Once you are finished with your research on Ellison and have thoroughly reviewed the background materials on leadership traits, behaviors, and styles, write a 3-page paper (excluding title and references pages) to include 3 scholarly sources addressing the questions below. For each answer, make sure to cite at least one of the Case Assignment articles listed on this page as well as one of the required textbook chapters from the background materials from Hiriyappa (2009), or Bauer & Erdogan (2012).
How would you describe Ellison’s leadership style?
How would you describe Ellison’s personality and leadership traits?
Would you describe Ellison’s behavior as being task-oriented, or people/relationship-oriented?
Would you describe Ellison’s leadership style as diverse and inclusive? If so or if not, please explain your response.
Hymowitz, C. (2005). Working fewer hours is hard for most CEOs, but some find a way. Wall Street Journal, B1. Available in the Trident Online Library.
Leibovich, M. (2000). The outsider, his business and his billions series: The new imperialists: Larry Ellison, oracle until himself. The Washington Post, A1. Available in the Trident Online Library.
Mendleson, R. (2010). Why it pays to be a jerk. Canadian Business, 83(18), 28-30, 32, 34. Available in the Trident Online Library.
Watch the following video:
Fox Business. (2018, October 25). Larry Ellison: I had all the disadvantages necessary for success [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrZoRNSQSPw
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Table of Contents
12.3 What Do Leaders Do? Behavioral Approaches to Leadership
L E A R N I N G O B J EC T I V E S
Explain the behaviors that are associated with leadership.
1.
Iden�fy the three alterna�ve decision-making styles leaders use and the condi�ons under which
they are more effec�ve.
2.
Discuss the limita�ons of behavioral approaches to leadership.
3.
Leader Behaviors
When trait researchers became disillusioned in the 1940s, their attention turned to studying leader
behaviors. What did effective leaders actually do? Which behaviors made them perceived as leaders?
Which behaviors increased their success? To answer these questions, researchers at Ohio State
University and the University of Michigan used many different techniques, such as observing leaders
in laboratory settings as well as surveying them. This research stream led to the discovery of two
broad categories of behaviors: task-oriented behaviors (sometimes called initiating structure) and
people-oriented behaviors (also called consideration). Task-oriented leader behaviors involve
structuring the roles of subordinates, providing them with instructions, and behaving in ways that will
increase the performance of the group. Task-oriented behaviors are directives given to employees to
get things done and to ensure that organizational goals are met. People-oriented leader
behaviors include showing concern for employee feelings and treating employees with respect.
People-oriented leaders genuinely care about the well-being of their employees, and they demonstrate
their concern in their actions and decisions. At the time, researchers thought that these two categories
of behaviors were the keys to the puzzle of leadership.See House, R. J., & Aditya, R. N. (1997). The
social scientific study of leadership: Quo Vadis? Journal of Management, 23, 409–473. However,
research did not support the argument that demonstrating both of these behaviors would necessarily
make leaders effective.Nystrom, P. C. (1978). Managers and the hi-hi leader myth. Academy of
Management Journal, 21, 325–331.
When we look at the overall findings regarding these leader behaviors, it seems that both types of
behaviors, in the aggregate, are beneficial to organizations, but for different purposes. For example,
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when leaders demonstrate people-oriented behaviors, employees tend to be more satisfied and react
more positively. However, when leaders are task oriented, productivity tends to be a bit higher.Judge,
T. A., Piccolo, R. F., & Ilies, R. (2004). The forgotten ones? The validity of consideration and initiating
structure in leadership research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 36–51. Moreover, the situation
in which these behaviors are demonstrated seems to matter. In small companies, task-oriented
behaviors were found to be more effective than in large companies.Miles, R. H., & Petty, M. M. (1977).
Leader effectiveness in small bureaucracies. Academy of Management Journal, 20, 238–250. There
is also some evidence that very high levels of leader task-oriented behaviors may cause burnout with
employees.Seltzer, J., & Numerof, R. E. (1988). Supervisory leadership and subordinate burnout.
Academy of Management Journal, 31, 439–446.
Leader Decision Making
Another question behavioral researchers focused on involved how leaders actually make decisions
and the influence of decision-making styles on leader effectiveness and employee reactions. Three
types of decision-making styles were studied. In authoritarian decision making, leaders make
the decision alone without necessarily involving employees in the decision-making process. When
leaders use democratic decision making, employees participate in the making of the decision.
