Unit 3.2: Leaders & followers Flashcards
What is the greatman approach?
It is an old-fashioned approach that aimed to detect common traits that determine an effective leader.
It has not been very successful
What are the big 5 personality traits
- Openness to experience
- Conscientiousness
- Extraversion
- Agreeableness
- Neuroticism (emotional stability)
What was Lewin’s study regarding leadership styles
Filed experiment using different leadership styles in 3 groups of children
3 conditions
- Autocratic leadership
- democratic leadership
- laissez-fair leadership
What is autocratic leadership (AKA authoritarian)
One-way communication system
Members directly express doubts but the leader makes the final decision
What were the findings from Lewin’s study regarding AUTOCRATIC/AUTHORITARIAN leadership
It is very effective when leader is present
Performance imapired when leader leaves
What is democratic leadership?
Consensual decision-making
(Lewin lead a discussion where children came to a collective agreement)
What were the findings from Lewins’ study regarding DEMOCRATIC leadership
Children showed high performance standards despite leader’s presence due to student involvement
What is the Laissez-fair leadership?
The leader doesnt take part in group’s internal dynamics
Only gets involved when directly addressed (answering questions/doubts)
What were the findings from Lewin’s study regrding the Laissez-fair leadership?
Intergroup relations = good
performance = poor
Performance improves when leader absent.
According to the functional approach (Bales), what are the 2 basic needs/functions that a leader must fulfill?
Goal attainment: initiating structure to reach group goals
Relation maintenance: socioemotional role
Outline the functional approach & who proposed it
- Bales
- States that leadership is attributed by the group to who they feel meets the 2 basic needs best (goal attainment & relation maintenance)
- It can be difficult for 1 person to fulfill both roles as they require opposing behaviours - leadership may be shared between 2 members
What is contingency theory?
the idea that the perfect type of leadership is dependant on the situation/group
What is Fred Fielder’s method for assessing suitable leadership styles?
Least Preferred Co-working Questionnaire
Aims to determine which situation suits which leaders
Where do task oriented & relationship orientated people score on the LPC
Relationship-oriented = score highly
Task -oriented= score low
what is the criteria of the LPC (least-preferred coworker)
situational control: understanding the extent to which the situation is under the control of a leader
- relationship quality
- structured task
-leadership power position
