Leadership

LEADERSHIP 

A

Publication

Of

COLLEGE OF DEFENCE MANAGEMENT

CONTENTS

Page No

CHAPTER 1

Development of Leadership Concepts 1

CHAPTER 2

Traits Approach 10

CHAPTER 3

Behavioral Approach 14

CHAPTER 4

Situational Approach 28

CHAPTER 5

Functional Approach 42

CHAPTER 6

Transactional and Transformational Leadership 57

CHAPTER 7

Total Quality Leadership 65

EPILOGUE

BIBLIOGRAPHY

CHAPTER 1

DEVELOPMENT OF LEADERSHIP CONCEPTS

Introduction

Leadership is a very fascinating subject. In fact, it is the most important aspect of human behaviour. It gives a positive direction to the use of human resources and brings out the best in a man. Leadership is also a natural phenomenon of a man's work life. It is related to the principle of gradation and hierarchy, which is a universal order of things created by God and man. Whenever a few persons get together for some purpose or other of common interest, more or less automatically, a pecking order emerges among them. That means, more often than not, one of the group members proves more able and starts striving harder than others for the achievement of the group goal. This gives birth to the practice quite advantageous to his personal and social life. It helps him in achieving his life's goals quickly and smoothly. He, therefore, keeps refining and augmenting the theory and practice of leadership.

A study of the history of mankind reveals that though the practice of leadership has been in vogue since the origin of man, yet the terms used for describing it have been different. In the earlier stages of man's development as a civilized person, the terms used for describing a leader were king, chief, head, captain, etc. Similarly, in the earlier days the practice of leadership was called kingship, chiefship, headship, etc. Stogdil (1974) has reported. Though the word leader appeared in the English language as early as the year 1300, yet the word leadership did not appear in English language until about the 1800.' Moreover, functions of the king of yore included not only military leadership but also the exercise of administrative and judicial authority. In the Middle Ages, some of the kings went to the extent of exercising even religious authority. This created considerable difficulties for them. However, by the middle of nineteenth century when Europe produced a number of adventurers, explorers, captains of the navy and military

commanders, the use of term leadership had become quite popular and acquired a distinct meaning. But for a long time thereafter the concept of leadership remained person-oriented and was understood more in terms of the leader's background and his in-born personal qualities than, what could be acquired by him through training and development. Probably that is the reason why most of the definitions of leader-ship concentrate on describing the personal qualities of the leader.

Definition of Leadership

Many books and research papers have been written on the subject of leadership. Military strategists, behavioral scientists, captains of industry, administrators, philosophers, politicians, educationists, etc, all have discussed the subject of leadership in various forms and from their own perspectives. They have related it to different types of human problems and complex situations. Almost all of them have seen the leader as the key man in the group imbued with super human qualities, consistent in his pattern of behaviour, and more or less driving the group members towards the goal. Bernard (1926) saw leadership only in the form of a leader and said. 'Any person who is more than ordinarily efficient in carrying successful psychological stimuli to others and is thus effective in conditioning collective responses may be called a leader.' There is no mention of the characteristics of the group or situation here. The main emphasis is on the efficiency of the leader. Knickerbockers (1948) goes a step further in the same direction when he says, 'The functional relation in leadership exists when a leader is perceived by a group, as controlling means for the satisfaction of their needs.' Conversely speaking, according to this definition, the needs of the group members exercise little influence on the behaviour of the leader. Gerth and Mills (1953) discussed leadership in terms of power relations. They do not elaborate upon the nature of a leader's power and how he acquires it, but in their definition of leadership there is some scope for interaction between the leader and his group members. According to them, 'Leadership, most broadly conceived, is a relation between leader and led in which the leader influences more than he is influenced; because of the leader, those who are led, act or feel differently than they otherwise would.' Koontz and O'Donnell (1955), however, moved quite close to the behavioral aspect of leadership when they defined leadership as, 'the activity of persuading people to co-operate in the achievement of a common objecfive.'This process was augmented by Fiedler (1967) who observed, 'by leadership behaviour we generally mean the particular acts in which a leader engages in the course of directing and coordinating the work of his group members. This May involve such acts as structuring the work relations, praising or criiticising the group members and showing consideration for their welfare and feelings.' In this definition of leadership, it would be observed that the emphasis is on the particular actions of a leader and not on the leader as such. One can, therefore, draw an inference from this definition that these actions can be performed by any member of the group depending upon the relationship between his abilities on one hand and the characteristics of group members and nature of the situation on the other.

In all these definitions of leadership, the emphasis is on the leader in one form or the other. However, after the Second World War a definite shift took place wherein leadership was perceived more as a three-pronged interactive process between the leader,

the group and the situation rather than as merely the role and activities performed by the leader. Pursuing this line of thought, Hemphill (1954) said, 'To lead is to engage in an act that initiates a structure in the interaction as part of the process of solving a mutual problem.' This definition of leadership was taken forward by Henry Harris in his book, The Group Approach to Leadership Testing, when he wrote, 'Leadership is a collective function: collective in the sense that it is the integrated synergized expression of the group's efforts: it is not the sum of individual dominance and contributions; it is their relationship. In so far as a man contributes to the collective leadership function..... he will realise that the ultimate authority and true sanction for leadership, at every point where it is exercised, resides not in the individual, however dominant, strong or efficient he may be, but in the total situation and in the demands of the situation. It is the situation that creates the imperative, not the individual.' It would be appreciated that this definition considers leadership as a dynamic process and balances the importance of the leader, the group and the situation in it. Figure 1.1 illustrates this point further.

Figure 1. 1: Leadership as a Dynamic Process

Military Leadership

This handbook is devoted to the understanding of leadership concept and practice in military situations. Therefore, the definitions of leadership given by military leaders are of special importance to us. It would be in the fitness of things to consider a few of them here and study the aspects emphasised in them. Field Marshal Montgomery said, 'Leadership is the capacity and will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence.' In this definition the main emphasis is on leader's capacity and will, his behaviour, in rallying'men and women to a common purpose. The purpose might not have been common start with, but it devolves on the leader to ensure that it is perceived as common by the group members. In fact, the relationship of leader's effectiveness with the perception of commonality of purpose by group members, becomes more clear when we consider the definition of leadership given by Field Marshal Slim. According to him, 'Leadership is the projection of personality. It is the combination of persuasion, compulsion and example, that makes other people do

what you want them to do.' Following the same refrain, General Eisenhower observed, 'Leadership is the knack of getting somebody to do something you want done because he wants to do.' As is clear, in these definitions over riding importance has been given to the behaviour of the leader. The reasons for this could be:

A military leader starts functioning with his positional authority well defined for him as well as his group members.

Neither the problem to be solved or goal to be achieved is chosen by the military leader, nor has he much say in the selection of his group members. These two are 'given' aspects of his role.

The military leader is primarily held responsible for a achievement of the goal.

In the light of these observations, there is a need to consider military leadership in a manner which gives weightage to the given aspects of a leader's role. At the same time, it also must bring into focus the importance of the characteristics of group members and nature of the situation in the dynamic process called leadership. it can be said, 'Leadership is the ability of a person to mobilise and direct the efforts of his group members for solving the group problem by relating himself to the characteristics of the group and sensitizing himself about the nature of the problem. 'Though this definition also emphasises the role of the leader in the practice of leadership, yet it makes heavy demands on him to relate himself to the group and understand the problem. This effort is sure to restrain his tendency to dominate and drive the group members. In other words, this definition looks at leadership effectiveness in terms of leader's situational sensitivity and flexible style of functioning. Since situations keep changing, therefore, the leader too must keep acquiring new knowledge, new skills and more appropriate attitude for mobilising and directing the efforts of his group members for the achievement of the group goal.

LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT

Leadership has been practiced since time immemorial whereas the emergence of the term management is relatively new. In fact, it is a post industrial revolution phenomenon not only in the service but also in civil life. Management literature considered leadership as integral part of management while some others believe that they are different and advocate pre-eminence of leadership over management. In fact the emphasis is perhaps turning a full circle as is evident from the latest management literature, and from following quote of Peter Drucker :

7he problem with many organisation and especially the ones which are failing is that they tend to be over managed and underled.

Dichotomy Between Leadership and Management

Those who advocate dichotomy between the two terms like to quote McNamara as a good manager but a bad leader; General Patton as a good leader but as bad manager and Montgomery as a combination of both. Implicit in these statements is the assumption that management deals primarily with management science (quantitative aids, material resources and logistic support systems), whereas leadership emphasises the human dimension.

It is suggested that the following attributes of the leader further highlight the distinction between leadership and management:

Managers supervise people; if their people are not willing to accept and follow the supervisory authority, the managers are not leaders. Subordinates may comply with supervisory authority out of fear but such compliance is not a response to leadership. Similarly, not all leaders are managers. Some leaders may have followers but no formal authority to manage, hence they are not managers. For example, informal leaders in a work group are leaders but may not be managers.

Zalenik points out tile difference in our expectations of the behaviour of managers and leaders. Managers are expected to use their analytical minds in establishing and achieving organisational goals, problem solving and decision making whereas leaders are expected to be charismatic people with great vision who can alter the mood of their followers and raise their hopes and expectations.

Both managers and leaders are responsible for meeting the organisational demand, as well as those of its members. However, managers are more concerned with achieving organisational goals and achieve these in an impersonal manner while leaders are expected to be more deeply involved with their followers in doing so.

Leadership/Management Integrated

There is no doubt that in military, the leader and the men who follow him represent one of the oldest, natural and most effective of all human relationships. The manager and those he manages are very much a later product. In an organisational context where a superior must work with and through people to achieve organisational goals, regardless of whether he is called a manager or a leader, if he is to achieve results of a high order he needs to not only manage resources available to him effectively but also influence his subordinates in such a way as to obtain their willing obedience, confidence, respect and co-operation. In essence, leadership is a broader concept than management Particularly in the military, it is impossible to persuade men to risk their lives for little or no material reward without a powerful substitute. The substitute must always be a moral factor which is created by high quality leadership. We, therefore, need to continue to emphasis the pre-eminence of human factor in military affairs and our officers should accordingly be trained and influenced to consider themselves primarily as leaders and implicit in this term should be the ability to manage effectively the material resources as well as to achieve the goals of the Organisation.

APPROACHES TO LEADERSHIP

leadership has been studied from different views and for various purposes. It has been studied for determining what qualifies of head and heart make an effective leader. It has been studied for finding out the relative importance of the situation and characteristics of the group members in the successful functioning of a leader. It has also been studied as a dynamic phenomenon- giving more importance to the interaction between the leader, the group, and the situation than to any single factor. Studies have also been conducted to determine what can be done by the leader when either the situation is too complex and dangerous or when the group members are relatively immature and inexperienced. In fact, these studies have tried to link leadership with the art of persuasion and other methods of eliciting compliance and co-operation towards group goal. Efforts have also been made to determine the role of behavioral concepts like discipline, esprit-de-corps and morale in the exercise of leadership, and what steps can be taken by a leader for developing these qualities in his group members. However, in the study of leadership, the defence services have been mainly concerned with:

Developing methods of assessing the candidates who want to join the Services as leaders.

Devising training programmes for developing the potentials of prospective military leaders.

The most significant observation of leadership studies has been that no new finding has completely negated the relevance of earner ones. Each new finding is linked with and built upon the earlier ones. However, each gives us more insight into the precept and practice of leadership. Each has helped in tackling the leadership problem in the prevailing and future circumstances and together these make it easier to train leaders to be more effective as also to improve the power of those that are less gifted. Tracing the historical perspective of leadership, therefore, becomes necessary for us. So far the following approaches to the understanding of leadership have been progressively advanced by behavioral scientists:

Traits Approach.

Behavioral Approach.