Finally, leaders using laissez-faire decision making leave employees alone to make the decision.
The leader provides minimum guidance and involvement in the decision.
As with other lines of research on leadership, research did not identify one decision-making style as
the best. It seems that the effectiveness of the style the leader is using depends on the circumstances.
A review of the literature shows that when leaders use more democratic or participative decision-
making styles, employees tend to be more satisfied; however, the effects on decision quality or
employee productivity are weaker. Moreover, instead of expecting to be involved in every single
decision, employees seem to care more about the overall participativeness of the organizational
climate.Miller, K. I., & Monge, P. R. (1986). Participation, satisfaction, and productivity: A
meta-analytic review. Academy of Management Journal, 29, 727–753. Different types of employees
may also expect different levels of involvement. In a research organization, scientists viewed
democratic leadership most favorably and authoritarian leadership least favorably,Baumgartel, H.
(1957). Leadership style as a variable in research administration. Administrative Science Quarterly,
2, 344–360. but employees working in large groups where opportunities for member interaction was
limited preferred authoritarian leader decision making.Vroom, V. H., & Mann, F. C. (1960). Leader
authoritarianism and employee attitudes. Personnel Psychology, 13, 125–140. Finally, the
effectiveness of each style seems to depend on who is using it. There are examples of effective leaders
2 of 5
using both authoritarian and democratic styles. At Hyundai Motor America, high-level managers use
authoritarian decision-making styles, and the company is performing very well.Deutschman, A.
(2004, September). Googling for courage. Fast Company, 86, 58–59; Welch, D., Kiley, D., Ihlwan, M.
(2008, March 17). My way or the highway at Hyundai. Business Week, 4075, 48–51.
Figure 12.8
Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin (shown here) are known for their democratic decision-making
styles.
Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ Image:Sergey_Brin,_Web_2.0_Conference .
The track record of the laissez-faire decision-making style is more problematic. Research shows that
this style is negatively related to employee satisfaction with leaders and leader effectiveness.Judge, T.
A., & Piccolo, R. F. (2004). Transformational and transactional leadership: A meta-analytic test of
their relative validity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 755–768. Laissez-faire leaders create high
levels of ambiguity about job expectations on the part of employees, and employees also engage in
higher levels of conflict when leaders are using the laissez-faire style.Skogstad, A., Einarsen, S.,
Torsheim, T., Aasland, M. S., & Hetland, H. (2007). The destructiveness of laissez-faire leadership
behavior. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 12, 80–92.
Leadership Assump�ons about Human Nature
Why do some managers believe that the only way to manage employees is to force and coerce
them to work while others adopt a more humane approach? Douglas McGregor, an MIT Sloan
School of Management professor, believed that a manager’s actions toward employees were
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dictated by having one of two basic sets of assumptions about employee attitudes. His two
contrasting categories, outlined in his 1960 book, The Human Side of Enterprise, are known as
Theory X and Theory Y.
According to McGregor, some managers subscribe to Theory X. The main assumptions of
Theory X managers are that employees are lazy, do not enjoy working, and will avoid expending
energy on work whenever possible. For a manager, this theory suggests employees need to be
forced to work through any number of control mechanisms ranging from threats to actual
punishments. Because of the assumptions they make about human nature, Theory X managers
end up establishing rigid work environments. Theory X also assumes employees completely lack
ambition. As a result, managers must take full responsibility for their subordinates’ actions, as
these employees will never take initiative outside of regular job duties to accomplish tasks.
In contrast, Theory Y paints a much more positive view of employees’ attitudes and behaviors.
Under Theory Y, employees are not lazy, can enjoy work, and will put effort into furthering
organizational goals. Because these managers can assume that employees will act in the best
interests of the organization given the chance, Theory Y managers allow employees autonomy and
help them become committed to particular goals. They tend to adopt a more supportive role,
often focusing on maintaining a work environment in which employees can be innovative and
prosperous within their roles.
One way of improving our leadership style would be to become conscious about our theories of
human nature, and question the validity of our implicit theories.
Source: McGregor, D. (1960). Human side of enterprise. New York: McGraw Hill.
