New approaches to leadership - LMX, EL and AL

Main idea:

• Unique dyadic relationships between leaders and followers

• Leaders and employees are in a social exchange relationship

Main assumptions:

• Three Relationship groups:

  • In-group

  • Middle-group

  • Out-group

• Succes Drivers:

  • Leader

  • Follower

  • Dyadic or bilateral relationship

In-group:

• High quality relationship

• Employees receive special status

• Assignment of demanding and significant tasks

Middle-group:

• Quality of relationship in the middle range

• Can be become in-group or out-group on the long term

Out-group:

• Low quality relationship

• Interactions that are formally required

• Assignment of less demanding tasks

Critical Review:

• Hardly practical implications and concrete recommendations for successful leadership

• Empirical results are only comparable to a limited extent due to the use of different measurements

Idea:

• Leadership is practiced from within (i.e. by the employees themselves)

• Enabling followers to lead themselves

• Supporting the development of self-management or self-leadership skills

Assumption:

• Encouraging of

  • Independent action

  • Opportunity thinking

  • Teamwork

  • Self-development

  • Self-reward

  • Participative goal setting

  => Followers show higher job performance and satisfaction

Idea:

• Understanding of leadership that combines opposing, but complementary styles of leadership with regard to the achievement of certain goals

• “As well as” leadership concept thus differs from the traditional “either-or” approaches of situational leadership

Assumptions:

• Current challenges of employee leadership must be mastered by using several leadership styles

• Leadership styles must be integrated depending on the task

• Negative effect of one leadership style in one area can be offset by the positive effects of another leadership style