What Type of Leader Are You? Leadership Influence in the Organization

The term leader is defined in Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary as “a person who leads.” The definition suggests that a leader must help the organization choose a path by developing a plan, then motivate people to follow that plan. James Gardner, author of On Leadership, magnifies this premise, “The two tasks at the heart of the popular notion of leadership are goal setting and motivating” In reality, leaders are more multidimensional, with each having a unique pattern of attributes. An observation made by Bennis years ago rings true today:

Always, it seems, the concept of leadership eludes us or turns up in another form to taunt us again with its slipperiness and complexity. So we have invented an endless proliferation of terms to deal with it… and still the concept is not sufficiently defined.

Underlying much of the research on executives is an interest in discovering how much and in what ways they influence the organization. When leadership is a major influence, it emphasizes the impact of a CEO’s behavior, goals, talents, drives, emotions, and fantasies on the organization. McClelland argues that leaders with a high need for achievement attempt to control their organizations while pursuing ambitious strategies. Miller and Droge show that a CEO’s need for achievement in a small firm was an important predictor of organizational structure. High achievers tend to like centralized power and will set up control systems and formal procedures to obtain feedback on performance. A CEO’s flexibility gives rise to niche strategies, informal and simple structures, intuitive decision-making, and risk-taking. In addition, a CEO’s perceived ability to persuade strongly influences organizational innovation, and pro-activeness.

A strong leadership influence is usually more prevalent in the birth phase of a business cycle. It also includes firms that are often small and run by the owners who make the key decisions. Movement towards a major leadership influence might occur when past leader successes elevate power, charismatic leaders hire like-minded managers, CEO’s are also owners, or hiring policies discourage dissent. Movement away can be influenced by a leader’s departure, performance problems that erode a leader’s credibility, a public offering, or takeover.

There are several avenues in determining the effects of leader influence. One way is to assess competing leadership values and trade-offs. For example, task requirements, such as efficiency, productivity, and investment, sometimes conflict with the desires or concerns of employees. Structured work may increase efficiencies, but this less flexible environment will make it difficult to implement changes in strategy. Efficiency is easier to increase when the environment is stable and there is less need to innovate products and services. The more volatile the environment, the more important it is to be adaptive. Leaders who deal with internal and external stakeholders will also need to weigh incompatible demands, such as, should profits increase at the expense of social responsibility? A leader is responsible to find some balance.

Leadership models can also help us to understand a leader’s organizational influence. Bolman and Deal, in Four Framework Approach, suggest that leaders display behaviors in one of four frameworks: Structural, Human Resource, Political, or Symbolic. Each requires a specific organizational setting to be successful. In the structural framework, the leader is detail oriented and focuses on configurations of structure, strategy, environment, implementation, experimentation, and adaptation through a thorough analysis. This framework is very effective during reorganization or change efforts. The human resource framework describes a leader who believes in the people and provides support and empowerment. This leader is visible, accessible, and shares information to move decision-making downward. In some organizations, the leader would be seen as a pushover. Leaders of a political framework clarify what they want and assess the distribution of power and interests. They use persuasion, negotiation, and coercion, if necessary, to achieve their goals. In the wrong environment, these leaders appear manipulative. In the symbolic framework, leaders view organizations like actors view a stage. Experience is framed through interpretation and used to communicate a vision. This type of leader can be very inspiring or appear all “smoke and mirrors”. Leaders should be conscious of all four approaches, even when one approach is preferred.

Dr. Bruce Winston of Regent University provides an excellent audio presentation on eight types of leaders:

• Despotic Ruler
• Benevolent Dictator
• Paternalistic Clan Chief
• Democratic Official
• Absentee Leader
• Transactional Leader
• Transformational Leader
• Servant Leader

Visit http://media.regent.edu/schlead/leadership/leadership_leader_follower.wma to listen to the presentation.

In summary, leaders establish goals, assumptions, policies, strategies, and accepted norms of behavior. They usually recruit and promote managers who conform to their own values and expectations. While a leader’s influence is evident in all organizations, it will apply more to small, highly centralized firms, or young, owner run businesses, and can increase with tenure. In your organization:

• What type of leader is in control?
• What type of leader do you see yourself as?
• Did you see a relationship between how the various leaders interacted with their followers and what structure might be best suited for the organization?
• What can you do to create a more leadership friendly environment?