Transcript Slide 1

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Blake & Mouton’s Leadership Grid
High
Autocratic
leader
Concern
for
Task Laissez-faire
leader
Low
Low
“High-High”
Democratic
leader
Paternalistic /
Cheerleader
Concern for
People
High
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Contingency
Theory

Suggests the most effective style of leadership
depends on the situation.
◦ “Best Fit”

Leadership style is part of one’s personality
◦ “enduring and difficult to change”
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The goal is to successfully match one’s style
with situational demands
Relationship motivated vs. Task Motivated
Leader – Member relationships
1.
◦
Are leader and member relations good or poor?
Does the group support the leader?
Task Structure
2.
◦
How structured is the task? Are procedures and
guidelines for the task clearly spelled out?
Position Power
3.
◦
Is the leader’s positional power strong or
weak? To what degree can the leader reward or
punish the group members?
Take the situation which results
of rescue and recovery efforts
after a natural disaster.

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Leader-member relations
◦ usually poor,
Task structure
◦ unstructured,

Positional power

Relationship-oriented leader

Task-oriented leader
◦ weak. The leader who is directing the group's efforts may not
know any of his/her subordinates personally.
◦ he/she may waste valuable time.
◦ who gets things accomplished is likely to be the most
successful in this situation.
Take the situation at a
successful fast-food
restaurant.


Leader-member relations
◦ usually good,
Task structure
◦ Very structured,

Positional power

Relationship-oriented leader

Task-oriented leader
◦ strong. The leader knows his/her subordinates
personally.
◦ works well is this situation.
◦ Little focus on relationships
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Leaders adjust their styles depending on the
readiness (maturity) of their followers to perform
in a given situation.
Readiness – how willing, able or confident
followers are to perform a task
Leadership styles come from different
combinations of task oriented and relationship
oriented behaviours


Helps leaders choose the method of
decision making that best fits the nature of
the problem situation.
Basic decision-making choices:
 Authority decision.
 Consultative decision.
 Group decision.

Decide alone.
◦ No Consultation

Consult individually.
◦ Then leader makes decision

Consult with group.
◦ Then leader makes decision
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Facilitate.
◦ Facilitate group discussion to make a decision

Delegate.
◦ Group members have authority to define problem and
make a decision
Decision
Quality
Decision
Acceptance
Decision
Time
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Benefits of participative decision methods:
Help improve decision quality.
Help improve decision acceptance.
Helps develop leadership potential.
Potential disadvantages of participative
decision methods:
Lost efficiency.
Not particularly useful when problems must be
solved immediately.

States that employees are motivated by tasks,
rewards and punishment.
◦ If employees do their jobs well then they can expect
to be rewarded.
◦ If employees do something poorly, they can expect
to be punished.


Can be quite effective for short term goals
with certain employees.
Major disadvantage - it does not take into
account that most people want more from
their jobs than just a pay cheque.
Superleaders.
Persons whose vision and strength of personality
have an extraordinary impact on others.
Charismatic leaders.
Develop special leader-follower relationships
and inspire others in extraordinary ways.
Someone who is truly inspirational
as a leader and who arouses others
to seek extraordinary performance
accomplishments.
The theory of Transformational Leadership states that
people will follow a leader who has the ability to inspire
and motivate them. A transformational leader helps people
to see deeper purposes behind their work, thus making
them achieve high levels of motivation.
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Vision.
Charisma.
Symbolism.
Empowerment.
Intellectual stimulation.
Integrity.
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