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