Chapter Twelve
Contemporary Views of Leadership in Organizations
Chapter Overview …………………………………………………….. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Learning Outcomes …………………………………………………………………………………………. 1
Real-World Challenge: Ethical Leadership at Boeing ………………………………………… 2
Chapter Outline ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 2
I. CONTEMPORARY SITUATIONAL THEORIES …………………………………………… 2
II. LEADERSHIP THROUGH THE EYES OF FOLLOWERS ………………………….. 3
Chapter Overview
The three major situational theories of leadership discussed in Chapter 11 altered everyone’s thinking
about leadership. No longer did people feel compelled to search for the one best way to lead. Nor did they
continue to seek universal leadership prescriptions or relationships. Instead, both researchers and
practicing managers turned their attention to a variety of new approaches to leadership. These new
Learning Outcomes
After studying this chapter, students should be able to:
1. Identify and describe contemporary situational theories of leadership.
2. Discuss leadership through the eyes of followers.
3. Identify and describe alternatives to leadership.
4. Describe the changing nature of leadership and emerging leadership issues.
Real-World Challenge: Ethical Leadership at Boeing
Summary: Chicago-based $93 billion aerospace company Boeing employs over 130,000 employees in
more than 65 countries. Boeing is both the world’s largest aerospace company and the top U.S. exporter,
Real-World Challenge: How can Muilenburg effectively lead Boeing into the future?
Real-World Response: Employees receive year-round reminders to discuss what it means to work
ethically and compliantly as well as tools to enable them to perform their jobs that way. By going on
Chapter Outline
I. CONTEMPORARY SITUATIONAL THEORIES
The LPC theory, the path–goal theory, and Vroom’s decision tree approach together redirected the
study of leadership. Not surprisingly, then, other situational theories have also been developed.
Moreover, there continue to be changes and refinements to the original situational models.
A. The Leader–Member Exchange Model
The leader–member exchange model (LMX) of leadership, conceived by George Graen and
Fred Dansereau, stresses the importance of variable relationships between supervisors and each
of their subordinates.
B. The Hersey and Blanchard Model
Another recent situational perspective is the Hersey and Blanchard model, developed as a
consulting tool.
C. Refinements and Revisions of Other Theories
While the version of the LPC theory presented in Chapter 11 is still the dominant model,
researchers have made several attempts to improve its validity.
II. LEADERSHIP THROUGH THE EYES OF FOLLOWERS
Another perspective that has been adopted by some leadership experts focuses on how leaders are
seen through the eyes of followers. The three primary approaches to leadership through the eyes of
followers are transformational leadership, charismatic leadership, and attributions of leadership.
A. Transformational Leadership
Transformational leadership focuses on the basic distinction between leading for change and
to the other. Our Case Study examines a transformational leadership example.
B. Charismatic Leadership
Charisma is a form of interpersonal attraction that inspires support and acceptance.
Charismatic leadership is accordingly a type of influence based on the leader’s personal
charisma.
First, charismatic leaders are able to envision likely future trends and patterns, to set high
expectations for themselves and for others, and to model behaviors consistent with meeting
those expectations.
Next, charismatic leaders are able to energize others by demonstrating personal excitement,
personal confidence, and consistent patterns of success.
Case Study: Leading a Transformation at Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen
Summary: When Cheryl Bachelder was named CEO of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen in 2007, the
company had been experiencing decreases in guest visits, restaurant sales and profit trends were negative,
and the company’s stock price had fallen to $13 from $34. Bachelder leveraged the power of
transformational leadership to reinvent the company. She changed the workplace to one where employees
were treated respectfully and encouraged to perform well. Rigorous metrics were established. Self-serving
leaders were transitioned out as collaboration increased and employees felt more valued. This improved
the customer experience and thus customer loyalty. Stock quadrupled in price and Bachelder received an
award for excellence in leadership in the restaurant industry in 2015.
1. Explain how Bachelder might further exhibit a transformational leadership style in her role as
CEO.
As a transformational leader, Bachelder has already recognized the need for change, created a vision
2. Which of Fiedler’s leadership styles do you think would be most appropriate to the situation
Bachelder found herself when she become CEO?
According to Fiedler, the situation at Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen requires a task-oriented leader
3. If you were Bachelder, how might you use the information you learned in this chapter to
continue to transform Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen into a high performing company with
engaged employees?
I would continue to grow relationships with my subordinates to judge who might be ready for more
C. Attribution and Leadership
The attribution perspective on leadership holds that when behaviors are observed in a context
associated with leadership, different people may attribute varying levels of leadership ability or
power to the person displaying those behaviors.
