Introduction to leadership

Question 1

What are the three perspectives on leadership in this course?

Answer 1

1. Functionalist
2. Interpretative
3. Critical (radical-humanist)

Question 2

What are on the axes in the plot of the different perspectives?

Answer 2

Horizontal: Relativism vs Objectivism

Vertical: Sociology of regulation (harmony) vs Sociology of radical change (conflict)

Question 3

What is objectivism?

Answer 3

Reality is external to us as individuals, exists independent on our interpretations of it. The aim of objectivist science is explanation, prediction and control.

Question 4

What is relativism?

Answer 4

Assumes social reality is socially constructed and does not exist independent of our interpretations of it. How we define a situation and how we name/frame it will have implications on how we and others act. The aim is to understand how people create meaning.

Question 5

What are some questions that objectivists try to answer about leadership?

Answer 5

• Does a leadership style X enhance performance of teams in a certain context?
• What variables help explain follower satisfaction under given circumstances?
• Do culturally diverse teams produce more creative outputs than non-diverse teams?

Question 6

What are some questions that relativists try to answer about leadership?

Answer 6

• How do people interpret and define leadership in a certain situation and with what implications?
• Who is defined as leader and follower, and why?
• Do people act differently if they see themselves, or someone else, as a leader or follower?

Question 7

What is sociology of regulation?

Answer 7

Harmony and consensus is the natural state. Focus in research is on explaining and understanding stability, integration, coordination and consensus. Effective leaders create common goals, consensus, and stability, and pave the way for collective and coordinated actions.

Question 8

What is sociology of radical change?

Answer 8

Radical change and conflict are assumed the normal state of society. The aim is to understand and explain change, conflicts of interests, power dynamics, coercion, and systems of domination.

Question 9

What questions can we ask when a situation seems to be based on agreement and consensus (based on radical change perspective)?

Answer 9

• Whose interests are being served by this consensus?
• Are there underlying, suppressed, or hidden conflicts?
• Are there any underlying patterns or weak signals that indicate that large-scale change is in the making?

Question 10

Is the history of leadership neutral carriers of factual information?

Answer 10

No, since what we know is dependent on the existence of written texts, which are often written by “winners” (men)

Question 11

What did the earliest prescriptive texts focus on?

Answer 11

• Strategies to use in war, with focus on avoiding unnecessary conflict (Sun Tzu)
• The conduct of politics. Aristotle exposed the “tricks of public speaking” used to persuade

Question 12

What started the rise of the modern era of leadership?

Answer 12

The rise of industrial societies

Question 13

What are different views on the development of leadership since the 1900s?

Answer 13

• Increasingly rational leadership over time. Despite setbacks along the way, the future is preferable to the past.
• Binary model with shifts between centralisation and decentralisation.
• Binary model with shifts between objectivism and subjectivism (science vs culture)
• Political zeitgeist. Changes and what appears normal is framed by the political ideologies of the day

Question 14

What are the different views people tend to have on leaders vs managers?

Answer 14

• Leader: vision, charisma, inspiration, courage, seizing opportunities, making things happen, promoting creativity and innovation (assumed to be good). Dynamic people who create change.
• Manager: compliance, giving orders, process, formal authority, reluctant to take risks, bothered by uncertainty, wait for things to happen. Cannot or will not change.

Question 15

Why are chapters in leadership books typically focusing on theory that leaders are born with a set of traits?

Answer 15

They are “great man” biographies, men wrote about men. Focused on someone widely regarded as a leader, analysed their history and behaviour, and then attributed their success to particular personality characteristics

Question 16

Why is the trait approach originally appealing to organizations?

Answer 16

They can identify people who possess “good” traits, place them in leadership roles, and be confident they will succeed

Question 17

What are drawbacks of trait theory that history has shown?

Answer 17

• No focus on followers
• No focus on situation, some may only have been successful in particular situation
• People with “good” leader traits can use it as a force of evil (Hitler)

Question 18

Why was development towards “leaders are made” started?

Answer 18

People started to question whether it was good to have charismatic visionaries in positions of power (Hitler)

Question 19

What did the behavioural studies undertaken at university of Iowa in the 1930’s focus on?

Answer 19

Assessed three leadership styles to see which one was most effective:
- Democratic. Involving employees in decision-making.
- Autocratic. Do not involve employees in decision-making.
- Laissez-faire. Giving employees complete freedom.

