CH12- Leadership
What are the leadership strategies that enable positive deviance?
(1) Positive Climate: foster compassion, foster forgiveness, foster gratitude. (2) Positive Relationships: build energy networks and reinforce strengths. (3) Positive communication: obtain best-self feedback, use supportive communication. (4) Positive meaning: affect well-being, connect to personal values, highlight extended impact, build community
What are the other contingency models? Does research show them to be effective or ineffective?
(1) Situational Leadership Theory: Focuses on followers; successful leaders depends on choosing the right leadership style contingent on the follower's readiness, the extent to which followers are willing and able to accomplish a specific task. Depends on 4 behaviors: If followers are unable and unwilling to do a task, leader needs to give better directions. Unable and willing, leader needs to display high-task orientation to compensate for followers lack of ability, and high relationship orientation to get the to "buy-into" the leader's desires. Able and unwilling, leader needs to use supportive and participative style. Able and Willing, leader doesn't need to do much. Intuitive appeal, and based on idea that leaders can compensate for follower's limited ability and motivation. Tests have been disappointing from internal ambiguities, and inconsistencies in the model. (2) Path-Goal Theory suggests that it is the leader's job to provide followers with information, support, or other resources necessary to achieve goals. Directive leadership is more satisfactory when tasks are ambiguous and stressful, and directive leadership is also likely to be perceived as redundant by employees with high ability and experience. Supportive leadership results in high performance and satisfaction when employees are performing structured tasks. it does have some merit, but the effectiveness of leaders depends on their followers.
What is the difference between a transactional and a transformational leader? What are the characteristics of each type of leader? What are the least effective leadership styles?
(Similar to contingency theories) Transactional: guide followers to goals by clarifying role and task requirements. They promise rewards for good performance and recognize accomplishments. Watches and searches for deviations from rules and standards and corrects actions. Intervenes only if standards are not met. Laissez-Faire- allocates responsibilities, avoids making decisions. Transformational: inspires followers to transcend self-interests for good of organization. Provides vision and sense of mission, instills pride, gains respect and trust. communicates high expectations, inspirational motivator, promotions problem solving and intellectual stimulation, and gives personal attention. Transformational leadership builds on transactional leadership- to be a good leader, you must have good transactional qualities AND transformational qualities. Least effective leadership styles are laissez-faire, management by exception, and contingent rewards, (transactional styles). Transformational are the most impactful and best for organizations (individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation, and idealized influence- The 4 I's). Transformative leaders are more creative and encourage their followers to be more creative as well- creativity and empowerment are keys to success, and transformative leaders encourage self-efficacy in followers.
What makes a leader charismatic? How do they influence their followers? When is charismatic leadership most effective? What are some of the dark sides of charismatic leadership?
A leader is charismatic when they have a vision, are willing to take personal risks to achieve that vision, are sensitive to follower needs, and exhibit extraordinary behaviors. They also have heroic and extraordinary leadership abilities. Individual are born with traits to make them charismatic, but it can also be from personality aspects like extraversion, self-confident, and achievement-oriented. We can all become more charismatic. Charismatic leaders get followers by giving an appealing vision for some future goal, and accompanying vision statement. They use these to imprint on followers an overarching goal and purpose, and set a goal of support and cooperation. The leader also demonstrates emotional-inducing and unconventional behaviors to show courage and conviction. They are especially effective when it comes to high stress and chaotic situations, since people are looking to them for answers to their problems. They also appeal to people with low self-esteem since they can absorb the leader's direction rather than forms their own. The dark-side of these leaders is that they not always act in best interests of the company; they can be narcissistic and power-hungry.
How does ethical leadership play into authentic leadership and charismatic leadership? Why are authentic leaders effective?
Authentic leadership focuses on the moral aspects of being a leader- they share information, encourage open communication, and stick to deals while people have faith in them. Ethics and Authentic leadership go together since elders who treat their workers with fairness, by providing honest, frequent, and accurate information are seen as more effective. Leaders who are more humble also hep followers to understand the growth process for their own development. Their followers also have more organizational citizenship and address more problems with leaders. Charisma also has an ethical component, socialized charismatic leadership conveys other-centered. values by leaders who model ethical conduct- they bring about employee values in line with heir own values through their words and actions.