Global Issues: Effect of Culture on Perceptions of Leaders’ Attributes
Some examples of universal Some examples of universal Some examples of culturally
positive leader attributes: negative leader attributes: contingent leader attributes:
Trustworthy Irritable Cunning
Dependable Dictatorial Sensitive
Excellence-oriented Uncooperative Evasive
Honest Ruthless Risk taker
Motivating Egocentric Ruler
III. ALTERNATIVES TO LEADERSHIP
In some cases, circumstances may exist that render leadership unnecessary or irrelevant. The factors
that contribute to these circumstances are called leadership substitutes. In other cases, factors may
exist that neutralize or negate the influence of a leader even when that individual is attempting to
exercise leadership.
A. Leadership Substitutes
Leadership substitutes are individual, task, and organizational characteristics that tend to
outweigh the leader’s ability to affect subordinates’ satisfaction and performance.
In other words, if certain factors are present, the employee will perform his or her job capably
without the direction of a leader.
B. Leadership Neutralizers
In other situations, even if a leader is present and attempts to engage in various leadership
behaviors, those behaviors may be rendered ineffective—neutralized—by various factors.
These factors are referred to as leadership neutralizers.
IV. THE CHANGING NATURE OF LEADERSHIP
Among the recent changes in leadership that managers should recognize are the increasing role of
leaders as coaches and gender and cross-cultural patterns of leader behavior.
A. Leaders as Coaches
Whereas leaders were once expected to control situations, direct work, supervise people,
closely monitor performance, make decisions, and structure activities, many leaders today are
being asked to change how they manage people.
Perhaps the best description of this new role is that the leader is becoming a coach instead of an
overseer or supervisor.
B. Gender and Leadership
Given that most leadership theories and research studies have focused on male leaders,
developing a better understanding of how females lead is clearly an important next step.
C. Cross-Cultural Leadership
In this context, culture is used as a broad concept to encompass both international differences
and diversity-based differences within a single culture. We focus first on intracountry cultural
issues.
D. International Leadership and Project GLOBE
Cross-cultural issues are also obvious in international contexts.
Japan is generally characterized by collectivism, while the United States is based more on
individualism. A Japanese executive sent to the United States, then, will find it necessary to
recognize the importance of individual contributions and rewards and the differences in
individual and group roles that exist in Japanese and U.S. businesses. And, obviously, similar
issues will result if an American leader is posted to Asia.
conducted under its auspices.
GLOBE identified six leader behaviors that can be observed and assessed across a variety of
cultures.
These behaviors are:
• Charismatic/value-based leadership: the ability to inspire, to motivate, and to promote
high performance; includes being visionary, self-sacrificing, trustworthy, decisive, and
performance oriented
These behaviors have been—and are being—studied in 62 global societies.
Based on the preliminary results, the original 62 societies were condensed into 10 cultural
clusters—societies that yielded highly similar results to one another.
V. EMERGING ISSUES IN LEADERSHIP
Finally, there are also three emerging issues in leadership that warrant discussion. These issues are
strategic leadership, ethical leadership, and virtual leadership.
A. Strategic Leadership
We will define strategic leadership as the capability to understand the complexities of both the
organization and its environment and to lead change in the organization so as to achieve and
maintain a superior alignment between the organization and its environment.
B. Ethical Leadership
Ethical leadership is the process of leading based on consistent principles of ethical conduct.
The behaviors of top leaders are being scrutinized more than ever, and those responsible for
hiring new leaders for a business are looking more and more closely at the backgrounds of
those being considered.
C. Virtual Leadership
Finally, virtual leadership is also emerging as an important issue for organizations. Virtual
leadership is leadership via various forms of distance technologies.
Summary and Application
The leader–member exchange model (LMX) of leadership stresses the importance of variable
relationships between supervisors and each of their subordinates. The Hersey and Blanchard model argues
that appropriate leader behavior depends on the subordinate’s degree of motivation, competence,
those behaviors.
In some cases, circumstances may exist that render leadership unnecessary or irrelevant. The factors that
contribute to these circumstances are called leadership substitutes. In other cases, factors may exist that
neutralize or negate the influence of a leader even when that individual is attempting to exercise
leadership.
Discussion Questions
1. Compare and contrast the leader–member exchange and the Hersey and Blanchard models of
leadership.
2. Are you now or have you ever been a member of an in-group? An out-group? If so, in what
ways did your experience differ?
