Behavioral Theories:

During the 1940's, researchers moved to a new concept:

that leadership could be taught: thus anyone could become a leader w/the right information

However, the research focus shifted from personality traits to what leaders did to inspire people to follow them

Two Aspects of behavior became apparent from research:

Behavior that focused on the structural elements of the job, such as establishing rules and guidelines for employees
Behavior that considered the needs of employee, such as standing up for them and explaining decisions

There are leadership characteristics that weren't explained by behavioral theories such as, how or why a given behavioral aspect worked in one situation but not others thus leading to situational theories

Situational Theories:

Seeks to explain leader effectiveness in different situations

Looks at how the leader and followers interact and how the work is structured

Well-known theories that fall into the above category are (See the "Situational Theory" Mind Map for further review):

Blake-Mouton Managerial Grid (1968)
Path-Goal Theory (1971)
Hersey-Blanchard Theory (1977)

Situational theories are criticized for being two-dimensional & not allowing for multifaceted situations that occur in the real world of business

Also, these theories don't account for differences in culture & gender in explaining leadership

Contingency Theories:

Fred E. Fiedler developed a model known as Fiedler's Contingency Theory to address the shortcomings of situational theories

Used a method known as LPC (least preferred co-worker) where leaders identify a co-worker with whom they had the most difficulty working with and rate them on a scale of 1-8 on a series of measures

a high LPC score indicates that the leader has a greater concern for people than for tasks
a low LPC score indicates a greater concern for tasks
these scores could be used to predict the situations in which a leader would have a better chance for success

Fiedler describes situations in terms of 3 aspects (pg. 41)

Leader-Member Relations
Task Structure
Position Power

Leadership Styles (pg. 42):

Authoritarian or Directive - tells employees what to do; this style is best when productivity is concerned
Democratic - involves employees in the process; this style is best when relationships in the work environment are concerned
Laissez-faire - abdicates responsibility and leaves employees to figure things out w/o guidance or support; this style is best when employees are highly motivated and can work independently
Coach - prepares employees to take on additional responsibility
Transactional - focuses on getting the job done and seeks to do this by offering a reward in exchange for accomplishing organization goals
Transformational - focuses on the relationships in the group, building them to achieve organization goals; acts as role models; works w/individuals

Core HR Knowledge for Professionals II