Situational Approach.

Contingency or Functional Approach.

Each of these approaches will be discussed in the succeeding chapters to examine their relevance and establish inter-relationships.

CHAPTER 2

TRAITS'S APPROACH

Introduction

'A trait is any distinguishable, relatively enduring way in which an individual differs from others', writes JP Guifford (1959). However, the traits approach to leadership has failed to find favour with the assessors of leadership for three reasons. Firstly, it is linked with the assumption that a leader is born - if a person has certain traits, he is a leader; if he does not have those traits, he is not a leader. This goes against the dynamic nature of human personality and underestimates, the role of behaviour modification and trainability. Secondly, behavioral scientists in their extensive researches could not identify even a few traits which could be common to all leaders. In fact, the more common observation in this regard is that each leader has a unique personality with one or two dominant traits which constitutes the central point of his personality. For example, Frederick the Great was a frightful bully. Alexander the Great was full of youthful buoyancy, Nelson was known for his affection for junior officers and sailors, Napoleon was highly assertive and egotist, Montgomery was conservative and Patton was a show-man, while Mountbatten achieved his successes through personal charm and magnetism. Thus, no two leaders were alike; each had his own strengths and weaknesses. Thirdly, the list of human traits is too long to prove of any practical use for assessing or developing leadership. The Webster's dictionary fists some 18,000 adjectives. which define various aspects of human behaviour. Allport and, Odbert selected more relevant terms from amongst these adjectives but they also formed a list of 4,500 traits. Even in our defence services, the list of traits used by the Services Selection Boards for assessing the personality of a candidate differs from the one which is used for assessing the leadership performance of the same person in the unit. These differences, in reality, refer to the varied types of situational requirements of human behaviour, and indicate the limitation of straitjacketing the personality of a leader in terms of traits.

Traits Approach for Training junior Leaders

Despite numerous limitation of the traits approach cited by behavioural scientists, what is incontrovertible is that individuals require a minimum level of potential in various qualifies to be leaders and that a number of traits have been found to be positively correlated to good leadership. For example, above average intelligence, power of expression, courage, etc are certainly correlated positively whereas height, weight looks etc may not be. Traits approach to leadership, therefore, continues to be relevant at the stage of initial selection to assess the potential and plays a very important part in training cadets and junior officers to be effective military leaders. For them, they can serve as mantras and signposts. to develop personality. The cadets and junior officers can mould their behaviour in the fight of desired traits and become effective leaders. The GS Pamphlet on leadership provides a list of traits and leadership principles. A study of the pamphlet is essential to enhance leadership effectiveness at junior levels.'

Traits Approach - The New Thinking

After having discarded the traits approach on the basis that leaders do not differ from followers in clear and consistent ways, management pundits now feel that there is a growing evidence, that leaders do actually differ from other people in several important some measurable - respects. After reviewing a large number of studies on this issue, Kilpatrick and Locke recently concluded that traits do matter - a view that has been constantly upheld by the services. The traits identified as the most important by Kilpatrick and Locke are Drive, Honesty and integrity, Leadership motivation (desire to exercise influence over others to reach shared goals), self confidence, cognitive ability, knowledge, creativity and flexibility (surprisingly courage, a trait considered essential by the Armed Forces finds no mention). As noted by Mrkpatrick and Locke:

"Regardless of whether leaders are born or made.... it is unequivocally clear that leaders are not Eke other people. Leaders do not like to be great men or women by being intellectual geniuses or ominiscent prophets to succeed, but they do need to have the right stuff and this stuff is not equally present in all people. Leadership is a demanding, unrelenting job with enormous pressures and grave responsibilities. It would be a profound disservice to leaders to suggest that they are ordinary people who happened to be at the right place at the right time In the realm of leadership (and in every other realm) the individual does matter."

Transformational Leadership, discussed in Chapter 6 also emphasises certain traits.

Personality Quality of Courage

Of all the traits of military leaders, there is one about which there is little dispute, and that is courage, both moral and physical. Almost all military strategists are of the view that it is very difficult to think of a military leader wanting in this personality quality. It is probably so because, in the words of Sir Winston Churchill, 'Courage is the quality that guarantees all others'.

There is one more aspect of courage which is worth mentioning here. Anthropological studies have revealed that no one is born a coward or a dare-devil. Fear and courage are two sides of the same coin. But there is a subtle difference between the two: fear is an involuntary human response to danger while courage is a voluntary one. The voluntary response is developed over a period through positive reinforcements. A person who is brought up in an enabling home atmosphere, where he is spontaneously and genuinely appreciated for his achievements, and is encouraged to work in an imaginative and creative manner, has every chance of becoming courageous. As against this, one who is made to feel inadequate at every step, develops fear of failure. He often runs away from situations endangering safety.

Conclusion

Traits approach whilst useful for assessing potential at the selection stage and training junior officers has not been able to satisfactorily explain the achievements of many successful leaders with one or more personality defects and also conversely the failures of those who appear to have the basic leadership traits in adequate measure. The implicit assumptions of traits theory that individuals rather than situational circumstances make the difference, that traits are carried around by individuals and operate independently from the situation; and that thoughtful and relevant decision making, communication and other behaviours will flow naturally from the one who exhibits certain personality characteristics, therefore, are of questionable validity. Indeed, research has shown that no dependable trait can be isolated which reliably differentiates leaders from nonreaders. Because traits theory has not proved to be very useful in accurately predicting leadership ability, researchers turned their attention to an examination of actual leader behaviour which in turn developed into the Behavioural Approach to Leadership.

CHAPTER 3

BEHAVIOURAL APPROACH

Introduction

'Me bails theory having been found inadequate to understand fully the leadership process, the next approach that the researchers took was the behavioural approach, that is, not what leaders are but how they behave. They argued that the function of leaders was to facilitate co-operative goal attainment among followers while providing opportunities for their personal growth and development. One of the definitions of leadership under this approach, as developed by Hemphill (1977) states, 'Leadership may be defined as the behaviour of an individual while he is involved in directing group activities'. The researchers, therefore, attempted to first study the more important types of leader behaviour and thereafter analysed the styles that they adopted in various situations. The various types of behaviour and the various theories/models based on this approach are as follows:

Types of Behaviour

o Symbolic behavior o Decision-making Behavior

o Concern for Men.

o Concern for Task.

Styles of leadership

o Authoritarian-Democratic-Laissez-faire Continuum Approach.

o Nurturant-Participative-Authoritarian styles o Grid Approach o Life Cycle Model

TYPES OF BEHAVIOUR

Symbolic Behaviour

Symbolic behaviour is a given as well as an acquired aspect of a leader. He enjoys a positional or legal authority conferred on him by the Organisation. This is the given part of his leadership. In the defence services, an officer wears epaulettes, ribbons and medals of decoration as earned. They create a halo around him and lend him dignity and status. They are the apparent signs of his authority, power, competence, and concern for group members. They are supposed to boost his morale and inspire him; it is only the inspired leader who can inspire his group members. The symbolic role of a leader also comes to the fore when he inspires his group members to work enthusiastically through personal example. 'A gram of example is worth a kilogram of exhortation', says John Adair. Personal example influences the group members in many ways. It conveys to them that the leader is like them and one of them. In an indirect and subtle way, it explains to them the basic and implied meanings of the term leadership. It reinforces their faith and confidence in the leader and the goals he pursues. It accords validity to the role and position of a leader. Hence, the importance of symbolic behaviour of a leader.

Decision Making Behaviour

Decision making is the key function of a leader. It is the most important aspect of his behaviour. It is his prerogative as well as his responsibility. Psychologically speaking, decision making ability of a leader is deeply rooted in his:

o Self-concept His estimation of himself in his own eyes. o Risk-taking Ability. The ability to stick out his neck when faced with a

critical situation. o Tolerance for ambiguity. The ability to keep calm and deliberate about

different aspects of a problem inspite of uncertainties and pressures.

o Internal Vs External Controls The ability to have more faith in ones' own abilities and efforts to solve a problem than to believe in the factors of chance and fate.

Effective decision making is a valuable as set of a military leader. He is trained to take prompt decisions in situations where time is short and stakes are high. Researches have revealed that group members prefer a leader, who in situations fraught with danger, gives them a definite and firm order to follow a course of action, as against the leader who tries to hide his indecisiveness behind the facade of participative leadership. Decision making can be considered from the point of view of Napoleon who believed in sifting the chaff from the corn, and concentrating only on a few essentials of the problems. This process,

however has a lot to do with the tolerance for ambiguity of a leader as discussed earlier. All in all, effective decision making is a skill which can definitely be learnt by our leaders.

Concern for Men

The type of relationship which develops between the leader and the led in the defence services is deep and subtle. It is based on the noble human values of loyalty, fidelity, and integrity. As is clear, these values transcend material gains and benefits. Moreover, this relationship takes years of collective living, shared experiences and common suffering to develop. It gives birth to a 'corporate soul' which in the Services language is called esprit-esprit-de-corps. For developing this corporate soul, however, the leader has to keep close and frequent touch with his men. He has to look after their daily needs as we as help them in solving their personal problems. In doing so he has to ensure that his official position does not get compromised.

It is said that Indians are emotional people and that they can be reached more easily through feelings and emotions than through rational explanations. In the past one cared a lot about maintaining a good name among the members of his family, friends and near relations. One also cared a lot about the term izzat. Over a period of time these things might have changed on the surface but they cannot change easily at the basic level. Probably today there is a need for our officers to operate through empathy rather than sympathy in relating themselves to their men. They should ensure that the needy member of the group receives the required help but there is no need for him to feel obliged to any person as such for receiving that help. This would reinforce the 'corporate soul' and the leader would also rise in the estimation of the one who receives the help. Modest behaviour has a very strong appeal for the Indian psyche!

Concern for Task

Each Organisation has an objective and for the achievement of that objective, groups are formed in the organisation. Each group is assigned a task and more often than not a group leader is also appointed to ensure the completion of the task. Thus we see that leadership is sine quo non of task performances. The primary duty of the commander is the accomplishment of his assigned mission. Other considerations are secondary. Elaborating the same point, Field Marshal Montgomery says, The best way for a leader to gain the confidence of his soldiers is to give them victories. If a commander gives his soldiers victories, they will follow him anywhere'. Therefore in the practice of effective leadership, there is no scope for compromise on task performance and goal, achievement.

There is also another aspect of a leader's concern for task. Group members hope to satisfy their individual needs through the completion of group task. If the leader fails in making the incomplete the group task, they get disappointed and the group gets disintegrated. However, there are certain leaders who have very high concern for task. They tend to ignore human considerations, drive the group members instead of leading them, and judge them only on the basis of results produced. In their behaviour towards the group members, they believe in the policy of 'carrot and stick', but in practice they use the sock more often than the carrot No doubt they get the job done, and on time also, but overall morale of their group members remains low. Sooner or later the suppressed feelings of the group members explode and put the whole process of leadership into reverse gear. An effective leader, however, ensures that a such a stage is never reached.

STYLES OF LEADERSHIP

The styles of leadership are discussed under the following heads:

Continuum of Leader Styles. Nurturant - Participative - Authoritarian styles. Grid Approach to Leadership. Life Cycle Model.

Though there is a certain amount of overlap in the discussion of these styles, yet each has its point of emphasis. These definitely help in understanding the phenomenon of leadership better.

Continuum of Leadership Styles

The focus in the behavioral approach to leadership is on observed behaviour. A broad range styles emerge as a continuum moving from authoritarian on one end to democratic behaviour on other end (as shown in Figure 3.1). Often this continuum is extended beyond democratic leader behaviour to include Laissez fair style. This style of behaviour permits members of the group to do whatever they want to do. This has been excluded from the diagram as such a style and atmosphere represents an absence of formal leadership. The. authoritarian style of behaviour emphasises the concern for task and the democratic, the concern for men. The significant function of each important style in the continuum is described below.

