Unit 12 Flashcards
Define leadership and shared leadership
Leadership is defined as the ability to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organizations of which they are members. Leaders use influence to motivate followers and arrange the work environment so they do the job more effectively. Shared leadership views leadership as a role rather than a formal position, so employees throughout the organization act informally as leaders as the occasion arises. These situations include serving as champions for specific ideas or changes as well as filling leadership roles where it is needed
Describe the four elements of transformational leadership and explain why they are important for organizational change
Transformational leadership begins with a strategic vision, which is a positive representation of a future state that energizes and unifies employees. A vision is a distant values-based goal that is abstract and mean- ingful to employees. Transformational leaders effectively communicate the vision by framing it around values, showing sincerity and passion toward the vision, and using symbols, metaphors, and other vehicles that contribute richer meaning to the vision. Transformational leaders model the vision (walk the talk) and encourage employees to experiment with new behaviours and practices that are potentially more consistent with the vision’s future state. They also build employee commitment to the vision through the above activities as well as by celebrating mile- stones to the vision. Charismatic leadership is distinct from transformational leadership; the former is based on personal attributes and tends make followers dependent on the leader, whereas the latter consists of a set of behav- iours and tends to empower followers.
Compare managerial leadership with transformational leadership, and describe the features of task-oriented, people-oriented, and servant leadershi
Managerial leadership includes the daily activities that support and guide the performance and well- being of individual employees and the work unit toward current objectives and practices. Transformational and managerial leadership are dependent on each other, but differ in their assumptions of stability versus change and their micro versus macro focus. Task-oriented behaviours include assigning employees to specific tasks, clarifying their work duties and proce- dures, ensuring they follow company rules, and pushing them to reach their performance capacity. People-oriented behaviours include showing mutual trust and respect for subordinates, demonstrating a genuine concern for their needs, and having a desire to look out for their welfare. Servant leadership defines leadership as serving others toward their need fulfilment and personal development and growth. Servant leaders have a natural desire or “calling” to serve others. They maintain a relationship with others that is humble, egalitarian, and accepting. Servant leaders also anchor their decisions and actions in ethical principles and practices.
Discuss the elements of path-goal theory, Fiedler’s contingency model, and leadership substitutes
Path-goal theory of leadership takes the view that effective managerial leadership involves diagnos- ing the situation and using the most appropriate style for the situation. The core model identifies four leadership styles—directive, supportive, participative, and achievement-oriented—and several contingencies relating to the characteristics of the employee and of the situation. Two other contingency leadership theories include the situational leadership theory and Fiedler’s contingency theory. Neither of these theories has much research support. However, a lasting element of Fiedler’s theory is the idea that leaders have natural styles and, consequently, companies need to change the leaders’ environments to suit their style. Leadership substitutes theory identifies contingencies that either limit the leader’s ability to influence subordinates or make a particular leadership style unnecessary.
Describe the two components of the implicit leadership perspective.
According to the implicit leadership perspective, people have leadership prototypes, which they use to evaluate the leader’s effectiveness. Furthermore, people form a romance of leadership; they want to believe that leaders make a difference, so they engage in fundamental attribution error and other perceptual distortions to support this belief in the leader’s impact.
Identify eight personal attributes associated with effective leaders and describe authentic leadership.
The leadership attributes perspective identifies the characteristics of effective leaders. Recent writing suggests that leaders have specific personality characteristics, positive self-concept, drive, integrity, leadership moti- vation, knowledge of the business, cognitive and practical intelligence, and emotional intelligence. Authentic leader- ship refers to how well leaders are aware of, feel comfortable with, and act consistently with their self-concept. This concept consists mainly of two parts: self-awareness and engaging in behaviour that is consistent with one’s self-concept.
Discuss cultural and gender similarities and differences in leadership.
Cultural values also influence the leader’s personal values, which in turn influence his or her lead- ership practices. Women generally do not differ from men in their degree of people-oriented or task-oriented leadership. However, female leaders more often adopt a participative style. Research also suggests that people evaluate female leaders on the basis of gender stereotypes, which may result in higher or lower ratings.
