INTRODUCTION

1. LEADEARSHIP AND POWER IN ORGANIZATIONSBYWANENO CHARLES OMONDIPRESENTED ON 23RD APRIL 2009FACILITATED BY: DR. MARGARET GACHURU

2. INTRODUCTION What is leadership? A dynamic process of influencing others to achieve organisational goals. It is more than personality or appointment Oxford English Dictionary defines it as..‘to cause to go with one…..to provide guidance’ Leaders set direction and people follow them. It is about inspiring individuals to give their best towards achieving expected results. Leader directs group towards goals

3. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LEADERS AND MANAGERS The biggest difference between these two concepts is the way in which they motivate people to work or follow them

4. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LEADERS AND MANAGERS (CONT’D) Zalenzik describes the differences as follows

5. TYPES OF LEADERS • The Charismatic leader - one who gains influence mainly from strength of personality e.g. Napoleon, Hitler, Churchill and others. • The Traditional leader - one whose position is assured by birth, e.g. kings, queens and tribal chieftains. This is another category to which few people can aspire. • The Situational leader - one whose influence can only be effective by being in the right place at the right time. • The Appointed leader - whose influence arises directly out of his position, e.g. most managers and supervisors. • The Functional leader – who secures their leadership position by what he/ she does rather than by what they are. In other words, functional leaders adapt their behaviour to meet the competing needs of the situation.

6. The key leadership variables. The key variables are: • The leader • Tasks/goals, • Group members (subordinates), and • The environment/situation. Taken together these variables form the total leadership situation, and the art of leadership is to find the best balance between them in the light of the total situation.

7. These variables are represented in the diagram below.

8. HOW LEADERS INFLUENCE OTHERS Barton (1998) in his book, states that most people accept the influence of leaders because they have power. What is power? Power is the capacity to affect the behavior of others. Ledgers rely on types of power which include; Legitimate power - this stems from a position’s placement in the managerial hierarchy and the authority vested in the position. Reward power – is based on the capacity to control and provide valued reward to others,such as pay rises, bonuses,etc. Coercive power – this depends on the ability to punish others when they do not engage in desired behaviors,e.g criticisms, reprimands, suspensions, warning letters that go to a person’s office file,,etc Expert power – it is based on the possession of expertise that is valued by others. Information power – this result from access to and control over the distribution of important information about organizational operations and future plans. Referent power – results from being admired, personally identified with or liked by others.

9. LEADERSHIP ROLES Armstrong and Stephens (2006) categorize essential Leadership roles into three.They have to; Define tasks – make it clear what the group has to do. Achieve the task – they ensure that the groups’ purpose is fulfilled Maintain effective relationships – between themselves and the members of the group, and between the people within the group.

10. LEADERSHIP CHARACTERISTICS John Adair cited in ‘A handbook for management and leadership’ lists the following generic qualities as those that good leaders should have; Enthusiasm – to get things done which they can communicate to other people. Confidence – belief in themselves which again people can sense Toughness – resilient, tenacious, and demanding high standards, seeking respect but not necessarily popularity. Integrity – being true to oneself, personal wholeness, soundness and honesty, which inspire trust. Warmth – in personal relationships, caring for people and being considerate Humility - willingness to listen and take the blame; not being arrogant and overbearing.

11. LEADERSHIP AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE Emotional intelligence is defined as the capacity for recognizing our own feelings and that of others, for motivating ourselves, for managing emotions well in ourselves as well as others. An emotionally intelligent person understands his or her own strengths and weaknesses and knows that it is more productive to manage emotions rather than be led by them. Some of the components of emotional intelligence identified by Goleman as cited in ‘A handbook for management and leadership’ are: Self-awareness – the ability to recognize and understand your moods, emotions and drives as well as their effect on others. Self-regulation – the ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses and moods and regulate own behavior coupled with a propensity to pursue goals with energy and persistence.

