W&O Leadership Flashcards
Leadership is the ability to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness of the organisations of which they are members
What is Shared leadership
- Idea that leadership is broadly distributed across team members rather than assigned to one person
- Leadership = role not a position (can change)
- Supplements formal leadership
When does Shared leadership work well?
- Formal leaders are willing to delegate power
- Collaborative (not competitive) culture
- Employees develop effective influence skills
Companies are far more effective when everyone assumes leadership responsibilities in various ways and at various times.
What is transformational leadership?
When a leader communicates and models a shared vision for the team or organisation and inspires followers to strive for that vision
Inspire followers to strive for better performance
What are the features of a strategic vision
- Vision is an idealised, abstract, and challenging future state with a higher purpose
- Energizes and unifies the workers
- Challenging because it requires new work practices and belief systems
- Abstract because 1. Vision hasn’t been experienced yet. 2. enables vision to remain stable
What are the elements of transformational leadership?
- Develop & communicate a strategic vision
- Model the vision
- Encourage experimentation
- Build commitment to the vision
Develop & communicate a strategic vision
- Frame message around a grand purpose
- A richer understanding of the abstract vision generates desired emotions and motivates people to pursue the vision
- Convey the image using verbal and nonverbal communication practices
Model the vision
- Walk the talk (Example of CEO having lunch with random employees)
- This builds employee trust in the leader
Encourage experimentation
- Questioning current practices
- Encourage discovering/trying out new practices
- Support a learning orientation
- A set of beliefs and norms in which people are encouraged to question past practices, learn new ideas, experiment putting ideas into practice, and view mistakes as part of the learning process.
Build commitment to the vision
- Increased through communicating the vision, enacting and behaving consistently with the vision
What is the positive evaluation of transformational leadership?
Positives
* Its important
* ↑ Employee satisfaction, performance, org citizenship behaviour, creativity
What is the negative evaluation of transformational leadership?
Limitations
- Some models have circular logic
- TLs defined by their success rather than behaviour
- TL theories combine leader behaviours with the personal characteristics of leaders
- e.g. TLs described as visionary, imaginative, sensitive, and thoughtful, but these characteristics can predict how easily the individual can engage in TL behaviours.
- Universal theory
- Need a contingency-oriented theory
- Recognize differences across cultures
What is Charisma
- Self-presentational characteristics and nonverbal communication behaviours that generate interpersonal attraction and referent power over others
- Almost magical qualities
- Followers come to see the leader as extraordinary → deference
What do charismatic people tend to be?
- Attractive to others
- Influential and inspirational
- Characterized as brilliant and effective communicators
What do charismatic leaders have?
- Emotional expressiveness
- Communication skills
- An air of self-confidence
Is charismatic leadership essential for transformational leadership?
Old view: Yes
Emerging view: Charisma differs from transformational leadership
Situational charisma
Leaders who don’t have the best charisma can suddenly become very charismatic when the situation demands it
George W. Bush is an example, mf was boring af then 9/11 happened, boom (pun not intended) he got charismatic
2 sides of Charisma
Socialised charismatic leaders vs Personalised charismatic leaders
You don’t need to pay too much attention to this, was only in lecture
Socalised charismatic leaders
- Care about the followers collective interest
- Empower followers
- e.g. Nelson Mandela
Personalised charismatic leaders
- Care about their self-interest
- Use others as a source of self-aggrandizement
- Create dependence of their followers
Managerial leadership
Daily activities that support and guide the performance and well-being of employees and the work unit to support current objectives and practices
How does managerial leadership differ from Transformational leadership
- Assumes environment is stable (vs dynamic and misaligned) - No need for change or realignment
- Micro-focused (vs macro-focused) - Specific performance of individuals or unit
Is Managerial and Transformational leadership independent of each other?
What level of management uses what technique?
No, they are dependent on each other (interdependent)
- The success of TL requires ML to translate the abstract vision into more specific operational behaviours and practices.
