ELEC4122: Strategic Leadership & Ethics
Prof. Eliathamby Ambikairajah, School of EE&T Term 1, 2022
References: D. W. Hess, Leadership by Engineers and Scientists, Wiley, 2018
P. G Northouse, Leadership: Theory and Practice, SAGE Publications, 2016
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ELEC4122 (Part B): Leadership Theories and Styles
Leadership Theories and Styles: What is a Leadership Theory?
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✓ There are many theories about how leadership works, what makes
good leaders, and how to be effective.
✓ There are many leadership styles that leaders can employ. The impact
of leadership styles varies, depending on the team that they are
leading and the industry they are in.
✓ These leadership theories explain how leadership styles work within a
company to bring success.
✓ Leadership theories focus on the traits and behaviours that people can
adopt to increase their leadership capabilities.
✓ Some of the top traits that leaders say are vital to good leadership
include:
▪ High ethical & moral standards
▪ Strong self-organisational skills
▪ Being a curious and efficient learner
▪ Nurture growth in employees (followers)
▪ Fosters connection and belonging
Leadership Theory
https://hbr.org/2016/03/the-most-
important-leadership-
competencies-according-to-
leaders-around-the-world
‘The function of leadership is
to produce more leaders, not
followers’ – Ralph Nader
Leadership Theories and Styles: Relationship Theory
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✓ Relationship theories, also known as transformational theories,
focus on the connections formed between leaders and followers.
✓ Relationship oriented leaders are often mentors for employees and
motivate and inspire them. The employees feel confident in their
leaders and want to follow them.
✓ These leaders are focused on the performance of the followers, but
also want every person to fulfill their potential.
✓ Relationship oriented leaders are focused on making work enjoyable
for their employees, and they want to foster a positive work
environment.
✓ Studies show that this kind of leadership behaviour can be the most
effective for many employees and produce great outputs.
✓ Mentorship provides great opportunities to foster growth in
employees, and encourage them to stay at the organisation for a
longer period of time.
✓ Leaders with this style often have high ethical and moral standards
1. Relationship Theory
Transformational Theory
“To lead people, walk behind them” – Lau Tzu
Leadership Theories and Styles: Participative Theory
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✓ Participative leadership is sometimes called democratic
leadership;
✓ This leadership theory suggests that employees be directly
involved in decision making in their organisation.
✓ The leader simply facilitates a conversation and then reflects on
all the suggestions, and comes up with the best possible action.
✓ There are many advantages to this theory - employees feel more
engaged and motivated when they are directly involved in
decisions and outcomes for their company.
2. Participative Theory
The Microsoft founder Bill Gates, is a well known example of
participative theory. A leader may ask employees how to solve a
particular problem. The employees are encouraged to be open and
honest about their thoughts. Leaders then make a decision based
on the input from the employees.
Participative leadership
Leadership Theories and Styles: Behavioural Theory
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✓ The behavioural leadership theory focuses on how leaders behave, and
assumes that these traits can be copied by other leaders.
✓ It suggests that leaders aren’t born successful, but can be created based on
learnable behaviour.
✓ Behavioural theories of leadership focus heavily on the actions of a leader
(viewing how a leader acts)
✓ The behavioural theory has many advantages:
▪ Leaders can learn and decide what actions they want to implement to
become the kind of leader they want to be.
▪ It allows leaders to be flexible and adapt based on their circumstances.
3. Behavioural Theory
A great example of the behavioural theory is looking at a task-oriented leader vs
a people-oriented leader.
▪ If there’s a problem with a team, a task-oriented leader will look at the
process to see if something needs to be adjusted with the workflow.
▪ A people-oriented leader will look at the individuals and go right to them,
asking what the issue is.
https://www.wgu.edu/blog/leader
ship-theories-styles2004.html
Leadership Theories and Styles: Contingency Theory (Situational Theory)
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✓ The contingency leadership theory, focuses on the context of a leader. A
leader’s effectiveness is directly determined by the situational context.
✓ While a leader’s personality is a small factor in their success, the most
important factor is the context and situation of the leader.
✓ This theory takes the specific leadership styles and suggests that good leaders
can adapt their leadership style and behaviours depending on the
circumstances, people, environment etc.
✓ The theory also suggests that it may be best to find the right kind of leader for
a specific situation.
2. Contingency Theory (Situational Theory)
For example, consider a leader who finds it easier to communicate in writing
rather than in person, so the leader usually encourages his/her team by sending
them thoughtful emails at the end of every week.
However, there is a new employee in the office who is not very receptive to
written communication.
To connect with this particular employee, the leader will need to either make an
effort to change his/her method and encourage this employee in person or
he/she will have to collaborate with someone on their team to help.
In this example, the leader is
facing an unexpected challenge
and the leader will need to adapt
to the situation instead of trying
to force his/her usual methods of
communication.
Leadership Theories and Styles: Management Theory
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✓ The management theory is sometimes referred as transactional leadership, and focuses on
supervision, organisation, and group performance.
✓ Transactional leadership is a system of rewards and punishments, and it is sometimes used
in business.
✓ When employees do something successful, leaders reward them. When they fail, they may
get punished.
✓ Transactional rewards and punishments are given based on the idea that people really only
do things for the reward.
✓ Their psychology doesn't allow human beings to do things out of goodness, but rather out
of the promise of a reward.
✓ This management leadership style has some levels of effectiveness. Positive reinforcement
is known for working wonders with employees, encouraging & motivating them to succeed
✓ Consequences and punishments can decrease morale in an organisation, negatively
impacting employees.