12. Leadership & Emotional Intelligence (Cont’d) Motivation – a passion to work for reasons that go beyond money and status and a propensity to pursue goals with energy and persistence. Empathy – the ability to understand the emotional makeup of other people and skill in treating people according to their emotional reactions. Social skills – proficiency in managing relationships and building networks to get the desired result from others and reach personal goals and the ability to find common ground and build rapport.

13. THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP Ideas about leadership in management range from the 'ideal' approaches of the Scientific Managers and the Human Relations School to the pragmatic, or adaptive, approaches of the Contingency theorists. The theories which have been put forward are generally classified under: Trait theories Style theories Contingency theories.

14. TRAIT THEORIES The earliest studies that were undertaken into leadership focused their attention on the qualities required for effective leaders. It has proved an impossible task to identify the particular traits or characteristics that separate leaders from non-leaders. Of those traits which do appear more frequently, intelligence, energy and Resourcefulness are perhaps the most representative. One may ask the meaning of trait? Traits are distinctive internal qualities or characteristics of an individual. For example, Physical characteristics – such as height, weight, appearance, energy Personality characteristics – dominance, extroversion, originality Skills and abilities – intelligence, knowledge, technical competence Social factors – interpersonal skills, sociability, and socioeconomic position

15. STYLE THEORIES This is an interest in leadership as an aspect of behaviour at work, rather than of personal characteristics . Examples include; Authoritarian-Democratic D. McGregor's Theory X manager - tough, autocratic and supporting tight controls with punishment-reward systems - the authoritarian. The contrasting style is that the Theory Y manager - benevolent, participative and believing in self-controls – the democrat. Rensis Likert's four management systems: System 1: the exploitive-authoritative system, which is the epitome of the authoritarian style. System 2: the benevolent-authoritative system, which is basically a paternalistic style. System 3: the consultative system, which moves towards greater democracy and teamwork. System 4: the participative-group system, which is the ultimate democratic style. Tannenbaum and Schmidt's model of a continuum of leadership styles, ranging from authoritarian behaviour at one end to democratic behaviour at the other.

16. Style theories (Cont’d) People-task orientation Examples of approaches utilizing two of the leadership variables people and tasks – are as follows: Michigan studies; These studies, first reported in 1950s, analyzed a number of variables between managers of high-productivity groups and managers of low-productivity groups. The object was to see if any significant differences could be identified, thus providing some clues to leadership behaviour. Ohio studies; studies were conducted during the 1950s. They were concerned with describing leadership behaviour. Consideration described behaviour that was essentially relationships-oriented or considerate of employees' feelings. Initiating structure referred to behaviour concerned with the organization of the work processes including communication channels, allocating tasks etc.

17. Style theories (Cont’d) The 3-D Theory; This adds considerably to the flexibility of leadership styles by including the factor of effectiveness in the dimensions. Harvard studies; Harvard researchers identified two distinct groups of leaders; task leaders and socio-emotional leaders, who were mutually exclusive. A person could not be a task leader and a socio- emotional leader as well. The task leader showed a concern for the struc­turing of activities, whereas the socio-emotional leader showed concern for supportive relationships. The Harvard results suggested that the two dimensions were mutually exclusive.

18. Leadership and the Organizational Life Cycle The view of organizations as having life cycles, or predictable stages provides some guidance about when either transactional or transformational leadership is likely to be most appropriate. When an organization is at its entrepreneurial or beginning stage, transformational leadership is particularly instrumental in creating a vision that allows the organization to be born and take a few steps.

19. At the collectivity stage, additional workers begin to join the initial core group and transactional leadership becomes an important aid in handling the accelerating growth. By the formalization and control stage, organizational growth requires even greater emphasis on transactional leadership to maintain direction and control. By the elaboration of the structure stage, excessive formalization and control often reduce innovation to a low level, so heavy emphasis on transformational leadership is again needed

20. CONTINGENCY THEORIES Function or action-centred leadership It is based on the theory that leadership is more a question of appropriate behaviour than of personality or of being in the right place at the right time. Contingency leadership Group performance is contingent upon the leader adopting an appropriate style in the light of the relative favourableness of the situation. According to Fiedler, the three most important variables in determining the relative favourableness of the situation are: Leader-member relations Degree of structure in task and Power and authority of the position.

