The document discusses several theories of leadership: 1. Trait theories focus on innate qualities and personality traits of leaders. 2. Style theories examine how a leader's guidance style (authoritarian, democratic, laissez-faire) impacts follower performance. 3. Contingency theories propose that a leader's effectiveness depends on how well their style fits the particular situation, based on relationships, task structure, and power. 4. Situational theory emphasizes that a leader's style should match followers' readiness level for the task. 5. The best fit approach argues a leader's optimal style is influenced by multiple factors and depends on situating and context. No single approach is best in

1. Theories on Leadership
Dr. Amjad Idries

2. Leadership
• It is about the relationship through which one
person influences the behavior or actions of
other people.

3. Why we study the
theories of leadership?

4. 4
• Most researchers say the answer is both …..
• Some are born with natural ability and develop it …….
• Some are developed through effort and hard work …….
• All people have potential leadership skills.
• Organizations spend millions of dollars every year
to develop leadership skills of their employees.
Are Leaders Born or Made?

15. Choose someone you know from your circles to
analyze his leadership attitude……

16. Theories on leadership:
(1) Trait theories,
(2) Style theories,
(3) Contingency theories,
(4) Situational theory,
(5) Best Fit Theory

17. (1) Trait Theories
• The trait model of leadership is based on the
characteristics of many leaders.
• Based on the personality, focusing on the
person in job and not the job.

18. How these theories comes out?

19. Core traits identified are:
1. Achievement drive: High level of effort, high
levels of ambition, energy and initiative.
2. Leadership motivation: an intense desire to lead
others to reach shared goals.
3. Honesty and integrity: trustworthy, reliable and
open.
4. Self-confidence: Belief in one’s self, ideas and
ability.

20. Core traits identified are:
4. Cognitive ability: Capable of exercising good
judgment, strong analytical abilities, and
conceptually skilled.
5. Knowledge of business: Knowledge of technical
skills and other technical matters.
6. Emotional Maturity: well adjusted, does not
suffer from severe psychological disorders.
7. Others: body, charisma, creativity and flexibility.

21. 2) Style theories:
Link the style of guidance to/ with subordinates
performance:
(1) Authoritarian
(2) Democratic
(3) Laissez-faire

22. (a) Authoritarian
• Power (decisions and authority) lies with manger.
• The manger tend to keep all of the authorities.
• Why we found such behavior?
• The focus is on tasks and production rather than
the employees and their needs.
• Consequence: Drop in production when the
manager is not there.
• The work is well performed at the beginning, but
start to deteriorate with time, why?

23. (b) Democratic:
• The leader share the power and followers
accept that power, what are the types of
power?
• Delegation.
• The focus is mainly on the relations.
• Persuasion.
• More space of innovation.

24. (c) Laissez-faire:
• Conscious decision to pass the power with
minimum interference;
• “Let them go” or “free” style;
• What type of communities you will find this?
• What are the problems of this style?

25. (3) Contingency theories:
• This is a leader match theory because it tries to
match leaders to appropriate situations.
• A leader’s effectiveness depends on how well
the leader’s style fits the context.
• The theory was developed by studying the
styles of leaders in situations and whether they
were effective (primarily in military
organizations).
• Concerned with styles and situations.

26. (3) Contingency theories:
• Leadership styles are either task motivated or
relationship motivated.
• Situations have three factors: leader-member
relations, task structure and position power.

27. LPC Scale
• Used to measure a person’s leadership style.
• For example, it measures your style by having
you describe a coworker with whom you had
difficulty completing a job. (not necessarily
someone you dislike, but someone with
whom you least like to work with).
• After you choose this person, the LPC
instrument asks you to describe your
coworker on 18 sets of adjectives.

28. Least Preferred Coworker (LPC) Scale
Pleasant 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Unpleasant
Friendly 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Unfriendly
Rejecting 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Accepting
Tense 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Relaxed
Cold 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Warm
Supportive 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Hostile
Boring 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Interesting
Quarrelsome 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Harmonious
Gloomy 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Cheerful
Open 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Closed
Backbiting 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Loyal
Untrustworthy 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Trustworthy
Considerate 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Inconsiderate
Nasty 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Nice
Agreeable 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Disagreeable
Insincere 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Sincere
Kind 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Unkind

29. Scoring
• Your final score is the total of the numbers you
circled on the 18 scales
57 or less = Low LPC (task motivated)
58 - 63 = Middle LPC (socio-independent leaders,
self directed and not overly concerned with the task
or with how others view them)
64 and more = High LPC (motivated by relationships)

30. Contingency Theory
• How it works:
By measuring a leader’s LPC score and three
situational variables, one can predict whether the
leader is going to be successful in a particular
setting.
• It is important to note that contingency
theory stresses that leaders are NOT
successful in all situations.

32. (3) Contingency theories:
Weaknesses:
– Evaluating the concept is difficult;
– Not clear;
– Doesn’t consider the subordinate needs;
– Technical competency of the leader is ignored
Strengths:
– Confirm the importance of contextual factors,
– Provide systematic framework for self-awareness,

33. (4) Situational theory:
• Based on readiness level of the followers
towards been led;
• Related to ability and willingness to do the
task;
• No personal characteristics but the individuals
within the team,

34. unable & not willunable & willable & not willable & will

35. (5) Best fit approach:
• Democratic style that lead to effectiveness in
performance, but this depends on the
situation and the context,

36. (5) Best fit approach:
Factors affecting the leader’s style:
(1) values,
(2) confidence in subordinate,
(3) habits,
(4) assessment of personal contribution,
(5) age,
(6) degree of stress,

37. (5) Best fit approach:
Factors affecting the subordinate’s preference:
1. own estimate of competence,
2. psychological contract b/w group and leader,
3. tolerance for ambiguity,
4. past experience,
5. cultural factors

38. (5) Best fit approach:
Structure of the task: depends on:
(1) the nature of the task (creative, problem-solving-pioneering),
(2) timescale,
(3) complexity,
(4) significance of mistakes,
(5) importance of the task,