Limita�ons of Behavioral Approaches
Behavioral approaches, similar to trait approaches, fell out of favor because they neglected the
environment in which behaviors are demonstrated. The hope of the researchers was that the
identified behaviors would predict leadership under all circumstances, but it may be unrealistic to
expect that a given set of behaviors would work under all circumstances. What makes a high school
principal effective on the job may be very different from what makes a military leader effective, which
would be different from behaviors creating success in small or large business enterprises. It turns out
that specifying the conditions under which these behaviors are more effective may be a better
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approach.
K E Y TA K EAWAY
When researchers failed to iden�fy a set of traits that would dis�nguish effec�ve from ineffec�ve
leaders, research a�en�on turned to the study of leader behaviors. Leaders may demonstrate
task-oriented and people-oriented behaviors. Both seem to be related to important outcomes, with
task-oriented behaviors more strongly rela�ng to leader effec�veness and people-oriented behaviors
leading to employee sa�sfac�on. Leaders can also make decisions using authoritarian, democra�c, or
laissez-faire styles. While laissez-faire has certain downsides, there is no best style, and the
effec�veness of each style seems to vary across situa�ons. Because of the inconsistency of results,
researchers realized the importance of the context in which leadership occurs, which paved the way to
con�ngency theories of leadership.
E X E R C I S ES
Give an example of a leader you admire whose behavior is primarily task oriented, and one whose
behavior is primarily people oriented.
1.
What are the limita�ons of authoritarian decision making? Under which condi�ons do you think
authoritarian style would be more effec�ve?
2.
What are the limita�ons of democra�c decision making? Under which condi�ons do you think
democra�c style would be more effec�ve?
3.
What are the limita�ons of laissez-faire decision making? Under which condi�ons do you think
laissez-faire style would be more effec�ve?
4.
Examine your own leadership style. Which behaviors are you more likely to demonstrate? Which
decision-making style are you more likely to use?
5.
Table of Contents
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Figure 12.2
Table of Contents
12.2 Who Is a Leader? Trait Approaches to Leadership
L E A R N I N G O B J EC T I V E S
Learn the posi�on of trait approaches in the history of leadership studies.
1.
Explain the traits that are associated with leadership.
2.
Discuss the limita�ons of trait approaches to leadership.
3.
The earliest approach to the study of leadership sought to identify a set of traits that distinguished
leaders from nonleaders. What were the personality characteristics and the physical and psychological
attributes of people who are viewed as leaders? Because of the problems in measurement of
personality traits at the time, different studies used different measures. By 1940, researchers
concluded that the search for leadership-defining traits was futile. In recent years, though, after the
advances in personality literature such as the development of the Big Five personality framework,
researchers have had more success in identifying traits that predict leadership.House, R. J., & Aditya,
R. N. (1997). The social
scientific study of leadership: Quo Vadis? Journal of Management, 23,
409–473. Most importantly, charismatic leadership, which is among the contemporary approaches to
leadership, may be viewed as an example of a trait approach.
The traits that show relatively strong relations with leadership are discussed below.Judge, T. A., Bono,
J. E., Ilies, R., & Gerhardt, M. W. (2002). Personality and leadership: A qualitative and quantitative
review. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87,
765–780.
Intelligence
General mental ability, which psychologists refer to as “g” and which is
often called “IQ” in everyday language, has been related to a person’s
emerging as a leader within a group. Specifically, people who have high
mental abilities are more likely to be viewed as leaders in their
environment.House, R. J., & Aditya, R. N. (1997). The social scientific
study of leadership: Quo Vadis? Journal of Management, 23, 409–473;
Ilies, R., Gerhardt, M. W., & Huy, L. (2004). Individual differences in
1 of 6
Many observers believe
that Carly Fiorina, the
ousted CEO of HP,
demonstrated high levels
of intelligence but low
levels of empathy for the
people around her, which
led to an overreliance on
numbers while ignoring
the human cost of her
decisions.Karlgaard, R.
(2002, February 18). Vote
Carly. Forbes, 169(4), 37.
Source:
http://commons.wikimed
ia.org
/wiki/Image:CarlyFiorin
a49416 .
leadership emergence: Integrating meta-analytic findings and behavioral
genetics estimates. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 12,
207–219; Lord, R. G., De Vader, C. L., & Alliger, G. M. (1986). A
meta-analysis of the relation between personality traits and leadership
perceptions: An application of validity generalization procedures. Journal
of Applied Psychology, 71, 402–410; Taggar, S., Hackett, R., & Saha, S.
