Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which

one person is able to enlist the aid and support of others in the

accomplishment of a common task”. A definition more inclusive of

followers comes from Alan Keith of Genentech who said "Leadership is

ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making

something extraordinary happen.

FUNCTIONAL LEADERSHIP THEORY (Hackman & Walton, 1986; McGrath,

1962) is a particularly useful theory for addressing specific leader behaviors

expected to contribute to organizational or unit effectiveness. This theory

argues that the leader’s main job is to see that whatever is necessary to

group needs is taken care of; thus, a leader can be said to have done their

job well when they have contributed to group effectiveness and cohesion

(Fleishman et al., 1991; Hackman & Wageman, 2005; Hackman & Walton,

1986).

While functional leadership theory has most often been applied to team

leadership it has also been effectively applied to broader organizational

leadership as well In summarizing literature on functional leadership

Hackman and Walton (1986), Hackman & Wageman (2005Knight, and Xiao

(2006) observed five broad functions a leader performs when promoting

organization’s effectiveness. These functions include: (1) environmental

monitoring, (2) organizing subordinate activities, (3) teaching and coaching

subordinates, (4) motivating others, and (5) intervening actively in the

group’s work.

A variety of leadership behaviors are expected to facilitate these functions.

In initial work identifying leader behavior, Fleishman (1953) observed that

subordinates perceived their supervisors’ behavior in terms of two broad

categories referred to as consideration and initiating structure.

Consideration includes behavior involved in fostering effective

relationships. Examples of such behavior would include showing concern

for a subordinate or acting in a supportive manner towards others.

Initiating structure involves the actions of the leader focused specifically on

task accomplishment. This could include role clarification, setting

performance standards, and holding subordinates accountable to those

standards.

Leadership is one of the most salient aspects of the organizational context.

However, defining leadership has been challenging. In reviewing the

leadership literature stodgily argued that “there are almost as many

definitions of leadership as there are persons who have attempted to

define the concept. Even though leadership is a term that is commonly

used, defining leadership in specific terms can prove difficult likely leading

to such a large number of definitions.

Despite the multitude of leadership definitions, Zaccaro and Klimoski (2001)

argued there are several common elements that transcend the many

available definitions. Specifically, leadership involves a) processes and

proximal outcomes that contribute to the organizational objectives the

application of non-routine influence, and is contextually defined and

caused.

Proximal outcomes that a leader could facilitate in the pursuit of achieving

organizational objectives could include developing organizational

commitment among subordinates. Non-routine influence implies that

leaders must to have discretion in their actions and that their behavior

should differ from influence provided through organizational routines.

Finally, leadership needs to be considered with respect to the context in

which it is occurring. One example is examining how leadership changes

across levels of the organization.

Functional leadership theory is model that concentrates on how leadership

occurs, rather than focusing on who does the leading. It defines the types

of behaviors that guide an organization and then looks at how those

behaviors occur. Under this model, leadership is a distributed function.

People at all levels can participate in guiding the organization. One of the

cornerstones of this leadership model is its focus on how instead of who.

This approach has some tremendous advantages when studying leadership.

The models that focus on who leads tends to look at the person with formal

authority in an organization. In many situations, the person with formal

authority is not the real leader. Sometimes there is no single “real” leader.

Even an organization that appears to be floundering with no leadership is

being led. People are still making decisions and forming opinions.

The functional leadership model looks at how these types of decisions are

being made—even when there is no single person who is acting as a leader.

By focusing on the function of leadership, it is easier to see the stimuli that

are actually influencing the behavior of the organization—even if the input

is coming from informal and unlikely sources.

Functional leadership is often used to describe job positions where an

individual is expected to take leadership responsibility without any

delegated authority. In this sense, they are asked to take on functions of

leadership by helping to guide a team or process without being put into a

formal leadership position. The up-side of this type of arrangement is that it

can keep the individual’s focus on how to influence their team’s behavior

instead of how to exert their authority.

These functions include:

(1) Environmental monitoring,

(2) Organizing subordinate activities,

(3) Teaching and coaching subordinates,

(4) Motivating others, and

(5) Intervening actively in the group’s work.

A variety of leadership behaviors are expected to facilitate these functions.

In initial work identifying leader behavior, Fleishman (1953) observed that

subordinates perceived their supervisors’ behavior in terms of two broad

categories referred to as consideration and initiating structure.

Consideration includes behavior involved in fostering effective

relationships. Examples of such behavior would include showing concern

for a subordinate or acting in a supportive manner towards others.

