CHAPTER 1 - What Do We Mean by Leadership PDF

CHAPTER 1 - What Do We Mean by o The ability to engage Leadership? employees, the ability to build teams, and the ability...

CHAPTER 1 - What Do We Mean by o The ability to engage Leadership? employees, the ability to build teams, and the ability to achieve results; the first What Is Leadership? two represent the how and the latter the what of Most of this disagreement stems leadership from the fact that leadership is a o A complex form of social complex phenomenon involving problem solving. the leader, the followers, and the All considered, we find that situation. defining leadership as “the Perhaps the best way for you to process of influencing an begin to understand the organized group toward complexities of leadership is to accomplishing its goals” is fairly see some of the ways leadership comprehensive and helpful. has been defined. Several implications of this Leadership researchers have definition are worth further defined leadership in many examination. different ways: o The process by which an agent induces a Leadership Is Both a Science and an Art subordinate to behave in a desired manner. Saying leadership is both a o Directing and coordinating science and an art emphasizes the the work of group subject of leadership as a field of members. scholarly inquiry, as well as certain o An interpersonal relation in aspects of the practice of which others comply leadership. because they want to, not leadership involves dozens of because they have to. different theoretical domains and o The process of influencing a wide variety of methods for an organized group toward studying it. accomplishing its goals Scholarship may not be a o Actions that focus prerequisite for leadership resources to create effectiveness, but understanding desirable opportunities. some of the major research o Creating conditions for a findings can help individuals better team to be effective.  analyze situations using a variety emotions play an important role in of perspectives. leadership, too. some scholars have suggested that the very idea of leadership Leadership Is Both Rational and may be rooted in our emotional Emotional needs. Belief in the potency of leadership, Leadership involves both the however—what has been called rational and emotional sides of the romance of leadership—may human experience. be a cultural myth that has utility Leadership includes actions and primarily insofar as it affects how influences based on reason and people create meaning about logic as well as those based on causal events in complex social inspiration and passion. systems. We do not want to cultivate merely intellectualized leaders who respond with only logical Leadership and Management predictability. Because people differ in their the word management suggests thoughts and feelings, hopes and words like efficiency, planning, dreams, needs and fears, goals paper- work, procedures, and ambitions, and strengths and regulations, control, and weaknesses, leadership situations consistency. can be complex. Leadership is often more so leaders can use rational associated with words like risk techniques and emotional appeals taking, dynamic, creativity, to influence followers, but they change, and vision must also weigh the rational and Here are some other distinctions emotional consequences of their between managers and leaders: actions. o Managers administer; Good leadership is more than just leaders innovate. calculation and planning, or o Managers maintain; leaders following a checklist, even though develop. rational analysis can enhance o Managers control; leaders good leadership. inspire. Good leadership also involves o Managers have a short- touching others’ feelings; term view; leaders, a long- term view.  o Managers ask how and or acquired; what matters when; leaders ask what and more is how these factors why. interact o Managers imitate; leaders Myth: The Only School You Learn originate. Leadership from Is the School of o Managers accept the status Hard Knocks quo; leaders challenge it. o Some people skeptically question whether leadership can develop Leadership Myths through formal study, believing instead it can be Myth: Good Leadership Is All acquired only through Common Sense actual experience o this myth says one needs o It is a mistake, however, to only common sense to be a think of formal study and good leader. learning from experience as o The problem, of course, is mutually exclusive or with the ambiguous term antagonistic. common sense. o In fact, they complement o It implies a common body each other. Rather than ask of practical knowledge whether leadership about life that virtually any develops from formal study reasonable person with or from real-life experience, moderate experience has it is better to ask what kind acquired. of study will help students Myth: Leaders Are Born, Not Made learn to discern critical o Some people believe that lessons about leadership being a leader is either in from their own experience. one’s genes or not o others believe that life experiences mold the The Interactional Framework for individual and that no one Analyzing Leadership is born a leader. o In a sense, both and Perhaps the first researcher to neither. formally recognize the importance o Yet both views are wrong to of the leader, follower, and the extent they imply situation in the leadership process leadership is either innate was Fred Fiedler.  