Classic Theories of Leadership and Management

The Yukl (2013) text describes classic theories of leadership and management as well as more contemporary approaches to leadership and management. In 2,450-2,800 words  compare and contrast one of the classic theories of leadership and management with a current trend in leadership and management. Evaluate the efficacy of both approaches as they apply to your personal (or desired) tendencies to effectively lead others. Reference at least three additional resources in addition to the required course readings.

“The basic structure of most chapters remains the same, but the order of some chapters was changed and a few topics were moved to a different chapter. Citations to relevant recent literature were updated, but given the increasing volume of studies on leadership, the citations are still selective rather than comprehensive. Since the book is not intended to be a history of leadership, it seemed appropriate to reduce the amount of detail about early research programs and old theories that are no longer popular, and focus more closely on what we now know about effective leadership.

The content of the book still reflects a dual concern for theory and practice. I have attempted to satisfy two different audiences with somewhat different preferences. Most academics prefer a book that explains and evaluates major theories and relevant empirical research. They are more interested in how well the research was done, what was found, and what additional research is needed than in the practical applications. Academics tend to be skeptical about the value of prescriptions and guidelines for practitioners and consider them premature in the absence of further research. In contrast, most practitioners want some immediate answers about what to do and how to do it in order to be more effective as leaders. They need to deal with the current challenges of their job and cannot wait for decades until the academics resolve their theoretical disputes and obtain definitive answers. Practitioners are more interested in finding helpful remedies and prescriptions than in finding out how this knowledge was discovered. Readers who desire to improve their leadership effectiveness will find this edition of the book is even more useful than previous editions.

These different preferences are a one of the reasons for the much-lamented gulf between scientists and practitioners in management and industrial-organizational psychology. I believe it is important for managers and administrators to understand the complexity of effective leadership, the source of our knowledge about leadership in organizations, and the limitations of this knowledge. Likewise, I believe it is important for academics to think more about how their theories and research can be used to improve the practice of management. Too much of our leadership research is designed to examine narrow, esoteric questions that only interest a few other scholars who publish in the same journals.

Academics will be pleased to find that major theories are explained and evaluated, findings in empirical research on leadership are summarized, and many references are provided to help readers find sources of additional information about topics of special interest. The field of leadership is still in a state of ferment, with many continuing controversies about conceptual and methodological issues. The book addresses these issues whenever feasible. However, the literature review was intended to be incisive, not comprehensive. Rather than detailing an endless series of studies like most handbooks of leadership, the book describes major findings about effective leadership. The current edition reflects significant progress in our understanding of leadership since the first edition was published in 1981.

For practitioners and students who desire to become effective managers, I attempted to convey a better appreciation of the complexity of managerial leadership, the importance of having theoretical knowledge about leadership, and the need to be flexible and pragmatic in applying this knowledge. The current edition provides many guidelines and recommendations for improving managerial effectiveness, but it is not a “practitioner’s manual” of simple techniques and secret recipes that guarantee instant success. The purpose of the guidelines is to help the reader understand the practical implications of the leadership theory and research, not to prescribe exactly how things must be done by a leader. Most of the guidelines are based on a limited amount of research and they are not infallible or relevant for all situations. Being a flexible, adaptive leader includes determining which guidelines are relevant for each unique situation.

Most chapters have one or two short cases designed to help the reader gain a better understanding of the theories, concepts, and guidelines presented in the chapter. The cases describe events that occurred in real organizations, but some of the cases were modified to make them more useful for learning basic concepts and effective practices. For most of the cases, the names of organizations and individuals were changed to keep the analysis focused on the events that occurred in a defined time period, not on recent events that may involve different leaders and a new context. The cases ask a reader to analyze behavioral processes, identify examples of effective and ineffective behavior, and suggest effective ways to handle the situation that is depicted.

