Leadership Flashcards

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1
Q

Define Leadership

A

Leadership is the process whereby an individual influences group members in a way that inspires to achieve the same goal that he/she has identified as important

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2
Q

What did early explanations of leadership focus on?

A

They focused on the notion that leaders possess certain personality traits that set them apart from individuals

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3
Q

Give an example of an early psychologist’s view on leaders

A

Francis Galton (1892) believed that leaders were born, not made

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4
Q

What describes a great leader

A

Great leaders are described as being charismatic or having social/emotional intelligence

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5
Q

Name a Study which criticises the Personality approach

A

Stogdill (1974)

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6
Q

What did Stogdill (1974) do?

A

Stogdill (1974) compared the characteristics of leaders to non-leaders.

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7
Q

What did Stogdill (1974) find?

A

A few charactersitics were correlated with leadership, but the relationships were weak e.g. intelligence, confidence, dominance

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8
Q

However…

A

the idea and belief that some individuals are better leaders than others due to possessing traits that make them more effective leaders is still argued.

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9
Q

Name the specific personality dimensions that we should focus on

A

The Big Five

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10
Q

Name the Big Five

A
Extraversion
Agreeableness 
Conscientiousness
Emotional Stability 
Intellect
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11
Q

Name the Meta-Analysis investigating the Big 5

A

Judge et al. 2002

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12
Q

What did Judge et al. 2002 find

A

They found that the Big 5 have an overall correlation of 0.58 with leadership, with all traits as the best predictors of leadership

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13
Q

What is the 2nd Approach

A

Situational Approach

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14
Q

What does the Situational Approach argue

A

The Situational approach specifically argues that leadership is not found in the personality of an individual, but in the situation in which they find themselves in

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15
Q

What does the situational approach specifically states

A

The situational approach states that a leader is who best meets the requirements of the situation of the group’s current situation.

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16
Q

What did Sherif et al. state

A

Leader’s change when the situation changes. For example when groups move from peace to conflict or vice versa.

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17
Q

Name a study supporting the situational approach

A

Carter and Nixon (1949)

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18
Q

What did Nixon and Carter (1949) do?

A

They used children as participants, and put them into pairs to perform 3 different tasks - an intellectual, a clerical and a mechanical task.

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19
Q

What did Nixon and Carter (1949) find?

A

Those who took the lead on the first 2 tasks, rarely did the same in the mechanical task.

20
Q

Evaluate Nixon and Carter’s (1949) findings

A

The former leader’s were displaced by someone with greater intellect, who was better equipped to lead the group successfully in changed circumstances.

21
Q

Name a study that Evaluates the comaprison between the Personality and Situational approach

A

Simmonton (1980)

22
Q

What did Simmonton (1980) do?

A

Simmonton (1980) analysed the data from 300 military battles, which were all accurately recorded on the general and their armies.

23
Q

What did Simmonton (1980) find?

A

Although the situational factors (e.g the size of the army, the structure of command) all correlated with casualties inflicted on the enemy, the personal attribute of the leader as a result of previous experience were also associated with vistory

24
Q

Name a Case study you can refer to, to evaluate the Situational and Personality approach

A

Nelson Mandela case

25
Q

Name a classic study investigating Styles of Leadership

A

Lippitt and White (1943)

26
Q

What did Lippitt and White (1943) do?

A

Studied the effects of different leadership styles on group atmosphere, morale and effectiveness.
Leaders (confederates) trained to adopt 3 different styles: Autocratic, Democratic and Laissez Faire

27
Q

What did the results show for democratic leaders

A

Democratic leaders were liked significantly more than both the Autocratic and Laissez faire leaders. They created a friendly, group-centred, task-oriented atmosphere that was associated with high group productivity.
Unaffected by leadership presence or absence.

28
Q

What did the results show for autocratic leaders

A

Autocratic leaders created an aggressive, dependent and self-oriented group atmosphere.
Associated with high productivity but only when the leader was present.

29
Q

What did the results show for laissez-faire leaders

A

Laissez-faire leaders created a friendly group-centred, but play-oriented atmosphere.
Associated with low productivity which increased only when the leader was absent.

30
Q

Name another theory of Leader behaviour

A

Bales (1950)

31
Q

What did Bales (1950) do?

A

Observed the interaction styles in problem solving groups

32
Q

What did Bales (1950) find from his observations?

A

Distinguished 2 types of groups:
> Task specialists: Task oriented, strongly involved in group’s activities, offer opinions and give directions
> Socio-emotional specialists: group-oriented, focused on the feelings of the other group members.

33
Q

What did Bale’s (1950) argue?

A

Leaders are more likely to be task-oriented because leaders with this style should be best able to satisfy group’s goals

34
Q

Name a study which looks into the importance of the quality of the leader’s relationship with their followers

A

The Ohio State Leadership Studies

35
Q

Who carried out the The Ohio State Leadership Studies

A

Fleishman, 1973; Stogdill, 1974

36
Q

What did Fleishman, 1973; Stogdill, 1974 distinguish in the studies?

A

Distinguished two aspects of leader behaviour:
> Initiating structure: Focus on achieving group goal
> Consideration: Focus on maintaining harmonious group relations

37
Q

What did Fleishman, 1973; Stogdill, 1974 find?

A

The findings suggested that these were inter-dependent and equally important dimensions of leadership

38
Q

What can you evaluate from Fleishman, 1973; Stogdill, 1974 study?

A

The best leaders is someone who can organise group activities but is still attentive to the group members’ feelings

39
Q

Name a theory of leadership style

A

Fiedler’s Contingency Theory (1965)

40
Q

What did Fiedler’s Contingency theory (1965) propose

A

Fielder, argued that the effectiveness of leadership style is contingent with the situation.

41
Q

What did Fiedler (1965) say was the most important feature of the situation

A

The most important feature of the situation is the degree of control. Situational control is determined by 3 aspects:

  1. Quality of the leader-member relations
  2. Clarity of the structure of the task
  3. The authority of the leader
42
Q

What can we conclude from Fiedler’s Contingency Theory (1965)

A

Leadership effectiveness is determined by leadership style and situational factors.

43
Q

What approach did Hogg (1996) argue for

A

Hogg (1996) argued that the acceptance of leader’s and their effectiveness, should depend on how representative they are perceived to be by the group

44
Q

What did the Social indentity approach suggest?

A

According to the SIA what is representative by the group is defined by the group prototype

45
Q

What is the group prototype?

A

The group prototype is a neutral representation of the defining features of the group at a given point in time

46
Q

So what does this mean the group leader is in the Prototypical approach?

A

The group leader is the person who is most prototypical: The person who embodies what it means to be a group member at that point in time

47
Q

Name the 4 advantages of the Prototypical Approach

A

> Thinking about leadership in terms of prototypicality recognises that leaders emerge from within groups
Suggests Leadership is a social process
Its a dynamic perspective that can account for when and why leaders change, as well as how they emerge
Leaders not only lead their groups towards achieving group goals - they also lead their group against other groups