© prentice hall 2006 chapter six participative leadership behavior 6-1

© Prentice Hall 2006

CHAPTER SIX

PARTICIPATIVE LEADERSHIPBEHAVIOR

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Learning Objectives

Describe participative leadership behaviors and provide examples of specific leader behaviors.

Explain why participative leadership can have positive influences on follower behaviors.

Describe skills and abilities that are needed to be an effective participative leader.

Describe the individual and organizational benefits that can result from effective participative leadership.

After reading this chapter, you should be able to do the following:

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Learning Objectives

Identify characteristics of followers that make participative leadership highly effective and characteristics that make it ineffective.

Identify organizational and task characteristics that make participative leadership highly effective and characteristics that make it ineffective.

Describe how leaders can modify situations to increase the effectiveness of their participative leadership.

Explain how leaders can modify followers’ work situations to make followers less dependent on the leader’s participative leadership.

After reading this chapter, you should be able to do the following:

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Participative Leadership

Participative leaders involve followers in the decision processes. Participative leadership includes describing a decision problem to a group of followers and asking for their input on the implications of various alternative solutions already developed by the leader. It also involves holding informal conversations with individual followers to draw their ideas out and listening carefully to understand and incorporate their information into a decision solution.

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Types of Participative Leadership Behavior

ParticipativeLeadershipBehaviors

Obtaininginformation

from followers

Obtaininginformation

from followers

Consultingwith

groups

Consultingwith

groups

DelegationDelegation

Asking foropinions about

alternatives

Asking foropinions about

alternatives

Joint decisionmaking with

followers

Joint decisionmaking with

followers

Consultingwith

individuals

Consultingwith

individuals

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Degrees of Participation

AutocraticDecision

Consensus/GroupDecision DelegationConsultation

LOW HIGHInfluence by Followers

Source: Adapted from Gary Yukl (1998) Leadership in Organizations. Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey

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Real Leaders

Real leaders vary their use of different forms of

participation. Some leaders, for example, use

consensus decision making with only one or two

trusted followers; others prefer large group meetings

where all points of view are heard. Some leaders use

delegation only after carefully specifying guidelines

and limits to the decision option chosen and may

require that the final decision be subjected to the

leader’s approval before implementation. Other leaders

give followers complete freedom in arriving at and

implementing a solution. Most leaders use different

combinations of participation at different times,

adapting them to each situation and group of followers.

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Effective Delegation

DO

•Understand your authority & responsibility

•Clearly communicate performance expectations

•Make followers responsible for results

•Delegate challenging responsibilities

•Show confidence in followers’ ability to perform

•Reward accomplishment

AVOID

•Lack of agreement on authority & responsibility

•Lack of understanding of group’s objectives

•Involvement of followers not trained to effectively perform

•Showing a lack of confidence in followers

•Requiring “nothing less than perfection”

•Making followers feel insecure

TO DELEGATE EFFECTIVELY

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Skills, Traits and Sources of Power for Effective Participative Leadership

Skills, Traits & Sourcesof Power for Effective

Participative Leadership

AssertivenessSkills

AssertivenessSkills

Self-MonitoringSkills

Self-MonitoringSkills

LegitimatePower

LegitimatePower

ConflictManagement

Skills

ConflictManagement

Skills

ExpertPower

ExpertPower

ListeningSkills

ListeningSkills

Resource/ConnectionPower

Resource/ConnectionPower

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Major Effects of Participative Leadership

Follower Benefits

• satisfaction with work and leader• increased performancemotivation• less resistance to changeincreased performanceimproved development

Group or Organizational Benefits

•improved quality of decisions•increased performance•smoother implementation of decisions•less resistance to change

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Enhancers of Participative Leadership Effectiveness

SITUATIONAL FACTORSTHAT ENHANCE THEEFFECTIVENESS OF

PARTICIPATIVE LEADERSHIP

SITUATIONAL FACTORSTHAT ENHANCE THEEFFECTIVENESS OF

PARTICIPATIVE LEADERSHIP

FOLLOWERCHARACTERISTICS

FOLLOWERCHARACTERISTICS

TASKCHARACTERISTICS

TASKCHARACTERISTICS

• Job competence• Needs for independence and growth• Internal locus of control• Expect participation

• Job competence• Needs for independence and growth• Internal locus of control• Expect participation

