Leadership

Question 1

What is the meaning of Leadership according to Vecchio, 1997; Yukl, 1998

Answer 1

“the process through which one member of a group (the leader) influences other group members toward attainment of shared group goals”

Question 2

What is the difference between the appointed leader and the emergent leader?

Answer 2

An appointed leader such as a manager is appointed from members higher up the hierarchy, it can be someone very different or external to the group.

The emergent leader naturally emerges from a group. They might not have legitimate power, but they are similar to the other group members. Other group members may identify with the leader, respect them and look up to them. These leaders enjoy good relationships with group members and it’s important for them to have a level of trust with the others.

Question 3

What kind of leader is an elected leader such as Joe Biden?

Answer 3

He may have started out as an emergent leader when he campaigned for senator a member of his party. He was the emergent leader of the party, which enabled him to put himself forward as a candidate for the national election. When people voted for him, he became the appointed leader. Although he has legitimate power to rule, he may not have trust from the people that didn’t vote for him.

Question 4

What is the trait approach definition of leadership?

Answer 4

The Trait approach is the older approach of leadership. People thought that a leader needs to have particular personality traits and attributes. Including height, intelligence, extroversion, fluency.

Question 5

Explain the reason why people thought leaders needed specific traits.

Answer 5

Early research into the attributes of existing leaders found that leaders tend to be taller than the average height. They also tend to be intelligent (not extremely intelligent but a little above average). This may be because communication is important and for that there needs to be common ground with followers so they can understand. Leaders tend to be highly extroverted because they’re confident, dominant, energetic and friendly. They need to be fluent to communicate with people.

Question 6

Why has new research moved on from earlier findings on the trait approach?

Answer 6

These early findings were not as strong and new research has shifted into looking at leadership as a process and the interaction between the leader and followers. Leaders have an impact on followers and followers also have an impact on leaders.

Question 7

What was Freud’s theory of leadership?

Answer 7

• Leadership emerges as the natural consequence of a group’s “thirst for obedience”
• Leaders must be prototypical of the group, so followers have a desire to be obedient to them.
• Followers can identify with them – unconscious desire to be like them
• Illusion that the leader loves each of the group members alike

E.g., Trump’s supporters may like how he disregards societal norms, and they may identify with him or desire to be like him. They have the illusion that he loves them even though his policies often only benefit the super rich.

Question 8

What was Freuds “great man” theory and did research support this?

Answer 8

• Freuds “Great man” theory is that the leader has specific traits that make them better than others.

Early research didn’t find good evidence for this theory.

• No consistent set of traits differentiated leaders from non-leaders across a variety of situations (Stogdill, 1948)
• Leadership reconceptualised as a relationship between people and the situation (Stogdill, 1948)
• In recent years, resurgence of interest in how traits influence leadership (Bryman, 1992)

Question 9

What are the five personalities in the five factor personality model?

Answer 9

Neuroticism 
Extraversion
Openness
Agreeableness
Conscientiousness

Question 10

Which of the big five personality factors has a high correlation with leadership?
(Judge et al., 2002)

Answer 10

The trait that has the strongest and most consistent effect across studies is extroversion.
The next most common trait is conscientiousness which means being well organised, dependable and hard-working.
The next trait is openness meaning how open they are to experiences.

Neuroticism is negatively related to leadership. Agreeableness (being kind and cooperative) is an unrelated trait to leadership

Question 11

What os the glass ceiling effect?

Answer 11

The glass ceiling effect is how women move up the ladder, but they stop at some point. They don’t break the ‘glass ceiling’ and get to the top.

Question 12

What is the role congruity theory? (Eagly, 2003)

Answer 12

Social stereotypes of women are inconsistent with people’s schemas of effective leadership. Leaders need to strong and dominant which isn’t consistent with the stereotype of women being soft and nurturing.

Question 13

What is the importance of power in leadership?

Answer 13

Powerful people are those who have the ability to affect others’ beliefs, attitudes and courses of action.
There are different kinds of power and not all leaders have all of them. An ideal leader has different types of power.

Question 14

Name some different types of power

French and Raven (1962)

Answer 14

Referent power
Expert power
Legitimate power
Reward power
Coercive power

Question 15

What is referent power?

Answer 15

Based on followers’ identification and liking for the leader (the type of power that emergent leaders have)

Question 16

What is expert power?

Answer 16

Based on followers’ perception of the leader’s competence

Question 17

What is legitimate power?

