Leadership Flashcards

1
Q

Leadership

A
Leadership is the process whereby an
individual influences group members in a
way that gets them to achieve some group
goal that he or she has identified as
important.
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2
Q

Why is good leadership important?

A

Bad leadership in the workplace leads to
increased stress in one’s personal life and
has significant negative impact both
inside and outside work

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3
Q

Implicit Theories of Leadership

A
  • We hold implicit expectations and assumptions about what re good leadership characteristics, traits, and qualities.
  • In general we tend to prefer leaders who are caring, honest, open to new ideas and have charisma, sensitivity, ddication, intelligence, attractiveness, masculinity, tyranny, and strength.
  • But implicit theories are open to bias.
  • For example: If you believe that a good leader should exert control over the group, you will tend to focus on that aspect but ignore others.
  • We need testable theories and models – make the implicit explicit.
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4
Q

Theoretical Approaches to Leadership

A
  1. Universalist theories
  2. Behavioural theories
  3. Contingency theories
  4. Path-goal theory
  5. Transformational and charismatic leadership
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5
Q

Universalist Theories of Leadership

A

• Emphasises the personal attributes common to all effective eaders
• Early leadership theories (e.g., the great man/woman
theory) assumed that leaders are born, not made
• The Trait Approach: Argues that some traits are shared by
all effective leaders, however originally little relationship was
found between traits and leadership
• Most reviews now, however, uncover some traits relating to
leadership due to recent advances in personality
assessment

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6
Q

The Trait Approach: Personality

A
• Personal traits related to leadership success:
1. High energy level
2. Tolerance for stress
3. Emotional maturity
4. Integrity
5. Self-confidence
6. Motivation (need for power, achievement,
affiliation)
7. The Big Five Personality Factors*
8. Intelligence*

• Overall, the five-factor model had a multiple correlation of .48 with
leadership
• Strong support for the leader trait perspective when traits are organized ccording to the five-factor model

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7
Q

Is intelligence necessary to be a leader?

A

Meta-analysis revealed correlation of .27 between leadership and
intelligence (Judge, Colbert & Ilies, 2004)
• “Results suggest that the relationship between intelligence and
leadership is considerably lower than previously thought”

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8
Q

Behavioural Theories of Leadership

A

• Emphasises what leaders actually do on the job and the
relationship of this behaviour to leader effectiveness.
1. Initiating structure vs. Consideration
Consideration more strongly related to satisfaction and initiating
structure more related to performance (Judge et al., 2004.
2. Task-oriented vs. Relationship-oriented
Relationship-oriented leaders found to be more effective than
task-oriented (Likert, 1967)

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9
Q

Leadership Grid (Blake and Moulton) Impoverished Management (1, 1):

A

Managers exercise minimum effort to get the work done
from subordinates. The leader has low concern for employee satisfaction and work deadlines so
there is disharmony and disorganization. The leaders are often merely aiming preserving job
and seniority.

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10
Q

Task management (9, 1):

A

Dictate or perish style. Focused on production not people.
Employees’ needs not met and they are seen as means to an end. Leader believes that
efficiency results only through proper organization of work systems and seeks to reduce input of
people where possible. May increase performance in short term but high people cost in
engagement and staff turnover.

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11
Q

Middle-of-the-Road (5, 5):

A

A compromising style where leader tries to keep a balance between
goals of company and people’s needs. Does not push for achievement so leads to average
organisational performance. Neither employee nor production needs are fully met.

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12
Q

Country Club (1, 9):

A

Collegial style with by low task and high people orientation. Gives people
attention and sets a friendly and comfortable environment. The leader believes that this leads to
h self-motivation and will find people working hard on their own. But a low task focus can lead to
poor performance

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13
Q

Team Management (9, 9):

A

High people and high task focus. Seen as most effective style by
Blake and Mouton. The leader believes that key elements in creating an effective and satisfying
team atmosphere are empowerment, commitment, trust, and respect

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14
Q

Leadership Grid

A

• The Leadership Grid shows that placing too much emphasis on
one area, and not others stifles productivity.
• The model proposes that the team leadership style - both
production and people - boosts employee productivity.
Need leadership flexibility

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15
Q

Contingency Theories

A

Contingency theories state that effective leadership
depends on a match between the characteristics of
the leader and the situation.
• Types of Contingency Theories
1. Fiedler’s Contingency Model
2. Path-Goal Theory
3. Leader-Member Exchange Theory

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16
Q

Fiedler’s Contingency Theory (1967)

A

• Key point is that leader’s style must fit with the extent to which
he/she can control the situation.
• Situations have three levels of control:
• High / Moderate / Low
• The more control exercised by the leader, the more favourable
the situation is for him/her
• Each situation has three dimensions of influence:
1. Leader-member relations
2. Task structure
3. Position power
• Suggested that leaders have three broad preferences:
1. Task-motivated leadership
2. Socio-independent
3. Relationship-motivated leadership

17
Q

Path-Goal Theory (House, 1971)

