Leadership Flashcards
leadership
art of motivating people towards achieving a common objective
traits of a successful leader
- innovator
- multi-skilled
- driven and confident
- high ethical standards
- emotionally-intelligent
- incisive
- good communicator
what are the six key leadership styles to reference in answers?
- great person
- trait
- behavioural
- contingency
- power and influence - including transactional
- transformational
great person
Leaders are born and leadership traits cannot be taught or developed
if followed, could demotivate other workers if they feel like they are passed on for leadership opportunities just because they aren’t born with needed skills,
could lead to management only investing in those with very evident leadership skills and not in developing the skills of less prominent leaders, again demotivating
trait theory
people will either have the traits necessary to be a good leader or they won’t. Judge people’s leadership potential by whether they have required traits. Some of these traits can be learned e.g. decision making and flexibility
behavioural
leaders learn needed skills rather than inherently possessing them, and their effectiveness is judged by how they actually respond to different situations and whether this action led to a successful outcome or not. Must be able to change their behaviour in terms of what is most appropriate for the given situation
contingency
leaders adapt their leadership style, e.g. authoritarian or democratic, based on the circumstances of a situation - e.g. level of experience and maturity of subordinates; relationship between leader and followers; time available to finish task; authority level of the leader
power and influence theories
2 sources of personal power that affect how likely subords are to want to be led: expert knowledge; charm of leader
Level of authority of leader also provides power
TRANSACTIONAL LEADERSHIP - the leader assumes employees will only do tasks in exchange for rewards - give employees clear reward and punishment system - useful in certain occasions, e.g. time sensitive or a lot is at stake
transformational leadership
needed during periods of significant change, more emphasis on leading rather than managing. Transforms the culture of the business by focusing on employee needs during the period of change to improve productivity and performance
requires charisma, to be inspiring, and to understand individual needs of team members
emotional intelligence
ability to understand one’s own emotions, and those of others, to achieve better business performance
Goleman’s EI competencies
- self-awareness
- self-management
- social awareness
- social skills
self-awareness
understanding our own emotions, being confident in our abilities, knowing our limitations
self-management
show self-control, initiative, recover quickly from stress, be trustworthy and hold high ethical standards for themselves
social awareness
sense what others are feeling, take others views into account when making decisions. be able to get along with different types of people
social skills
ability to negotiate, persuade, and lead; be able to read social situations; manage relationships with others well
