Characteristic of leadership:

Empathy: Creating a legitimate rapport with your staff makes it less likely that
personal issues and resentment can creep in and derail the group. When your team knows
that you are empathetic to their concerns, they will be more likely to work with you and
share in your vision, rather than foster negative feelings.

Consistency: Being a consistent leader will gain you respect and credibility, which is
essential to getting buy-in from the group. By setting an example of fairness and credibility,
the team will want to act the same way.

Honesty: Another characteristic of leadership that lends itself to credibility. Those

who are honest, especially about concerns, make it far more likely that obstacles will be
addressed rather than avoided. Honesty also allows for better assessment and growth.

Direction: Having the vision to break out of the norm and aim for great things --then
the wherewithal to set the steps necessary to get there-- is an essential characteristic of
good leadership. By seeing what can be and managing the goals on how to get there, a
good leader can create impressive change.

Communication: Effective communication helps keep he team working on the right

projects with the right attitude. If you communicate effectively about expectations, issues
and advice, your staff will be more likely to react and meet your goals.

Flexibility: Not every problem demands the same solution. By being flexible to new
ideas and open-minded enough to consider them, you increase the likelihood that you will
find the best possible answer. You will set a good example for your team and reward good
ideas.

Conviction: A strong vision and the willingness to see it through is one of the most
important characterizes of leadership. The leader who believes in the mission and works
toward it will be an inspiration and a resource to their followers.

Leader Participation (Vroom & Yetton)

The Vroom-Yetton-Jago model is a contingency approach to group decision making that is
designed specifically to help leaders select the best approach to making decisions. The
model identifies different ways a decision can be made by considering the degree of follower
participation. It proposes a method for leaders to select the right approach to making a
decision in a given set of circumstances.
Decision Types
The Vroom-Yetton-Jago model defines five different decision approaches that a leader can
use. In order of participation from least to most, these are:
1.

AI Autocratic Type 1: Decisions are made completely by the leader. Leaders make
the decision on their own with whatever information is available.
2.
AII Autocratic Type 2: The decision is still made by the leader alone, but the leader
collects information from the followers. Followers play no other role in the decision-making
process.
3.
CI Consultative Type 1: The leader seeks input from select followers individually
based on their relevant knowledge. Followers do not meet each other, and the leader's
decision may or may not reflect followers' influence.

4.

CII Consultative Type 2: Similar to CI, except the leader shares the problem with
relevant followers as a group and seeks their ideas and suggestions. The followers are
involved in the decision, but the leader still makes the decision.
5.
GII Group-based Type 2: The entire group works through the problem with the
leader. A decision is made by the followers in collaboration with the leader. In a GII decision,
leaders are not at liberty to make a decision on their own.
Decision Trees
The Vroom-Yetton-Jago model also provides guidance for leaders trying to determine which
approach to decision making to use (AI through GII). The model uses a decision-tree
technique to diagnose aspects of the situation methodically. This technique involves
answering a series of yes or no questions and following the yes path to the recommended
type of decision-making approach.

Goal-setting theory
In 1960s, Edwin Locke put forward the Goal-setting theory of motivation. This theory states
that goal setting is essentially linked to task performance. It states that specific and
challenging goals along with appropriate feedback contribute to higher and better task
performance.
In simple words, goals indicate and give direction to an employee about what needs to be
done and how much efforts are required to be put in.
The important features of goal-setting theory are as follows:

The willingness to work towards attainment of goal is main source of job motivation.
Clear, particular and difficult goals are greater motivating factors than easy, general and

vague goals.

Specific and clear goals lead to greater output and better performance. Unambiguous,
measurable and clear goals accompanied by a deadline for completion avoids
misunderstanding.

Goals should be realistic and challenging. This gives an individual a feeling of pride
and triumph when he attains them, and sets him up for attainment of next goal. The
more challenging the goal, the greater is the reward generally and the more is the
passion for achieving it.

Better and appropriate feedback of results directs the employee behaviour and
contributes to higher performance than absence of feedback. Feedback is a means of
gaining reputation, making clarifications and regulating goal difficulties. It helps
employees to work with more involvement and leads to greater job satisfaction.

Employees participation in goal is not always desirable.

Participation of setting goal, however, makes goal more acceptable and leads to more
involvement.

Goal setting theory has certain eventualities such as:

a. Self-efficiency- Self-efficiency is the individuals self-confidence and faith that
he has potential of performing the task. Higher the level of self-efficiency,
greater will be the efforts put in by the individual when they face challenging
tasks. While, lower the level of self-efficiency, less will be the efforts put in by the
individual or he might even quit while meeting challenges.
b. Goal commitment- Goal setting theory assumes that the individual is
committed to the goal and will not leave the goal. The goal commitment is
dependent on the following factors:
i.

Goals are made open, known and broadcasted.

ii.

Goals should be set-self by individual rather than designated.

iii.

Individuals set goals should be consistent with the organizational goals

and vision.

Advantages of Goal Setting Theory

Goal setting theory is a technique used to raise incentives for employees to complete
work quickly and effectively.

Goal setting leads to better performance by increasing motivation and efforts, but also
through increasing and improving the feedback quality.

Limitations of Goal Setting Theory

At times, the organizational goals are in conflict with the managerial goals. Goal
conflict has a detrimental effect on the performance if it motivates incompatible action
drift.

Very difficult and complex goals stimulate riskier behaviour.

If the employee lacks skills and competencies to perform actions essential for goal,
then the goal-setting can fail and lead to undermining of performance.

There is no evidence to prove that goal-setting improves job satisfaction.