Chapter 5 - Perspectives on Leadership Context Flashcards
Implicit theories
defined as cognitive models or schema of real-life phenomena that help individuals interpret, explain, and predict actions and behaviours of the self and others every day.
Implicit leadership theories
cognitive schema of leadership that individuals have developed over time and hold, and that drive their evaluation and understanding of their own and others’ leadership behaviour.
The critical view is that the assumption that cognitive schema of leaders in general are positive, particularly in effective leaders.
GLOBE project
perceptions of ideal and exceptional leader behaviour tend to be shared by individuals from the same country and these perceptions differ across different countries. Thus, cultural values and implicit leadership theories has an explicit link.
Implicit leadership theories in leadership development
the 360-degree leader assessment and evaluation makes it possible for organisations to evaluate leadership as a group process and tike into consideration the views and perceptions of all the individuals involved in this process.
Social identity theory and leadership
how individuals categorize themselves into different social categories reflect different levels of self-perception and belonging to social groups that dynamically relate to each other.
The prototypical leader
As followers think more positively about their leader if the leader shares identity (behaviour and
traits) with the group, formally appointed managers who are not seen as in-group members have
a difficulty being accepted and effective compared to somebody who emerges as a leader from
within the group.
Influences on leader effectiveness
Self-uncertainty enhance and individual’s drive to self-categorize in social groups and seeking of
information on the shared group behaviours and identity to resolve self-uncertainty. As leaders
are the most reliable source for information, there is a positive like between self-uncertainty and
the success of prototypical leaders.
Exception if the leader is not established but the group perceives there to be a number of potential leaders, self-uncertainty may cause the group to search for a viable leader irrespective of prototypicality.
Social identity theory, limitations
-Individuals’ perceptions of leaders are also influenced by their individual implicit
leadership theories that again may be affected by other social group memberships and
impressions of leadership gained over time in different contexts
- Little conceptual and empirical advance in our understanding of the interaction of levels
of analysis and the complexity of context from within this psychologically cased field of
leadership studies
Social construction
Assumes knowledge to be a product of culture and history, where individuals are seen to create
their own reality on a daily basis via their interaction with other individuals. Thus, knowledge is
a product of social activity and bears the imprint of the social context within which it is constructed. The reality an individual sees is subjective and fluid and it is continuously
co-constructed through that individual’s interaction with the self and context. Whatever aspects
of context come to shape or define leadership and effective leadership are changing and affected
by time, space, culture and power structures. This process of sense-making is ongoing and
illustrates the never-ending process of social construction and hence subjective meaning-making
of reality and the phenomenon of leadership.
Power and context
A criticism of the dominant contextual theories that neglect taking into account the role of power
and politics or how power shapes the context out of which leadership emerges. Taking a power
perspective encourages us to explore agency (the capacity to act and make free choices). What
we see as relevant or important context is arguably shaped by the power structures we live in.
The interactions and our sense-making of them then in turn shape the power structures, norms
and values around us. Thus, what we see as a context influencing leadership is socially
constructed.