Figure 3.1: Continuum of Leaders Behaviour

Authoritarian Leader

He is a replica of our zamindar in the village. He determines all policies and formulates all strategies of goal achievement for his group. He forms work teams and assigns tasks and duties to each members of the group. He is personal in praising and criticising group members, and is not always objective in doing so. He maintains a respectable distance from the group and often functions through 'proper channels'.

It has been found that an authoritarian leader is very much required to tackle an emergent or crises ridden situation. He is the best man to deliver the goods when vital interests of the Organisation are at stake. He gets things moving fast and is very efficient in achieving short term results.

Researches conducted by Milgram (1974) have revealed that most human beings have a 'dependency syndrome', and like to associate themselves with an authority figure. This gives them a feeling of adequacy. Also, obeying the orders of a person in power gives meaning to their lives. According to JBP Sinha (1970), one of the typical characteristics of Indians is dependence pronenes. it means that they have a strong tendency to lean on other for help, support, advice and/or emotional reassurance even in situations where such leanings are neither called for nor functional, Udai Pareek (1976) is of the view that this tendency is strongest among those who have been subjected to feudalistic type of socio-political system for long. It has also been found that more confidently and fully a leader assumes his mantle, the more willingly his subordinates accept the roles assigned to them. And the more powerful the leader, the greater is the sense of satisfaction derived by followers in obeying him.

On the other hand, studies have also revealed that high authoritarianism is positively correlated with emotionally warped family background, low educational achievements and low social acceptance of the leader. Moreover, neither the person with a very, high score on authoritarianism nor with a very low score, is capable of creating a cohesive group; this feat is better achieved by a person who makes a moderate score on the test of authoritarianism. It is interesting to note here that among the military personnel, authoritarianism and orientation towards superiors decreases with the increase in military experience (Campbell and Mc Connack, 1957). This could have two reasons first, the harsh experiences of military life have a significant mellowing effect on authoritarianism. Second, the higher sense of responsibility of senior officers serves as a counter-weight against authoritarianism.

Democratic Leader

A democratic leader is the one who is group minded. He involves all group members in making policy decisions. He consults the experts and technical, members of his group and listens to the suggestions made by others attentively. He allows the members to choose their own companions in the formation of task-teams. He encourages the development of those with marginal performance but is hot harsh on those who achieve low results. He is objective in praising and criticising his group members. He keeps little formal distance from them and joins in their activities as often as possible.

A democratic leader runs a happy and satisfied team though not necessarily a very productive one. The members of his group take more time in producing results especially at the planning stage of a task. However, he generates a self-propelling process in his group members which, continues working even when he himself is not physically present among them. Morale of the members of a group led by democratic leader is high and personnel turn over in his group is low. A democratic leader is very good in achieving long term results. In the defence services he is likely to do very well if posted to an office in the service headquarters.

A democratic leader works with persuasion than with positional authority or coercive power. He is most suited to lead a team of technically qualified persons. He can put up with their urge for autonomy and assertion, and yet provide a moderating touch, encouraging thern to work in an interdependent and cohesive manner. Also, a democratic leader can achieve much better results in a situation where group members are required to work in an innovative and creative manner. The creative functioning of individuals requires a permissive work environment. The democratic leader is best suited to provide this.

Laissez-faire Leader

It is not rare that quite a few of us have a tendency to interpret Laissez-faire type of leadership as democratic leadership. But the two are quite different. Both the authoritarian and democratic types of leaders have a fair sense of purpose and direction. They differ only in their methods of approaching the problem and achieving results. Both types of leaders have concern for group members though an authoritarian leader expresses it indirectly and formally and a democratic leaders shows it openly and informally. An authoritarian leader's forte lies in achieving immediate results while the strength of the democratic leader comes forward when he is working on long term plans. But a group led by a laissez-faire leader is found wanting in all these matters. He lacks organisational clarity and unity, and has poor sense of accomplishment. He, therefore, proves incapable of organising a group to achieve results. In other words, a laissez-faire leader fails to provide a meaningful work atmosphere to his group members. As a result of this, the members get frustrated and become restless. This leads to virtual loss of control.

The example of sensitivity training situation provides us an apt example of laissez-faire leadership. This may be alright for a training programme for certain types of managers and leaders, but it is least suited to our organisations where time bound objectives have to be achieved by persons assigned to specific tasks. laisses-faire leadership, therefore, has no place in the defence services. There are some officers who behave in a laissez-faire manner and call themselves as democratic leaders. There is a need for them to reflect about their behaviour and modify it.

Nurturant Task (NT) leadership

The results of a study conducted by JBP Sinha have revealed that Indian executives are positively inclined to accept the nurturant task (Nl) leadership than authoritarian, (A) or participative (P) type of leadership. The NT leader was perceived by the respondents as 'active, strong, dominant, firm, independent, alert, encouraging and extrovert'.

Refer Figure 3.2. He is strict and can get work done. He is different from an authoritarian (A) leader who was found to be autocratic, influential, insecure, impractical, dissatisfying and hence not respected by others. The two types of leaders, i.e. NT and A, however, do have some overlap. Both are strict, both push their ideas through ' and try to dominate subordinates' activities. The NT type was found to be closer to the participative (P) leader who was reported to be democratic, respected, satisfying, secure and skilful, though weak. NT as well as P type of leaders were found to be encouraging and giving due credit to the members without losing control. A closer look would reveal that NT leadership is quite close to the paternal type of leadership which has been practiced by the officers of our defence services since the British times.

The source of human relationship lies in the family system and socio cultural norms of a society. The Indian home provides a good deal of affection, warmth and stimulation for the growth of its children. The child when he grows up and joins an Organisation, carries highly personal and emotional ties with him. He forms his relationships in the Organisation on the basis of those ties. An Indian, in the form of a leader, carries the image of a benevolent father or elder brother to his Organisation. This image is not relevant to Western countries where a radically different type of family structure and final relationships exist. Keeping this aspect in mind, Dayal (1976) draws the following Est. of expectations of Indian subordinates from their leader:

• Nurturance, personal attention, and help from superiors in learning and problem-solving just as they used to get these in their family.

• Acceptance of an individual as an extension of oneself in a family like network of affiliations. That is, the relationship has to be personalised rather than contractual. It must reflect his prestige and power and he must be recognised by his superior.

• Reward for loyalty along with efficiency and other criterion measures. Disregard or discouragement to loyalty may be taken as betrayal of

personal confidence and trust. It might let a subordinate down and interfere with his role behaviour.

The officers of our defence services, by and large, have been following the above mentioned observations of Dayal. They have worked well over the years. However, there is a need to conduct surveys for determining if a significant change has taken place in the effectiveness of men of the defence services.

Grid Approach of Leadership

The grid approach to leadership has been developed by RR Blake and JS Mouton who are practicing behavioural scientists. It Was primarily developed for assessing the personality of a leader in terms of his concern for task and concern for people, and later, attempting behavioural modification in him through Managerial Grid training programme. Since each axis of the grid has 9 steps, a leader's performance can be plotted anywhere on 81 small boxes of grid by obtaining his score with the help of a questionnaire. However, for the purposes of studying the styles of leadership the grid can be divided into five main areas. These are shown in Figure 3.3.

Figure 3.3: Grid Approach of Leadership

Let us now discuss each one of these areas and their related leadership styles one by one.

9,1 Style (task). This style represents the task or mission oriented leader. He cares little about the feelings of his group members. He believes in close supervision and proves impatient about the slackness, delay or failure on the part of group members. His favourite sentence is: 'I get the job done inspite of my group members'. Such a leader may be well suited as a platoon commander who has to deal withdraw recruits. This type of behaviour of leader may also become necessary under certain types of emergency conditions.

9,9 Style (Team). The leader whose score falls in this quadrant of the grid tries to integrate both mission accomplishment and welfare of men. He helps the development of those members of his group who are committed to the achievement of organisational goals. Such members, with their stake in the organisation's purpose, co-operate with each other and work in an interdependent manner. They trust and respect each other and that helps them in creating a congenial work environment. This makes the task of the leader easy. He works with conviction that 'people support what they help to create'. His main job, therefore, is to get his group involved in a creative process.

1,9 Style (Country Club). The leader belonging to this quadrant of the grid is also called the club manager. His concern for the welfare of people is his sole aim. He may, therefore, slip in achieving organisation's time bound objectives. Since his heart is full of compassion and he cannot see people suffering he is least suited to perform operational duties in the battlefield. He lives with the idea that 'a

happy team produces the best results', but such a dictum has a very limited use in the defence services.

1,1 Style (Impoverished). This is the non-involved type of leader. He neither causes any event nor directs any event taking place on its own. He considers that mission accomplishment and welfare of people are conflicting goals. The best results are achieved if the procedures established in the past are. allowed to continue. He does not want to rock the boat. In our context, the stock phrase used by a leader of this type is: sab chalta hai or chalne do". An organisation headed by such a leader can consider itself lucky if it could just maintain the standards of efficiency achieved under an earlier dynamic leader.

5.5 Style (Middle Road). This is the leader who follows, middle-of-the-road' policy. He thinks that by being 'firm but fair' he can achieve the best results. He is a compromiser. He strives to achieve results without unduly upsetting the people. Such a leader is best suited to play the role of a conciliator in the labour management conflicts. He may also do well during peace time conditions in the defence services.

Military Leadership

9, 5 Style. So far as the style of leadership suitable to a military officer is concerned, the advocates of Grid Approach have recommended 9,5 as the style most applicable to him. Taking into account the nature of his duties and the circumstances under which he has to perform them, the advocates of Grid see no scope for him to compromise mission accomplishment. That must remain always on the top of his mind. However, since the mission is to be accomplished through men, he must have concern for their welfare too.

Conclusion

In this chapter, we have discussed the behavioural approach to leadership. Various styles of leadership form basis for the study of leadership. The grid theory of leadership which attempts to study leadership on the basis of concern for task and concern for people, was very popular in the 1950s and 1960s and was extensively used for leadership training. However, it may be noted that this is a two dimensional model which does not take into account the impact of the environment in which the leaders and followers have to function. It will be appreciated that for any leader to be effective, not only the leader and followers, but also the situation should be appropriate. This gave rise to the situational approach which is discussed in the next chapter.

The days of imitated leadership; therefore, are over Th need today is to know ourselves,. accept, ourselves, and act ourselves. The leadership behaviour based on this premise is sure to appeal our soldiers, sailors and airmen, and thereby prove effective.

CHAPTER 4

SITUATIONAL APPROACH

General

The traits approach to leadership laid emphasis on the inborn qualities of a leader and the behavioural approach gave importance to his behaviour. The situational approach to leadership, however, gives overriding importance to the situation. It maintains that it is always the situation which determines who will emerge as the leader. Jenkins (1947) writes, 'Leadership is specific to the particular situation under investigation. Who becomes a leader of a particular group engaging in a particular activity and what the characteristics are in the given case are a function of the specific situation....' To elaborate this point John Adair (1984) gives the example of the survivors of a shipwreck landing on a tropical island. 'The soldier in the party might take command if natives attacked them, the builder organises the work of erecting house and the farmer might direct the labour for growing food. In other words, leadership would pass from member to member according to the situation .... 'Change the situation - change the leader.'