An instructor’s manual is available with detailed analyses of the cases and suggestions on how to use them. The instructor’s manual also includes additional cases, exercises for use in class (e.g., role plays), and some out-of-class activities that help students to understand how they can apply the theory and guidelines. Finally, a test bank is available with multiple-choice items on the major points in each chapter.

The book is widely used in many different countries, and some editions have been translated into other languages, including Chinese, Korean, Indonesian, Spanish, Greek, Croatian, and Swedish. With its focus on effective leadership in organizations, the book is especially relevant for people who expect to become a manager or administrator in the near future, for people who will be responsible for training or coaching leaders, and for people who will be teaching courses or workshops that include leadership as one of the key topics. The book is appropriate for use as the primary text in an undergraduate or graduate course in leadership. Such courses are found in many different schools or departments, including business, psychology, sociology, educational administration, public administration, and health care administration. The book is on the list of required or recommended readings for students in many doctoral programs in leadership, management, and industrial-organizational psychology. Finally, the book is also useful for practicing managers and consultants who are looking for something more than superficial answers to difficult questions about leadership.”

The Yukl (2013) text describes classic theories of leadership and management as well as more contemporary approaches to leadership and management. In a paper of 2,450-2,800 words (7-8 pages, excluding title and references pages), compare one of the classic theories of leadership and management with a current trend in leadership and management. Evaluate the efficacy of both approaches as they apply to your personal (or desired) tendencies to effectively lead others. Reference at least three additional resources in addition to the required course readings.

“Leadership is a subject that has long excited interest among people. The term connotes images of powerful, dynamic individuals who command victorious armies, direct corporate empires from atop gleaming skyscrapers, or shape the course of nations. The exploits of brave and clever leaders are the essence of many legends and myths. Much of our description of history is the story of military, political, religious, and social leaders who are credited or blamed for important historical events, even though we do not understand very well how the events were caused or how much influence the leader really had. The widespread fascination with leadership may be because it is such a mysterious process, as well as one that touches everyone’s life. Why did certain leaders (e.g., Gandhi, Mohammed, Mao Tse-tung) inspire such intense fervor and dedication? How did certain leaders (e.g., Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great) build great empires? Why did some rather undistinguished people (e.g., Adolf Hitler, Claudius Caesar) rise to positions of great power? Why were certain leaders (e.g., Winston Churchill, Indira Gandhi) suddenly deposed, despite their apparent power and record of successful accomplishments? Why do some leaders have loyal followers who are willing to sacrifice their lives, whereas other leaders are so despised that subordinates conspire to murder them?

Questions about leadership have long been a subject of speculation, but scientific research on leadership did not begin until the twentieth century. The focus of much of the research has been on the determinants of leadership effectiveness. Social scientists have attempted to discover what traits, abilities, behaviors, sources of power, or aspects of the situation determine how well a leader is able to influence followers and accomplish task objectives. There is also a growing interest in understanding leadership as a shared process in a team or organization and the reasons why this process is effective or ineffective. Other important questions include the reasons why some people emerge as leaders, and the determinants of a leader’s actions, but the predominant concern has been leadership effectiveness.

Some progress has been made in probing the mysteries surrounding leadership, but many questions remain unanswered. In this book, major theories and research findings on leadership effectiveness will be reviewed, with particular emphasis on managerial leadership in formal organizations such as business corporations, government agencies, hospitals, and universities. This chapter introduces the subject by considering different conceptions of leadership, different ways of evaluating its effectiveness, and different approaches for studying leadership. The chapter also provides an overview of the book and explains how subjects are organized.”