A

• In contrast to the Fiedler contingency model, the path–goal
model states that the four leadership styles are fluid, and
that leaders should adopt any of the four depending on what
the situation demands.
• Draws on expectancy theory – outcome focused.
• Leaders motivate higher performance in subordinates by
acting in ways that influence them to believe valued
outcomes can be obtained by making a serious effort.
• Leaders job is to help subordinates reach their goals by
directing, guiding and coaching them.
• Leaders need to adapt their style to respond to task and
subordinate characteristics

18
Q

Path-Goal Theory (House, 1971)

• Four main leadership styles

A
  1. Directive
  2. Supportive
  3. Participative
  4. Achievement oriented
    • Leaders need all of these styles but when each style is
    used depends on the situation (subordinates and
    environment)
19
Q

Leader-Member Exchange Theory

A

Leadership is based upon mutual influence between leader
and members of group.
• Leaders differentiate their subordinates in terms of:
1. Their competence and skill
2. The extent to which they can be trusted
3. Their motivation to assume greater responsibility
• Subordinates with these attributes become members of ingroup;
those without become members of out-group.
Leaders and subordinates use different types and degrees
of influence depending on in/out-group status

Draws on social exchange theory (e.g., Blau,1964)
• i.e. we engage in subjective cost-benefit analysis and comparison of
alternatives in our relationships
• Focuses on leader-member exchange relationships
• The key idea is that leader-follower dyads transform from
“individual” to “shared interest” based on trust respect and
obligation and the degree of emotional support and exchange of
valued resources.
• If the boss values and supports us, we are more
likely to value and support them.
• Management need to pay attention to the quality
of their relationships with employees

20
Q

Charismatic leadership:

A

Follower perception that a
leader possesses exceptional characteristics and is
somehow inspiring, unique, and larger than life.

21
Q

Transformational leadership:

A

The process of influencing
major changes in the attitudes and assumptions of
organisation members and building commitment for major
changes in the organisation’s objectives and strategies.

• Very effective leadership style
• Meta-analysis related TL to team unit effectiveness (Lowe et al.,
1996) as well as individual follower, team and organisational
performance, across many context and criterion (Wang et al.,
2011)
• Transformational leadership related to
• Employee Health and well-being (Arnold, et al., 2007; McKee et al., 2011)
• Enhanced work performance (Barling, Weber, & Kelloway, 1996)
• Enhanced occupational safety (Mullen & Kelloway, 2009)
• Enhance Psych well-being (Kelloway & Barling, 2010)
• Organisational Innovation (Gumusluoglu, 2009)
• Staff Retention (Weberg, 2009)
• Organisational climate strength (Safety; Zohar & tenne-Gazit, 2008)

22
Q

Bass & Avolio Full Range Leadership

A
  1. Laissez-faire
  2. Management by exception (passive)
  3. Management by exception (active)
  4. Transactional ( Conditional Reward)
    Bass & Avolio Full Range Leadership
    )
  5. Transformational leadership
  6. Idealised behaviours (attitudes & behaviours)
  7. Inspirational motivation
  8. Intellectual stimulation
  9. Individual consideration
    The ‘4 I’s’ under transformational leadership relate to the leader as a coach.
23
Q

Idealised Behaviours (Attitudes & Behaviours)

A
  • Transmits a sense of joint mission and purpose
  • Addresses crises “head on”
  • Eases group tension in critical times
  • Sacrifices self-gain for gain of others
  • Expresses dedication to followers
  • Appeals to the hopes and desires of followers
24
Q

Inspirational Motivation

A

• Convinces followers that they have the ability to achieve
performance beyond what they felt was possible
• Sets an example for others to strive for
• Presents an optimistic and attainable view of the future
• Raises expectations by clarifying the challenges
• Thinks ahead to take advantage of unforseen opportunities
• Provides meaning for actions

25
Q

• Intellectual Stimulation

A

• Encourages followers to re-examine their assumptions
• Takes past examples and applies to current problems
• Encourages followers to re-visit problems
• Creates a “readiness” for changes in thinking
• Creates a “holistic” picture that incorporates different views of a
problem
• Puts forward or listens to seemingly foolish ideas

26
Q

Individualised Consideration

A

• Recognises individual strengths and weaknesses
• Shows interest in the well-being of others
• Assigns projects based on individual ability and needs
• Enlarges individual discretion commensurate with ability and
needs
• Encourages a two-way exchange of views
• Promotes self-development

27
Q

Self-leadership

A

• Self-leadership has been defined as the
process of influencing oneself to establish
the self-direction and self-motivation
needed to perform.
• How do we do this?
• Learn how to set goals and coach ourselves
towards goal attainment

28
Q

How do goals work?

A
  1. Goals serve a directive function
    • Direct attention towards relevant and away from irrelevant
    activities
  2. Goals have an energising function
    • High goals lead to greater efforts – both behavioural and
    cognitive tasks
  3. Goals effect persistence
    • When allowed to control the time spent on a task, difficult goals
    prolong effort (Porte & Nath, 1976)
    • There is trade off between time and intensity of effort – tight
    deadlines lead to more rapid work pace
  4. Goals effect action indirectly by leading to the use of taskrelevant
    information and strategies
    • People use existing related knowledge and skills without
    conscious planning
    • People draw from repertoire of skills in related contexts
    • If the task is new people will engage in deliberate planning