Defining Leadership

Leadership Lecture 1 Overview

• The lecture explores what makes leaders stand out
• Future sessions will discuss the toxic side of leadership and alternative forms of leadership
• The session will define leadership, compare it to management, and identify the qualities of a good leader

Defining Leadership

• Leadership involves directing a group's activities towards a shared goal (Hemphill & Coons, 1957: 7)
• Leadership is influencing others to achieve maximum performance on a task, objective, or project (Cohen, 1990: 9
• Leadership is influencing individuals or groups to achieve goals in a given situation (Hersey & Blanchard, 1988: 86)
• Leadership is interpersonal influence through communication to achieve specified goals (Tannenbaum, Weschler & Massarik, 1961: 24)
• There are numerous definitions of leadership, each shaped by the perspectives of those who attempt to define it (Bass, 1981: 89)

Leadership vs Management

• Leadership establishes a vision, makes it meaningful, communicates effectively, and motivates people and creates change
• Management involves planning, designing, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling, managing and directing change
• Leadership is less visible than management, which is more tangible
• Leadership and management are not mutually exclusive

Key Points

• Leadership definitions generally involve influencing people towards a goal
• Leadership and management differ but often overlap and occur together

Qualities of a Good Leader

• Visionary Thinking
• Effective Communication
• Integrity and Ethics
• Emotional Intelligence
• Decisiveness
• Inspirational and Motivational skills
• Adaptability
• Collaboration and Team Building
• Confidence
• Continuous Learning and Improvement

Approaches to Leadership

• 1920s: Trait theories focused on identifying inherent qualities of leaders
• 1940-50s: Skills approaches emphasized the abilities needed for effective leadership
• 1950-60s: Style/behavior approaches looked at how leaders act
• 1960-70s: Contingency theories considered how leadership varies with the situation
• 1980s: Transformational leadership focused on inspiring and transforming followers

Trait Theories

• Personality determines who becomes a leader
• Effective leaders are seen as 'gifted' with innate characteristics making them born, not made
• Studies have produced lists of traits like intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity, sociability, and emotional intelligence
• This is intuitively appealing but empirically questionable

Skills Approaches: Katz (1955)

• Top Management requires technical, human, and conceptual skills
• Middle Management requires technical and human skills
• Supervisory Management requires technical, human, and conceptual skills.

Style/Behaviour Approaches

• Style/behavior approaches focused on how leaders act.
• Blake & Mouton's Leadership Grid
  • Country Club Manager focuses on high people and low task
  • Team Manager focuses on high people and high task
  • Middle of Road Manager focuses on medium people and task and balances work output and morale
  • Impoverished Manager focuses on low people and low task
  • Authority-Obedience Manager focuses on low people and high task

Contingency Theories: Fiedler

• Good leader-member relations and position power with a strong task structure indicates a favorable leadership
• Poor leader-member relations and position power with a weak task structure indicates an unfavourable leadership
• Leadership can be Task-Oriented or Relationship-Oriented

Contingency Theories: Hersey and Blanchard

• Leadership styles can be either supporting, coaching, delegating, or directing based on the situation
• Leadership can be Directive or Supportive

Transformational Leadership

• Burns (1978) and Bass (1985) distinguished between transactional and transformational leaders
• Transactional leaders meet subordinates' material and psychic needs in exchange for contracted services
• Transformational leaders engage the full person of the follower and incorporate charismatic and visionary leadership

Transformational Leadership - Qualities

• Individualized Consideration: Showing concern, identifying needs, and providing opportunities to learn
• Inspirational Motivation: Articulating possibilities, communicating a clear vision, and aligning goals
• Intellectual Stimulation: Stimulating intellect and imagination, questioning the status quo
• Idealized Influence: Displaying charisma, expressing confidence, and taking responsibility

Core Assumptions

• Only certain people can 'do' leadership
• Followers are "passive recipients" of a leader's orders
• Leadership is romanticized and heroic, elevating leaders to a saint-like status
• Leadership is seen as "positive" and unproblematic

Areas for Future Thinking

• Consider a famous villain and analyze how many aspects of transformational leadership they fulfill, providing examples