The situational approach to leadership, in reality challenges the implied omnipotence of the born leader, It stresses that the leader's role is played by a human being, and all human beings have limitations and imperfections. Maj. Gen. Y N Sharma writes (1975), 'Many a leader of proven ability and effectiveness has failed to adapt to the dynamics and demands of new situations. This may have been due to their insensitivity to the situation or rigidity of style. The erection of Churchill's leadership in the post-war period,

Wavell and Auchinleck in North Africa and Mac-Arthur in Korea are vivid examples of situational considerations overtaking highly reputed leaders.' Even closer home a number of military commanders were changed to influence the situation in 1962, 1965 and 1971 wars. Thus we see that if the characteristics of a leader are not matching with the requirements of the situation, these may become his demerits and come in the way of his proving effective. However, John Adair's observation: 'Change the situation - change the leader' - does not necessarily mean physical change of the leader; it also-includes the leader changing his style of functioning to meet the requirements of the new situation.

Skill Development

There are three main aspects of a leader which help him in solving problems. These are:

Position of the leader (Job title, badges of rank, appointment etc.)

Personality of the leader (the natural qualities of influencing behaviour)

· Knowledge (technical, Professional).

These three aspects are interrelated and make the integrated whole known as the leader's personality. Among these Knowledge is most amenable to improvement. It is also entirely within the control of the leader. An in-depth knowledge about ones owns strength and weaknesses, about the needs and values of the group members, and about the specific technical and professional requirements of the situation, can definitely help a leader in rising to the occasion and solving the problem. Moreover, it has been found that it is easier for a leader to change himself with regard to the technical and professional requirements of a new situation but it is relatively difficult for him to change in relation to its human requirements. In a study conducted on 20 United States Naval officers who were to be transferred to new positions, and the 20 who replaced them; it was found after several months, the transferred officers resembled the officers they had replaced, in patterns of work performance. However they changed a little in their interpersonal behaviour. From the point of view of leader-ship effectiveness, therefore, this aspect solves only part of the problem. To meet the requirements of a new situation,Reddin(1970) recommended that a leader must learn do develop the following behavioural skills:; .

Situational Sensitivity: An ability to read a situation by analysing its interacting elements. This is a diagnostic skill.

Style Flexibility: An awareness of one’s style to match the needs of the situation. This is an applied skill.

Situational Management Skill: An ability to modify certain elements of the situation ,a when a total change of style is not desirable .This too is applied skill.

EFFECTIVENESS AS THIRD DIMENSION

Reddin in his discussion of leader ship gives considerable importance to the effectiveness of a leader’s style. His contention is that on the basis of a leader’s training and experience, he acquires a dominant style of functioning. When faced with a new problematic situation, if his style matches with needs and value of the group members and with the nature of situation, he succeeds in solving the problems and proves effective. But if his style of functioning does not match with the needs and value of the group members and/or nature of situation, he fails to solve the problems and proves ineffective. Reddin defines effectiveness as ‘the extent to which a leader achieves the output requirements of his position’, and gives more importance to the performance than to the personality of a leader. According to him, leadership lies in function and not in person.

For explaining his ideas on the leadership-effectiveness, Reddin uses the grid prepared by Blake and Mouton. The basic grid has two dimensions, i,e, concern for task and concern for people. Each of its four quadrants relates to a type of leadership behaviour. He calls, effectiveness, the third dimension of then grid, and says that each of its quadrant would

have to be renamed in the light of its effectiveness or ineffectiveness. The twelve styles of leadership thus advocated by him are named as in the table 4.1

The argument for renaming a basic leadership style runs like his; possessing a thing is, a source of one type of satisfaction to a person, but using it successfully or unsuccessfully for solving problems of life is another matter. Sir Winston Churchill had certain sterling qualities of leadership he used them successfully and became a world leader. Adolph Hitler too had many qualities of a leader, but he failed to use them successfully. His name, therefore, has become only a black spot in the book of human history. Hence, the needs for laying emphasis on the effectiveness dimension leadership.

There is yet another aspect, which highlights the effectiveness side of leadership. Whenever we think of styles of leadership we generally consider them as mutually exclusive i.e., either think in the terms of an admixture of styles; a little of one style and more of the other, or both style equally balanced in the person, etc,. This is the result of perceptual bias, which gets built in us because of our experiences of the world around. For example, our experience of people’s behaviour is mostly categorised into good or bad. Our observations about weather is mainly related to hot or cold. To think of shades falling in between the two extremes requires time and effort on our part. This experience is avoided by most of us as often as possible. The result is that in our behaviour we often become prey to perceptual bias. The nature and degree of that bias differs from individual to individuals. But it plays a major role in developing a pattern of behaviour in each one of us.

An effective leader, however, learns to overcome this deception. He learns to observe changes in the intentions and emotions of his to his group members. and also in the intensity and gravity of the situation He knows that neither the situation he has to tackle is static nor the time behaviour of his group members is going to remain the same forever. He, therefore, takes his job as if it is a process of tight rope walking a constant effort of balancing behaviour in relation to the changing nature of the situation as well as of the group. It is this 'balancing effort’ on the leader, which has been given the name of leadership effectiveness by Reddin. Figure 4.1 presents his 3-Dimensional Effectiveness Model.

Discussion of Styles of Leadership

-

The twelve styles of leadership which emerge considering effectiveness as its third dimensions are discussed in the succeeding paragraphs.

Dedicated Leader.

It is the basic style related to high task and low welfare orientation of a leader. The leader belonging to this quadrant tends to dominate others. He gives many verbal directions to his group members. His time perceptive is immediate and he prefers to do everything now. He identifies himself with his superiors and with the technical system of his superiors and with the technical system of organisation. He judges superiors on the basis of their skill in using power and group members on the basis of results produced by them. He plays a very active part in committees. He is well suited for jobs involving directing others’ efforts. He deals with conflicts by suppressing them and other stressful situations by domination. He also believes that punishment is the best way to stop people from doing what they should not and loss of position is the most severe punishment for an organisation man. His biggest fear is that others will not produce results till they are pushed and goaded. The two dimensions of this style are:

Benevolent Autocrat:

This style of leadership represents the effectiveness dimension of a dedicated leader. He is the leader who is highly task oriented but whose style of functioning is in consonance with the characteristics of the group and nature of the situation. He is like a captain of a sport team-energetic, industrious and committed to the completion of the task assigned to him. He takes initiative when required . and proves firm and decisive in situations of stress. In his relationship with group members, he is result oriented. He assess their performance in terms of time taken and expenditure incurred in achieving the results. He firmly believes in the efficacy and reward and punishment system and practices it to the extent possible.

Autocrat. This style of leadership represents the ineffective dimension of a dedicated leader. He is the one who is highly task oriented but his style of leadership does not fit the characteristics of the group and the situation. The main stance of his functioning is based on threats and punishment. He suppresses all types of conflicts, demands complete obedience from his group members, and emphasises working for quick results. He uses appraisal, merit rating, efficiency reports etc, as the tools of his leadership. His decisions are subjective and

arbitrary. He considers his group members as subordinates and treats them accordingly. He is often disliked and feared by group members.

Integrated Leader. It is the basic style with high task and high welfare orientation. The leader belonging to this style Ekes to become 'a part of things'. He is essentially a joiner and takes great pains in getting appropriately involved with individuals and group settings. He organises meetings frequently. His orientation is always to the future. He judges subordinates on the basis of their willingness to join the team. He judges superiors on the basis of their skill in team formation. He is most suited for providing coordination to the team members in their job related interactions. He is least suited for the jobs which have high component of routine. The two dimensions of this style are:

Executive. This style of leadership represents the effectiveness dimension of an integrated leader. He is the one who combines both high task and high welfare orientation in his behaviour; this style suits the group and situation also. He uses participative management as the basis of his functioning. He involves the members of his group in the process of decision making and this commits them to achieve the goals which they set through mutual discussion. He perceives his own job as that of a coordinator of the activities of group members and encourages them in the performance of their roles. He welcomes task related conflicts and disagreements among group members and uses these for creating innovative work environment. He proves successful, both in the achievement of long term as well as short term goals.

Compromiser. This is the ineffective dimension of an integrated leader. Though this person has high task orientation as well as high welfare orientation, yet he is consid . ered by the group members as a weak-kneed compromiser who is incapable of meeting the needs of the situation. He tends to under-rate the importance of immediate problems and has no heart for developing long term plans. When with difficulties, he starts looking around for help and guidance. He may claim to be an idealist but, in reality, he has a distorted vision and ambiguous work values. He has little influence on group members and fails to motivate them to work.

Related Leader. He is the leader with high welfare orientation. He accepts others as he finds them. He enjoys long conversations know others better. He is not too concerned to with time. He sees organisations primarily as social systems and judges his group members on how well they understand each other. He judges superiors on the basis of warmth they show to subordinates. In committees he supports others, harmonises embers to give out their best. He is particularly suited for training and development managing professional workers, and providing coordination. His subordinates cooperate well with each other. When facing stress he tends to become dependent on others and depressed. While he undervalue the importance of the values people highly, he tends to undervalue thew importance of the organisaion and its technology. . One of his weaknesses is sentimentality. He has a deep seated dislike of conflict. The extreme dimensions of this style are:

ii Developer. This represents the effective side of a related leader. He is the one whose concern for welfare of his group members is very high and this style of leadership also finds favour with the group and the situation. He is of the conviction that work is as natural to people as play or rest. He knows that in the beginning most people have reservations about their potentials. These, however, can be transformed into talents if an informal and enabling atmosphere is provided to them for development He also knows that given responsibility, people are quite capable of exercising self-control and self direction. In his relationship with the group members he mainly concentrates on winning their confidence. His genuine interest in the development of group members and creating a somewhat permissive work atmosphere, often stimulates them to work in a creative and innovative manner.

Missionary. This represents the ineffective side of a related leader. He is a man with high welfare orientation working in a group and operating in a situation which demands a different style of leadership. In fact, his main desire is to get accepted by others. His work commitment is low. He has an inherent dislike for all types of conflicts. He hardly exercises any control over his group members to make them produce the results they are supposed to. He is, therefore least suited to take hard decisions and achieve time-bound results.

Separated Leader. He is the leader whose task orientation and welfare orientation are both low. He is very much concerned about correcting deviations. He tends to write, rather than talk. Partly because of this, he has little personal communication in any direction. His time perspective often relates to the past-'how did we do it last time?' He identifies with the Organisation as a whole rather than with its individual members. He takes great interest in the rules and procedures and judges others on how well they adhere to these. He values intellect in his superior but not necessarily on others. He is obviously well suited to work in administration, accounting, statistics or engineering design. When things go wrong his usual reaction is to propose more controls. His group members often believe that he does not recognise them or their accomplishments adequately. He sees them less as people and more as parts of his work system. He under values the need for innovation and is generally seen as a slave to the rules. His greatest fear of others is that they might act irrationally and in some way violate the established system. The two dimension of this style are:

Bureaucrat. This represents the effective dimension a separated leader. He is the one whose task orientation and welfare orientation are both low. Yet in our large organizations he too can perform usefully under certain circumstances. He is impersonal in his behaviour. He likes to work in a slow but methodical manner. He is wedded to rules and regulations, systems and procedures and that is the type of staff work which lends consistency to the functioning of an Organisation. He ensures that everyone receives his due according to the rules. The group members, therefore, can rely upon him for fair and just behaviour. However, his main strength lies in maintaining an on-going system; he is not of much value for innovating and creating new systems.

Deserter. This represents the ineffective dimension of a separated leader. He is the person who has low task orientation and low welfare orientation. To top it all, he is in the wrong type of company and in the wrong spot. In fact, he is the man who goes about in life with a feeling as if he has been hurt and has never got over it He avoids jobs involving responsibility; has a narrow vision of life and is allergic to all types of change. Faced with difficulties he gives up easily. in his relations with others, he is mostly uncommunicative; he may even prove a hindrance in the way of others doing their jobs. For solving organisational problems, he often refers to rules and regulations. By the work-oriented members of his Organisation, he is called on 'on the-job-retiree'.