Answers will vary. Being a member of an in-group may confer status, prestige, power, tangible and
3. Which of the three traditional situational theories discussed in Chapter 12 is most similar to the
leader–member exchange model? To the Hersey and Blanchard model?
The LPC model, focusing on several aspects of the relationships between leader and followers, would
4. Identify an individual who could serve as an example of a transformational leader. How
successful or unsuccessful has this person been?
5. Name the three people today whom you consider to be the most charismatic. How well do they
or might they function as leaders?
Answers will vary. It will be interesting to hear what qualities the students’ suggested individuals
possess that makes them so charismatic. Whoever is currently president of the United States is often
6. In your opinion, is it possible for someone with little or no charisma to become charismatic? If
so, how? If not, why?
7. Have you ever made direct leadership attributions about someone based on the context in which
you observed them?
Responses will vary. As young people, observers often admire someone in various contexts—a
8. What are some of the substitutes and neutralizers to leadership that might exist in your
classroom?
Expertise and experience based on talent or competence as a learner might be examples in a
9. Do you believe that men and women differ in how they lead? If so, what are some of the factors
that might account for the differences?
This may be a sensitive subject. Responses will vary based on biases and experiences or a mixture of
10. In what ways does strategic leadership differ from “nonstrategic” leadership?
Strategic leadership focuses on managing change in an organization and thinking and functioning
11. Some people have held that highly successful managers and leaders all face situations in which
they cannot be entirely truthful and still succeed. For instance, a politician who personally
believes that a tax increase is inevitable may feel that to fully disclose this belief will result in a
significant loss of votes. Do you agree or disagree with the idea that sometimes people cannot be
entirely truthful and still succeed?
How many votes will our hypothetical politician lose when his or her constituents find out he or she is
Understand Yourself Exercise—Understanding Leadership Substitutes And
Neutralizers
In this activity, students will identify four jobs: two that appear to be relatively simple and two that appear
to be much more complex. For each job, they’ll identify as many potential leadership substitutes and
neutralizers as possible. They will then answer the following questions:
1. To what extent did you own experiences affect how you performed this exercise?
Group Exercise—Who Are The Leaders?
Learning Objective: This exercise offers students an opportunity to compare their concepts with those of
others in the class about who leaders are.
Task:
1. Make a list of ten very effective leaders—individuals whom most everyone would recognize as
leaders.
2. In small groups share and discuss your lists.
Try repeating the exercise with the possibilities narrowed: for example, females, Native Americans,
minorities, managers/executives, politicians, religious leaders, international, or from a particular industry.
What additional information do you learn from this?
Video Exercise
Videos and questions can be found in the eBook and MindTap video folder.
Numi Organic Tea: Danielle Oviedo
Summary: When Danielle Oviedo showed up for her first day as the manager of the Distribution Center
at Numi Organic Tea in Oakland, California, her new direct reports were not happy about the change.
1. How would you describe Danielle Oviedo’s approach to leadership?
In this instance, Danielle was a transformational leader. When Danielle started her position, she
2. What would you predict about Danielle’s future success as a leader? Why?
Danielle should be a successful manager in the future. Her ability to listen to her employees and her
3. In what ways, if any, does Danielle function as a coach?
Danielle acts as a coach by linking all the activities of shipping into one large team effort. She has
Now What?
Imagine that your boss is delegating parts of a project to you and to another team member. Because the
other team member has a longer work history with the boss and is highly trusted, you are assigned the
unchallenging portions of the project. What do you say or do? How can you improve your relationship
with your boss to get more challenging assignments and eventually earn a promotion? Go to this chapter’s
“Now What?” video, watch the challenge video, and choose a response. Be sure to also view the
outcomes of the two responses you didn’t choose.
OB Concepts Applied: leader–member exchange; in-group; empowerment; initiating structure;
consideration; leadership styles
Discussion Questions
1. In terms of LMX, what type of relationship is exhibited in the challenge video?
Amy uses a directive leadership style, letting subordinates know what she expects of them, giving
would be great.”
2. In the challenge video, according to the Hersey and Blanchard model, how does Amy perceive
Alex?
Amy appears to perceive Alex at low readiness as she is using the “telling” style of assigning tasks.
3. Which other aspects of leadership discussed in this chapter are illustrated in these videos?
Explain your answer.
Amy shows a bit of charisma by asking Alex to accompany her on a product demonstration run. The
4. If this were you, what would you do to improve your relationship with your boss to get
assignments that are more challenging and eventually earn a promotion?