Psyc 523 - Chapter 3: Skills Approach

Skills Approach

emphasis on skills and abilities that can be learned and developed

Environmental Influences

factors that lie outside the leader's competencies, characteristics, and experiences; these can be internal or external

Individual Attributes

general cognitive ability, crystallized cognitive ability, motivation, personality

External Environmental Influences

include factors like economic, political, and social influences, as well as natural disasters can provide unique challenges to leaders

Internal Environmental Influences

include factors like technology, facilities, expertise of subordinates, and communication

Social Perceptiveness

insight and awareness into how others in the organization function

Crystallized Cognitive Ability

intellectual ability that is learned or acquired over time; it is the store of knowledge we acquire through experience

Knowledge

is the accumulation of information and the mental structures used to organize that information; such a mental structure is called a schema, which is a summary, a diagrammatic representation, or an outline

Behavioral Flexibility

is the capacity to chance and adapt one's behavior in light of an understanding of others' perspectives in the organization

Effective Problem Solving

is the keystone is the skills approach; good problem solving skills involves creating solution that are logical, effective, and unique, and that go beyond given information

How does the skills approach work?

it provides a structure for understanding the nature of effective leadership - The skills approach works by providing a map for how to reach effective leadership in an organization: Leaders need to have problem-solving skills, social judgment skills, and knowledge- Workers can improve their capabilities in these areas through training and experience - Although each leader's personal attributes affect his or her skills, it is the leader's skills themselves that are most important in addressing organizational problems

Technical skills are most important at _____ and _____ levels of management and less important in _____ management.

lower and middle levels; upper

Perspective Taking

means understanding the attitudes that others have towards a particular problem or solution

Performance

reflect how well the leader has done his or her job; is the degree to which a leader has successfully performed the assigned duties

Social Performance

social judgment skill in understanding others' perspectives and communicating their own vision to others

Human Skills

the ability to work well with others

Conceptual Skills

the ability to work with ideas and concepts

Leadership Skills

The ability to use one's knowledge and competencies to accomplish a set of goals and objectives

Why is the skill-based model of leadership characterized as a capability model?

Because it examines the relationship between a leader's knowledge and skills (i.e., capabilities) and the leader's performance

Social Judgement Skills

Capacity to understand people and social systems

General Cognitive Ability

a person's intelligence; it includes perceptual processing, information processing, general reasoning skills, creative and divergent thinking capacities, and memory skills; is linked to biology NOT experience

Human skills are important in _____.

all levels of management

Problem-Solving Skills

are a leader's creative ability to solve new and unusual, ill-defined organizational problems; being able to define significant problems, gather problem information, formulate new understandings about the problem, and generate prototype plans for problem solutions

Personality

the skills model hypothesizes that any personality characteristics that helps people to cope with complex organizational situations probably is related to leader performance

Technical Skills

the specialized procedures, techniques, and knowledge required to get the job done; proficiency in a specific type of work or activity

Skills

what leaders can accomplish

Traits

who leaders are (their innate characteristics)

3 Aspects of Motivation that are essential to developing leadership skills:

willingness, dominance, and social good

Conceptual skills are most important at the _____ management levels. As you move down to lower management, conceptual skills become ____ important.

top; less

2 Leadership Outcomes:

1. Effective Problem Solving 2. Performance

Mumford's Skill-based Model of Leadership

- characterized as a capability model because it examines the relationship between a leader's knowledge and skills and the leader's performance - leadership capabilities can be developed over time through education and experience - suggests that many people have the potential for leadership

Criticisms of Skills Approach

1. Breadth of the skills approach appears to extend beyond the boundaries of leadership, making it more general/less precise 2. Weak in predictive value; does not explain how skills lead to effective leadership performance 3. For claiming NOT to be a trait model when, in fact, a major component in the model includes individual attributes that are trait-like 4. May not be suitable or appropriately applied to other contexts of leadership

5 Components of Mumford's Skill-based Model:

1. Competencies 2. Individual Attributes 3. Leadership Outcomes 4. Career Experiences 5. Environmental Influences

Strengths of Skills Approach

1. First approach to conceptualize and create a structure of the process of leadership around skills 2. It is intuitively appealing; it makes leadership available to everyone 3. It provides an expansive view of leadership that incorporates a wide variety of components, including problem-solving skills, social judgment skills, knowledge, individual attributes, career experiences, and environmental influences 4. It provides a structure that is very consistent with the curricula for most leadership education programs

Four Individual Attributes that have an impact on leadership skills and knowledge are:

1. General Cognitive Ability 2. Crystallized Cognitive Ability 3. Motivation 4. Personality

4 Social Judgement Skills:

1. Perspective Taking 2. Social Perspectives 3. Behavioral Flexibility 4. Social Performance

Skills Model consists of 3 Competencies:

1. Problem-Solving 2. Social Judgement 3. Knowledge

Three-Skill Approach

1. Technical, 2. Human, 3. Conceptual - skills are what leaders can accomplish, whereas traits are who leaders are. - ability to use one's knowledge and competencies to accomplish a set of goals or objectives. - important for leaders to have all three skills, depending on where they are in the management structure, however, some skills are more important than others.

Career Experiences

Experience gained during career influences leader's knowledge & skills to solve complex problems; leaders learn and develop higher levels of conceptual capacity if they progressively confront more complex and long-term problems as they ascend the organizational hierarchy