- ML relies on TL to set the correct direction of growth.
- Senior management typically uses TL more, and the use of ML increases as you go down the hierarchy.
- However, all managers use both at varying levels, even employees do.
Which behaviours make leaders effective?
What are Task-oriented behaviours
They are when a leader
- Assign specific tasks
- Clarify work duties
- Set goals and deadlines, provide feedback
- Establish work procedures, plan future work
Which behaviours make leaders effective?
What are People-oriented behaviours
They are when a leader
- Concern for employee needs
- Make workplace pleasant
- Recognize employee contributions
- Listen to employees
Which one is better?
Both are important, Usually very high or very low levels is where differences are seen
* High person-oriented leader = ↓ absenteeism, ↓ turnover, ↓ job dissatisfaction, ↓ less stress
* High TOL = ↑ job performance
* Students like TOL - clear objectives and well-prepared lecture
It depends on the situation for if having high/high is best
What is Servant leadership?
The view that leaders serve followers, rather than vice versa; Leaders help employees fulfil their needs and are coaches, stewards, and facilitators of employee development
What are the three key features of servant leadership?
- Natural desire or “calling” to serve others
- Humble, egalitarian, accepting relationships with followers
- Ethical decisions and behaviours (These rely heavily on Authentic leadership)
Contingency theories
- Relationship between situation and leader
- The most appropriate style depends on the situation
- E.g. more directive leaders demanded during crisises
What is the Path-Goal Theory of leadership styles
Effectiveness of the leader depends on how well the leader complements the environment in which subordinates work
Effective leaders select the most appropriate style for each situation
What are the first two Leader behaviour styles?
What do they mean?
Directive
* Provide structure
* Task-oriented behaviours
Supportive
* Provide support
* People-oriented behaviours
What are the second two Leader behaviour styles?
What do they mean
Participative
* Encourage employee involvement in decisions beyond normal work activities (decision making)
Achievement-oriented
* Encourage peak performance through setting challenging goals
* Seek continuous improvement in employee performance
What are the 2 employee contingencies of the Path-Goal leadership model
What behaviour style should you use based on them?
Skill/experience
* If employees have low skill/experience, use directive and supportive styles
* If employees have high skill/experience, use participative and achievement styles
Locus of control
* If employees have external LOC, use directive and supportive styles
* If employees have internal LOC, use participative and achievement styles
What are the 2 environmental contingencies of the Path-Goal leadership model
What behaviour style should you use based on them?
Task structure (TS)
- If TS is nonroutine and the employees are unexperienced, use directive
- If TS is routine, use supportive
- If TS is nonroutine and the employees are experienced, use participative
Team dynamics
- If the team has norms that go against org. goals, use directive
- If the team has low cohesion, use supportive
- If the team has norms that align with org. goals, use participative
What is the evaluation of Path-Goal leadership?
- It predicts behaviour as much or more than TL variables, since managers spend most time in ML than TL.
- However, not all contingencies have sufficient research support and a few haven’t been investigated at all.
- It also assumes that effective leaders can change managerial styles to fit the situation.
- In reality, it takes considerable effort to do so, leaders typically prefer one style that matches their personality and values.
- Some experts say leadership style is hardwired.
What is the leadership substitute theory
Is it effective?
A theory identifying conditions that either limit a leader’s ability to influence subordinates or make a particular leadership style unnecessary.
It is particularly related to substitutions to Task- and People-oriented behaviours
Evidence shows that leadership substitutes may reduce the need for managerial leadership behaviours, but they do not completely replace managers in these situations.
When can Task-oriented behaviour be substituted?
- Performance-based rewards
- Employee is skilled and experienced
- Guidance from coworkers
- Team norms reinforce task objectives
- Intrinsically motivating work
- Employee applies self-leadership
When can People-oriented behaviour be substituted?