“Leadership is a subject that has long excited interest among people. The term connotes images of powerful, dynamic individuals who command victorious armies, direct corporate empires from atop gleaming skyscrapers, or shape the course of nations. The exploits of brave and clever leaders are the essence of many legends and myths. Much of our description of history is the story of military, political, religious, and social leaders who are credited or blamed for important historical events, even though we do not understand very well how the events were caused or how much influence the leader really had. The widespread fascination with leadership may be because it is such a mysterious process, as well as one that touches everyone’s life. Why did certain leaders (e.g., Gandhi, Mohammed, Mao Tse-tung) inspire such intense fervor and dedication? How did certain leaders (e.g., Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great) build great empires? Why did some rather undistinguished people (e.g., Adolf Hitler, Claudius Caesar) rise to positions of great power? Why were certain leaders (e.g., Winston Churchill, Indira Gandhi) suddenly deposed, despite their apparent power and record of successful accomplishments? Why do some leaders have loyal followers who are willing to sacrifice their lives, whereas other leaders are so despised that subordinates conspire to murder them?

Questions about leadership have long been a subject of speculation, but scientific research on leadership did not begin until the twentieth century. The focus of much of the research has been on the determinants of leadership effectiveness. Social scientists have attempted to discover what traits, abilities, behaviors, sources of power, or aspects of the situation determine how well a leader is able to influence followers and accomplish task objectives. There is also a growing interest in understanding leadership as a shared process in a team or organization and the reasons why this process is effective or ineffective. Other important questions include the reasons why some people emerge as leaders, and the determinants of a leader’s actions, but the predominant concern has been leadership effectiveness.

Some progress has been made in probing the mysteries surrounding leadership, but many questions remain unanswered. In this book, major theories and research findings on leadership effectiveness will be reviewed, with particular emphasis on managerial leadership in formal organizations such as business corporations, government agencies, hospitals, and universities. This chapter introduces the subject by considering different conceptions of leadership, different ways of evaluating its effectiveness, and different approaches for studying leadership. The chapter also provides an overview of the book and explains how subjects are organized.”

“The preceding chapter reviewed descriptive research that was designed to identify typical activity patterns of managers, and the current chapter will review research on the types of leadership behavior most likely to influence subordinate satisfaction and performance. The chapter begins by describing different approaches used for classifying leadership behaviors that are relevant for effective leadership. Next is a description of several broad behavior categories that have influenced much of the research over the past half century. Methods for studying the effects of leader behavior are described next, and the results found in research on task-oriented and relations-oriented behavior are reviewed and evaluated. The final part of the chapter describes some specific types of task and relations behaviors that are important for effective leadership. The change-oriented behaviors are explained in more detail in Chapter 4.

Ways for Describing Leadership Behavior

A major problem in research on the content of leadership behavior has been the identification of behavior categories that are relevant and meaningful for all leaders. In the research on managerial activities in Chapter 2, each study produced a somewhat different set of behavior categories, making it difficult to compare and integrate the results across studies. A similar condition exists for the behavior research described in this chapter. As a consequence, the past half century of research has produced a bewildering variety of behavior concepts pertaining to managers and leaders (see Bass, 1990; Fleishman et al., 1991). Sometimes different terms are used to refer to the same type of behavior. At other times, the same term is defined differently by various theorists. What is treated as a general behavior category by one theorist is viewed as two or three distinct categories by another theorist. What is a key concept in one taxonomy is absent from another. With so many divergent taxonomies, it is difficult to translate from one set of behaviors to another.

There are several reasons why taxonomies developed to describe leadership behavior are so diverse (Fleishman et al., 1991; Yukl, 1989). Behavior categories are abstractions rather than tangible attributes of the real world. The categories are derived from observed behavior in order to organize perceptions of the world and make them meaningful, but they do not exist in any objective sense. No absolute set of “correct” behavior categories can be established. Thus, taxonomies that differ in purpose can be expected to have somewhat different constructs. For example, taxonomies designed to facilitate research and theory on managerial effectiveness differ from taxonomies designed to describe observations of managerial activities, or taxonomies designed to catalog position responsibilities of managers and administrators.