(1999). Leadership emergence in autonomous work teams: Antecedents
and outcomes. Personnel Psychology, 52, 899–926. We should caution,
though, that intelligence is a positive but modest predictor of leadership,
and when actual intelligence is measured with paper-and-pencil tests, its
relationship to leadership is a bit weaker compared to when intelligence is
defined as the perceived intelligence of a leader.Judge, T. A., Colbert, A. E.,
& Ilies, R. (2004). Intelligence and leadership: A quantitative review and
test of theoretical propositions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89,
542–552. In addition to having a high IQ, effective leaders tend to have
high emotional intelligence (EQ). People with high EQ demonstrate a high
level of self awareness, motivation, empathy, and social skills. The
psychologist who coined the term emotional intelligence, Daniel Goleman,
believes that IQ is a threshold quality: It matters for entry- to high-level
management jobs, but once you get there, it no longer helps leaders,
because most leaders already have a high IQ. According to Goleman, what
differentiates effective leaders from ineffective ones becomes their ability
to control their own emotions and understand other people’s emotions,
their internal motivation, and their social skills.Goleman, D. (January,
2004). What makes a leader? Harvard Business Review, 82(1), 82–91.
Big 5 Personality Traits
Psychologists have proposed various systems for categorizing the
characteristics that make up an individual’s unique personality; one of the most widely accepted is the
“Big Five” model, which rates an individual according to Openness to experience, Conscientiousness,
Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. Several of the Big Five personality traits have been
related to leadership emergence (whether someone is viewed as a leader by others) and
effectiveness.Judge, T. A., Bono, J. E., Ilies, R., & Gerhardt, M. W. (2002). Personality and leadership:
A qualitative and quantitative review. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 765–780.
Figure 12.3 Big Five Personality Traits
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Figure 12.4
Steve Ballmer, CEO of
Microsoft Corporation, is
an extraverted leader.
For example, to celebrate
Microsoft’s 25th
anniversary, Ballmer
enthusiastically popped
out of the anniversary
cake to surprise the
audience.
Source:
For example, extraversion is related to leadership. Extraverts are sociable,
assertive, and energetic people. They enjoy interacting with others in their
environment and demonstrate self-confidence. Because they are both
dominant and sociable in their environment, they emerge as leaders in a
wide variety of situations. Out of all personality traits, extraversion has the
strongest relationship with both leader emergence and leader
effectiveness. This is not to say that all effective leaders are extraverts, but
you are more likely to find extraverts in leadership positions. An example
of an introverted leader is Jim Buckmaster, the CEO of Craigslist. He is
known as an introvert, and he admits to not having meetings because he
does not like them.Buckmaster, J. (2008, May). How does he manage?
Classified website boss. Management Today, 15. Research shows that
another personality trait related to leadership is conscientiousness.
Conscientious people are organized, take initiative, and demonstrate
persistence in their endeavors. Conscientious people are more likely to
emerge as leaders and be effective in that role. Finally, people who have
openness to experience—those who demonstrate originality, creativity, and
are open to trying new things—tend to emerge as leaders and also be quite
effective.
Self-Esteem
3 of 6
http://en.wikipedia.org
/wiki/Image:Steve_ball
mer_2007_outdoors
2 .
Self-esteem is not one of the Big Five personality traits, but it is an
important aspect of one’s personality. The degree to which a person is at
peace with oneself and has an overall positive assessment of one’s self
worth and capabilities seem to be relevant to whether someone is viewed
as a leader. Leaders with high self-esteem support their subordinates more
and, when punishment is administered, they punish more
effectively.Atwater, L. E., Dionne, S. D., Camobreco, J. F., Avolio, B. J., & Lau, A. (1998). Individual
attributes and leadership style: Predicting the use of punishment and its effects. Journal of
Organizational Behavior, 19, 559–576; Niebuhr, R. E., & Davis, K. R. (1984). Self-esteem:
Relationship with leader behavior perceptions as moderated by the duration of the superior-
subordinate dyad association. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 10, 51–59. It is possible
that those with high self-esteem have greater levels of self-confidence and this affects their image in
the eyes of their followers. Self-esteem may also explain the relationship between some physical
attributes and leader emergence. For example, research shows a strong relationship between being
tall and being viewed as a leader (as well as one’s career success over life). It is proposed that
self-esteem may be the key mechanism linking height to being viewed as a leader, because people who
are taller are also found to have higher self-esteem and therefore may project greater levels of
charisma as well as confidence to their followers.Judge, T. A., & Cable, D. M. (2004). The effect of
physical height on workplace success and income: Preliminary test of a theoretical model. Journal of
Applied Psychology, 89, 428–441.
