CHP 3: Leadership Qualities, Characteristics of Followers, and Situational Factors

size of the organization, the social and psychological climate, patterns of employment, and the type, place, and purpose of the work performed.

In addition to qualities of the leader and characteristics of the followers, many situational factors influence the leadership process:

strength of commitment. Commitment comes from passion, and passion comes from within the person.

Leadership effectiveness is in direct proportion to

nondirective and supportive approach is best.

Leadership studies show that, in general, when the work to be done is clear-cut, routine, or monotonous, a

Keep promises.

Never say you will do one thing and then do another. If you can't do what you have promised, explain why; don't try to hide the fact that you couldn't keep your word.

Consider all points of view.

See situations from the other person's perspective. Show that although you may not agree with them, you do respect the views of others.

Listen to understand.

Situations may arise that at first appear as though someone is untrustworthy. Missed deadlines, unreasonable expenses, and deviations from standard practices are examples. By simply asking what is happening instead of assuming the worst, you will build a trusting relationship.

incompetence rigidity intemperance callousness corruption cruelty

Six negative qualities of poor leaders

Incompetence.

The leader lacks will or skill (or both) to sustain effective action.

to meet performance objectives.

The most serious derailment pattern is the failure

Self-confidence

a belief in oneself that gives inner strength to overcome difficult tasks; a leadership quality that raises the trust and confidence of followers and increases their ability to perform.

Vision

a positive and future-focused image of what could and should be that focuses and energizes people; an essential requirement for effective leadership. A successful vision is leader-initiated, shared and supported by followers, comprehensive and detailed, and uplifting and inspiring.

interpersonal trust

consists of the expectations, assumption, or belief about the likelihood that another's future actions will be beneficial, favorable, or at least not detrimental to one's interests

vision, ability, enthusiasm, stability, concern for others, self-confidence, persistence, vitality, charisma, and integrity.

10 qualities that mark a leader and help influence the leadership process—

leadership personnel in American society.

A general decline is evident in the level of trust employees have in

calm under pressure.

A sign of self-confidence is for the leader to remain

both a salesperson and a production manager. Outside the organization, the leader is the organization's chief advocate, personally meeting with clients and winning their loyalty. On the inside, the leader organizes the work, assigns tasks, coaches employees, and evaluates progress.

A small organization needs a leader who is

People develop preferred styles by modeling others, going through formal training, and learning from personal experience Important factors of followers include need for structure—some employees prefer clear guidelines and step-by-step procedures, others enjoy discussion and consensus problem solving, and others want free-rein leadership with few rules to follow; knowledge, maturity, and interest—usually, the higher the knowledge, maturity, and interest level of the employee, the more appropriate free-rein is as a style of leading; and leadership expectations—some employees want the leader to make decisions and supervise closely, others respond best to team effort and participative management, and others need a high degree of personal freedom. Leaders have been successful along all points of the continuum There is no universally effective style of leading If styles of leading and styles of following conflict, extra patience and communication are needed

According to the ideas of Hollander, Vroom, and Yetton; Tannenbaum and Schmidt; Hersey and Blanchard; Daniel Goleman; and others, there are five points to remember about styles of leading

Give responsibility.

As a leader, you have bottom-line expectations. Explain your expectations to employees; then let them use their talent, education, and experience to achieve results.

Concern for others.

At the heart of caring leadership is _______. The leader must not look down on others or treat them as machines—replaceable and interchangeable. The leader must be sincerely and deeply concerned about the welfare of people. The character of caring stands in clear contrast to the character of bullying. The caring leader never tears down, belittles, or diminishes people. The leader must also possess humility and selflessness to the extent that, whenever possible, others' interests are considered first.

taskmaster who ruled with a strong arm and forced employees to obey or face the consequences

Attitudes toward authority have been changing in Western society, and effective leadership today requires adjustment to the ideas and expectations of a new generation of followers. In the past, the leader in the work setting typically was a

trust, the bedrock of loyalty.

Concern for others requires patience and listening, and the result is

social reasoning capacity, understanding of multiple perspectives, appreciation of knowledge limits, and wisdom in social conflict.

Despite lesser fluid intelligence, older people show increased

self-serving, abusive, and dangerous, especially when threatened

Destructive leaders have a toxic effect on their workers and their organizations.49 A toxic leader can be

Goal setting.

Directive followers may be upset by free-rein leaders who provide few details on how to do a job. These leaders must remember that directive followers usually do their best work when job duties are spelled out and direct orders are given.

Decision making.

