CHAPTER 1
The Nature and Importance of Leadership
The introductory chapter has several important purposes. Readers are given a detailed description of the
meaning of leadership. Although most readers have studied something about leadership, most can
benefit from a refresher and an update. Another important purpose of the chapter is to explain the
CHAPTER OUTLINE AND LECTURE NOTES
I. THE MEANING OF LEADERSHIP
To be a leader, one has to make a difference and facilitate positive changes. Leaders inspire and
stimulate others to achieve worthwhile goals. A useful definition of leadership is the ability to
inspire confidence and support among the people who are needed to achieve organizational goals.
Leadership is needed at all levels in the organization.
A. Leadership as Shared Responsibility and Collaboration
The leadership role within a team is seldom the responsibility of one person. Rather, several
individuals within the team may serve as leaders, both by formal assignment and informally.
Leadership may shift depending on whose expertise is the most relevant at the moment. A
key force driving collaborative leadership is the hyper-connected organizational world
fostered by e-mail and social media, along with globalization.
C. Leadership Versus Management
Leadership is but one of the four major functions of management (planning, organizing,
controlling, and leading). Leadership deals with change, inspiration, motivation, and
influence. In contrast, management deals more with maintaining equilibrium and the status
quo. Despite these distinctions, organizational leaders must still be good managers, and
effective managers must also carry out leadership activities. Mintzberg emphasizes also that
the difference between leadership and management should not be overdrawn.
II. THE IMPACT OF LEADERSHIP ON ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE
An important justification for studying leadership is that leaders affect organizational
performance. Many faltering business firms bring in a new top leader to spearhead a turnaround.
2 Chapter1: The Nature and Importance of Leadership
A. Research and Opinion: Leadership Does Make a Difference
Anecdotal evidence about the importance of leadership exists. A smattering of evidence
supports the contention that leadership affects organizational performance. A study at the
Center on Leadership & Ethics at Duke University concluded that executive leadership
actions can affect performance, but only if the leader is perceived to be responsible and
inspirational. Such behaviors included engaging employees in the company’s vision, and
inspiring employees to elevate their goals.
The flexible leadership theory of Yukl contends that organizational performance is stronger
when the influence of middle and lower-level leaders on important decisions is
B. Research and Opinion: Formal Leadership Does Not Make a Difference
According to the antileadership argument, leadership has a smaller impact on organizational
outcomes than do situational forces.
1. Substitutes for Leadership. One viewpoint is that many organizations contain
substitutes for leadership, factors in the work environment that provide guidance and
2. Leadership Irrelevance. Pfeffer argues that leadership is irrelevant to most
organizational outcomes because factors outside the leader’s control are important. Part
of the argument is that leaders have limited control over resources, and that top leaders
III. LEADERSHIP ROLES
Understanding leadership roles helps explain leadership. A role is an expected set of activities or
behaviors stemming from the job. The nine leadership roles covered here are:
2. Spokesperson (keeping key groups informed about the activities of the organization or
organizational unit).
4. Coach and motivator (recognizing achievement, giving feedback, and giving
suggestions for performance improvement).
6. Team player (being a good team member oneself).
8. Entrepreneur (suggesting innovative ideas and furthering the business).
10. Executor (making things happen, often translating plans into action)
A common thread in the leadership roles of a manager is that the managerial leader in some
ways inspires or influences others. One analysis concluded that the most basic role for
IV. THE SATISFACTIONS AND FRUSTRATIONS OF BEING A LEADER
Being a leader offers many joys but also some frustrations. Because most readers of this book
aspire toward leadership positions or currently occupy such a position, this information allows for
meaningful class discussion.
A. Satisfactions of Leaders
The specific satisfactions of leaders are somewhat a function of the leadership position.