Life Cycle Theory

Another leadership model of the situational approach is the Life Cycle Theory (Situational Leadership) developed by Heresy and Blanchard. As per this theory, Situational Leadership is based on the interplay among firstly, the amount of guidance and directions; secondly, the amount of socioemotional; support he provides; and thirdly, the readiness level the followers in exhibit in performing a task, function or objective,According to this theory, there is no one best Way to influence people.Which leadership style a person should use with individuals or groups depends on the readiness level of the people the leader is attempting to influence, as illustrated in figure 4.2 (see next page) and amplified in the subsequent paragraphs.

Style1(SI). This leader ship style is characteristerised by above average amounts of relationship behaviour. The descriptors of this style are telling, guiding, directing, or establishing.

Style.2(S2) Above average amounts of both tasks and relationship behaviour. The descriptors are selling ,selling ,explaining, classifying or persuading.

Style.3(S3) Above average amount of relationship behaviour and below average behaviour. Descriptors: participating encouraging, collaborating or committing.

Style4(S4) Below average amounts of both relationship behaviour and task behaviour . Descriptors: delegating observing, monitoring or fulfilling.

Task Behaviour. This is the extent to which a leader engages in spelling out the duties and responsibilities of an individual or groups. These behaviour include telling people what to do, how to do it, when to do, where to do and who to do it.

Relationship Behaviour. The extent to which the leader engages is two-way or multiway communication. The behaviour include listening, facilitating, and supportive behaviour.

Readiness. Readiness can be defined as the extent to which a follower has the ability and willingness to accomplish a task. Readiness is not a personal characteristic; it varies from

one task to another. It is to do with d specific situation. It relates not only to the individuals within the group but also to the group as a whole. The two major components of readiness are ability and willingness Ability is the knowledge, experience. and skill that an individual brings to a particular task or activity and willingness is the extent to which an individual or group has the confidence, commitment and motivation to accomplish a specific task. The continuum of follower readiness can be divided into four levels Rl, R2, R3 and R4 as shown in the model.

Basic Leadership Styles. The above two behaviours i.e., the task behaviour and the relationship behaviour are separate and distinct dimensions, and when placed on two separate axes or a two dimensional graph, provide four basic leadership style as follows:

Selection the Appropriate Style. Selecting the appropriate style is to actually match the readiness level of the followers to the leadership style in the model. If the readiness level is Rl, then the appropriate style is Sl (telling). Similarly R2-S2 (selling), R3-S3 (Participating) or R4-S4 (delegating). What in effect this theory advocates is that with the increasing maturity of ones followers, the leader can ease up on task behaviour and increase the relationship behaviour, and eventually when the followers are fully 'ready', the leader can decrease the relationship behaviour also.

The most common example of the life cycle theory is the child-parent relationship where early in the cycle the parents provide all

structure in dressing, feeding and bathing the child (quadrant 1).As the child gets along in school this turns to growing trust and

respect or high relationship while at the same time maintaining supervision of task (quadrant 2). In high school and colleges

supervision or task is lessened and social and emotional support or relationship is given (quadrant 3). Finally, as the child leaves school, gets a job and a wife, there is decrease in both supervision, and social and emotional support (quadrant 4).

This theory also directly applies to the military. The platoon leader with raw recruits will be supervision oriented (quadrant 1). As his immediate span of control is mature and higher ranking, the company commander can ease off on constant personal supervision, and work more and more on Personal relationships with his subordinates (quadrant 2). This senior field grade officer who works with other senior and general officers can afford to ease off in both direct supervision and direct personal contacts, especially when his span of control is very broad and his time extremely limited (quadrant 4).

Conclusion

In essence, the Situational Theory of leadership: recommends that a person who is desirous of Playing a leader's role effectively must not become victim of a set pattern of behaviour. He must remain constantly on the watch to relate himself

with his group and satisfies himself to the situation. He must remember that leadership is a process of interaction between the leader, the group and the situation. And what is called leadership effectiveness, is nothing but the appropriateness of reciprocal interaction between these three factors.

CHAPTER 5

FUNCTIONAL APPROACH

In the minds of most of us, the term leadership is equated with the term leader. But fact of the matter is that leadership is a process and leader is a person. That means leadership is the result of the interaction of three main factors: the leader, the group and the situation. No one has proved an effective leader in all types of situations; no two groups are similar with regard to their background and extant characteristics; and also no two problematic situations are alike. There are many characteristics of leader which functioning singly or in a combination with others come to the fore to meet the demands of a group or contingencies of a situation. Similarly, there are many characteristics of a group which operating singly or in combination with others make different types of behavioural demands on the leader. The same thing can be said about the situation also which is never static and rarely repeats itself. Leadership, therefore, is a function of leader's ability and style, group members' needs and values, and demands of the situation. This aspect of leadership has been explained with the help of a formula as given below.

‘to be drawn’ Leadership effectiveness

f function of

I leader

g group

s situation

Some of the important characteristics of the leader, the group and the situation, and their interrelations are shown in Figure 5.1. For understanding the phenomenon of leadership, it is necessary that we study these characteristics in detail and determine their relative importance to the practice of military leadership.

Characteristics of the Leader

Mental Ability. This aspect of a leader has two dimensions; his basic intelligence and breadth of his interests and aptitudes. So far as basic intelligence is concerned, it is

necessary that a leader has more of it than the average intelligence of his group, but he need not be exceptionally superior to the group. This means that the leader, to be successful, must be able to reach his group members and convey his ideas to them in a simple and clear language. The leader who is vastly superior in intelligence often has difficulty in making himself understood to his group members.

To be drawn’

Figure 5.1: Characteristics of Leadership Variables

A leader, however, must have a wide range of interests. He must have an inquisitive mind and must be interested in reading books and magazines on various subjects. He must have good general knowledge, and aptitudes for quite a few skills. He must have the ability to appreciate the intensity and gravity of the difficulties faced by different members of his group. Above all, he must have a flair for planning and directing others' activities rather than getting lost in the performance of a few of his own. Let us not forget that the main job of a leader is to work with and through his men.

Courage. It is the most important requirement of a military leader. Defining courage, Moran (1984) writes: 'Courage is a moral quality; it is not a chance gift of nature like an aptitude for games. It is a cold choice between two alternatives - the fixed resolve not to quit; an act of renunciation which must be made not once but many times by the power of the will'. The courage of a man is correlated with his risk taking ability. The risk taking ability however, is neither an in-born quality nor a general ability like intelligence. It is circumstantially determined and situationaly related. A man may take high order risk and show tremendous amount of courage in safeguarding the cause he is fully convinced about, but he may not prove equally brave in fighting another man's battle. A man takes risk for the thing he values, and it is the degree of the value of a thing to him which determines the level of his courage (Das 1985). Also, it has been found that no man has an unlimited amount of courage. In the battlefield every one is likely to come to the end of his store of courage. That may happen because of fatigue, loss of sleep, witnessing the death of his comrades, or due to 'shell shock'. Such a buckling up may be attributed more to exhaustion than to cowardice. People do come out of such a state if given adequate rest and proper care. That means, in many cases courage is revivable. Moreover, it has been observed often that when a person is revived from the state of exhaustion, he tends to fight with greater vigor and enthusiasm. Probably, familiarity with the situation helps him

to improve his confidence and resolve. Courage, therefore, is a behavioural characteristic which can be developed in a prospective leader by exposing him to situations of risk gradually and encouraging him to handle those with tenacity and grit.

Motivation. This term refers to the inner desire of a person to do his job better-better in relation to others as well as in relation to the results he himself has achieved earlier. A leader is an inspired soul, with 'fire in his belly'. He has a high need for achievement which keeps him driving on and on towards excellence. A leader, however, has to care not only about his own motivation but of his group members also. He motivates the members of his group in two ways: first, through personal example of working in an active and involved manner, and second, by providing them challenging tasks. He helps them in achieving results which stimulate them to have more and more of that type of satisfying experience. He knows that most people, especially adults, work better to prove themselves than for anything else. He treats them as the experts of their jobs and in handling them follows Emerson's advice: Trust men and they will be true to you'. An effective leader firmly believes in giving spontaneous feedback to his men. He publicly recognises a job well done and, if possible, rewards it without undue delay. Though he invariably shares with the group members the credit for the results achieved by them, yet, he is the last man to pass on the blame for the failures to them. It is so because he is fully convinced in his mind that motivation and morale of men are built only through positive reinforcement. For the same reason he takes special care for the development of the weak members of his group. He goes out of the way to recognise their marginal achievements, and thus builds up their confidence to strive for better results.

Energy. A military leader should be active and agile. He has to ensure that things move fast and properly under his command. For that he has to set a personal example. However, energy gets manifested in the behaviour of a leader in two forms: application to the task and physical endurance in the face of obstacles. The positive extreme of application is represented by those determined leaders who exercise themselves to the limit of their powers for the completion of the task assigned to them, and its negative extreme is represented by those who prove lazy and lethargic and are inclined to shirk work. So far as endurance is concerned, one has to admit that physical strains and stresses have special relevance to the life of a military leader. .He has to. possess extraordinary powers of endurance to withstand stress. When two parties are engaged in a trial of strength, the one which can endure the stress longer, has greater chances of success. 'Every battle resolves itself into a tussle between the wills of the two opposing commanders', wrote Field Marshal Montgomery. The endurance required of a military leader, therefore, can be called a combination of will power and physical sturdiness. Will power, as we know, can be developed, and so also physical sturdiness.

Social Orientation. This is a wider term and can cover behaviours related to social adaptability, co-operation, team work, persuasion, etc. A leader may or may not be popular among his group members but he should know how to influence their behaviour and how to win them over. That objective may be achieved by him through the genuineness of his behaviour, personal example, convincing arguments, mutual regard, courtesy or the combination of such behavioural qualities, He knows fully well that the

success of his role lies in taking the members of his group with him. He therefore, is at pains to learn interpersonal skills. The crux of interpersonal skills consists of listening actively and communicating effectively. A leader, therefore, listens to the job related as well as personal grievances of his men attentively, He may not be able to do much to ameliorate them, but knows that merely listening to them is sure to improve the men's morale to a certain degree. Similarly, a successful leader takes utmost care to reach his men clearly and precisely. He keeps his message short, simple and direct and demands its confirmation to ensure that it has been understood correctly. In addition to these steps, a socially well oriented leader takes as much interest as possible in the activities of his group members, and encourages them to function in an interdependent manner. These measures, in the long run, help him in winning the confidence of his men, which in turn facilitates mission accomplishment

Maturity. A mature person has a pattern of behaviour which is admired by all those who come in his contact. He has a philosophy of fife and is guided by a rational moral code. He is free of prejudices and does not allow his thinking to be clouded by pre-conceived notions. He is resilient and quite capable of taking inevitable failures and disappointments of life in. his stride. He works with confidence and is seldom found indulging in self-pity. He makes use of his competency, capitalizing especially on his unusual talents. He identifies himself with a small selected group. His social activities are formal and his interests though few, are deep. Considered from the point of view of leadership effectiveness, maturity can be defined, as the 'capacity to set high but obtainable goals (achievement motivations, willingness, and ability to take responsibility, and education and/or experience of an individual or a group'. (Heresy. et al, 1977). However, hallmark of the personality of a mature leader is that he is tolerant of the genuine mistakes of his group members and has the knack of utilising the strengths of each one of them for the benefit of the group.