What are Behavioral theories? What are the dimensions of behavior that account for most of the effective leadership behavior? What might account for mixed effectiveness results from research studies?
Behavioral Theories imply that we can determine leadership effectiveness by leader behavior, and perhaps train people to be leaders. the 2 dimensions are (1) Initiating Structure: extent to which a leader is likely to design and construct his role and the roles of employee in order to reach goals. Behaviors include organizing work, work relationships, and goals. Relates to more productivity and positive evaluations. (2) Consideration: extent to which a person's job relationships are characterized bu mutual trust, respect for employees' ideas, and regard for their feeling. Leaders with high consideration help employees with personal problems, is friendly and approachable, treats all employees as equals, and expresses appreciation and support. Relates to more job satisfaction and motivation. There are mixed reviews from differences in cultural preferences- leaders high in consideration succeed best in countries where cultural values do not favor unilateral decision making. Initiating Structure leaders do better in autocratic cultures. Identifying traits and behaviors do not guarantee success, it depends on the context and the ways the 3 factors interact as well.
What do positive leaders do? This is separate from the characteristics of PL.
Few organizations perform on the right side of the continuum, the part that encourages behaving extraordinarily, and they are positively deviant. This entail always earning more revenue than the industry average for certain number of years, and achieving the best of human performance. They foster a positive climate where strong relationships, open and honest communication, and meaningfulness of work were emphasized, and allow people with strong positive attitudes to create positive energy networks and mentoring relations. They avoid the negative affects of criticism and are more supportive in their communication which encourages more people to come out when there are problems. They genuinely care about employees, and their personal lives, show empathy. Emphasize the organization's forgiveness, trust, and integrity as expected behaviors. Positive leaders focus on organizational flourishing, enabling the best human condition and creating exceptionally positive outcomes, not merely resolving problems, overcoming obstacles, increasing competitiveness, or even attaining profitability. Positive leaders also enable extraordinary performance by implementing the 4 strategies through a Personal Management Interview Program (PMI)- interviews for people to discuss their roles and are regularly scheduled to continue positive climates and relationships. To implement the 4 strategies, the 2 step process of (1) Diagnosing Current Practices, and (2) Planning on Implementation (take 2-3 behaviors that can increase positivity and effectiveness in each of the 5 positive leadership strategies (Encourage compassion, Encourage forgiveness, Encourage gratitude,Foster positive energy, and Capitalize on others strengths) -also proved best-self feedback, use supportive communication, enhance the meaningfulness of the work, and implement PMI.
How do people respond to positive and negative stimuli? What are the consequences of this in terms of managing relationships?
Human beings react more strongly to negative things that positive things. They learn early in life to be vigilant in responding to the negative and to ignore natural heliotropic tendencies. Thus, achieving positive deviations is not dependent on completely positive conditions, just like failure is not totally dependent on negative conditions. because people pay more attention to harm than good, positive leadership is not the most common form of leadership.
What is positive leadership? What does positive leadership examine? What are the characteristics of positive leadership?
Positive leadership is the way that leader enable positively deviant performance, foster an affirmative orientation in organizations, and engender a focus on virtuousness and he best of the human condition. It emphasizes 3 different orientations: (1) Positively deviant performance: emphasis on outcomes that dramatically exceed common or expected performance. (2) Affirmative Bias: focus on strengths and capabilities and on affirming human potential. (3) Facilitating the Best Human Condition: believes all humans are good intrinsically, and focuses on attaining virtues.
What is the Fiedler contingency model? What are the steps of this model? What are the things you need to think about in each step? When does a leader have more control?
