W320 long answer
Using servant leader characteristics, how can a leader develop the ability to be a visionary?
Conceptualization: providing a clear sense of goals and direction. Foresight: using what has happened in the past compared with what is happening in the present to predict what will happen in the future
Using Kotter's functions of management and leadership model to support your argument, would you rather your direct supervisor be a leader or a manager? Use Kotter's model as a reference to the specifics of each.
Either manager or leader could be chosen here as long as the answer is well supported. A leader choice should consist of the key aspects suggested by Kotter: producing change and movement, establishing direction, aligning people, and motivating and inspiring. The same should be done if manager is chosen, focusing again on the following points: produces order and consistency, planning and budgeting, organizing and staffing, and controlling and problem solving.
Explain the process of how servant leadership works.
Focuses on the behaviors leaders should exhibit to put followers first and help them in their personal development. Leaders make it a priority to listen closely to followers and treat them fairly. Leaders develop strong relationships with followers and help them reach their full potential. Servant leadership spreads within the organization and creates a culture of serving others. Ultimately, this culture leads to caring for the community and society at large.
Describe the monitoring function of team leadership. How does it change in a fast-paced environment?
Functions as tool to assess whether the leader needs to step in and repair problem. Includes continual scanning and observing both the internal functions of the team and the team's environment, as well as the need to gather, analyze, organize, and interpret information to make informed decisions.
What is the benefit to the leader of having a high-quality relationship with employees?
Group members are viewed as dependable and more committed. Group members may take on tasks beyond their job descriptions. Group members may perform better and have less turnover.
I have observed my leader interacting with all of us followers by sharing funny stories and getting us to share what we are doing both in and outside of work, and the work atmosphere is usually quite fun and energetic. I am a little concerned that we are not meeting our sales goals and that the chief financial officer (CFO) is coming in later this week to address our poor performance. Using the main components of the behavioral leadership approach, describe what style your leader is using and what style she may use after the CFO meeting.
I have observed my leader interacting with all of us followers by sharing funny stories and getting us to share what we are doing both in and outside of work, and the work atmosphere is usually quite fun and energetic. I am a little concerned that we are not meeting our sales goals and that the chief financial officer (CFO) is coming in later this week to address our poor performance. Using the main components of the behavioral leadership approach, describe what style your leader is using and what style she may use after the CFO meeting.
Describe how the transformational leadership factors in the Full Range Model of Transformational Leadership are similar to Kouzes and Posner's five practices of exemplary leadership.
Answer will vary greatly depending upon which factors and practices students choose to compare. Individualized consideration is similar to both enabling others to act and encouraging the heart. Idealized influence and model the way are similar in that leaders serve as role models. Inspirational motivation and inspire a shared vision are quite similar in the visioning and articulation of messages. Intellectual stimulation and challenge the process both focus on creativity and innovation.
What conditions will it take for research on followership to become as popular as research on leadership? Consider global, cultural, or societal conditions.
Answers will vary. Students may acknowledge that followership research is in its infancy and, unlike leadership research, lacks formal theories based on empirical data. However, interest in followership is growing. Students may discuss various changes occurring in society that are putting followership in a brighter spotlight. Those changes include the evolution of organizational hierarchies into flatter dimensions where positional, authoritative leadership is falling out of fashion and leadership is shared. That is, with the rise in our knowledge that 'good' leadership is relational (with contemporary follower-focused frameworks such as Transformational, Servant, Authentic, and Adaptive leadership), it is more likely that the other side of the leadership equation--followership--is next to be studied. Another factor is globalization and the mixture of various cultures inside organizations, especially cultures with a collective 'we' orientation that value the good of the group and those cultures that may be less leader-centric. Finally, students may discuss the rise in our awareness of toxic leaders in various domains around the globe and how fields such as politics, business, athletic administration, and others will be examining the phenomenon of people following destructive leaders and how followers can influence change.
Are leaders born or made? Defend your answer with specific topics and research in the text that supports your answer.