- Supportive coworkers
- Employee is skilled and experienced
- Enjoyable work
- Employee uses effective stress coping strategies
What is the implicit leadership perspective?
Follower perceptions regarding characteristics of effective leaders via Leadership prototypes
- Preconceived image of effective leader, used to evaluate leader effectivness
Are leadership prototypes effective?
- If a person looks and acts like our leader prototype → we are more likely to accept as a leader & more likely to believe they’re effective
- Simplifies the organisation of one’s expectation about the behaviours of others
E.g. Walks talks and acts like a duck, must be a duck
What is an example of leadership prototypes?
- Confidence
- Dominance
- High self-esteem
- Generalized self-efficacy (belief in one’s abilities)
- Intelligence
- Extraversion
- Empathy
Don’t need to know word for word i think, just concepts
What is the Romance of leadership?
We tend to attribute great successes and great failures to our leaders
Fundamental attribution error occurs a lot
It amplifies effect of leaders on organisational results
Why do we romanticise leadership?
- To hep explain the complex and ambiguous environment
- To satisfy illusion of control (We want to believe that life events are generated from people more than uncontrollable natural forces).
What are the eight personal leadership attributes?
- Personality
- Self-concept
- Drive
- Integrity
- Leadership motivation
- Knowledge of the business
- Cognitive/practical intelligence
- Emotional intelligence
What are the components of personality and Self-concept?
Personality
- Extraversion (outgoing, talkative, sociable, assertive)
- Conscientiousness (careful, dependable, self-disciplined)
Self-concept
- Positive self-evaluation
- High self-esteem and self-efficacy
- Complex, internally consistent self-concept
- Internal locus of control
What are the components of Drive and Integrity?
Drive
- Inner motivation to pursue goals
- Inquisitiveness, action-oriented, bold
Integrity
- Truthfulness, strong moral principles
- Consistency in words and actions
What are the components of leadership motivation and knowledge of the business?
Leadership motivation
- High need for socialized power to achieve organisational goals (vs personalised power)
Knowledge of the business
- Understands external environment
- Aids intuitive decision making
What are the components of cognitive/practical intelligence and emotional intelligence?
Cognitive/practical intelligence
- Above average cognitive ability
- Able to solve real-world problems
Emotional intelligence
- Recognizing and regulating emotions in self and others
What is Authentic leadership?
If you know yourself, you can be yourself
How can you ‘Know yourself’ and thus ‘Be yourself’
Know yourself
- Engage in self-reflection
- Feedback from trusted sources
- Know your life story
Be yourself
- Develop your own style
- Apply your values
- Maintain a positive core self-evaluation
What are the limitations of the personal attributes perspective?
- Assumes all effective leaders have same personality characteristics that are equally effective in all situations
- Different combinations of attributes could be equally effective
- Leadership = too complex to have a universal list
- Assumes leadership is within the person
- Leadership is also about relations with followers
- Attributes refer to leadership potential, no necessarily performance
Is leadership more complex than we think?
- Some personal characteristics might only affect our perception of a leader
- Whether this leader is actually effective is up for debate
How do societal cultural values and practices affect leadership?
- Shape leader’s values/norms
- Influence leader’s decisions and actions
- Shape follower prototype of effective leaders
Are leadership styles universal?
- “Charismatic visionary” seems to be universal
- Participative leadership works better in some cultures (low power distance cultures)
Are there gender differences in leadership?
- Male and female leaders have similar task- and people-oriented leadership
- Participative leadership style used more often by female leaders, because females have better interpersonal skills
Are female leaders effective?
- Still receive less positive evaluations as leader due to prototype and gender stereotypes
- Evidence that they are good at emerging leadership styles
What is the glass ceiling/cliff effect?
- Glass ceilings: actual and/or perceived barrier in place within occupational or org settings that limit the upward mobility of women with respect to pay and promotions
- Glass cliffs: Tendency for women to be more likely to be appointed to leadership positions that are risky and precarious