Initiating structure involves the actions of the leader focused specifically on

task accomplishment. This could include role clarification, setting

performance standards, and holding subordinates accountable to those

standards.

Organizations are relying increasingly on teams to improve quality,

efficiency, and adaptive change. Cross-functional teams are used to

improve coordination among the different parties involved in carrying out a

joint project. Self-managed teams are delegated most of the responsibility

and authority traditionally vested in fir line supervisors. Self-defining teams

represent an extreme form empowerment, because the team can

determine its mission given the ability of the leader.

Regulate its internal processes, and negotiate relationships with other parts

of the organization and outsiders. The potential advantages of teams

include greater employee satisfaction and commitment, better quality of

products and services, and greater efficiency and productivity.

However, the benefits do not occur automatically, and successful

implementation depends on a variety of facilitating conditions, including

the quality of leadership. Some essential leadership processes in teams

include building consensus around shared objectives, identifying effective

performance strategies, organizing team activities, enhancing member skills

and role clarity, building mutual trust and cooperation, procuring needed

resources, and facilitating external coordination.

In the Functional Leadership model, leadership does not rest with one

person but rests on a set of behaviors by the group that gets things done.

Any member of the group can perform these behaviors, so any member can

participate in leadership.

The Functional theory of leadership, places greater emphasis on how an

organisation or task is being led rather than who has been formally

assigned a leadership role. To be effective the group must clearly establish

and understand the task, delegate responsibilities, identify resources and

establish accountabilities and evaluate progress. The maintenance of the

group requires all participants to work together in a co-ordinate approach

and in the same direction with opportunities and recognition of all

participant efforts. Functional Leadership is effective if the

For clear understanding of functional theory of leadership there is need to

define group, leadership and effectiveness as these three concepts move

hand in hand to give leadership a more wider meaning not only that but

also clear demarcation of this discussion.

Group these are set of individuals who are similar, who are in proximity ,

and who share common fate on task relevant events .the intent was to

include those groups in which members perceive themselves as

interdependent in achieving common goal .

A Leader is a group member who directs and coordinates tasks relevant to

group activities ,to be considered a leader, the individual mast either be

appointed by an agent or organisation of which the group is part ,be

elected by a group or be identified as most influential member of the

group.

Effectiveness, the leader’s effectiveness is defined in terms of his or her

group’s performance in achieving goals. This means the more the group

achieves its goals, the more effective is the leader .This means the leader

will do everything possible to see that his group or organisation achieve its

objectives . This will increase his being loyal to the group because people

join into groups with different objectives so if the leader is results oriented

then the groups’ success will be clear and group members will be willing to

accomplish their tasks on time and being identified with successful leader.

The functional theory of leadership puts the leader into position to assign

tasks to his followers with clear instructions not only that but also

participate in the daily activities of the organisation or group to achieve the

desired goals so as to register success as a leader .

Furthermore, he can also use his power as a leader to control rewards and

suctions to group members who are an comparative and the degree to

which he will be supported by the organisation or group .The powerful

leader may be able to influence the group even if the leader-follower

relationship are poor .The more powerful the leadership position, the more

favourable the situation for the leader.

It should be noted that the most favorable situation is one in which the

effective leader –member relationship are good, the task is highly

structured the leader power position is strong .The most unfavorable

situation is one in which the leader-member relationship, the task is un

structured and leader power position is week.

In light of the above, the leader mast make sure that followers have task

orientation if the organisation and group in general is to achieve goals and

he or she as a leader is to achieve success. The is possible in situations

where the leader has powers .However, members mast be free to offer

new ideas and suggestion, and the leader can force his followers to comply

with his wishes.

Perceptions of leadership appear to be changing. Research has shown a

shift in emphasis in regard to the factors influencing leadership

effectiveness in a group. Whereas early scholars focused on leaders’

personality characteristics as key to leadership effectiveness in group

situations, today, there has been a turning toward a concern for group

members' characteristics and a parallel concern for the ensuing influence

on leadership behavior.

Leadership is no longer regarded a one-person affair. In any group, the

influence of the personality characteristics of group members on leadership

effectiveness cannot be overemphasized. It would be difficult to imagine a

world of leadership without followership. Leadership obviously implies

followership. Leaders cannot do it alone. As claimed in the literature, it

takes both the leader and the group members to get things done (Kouzes &

Posner, 1987; Rost, 1991; Clark & Clark, 1994). Leaders have been

unsuccessful because of their failure to harness the strengths of their

group.