Answers will vary. Students who answer "born" should use the trait definition of leadership and identify traits such as intelligence and height and dominance. Answers could include information from Chapter 2 about the intuitive appeal of being able to identify a leader by his or her traits, which makes followers want to follow. Students who answer "made" should discuss the influence and interactive nature of the definition of leadership. They could include that leaders develop over time as they interact with followers and learn how to interact with others as they gain experience. They might include information from Chapter 3 in their answers as well.
Leaders will always be more powerful than followers. Defend or refute.
Answers will vary. Students who believe leaders are more powerful may point to just how ingrained most cultures are in putting leaders on a pedestal, perhaps even invoking human's relationship with spirituality and religions that are monotheistic. Students may claim that, by definition, a leader has power over a follower. Students may further point to evidence of volumes of theories and published research and popular literature on leadership, leadership training, leadership development--that leadership is what many societies value. Students may argue that a leader makes a final decision and is thus more powerful in the end and give examples of coaches, professors, presidents, and other positional officials who can--with one decision--impact the lives of dozens or thousands. On the other hand, some students may argue that followers are more powerful because they are, typically, larger in number than leaders and hold much more potential for influence. Students may point to emerging theories of followership that view followers themselves as creating leadership, such that the two concepts begin to overlap to the point that they may become indistinguishable. Students may also argue along the lines of various grassroots movements that have caused major social change in the face of strong or authoritative leaders, using examples such as the civil rights movements, women's movement, non-violent independence movement led by Gandhi, health care for all movement in Obama-era U.S., and so on.
Create your own original typology of followership. How many dimensions would it include, and what are those dimensions? Name and describe each of the resulting types of followers.
Answers will vary. Students will likely create one, two, or even three dimensions along which to chart follower behaviors. Most likely those dimensions will include concepts such as level of activity, level of engagement, frequency of communication, presence in the group, degree of input, relationship, etc. Other (opposing) dimensions may include concepts such as level of challenge, creativity, analysis, reflection, critique, and evaluation. Other unique dimensions might be degree of constructive (good) or destructive (bad) leadership, other situational or contextual factors outside the follower's own behavior. Likewise, the various plot points along the continuum, two-dimensional grid or three (or more) dimensional matrix should be named, briefly described and accurately applied.
Gender is not mentioned as a relevant factor in this model, but has been mentioned in other chapters of our textbook. How would Watson and Hoffman (2004) predict that male and female leaders would be perceived when using the team leadership model? What would you predict?
Because so much of the decision making in the team leadership model is task related, Watson and Hoffman would predict equal influence and team performance outcomes for men and women leaders. However, women leaders would be rated lower on likability and leadership, which might affect team effectiveness factors such as collaborative climate. If the decision-making process involved more internal relational decisions, one might expect women to be rated equal to men or perhaps even more highly.
Hypothetically, the decision-making steps involved in the team leadership model could be done by any member of the team. Under what conditions would a team need to have more than just the leader monitoring and intervening?
Ideally a team would have skilled members, all of whom could monitor the group's actions at all times. Any member might see a problem that needs to be addressed and decide to take an action. Such shared leadership would be particularly helpful in a team that has internal task and relational problems as well as external problems. The team leader might not be able to address all of the problems simultaneously. For example, team members might intervene internally to improve interpersonal problems while the leader focuses on intervening on the task issue. And together the leader and members could focus on dealing with the external problems. Team leaders do not always accurately diagnose team problems, and having team members also monitoring and taking requisite action can lead to greater effectiveness.
Defend or refute: Servant leadership should be conceptualized as a behavior rather than a trait.
If conceptualized as a behavior, servant leadership can be learned and is available to everyone. Liden et al.'s research identifies seven specific behaviors that individuals can develop to become servant leaders. If conceptualized as a trait, servant leadership appears to be reserved for only a special few who exhibit this trait. A trait perspective lends credence to those who argue that certain people are "called" to be leaders.
What is the relationship between LMX and employee empowerment?
In Harris, Wheeler, and Kacmar (2009) empowerment moderates the impact of LMX on job outcomes (i.e., job satisfaction, turnover, job performance, and organizational citizenship behaviors). They found that empowerment and leader-member exchange quality had a slight synergistic effect on job outcomes. The quality of LMX mattered most for employees who felt little empowerment. For these employees, high-quality leader-member exchange appeared to compensate for the drawbacks of not being empowered.