Another source of diversity among taxonomies, even for those with the same purpose, is the possibility that behavior constructs can be formulated at different levels of abstraction or generality. Some taxonomies contain a small number of broadly defined behavior categories, whereas other taxonomies contain a larger number of narrowly focused behavior categories. For example, task-oriented behavior is a broad meta-category, clarifying work roles is a midrange category, and setting clear performance goals is a specific, narrow category. They are all abstract behavior categories, but goal setting is a part of clarifying, which is a part of task behavior (see Table 3-1). In the same way, relations-oriented behavior is a broad meta-category, developing is a midrange relations behavior, and providing career advice is a very specific type of developing. The optimal level of abstraction for the behavior categories in a taxonomy depends upon the purpose of the taxonomy. For research on effective leadership, the broad meta-categories are less useful than more specific behavior categories.

A third source of diversity among behavior taxonomies is the method used to develop them. Some taxonomies are developed by examining the pattern of covariance among behavior items on a behavior description questionnaire describing actual managers (factor”

“The preceding chapter reviewed descriptive research that was designed to identify typical activity patterns of managers, and the current chapter will review research on the types of leadership behavior most likely to influence subordinate satisfaction and performance. The chapter begins by describing different approaches used for classifying leadership behaviors that are relevant for effective leadership. Next is a description of several broad behavior categories that have influenced much of the research over the past half century. Methods for studying the effects of leader behavior are described next, and the results found in research on task-oriented and relations-oriented behavior are reviewed and evaluated. The final part of the chapter describes some specific types of task and relations behaviors that are important for effective leadership. The change-oriented behaviors are explained in more detail in Chapter 4.

Ways for Describing Leadership Behavior

A major problem in research on the content of leadership behavior has been the identification of behavior categories that are relevant and meaningful for all leaders. In the research on managerial activities in Chapter 2, each study produced a somewhat different set of behavior categories, making it difficult to compare and integrate the results across studies. A similar condition exists for the behavior research described in this chapter. As a consequence, the past half century of research has produced a bewildering variety of behavior concepts pertaining to managers and leaders (see Bass, 1990; Fleishman et al., 1991). Sometimes different terms are used to refer to the same type of behavior. At other times, the same term is defined differently by various theorists. What is treated as a general behavior category by one theorist is viewed as two or three distinct categories by another theorist. What is a key concept in one taxonomy is absent from another. With so many divergent taxonomies, it is difficult to translate from one set of behaviors to another.

There are several reasons why taxonomies developed to describe leadership behavior are so diverse (Fleishman et al., 1991; Yukl, 1989). Behavior categories are abstractions rather than tangible attributes of the real world. The categories are derived from observed behavior in order to organize perceptions of the world and make them meaningful, but they do not exist in any objective sense. No absolute set of “correct” behavior categories can be established. Thus, taxonomies that differ in purpose can be expected to have somewhat different constructs. For example, taxonomies designed to facilitate research and theory on managerial effectiveness differ from taxonomies designed to describe observations of managerial activities, or taxonomies designed to catalog position responsibilities of managers and administrators.

Another source of diversity among taxonomies, even for those with the same purpose, is the possibility that behavior constructs can be formulated at different levels of abstraction or generality. Some taxonomies contain a small number of broadly defined behavior categories, whereas other taxonomies contain a larger number of narrowly focused behavior categories. For example, task-oriented behavior is a broad meta-category, clarifying work roles is a midrange category, and setting clear performance goals is a specific, narrow category. They are all abstract behavior categories, but goal setting is a part of clarifying, which is a part of task behavior (see Table 3-1). In the same way, relations-oriented behavior is a broad meta-category, developing is a midrange relations behavior, and providing career advice is a very specific type of developing. The optimal level of abstraction for the behavior categories in a taxonomy depends upon the purpose of the taxonomy. For research on effective leadership, the broad meta-categories are less useful than more specific behavior categories.

A third source of diversity among behavior taxonomies is the method used to develop them. Some taxonomies are developed by examining the pattern of covariance among behavior items on a behavior description questionnaire describing actual managers (factor”