Nevertheless, here is a list of satisfactions that may be present in varying degrees in many
leadership situations:
1. A feeling of power and prestige.
3. High income.
5. Good opportunities for advancement.
7. An opportunity to control money and other resources.
B. Dissatisfactions and Frustrations of Leaders
Despite the glory of being a leader, occupying a leadership or management role has many
built-in potential frustrations:
1. Too much uncompensated overtime.
3. Facing a perform-or-perish mentality.
5. Loneliness (being a leader limits the number of people one can confide in).
7. Too much organizational politics.
9. Being perceived as unethical, especially if you are a corporate executive.
10. Job fatigue and burnout as a result of the preceding nine problems.
V. A FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING LEADERSHIP
The framework presented here focuses on the major sets of variables that can influence leadership
effectiveness. The basic assumption underlying the framework is as follows:
4 Chapter1: The Nature and Importance of Leadership
L = f (l, gm, s)
This formula means that the leadership process is a function of the leader, the group members, and
other situational variables. The model presented in Figure 1–2 extends the situational perspective.
The model states that leadership effectiveness can best be understood by examining its key
VI. SKILL DEVELOPMENT IN LEADERSHIP
Leadership skills are in high demand. Developing leadership skills is more complex than
developing a structured skill, yet these skills can be developed by following a general learning
model:
2. Conceptual information demonstrated by examples and brief descriptions of leaders in
action.
4. Feedback on skill utilization, or performance, from others. Implementing some of the
skills outside the classroom will provide opportunities for feedback.
5. Practice in natural settings. A given skill has to be practiced many times in natural
settings before it becomes integrated comfortably into a leader’s mode of operation.
VII. FOLLOWERSHIP: BEING AN EFFECTIVE GROUP MEMBERS
To be an effective leader, one needs good followers (or group members). Leaders are also
followers and followers also exhibit leadership.
A. Types of Followers
Followers differ substantially in talent and motivation.
2. Bystanders are free-riders who are frequently detached.
4. Activists are considerably engaged, and eager to demonstrate their support or opposition.
5. Diehards are super-engaged, and willing to go down for their cause, or oust a leader they
believe is headed in the wrong direction.
Chapter 1: The Nature and Importance of Leadership
B. Essential Qualities of Effective Followers
Certain effective group member characteristics facilitate followership: (1) self-management or
thinking for oneself, and working well without close supervision; (2) commitment to
something beyond oneself; (3) building competence and focusing direct effort for maximum
impact; and (4) the courage to think independently, and to fight for what one believes is right.
VIII. GUIDELINES FOR ACTION AND SKILL DEVELOPMENT
Although the thousands of leadership studies published often conflict, the discipline of leadership
offers much useful information. The approach recommended here for applying leadership
information is to choose the formulation that seems to best fit the leadership situation at hand. For
example, a leader might need to combine creative problem solving and emotional support to
members to help the team rebound from a crisis.
COMMENTS ON EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISES
LEADERSHIP SELF–ASSESSMENT QUIZ 1–1: READINESS FOR THE
LEADERSHIP ROLE
The first self-examination exercise in the text has considerable face validity. The student reflects on a
series of attitudes and behaviors that are part of the leadership role. As will most of the
questionnaires in this text, the specific statements and questions are helpful in understanding
LEADERSHIP SKILL–BUILDING EXERCISE 1–1: MY LEADERSHIP
ROLE ANALYSIS
This exercise relates closely to Self-Assessment Quiz 1-1. Although the present exercise might be
considered self-assessment it involves skill development because the student is urges to acquire
knowledge and skills that will allow for development in at least several of the roles.
LEADERSHIP SKILL–BUILDING EXERCISE 1–2: MY LEADERSHIP
PORTFOLIO
Here and in each chapter the student is asked to make a journal entry of a leadership experience that
relates to a major theme of the chapter. We suspect that students who take a course in leadership with
the intent of develop their leadership skills will find this activity valuable. Journal writing has a long
6 Chapter1: The Nature and Importance of Leadership
LEADERSHIP SELF–ASSESSMENT EXERICSE 1–2: THE
LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE AUDIT
The audit of leadership experiences is designed to help students realize that they most likely already
have some leadership experience tucked under their belt. A subtle feature of the audit is that it might
sensitize students to look for opportunities to exert leadership.