Explain what having integrity means.
Integrity is the quality of honesty and trustworthiness. People with integrity take responsibility for their actions and are dependable. They "walk the talk."
If you would like to emerge as a leader in a group project for a class, what are two communication behaviors you should demonstrate?
Leadership emergence is associated with positive communication behaviors including being verbally involved with group members, being informed about the project, seeking group members' opinions, initiating new ideas, and being firm but not rigid.
If your boss subscribes to the definition of leadership offered by your textbook, which part of that definition lessens the possibility that she will act unethically toward you and your co-workers?
Leadership includes attention to common goals. The focus on common means leaders and followers mutually decide on their purpose and goals. This mutuality helps ensure that leaders will work ethically with followers in ways that do not force or coerce.
The communications director for a national political candidate noticed that the campaign's speechwriting team was feeling unmotivated and underappreciated because no one at campaign headquarters had ever recognized them for their hard work. The communications director decided to produce a series of short, fun videos profiling each speechwriter and shared it with top campaign officials in order to better connect the team to powerful people in the organization. This is an example of what kind of leadership action?
Networking and forming alliances, an external environmental leadership action
What are two characteristics of in-group relationships?
Relationships within the in-group are marked by mutual trust, respect, liking, and reciprocal influence.
Defend or refute: Men and women are equally likely to emerge as leaders in mixed-sex groups.
Research on emergent leadership identifies some positive communication behaviors associated with leader emergence: speaking up in meetings, being well informed, being a good listener and seeking out others' ideas, initiating new ideas, and being firm but not rigid. At the same time, when men and women engage in these behaviors, they are perceived differently by group members. In Watson and Hoffman's 2004 study, men and women were seen as equally influential, but women were rated lower on leadership and likability. Depending on the group and task, women and men may not have equal opportunity to emerge as group leaders.
When a politician explains how she overcame a difficult childhood and endured hardships only to emerge as a success story, she is describing which of the positive psychological capacities associated with the theoretical model of authentic leadership?
Resilience
If authentic leaders "understand their own values, place followers' needs above their own, and work with followers to align their interests in order to create a greater common good," how is this leadership?
Self-awareness: when leader knows who he or she is inside, is stronger anchor for decisions and actions. Internalized moral perspective: actions are consistent with leaders' expressed beliefs and morals. Balanced processing: when leaders are open about their own perspectives but are also objective in considering others' perspectives. Relational transparency: communicating openly, and being real in relationships with others.
Name and briefly describe one of the approaches to studying leadership that has emerged in the 21st Century?
Several approaches have emerged in 21st Century leadership research. [Students could answer one of the following:]Authentic leadership focuses on the authenticity of leaders and their leadership. Spiritual leadership focuses on leadership that utilizes values and a sense of calling and membership to motivate followers. Servant leadership sees the leader in the role of servant, putting followers first and using caring principles. Adaptive leadership is when leaders encourage followers to adapt by confronting challenges and change. Followership puts spotlight on followers and the role they play in the leadership process. Discursive leadership holds that leadership is created through communication practices negotiated between leader and follower.
What are the three decisions a leader must make as he or she strives for team effectiveness?
Should I monitor the team or take action? Should I intervene to meet task or relational needs? Should I intervene internally or externally?
LMX theory has been studied from various perspectives over the past 40 years. Briefly describe the three major stages of LMX theory development.
Stage 1: vertical dyad linkage theory and identified in-groups and out-groups based on relational role exchanges. Stage 2: LMX was applied to organizational effectiveness, such as employee performance. Stage 3: leadership making, which studies how leader-member relations develop over time from the stranger phase to the mature phase.
Why is a compass sometimes used as a symbol for authentic leadership?
Students may answer using the idea that core values always point an authentic leader in the direction of his/her behaviors--that leaders know who they are and where they're going. Or students may answer using the idea that self-discipline is like a compass causing a leader to be consistent in his/her focus, using an "inner" compass. Students may also use the term "True North" in their answers.
Name and give a brief description of two characteristics of team excellence as identified by Larson and LaFasto.