Answer 17

Associated with having status or formal job authority (e.g., a manager or president. In contrast, an emergent leader may not have legitimate power.)

Question 18

What is reward power?

Answer 18

Having the capacity to provide rewards to others

Question 19

What is coercive power?

Answer 19

Having the capacity to penalise or punish others

Question 20

What is the difference between task and relationship behaviour in leadership?

Answer 20

• Task behaviour: facilitates goal accomplishment (getting the job done)
• Relationship behaviour: help subordinates feel comfortable with themselves, with each other, and with the situation in which they find themselves (supporting group members)

Question 21

What are the different dimensions of leadership?

Muczyk & Reimann, 1987; Peterson, 1987

Answer 21

• Autocratic vs. participative dimension (autocratic leaders tell members what to do, alternatively the opposite would be to involve the members in decision making and have them participate)
• Directive vs. permissive dimension (either directing them or enabling them to behave how they want to)

Question 22

What did the Lippitt and White (1943) show about the productivity of different leadership styles?

Answer 22

The most productive leaders were autocratic, but when the leader was absent, there was low productivity. Next there was a relatively high productivity with the democratic leader which was unaffected by their presence. Lastly, the lowest level of productivity was with the Laissez-faire leader, when the leader was not around productivity increased.

Question 23

Explain the Situational Leadership II (SLII) model (Blanchard et al., 1985)

Answer 23

• This model suggests that leadership should be adapted to the level of development of followers.
• The development level refers to their level of expertise or how well they know how to complete the task.
• Depending on their level of development, leaders should either direct or support followers.
• The best leaders are adaptive and flexible, they know when to be supportive or directive.

Question 24

What are the different leadership styles according to (Blanchard et al., 1985) model?

Answer 24

• Directive/Telling Style – high-directive-low supportive
Here, people need to be directed rather than supported.

• Coaching/Selling Style – high-directive-high supportive
People know how to do the task but may have low motivation, in which case leaders need to give them support in order to ‘sell’ the task to them.

• Participating/Supporting – high-supportive-low directive
In this situation, people don’t need direction but may need support in order to build their confidence.

• Delegating – low supportive-low directive style
They don’t need support/direction, they just need to be delegated tasks.

Question 25

What is Fiedler’s Contingency Theory of Leadership?

Answer 25

Effectiveness of leader = function of leader style and situation control

This theory argues that the way to find out someone’s leadership style is by giving them a questionnaire where they describe their worst worker. After seeing how they rate their least preferred worker, researchers look at how positive or negative the score is.

Question 26

According to Fiedler which leaders are relationship oriented?

Answer 26

A high least-preferred co-worker (LPC) score suggests that the leader has a human relations orientation.

A leader that sees their least preferred worker in a positive way is a leader that has a relationship style (they focus on relationships).

Individuals who rate their least preferred co-worker in a favourable light derive satisfaction out of interpersonal relationship.

Question 27

According to Fiedler which leaders are task oriented?

Answer 27

A low LPC score indicates a task orientation.

A leader who rates their least preferred worker in a negative way is more likely to be task orientated.

Individuals who rate the co-worker unfavourably get satisfaction out of successful task performance.

Question 28

According to Fiedler’s contingency theory, what key factors does situational control depend on?

Answer 28

Situational control means how positive the situation is for the leader.
This depends on three key situational factors:
• Leader-member relations
• Task structure
• Position power

Question 29

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the contingency model?

Answer 29

Strengths
– Predictive theory that is supported by empirical research (eg. Strube & Garcia, 1981)
– Provides a way to assess leader style that could be useful to an organization and it’s very easy to do

Weaknesses
– There is some doubt whether the LPC is a true measure of leadership style
– More direct ways of measuring leadership styles, such as assessing behaviour
– Doesn’t have a good face validity (it doesn’t really make sense)
– Only high or low LPC is classified but what about middle? (those in the middle tend to perform the best regardless of situation)
– The hierarchal structure suggests that leader-member relations more important than task structure, which is more important than position power. But this may not be accurate as the importance of tasks or relationships can vary from situation to situation.
– The model is quite complex and doesn’t simplify reality (which is what models are supposed to do). Internal logic is can be argued as somewhat flawed.
(There are a lot of weaknesses but somehow it does predict leadership styles well)

Question 30

What is transactional leadership?

Answer 30

The leader sets goals & expectations for followers.

Contingent reward & punishment (If they meet the expectations they are rewarded, if they don’t, they are punished).

