory of motivation -agrees that subordinates are motivated by their leader to the extent that the behaviors of that leader influence their expectancies; leader affects subordinates' performance by clarifying the behaviors (paths) that will lead to desired rewards (goals) -assumes that leaders can change their behavior and exhibit any or all of these leadership styles -also predicts that the appropriate combination of leadership styles depends on situational factors -proposes that leader behavior will motivate subordinates if it helps them cope with environmental uncertainty created by those characteristics
What are the two decision trees for Vroom's decision?
-Vroom's Development-Driven Decision Tree -Vroom's Time-Driven Decision Tree
What are the two personal characteristics of subordinates?
-locus of control: refers to the extent to which individuals believe that what happens to them results from their own behavior or from external causes -perceived ability: pertains to how people view their own ability with respect to the task
What are the Ohio State leadership studies?
-two forms of leader behavior: consideration and initiating-structure -seen as independent dimensions of the leader's behavioral repertoire; therefore can experience variations of both at same tim
What are the five extremes of leadership behavior on the Leadership Grid?
1,1 manager (impoverished management): exhibits minimal concern for both production and people 9,1 manager (authority-compliance): highly concerned about production but exhibits little concern for people 1,9 manager (country club manager) : exact opposite concerns from the 9,1 manager 5,5 manager (middle of the road management) maintains adequate concern for both people and production 9,9 manager (team management) exhibits maximum concern for both people and production
What are the four leader behaviors of path-goal theory?
1. directive: the leader lets subordinates know what expected of them, gives specific guidance as to how to accomplish tasks, schedules work to be done, and maintains definitive standards of performance for subordinates 2. supportive: is friendly and shows concern for subordinates' statues, well-being, and needs 3. participative: the leader consults with subordinates about issues and takes their suggestions into account before making a decision 4. achievement-oriented: involves setting challenging goals, expecting subordinates to perform at their highest level, and showing strong confidence that subordinates will put forth effort and accomplish the goals
What are the three widely accepted situational theories?
LPC theory Path-goal theory Vroom's decision tree approach
What is the Vroom's decision tree approach?
Victor Vroom and Philip Yetton -attempts to prescribe a leadership style appropriate to a given situation -it also assumes that the same leader may display different leadership styles -focuses on one single aspect of leader behavior: subordinate participation in decision making -assumes that the degree to which subordinates should be encouraged to participate in decision making depends on the characteristics of the situation -helps leaders determine the optimal degree of participation they should allow their subordinates to have in making a decision
What is task structure?
a structured task is routine, simple, easily understood, and unambiguous: LPC theory presumes that these are more favorable because the leader need not be closely involved in defining activities and can devote time to other matters -unstructured task is one that is non-routine, ambiguous, and complex: this task more unfavorable because the leader must play a major role in guiding and directing the activities of subordinates
What is the Leadership Grid?
a.k.a. Managerial Grid -provides a means for evaluating leadership styles and then training managers to move towards an ideal style of behavior -horizontal axis: represents concern for production (similar to job-centered and initiating-structure behaviors) -vertical axis: represents concern for people(similar to employee-centered and consideration behavior) -five extremes of leadership behavior: ideal style of leadership is 9,9
What are the definitions of leadership in terms of both process and property?
as a process: leadership is the use of noncoercive influence to direct and coordinate the activities of group members to meet a goal as property: leadership is the set of characterisitics attributed to those who are perceived to use such influence successfully -they both involve neither force nor coercion
What is a situational model?
assumes that appropriate leader behavior varies from one situation to another -the goal of a situational theory is to identify key situational factors and to specify how they interact to determine appropriate leader behavior
What is the trait approach to leadership?
attempted to identify stable and enduring character traits that differentiated effective leaders from nonleaders -unique set of qualities or traits that distinguishes them from their peers
What is task motivation?
closely parallels job-centered and initiating-structure leader behavior
What is the Michigan leadership studies?
goal of work to determine the pattern of leadership behaviors that result in effective group performance -two basic forms of leader behavior identified: job-centered and employee-centered, can not be both at same time, presumed to be at opposite ends of a single continuum
What are the three factors that determine the favorableness of the situation?
in order of importance(from most to least) these are leader-member relations, task structure, and leader position power
What were the important leadership traits in the trait approach?
intelligence, dominance, self-confidence, energy, activity, and task-relevant knowledge
What is employee-centered leader behavior?
leader attempts to build effective work groups with high performance goals -primary concern is with high performance, achieved by paying attention to the human aspects of the group
What is leader initiating structure behavior?
leader clearly defines the leader-subordinate roles so that subordinates know what is expected of them -establishes channels of communication and determines the methods for accomplishing the group's task
What is the leader consideration behavior?
leader is concerned with the subordinates' feelings and respects subordinates' ideas -leader-subordinate relationship is characterized by mutual trust, respect, and two-way communication
What is the job-centered leader behavior?
leader who pays close attention to the work of subordinates, explains work procedures, and is mainly interested in performance -primary concern is efficient completion of the task
What is leader-member relations?
refers to the personal relationship that exists between subordinates and their leader -based on the extent to which subordinates trust, respect, and have confidence in their leader and vice versa
What is Tannenbaum and Schimdt's Leadership Continuum?
similar to Michigan framework -important precursor to modern situational approaches to leadership -identifies seven levels of leadership which range between the extremes of boss-centered and subordinate-centered leadership -continuum of behavior ranges from the one extreme of having the manager make the decision alone to the other extreme of having the employees make the decision with minimal guidance from the leader -each point on the continuum is influenced by characteristics of the manager (value system, confidence in subordinates, personal inclinations, feelings of security), subordinates (need for independence, readiness to assume responsibility, tolerance for ambiguity, interest in the problem, understanding of goals, knowledge, experience, and expectations), and the situation (type of organization, group effectiveness, the problem itself, time pressures)
What is relationship motivation?
similar to employee-centered and consideration leader behavior
How did Fiedler describe a leader's basic personality traits in relation to leadership?
task motivation versus relationship motivation -grounded in personality in a way that is basically constant for any given leader
What are the important environmental characteristics?
task structure, the formal authority system, and the primary work group
What are the two situational factors in the path goal theory>
that influence how leader behavior relates to subordinate satisfaction: the personal characteristics of the subordinates and the characteristics of the environment
What does Vroom's current formulation suggest?
that managers should use one of two different decision trees -manager first assesses the situation in terms of several factors -involves determining whether the given factor is "high" or "low" for the decision that is to be made -one decision tree is to be used when the manager is primarily interested in making the fastest possible decision; the other is to be used when time is less critical and the manager wishes to help subordinates improve and develop their own decision-making skills
What is influence?
the ability to affect the perceptions, beliefs, attitudes, motivation, and/or behaviors of others -leaders have influence over individual and group behavior
What is the LPC scale?
the least preferred coworker -measures the degree of task or relationship motivation in a given leader -taking the least preferred coworker and describe them by marking a series of sixteen scales anchored at each end by a positive or negative quality or attribute -descriptions in LPC scale say more about leader than the least-preferred coworker -high LPC leaders more concerned with interpersonal relations -low LPC leaders are more concerned with task-relevant problems
What is the leader position power?
the power inherent in the leader's role itself
What is the behavioral approach to leadership?
to determine what behaviors are associated with effective leadership -included the Michigan studies, the Ohio State studies and the leadership grid
What did early studies of leadership focus on?
traits or personal characteristics of leaders
Do organizations need both management and leadership?
yes to be effective -leadership necessary to create and direct change and to help the organization get through tough times -management necessary to achieve coordination and systematic results and to handle administrative activities during times of stability and predictability