Result was that effectiveness depends on the situation –> development of contingency theories

Question 20

Why did the transformational leadership theory rise in more recent years?

Answer 20

It was a perfect fit for those who believed the behavioural approach had run its course, and it attracted scholars from leading business schools. It offers an appealing win-win situation.

Question 21

Why are authentic leaders able to energise followers?

Answer 21

By being self-aware and acting with integrity, they are positive role models (common in politics).

Question 22

What are difficulties in the studies of authentic leadership?

Answer 22

• Lack of agreement about what it means to be authentic. If authenticity is “being ourselves” a person with low moral standards can be authentic if they act accordingly.
• The notion that it’s possible to just be ourselves is based on an assumption that we are unique individuals, rather than seeing the self as socially constructed through our relationships with others.
• How should authenticity be measured? There is no other measure than people telling that they are being authentic.

Question 23

Why should leaders not be authentic according to Pfeffer?

Answer 23

Rather than being true to themselves, leaders should be true to what followers need from them

Question 24

What are the forces in Lewin’s force-field study and what should leaders do according to the theory?

Answer 24

• Driving forces: external or internal
• Restraining forces: people who resist change.

To create change, leaders should increase driving forces and/or decrease restraining forces

Question 25

What is Lewin’s “change as three steps” theory?

Answer 25

Organizations are generally in an equilibrium state, so to change they must:

Unfreeze –> Change –> Refreeze

for the new changes to become business-as-usual

Question 26

What are the steps in Kotter’s eight step model for successfully transforming organizations?

Answer 26

1. Establish a sense of urgency
2. Form a powerful guiding coalition
3. Create a vision
4. Communicate the vision
5. Empower others to act on the vision
6. Plan for and create short-term wins.
7. Consolidate improvements and produce still more change
8. Institutionalize new approaches

Steps 1-4 involves unfreezing, 5-6 involves changing and 7-8 are refreezing in relation to Lewin’s model.

Question 27

Why did Lewin’s three step model become so popular suddenly?

Answer 27

• Pop-management emerged in the 80s. Academics needed to include management ideas in their textbooks to not be regarded as irrelevant
• Previous field of organizational development was criticised for being preoccupied with humanistic and democratic values.

Question 28

Why may people resist change according to Kotter/Schlesinger?

Answer 28

• They might lose something as a result of the change (their job). Can be seen as selfish; focus on what is best for them rather than for the organization.
• They don’t understand why change is necessary, or they don’t trust the leaders.
• They have a different assessment of the merit of the change.
• They have a low tolerance for change and fear not being able to adapt to it.

Question 29

What are the approaches to dealing with resistance according to Kotter/Schlesinger?

Answer 29

• When resistance is the result of people not understanding the rationale of the change, education and communication is the best approach.
• When those resisting are powerful, change leaders should involve them in designing the change and be prepared to negotiate with them to gain support.
• When change leaders are powerful and speed is essential, leaders should force resistors to accept the change by threatening them, transferring them, or if necessary, firing them.

Question 30

What is some criticism of Kotter/Schlesinger’s and Lewin’s models on change?

Answer 30

• Leaders may act in self-interest rather than the best for the organization
• No diagnosis stage, only prescription. Change may not be desirable for the organization
• No assessment on whether the change was successful

Question 31

What is Sinclair’s absence argument?

Answer 31

Little attention is given to examining women and leadership, and when it is, it is about why women are underrepresented. It can take various forms:
- A denial that this is a problem
- The problem is women (they need to learn how to lead like men)
- What is needed is to promote women into senior roles so they can serve as role models for other women.

Question 32

What is Sinclair’s invisibility argument?

Answer 32

Women’s leadership is not absent, just not recognized. Social construction of leadership is masculine

Question 33

What are the overarching topics that are critiqued in chapter 2?

Answer 33

• Leaders are born with special traits and characteristics
• Organizations are unified wholes with shared goals (unitarist vs pluralist)
• Leaders articulate higher goals which transform their followers (dark side of charisma)
• Leaders should be authentic (self-awareness, stable and sustained self, self-monitoring)
• Leaders change things (Lewin & Kotter’s 8 steps and change&resistance)
• Leadership as a social construction (the meaning we attach to a concept is produced by interactions between people in a particular time and space)