Characteristics of the Group

To form a group and to function in a group is a natural desire of man. To meet others, to talk to them, to help them and receive help from them are the sources of great emotional satisfaction to him. No doubt people have their individual needs but through experience they have learn that it is easier to satisfy them by making a common cause with others, than struggling individually for their satisfaction. In fact, it is relatively more true for the satisfaction of man's higher order needs of recognition, esteem, etc. Emphasising this point John Adair (1983) writes, 'Underlying them all is the fact that people need each other, not just to survive but to achieve and develop personality. This growth occurs in a whole range of social actives-friendship, marriage, neighborhood - but inevitably work-groups are extremely important because so many people spend so much of their waking time in them'. Man's desire to get together and move and work in groups, therefore, is important to him not only for living but also for progressing. This desire has been given many names like gregarious instinct, herd tendency, in-group feeling, need for belonging, need for social warmth, group cohesiveness, etc.For the purpose of studying group dynamics as an aspect of leadership, a group can be defined as a conglomeration of people who have come together,

For the achievement of a common goal. With the desire to function cohesively for the achievement of that goal; and With the hope that through the achievement of that goal they would be able to

fulfil some of their individual needs also.

Thus we see that in the overall process of leadership, the group has three functions to perform, that is, goal achievement, team maintenance, and atleast partial fulfillment of individual needs of the group members. These functions of the group are interlinked and interdependent. Moreover, they keep changing from situation to situation. The effectiveness of a group therefore, would depend upon the 'dynamic balance' which the leader can maintain between these three functions. There are no thumb rules available for assessing a leader's success in this regard. However, he can become sensitive to this aspect of his group through the study of human behaviour in general and the behaviour characteristics of his group in particular. The relatively more important characteristics of a group are discussed in the succeeding paragraphs.

Understanding of Goal. Higher the understanding of goal to be achieved by a group, the better would be the commitment of its Members to achieve it. Understanding of goal can help the members in matching their responses to various stages of the process of goal achievement. Understanding of a goal can also save them from the adverse effects of rumors which often spread fast and wide in the absence of valid information. A leader in charge of a group with high understanding of the goal cannot afford to operate in an autocratic manner; at best he can participate in the action plan they are developing. On the other hand, if understanding of the goal is low among group members, they would not be aroused from within to achieve it. Under the circumstances, they would require constant goading to move towards the goal. That would imply use of authoritarian type of leadership, However, the military leader must learn to appreciate that intelligence and general awareness of the average Indian has increased since independence. Many things which he took in good faith in the past are being examined critically today. The leader, therefore, must accept this behavioural change in his men to prove effective.

Sense of Responsibility. In essence this refers to the degree of involvement of group members with the achievement of the group goal. Higher the involvement, the more responsible they would feel to achieve it. One thing which goes a long way in increasing the sense of responsibility of group members to goal achievement is delegation. Theoretically speaking, delegation is built-in in the hierarchy of the defence services, but in practice it does not get operationalised to the extent desired. Delegation, in fact, is another name of trusting your deputies and men as capable of performing their tasks. And if in addition to this, the leader can convey them the message that for the successful completion of their tasks they would get all the credit, but for their failures he only would be accountable to the higher authorities, he can then increase the group members' readiness for shouldering responsibility to a great extent. But more often than not, the fear of failure does not allow a leader to delegate responsibility to his juniors. Either he tries to do everything himself or after formally delegating responsibility, he indulges in close Supervision. Neither of these methods speaks of effective leadership style. A leader

to prove successful must learn the art of delegating authority and thereafter monitoring the activities of his juniors by establishing appropriate control measures.

Need for Autonomy. it is a very strong need of the adult and intelligent persons working in our organisations. It does not reflect a person's desire to be free from all types of controls and disciplines; it only reflects his desire to be a master of his own job situation. The more Competent and skillful a person is, the greater is his need for functioning in an autonomous manner. Studies have revealed that even unskilled mechanics want to work without interference of their supervisors (Stogdill, 1974). Infact this is the need which is Primarily responsible for creativity, and innovative working. There is no dearth of this need in our countrymen; democratic Practices of the country are likely to arouse it all the more. But the organisational climate of the defence services has been authoritarian all these years. To a certain degree it is required also. The military leaders of the future, therefore, have to learn to balance the desire for work related autonomy of their men within the norms of discipline of the services.

Interest and Motivation. Motivation is a self-propelling force within a man which keeps Prompting him to improve his performance to do his job better. A motivated person works more often for intrinsic rewards like challenge of the task, recognition by his group, actualization of his potential through the performance of job, etc, than for extrinsic rewards. It does not mean that he does not accept extrinsic rewards of money and materials when those are offered to him for doing his job well; it only means that he does not run after them. It has also been found that a motivated person proves more imaginative and innovative in his efforts and makes greater contribution than others, in giving a push forward to his organisation. Since motivated persons are self-propelled, they therefore , require no goading from the leader to achieve their objectives.

Knowledge and Expertise. Knowledge gives confidence to a Person and expertise lends a shine to his personality. Both these characteristics fill him with a sense of importance improving the quality and quantity of his job. These days, not only the general awareness of our countrymen has improved, but their desire to equip themselves for better opportunities through learning has also become strong. The introduction of more and more sophisticated weapons in the services also demands that the officers and men be knowledgeable and become experts in operating intricate machines. A leader, however, has to be a discerning type in handling the expert members of his group. They need challenging jobs, and when engaged in the performance of those, do not want undue interference. To get best results from them, it is much better if the leader maintains an attitude of studied deference towards them.

Homogeneity. The term homogeneity refers to the similarity among the members of a group. The similarity may relate to their way of living, eating, spending leisure time together, performing ceremonies and customs, etc. The biggest advantage of

homogeneity is that it promotes convergence of thinking among the group members. It may emerge as a result of the members belonging to the same caste, class for geographical area. It may be the outcome of their common education and experience. It may be the result of their common interest and objective to be achieved. Homogeneity is also fostered through the development of certain common activities as in the regiments of Indian Army. Its net gain, however, is that the members of a homogeneous group have a great desire to stick together under fair and foul weather. They develop a cohesive bond which helps them to move either towards or away from a goal in a united manner and with great speed. Which direction they would take, however, would depend upon the circumstances and ingenuity of the leader. Thus homogeneity has advantages as well as disadvantages. Similarily, heterogeneity too has its advantages and disadvantages. It has been found that heterogeneity plays a self-regulatory role in keeping the members of a group moving in the right direction. It has also been observed that when faced with a problem situation, the heterogeneous group proves more innovative in solving it than the homogeneous.

Characteristics of the Situation

The role of heredity and environment in the development of human personality has been a subject of discussion for long among the Psychologists. However, researches conducted by them during the last few decades have established, beyond any doubt that environment plays a very important role in the shaping of an individual's personality. Infact, what we call the pattern of behaviour of a man is nothing but the way of his responding to certain types of stimuli more often than others. A leader, however, is more selective and alert in this regard. He contends with more and varied type of stimuli emanating from his group members as well as from the problematic situation faced by him and his group. We have already discussed the characteristics of the group which he has to take into account while performing the role of a leader. The important aspects of a situation which have to be considered by him for proving effective are discussed in the succeeding paragraphs.

Danger. This refers to the gravity of the situation. This could involve threat of life, threat to status, and/or threat to certain material gains of the group members. The different types of threat involved in a situation would demand different types of behaviour from the group leader. Among them, however, threat to life is the most serious. This arouses the maximum amount of anxiety :in men, and living with anxiety is the most discomforting state for them. In a situation involving threat to life, therefore, a leader must relieve the group members from the state of anxiety at the earliest. For that, he must take a clear and firm decision, convey it to the group members with confidence, and help them to put it into action without any undue waste of time. Dilly-dallying in such a situation can prove disastrous. The next in importance is the threat to the public image or status of the group members. This aspect is linked with the process of conditioning of their behaviour with certain ideas and values. Stronger the conditioning, more it can be relied upon for meeting the threat. However, the conditioning proves strong if the ideas related to it are rooted in the cultural norms of the group, the group has a sense of respectability about them and exclude an aura of practicability. We know that more members of the Indian Army have laid down their fives for safeguarding the 'Regimental Izzaf than for anything

else. This is because of their conditioning with the term izzat Of the three types of threats mentioned above, however, the one related to the loss of material is the least important It is very difficult for a leader to make his men suffer all types of deprivation for the sake of money or other material gains. His expecting them to make supreme sacrifice of life for material benefits amounts to asking for too much. In fact the threat of extreme danger can be best countered with a strong ideology process of deep and strong conditioning of behaviour with chosen altruistic ideas. In the fast changing sociopolitical scene of our country, certain old concepts are losing their appeal. There is a need, therefore, to evolve a new conceptual framework and ideology to inspire our officers and men.

Pressure. Pressure can grow from different sources. Taking the example of a military leader, he can feel the pressure of the enemy's proximity, force-strength, equipment superiority, better entrenchment, etc. He can also feel the pressure of his own official hierarchy's interest in the success of his campaign. A psychological pressure can be built around a military leader b . y the successes or failures of other troops operating in his area. If they have suffered reversals, the pressure felt by the leader would be high. But if they have been succeeding in their efforts, the morale of his troops would be high and pressure felt by him would be less. However the group members have a tendency to retreat in the face of mounting pressure. An effective leader takes two steps meet such a contingency. First, he gives correct information to his group members about their strength and position vis-a-vis the enemy because he knows that any exaggerated information about his group's chances Of success against the enemy could have drastic repercussions. Second, he adopts a bold and authoritarian style of leadership. That helps his group to take a steadfast stand against the enemy and make a way through his defences gradually. The democratic style of leadership, however, has little chance of success in a situation of high pressure.

Time. Time is the most scarce resource, and unless it is managed nothing else can be managed', says Peter Drucker. An effective, leader learns this truism early in life. He also understands that time has a tendency to slip through one's fingers in driblets and once spent, it cannot be retrieved. It is common knowledge that with regard to the use of time, people fall into patterns. A military leader, for example, is trained to work quickly. 'This, method, however, if not matched with the need of the situation, can become the habit of working hastily. For using time properly, therefore, a leader must learn to work systematically and he must cultivate 'an eye for detail'. He must learn to generate alternative solutions to a problem, evaluate each one of them carefully, and then choose the most useful one. Such a habit developed during peace time conditions can definitely help him in emergent condition. Let us not forget that insightful learning is developed only through trial and error learning. Moreover, a habit of systematic time management fills the leader with a confidence of its own type. It helps him not to get flurried when faced with a sudden dangerous situation. A commanding officer who, in the face of sudden enemy fire, walks to the - nearest trench with measured graceful steps, infuses spirit in his troops which goes a long way in boosting their morale. But another commanding officer who, under the similar circumstances, rushes to the trench, injects fear and commotion if, them, The fact of the matter is that when

time is short to meet a challenge, hasty action is no answer. It can, in fact worsen the situation. Developing an insightful approach to problems by inculcating the habit of systematic working, therefore, is the best way of managing time. The earlier the leaders start practicing it the better.

Job Demands. Considered as a variable of situation, job demands are linked with the structured and unstructured nature of a job. A job which is started from scratch and is performed for the first time is an extreme example of an unstructured job, but the one which has been performed many times before and is repeated, is an extreme example of a structured job. However, certain jobs are inherently more unstructured than others. For example, the job of an infantryman is relatively more unstructured than of a jawan belonging to the corps of AOC or ASC. Relating job demands with the style of leadership, Fielder's (1971) studies have concluded that both highly structured and highly unstructured jobs require an authoritarian style of leadership. A highly structured job has little challenge involved in it; a worker, therefore, has a tendency to shy away from it. He has to be goaded to complete it. On the other hand, a highly unstructured job, having no precedent or guidelines to perform it arouses the fear of failure in followers and necessitates authoritarian leadership. However, Hoefling is of the view that while highly structured jobs need authoritarian type of leadership, the jobs which have scope for innovation and creativity require the democratic type of leadership. It implies that for the purpose of relating a situation to the process of leadership, the degree of the structure of the job itself needs to be gone into finer detail. For example, raising of a new unit in the defence services and making up a team of scientists to produce optimum results, both present unstructured job situations.. But successful handling of the first requires an authoritarian leader, and of the second a democratic leader.

