Leadership Flashcards
A leader
An individual person who is assigned or delegated to be the leader of a group, team or organisation
What is Leadership?
“A process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal” (Northouse, 2010, p. 3)
“The process of influencing others in a manner that enhances their contribution to the realisation of group goals” (Haslam, Reicher, & Platow, 2011, p. 247).
Top qualities to Leadership
- Excellent organisation skills
- Good at encouraging others
- Strong morals and ethics
- Promotes connection and teamwork
- Strategic thinking
Great Man Theory
1847 Thomas Carlye
- Leaders born and only those men who are endowed with heroic potentials could ever become the leaders
- A leader is the one gifted with unique qualities that capture the imagination of the masses
-Leaders have an inherent greatness and born not made- individuals cannot be taught to be effective leaders
- Leaders are extraordinary people
Great Man Theory- Traits
- Early interest in leadership centred on traits/abilities of great leaders (i.e., assertiveness, wisdom, glamour, decisive etc)
- More adept at directing others and solely responsible
The Trait Theory
- Expands on great man theory
- Effective leaders have particular personality qualities
- Born leaders had certain physical traits and personality characteristics which distinguished them from non-leaders i.e., intellect, extravert,fluency etc
- Ignores assumptions about whether leadership traits were genetic or developed
Stogdill (1985)
- Traits considered singly hold little diagnostic or predictive significance
- In combination they can create personality dynamics, or patterns,rather than specific traits that are advantageous to the person in leadership role
Stogdill (1948)
- Examined 124 trait studies that had been carried out between 1904-1948
Relevant leadership traits included:
- Intelligence
- Self-confidence
- Alertness to others’ needs
-Understanding of tasks
- Initiative and persistence
- Desire to take
- Each trait dependant on the specific situation (context specific)
Stogdill (1974)
- Carried out a second literature review of 163 trait studies that had been conducted between 1949-1970
-Identified many of the same traits as first review
-However, no evidence for universal leadership traits
Can we challenge this approach?
- Lack of scientific evidence for the great man theory, refuted as early as 1948 (Stogdill)
- Many of the traits cited as being important to be an effective leader are typical masculine traits
- Evidence suggests skills important for leadership can be developed (Haslam, Platow,& Reicher, 2011)
- No agreed collection of special traits that “make” a great lead
Leadership and The Big 5- Openess
- Linked to creativity, imagination and insight (John & Srivastava, 1999)
- Leaders may be able to visualise an exciting future for the organisation (Bono and Judge 2004).
Leadership and The Big 5- Conscientiousness
- Disciplined in the pursuit of goal attainment
- Clearly and consistently define role expectations (Bass, 1985)
Leadership and The Big 5- Extraversion
- Assertive, energetic, enthusiastic,and charismatic
- The strongest predictor of leader emergence (Judge et al., 2002)
Leadership and The Big 5- Agreeableness
- More considerate and empathetic leaders
- Are able to promote cooperation and helping behaviours within the group (Hurtz & Donovan, 2000)
Leadership and The Big 5- Neuroticism (Emotional stability)
Emotionally stable leaders likely to stay calm and relaxed in moments of crisis and recover quickly from any failures in the group
Leadership and The Dark Triad (Hodson, et al., 2009; Jones & Figueredo, 2013)- Narcissism
- Narcissistic leaders have a strong egoistic focus (Morf & Rhodewalt,2001)
- View others as inferior to themselves
- Generally viewed negatively by peer swhich results in poorer group performance (Judge et al., 2006
Leadership and The Dark Triad (Hodson, et al., 2009; Jones & Figueredo, 2013)- Machiavellianism
- A cold, calculating, long-term oriented and strategic style (Jones &Paulhus, 2009)
- Less likely to share knowledge with others (Liu, 2008)
Leadership and The Dark Triad (Hodson, et al., 2009; Jones & Figueredo, 2013)- Psychopathy
- An impulsive and antisocial style (Williams, et al., 2007)
- Psychopathy been negatively related to job performance (O’boyle et al., 2012)
-Least explored“Dark Triad” in leadership research
Behaviourist Theory
- Leadership is a learnt behaviour (Skinner, 1974)
- Reinforcement of leadership behaviours (rewards &punishments) determine who will become a leader
- Challenges view that leaders are born not made
-A leader’s performance not influenced by their inherent traits because leadership qualities are driven by behaviour
Transactional Approach
- Considers social exchange over time
- Social systems work best with a clear chain of command
-Value of a hierarchy for enhancing organisational effectiveness
- Rewards/ punishments given to followers dependent on performance
- Leaders’ outline plans and tasks to be completed and monitor followers’ attainment
-Two-sided between leader and followers, but ultimately places leaders in positions of power
-Prime purpose of a subordinate is to do what manager tells them
Shortcomings
Power not something that leaders ‘have’
- Power over vs. Power through (Turner, 2005)
Behaviorism: (e.g., Classical and Operant Conditioning):
-These theories largely based on controlled lab experiments (often with animals) and ignore emotional factors and social values
Does not take into account human agency:
-Followers contribute and can become leaders.