Directive leaders may be upset by free-rein followers who insist on challenging decisions and behaving independently. These leaders must remember that free-rein followers usually do their best work on special assignments and independent projects. They respond best to individual treatment and personal freedom.

twenties and thirties, slowly up to mid-seventies, then more rapidly thereafter, especially after the mid-eighties.

Fluid intelligence tends to decrease in the

Deal openly with everyone.

Hidden agendas will erode people's trust in you while showing that you don't trust them.

decision making goal setting communication

If styles of leading and styles of following conflict, extra patience and communication are needed, especially in the following areas:

directive and task orientation is needed until roles, responsibilities, and relationships are clarified.

If work duties are defined loosely, a

devotes efforts primarily to the organization's public image and its investment and growth plans. Leaders of large organizations think in broad terms about the community and the marketplace, considering how the organization can be placed best in both.63

In contrast, the leader of a large organization

Patterns of employment

In his book The Age of Unreason, management author Charles Handy describes how contemporary patterns of work are changing in fundamental ways. He describes the "shamrock" organization, in which there are three workforces supporting an organization, but only one leaf of the shamrock is permanent and full-time; the other two are (1) part-time or temporary or both, and (2) independent workers and contractors who form alliances with the organization to perform specified tasks. Handy describes how the seemingly unusual work assignments of our day—working at home, flextime, independent contractors, networks of professionals, associations, virtual offices and companies, and the like—are part of a new pattern of work that adds to the challenge of leadership.6

convergent thinking divergent thinking

Intelligence is multidimensional, including both _____, where there is one right answer, and ______, where there can be many right answers.

1. deal openly with everyone 2. consider all points of view 3. keep promises 4. give responsibility 5. listen to understand 6. care about people

Management authors Stuart Levine and Michael Crom write about building trust in the workplace. They identify six principles of trust for leadership effectiveness:

apprentice, disciple, and student—one of reliable effort and loyalty to the leader

Modern managers view their task as one of motivating employees to do their best. In adopting this approach, leaders function as facilitators and teachers as opposed to enforcers and disciplinarians, believing that trust and respect should be earned, not demanded. With this approach, the response of the good follower is in the tradition of the .59

(1) Narcissists boast how great they are, while customers and co-workers know there is little truth behind the gloating. (2) Narcissists seek to be the stars of the show by putting their needs for attention before the well-being of others. (3) Narcissists blame others for their failures, refusing to apologize even when their mistakes are obvious.

Narcissism is a particularly destructive leadership quality. This is a "dark side" leadership pattern with three telltale signs:

Empower people. Generate ideas. Coach teams. Do the right things. Develop people.

New demands for leaders

Communication.

Participative followers usually are upset by leaders who fail to have staff meetings, ignore the open-door policy, and show little concern for people's feelings. These leaders must remember that participative followers want open communication and active involvement in the decision-making process. They usually perform well on task forces, committees, and other work teams.

directive, participative, or free-rein

STYLES OF LEADING:::

Size of the organization.

Studies show that the _____demands a certain type of leadership skill.

Type, place, and purpose of work.

The _____ is an important factor in the leadership process. Imagine the tight structure and emphasis on standards required in a nuclear power plant, in contrast to self-expression with minimal controls conducive to creative performance in the arts.

multiple intelligences

The concept of ____ is relevant to successful leadership. You may find that you have strengths in several different kinds of intelligence. When needs for leadership arise in your areas of strength, you can capitalize on these aptitudes for success.

China, 1115 BC, when mental ability tests were used to select people for leadership roles.70

The first formal link between intelligence and leadership was established in

1. Failure to meet performance objectives. 2. Inability to build and lead a team. 3. Inability to build positive relations with co-workers. 4. Inability to adapt to changing bosses, followers, and situations. 5. Inadequate preparation for promotion.

The following are five derailment patterns:

Cruelty.

The leader commits atrocities inflicting physical and/or emotional pain on others.

Callousness

The leader is uncaring and unkind, discounting the needs of others

Corruption.

The leader puts self-interest ahead of public interest and is willing to lie, cheat, or steal.

integrity

The most important quality of leadership is _____, understood as honesty, strength of character, and courage. Without integrity there is no trust, the number one element in the leader-follower equation. Integrity leads to trust, and trust leads to respect, loyalty, and ultimately action.

(1) breakdown of the traditional family structure; (2) decline of a wide range of social structures, such as schools, places of worship, and neighborhoods; (3) lack of shared values and a sense of community as the society has focused on individual advantage and self-absorption; and, perhaps most important, (4) case after case in which highly visible and influential leadership figures are discovered putting self-interest over the public good—clear evidence that too many leaders violate the trust that they have been given

The tendency to withhold trust and be self-guarded can be traced to a number of factors:

promoted and derailed leaders are smart and ambitious and have good technical expertise. A second finding is that derailed leaders exhibit one or more behavioral patterns not evident in leaders who succeed.

