Leadership Flashcards
What is leadership?
- Buchanan & Huczynski (2019: 610) [t]he process of influencing the activities of an organised group in its efforts towards goal setting and goal achievement”.
- Many definitions exist, with little agreement in the literature (or among practitioners) about what leadership is and how you identify it, measure it, study it or develop it.
The definition includes both “goal setting” and “goal achievement”. This means that leadership involves the process of inspiring others with a new goal or vision that they feel emotionally invested in working towards, not just a process of securing compliance with tasks required to meet existing goals.
What is the difference between leadership and management?
Bennis (1989) created a much-quoted distinction between management and leadership:
Managers “do things right”.
Leaders “do the right thing”.
What are leaders?
Understood as the ‘visionaries’ who inspire and enthuse others and drive new initiatives.
What are managers?
Understood as the ‘engineers’ who ensure the ‘machine’ keeps working: checking, monitoring and maintaining the organisation to ensure stability and order.
What are the 3 main components associated with leadership?
- Establishes direction - Creates a vision, sets strategies
- Aligns people - Communicates goals
- Motivated and inspires - Empowers employees.
What are the 3 main components associated with management?
- Planning and budgeting - Sets timetables
- Organising and staffing - Provides structure
- Controlling and problem solving - Develops incentives
How did Birkinshaw (2010) criticise Bennis (1989)?
Bennis views managers as those who focus on efficiency, follow the rules and accepts status quo, while leaders focus on effectiveness and challenging the rules. Whilst Birkinshaw says motivating people lies beyond the job description of a manager and doing things right vs doing the right thing is an unhelpful distinction. Surely we should all be doing both.
What are the leadership theories?
- Trait theories
- Contingency theories of leadership style
- Tannenbaum & Schmidt
- Hersey & Blanchard - Transformational leadership
What are trait theories of leadership?
As early as the mid 1800s, researchers sought to study great leaders from history to identify the personality traits that made them effective leaders. This became known as the great man theory as they focused on the typical male military and political leaders. The theory proposed that the fate of humanity lay in the hands of certain special men who were born natural leaders. This is also known as trait spotting.
What are the key trait research studies?
- Stogdill (1948): Alertness, responsibility
- Mann (1959): Intelligence, masculinity
- Stogdill (1974): Achievement, sociability
- Lord et al (1984): Intelligence, masculinity
- Kirkpatrick and Locke (1991): Drive, Confidence
What is the great man theory?
Great man theory focused on political figures, arguing that leaders reach positions of influence from which they dominate and direct the lives of others by force of personality. There is no equivalent ‘great woman theory’. Great men are born leaders, and emerge to take power, regardless of the social, organisational or historical context. Research thus focused on identifying the traits of these special individuals.
What is the challenge of trait theory and the ending of trait theory?
- 50 years of study have failed to produce one personality trait or set of qualities that can be used to discriminate between leaders and non leaders.
- Trait theory was abandoned by many (but not all) leadership scholars after the 1940s.
- Despite widespread criticism of trait theory, it still has its advocates amongst contemporary scholars.
- Some studies are gender, even racially, biased, while many more are focused on a rather narrow, albeit at the time often majority, section of the management workforce in North America and the United Kingdom – white males.
Do women have the wrong traits?
Women today are under-represented in leadership and management roles, despite attempts to improve gender balance. In 2008, Norway set a mandatory target of 40% for female representation on the boards of listed companies. Belgium, France and Italy followed with similar quotas, with sanctions for non-compliance. Germany, Spain and The Netherlands have quotas for female directors, but no sanctions. In 2011, the UK set a voluntary target of 25 per cent.
What is the Stogdill critique?
- If a leader in one situation might not be a leader in another situation, it makes little sense to identify the traits they have because those traits might not help them be a ‘leader’ in that other situation.
- Example: those considered good leaders in one organisational department might not be considered good leaders in other departments.
What is the 30% club?
The 30% Club was founded in the UK in 2010, and has branches in many other countries. Their goal was to achieve at least 30 per cent female representation on the boards of the FTSE 100 companies. Research by The 30% Club (2018, p.2) found that female and male managers describe their jobs differently: ‘Female managers appear more attuned to managing relationship dynamics and more positive about diversity within their team. Male managers appear more attuned to managing performance dynamics and more positive about consistency within their team’.