21. APPLICATION OF LEADESRHIP IN KENYA’S CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY Contracting firms – Contractors practice a dictatorial type of leadership where, they make rules which must be followed by the employed casual or formal labourers. This is mainly due to tight aspects of building projects which must be met such as, doing a project within the required time, budget, quality and scope. Lack of enforcement of these rules may make a project lag behind in the mentioned areas, making it not viable in the end. Professional firms – These include architectural, quantity surveying and engineering firms. There exist many of such firms in Kenya, with majority belonging to individuals and a few, consisting of many employees. Our observation is that in very big firms, both autocratic and democratic styles of leadership are used depending with the situation. In some firms, the practice of sole proprietorship is common, which at times bars organisations from diversifying as only one person is in charge of making all decisions,

22. Application of leadership in Kenya (Cont’d) Professional bodies and clubs – examples include BORAQS, ERB, AAK, IQSK, IEK, etc. They show their leadership by regulating the codes of conduct and ethics of their various professionals in the industry. This ensures that all clients get professional services as required and hence, value for their money. The Government – The Kenyan government is practicing leadership by setting up programs that ensure the transfer of technology to the younger generation through apprenticeship training e.g. the 19 number stalled projects in Kenya which the government has fairly distributed to various consultants and construction firms with an aim of transfer of technology.

23. Application of leadership in Kenya (Cont’d) Institutions of higher learning – in our universities and colleges, the lecturers usually act as symbol of leadership to the students. Students tend to follow what they say, since they have a lot of knowledge power that can be of help to the pupils. Lecturers do influence the behaviours and attitudes of students through the talks they have with them and this can either make a student to choose the right path or not to. They also act as role models to many pupils who at a young age are never sure of which direction to take. They can influence the students to give back to the society the knowledge they have received in their training.

24. Application of leadership in Kenya (Cont’d) Other examples of leadership have been seen through; Practicing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Some construction companies in Kenya are increasingly practicing CSR.A good example is the Bamburi Cement Factory which rehabilitated it’s the wasteland quarries at the Coast into a marvellous ecosystem called Haller Park. ISO Certification: Very few Kenyan construction companies are ISO certified. They include Gibb Africa and Wanjohi Consultants which are engineering firms. This great step will encourage other firms to strive for ISO certification hence improving the quality of service delivery in the construction industry.

25. CHALLENGES FACING LEADERSHIP IN KENYA • Managing diversity; female vs. male leaders Here in Kenya, we have continuously experienced discrimination when it comes to women being in top leadership. Recently, parents and stakeholders of a school in Teso refused their children to go school, reasons being, they did not want the new headmistress to take position in the school, just because she was a woman! The government has however, recognised the need for women to also being given a chance in government positions by declaring that during recruitment, 30% should be women. The question is whether this has been implemented effectively. • Conservative leadership • Most private companies in Kenya are individually owned, and some of the old Turks who head them tend to be too rigid when it comes to embracing new ideas and technologies from the young generation. • Some of them have stayed so long in the powerful positions and they do not want to leave for others to lead.

26. Culture of corruption In Kenya, we have a very bad ethical culture, which has continuously been seen in or leaders. Most of them are corrupt in their dealings and lack accountability in their undertakings. This has really affected development in our country, since, as a common citizen, it is known that for you to have something done, you must bribe someone to do it for you. This behaviour is rampant in government offices especially, and until our leaders change, we still have along way to go. • Leading by example Most of our leaders preach water and rink wine. They do not lead by example, since the same things that they condemn, are the same things that they are engaged in. leaders should behave well, at all times both in public and in private. This is the only true mark of a great leader.

27. WAY FORWARD AND CONCLUSION • To be a great leader, one needs to know the tasks to be done, goals to be met and inspire people to do these voluntarily without putting pressure. • A good leader will always think of the people more, than the tasks. • Managers should learn to lead first if they want their goals to be met.