Leadership Scoring Model

For the purpose of determining the style of leadership required in the light of prevailing group and situational characteristics Hoefling has provided a graphic model. It clarifies further the understanding of the functional approach to leadership. The model is presented in Figure 5.2 on next page.

‘picture’

GOAL is EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP

CHAPTER 6

TRANSACTIONAL AND

TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP

Military leadership in India is going through a transition at

present because of the changing political and sociocultural environment in the country. We had inherited a leadership style from our colonial masters which could not become an organic part of our behaviour for obvious reasons. And it is proving all the more irrelevant today. There is an urgent need, therefore, for us to develop a leadership style which is psychologically indigenous. It should also prove responsive to the emerging political and social realities of the country. The military organisations of the country cannot remain immune from their influence.

While developing a leadership style of the above kind, we in the military need to take note of the following

. The Indian masses have become aware of their' comparative deprivations’. 'I'hey are no more ready to blame the God Almighty for their poverty and sufferings. The aspiration level of the Indian masses in general, and consequently military personnel also, is rising every day.

The economic disparity between the officers and the other ranks is getting reduced continuously with the rising inflation on the one hand and frequent revisions of pay and allowances on the other.

The social and educational differences between then officers and the other ranks are narrowing down. In way the narrowing down of the differences is eroding the positional, and to a certain degree the expert power, of the leaders.

· There is an increasing tendency to challenge the legal authority of the leader on the slightest provocation, many of whom are taken to the courts of law also.

· The whole concept of military warfare is undergoing a radical change. The old norms of leadership behaviour which primarily depended upon the 'conditioned response' of the soldier to certain types of orders, is becoming obsolete. The need for judicious functioning is percolating down even to the NCOs 'level. They are required these days to man isolated posts in the high altitudes and are given charge of operating high velocity missiles under emergency conditions. The conditioned response' type of behaviour can prove more harmful than useful under those circumstances.

BASS' STUDY ON LEADERSHIP

Bernard M Bass has written a book titled 'Leadership and performance, Beyond Expectations' (1975). The book is based on his researches conducted on military leaders and civilian executives. He has studied the problem of leadership from the angle of motivating the subordinates, and has made certain observations which can be noted by us while we are in the process of developing a leadership style of our own.

On the basis of the results obtained, Bass has divided leaders into two categories: transactional leaders, and transformational leaders. The main trust of the study is that each adopts his own method of motivating subordinates to work. The salient points of the study are given in the succeeding paragraphs.

Transactional Leadership

A transactional leader, according to Bass, considers the relationship between him and his subordinates as a transaction in which followers' needs are met if their performance comes up to the explicit or implicit contract with the leader. He recognises what are the objectives of his Organisation and knows what actions must be taken by the subordinates to .achieve those objectives. He clarifies the role and task requirements to the subordinates so that they are confident in exercising necessary efforts. He also recognises the subordinates' needs and wants, but makes clear to them that the satisfaction of these is dependent upon the type of efforts they would make for achieving the organisation's objectives. Talking in terms of motivation, the transactional leader has the following characteristics:

Contingent Reward and Punishment . The transactional leader mainly works through the exploitation of the physiological and security needs of the subordinates. He uses material rewards, welfare measures, and appraisal methods for motivating them to work. These methods are fairly effective in motivating young trainees and unskilled and semiskilled personnel but they are very limited appeal to intelligent, innovative and ambitious subordinates. Time-pressures, quick-saturation of the effect of material rewards, and dissatisfaction with all types of appraisal methods, tend to make this approach of the transactional leader relatively ineffective.

Management by Exception. A transactional leader prefers to intervene only when things go wrong. This makes the subordinates feel that so long as they are working well, no one

takes note of them. There is no word of praise for a job done well. But when they happen to make a mistake, they are pulled up. Such a strategy hardly induces them to strive for excellence which is the essence of motivation.

A Diffident Style. It seems that somewhere deep down in his heart a transactional leader remains unsure about the efficacy of his method of motivating the subordinates. That makes him suffer from a guilt feeling. As a result of that he fails to become genuine and spontaneous in his interactions with his subordinates. His feedback to them is often to mollycoddle them. That way it fails to achieve the desired results.

.1 Ineffective Communication. Also, a transactional leader, in the manner of giving feedback to his subordinates, is more general than specific. The subordinates, therefore, think that the leader is not blaming any of them for the things which have gone wrong; he is merely grumbling about the overall deteriorating conditions in the Organisation or in the country as a whole. That type of feedback serves no useful purpose.

In sum, a transactional leader depends upon external reinforcement to motivate his subordinates. They perceive him as capable of delivering pay, perquisites and promotions to them. No leader can fulfil these expectations of his subordinates on a regular basis. Even if he wanted to, the organisational constraints would come in his way. Therefore, when he fails to live up to those expectations, he is considered an ineffective leader.

Transformational Leadership

Characteristics of Transformational Leader. A transformational leader as against the transactional one, relies more on intrinsic

rather than extrinsic rewards, to motivate his subordinates. His main characteristics are:

Situational Sensitivity and Style Flexibility. A transformational leader's approach to work is based on a balanced mix of rational and emotional factors. He knows that a highly programmed method of working is the worst tyranny. There is little scope for working in a motivated manner in such situation. In designing work programmes, therefore, he

Provides enough scope for soothing the emotions of subordinates.

Inspirational Leadership. A transformational leader knows that striving for excellence and producing high quality performance could be as intense a desire of workers as any, provided they are explained their jobs thoroughly and given certain amount of freedom to develop their job related potentials. Such an approach on the part of the leader improves the self confidence of subordinates on the one hand and their belief in the leader on the other.

Individualised Attention and Consideration. Each of us has an ego. To save it from hurt or injury and to sustain it under all circumstances, is the inner-most desire of all of us. In

a way, that also promotes individualism. A transformational leader understands the importance of this phenomenon very well. He also recognises the contribution its promotion can make to quality performances. He, therefore, encourages it through personal influence and one-to-one relationship. He also develops individualism of his junior leaders by assigning them jobs involving responsibility and delegating to them authority commensurate with the responsibility. Bass writes, 'Military leaders need to avoid treating all subordinates alike'. They must discover what best motivates each individual soldier or sailor, and how to employ him most effectively. They must be generous in the use of their time. But as General Eugene Neyer notes, The leader's interest must be genuine'.

Role Model. A transformational leader also serves as the role model for his subordinates. This is the spirit which he imbibes from his seniors while working with them at the earlier stages of his career. Later, it may become conscious or unconscious part of his behaviour. Anyhow, a leader serving as the role model to his subordinates has a tremendous influence upon them. It often inspires them to emulate the leader and produce high quality work.

Management by Human Values. Above all, a transformational leader is often guided by a moral code and certain ethical values. He cares a lot for human dignity and equal fights. He arouses no false hopes and makes no tall promises to his subordinates. By serving their real instead of manufactured needs, a transformational leader saves the subordinates from suffering delusions at a later date. That way he also subscribes to a code of ethics that is fully acceptable to his society as well as his profession. Also, this type of moral leadership serves objectives of the Organisation better in the long run.

Charismatic Leadership. A transformational leader has greater chances to acquire the image of being charismatic as against a transactional leader. Charisma is a two-way process. It gets formed easily when the leader- has high personal power and the subordinates are of a highly dependent type. It often emerges in situations of stress. A transformational leader by providing encouragement and support to the subordinates at the time of stress, wins over their trust and confidence. Thereafter, whenever required, he can arouse them emotionally and ask them to put in extra effort and achieve higher results.

Leader-Follower Relationship: Reaction of Followers to Leadership. At first glance, it may appear that transformational leadership is an extention of the trait theory. Traits do play a role in transformational leadership, but this type leadership is based more on the special type of relationship between the leaders and the followers. It depends more on specific types of reaction of followers than on traits possessed by the leader. Such reactions include:

• Levels of performance beyond that those that would be normally expected.

• High levels of devotion, loyalty, and reverence towards the leader.

• Enthusiasm for, and excitement about the leader and the leader's ideas.

• Willingness on the part of subordinates to sacrifice their own personal interests for the sake of a larger collective goal.

Behaviour of Transformational Leaders. How do transformational leaders generate this kind of relationship. Studies have revealed that leaders gain the capacity to exert profound influence over others through these techniques:

First, and perhaps the most important, transformational leaders articulate a vision. They describe usually in vivid, emotion _provoking terms, an image of their nation, group or Organisation could or should become. mahatma Gandhi's articulation of a vision of free India and Martin Luther, King's I have a dream speech are classic examples.

Transformational leaders define the purpose of their movement or Organisation in unique ways.

Such leaders generally show greater than average willingness to take risks and engage in unconventional actions to reach their goals. Nethaji subhash Chandra Bose's life is an apt example'

o Other qualities of transformational leaders include

high level of self confidence

o High degree of concern for followers' . o excellent communication skills.

o Stirring personal style o Stirring personal style.

From the above discussion we see that transformational leader his makes use of rather subtle and indirect methods to motivate men. Though these methods take time to be appreciated by men, yet in the long run they prove more effective than direct methods. Also this process of motivation serves as the 'self-propelling' force in a worker which impels him to keep improving his performances for a long time. However, it would be wrong to completely ignore the methods used by a transactional type of leader. In the defence services there may be occasions when a leader may have no recourse but to fall back on transactional methods of motivation. His being sensitive to the situation and being able to mould his behaviour to meet its requirements, therefore, is the crux of effective leadership.

An appropriate model for implementation in the Armed Forces is given out in Figure 6.1 on the next page.

CHAPT'ER 7

TOTAL QUALITY LEADERSHIP

Introduction

The industrial revolution which began in the closing years of the 19th Century and continued unabated for several decades, thereafter wake the concept of scientific management. Automation, technology upgradation and good communications have necessitated organisations’s to optimise resource utilisation for high productivity and enchanced goal achievement, for their very survival. One of the fall outs of this phenomenon was the evolution of the Concept of total quality management (TQM) . this concept focuses attention of the functions and processes of management, and together with the application of scientific and quantitative aids, attempts to optimise the achievement of results with limited resources.

Developments in the last couple of decades have had a very visible effect on the most crucial resource of all, the human being. Education, awareness and aspirations have caused dramatic shifts in the modern man’s thinking and functioning. Knowledge workers have replaced skill workers because of the demands of highly sophisticated technology. The effect has been far more visible in organisations which are just equipment and technology intensive. The Armed Forces, which are highly human resource intensive, have been experiencing these effects in considerable measure.

Changes in aspirations/expectations of people have made leadership and its associated behavioral sciences the central piece of the entire organisational process. Modern organisations, therefore, demand that the leadership aspect be given special attention while continuing to emphasis on the TQM method of process optimisation. Consequently, Total Quality Leadership (TQL) would require that leaders take a holistic view of their functions and exercise their leadership by fine synthesis of decision making and process optimization. TQL would further emphasis on the need to look at leadership at all levels of the hierarchy and create enlightened leadership in the rank and file as well, so that effectiveness becomes inspired.

What is Total Quality Leadership?

When one of our governing values is total quality, we will care not only about the quality of our products and services, but also about the quality of our lives and our relationships. The paradigm of total quality is continuous improvement. People and organisations should not be content to stay where they are, no matter how successful they seem to be.

And very few people or organisations could possibly be content with the 'status-quo' if they were regularly receiving accurate feedback on their performance from their stakeholders. Quality begins with an understanding of our stakeholders' needs and expectations, but ultimately it means meeting or exceeding those needs and expectations.

