CHAPTER 9: Leadership Flashcards
Leadership
the influence that particular individuals exert on the goal achievement of others in an organizational context.
Leadership is a Behavior
Strategic Leadership
Leadership that involves the ability to anticipate, envision, maintain flexibility, think strategically, and work with others to initiate changes that will create a viable future for the organization.
Key characteristics of Strategic Leadership
o Future-focused
o Adapts to unpredictable environments.
o Provides sustainable competitive advantage.
o Maintains open and honest interactions with stakeholders.
Leaders Versus Managers
Leaders
* Create
* Originate
* Develop
* Inspire trust
* Think long-term
* Ask what and why
* Watch the horizon
* Challenge the status quo
* Do the right things
Managers
* Implement
* Copy
* Maintain
* Control
* Think short-term
* Ask how and when
* Watch the bottom line
* Accept the status quo
* Do things right
Leader–Member Exchange (LMX) Theory
A theory that focuses on the quality of relationship between a leader and a follower.
- helps explain WHY some leadership is effective
LMX Differentiation (LMXD)
- The variability in the quality of LMX relationships between members of the same workgroup.
Social Exchange Theory
Individuals who are treated favourably by others feel obliged to reciprocate by responding positively and returning that favourable treatment.
Involves the norm of reciprocity
Repeated exchanges lead to trust, loyalty, and mutual commitments
High-Quality LMX
- Employees receive challenging tasks, more resources, and greater discretion.
- Employees exhibit higher performance, job satisfaction, commitment, and organizational citizenship behaviours (OCB).
- Employees experience greater career growth and role clarity.
Low-Quality LMX
- Employees only do what is required by their job descriptions.
- Less trust and interaction with the leader.
- More likely to experience role conflict, lower job satisfaction, and higher turnover intentions.
LMX Differentiation (LMXD) Effects
- Negative if based on leader’s personal preferences → Reduces group harmony and hurts performance.
- Positive if based on employee performance → Enhances group effectiveness.
High LMX more likely when followers…
- are competent, agreeable, conscientious, and extraverted
High LMX more likely when leaders…
- are extraverted and agreeable
- are engaged in contingent reward behavior
- are engaged in transformational leadership
- Related to perceived similarity between leader and follower, and liking
3 Types of leadership
- Laissez-faire Leaders
- Transactional Leadership
- Transformational Leadership
Laissez-faire Leaders
- an absence of leadership
- Individuals with this leadership style:
- Provide limited instructions
- Have limited contact with subordinates/team members
- Often do not provide feedback, goals
- Take the approach of “letting people do their job”
Transactional Leadership
- Leadership based on a straightforward exchange between the leader and followers.
3 Styles:
1. Contingent Reward
* Contracts exchange of rewards for effort, promises rewards for good performance, recognizes accomplishments (Do this, I will give you this)
2. Management by Exception (active)
* Watches and searches for deviations from rules and standards, takes corrective action.
3. Management by Exception (passive)
* Intervenes only if standards are not met.
Transformational Leadership
A leadership style that changes followers’ beliefs, attitudes, and motivations by providing a compelling vision and instilling commitment to organizational goals.
Intellectual Stimulation
* Promotes intelligence, rationality, and careful problem-solving.
Individualized Consideration
* Gives personal attention, treats each employee individually, coaches, advises.
Inspirational Motivation
* Communicates high expectations, uses symbols to focus efforts, expresses important purposes in simple ways.
Idealized Influence (Charisma)
* Provides vision and sense of mission, instills pride, gains respect and trust.
Charisma
The ability to command strong loyalty and devotion from followers and thus have the potential for strong influence among them.
Negative outcomes of Charisma
- Being in awe of the leader can reduce good suggestions by followers
- Desire for leader acceptance can inhibit criticism by followers
- Adoration by followers can create delusions of leader infallibility
- Excessive confidence and optimism can blind the leader to real dangers
- Denial of problems and failures can reduce organizational learning
- Risky, grandiose projects are more likely to fail
- Taking complete credit for successes can alienate some key followers
- Impulsive, non-traditional behavior can create enemies as well as believers
- Dependence on the leader can inhibit development of competent successors
- Failure to develop successors can create an eventual leadership crisis
Types of Leadership Roles
- Formal Leadership
- Emergent Leadership
- Shared Leadership
Formal Leadership
o Leaders assigned by the organization (e.g., managers, executives, supervisors).
o Have formal authority to direct employees.
Emergent Leadership
o Occurs when someone naturally takes on a leadership role
o Informal leaders rely on being well-liked or highly skilled to influence others.
o Leader emergence positively related to: Extraversion, Emotional Stability, Conscientiousness, Intelligence, Authoritarianism, Leader experience, Self-esteem, Masculinity, etc.
o Person who talks quite a bit often becomes a “leader”
Shared Leadership
o Definition: An emergent and dynamic team phenomenon whereby leadership roles and influence are distributed among team members.
o Multiple team members act as informal leaders depending on the situation.
o Research findings:
Positively related to team performance.
Increases team creativity.
o Example: Teams where different members step up at various times to lead different tasks.
Trait Theory of Leadership
assumes that certain individuals possess innate characteristics that make them better leaders.
Common Traits Associated with Leadership Effectiveness: Intelligence, Energy and drive, Self-confidence, Dominance, Motivation to lead Emotional stability, Honesty and integrity, Need for achievement, Sociability
Big Five Personality Traits & Leadership
o Extraversion and Conscientiousness are the strongest predictors of leadership effectiveness.
o CEOs with high Conscientiousness tend to improve organizational performance.
Traits
Personal characteristics such as physical attributes, intellectual ability, and personality
Narcissism & Leadership
A personality trait that combines grandiosity, attention-seeking, an inflated self-view, and a lack of regard for others.
o Negative outcomes: Narcissistic leaders may engage in bullying, fraud, and risky decision-making.
o Positive outcomes: Can contribute to innovation, growth, and firm performance.
Motivation to Lead (MTL)
The desire to attain leadership roles and put effort into fulfilling leader role requirements.
o Higher MTL is associated with greater leadership emergence and effectiveness.
Limitations of the Trait Approach
- Cause and Effect Issue
- Lack of Clarity on Leader Behaviors
- Potential for Bias & Discrimination
- Failure to Consider Situational Factors
Cause and Effect Issue
Do leadership traits develop before or after taking on leadership roles?
o Example: Do dominant individuals become leaders, or does leadership make people more dominant?
Lack of Clarity on Leader Behaviors
o Traits do not explain what leaders actually do to influence others.
o Limited guidance on how to train and develop leaders.
Potential for Bias & Discrimination
Leadership Categorization Theory:
People tend to view leaders as having certain stereotypical traits (e.g., white, male, dominant).
Failure to Consider Situational Factors
o Leadership effectiveness depends on the context.
o Example:
Physical strength may be valuable for leading a logging crew but irrelevant in leading a research team.
o Different leadership situations require different traits.