4. Management Theory
A common example of this management style is a leader that offers a cash bonus for
employees who meet a goal
Apply management theories at workplace
Leadership Theories and Styles: Great Man Theory or Trait theory
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✓ The great man theory of leadership, suggests that good
leaders are born, not developed.
✓ They have innate traits and skills that make them great, and
these are things that can’t be taught or learned.
✓ This type of leader often possess the natural attributes of
intelligence, courage, confidence, intuition and charm, among
others.
6. Great Man Theory or Trait theory
People cite Abraham Lincoln, Alexander the Great, Queen
Elizabeth I, and many others as their examples of the great man
theory.
These social giants utilised their skills to lead nations during their
time. So it may appear that leaders get to their position based on
their inherit gifts.
What do Great Leaders have in Common?
What leadership theory you would like to follow?
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✓ If you are an aspiring leader it’s important to understand
leadership theories and how they impact you and your
leadership style.
✓ Considering your thoughts about practices of leadership can
help you identify your areas of strength and weakness and
take action to become a better leader.
✓ Some theories and styles of leadership are better for certain
work environments than others.
✓ Ask yourself what leadership theory you agree with or
would like to follow.
✓ By evaluating your own skills, you can understand how to
better lead your group.
✓ Recognising what leadership style you gravitate toward, or
what leadership theory you’d like to employ, can help you
determine how to be the most effective leader possible.
Developing yourself as a leader
Developing Yourself as a Leader
Leadership Styles
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✓ Many leadership styles exist.
✓ Understanding the different types of leadership styles can help make
you a better leader.
✓ Different leadership styles produce different results, certain people are
suited to different styles of leadership.
✓ An effective leader varies their leadership style to meet the
requirements of the organisation, team, or individual at a particular
point in time, for a specific project or situation.
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What is your leadership style?
✓ There are many leadership styles. We
explore 4 of these styles:
1. Transformational Leadership;
(Relationship theory)
2. Authentic Leadership;
3. Servant Leadership (Participative theory)
4. Adaptive Leadership (Situational Theory)
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Transformational leaders
encourage, inspire and motivate
employees to innovate and
create change that will help grow
and shape the future success of
the company.
Authentic leadership focuses on
transparent and ethical leader
behaviour and encourages open
sharing of information needed to
make decisions while accepting
followers' inputs.
Servant Leaders exercise
responsibilities by delegating,
empowering, offering advice, and
putting others’ needs before
their own (Serve first and lead
second)
Adaptive leadership is a practical
leadership framework that helps
individuals and organisations to
adapt to changing environments
and effectively respond to
recurring problems.
1. The Leader: We start our model with in individual leader. Though in some
cases, we find several people or even an entire organisation may engage in
the role of ‘leader’
The Five Components of Leadership
2. The follower: The followers are a crucial part of the leadership equation.
Here we consider those who are working with the leader (and sometimes
against the leader) to accomplish a specific goal.
3. The goal: The third component of a leadership system is what the leaders
and followers are trying to achieve – the goal. Normally, the leadership
‘success’ or ‘failure’ has been viewed as ‘goal achievement’. We will look at
how these goals are achieved as well as broader context and culture.
4. The Context: Leadership does not occur in a vacuum. Instead leadership
is tied to a real location in both time and space. That context includes
considerations that are part of a leadership event.
5. The culture (Values/Norms): Leaders must also aware of the forces at
work that go beyond the immediate interactions of leaders, followers, and
goals within a specific location. There are culture values, norms and larger
belief systems that also impact the leadership process.
The Five Components of Leadership Model
The definition of leadership that we
will be using in this course is:
“Leadership is the process by which
leaders and followers work together
toward a goal(s) within a context
shaped by cultural values and norms”
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Prof. Eliathamby Ambikairajah, School of EE&T Term 1, 2022
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1. Transformational Leadership (Relationship Theory)
How can leaders create positive change for themselves, their followers and their organizations?
Leadership Styles: Transformational Leadership
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✓ Transformational leadership is a process that changes and transforms
people and it is concerned with emotions, values, ethics, standards,
and long-term goals.
✓ It is a process that often incorporates charismatic and visionary
leadership.
✓ Transformational Leaders are strong role models for the beliefs and
values they want their followers to adopt.
✓ Transformational leaders encourage, inspire and motivate employees
(followers) to innovate and create change that will help grow and
shape the future success of the company.
✓ Transformational leaders are known to possess courage, confidence,
and the willingness to make sacrifices for the greater good.
✓ Under transformational leaders, people have a lot of autonomy, as
well as plenty of breathing room to innovate and think outside their
comfort zones and push their own limits.
✓ Transformational leadership’s central focus on the quality of the
relationship between a leader and a follower is a major reason this
approach is so widely recognised and accepted.
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It is common for transformational leaders
to create a vision.
Leadership Styles: Transformational Leadership
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✓ Transformational leadership focuses on
empowering others and inspiring change. To
achieve these transformational leaders instil a
sense of ownership and participation by
utilizing the four “I’s” of transformational
leadership:
▪ Intellectual stimulation encourages
innovative thinking by emphasizing new
experiences and growth opportunities.
▪ Individual consideration builds positive
relationships by mentoring employees and
helping each person understand their
value and potential.
▪ Inspirational motivation models a vision
for the organization, the team and for
employees to emulate and make their
own.
▪ Idealized influence models expectations
and actions for employees, earning their
trust and respect.
1. Openness to New Thinking: Transformational leaders are
constantly open to innovation wherever it may arise.