Integrity
Research also shows that people who are effective as leaders tend to have a moral compass and
demonstrate honesty and integrity.Reave, L. (2005). Spiritual values and practices related to
leadership effectiveness. Leadership Quarterly, 16, 655–687. Leaders whose integrity is questioned
lose their trustworthiness, and they hurt their company’s business along the way. For example, when
it was revealed that Whole Foods Market CEO John Mackey was using a pseudonym to make negative
comments online about the company’s rival Wild Oats Markets Inc., his actions were heavily
criticized, his leadership was questioned, and the company’s reputation was affected.Farrell, G., &
Davidson, P. (2007, July 13). Whole Foods’ CEO was busy guy online. USA Today, Money section, p.
04B.
Figure 12.5 Key Traits Associated With Leadership
4 of 6
Figure 12.6
Condoleezza Rice had
different responsibilities
as the provost of Stanford
University compared to
her role as secretary of
state for the United
There are also some traits that are negatively related to leader emergence and being successful in that
position. For example, agreeable people who are modest, good natured, and avoid conflict are less
likely to be perceived as leaders.Judge, T. A., Bono, J. E., Ilies, R., & Gerhardt, M. W. (2002).
Personality and leadership: A
qualitative and quantitative review. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87,
765–780.
Despite problems in trait approaches, these findings can still be useful to
managers and companies. For example, knowing about leader traits helps
organizations select the right people into positions of responsibility. The
key to benefiting from the findings of trait researchers is to be aware that
not all traits are equally effective in predicting leadership potential across
all circumstances. Some organizational situations allow leader traits to
make a greater difference.House, R. J., & Aditya, R. N. (1997). The social
scientific study of leadership: Quo Vadis? Journal of Management, 23,
409–473. For example, in small, entrepreneurial organizations where
leaders have a lot of leeway to determine their own behavior, the type of
traits leaders have may make a difference in leadership potential. In large,
bureaucratic, and rule-bound organizations such as the government and
the military, a leader’s traits may have less to do with how the person
behaves and whether the person is a successful leader.Judge, T. A., Bono,
J. E., Ilies, R., & Gerhardt, M. W. (2002). Personality and leadership: A
qualitative and quantitative review. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87,
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States. Do you think these
differences affected her
behavior as a leader?
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org
/wiki/Image:Condoleezz
a_Rice_cropped .
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765–780. Moreover, some traits become relevant in specific
circumstances. For example, bravery is likely to be a key characteristic in
military leaders, but not necessarily in business leaders. Scholars now
conclude that instead of trying to identify a few traits that distinguish
leaders from nonleaders, it is important to identify the conditions under
which different traits affect a leader’s performance, as well as whether a
person emerges as a leader.Hackman, J. R., & Wageman, R. (2007).
Asking the right questions about leadership: Discussion and conclusions.
American Psychologist, 62, 43–47.
K E Y TA K EAWAY
Many studies searched for a limited set of personal a�ributes, or traits, which would make someone
be viewed as a leader and be successful as a leader. Some traits that are consistently related to
leadership include intelligence (both mental ability and emo�onal intelligence), personality
(extraversion, conscien�ousness, openness to experience, self-esteem), and integrity. The main
limita�on of the trait approach was that it ignored the situa�on in which leadership occurred.
Therefore, it is more useful to specify the condi�ons under which different traits are needed.
E X E R C I S ES
Think of a leader you admire. What traits does this person have? Are they consistent with the
traits discussed in this chapter? If not, why is this person effec�ve despite the presence of different
traits?
1.
Can the findings of traits approaches be used to train poten�al leaders? Which traits seem easier
to teach? Which are more stable?
2.
How can organiza�ons iden�fy future leaders with a given set of traits? Which methods would be
useful for this purpose?
3.
What other traits can you think of that would be relevant to leadership?4.
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