Question 31

What circumstances would allow leaders to be innovative?

Answer 31

– Conforming closely to group norms (acquiring a rapport with the group, causing them to trust the leader)
– Ensuring that the group feels that leader was appointed democratically
– Seen to have competence to fulfil objectives
– Seen to identify with the group

Question 32

What is the Leader-member exchange (LMX) theory (Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1991)

Answer 32

There is a continuum of quality of exchange relationships (e.g., respect, trust, liking) between leader and follower.
High quality LMX relationships are associated with better performing and more satisfied workers.

Question 33

What are the charismatic traits and behaviours of leaders? (House, 1976)

Answer 33

– Advocates a vision
– Not keeper of the status quo – behaviour is out of the ordinary – perceived as change-agent (e.g., Jacinda Arden had a baby while prime minister)
– Acts in several unconventional ways – counter to norms
– Willingly makes self-sacrifices, takes personal risks, to support their vision
– Strong self-confidence

Question 34

What’s the difference between transformational and charismatic leadership?

Answer 34

Often transformational and charismatic leadership are used interchangeably. But there is a difference, although transformational leaders have charisma, what sets them apart is the fact that they empower their subordinates.

Question 35

What is transformational leadership?

Answer 35

Transforming subordinates, empowering them, and making them better able to do the task

Question 36

What are the traits/behaviours of transformational leaders? (Bass, 1985; Judge & Bono, 2000)

Answer 36

• Charisma: Provides vision and sense of mission, instils pride, gains respect and trust.
• Inspiration: Communicates high expectations, uses symbols to focus efforts, expresses important purposes in simple ways.
• Intellectual Stimulation: Promotes intelligence, rationality, and careful problem solving. Stimulate creativity by questioning common assumptions.
• Individualized Consideration: Gives personal attention, treats each employee individually, coaches, advises. They give a lot of support to subordinates and gain trust.

Question 37

What does Hogg, 2001 suggest about social identity and leadership?

Answer 37

Leadership is an identity process where prototypical leaders are more effective than less prototypical leaders (this is only about people’s expectations of the leaders effectiveness).
It’s important to identify with the leader because if we can identify with them, we’re much more likely to follow their lead

Question 38

How do leaders emphasise prototypicality?

Look up the reference for this: Possibly Hogg, 2001 or Hains, Hogg & Duck (1997)

Answer 38

• Talk up prototypicality (people often emphasise themselves as prototypical of the group) e.g., Donald Trump emphasising that he’s a senior citizen.
• Identify deviants or marginal members to highlight your own prototypicality (they might talk down or vilify them. Often use these members as a scapegoat)
• Vilifying contenders for leadership and casting them as non-prototypical (making them look less suitable as a leader because they aren’t typical)
• Identify relevant comparison out-groups that are most favourable to their own prototypicality (emphasis out-groups to emphasise that they are prototypical of their group)

Question 39

What is the difference between mastery-focused and connectedness-focused communication in group communication?

Answer 39

• Mastery-focused communication: Task instructions, correction of errors, etc.
(Task focus)
• Connectedness-focused communication: Reassurance of positive esteem, relationship maintenance (Relationship focus)

Question 40

Whats the difference between centralised and decentralised networks?

Answer 40

Centralised networks often have a leader in the middle that everyone has to report to in order to get things done. Whereas in a decentralised networks communication goes in different directions.

Question 41

What did Bavelas et al (1951) find about centralised and decentralised networks?

Answer 41

• Groups arranged in a centralised fashion made fewer errors on the task than decentralised arrangement
Perhaps because it’s more likely for someone to miss out on information from the decentralised network as communication goes in different directions.
• Morale and job satisfaction higher in decentralised

Question 42

What did Shaw (1964) find about centralised and decentralised networks?

Answer 42

• Centralised communication tends to only work for simpler tasks
• Complex tasks require a more complex method of communication, in this case decentralised networks were more superior

Question 43

What are the advantages of communicating by email or text message within an organisation?

Answer 43

• Focus on task content, but lack of nonverbal cues important for socio-emotional interdependence, building trust.
• Less satisfying and difficult to have personalised communication
• Harder for members to gain impression of others’ expertise
– So, they rely more on stereotypes (Storck & Sproull, 1995)
• In online meetings, it’s difficult to know when to talk because of a lack of cues. However, there may be some advantages such as more people asking questions via the online meeting chat, in comparison to face-to-face lectures. Leadership may work differently in this setting and may be more difficult online.