2. Talent for Broadening Minds:. it’s necessary for leaders to
understand the rationale behind people’s current mindsets and how
to shift their thinking.
3. Commitment to Active Listening: They commit to employing active
listening techniques to hear ideas form their followers so that their
team members feel seen, understood and respected.
4. Tolerance for Intelligent Risks: No transformation happens without
some risk of failure. A leader needs to be willing to consider those
risks and what they might mean for the future of the organization.
5. Willingness to Accept Responsibility: No leader inspires confidence
if they demand that followers to take the fall when an idea fails.
Transformational leaders must assume responsibility for each of their
decisions.
6. Trust in Team Members: People need autonomy to develop and
shape new ideas. The transformational leader understands this and
trusts team members to define their own steps to success.
7. Ability to Inspire Participation: For innovation to happen, it needs
to be part of a team’s culture. The transformational leader needs to
expect creativity from everyone — not just one or two “idea people”.
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https://www.michiganstateuniversityonline.com/resources/leadership/characteristics-of-transformational-leadership/
Leadership Styles: Transformational Leadership
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✓ By applying the Five Components of Leadership Model, we see the most
important aspects of transformational leadership are the Leader,
follower and the goal as well as the relationship between the leader and
follower and their means of achieving the goal (see figure on the right)
✓ The context and also the cultural values/norms components seem to
bear less directly on the behaviours that characterise a transformational
leader.
✓ Transformational leadership’s effectiveness may not be tied to particular
cultures.
✓ Note: The transformational leadership, with its emphasis on building
stronger leader-follower relationships would be an unlikely leadership
preference in a highly directive or authoritarian context or in a culture
manifesting a wide power-distance gap between leaders and followers.
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The Five Components of Leadership Model
- Transformational Leadership
Transformational leadership
places a strong emphasis on
followers’ needs, values, and
morals.
Transformational Leadership: Examples
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✓ Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder, has always understood that a successful business is about focusing on the
customer. Bezos offers a daring vision of what the world's largest online retailer would eventually
become. In many ways, Amazon is the perfect model of transformational leadership, and shows that
by building on a series of short-term goals it is possible to achieve things on a grand scale. Amazon was
the brainchild of Bezos, and everything the company continues to produce and to propose is because
of his transformational vision.
Amazon
✓ Bill Gates revolutionised the world with his Windows operating system and his amalgamation of
software – such as the Microsoft Office suite – with personal computers. While he is no longer at the
helm of Microsoft, the company continues to make significant strides in his absence, particularly in the
realm of cloud computing. But it was his transformational leadership and intellect that made
Microsoft – and, in many cases, the world – into what it is today.
Microsoft
✓ Steve Jobs, also embraced the transformational leadership model in order to overhaul his
organisation. While the Apple computer was in itself a modest success, Jobs' transformation of the
company – and the introduction of its now trademark product, the iPhone – completely changed the
game, both for Apple and the rest of the world. Despite autocratic tendencies that saw him forced
out during his first stint in charge, Jobs employed a more transformational approach upon his return.
This involved making critical appointments in Apple's marketing, design and product teams, and
bringing everyone together under the banner of Jobs' charismatic and visionary guidance.
Apple
https://www.startingbusiness.com/blog/transformational-examples
Prof. Eliathamby Ambikairajah, School of EE&T Term 1, 2022
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2. Authentic Leadership
How can I lead with integrity?
Leadership Styles: Authentic Leadership
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✓ Authentic leadership compels leaders to hold high ethical standards for
their own behaviour;
✓ Authentic Leadership shares some ideas with leader-centric models;
✓ Authentic Leaders must be self-aware, maintain personalised moral
perspectives and seek to be transparent and positive in their relationship
with others;
✓ The facets of an authentic leadership style overlap substantially with
conceptualizations of emotional intelligence (EI) and particularly includes
the component of self-awareness (see page 40 , week 5 lecture notes);
✓ Authentic leadership style is significantly and positively related to EI and
that high-EI leaders can better discern when it is most appropriate to
employ the authentic leadership style.
Authentic leadership is a style of
leadership that focuses on transparent and
ethical leader behaviour and encourages
open sharing of information needed to
make decisions while accepting followers’
inputs.
Employees believe authenticity leads to:
▪ Improved relationships with coworkers
▪ More trust
▪ Higher levels of productivity
▪ A positive work environment
“If you fear what people think about
you, then you are not being authentic”
Leadership Styles: Authentic Leadership
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Authentic leadership primary attributes
✓ Four primary attributes define authentic leadership:
1. Self Awareness: Through self-awareness leaders are better able to regulate
their actions and reactions, reducing impulsive, unpredictable behaviour
and increasing trust and engagement within their work environment. Self-
awareness has been identified as more critical to leadership success than
technical ability or intellect.
2. Balanced processing: Authentic Leaders demonstrate openness to consider
all relevant information objectively. This behaviour demonstrates an
unbiased interest in new ideas as the leader seeks out alternative views and
opinions before making decisions.
3. Internalised moral perspective: Authentic leaders have a clear
understanding of their values and communicating their values to others ,
leaders can develop relational transparency with their followers.
4. Relational transparency: Authentic leaders are accountable for their
actions, striving to be transparent in how their decisions and actions are
consistent with their values. Leaders who are self-aware and have clear
motivations create greater transparency. Authentic leaders ‘own’ their
successes and their mistakes, and they encourage followers to do the same.