Proposes that effective group performance depends on the proper match between the leader's style and the degree to which the situation gives the leader control. The Least Preferred Co-Worker (LPC) Questionnaire identifies leadership style by measuring wether a person is task-oriented or relationship-oriented. Takes into account all the co-workers, and if you describe the ones you are least able to work with as favorable (high LPC) then you are relationship oriented. If you describe them as bad, then task-oriented. In the model, fit must be found between the organizational situation and the leader's style for effectiveness; if not, situations must be modified or leaders replaced for optimal effectiveness. There are 3 contingency or situational dimensions to assess situations: (1) Leader-Member Relations: degree fo confidence, trust, and respect members have in their leaders (2) Task Structure: degree to which job assignments are structured or unstructured (3) Position Power: degree of influence a leader has over power variables such as hiring, firing, discipline, promotions, and salary increases. A higher task structure means more procedures are added, which creates stronger position power, thus giving the leader more control. The model considers the individual's leadership structure as fixed, so the only ways to improve effectiveness is to replace the leader or change the situation by restructuring tasks/ increase leader's power.
Understand what positive deviance looks like, know examples.
Represents intentional behaviors that depart from the norm of a reference group in honorable ways. The achievements exceed every knowledge expert's predictions of performance, such as CH2MHILL completing the Nuclear Production Factory clean-up in 10 years instead of 70, and $30 billion under budget.
What is servant leadership? What are positive outcomes of servant leadership?
Servant leaders go beyond they self-interest and focus on opportunities to help followers grow and develop. They don't use power to achieve ends; they emphasize persuasion. These behaviors include listening, empathizing, persuading, accepting stewardship, and actively developing follower's potential. Servant leadership resulted in higher levels of commitment to the supervisor, self-efficacy, and perceptions of justice, and more organizational citizenship. This leadership also increases team potency (belief that team has above-average skills) which leads to higher group performance. Higher OCB increases growth and advancement, which creates higher creativity. Can also be more prevalent in certain cultures, like Eastern Asia.
What is Leadership?
The ability to influence a group towards the achievement of a vision or set of goals. Not all managers are leaders, not all leaders are managers. Non-sanctioned Leadership- the ability to influence that arises outside the structure of the organization is sometimes very important to success. Organizations need strong leadership and strong management for optimal effectiveness.
What are trait theories of leadership? What impacts do traits have on leadership?
Trait Theories focus on persona qualities and characteristics, some of which have been shown to be predictive of leadership ability. Extraversion is the most predictive trait, but more towards emergence, not towards effectiveness. Leaders who like being around people and are able to assert themselves (extravert), who are disciplined and able to keep commitments they made (conscientious), and who are creative and flexible (openness) have an advantage when it comes to leadership. Traits help us predict leadership, and the emergence of leaders, but not so much the difference between effective and ineffective leaders.
Why is trust so important in leadership?
Truly is a physiological state that exists when you agree to make yourself more vulnerable to another person because you have positive expectation about how things are going to turn out. People are unlikely to look up to someone they perceive as dishonest or may take advantage of them. Trust encourages taking more risks, facilitates information sharing/ speaking out to solve problems, making groups more effective from motivation to help each other out more, and increasing productivity since employees who trust supervisor work harder and get higher performance ratings.
What are qualities you should look for when selecting leader? What are effective ways to develop them?
You can select leaders by reviewing the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to do the job effectively. Personality tests can identify the traits associated with leadership like extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness to experience. high-self monitors are better at reading situations and adjusting their behavior accordingly. Candidates with high emotional intelligence should also have an advantage. especially insinuations retraining transformational leadership. To get the most out of your training for leaders, you should work with high self-monitors with flexibly to change their behaviors, teach implementation skills, teach trust and mentoring skills, especially situational-analysis skills, evaluate situations, and modify them to better fit their style, and assess which leadership behaviors might be most effective in given situations. modeling exercises and reviewing leadership after Ley organizational events is also important.
What effect do things happening in the environment (culture, org performance, etc.) have on perceptions of leadership?
company performance can lead to changing perceptions of leadership- employee perceptions of leader's behaviors are significant predictors of whether they blame the leader for failure, regardless of how the leader assess himself. Attribution theory suggests that it is important to project appearance of being a leader rather than focusing on actual accomplishment- easier to shape people into thinking you are someone and the the view you as effective leader.