There are consistent findings across studies of leadership promotion (success) and leadership derailment (failure). One finding is that both

Care about people.

This principle will have a major impact on how people react to you and to situations. If they know you care about them, they will be honest with you and will do all they can to meet your expectations.

Give orders. Implement plans. Manage individuals. Do things right. Organize work.

Traditional duties of leaders

respect for authority and interpersonal trust

Two characteristics of followers that influence the leadership process are

high involvement and critical thinking.

Two qualities that are necessary for organizational success are ____ and____ Leaders and followers who care deeply and think well make a powerful team.

crystallized intelligence, such as vocabulary and knowledge.

With age, we lose, but we win as well. We lose recall memory, but we gain elements of

art

a skill acquired by experience or study; an endeavor requiring special knowledge and ability, such as the art of leadership.

Charisma

a special charm or allure that inspires allegiance; an amalgam of inspirational traits or qualities of the leader, such as optimism, sense of adventure, and commitment to a cause. See transformational leadership. a special personal quality that generates others' interest and causes them to follow

respect for authority

believing leaders have the right to lead have a trusting nature are led more easily than people who disregard authorities and are suspicious of others

Negative leadership

can occur in virtually all social settings. Employees with a negative, or "dark side," leader are plagued by such questions as "Is my boss fair and honest?" "Can I trust him to support me?" "Does she see me as a competitor who needs to be neutralized?" "Will she reward or punish me if I make improvement suggestions?"

Integrity

completion, wholeness, and soundness; a quality of character requiring honesty and courage; a virtue necessary for trust; the most important quality desired in a leader. See values, honesty, and courage.

Persistence

constancy of purpose and unrelenting determination; a leadership quality required to persevere and prevail, even when others lose their strength and will. The leader must have drive and determination to stick with difficult tasks until they are completed.

free-rein style

follower-centered decision making leader presents problems with some boundaries and lets followers make final decisions leader allows followers as much freedom as leader has to define problems and make decisions

Relevant expertise

helps the leader build a team, set the right goals, and achieve results.

Ability

innate and learned competency; talent required to perform a task; one's level of achievement based on skill, motivation, and expectation that one will succeed. The greater the ability, the greater the potential for leadership effectiveness. See job knowledge. The leader must know the job—or invite loss of respect. It helps if the leader has done the job before and done it well.

Enthusiasm

intensity of interest; the passion one has for a purpose or task; a leadership quality that ignites the interest and energy of others. See commitment. a form of persuasiveness that causes others to become interested and willing to accept what the leader is attempting to accomplish.

Fluid intelligence

involves mental flexibility, as shown by the ability to process information rapidly, as in solving problems in new areas of endeavor. People draw upon fluid intelligence in novel situations or when conventional solutions fail. It includes reasoning, creative thinking, and memory

Intelligence

is defined as cognitive ability, or the ability to perform mental tasks.

Subject matter expertise

is needed to solve problems and make good decisions.

participative style

leader and followers share decision making leader announces principles and sets forth methods of decision making, yet permits ideas, questions, and discussion from followers leader presents a problem, asks for followers' ideas, and makes final decisions based on their input

directive leadership style

leader decides what is to be done and how it is to be done, and presents the decison to followers, allowing no questions or opposing points of view leader attempts to convince the followers of the "rightness" of decisions maximum use of authority

art than science and more skill than knowledge

leadership is more

Adolf Hitler, Jim Jones

negative leader ex

own time and in their own culture In the Amazon rain forest, intelligence may be knowing the medicinal effects of local plants. In a North American college, intelligence may be mastering abstract theories in tough courses

ntelligence is complex and multidimensional. People assign the word intelligence to the qualities that enable success in their

Crystallized intelligence

represents one's lifetime of intellectual attainments, as shown by vocabulary, accumulated facts about the world, and ability to solve problems within one's area of expertise. It includes comprehension of information and the ability to communicate in oral and written forms. Crystallized intelligence can be increased over time.

Stability

steadiness and firmness of purpose; a leadership quality required for making good judgments and generating the trust and confidence of others. The leader must understand her or his own world and how it relates to the world of others. One cannot solve the equation of others when preoccupied with the equation of self.

Rigidity.

the leader is closed-minded to new ideas, new information, or changing times. Intemperance. The leader lacks self-control in personal habits and conduct.

Vitality

the strength to live; a basic requirement for successful leaders who, through personal energy and stamina, breathe life into their visions and followers. See energy and stamina. Even if the spirit is willing, strength and stamina are needed to fulfill the tasks of leadership.