Five principles for authentic leader:
• Know yourself authentically
• Listen authentically
• Express authentically
• Appreciate authentically
• Serve authentically
Leadership Styles: Authentic Leadership
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✓ By applying the Five Components of Leadership Model, we see the most important
aspect of Authentic leadership is the focus on the Leader as the object of primary
concern.
✓ Authentic Leadership begins with the individual leader who possess a strong moral
core and self awareness and extends to what that leader brings to the followers,
goals, context and culture.
✓ This is reflected in how the leader’s sense of self manifests through transparency and
openness with followers.
✓ Authentic leaders genuinely desire to be better leaders, to connect with their
followers and to inspire positive outcomes. They foster the development of positive
work environments that reflect their firm moral standards, transparency and integrity.
✓ From time to time, followers in any organisation may feel pressure to achieve a goal.
Authentic leaders in such situations draw on knowledge of their values and awareness
of their strengths and weakness to inspire others to deliver their best while still
behaving ethically.
✓ Organisational culture and environment can influence the ways the goals are
achieved.
✓ All organisation evolve to a certain extent. Within the organisational evolution, leaders
may exercise positive influence to guide the culture. Authentic leaders help craft
meaningful goals that support the aspirational culture and environment that develops
as the organisation’s purpose is identified and pursued
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The Five Components of Leadership Model
– Authentic Leadership
The core characteristics of an
authentic leader:
• Self-aware
• Genuine
• Results-oriented and task-driven
• Highly focused
• Empathetic
Authentic Leadership: Summary
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✓ Authentic leadership is a new and exciting area of research, which holds a great deal of
promise.
✓ As a result of leadership failures in the public and private sectors, authentic leadership is
emerging in response to societal demands for genuine, trustworthy, and good leadership –
offering hope to people who long for true leadership
✓ Authentic leadership describes leadership that is transparent, morally grounded, and
responsive to people’s needs and values.
✓ Authentic leadership focuses on the leader’s knowledge, self-regulation, and self-concept.
The interpersonal perspective claims and it is a collective process, created by leaders and
followers together.
✓ Authentic leadership has several positive features:
▪ First, it provides an answer to people who are searching for good and sound leadership
▪ Second, authentic leadership is prescriptive and provides a great deal of information
about how leaders can learn to become authentic.
▪ Third, it has an explicit moral dimension that asserts that leaders need to do what is
“right” and “good” for their followers and society.
▪ Fourth, it is framed as a process that is developed by leaders over time rather than as a
fixed trait.
✓ The negative feature is that there is a lack of evidence regarding the effectiveness of
authentic leadership and how it is related to positive organizational outcomes.
Summary
People feel apprehensive and
insecure about what is going on
around them, and as a result,
they long for bona fide leadership
they can trust and for leaders
who are honest and good”.
Examples of authentic leaders :
▪ Martin Luther King, Jr. (leader
of civil rights movement)
▪ Nelson Mandela (former
president of South Africa)
▪ Mahatma Gandhi (former
leader of the nationalist
movement in India)
Examples of authentic leaders in
business:
▪ Steve Jobs (former CEO of Apple)
▪ Anne Mulcahy (former CEO of
Xerox)
▪ Jack Welch (former CEO of GE)
Prof. Eliathamby Ambikairajah, School of EE&T Term 1, 2022
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3. Servant Leadership (Participative Theory)
How can leaders serve their followers and organizations?
Leadership Styles: Servant Leadership
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✓ Servant leaders operate with this standard motto: Serve first and lead
second.
✓ They exercise responsibilities by delegating, empowering, offering advice,
and putting others’ needs before their own.
✓ They continually ask themselves questions such as: How can I better assist
and develop the people with whom I interact?
✓ This approach engenders trust and loyalty, and improves performance
because it focuses on the well‐being of the individuals and ensures that
they are engaged in their duties and organization
✓ These leaders focus on elevating and developing the people who follow
them and place a high priority on removing roadblocks and helping them
get things done.
Servant Leadership Model: Share
Leadership, Value People, Develop People,
Build Community, Display authenticity.
1. Follower performance and Growth: Followers themselves may become
servant leaders;
2. Organisational Performance: Servant leadership enhances team
effectiveness by increasing members’ shared confidence;
3. Societal Impact: It is likely to have positive impact on society and there
are examples of this leadership’s impact that are highly visible.
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Leadership Styles: Servant Leadership
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✓ The following Seven Servant Leader behaviours are the core of the servant
leadership process:
1. Conceptualising: Servant leader's through understanding of the
organisation
2. Emotional Healing: Emotional healing involves being sensitive to the
personal concerns and well-being of others
3. Putting Followers First: It may mean a leader breaks from his or her own
tasks to assist followers with theirs.
4. Helping Followers Grow and Succeed: Servant leaders make followers’
career development a priority, including mentoring followers and providing
them with support.
5. Behaving Ethically: It is holding to strong ethical standards, including being
open, honest, and fair with followers
6. Empowering: Empowering refers to allowing followers the freedom to be
independent, make decisions on their own, and be self-sufficient.
7. Creating Value for the Community: Servant leaders create value for the
community by consciously and intentionally giving back to the community.
They are involved in local activities and encourage followers to also
volunteer for community service.
These behaviours are
influenced by context and
culture, the leader’s
attributes, and the followers’
receptivity to this kind of
leadership.
Leadership Styles: Servant Leadership
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✓ By applying the Five Components of Leadership Model, we see the most
important aspect of Servant leadership is the focus on the follower as the object
of primary concern. This is represented (see figure on the right) by the emphasis
placed on the leader and the downward arrow pointing towards the follower.
