Leadership Flashcards
Discuss dispositional perspectives of leadership
Considers what traits ‘good’ and ‘bad’ leaders possess
Great person theory would argue once someone is identified as a good leader they will remain popular but this tends not to be the case
Research suggests a small but significant relationship with intelligence but weak correlation with personality
Discuss situational perspectives of leadership
Strong leaders often emerge from situational crises
This would suggest anyone can lead if the conditions are right
Minor situational factors can also play a role
eg. jury members at the end of the table have been found significantly more likely to be elected as a jury foreman
Discuss leadership styles
Early research contrasted leadership styles:
Authoritarian - leader determines activity and policy - rigid and everything dictated by one person
Democratic - leader encourages and assists group discussion and decision
Laissez-faire - leader doesn’t participate in policy decisions or activity - group members make their own decisions and value freedom
Discuss outcomes of leadership styles
Leadership style has consequences for several group variables:
aggression, likeability, group atmosphere and productivity
Authoritarian groups found to have little/no level of innovation, high levels of aggression and little personal growth. Productivity high when presence of leader but lower when leader absent. However could be good in some situations when people are in crisis/danger
Democratic groups found to have more liked leaders, friendly/group centred atmosphere and higher emphasis on rewards. Productivity relatively high regardless of presence of a leader.
Laissez-faire found to have low group productivity, communication and involvement with absence of clear direction.
Discuss the practical implications of governmental leadership type
Totalitarian governments have power which is absolute and are responsible for a bast number of deaths
Authoritarian governments promote strict obedience to authority and have less deaths to democide than totalitarian but more than democratic
Democratic governments have the fewest deaths of all both due to democide and more due to international war, although still the least due to this as well
Discuss orientation of different leadership styles
Lippit & White (1943) allocated individuals to a leadership style and found
autocratic leaders were more task focused, laissez-faire were socio-emotional focused and democratic leaders were both task and socio-emotional focused
Bales (1950) proposed two different types of leadership:
task-focused primarily concerned with achieving aims and goals
socio-emotional where focus is on cohesiveness and
However, Bales argued people couldn’t be both
Stodgill (1974) suggested leadership can have an initiating structure (leader defines their own role) or consideration structure (looks at wellbeing of follower
Discuss contingency model of leadership
Fiedler (1967)
Leaders differ in task vs. relations orientation as well as their situational control
Leadership effectiveness depends on personal characteristics and control afforded by the situation
Optimal leadership is contingent upon the precise nature of the situation
Can derive predictions based on classification of leaders and their situation
Discuss Fiedler’s classification of leaders and situations
Classification of leaders:
Task oriented - concern for production, single-minded focus on job, not likely liked by group
Relations oriented - high concern for people within the group
Classification of situations can be low or high for:
Leader-member relations
Task structure
Leader-position power
Found to have good predictive power
Eg. Task-oriented leaders will be most effective when situational control is high or low and the group needs guidance
Eg. Relations-oriented leaders will be most effective when situational control is moderate
Discuss evidence for contingency model of leadership
Chemers et al. (1985) found there is a need for leadership style and situational control to have a good match as mismatch could lead to increased job stress, stress-related illness and absence for work
This suggests no leadership style is appropriate for all situations
Discuss limitations of the contingency model
Assumption is that leaders will be either task oriented or relations oriented but evidence suggests some leaders are both
Least preferred co-worker scale is a self-report of leadership but this only considers individuals scoring high or low, not those who are moderate
Discuss leader-member exchange (LMX) theory
A transactional theory of leadership
Emerged from vertical dyad linkage model which suggests followers are treated as in-group or out-group members by the leader
Leaders have no fixed style so followers may be treated in the same way or differently
Considers quality of exchange relations along a continuum:
high quality exchange relationships see followers as trusted assistants who deserve trust and co-operation and have self-worth. Therefore, more likely to support leader’s goals and internalise these
Low quality relationships see followers as hired hands where the relationship is distant and work is cast in terms of employment contract so less likely to be loyal and identify with roles
Discuss research on leader-member exchange theory
That leaders usually have to relate to many people but due to time choose to relate to some in a higher quality fashion is supported by research
Explains effectiveness of leaders in terms of relationships between leaders and followers
Discuss limitations of leader-member exchange theory
Focuses on dyadic leader-follower relations
However, dyads (interactions) don’t operate in isolation
Wider social context appears absent from the theory
Discuss social identity theory in leadership
Suggests everyone will strive to maintain a level of self-esteem through personal identity and social identity
When group membership is salient, people think in terms of social identity and perceive themselves with respect to shared features of the group
Prototypes and self-categorisation of groups involves depersonalisation
Prototypical members are more socially attractive and stand out from others and the situation and are more likely perceived as more effective leaders
Social identity may create distance between the leader and group members, making the leader become less prototypical over time so needs to find other ways to influence the group
Strong identification with the group can impair group decision-making (group-think)
Social minorities may face barriers to leadership as they aren’t prototypical
Discuss evidence for social identity approach in leadership
Hains, Hogg & Duck (1997) study
Manipulated salience (being part of the group viewed as secondary or key to the task) Manipulated protypicality of leader
When salience was high, prototypicality impacted how effective leader was reported to be but prototypicality had no impact when salience was low
