Chapter 3: Skills Approach
Cause/Goal Analysis
the ability to analyze the causes and goals relvant to addressing problems
Forecasting
the ability to anticipate the implications of executing the plans
Sensemaking/Visioning
the ability to articulate a vision that will help followers understand, make sense of, and act on the problem
Problem Definition
the ability to define noteworthy issues or significant problems affecting the organization
Creative Thinking
the ability to develop alternative approaches and new ideas for addressing potential pitfalls of a plan identified in forecasting
Wisdom
the ability to evaluate the appropriateness of these alternative approaches within the context, or setting in which the leader acts
Idea Evaluation
the ability to evaluate these alternative approaches' viability in executing the plan
Planning
the ability to formulate plans, mental simulations, and actions arising from cause/goal, and constraint analysis
Constraint Analysis
the ability to identify the constraints, or limiting factors, influencing any problem solution
Conceptual Skills
the ability to work with ideas and concepts - a leader with conceptual skills works easily with abstractions and hypothetical notions - central to creating a vision and strategic plan for an organization - important at upper management levels
Knowledge
the accumulation of information and the mental structures used to organize that information
Behavioral Flexibility
the capacity to change and adapt one's behavior in light of an understanding of other's perspectives in the organization
Social Judgment Skills
the capacity to understand people and social systems - enable leaders to work with others to solve problems and to marshal support to implement change within an organization
Skills Model
the model is characterized as a capability model because it examines the relationship between a leader's knowledge and skills and the leader's performance - unlike the "great man" approach, which implies that leadership is reserved for only the gifted few, the skills approach suggests that many people have the potential for leadership - rather than emphasizing what leaders do, the skills approach frames leadership as capabilities (knowledge and skills) that makes leadership possible
Motivation
the skills model suggests there are three aspects of motivation—willingness, dominance, and social good—that are essential to developing leadership skills 1. leaders must be willing to tackle complex organizational problems 2. leaders must be willing to express dominance, to exert their influence 3. leaders must be committed to the social good of the organization
General Cognitive Ability
thought of as a person's intelligence - sometimes described as fluid intelligence, a type of intelligence that usally grows and expands up through early adulthood adn then declines with age
Perspective Taking
understanding the attitudes that others have toward a particular problem or solution - empathy applied to problem solving
Schema
a summary, a diagrammatic representation or an outline
Career Experiences
career experience helps leaders to improve their skills and knowledge over time - learn and develop higher levels of conceptual capacity if the kinds of problems they confront are progressively more complex and more long term as they ascend the organizational hierarchy
External Environmental Influences
economic, political, and social issues as well as natural disasters can provide unique challenges to leaders
Internal Environmental Influences
factors such as technology, facilities, expertise of subordinates, and communication
Environmental Influences
factors that lie outside the leader's competencies, characteristics, and experiences
Mumford's Group Skill-Based Model
has five components: competencies, individual attributes, leadership outcomes, career experiences, and environmental influences
Application
has not been widely used in applied leadership settings - offers valuable information about leadership
Social Performance
includes a wide range of leadership compentencies
Social Perceptiveness
insight and awareness into how others in the organization function
Crystallized Cognitive Ability
intellectual ability that is learned or acquired over time
Human Skills
knowledge about and ability to work with people - human skills allow a leader to assist group members in working cooperatively as a group to achieve common goals - important on all levels of management
Technical Skills
knowledge about and proficiency in a specific type of work or activity - play an essential role in producing the actual products a company is designed to produce - most important at lower and middle levels of management and less important in upper management
Personality
our personality has an impact on the development of our leadereship skills
Leadership Outcomes
1. effective problem solving 2. performance
Individual Attributes
1. general cognitive ability 2. crystallized cognitive ability 3. motivation 4. personality
Strengths of the Skills Approach
1. leader-centered model that stresses the importance of developing particular leadership skills - first approach to conceptualize and create a structure of the process of leadership around skills 2. Intuitively Appealing: describe leadership in terms of skills that makes leadership available to everyone 3. 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. Provides a structure that is very consistent with the curricula of most leadership education programs
Criticisms of the Skills Approach
1. the breadth of the skills approach seems to extend beyond the boundaries of leadership 2. skills model is weak in predictive value 3. skills approach claims not to be a trait model when in fact, a major component in the model includes individual attributes which are trait-like 4. may not be suitably or appropriately applied to other contexts of leadership - was constructed by using a large sample of military personnel
Experts
people with a lot of knowledge have more complex organizing structures than those with less knowledge - knowledgeable people are called experts
How does the Skills Approach Work?
primarily descriptive, describes leadership from a skills perspective - works by providing a map for how to reach effective leadership in an organization
Competencies
problem-solving skills, social judgement skills, and knowledge are at the heart of the skills model
Three-Skill Approach
suggested that effective administration, leadership, depends on three basic personal skills: technical, human and conceptual - skills are what leaders can accomplish, whereas traits are who leaders are
Skills Approach
takes a leader-centered perspective on leadership - emphasis on skills and abilities that can be learned and developed