✓ Context and Cultures: Servant leadership does not occur in a vacuum but occurs
within a given organizational context and a particular culture. The nature of
each of these affects the way servant leadership is carried out. For example,
▪ in health care and non profit settings, the norm of caring is more
prevalent,
▪ while for Wall Street corporations it is more common to have competition
as an operative norm.
✓ Because the norms differ, the ways servant leadership is performed may vary.
✓ Leader Attributes: As in any leadership situation, the qualities and disposition
of the leader influence the servant leadership process. Individuals bring their
own traits and ideas about leading to leadership situations.
✓ Follower Receptivity: The receptivity of followers is a factor that appears to
influence the impact of servant leadership on outcomes such as personal and
organizational job performance.
✓ Note: It appears that, for some followers, servant leadership has a positive
impact and, for others, servant leadership is not effective.
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The Five Components of Leadership Model
– Servant Leadership
Servant leadership focuses on
supporting and developing the
individuals within an organisation,
while transformational leadership
focuses on inspiring followers to
work towards a common goal.
Servant Leadership: Examples
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✓ Starbucks describes its organizational culture as “a culture of belonging, inclusion and diversity.” In
addition, it always puts its employees first and encourages everyone to grow into leadership roles
within the company. At Starbucks, employees are encouraged to build strong rapport and relationships
with one another and collaborate and communicate openly. Employees are empowered to ask
questions and reach out to their superiors. Ultimately, Starbucks holds the view that “how you treat
your people is how they’ll treat your customers.”
Starbucks
✓ Colleen Barrett (President Emeritus of Southwest Airlines) stated, “Our entire philosophy of leadership
is quite simple: treat your people right, and good things will happen.” She posits that Southwest
Airlines has created policies, procedures, rules, and guidelines but ultimately empowers its employees
to use their own common sense and good judgment when needed. It trusts its employees to do the
right thing when necessary and doesn’t reprimand them for it.
For example, if a stranded customer needs a hotel room, staff are empowered to help him or her if
they can. And when dealing with the public, employees are encouraged to come up with the best
solutions and approaches that make sense for any given situation.
Southwest Airlines
Starbucks CEO
Howard Schultz
Colleen Barrett,
Past President
https://hrdailyadvisor.blr.com/2018/06/01/5-real-life-brands-embody-servant-leadership/
Prof. Eliathamby Ambikairajah, School of EE&T Term 1, 2022
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3. Adaptive Leadership (Situational Theory)
How should both leaders and their followers adapt their
thinking to solve complex challenges?
Leadership Styles: Adaptive Leadership
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✓ Adaptive leadership is about how leaders encourage followers to adapt—to face
and address the problems, challenges, and changes they are experiencing
✓ Although people often think of adaptive leadership as being leader centered, it is
actually more follower centered.
✓ Adaptive leaders engage in activities that mobilize, motivate, organize, orient, and
focus the attention of followers.
✓ The goal of adaptive leadership is to encourage followers to change and learn new
ways of living so that they may do well and grow.
Merit Pay: In an established engineering company, a small group of young high-achieving engineers
wants to change the way merit pay is given by removing seniority and years of service as part of the
criteria. Long time employees are resisting the change. The management must find a way to address
this issue without alienating either group.
Company Merger: A midsize family-owned paper company merges with another similar paper
company. The merger creates tensions between the employees regarding job titles and duties,
different wage schedules, overtime, and vacation pay.
The new owners must bring these disparate groups of employees together to have their company
function successfully. They will have to identify their adaptive challenges and then decide what work
needs to be done (e.g., learning new ways of performing, shedding old ways that no longer work, and
re-evaluating their beliefs and values).
Adaptive Leadership Examples
Leadership Styles: Adaptive Leadership
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1. Get on the Balcony: Adaptive leaders use the concept of by “getting on the balcony” to truly understand the situation. For example, in
professional athletics, coaches often move higher in the stadium to see the entire playing field. Adaptive leaders engage in this activity to
help them see the broader operational context and recognise where followers may be struggling or who may be better suited to solve
difficult problems.
2. Identify the adaptive challenge: Most adaptive leadership failures are due to adaptive challenges being treated as if they were technical
problems. Adaptive challenges are undefined and leaders are incapable of solving them alone. Leaders who move to the balcony position
themselves to identify the adaptive challenge.
3. Give the work back to the people: Today’s adaptive challenges require leaders to do more than their current roles. The adaptive activity
that helps leaders to mobilise change is by seeking opportunities to give the work back to the followers. Giving the work back is an act of
leadership. It’s not about spreading the work by assigning tasks. “Giving the work back” is about getting followers deeply involved. It is
creating the space to allow followers to exercise leadership. [ Note: Delegation is a transfer of authority. Giving the work back is a sharing of
responsibility]
4. Protect leadership voices from below: When faced with the change, it is quite normal for followers tend to adopt avoidance behaviours
to delay the loss that comes from change. To overcome this tendency, adaptive leaders highlight core values and look for ways to uncover
dysfunctional behaviours that prevent progress on adaptive challenges is by protecting leadership voices from below, by removing the fear
and barriers that prevent marginalised voices from being heard.
5. Regulate Distress: The adaptive leader needs to monitor the stress followers are experiencing and keep it within a productive range.
While stress may spike when a university president calls for budget cuts, adopting customer services as a university value creates waves of
distress that move back and forth across the institution over time. Adaptive leaders accomplish this by regulating distress, which describes
applying just enough pressure to maintain momentum toward the goal (while addressing the stress and conflicts).