•Important task•Requires followers’commitment•Uncertainty

•Important task•Requires followers’commitment•Uncertainty

GROUP & LEADERCHARACTERISTICS

GROUP & LEADERCHARACTERISTICS

• Group harmony• Trust in leader• Good leader skills in conflict management

• Group harmony• Trust in leader• Good leader skills in conflict management

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Situational Factors That Neutralize Effectiveness of Participative Leadership

SITUATIONAL FACTORSTHAT NEUTRALIZE

EFFECTIVENESS OFPARTICIPATIVE LEADERSHIP

SITUATIONAL FACTORSTHAT NEUTRALIZE

EFFECTIVENESS OFPARTICIPATIVE LEADERSHIP

Large group sizeLarge group sizeTasks that are

highly structuredor complex

Tasks that arehighly structured

or complex

Passive followers, authoritarianfollowers, followers willing to accept

autocratic leadership

Passive followers, authoritarianfollowers, followers willing to accept

autocratic leadership

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Overcoming Factors that Neutralize Effectiveness of Participative Leadership

Task redesign can be used to manipulate the structure and complexity of followers’ tasks, and selection procedures can help determine if specific personality types are well matched with certain jobs.

When leaders face emergency decisions or those with short time deadlines, participation is not effective. In some cases, the leader may be able to extend deadlines or learn of needed decisions sooner and thus provide more time for participative leadership.

Large groups may be split into subgroups. These subgroups can operate with some autonomy but will allow the leader to involve members in useful discussions of decision issues.

Charismatic leadership behaviors may be effective in overcoming apathetic and passive behavior.

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Process Model of the Participative Leadership Process

LEADER PARTICIPATIVENESS• Drawing out & listening to followers• Holding meetings to share decision problems &

gather input• Consulting with followers on decisions• Giving serious consideration to followers’ input• Reaching consensus with followers & leaders as

equals• Delegating decisions to capable followers

FOLLOWER/GROUP PSYCHOLOGICAL

REACTIONS • Satisfaction of needs for competence, self-

control, independence, & personal growth• Satisfaction with supervisor, work, & organization• Motivation & commitment to decisions

FOLLOWER BEHAVIORS AND

OUTCOMES • Increased performance & productivity• Quality of decisions• Development of followers’ potential• Time-consuming, expensive, possible resistance

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SITUATIONAL FACTORS INCREASING LEADEREFFECTIVENESS Enhancers • Task importance• Task requires followers

commitment• Environmental uncertainty• Leader’s conflict

management skills• Group harmony• Followers’ job competence

and information• Followers’ need for

independence• Followers’ internal locus of

control• Expected participation

Substitutes• Many formal rules and

procedures

SITUATIONAL FACTORS DECREASING LEADEREFFECTIVENESSNeutralizers• Highly structured task• Task complexity with

professional followers• Large group size• Short time deadlines• Passive followers• Authoritarian followers• Followers willing to

accept autocratic leadership


Applying the Model of Participative Leadership

1. Are followers highly competent and knowledgeable; do they work on important tasks; is their commitment essential to carry out the leader’s decisions?

2. Do followers value achievement, independence and self fulfillment; do they view themselves as controlling their own lives; feel harmony and trust with the leader; and expect to participate in decisions?

3. Is the leader effective in obtaining follower input and skilled at conflict management?4. Is there much environmental uncertainty?If “yes” to one or more of these questions, followers will expect and value participative

leadership

1. DIAGNOSING THE SITUATION

3. MODIFYING FOLLOWERS & SITUATIONS

Leaders also act to:• Increase formal rules and procedures which

prescribe how to deal with emergencies and short time deadlines

• Redesign tasks to increase their importance & followers’ independence

• Build group harmony• Develop followers’ job competence and

knowledge• Eliminate highly structured tasks & large

group• Reassign followers who are passive,

authoritarian or desire autocratic leadership

2. PROVIDING DIRECTIVE LEADERSHIP Leaders demonstrate participative behaviors with

followers by:• Holding informal conversations with individual

followers to obtain information related to decisions• Sharing decision problems with groups of followers to

solicit their ideas or suggested solutions• Assigning a decision problem to followers who are

competent and desire to handle it• Allowing “air time” for all followers who desire it when

discussing decision problems• Inviting input and discussion on points of

disagreement regarding decision problems• Explaining to followers why ideas or solutions are not

implemented

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© prentice hall 2006 chapter six participative leadership behavior 6-1

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