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Transformational Leadership and Contingency

Garrat (1987) Who gives direction here? g971218a
UNDP (1995) Transformational Leadership g970124d
Feidler & Garcia (1987) Contingent Leadership g951219e
Feidler & Garcia (1987) 8 types of leadership situation g951219f

Leadership Styles

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Who gives direction here?

Garrat B (1987) The Learning Organisation - and the need for directors who think; Harper Collins

It is now popular to view organisations as ‘learning-systems’ in which success depends on the ability of managers to become ‘direction-givers’, and on the organisation’s capacity for learning continuously.

As people are promoted up the career structure they are asked to perform duties which lie outside and beyond the specialisation in which they were originally trained. A common reaction in such cases is for the post holder to accept the title and remuneration of the higher post but to gradually slip back into doing what they were originally trained for. One immediately thinks of the case of many Principals in Lesotho schools.

Bob Garrat has been studying this situation for many years and the following quotation is taken from his widely acclaimed book.

I have used the term ‘direction-givers’ to mean those people at the top of an organisation who have the duty to give it direction and purpose... They will usually have the title of ‘director’ or ‘vice president’ but many people have such a nominal or statutory title without ever giving direction in the normal sense of the word.

What distinguishes direction-givers from ordinary ‘nominal’ directors is that they have risen above their old specialist discipline and have learned to cope across disciplinary boundaries and to deal with other specialisations about which they may know very little. They are the people who have learned not to be fooled by experts from other disciplines, and how to enjoy and use the powers of uncertainty and ambiguity in their work.

I have used the term ‘senior managers’ for those who have reached the top of their functional specialism but have not made the crucial step into becoming direction-giving generalists. They are also some of the most dangerous managers I know. They are the people who, often unwittingly, maintain the status quo when change is needed - because they do not have the perspective to see the consequences of following the present line.

Unless organisations have direction-givers capable of spending a large proportion of their time looking and thinking ahead they are doomed to repeat the problems of the past.

In a rapidly changing world past solutions have little to offer the future.

In the rest of his book Garrat goes on to explain how people can learn the two key skills of learning continuously and giving direction.

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Transformational Leadership

UNDP (1995) Public Sector Management, Governance, and Sustainable Human Development - a Discussion Paper

The latest thinking on leadership is that it should be transformational. This means that leaders should be able to provide vision and direction for the organization, and that they should be able to energise and inspire other members of the organisation in the pursuit of organisational objectives. Vision is concerned with the long-term goals of an organisation, which are the basis for its strategy about how it should carry out its work.

In development settings, transformational leaders with vision and a sense of strategy will be those who
bulletare seen to be able to find clear and workable ways to overcome obstacles,
bulletare concerned about the qualities of the services their organisation provides to the mass of the people and,
bulletcan inspire other members to do likewise.

These characteristics are what is meant when a distinction is made between mission-driven as opposed to rule-bound government. It is an approach to organisation whereby leaders encourage development and change as opposed to control and maintenance of the status quo.

In order to persuade others and create desirable change, a leader’s vision, or mission statements, should:
bulletreconceptualise or reconstitute the known and the familiar,
bulletmake good sense to others in terms of their daily working lives, while expanding their horizons and understanding,
bulletbe challenging, but within the bounds of reason,
bulletbe succinct, easily understood, vivid, and memorable,
bulletrecognise that its own realization depends upon the contributions of others,
bulletbe a mission or vision that the leader lives, one that he or she believes in and is seen to believe in.

 

The most recent research evidence indicates that there are six traits that transformation leaders possess and non-leaders do not:
bulletdrive
bulletthe desire to lead
bulletintegrity
bulletself-confidence
bulletintellectual ability
bulletknowledge of the business

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Contingent Leadership

Fiedler F E & Garcia J E (1987)
New Approaches to Effective Leadership: Cognitive Resources and Organisational Performance; Wiley

Fiedler & Garcia takes a contingency approach to leadership and rejects the conception that there is a best style that is appropriate for all situations. He suggests that there are two fundamental leadership styles and that they are differentially effective in different situations.

Relationship Motivated Leaders

These get their major satisfaction from good personal relationships with others. Their self-esteem depends very much on how others regard them, and they are sensitive to, and very concerned about, what their group members feel. They encourage subordinates to participate and to offer ideas.

Task motivated Leaders

These are strongly concerned to complete successfully any task they have undertaken. They run a ‘tight ship’ with clear orders and standardised procedures for subordinates, and in their turn feel most comfortable working for their superiors’ clear guidelines and operating procedures. If these are missing they will try to create them.

Effective leadership will depend on the characteristics of the situation in terms of the ability of the leader to exercise power and control. The more power the leader has and the greater his influence and control then the less will be the dependence on the goodwill of others, and the easier the leadership task will be.

With regard to the ease of leadership, three aspects of a situation have to be considered:

Leader-member relations

Leaders who have good relationships with their group members, who are liked and respected, will have more influence than those with poor relationships. Fiedler claims that this is the most important single dimension.

Task Structure

Tasks or assignments which are spelled out with specific guidelines give the leader more influence than tasks which are vague, nebulous and unstructured.

Leader’s Position Power

Leaders who are able to reward and punish subordinates (through disciplining, setting pay, hiring and firing, etc) have more power and are thus in a more controlling and favourable position than those who cannot.

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8 Types of Leadership Situations

Fiedler F E & Garcia J E (1987)
New Approaches to Effective Leadership: Cognitive Resources and Organisational Performance; Wiley

Feidler & Garcia reckoned that leadership situations could be characterised in terms of three factors:

Leader-member relations

 Leaders who have good relationships with their group members, who are liked and respected, will have more influence than those with poor relationships. Fiedler claims that this is the most important single dimension.

Task Structure

 Tasks or assignments which are spelled out with specific guidelines give the leader more influence than tasks which are vague, nebulous and unstructured.

Leader’s Position Power

 Leaders who are able to reward and punish subordinates (through disciplining, setting pay, hiring and firing, etc) have more power and are thus in a more controlling and favourable position than those who cannot.

The favourableness or otherwise of a leadership situation would depend on the relative strength of each factor. The following table sets out the 8 main theoretical options.

Situation Number

Leader- member relations

Task Structure

Leader Position Power

Overall Leadership Situation

1

good

structured

strong

Very Favourable

2

good

structured

weak

3

good

unstructured

strong

4

good

unstructured

weak

Intermediate

5

poor

structured

strong

6

poor

structured

weak

7

poor

unstructured

strong

Unfavourable

8

poor

unstructured

weak

 

bulletA Number 1 situation might be a construction superintendent building a bridge from a set of blueprints, who has personally hired the work crews and has their full support. Here the technical task is difficult but the leadership task is easy.
bulletA Number 8 situation might be that of a parent who has taken on the task of chairing a committee of the Parent-Teacher Association to organise an outing "so that everybody can have a good time". Here the technical task is quite simple but the leadership task is enormous.

The ease with which a particular individual might be able to cope with either of these situations will depend upon whether they find it easier to use a relationship-motivated or a task-motivated leadership approach.