A variety of leadership behaviors are expected to facilitate these functions.

In initial work identifying leader behavior, Fleishman (1953) observed that

subordinates perceived their supervisors’ behavior in terms of two broad

categories referred to as consideration and initiating structure.

Consideration includes behavior involved in fostering effective

relationships. Examples of such behavior would include showing concern

for a subordinate or acting in a supportive manner towards others.

Initiating structure involves the actions of the leader focused specifically on

task accomplishment. This could include role clarification, setting

performance standards, and holding subordinates accountable to those

standards.

Leadership and emotions

Leadership can be perceived as a particularly emotion-laden process, with

emotions entwined with the social influence process. In an organization,

the leaders’ mood has some effects on his/her group. These effects can be

described in levels.

1. The mood of individual group members. Group members with

leaders in a positive mood experience more positive mood than do

group members with leaders in a negative mood. The leaders

transmit their moods to other group members through the

mechanism of contagion. Mood contagion may be one of the

psychological mechanisms by which charismatic leaders influence

followers.

2. The affective tone of the group. Group affective tone represents the

consistent or homogeneous affective reactions within a group. Group

affective tone is an aggregate of the moods of the individual

members of the group and refers to mood at the group level of

analysis. Groups with leaders in a positive mood have a more positive

affective tone than do groups with leaders in a negative mood.

3. Group processes like coordination, effort expenditure, and task

strategy. Public expressions of mood impact how group members

think and act. When people experience and express mood, they send

signals to others. Leaders signal their goals, intentions, and attitudes

through their expressions of moods. For example, expressions of

positive moods by leaders signal that leaders deem progress toward

goals to be good. The group members respond to those signals

cognitively and behaviorally in ways that are reflected in the group

processes.

Effective leadership requires followers who are more than Pavlovian

reactors to their leaders' influences," notes Woodward. "When followers

actively contribute, are aware of their function and take personal pride in

the art of followership, then the joint purpose of leadership and

followership -- higher levels of mission accomplishment -- is achieved

effectively. Professionalism in followership is as important in the military

service as professionalism in leadership.

In summary, leadership performance has been conceptualized very broadly,

often incorporating outcomes such as effectiveness, emergence, and

advancement. As with more general considerations of job performance

(Campbell, 1990), it is important to distinguish between leader

performance and effectiveness. While it is important to evaluate the

influence of leadership on organizational outcomes (Kasier et al., 2008),

specifically assessing leader performance, or behaviors that have expected

value to organizational outcomes, allows practitioners and researchers to

avoid conceptual confusion.

NAME: MUWAGA MUSA

NOR: 190220093001

INSTRUCTOR: DR.SRI RAHAYU ASTUTI, M.Si

SUBJECT: THEORIES OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

TASK: ANALYSING LEADERSHIP THEORY IN A SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE.

FUNCTIONAL LEADERSHIP THEORY (HACKMAN

DEPARTEMEN PENDIDIKAN NASIONAL

UNIVERSITAS PADJADJARAN PROGRAM PASCA SARJAN

FAKULTAS PSIKOLOG PROGRAM MAGISTER PSI

MARCH 06/O3/2010

REFERENCES

1. Adair, J. (1973) Action-Centred Leadership. New York,:McGraw-Hill.

2. AstraZeneca (1999) Leadership in AstaZeneca. AstraZeneca HR, Dec 1999.

3. Bass, B. (1985) Leadership and Performance Beyond Expectations. New

York: Free Press.

4. Bergmann, H., Hurson, K. and Russ-Eft, D. (1999) everyone a Leader: A

grassroots model for the new workplace. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

5. Blackler, F. and Kennedy, A. (2003) The Design of a Development

Programme for Experienced Top Managers from the Public Sector. Working

Paper, Lancaster University.

6. Department for Education and Skills (2003) Management and Leadership

Attributes Framework. DfES Leadership and Personnel Division, April 2003.

7. Deutsche Lufthansa AG (1998) Leading With Goals: Lufthansa Leadership

Compass. FRA PU/D, July 1998.

8. Katzenbach, J. and Smith, D. (1994) the Wisdom of Teams. New York:

Harperbusiness.

9. Lewin, K. (1935) A Dynamic Theory of Personality. New York, McGraw Hill.

10Tichy, N. and Devanna, M. (1986) Transformational Leadership. New York:

Wiley.