There is no fundamental difference in the concept of leadership as being practiced now and the Total Quality Leadership. The main difference is that of 'focus' and 'quality'. In Total Quality Leadership the focus is on the whole system rather than on sub systems which are of immediate concern. Similarly there is a sharper focus on quality leadership which means that a Total Quality leader must practice value based leadership or principled leadership. A TQL Concept requires a leader to be a role model and an enlightened leader. An enlightened leader would utilise his personal power rather than positional power and would aim at inspiring his subordinates to very high levels of performance.

What Does TQL Involve?

Total Quality is a strategic approach of producing the best by optimally utilising the systems in a synergetic manner. An analogy can be taken from 'Raja – Rishi Model described in our scriptures, where the 'Rishi'- provided the vision and guidance for pursuing excellence in all endeavors and the 'Raja' translated this vision into action by optimally managing the resources under his command and by inspiring his followers (intrinsic motivation) to give their best to achieve the objective/objectives to concretise the vision. The 'Raja and Rishi' were at times two different individuals and at times a single individual. When the aspects of 'Raja and Rishi' are combined in one individual, he turned into an enlightened leader. in our context the TQL concept could explained as follows:

Total Quality will involve:

The focus will be on a whole system rather than the focus being limited to sub system(s).

o The focus will not only be on producing quality output to achieve a given goal, but also on the process of connecting/processing the given resources into quality output.

o It includes quality of vision.

o Maintaining symphony while improving various sub system ie, improving one sub system must not lead to an adverse effect on other complementary/related sub systems.

o Improving sub systems by 'bench marking' and reengineering' rather than resorting to Band-Aid or patchwork improvement.

o Reengineering.

o Restructuring.

TQL will involve

Principled leadership - being a role model. Developing a suitable vision. Improving the subordinates through using mostly personal power rather than

'positional power'. Development of subordinates. Empowerment of subordinates. Developing managerial skills and competence. Empathy.

Four Areas of Total Quality

Total quality is an expression of the need for continuous improvement in four areas:

• Personal and professional development.

• interpersonal relations.

• Leadership Managerial effectiveness.

• Organisational productivity

Personal and Professional Development

In reality both the leader and the led are the keys to total quality. IVs what is called an inside-out, meaning to start first with the leader - his paradigms, character, and motives .This approach often requires personal change not personnel changes. The key to creating a total quality Organisation is first to create a total quality person who uses a true north compass that is objective and external, that reflects natural laws or principles, as opposed to values that are subjective and internal.

Character and skill development is a process of ongoing improvement or progression, a constant upward spiral. The personal side of total quality means total integrity around

your value system and part of that value system means you are always getting better, personally and professionally.

Interpersonal Relations

Total quality on an interpersonal level means making constant deposits into the emotional bank accounts of others. It is continually building goodwill and negotiating in good faith, not in fear. If you create an expectation of continuous product or service improvement but fail to deliver on that expectation, you will see a build-up of fear and negative forecasting.

A corporate culture (or any organisational culture), The human body, is an ecosystem of interdependent relationships, and these must be balanced synergistically and based on trust to achieve quality. If we approach quality with something other than a principle - centered approach on all four levels, our efforts will be necessary but insufficient

Emotional bank accounts can evaporate fast - particularly when expectations of continuous communication and improvement are violated. If communication doesn't take place, people begin to tap into their memories and into their fears and spin off negative scenarios and start planning based on those scenarios.

Interpersonal quality means giving those three hugs a day physical hugs, emotional hugs, verbal hugs to the people around us- so that those deposits are constantly being made.

Leadership/Managerial Effectiveness

Win-Win Strategy. Managerial quality is basically nurturing win-win performance and partnership agreements - making sure they are 'in sync' with what is happening inside that person and what is happening inside the business. Win-Win thinking creates teamwork. Win-lose thinking creates rivahy. Rivalries are common in established systems as departments develop a life of their own and their own survival mechanism. Rivalries are very natural when people have limited resources; they perceive their professional world as a limited pie, and they gradually develop win-lose approaches. What is most essential is internal unity. We need internal unity to get win-win co-operation, loyalty to the mission and constancy of purpose.

Empowerment. Most people search for quality in techniques, practices, and processes; they don't reake that quality requires a whole different explanation of the role of management. What is the difference between management and leadership? Management looks through its glasses and does its work, but leadership looks at the lens and says, 'Is this. the right frame of reference?' Management works within the systems to make them work. Leadership works within the systems to make them work. Leadership deals with direction, with vision, with purpose, with principles, with top fine, and with people building, culture building, emotional bank account building, strengthening people. Management deals more with control, logistics, and efficiency. Leadership deals with the top fine, management deals with the bottom fine. The hand can't say to the foot, 'I have

no need of these'. Both leadership and management, effectiveness and efficiency, are necessary. And the Management's job is empowerment, and empowerment basically means, 'Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime'. When you give people principles, you empower them to govern themselves.'Ibey have a sense of stewardship. You have entrusted them with principles to work with; guidelines to work wid-@n; -resources to draw upon; win-win Performance criteria to be measured against consequences and rewards to work for. When you fully empower people, your paradigm of yourself changes. You become a servant You no longer control others; they control them. In brief management and leadership are two sides of the same coin.

Organisational Productivity

Proactive leadership springs from an awareness that we are not a product of our systems, that we are not a product of our environments, that those things powerfully influence us, but we can choose our responses to them. Productivity is the essence of real leadership. Every great leader has a high level of proactive energy and vision-a sense that I am not a product of my culture, my conditioning, and the conditions of my life; rather I am a product of my value system, attitudes, and behaviour-and those things I control.

Deming continually emphasises that quality starts at the top that the leadership of the Organisation must be intimately involved in the process to see that the quality paradigm is translated into the minds and hearts of everybody in the Organisation. He notes that the quality crisis is more fundamental than technique and that the solution calls for a new paradigm, a new way of viewing our roles, a transformation of management operations. Quality is not always doing things better - it is doing things differently.

The heart of organisational continuous improvement is problem solving around stakeholder information. Most organisations do Problem solving-around financial data and analysis. But the best organisations in Japan and in America are constantly getting. information from all the stakeholders - all those who have a stake in the welfare of the enterprise - and they listen intently and fully and then develop solution based upon that diagnosis. This is why they are in a constant state of improvement If our paradigm is onetime, seasonal, or unsystematic improvement we are not moving towards total quality. Real quality improvements happen when management begins to problem - solve around stakeholder information.

TQL - A Total Philosophy

Total quality is a total philosophy, a total paradigm of continuous improvement in all four dimensions. And it is sequential; if you don't have it personally, you won't get it organizationally. You can't expect organisations to improve when the people don't improve. You might improve systems, but how do you get a commitment inside the culture to improve systems ? People have to grow and mature to where they can communicate to solve the problems to improve those systems.

Total quality is routed in timeless principles:

Faith, hope, humility Work, industry, research, testing. Constancy, consistency, predictability. Continuous improvement and progression. Feedback based on both measurement and discernment. Virtue and truth in human relations.

Without the roots, we don't get the fruits. Without the governing principles of total quality, the methods and techniques alone rarely produce quality products, services or relationships.

Transformation of Management

Because Total Quality is primarily a paradigm (a way of looking at the world) concerning leadership and people, Principle - Centered Leadership or Values Based Leadership is integra I I to its success.

Yet, Principle - Centered / Valued Based Leadership also applies to individuals and family units - to any human relationship - enabling them to achieve worthwhile purposes of greater love, peace, harmony, co-operation, understanding, commitment, and creativity and to become more effective in all interpersonal and managerial relationships - (quite like) certain Total Quality objectives.

Management must change fundamentally, and transform itself. Management must empower its people in the deepest sense and remove the barriers and obstacles it has created that crush and defeat the inherent commitment, creativity, and quality service that people are otherwise prepared to offer. To receive joy and pride in one’s work is the right of all. And it is management practices that prevent it. A total quality leader must ensure fusion of 'the art of managerial skills' and 'art of leadership'.

Profound sustainable cultural change can take place within an Organisation (such as commitment to Total Quality) only when the individuals within the Organisation first change themselves from the inside out. Not only must personal change precede organisational change but personal quality must precede organisational quality.

EPILOGUE

Leadership is the most important factor in the sustenance and progress of an Organisation. Leadership in the defence services acquires special importance because of the nature of their activities and objectives. There is a need in our organisations, therefore, to select the right type of persons to play the leader’s role, train and develop them properly, and devise work practices which would develop them pro

keep the quality of leadership flourishing.

There are a number of theories of leadership. None of them has lost its relevance for the defence services. Each one can prove useful, depending upon the situation. The traits theory of leadership, so much denounced by behaviour scientists, can be of use to our cadets and young officers. They can use traits as signposts in the march towards attaining effective leadership. The theory related to auth oritarian, laissez-faire and democratic leadership too has become relevant to the defence services in the changed circumstances in our country. Of course, the situational theory of leadership is of immense importance because it has shifted the emphasis from the leader to the situation for understanding the concept. If we take into account the complexity and sophistication of modem warfare, we would realise that these days, in the defence services, situation has become more imperative than ever before. Understanding the nuances of situational theory of leadership, therefore, is most important to us.

The fact that leadership is a type of human behaviour which can be developed, is by now well realised. However, a potential for it has to be ensured. Thereafter, formal training programmes and an enabling organisational climate can help its development to a great extent. In order to prove useful, the contents of the training programmes must relate to the prevailing and emerging realities, and the trainees must be an effective feedback system as an in-built part of the training programme.

In the defence services, an officer gets formal sanction to play the leader's role through his appointment. But that is only the start point; it gets validated through his establishing a working relationship with his group and completing the task assigned. To function in this manner, he needs intelligence, initiative, persistence, self confidence and the desire to function in an responsible manner. Above all, he needs to develop alertness of mind to understand the needs and motives of his group members and specific requirements of the situation. That is why we have defined leadership as 'the ability of a person to mobilise and direct the efforts of his group members for solving group problems by relating himself to the characteristics of the group and sensitizing himself about the nature of the problem situation'.

The task orientation or mission accomplishment has always been emphasised in the role of a military leader. Welfare orientation or concern for people may keep men happy but it is not consistently related to the achievement of results. The task orientation of a leader utilised for structuring the expectations of group members, maintaining their role differentiation, and monitoring their performance at regular intervals, is sure to give positive results. However, freedom enjoyed by a person to participate in planning and execution of his activities helps him in producing better results Referring to the

leadership grid discussed earlier we can say that 9, 5 style of leadership which gives highest priority to mission accomplishment, is most suited to military leadership. That leadership style gives adequate importance to working with and through men.

It is not only that we as officers are required to lead the men in battle, but also are required to put in tremendous effort in prepare the man for battle., It is this effort, in the form of systematic, progressive and ever continuing training that is important. Raw boys with their traditional agri-bound outlook, attitudes and values have to be 'transformed' into a cohesive fighting unit, which places national interests above all else, even making the supreme sacrifice when needed. It is not easy. It is here that the concept of transformational leadership and total quality leadership need to be understood and practiced.

We as a nation are in throes of a change. The process of change is all-embracing. Change in the style of military leadership is a significant part of it. We can study the styles of military leaders of other countries, but ultimately we must develop one of our own most suited to our country's political, social and cultural conditions. Swami Vivekananda writes, Teach yourselves teach everyone, his real nature. Call upon the sleeping soul and see how it awakes, Power will come, glory will come, purity will come, and everything that is excellent will come, when this sleeping soul is roused to self conscious activity'. The days of imitated leadership therefore, are over. The need today is to know ourselves, accept ourselves and act ourselves. The leadership behaviour based on this premise is sure to appeal to our soldiers, sailors and airmen, and thereby prove effective.