6. Run experiments and learn fast: This involves the creation and implementation of continuous experiments to improve the strategies over
time. By pursuing several approaches, leader will be able to better identify strategies for the next level of experimentation, yielding results
that improve with each step.
Leadership Styles: Adaptive Leadership
30
✓ By applying the Five Components of Leadership Model, we see the most
important aspect of adaptive leadership is the focus on the context as the
object of primary concern. This is represented (see figure on the right) by the
emphasis placed on the context.
✓ The context , however, affects all other aspects of the Five Components Model.
✓ The leader alone must ‘get on the balcony’ and move back and forth to the
dance floor (i.e. What's really going on here?) to survey the landscape
sufficiently to understand where the actual gaps are and what those gaps mean.
✓ While adaptive leadership does address the leader, follower, and goal triad, it is
the context itself that dictates when adaptive leadership is needed.
✓ Something in the environment has changed that makes the old way of doing
things no longer work and adaptive leaders and their followers must find a
different answer.
✓ Even when leaders can see the gaps and understand what the adaptive
challenge is, there is no guaranteed easy solution. Adaptive work is hard, it takes
time and it always demands change.
✓ Sometimes there is a change of perspective, quite often a change in plans and
almost always a change in organisational culture.
Fi
ve
c
o
m
p
o
n
en
t
an
al
ys
is
The Five Components of Leadership Model
– Adaptive Leadership
Adaptive leadership is not about solving technical problems with linear solutions; Rather,
it is a different choice about how to solve tough problems that lack clear answers.
Adaptive leadership is a practical
leadership framework that helps
individuals and organisations to
adapt to changing environments
and effectively respond to
recurring problems.
Leadership Styles : Adaptive Leadership Examples
31
Examples
COVID-19 pandemic: The explosive impact of COVID-19 pandemic in 2020
contributed to a new wave of thinking about leadership and an equally dramatic shift
in the problems that organisational leaders faced.
Practically overnight, businesses across the world had to figure out a new way of
working just to survive. And beyond survival, how does an institution/company
maintain employee wellness and productivity with the entire world engulfed in
misinformation, uncertainty, and fear?
The radical change brought on by the unconventional circumstances of 2020 and
beyond shows how important it is for institutions/company to make adaptability one
of their core values. If adapting is a key part of the company/institution culture, teams
can better roll with the punches and evolve in the face of change. One can’t predict
the future, but you can be more adaptable.
With the shift to remote and distributed teams/staff, leaders had to embrace a new
way of working. In the face of such a monumental change, leaders had to quickly
decide if they were going to adapt or fail. It meant learning and implementing new
forms of technology and finding new ways to keep their team connected.
Adaptive leaders were better equipped to problem-solve when facing a chaotic
situation that was 2020. They also shared a strong mutual trust with their team/staff,
which went a long way toward maintaining workplace relationships and wellbeing.
https://www.workpatterns.com/articles/adaptive-leadership
Prof. Eliathamby Ambikairajah, School of EE&T Term 1, 2022
32
▪ Democratic Leadership (Participative theory)
▪ Autocratic Leadership
▪ Laissez-faire Leadership
▪ Transactional Leadership (Management theory)
Leadership Styles : Democratic Leadership (Participative)
33
D
em
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L
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d
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sh
ip
✓ Democratic leaders value ideas and input from others and encourage
discussion about those contributions. They take a much more
collaborative approach to getting things done and decisions are
communicated back to the team.
✓ The democratic leadership style is a very open and collegial style of
running a team. Ideas move freely amongst the group and are
discussed openly.
✓ This style is needed in dynamic and rapidly changing environments (for
example, technology companies, consulting firms, educational
institutions etc) where very little can be taken as static or constant.
▪ In these fast moving organisations, every option for improvement
has to be considered to keep the group from falling out of date.
Pro: Creativity and innovation are encouraged, which also improves job
satisfaction among employees and team members.
Con: Constantly trying to achieve consensus among a group can be
inefficient and, in some cases, costly.
Leader
Team
Members
Examples of democratic leadership elements at work: everyone can voice their
opinion, are respected, feel important, participate in planning and decision-making,
especially when it comes to setting joint targets and goals.
Prof. Eliathamby Ambikairajah, School of EE&T Term 1, 2022
34
▪ Democratic Leadership (Participative theory)
▪ Autocratic Leadership
▪ Laissez-faire Leadership
▪ Transactional Leadership (Management theory)
Leadership Styles : Autocratic (Authoritarian) Leadership
35
A
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✓ Autocratic leadership ( known as authoritarian leadership ) exists on the
opposite side of the spectrum from democratic leadership.
✓ Autocratic leaders view themselves as having absolute power and make
decisions on behalf of their subordinates.
✓ They dictate not only what needs to be done, but also how those tasks
should be accomplished.
✓ Autocratic leadership is an old style of leadership used in many
workplace environments (For example, music industry, hospitality,
manufacturing etc.) This style can be necessary within organisations
and companies that demand error-free outcomes.
✓ While autocratic leadership is one of the least popular management
styles, it’s also among the most common.
Pro: Decisions are often made quickly and strategically, and teams are
kept on track as a result.
Con: Employees can feel ignored, restricted, and—in the absolute worst of
cases—even abused.
The autocratic leadership style management is built
upon the concept of having one person in power,
making the vast majority of decisions.