COMMENTS ON DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES
6. Why is being perceived as having leadership qualities considered a compliment by most people?
2. Give an example of how you have exerted leadership on or off the job in a situation in which you
did not have a formal leadership position. Explain why you describe your activity as leadership.
3. What would a boss of yours have to do to demonstrate that he or she is an effective leader and an
effective manager?
4. Identify a business or sports leader who you think is highly effective. Present your observations to
the class.
Leaders are usually classified as effective on the basis of the results they achieve. Students will
therefore probably choose leaders with highly visible accomplishments. Effective sports leaders
5. Many people who were voted “the most likely to succeed” in their high school yearbooks became
leaders later on in their career. How can you explain this finding?
Chapter 1: The Nature and Importance of Leadership
6. Top-level leaders of major business corporations receive some of the highest compensation
packages in the workforce. Why are business leaders paid so much?
One reason for the higher pay of leaders is that their work affects so many people, thus giving
7. If so much useful information is available about leadership, why do we still find so many
managers who cannot gain the respect of their subordinates?
One reason why many managers do not get the respect of subordinates despite the abundance of
information about leadership is those managers do not study the information and apply it to
8. Considering that so many people of all ages do much of their communicating with text messages,
what would be wrong with leaders communicating with group members mostly through texting?
Texting may be acceptable for many communication episodes between leaders and subordinates,
but true organizational leadership requires some face-to-face interaction. People are much more
9. A 25-year-old manager of a branch of a fast-food restaurant was told by her boss that she was
not an effective leader. She replied, “For $29,000 a year, how can you expect me to be an
effective leader?” What do you think of her argument?
The young manager’s flawed reasoning is that only by showing good leadership traits and
behaviors in an entry-level leadership position can one be promoted to a higher-level position. A
10. In what way might being an effective follower help prepare a person for becoming an effective
leader?
8 Chapter1: The Nature and Importance of Leadership
PLAUSIBLE RESPONSES TO CASE QUESTIONS
LEADERSHIP CASE PROBLEM A: ELON MUSK, BUSINESS LEADER
AND SUPERHERO
This case was purposely chosen for Chapter 1because it illustrates how far reaching a leader can be in
his or her influence, and how big an impact a business leader can have on the lives of so many people.
1. Which roles does Musk appear to occupy as a leader of his companies?
Musk clearly occupies the enntrepreneur and technical problem-solver roles because he
was instrumental in founding his several businesses and is involed involved in the
2. What would you perceive to be a key advantage, and a key disadvantage of reporting directly to
Musk?
A major advantage of reporting directly to Musk is that the person would have the opportunity to
work directly for one of the most innovative leaders in business history. As a result, the direct
3. What is your overall evaluation of Elon Musk as both a business leader and a leader in society?
4. What factors might Musk have, similar to the late Steve Jobs, going for him as a leader that
people will put up with his blunt approach to people?
Musk offers followers, as well as other work associates, the opportunity to work with a creative
Associated Role Play
Chapter 1: The Nature and Importance of Leadership
LEADERSHIP CASE PROBLEM B: DOES JULIA SHARE TOO MUCH
RESPONSIBILITY?
This case was purposely chosen to appear in Chapter 1 because the case illustrates a major there in
leadership—how much responsibility to share with subordinates.
1. To what extent has Julia chosen the right approach to leading the managers in her unit of the
financial services firm?
2. What advice can you offer Julia to be a more effective leader?
Julia should observe more carefully her interactions with direct reports that she is providing
3. What advice can you offer Laura to help Julia be a more effective leader?
4. Explain whether you think Laura was justified in asking Julia’s direct reports about Julia’s
approach to leadership?
Laura did ask Julia if she could speak with her direct reports before conducting the interviews, so
her information seeking might be justifiable. Yet the statement “a few casual conversations” is
Associated Role Play
This role play gets to the heart of this case—how much guidance and support to give a subordinate who
asks for structure and guidance. If Julia truly believes that a leader’s role is to encourage a subordinate