Transformational Approach
- Concerned with leaders’ ability to inspire and motivate followers to achieve potential through the proposal of an aspiring vision (Bass, 1985; Burns, 1978)
- Emphasises importance of building interpersonal relationships between leaders and followers- results in followers wanting to achieve.
- Respect, trust and admiration group members feel makes them more motivated and inspired
Transformational Approach
Leader focused on followers’ needs and input in order to transform everyone into a leader by empowering and motivating (House & Aditya, 1997).
- Transformational leadership is change-orientated and places charisma as a central part of transformational processes (Bass, 1985; Burns, 1978).
- Transformational leadership = charismatic leadership?
Charismatic Leadership/ Charisma
- Uses charm and influence to persuade others to help them fulfil a mandate or achieve a goal
- Leader makes those around them believe they can achieve any goal or milestone, even in the face of adversity
- Transformational leaders produce appearance of convincing and encouraged vision of future- considered “visionary leaders who seek to appeal to their followers better nature and movethem toward higher and more universal needs and purposes”(MacGregor, 2003)
-However rely on their personality and skil lset to move followers to action, while transformational leaders rely on the shared vision to create change
TL components (Bass & Avolio,1990)- Idealised influence
- Occurs when leaders act fairly to gain the respect and trust of subordinates
TL components (Bass & Avolio,1990)- Inspirational motivation
- Occurs when leaders rise subordinates’ awareness of a vision and thus motivate them to work towards the high expectations expected of them
TL components (Bass & Avolio,1990)- Intellectual stimulation
- Occurs when leaders challenge group members to look at old problems in a new, creative manner
TL components (Bass & Avolio,1990)- Individualised consideration
- Occurs when leaders attend to individuals’ needs within the group
TL Research
- One of the most frequently studied approaches to leadership (Day et al.,2014)
- Meta-analytical review (Lowe, Kroeck, & Sivasubramaniam, 1996) suggesting the components of transformational leadership to be positively associated with employee satisfaction and performance
- More recent meta-analytic review found transformational leadership positively related to performance at the team and organization levels(Wang et al., 2011
- Transformational leadership positively predicts positive measures of well-being, and negatively predicts negative measures of well-being (i.e.,ill-being) (Arnold, 2017)
Measurement
DTLI contains 27 items that form 7 subscales
- Individual consideration
- Inspirational motivation
- Intellectual stimulation
- Fostering acceptance of group goals and promoting team work
- High performance expectations
- Appropriate role model
- Contingency reward.
Critical Reflection
- Transformational leaders enhance intrinsic motivation,performance and cohesion (Callow et al. 2009; Charbonneau et al.2001)
- Does not explain what transformation is or when it works
- Limited insight into processes which explain why a leader is able to influence, inspire and stimulate
-The “analytic focus remains firmly on the leader as an individual” (Haslam et al., 2011, p. 42) which overlooks context within which leadership takes place (Currie & Lockett, 2007)
The New Psychology of Leadership- Social Identity Approach to leadership
- Focuses on the influential and contextual process within leadership
- Proposed that social psychological processes underpin leadership effectiveness
-Leaders influence group members through individuals’social identities
(Haslam et al., 2011; Hogg, 2001)
Social Identity Approach to Leadership
- Leaders and group members connected through sense of belonging and emotional attachment to their group (e.g., a sports team)
- Research demonstrated social identities lay foundation for effective leadership (Haslam et al., 2011)
- Leaders that create social identity perceived as in-group leaders more effective (Platow & van Knippenberg,2001)
4 principles of SIL
- Leaders as in-group prototypes – represent ideals of the group
- Leaders as in-group champions – make decisions/act in group’s interests
- Leaders as entrepreneurs of identity – develop and evolve the essence (i.e., vision/values) of the group
- Leaders as embedders of identity – provide structure/activities for “us” to achieve our vision.
Haslam et al. (2011); Slater et al. (2014)