Leadership Styles : Autocratic Leadership Examples
36
Examples
✓ Leona Helmsley (Helmsley Hotels, US): Leona Helmsley was regularly recognised for her
harsh and authoritarian leadership within the Helmsley hotel empire. Undeniably strict in
her management of the company, the ex-real estate broker directly controlled 23 hotels in
her husband's chain by the beginning of 1989.
The hotel's marketing campaigns even played on this image, depicting her as a commanding
sovereign intent on only the best for her establishment's guests. This same mentality was
evident in her daily management, including the severe and often insensitive way in which
she treated those working within the chain.
Although Helmsley was often harsh and unsympathetic, her demanding and authoritarian s
tyle proved successful for Helmsley Hotels. Any employees deemed to be carrying out a sub-
standard job were reprimanded or instantly dismissed, creating a culture in which high
standards of service were expected – and subsequently delivered – at all times.
https://www.startingbusiness.com/blog/autocratic-examples
✓ Donald Trump (The Trump Organization): Choosing to have all the power of the Trump
Organization resting on his own (and a very limited selection of others') shoulders, Donald
Trump was the key decision-maker. Despite – like Leona Helmsley (see above example) –
demanding high standards from his employees (and firing anyone not up to scratch), he also
offered high salaries as an incentive, with many employees claiming his management style
was strict but fair.
Prof. Eliathamby Ambikairajah, School of EE&T Term 1, 2022
37
▪ Democratic Leadership (Participative theory)
▪ Autocratic Leadership
▪ Laissez-faire Leadership
▪ Transactional Leadership (Management theory)
Leadership Styles : Laissez-faire (empowering) Leadership
38
L
a
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se
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fa
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d
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sh
ip
✓ Laissez –faire leadership is a hands-off leadership or delegative leadership
approach. It is the exact opposite of micromanagement.
✓ Leaders are only involved in most tasks and projects at two key points: the
beginning and the end and decisions are left to employees
✓ Empowering leaders provide the necessary tools and resources. But then they
step back and let their team members make decisions, solve problems, and
get their work accomplished—without having to worry about the leader
obsessively supervising their every move.
✓ This approach to leadership requires a great deal of trust. Leaders need to
feel confident that the members of their group possess the skills, knowledge,
and follow through to complete a project without being micromanaged.
✓ This style is particularly effective in situations where group members are
more knowledgeable than the group's leader.
Pro: This level of trust and independence is empowering for teams that are
creative and self-motivated. It encourages innovation.
Con: Chaos and confusion can happen —especially if a team isn’t organised or
self-directed. Accountability falls to the leader.
Allowing team members to
collectively make decisions
The more autonomy you give your employees by listening to them, putting trust in them and trusting the
vision you’ve set out for them, the faster the group will grow into a collaborative team that manages itself
Leadership Styles : Leadership Examples
39
Examples
✓ A Leader who listens: A team member comes to you and says, “The way the team
structure has been set out is not as productive as it could be. Can you rearrange the
team structure so that we work better together?”. A laissez faire leader would, first,
listen to the team member and then suggest that the team gets together to
determine the best way to move forward.
✓ A leader who demonstrates trusts: An employee comes to you and says that another
member of the team isn't pulling their weight. Does the laissez faire leader confront
the team member and ask to see evidence of their work? No. A laissez faire leader
would approach this quite differently. They would approach the employee and check
to see if there was anything that might help them to work more effectively.
https://www.thesuccessfactory.co.uk/blog/laissez-faire-leadership-examples
✓ A leader who has clear vision: you outline your vision to your team and challenge
them to create, plan and execute their own strategy in order to follow it. However,
later down the line, you have a suspicion that changing your team’s course might yield
better results. Do you step in and alter course or allow the team to follow through. A
laissez faire leader would see this kind of intervention as a last resort.
As a laissez faire leader, you need to give your employees the freedom to figure things
out for themselves otherwise you can’t ever expect them to grow as team members.
Have faith in the vision you’ve set out and let them follow through with their strategy.
Laissez faire leadership is
a self-rewarding concept.
Prof. Eliathamby Ambikairajah, School of EE&T Term 1, 2022
40
▪ Democratic Leadership (Participative theory)
▪ Autocratic Leadership
▪ Laissez-faire Leadership
▪ Transactional Leadership (Management theory)
Leadership Styles : Transactional Leadership (Management theory)
41
T
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n
sa
ct
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n
a
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L
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d
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sh
ip
✓ Transactional leadership focuses on results, conforms to the existing structure of
an organization and measures success according to that organization's system of
rewards and penalties.
✓ Leader is responsible for managing individual performance and facilitating group
performance. i.e. followers have to be monitored to ensure that performance
standards are met.
✓ Leader sets the criteria for their followers according to previously defined
requirements.
✓ Performance reviews are the most common way to judge employee
performance.
✓ Transactional leaders are not a good fit for places where creativity and
innovative ideas are valued.
✓ This type of leadership is effective in crisis and emergency situations, as well as
for complex projects that need to be carried out in a very specific way.
Pro: Rewards those who are motivated by self-interest to follow instructions;
Achieves short-term goals quickly; Rewards and penalties are clearly defined for
employees.
Con: Creativity is limited since the goals and objectives are already set;
Performance review
Leadership Styles : Transactional Leadership Examples
42
Examples
✓ Your team was recently given instructions for a complex product launch that
need to be followed precisely to ensure a good outcome. Applying the
transactional leadership style can be helpful in this situation since it’ll require
control, organization, and short-term planning to complete the project in an
effective way.