Students must give two of the following with an appropriate description. The clear elevating goal--An overarching purpose that engages and unites the team Results-driven structure--Effective task design, team member composition, and team norms of conduct Competent team members--Appropriate number of people with requisite technical and interpersonal skills Unified commitment--Carefully designed and supported to develop a sense of identity and spirit.Collaborative climate--Environments that develop trust, openness, honesty, and foster risk-taking Standards of excellence--Clear norms of conduct that are consistently communicated and reinforced External support and recognition--Material resources and rewards, educational access, and information systems for necessary data. Principled leadership--Commitment from leaders/members to provide cognitive, motivational, affective, and coordination support.
Carsten and colleagues offered new perspectives on followers that cast followers in a positive light. Name three of those positive facets of being a follower.
Students should answer with three of the following: Followers get the job done; followers work in the best interest of the organizational mission; followers challenge leaders; followers support the leader; followers learn from leaders.
Why has the trait approach failed to provide a definitive list of leadership traits?
The approach has failed to take into account the impact of different situations, which may call for different traits. The traits are not consistently operationalized and measured between studies. Lists of important leadership traits are often subjective.
Using the definition of leadership as stated in the text--"Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal"--create an example where a leader uses and demonstrates each component effectively. Clearly explain and show how each component is present in your example. Use examples from the text to support your claims.
The following should be clearly identified and supported: Process-leadership discussed as an interaction between leader and followers, as well as emphasis on its availability to everyone. Influence--a specific mention of how said influence is applied within the example. Groups-the context of the example should in some way take place within a group or organizational setting. Common goals-the goals of both the leader and the follower should be mentioned and discussed as they relate to the other aspects of the definition.
The Leadership Co-Created Process model has four elements. Describe those elements and describe how the elements are related.
The leadership co-created process model is really meant to describe the importance of followers. The four elements include leading behaviors, following behaviors, leadership, and outcomes. The model starts with following behaviors and leading behaviors in mutual or reciprocal interaction together. Leading behaviors are attempts to influence and use various types of power. Following behaviors involve giving power to another, complying, and/or challenging. These leading and following behaviors have a mutual influence on each other and leadership is what occurs as a result of that interaction. This 'leadership' process is then said to produce outcomes.
Using Hogg's social identity theory, how could you coach a minority person who aspires to leadership in his or her organization?
There are two facets to this answer: First, social identity theory suggests that emergence is tied to a person's fit with the identity of the group as a whole. If a minority person does not fit the racial/ethnic/gender profile of the majority, then he or she should identify other dimensions of the group identity with which he or she does fit, such as political ideology or group mission, and highlight those when seeking leadership. Second, research on emergent leadership identifies some positive communication behaviors associated with leader emergence. Coaches should help individuals practice speaking up in meetings, being well informed, being good listeners and seeking out others' ideas, initiating new ideas, and being firm but not rigid.
Defend or refute: although personal attributes are important, it is the leader's skills that are most important in addressing organizational problems.
This question can be addressed two ways. First, are a leader's attributes or skills more useful when addressing organizational problems? In favor of the skills approach, the Mumford skills model shows that leader attributes and competencies lead to outcomes, whereas the trait approach does not. the skills identified as most important in the model are problem solving, social judgment, and knowledge, all of which, theoretically, should lead to clear thinking, concern for others, and seeing "the big picture." Second, stable attributes such as intelligence, trustworthiness, and determination certainly would go a long way toward gaining cooperation from others and making ethical choices for the organization.
Identify at least five effects that charismatic leadership can have on followers. Under what conditions are these effects likely to occur? What cautions might you offer to followers of a charismatic leader?
Trust in leader's ideology; belief similarity between leader and follower; unquestioning acceptance; affection toward leader; obedience; identification with leader; emotional involvement; heightened goals; increased confidence. Remain aware of how you are being influenced and in what directions you are being asked to go.
How can a leader create unified commitment on a team?
Using characteristics of team effectiveness (i.e., enabling structure, expert coaching, clear direction); creating a "collaborative climate"; and getting members to invest in the "clear, elevating goal". The text also suggests that "team spirit can be developed by involving members in all aspects of the process."