✓ Your company is dealing with a cybersecurity crisis that jeopardizes the
privacy of your customers. Thankfully, the team has an emergency plan
ready to go for situations like this. But implementing it will require a leader
who can provide stability, carefully monitor the situation, and quickly
intervene if things don’t go as planned. This is exactly the type of situation
where a transactional leadership style could be immensely useful.
https://torch.io/blog/what-is-transactional-leadership/
✓ Coaches of athletic teams provide one example of transactional leadership.
These leaders motivate their followers by promoting the reward of winning
the game. They instil such a high level of commitment that their followers
are willing to risk pain and injury to obtain the results that the leader is
asking for.
Bill Gates, as a transactional leader,
he used to visit new product teams
and ask difficult questions until he
was satisfied that the teams were
on track and understood the goal.
Leadership Styles: Summary
Employees
participate in all
decision making
Employees have no
input in decision
making
Employees are
encouraged to take
charge
Incentives are used
to motivate
employees
Leaders inspire and
motivate employees
to create change. What leadership style is right for your industry?
Leaders to hold high
ethical standards for
their own behaviour
43
Prof. Eliathamby Ambikairajah, School of EE&T Term 1, 2022
Case Study: Servant Leadership
44
Case Study – Servant Leadership
45
When Paul Farmer graduated from Duke University at 22, he was unsure whether he wanted to be an anthropologist or a doctor. So he
went to Haiti. As a student, Paul had become obsessed with the island nation after meeting many Haitians at local migrant camps. Paul
was used to the grittier side of life; he had grown up in a family of eight that lived in a converted school bus and later on a houseboat
moored in a bayou. But what he observed at the migrant camps and learned from his discussions with Haitian immigrants made his
childhood seem idyllic.
In Haiti, he volunteered for a small charity called Eye Care Haiti, which conducted outreach clinics in rural areas. He was drawn in by
the deplorable conditions and lives of the Haitian people and determined to use his time there to learn everything he could about
illness and disease afflicting the poor. Before long, Paul realized that he had found his life’s purpose: He’d be a doctor to poor people,
and he’d start in Haiti.
Paul entered Harvard University in 1984 and, for the first two years, travelled back and forth to Haiti where he conducted a health
census in the village of Cange. During that time he conceived of a plan to fight disease in Haiti by developing a public health system
that included vaccination programs and clean water and sanitation. The heart of this program, however, would be a cadre of people
from the villages who were trained to administer medicines, teach health classes, treat minor ailments, and recognize the symptoms
of grave illnesses such as HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria.
His vision became reality in 1987, thanks to a wealthy donor who gave $1 million to help Paul create Partners In Health (PIH). At first it
wasn’t much of an organization—no staff, a small advisory board, and three committed volunteers. But its work was impressive: PIH
began building schools and clinics in and around Cange. Soon PIH established a training program for health outreach workers and
organized a mobile unit to screen residents of area villages for preventable diseases.
In 1990, Paul finished his medical studies and became a fellow in infectious diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He
was able to remain in Haiti for most of each year, returning to Boston to work at Brigham for a few months at a time, sleeping in the
basement of PIH headquarter.
Doctor to the Poor
Case Study – Servant Leadership
46
It wasn’t long before PIH’s successes started gaining attention outside of Haiti. Because of its success treating the disease in Haiti, the
World Health Organization appointed Paul and PIH staffer Jim Yong Kim to spearhead pilot treatment programs for multiple-drug-
resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). Paul’s attention was now diverted to the slums of Peru and Russia where cases of MDR-TB were on
the rise. In Peru, Paul and PIH encountered barriers in treating MDR-TB that had nothing to do with the disease. They ran headlong
into governmental resistance and had to battle to obtain expensive medications. Paul learned to gently navigate governmental
obstacles, while the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation stepped in with a $44.7 million grant to help fund the program.
In 2005, PIH turned its attention to another part of the world: Africa, the epicentre of the global AIDS pandemic. Beginning its efforts
in Rwanda, where few people had been tested or were receiving treatment, PIH tested 30,000 people in 8 months and enrolled nearly
700 in drug therapy to treat the disease. Soon, the organization expanded its efforts to the African nations of Lesotho and Malawi
(Partners In Health, 2011).
But Paul’s efforts weren’t just in far-flung reaches of the world. From his work with patients at Brigham, Paul observed the needs of
the impoverished in Boston. The Prevention and Access to Care and Treatment (PACT) project was created to offer drug therapy for
HIV and diabetes for the poor residents of the Roxbury and Dorchester districts. PIH has since sent PACT project teams across the
United States to provide support to other community health programs.
By 2009, Partners in Health had grown to 13,600 employees working in health centres and hospitals in 8 countries (Partners In Health,
2013), including the Dominican Republic, Peru, Mexico, Rwanda, Lesotho, Malawi, Navajo Nation (U.S.), and Russia. Each year the
organization increases the number of facilities and personnel that provide health care to the residents of some of the most
impoverished and diseased places in the world. Paul continues to travel around the world, monitoring programs and raising funds for
PIH in addition to leading the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Doctor to the Poor
Case Study – Servant Leadership
47
1. Would you characterize Paul Farmer as a servant leader? Explain your answer.
2. Putting others first is the essence of servant leadership. In what way does Paul Farmer
put others first?
3. Another characteristic of a servant leader is getting followers to serve. Who are Paul’s
followers, and how did they become servants to his vision?
4. What role do you think Paul’s childhood had in his development as a servant leader?
Discussion Questions
Reference: Peter G Northouse, “Leadership: Theory and Practice,” SAGE Publications, 2016
Dr farmer’s Remedy for
world health