Although we recognize Fiedler’s have been called in-groups contributions, we owe perhaps and out-groups. even more to Hollander’s o Sometimes there is a high transactional approach to degree of mutual influence leadership. and attraction between the We call our approach the leader and a few interactional framework. subordinates. Several aspects of this derivative o These subordinates belong of Hollander’s approach are to the in-group and can be worthy of additional comment. distinguished by their high o First the framework depicts degree of loyalty, leadership as a function of commitment, and trust felt three elements—the leader, toward the leader the followers, and the o Other subordinates belong situation. to the out-group. Leaders o Second, a particular have considerably more leadership scenario can be influence with in-group examined using each level followers than with out- of analysis separately. group followers. o Although this is a useful way to understand the The Leader leadership process, we can understand the process This element examines primarily even better if we also what the leader brings as an examine the interactions individual to the leadership among the three elements, equation o Thus a final important This can include unique personal aspect of the framework is history, interests, character traits, that leadership is the result and motivation. of a complex set of Leaders are not all alike, but they interactions among the tend to share many leader, the followers, and characteristics. the situation Research has shown that leaders o An example of one such differ from their followers, and complex interaction effective leaders differ from between leaders and ineffective leaders on various followers is evident in what personality traits, cognitive abilities, skills, and values.  personality can affect leadership performing a job well, might be how he or she achieved leader more likely to work extra hours on status a time-critical project than those o Leaders who are appointed whose motivation is solely by superiors may have less monetary. credibility with Recently, however, an alternative subordinates and get less approach to understanding loyalty from them than followership has been advanced. leaders who are elected or In contrast to the aforementioned emerge by consensus from role approach to understanding the ranks of followers. followership. o a leader’s experience or the constructionist approach history in a particular views leadership as combined organization is usually acts of leading and following by important to her or his different individuals, whatever effectiveness. their formal titles or positions in an organization may be. The Followers For a long time, in fact, “the The Situation common view of leadership was The situation is the third critical that leaders actively led and part of the leadership equation. subordinates, later called most early research on leadership followers, passively and obediently was based on the assumption that followed. leadership is a general personal Over time, social change shaped trait expressed independently of people’s views of followers, and the situation in which the leadership theories gradually leadership is manifested. recognized the active and This view, commonly known as the important role that followers play heroic theory, has been largely in the leadership process. discredited but for a long time Today it seems natural to accept represented the dominant way of the important role followers play. conceptualizing leadership. The nature of followers’ motivation The situation may be the most to do their work is also important. ambiguous aspect of the Workers who share a leader’s leadership framework; it can refer goals and values, and who feel to anything from the specific task a intrinsically rewarded for  group is engaged in to broad Schein found a high correlation situational contexts such as the between the ways both male and remote predicament of the Andes female respondents perceived survivors. “males” and “managers,” but no correlation between the ways the respondents perceived “females” Illustrating the Interactional and “managers.” It was as though Framework: Women in Leadership being a manager was defined by Roles attributes thought of as masculine. A 2011 meta-analysis of studies of Not long ago, if people were asked gender stereotyping continued to to name a leader they admired, find strong evidence of a tendency most of the names on the resulting for leadership to be viewed as list could be characterized as “old culturally masculine. white guys. a 2016 review of research noted Today the names on that same list the persistent tendency of gender would be considerably more stereotypes that women are seen heterogeneous. as more communal (kind and It is clear that women are taking on nurturing) but less agentic leadership roles in greater (ambitious and dominant) than numbers than ever before. men. Problems clearly still exist that To women, at least, being a woman constrain the opportunity for and being a manager are not capable women to rise to the contradictory. highest leadership roles in Through the impact of stereotype organizations. threat, the person’s awareness of In a classic study of sex roles, being judged by stereotypes can Schein demonstrated how bias in nonetheless have a deleterious sex-role stereotypes created impact on performance problems for women moving up In another study of the role of through managerial roles. women in management, Breaking Schein asked male and female the Glass Ceiling, middle managers to complete a The researchers were struck by the survey in which they rated various fact that the women were much items on a five-point scale in terms like the senior men they had of how characteristic they were of worked with in other studies. men in general, women in general, or successful managers.  o Qualitatively, they had the Men tended to describe same fears themselves in somewhat o More quantitatively, transactional terms, viewing however, the researchers leadership as an exchange with expected to find significant subordinates for services differences between the rendered. women who had broken the They influenced others primarily glass ceiling and the men through their organizational who were already in position and authority. leadership positions The women, by contrast, tended to Women, in this view, are depicted describe themselves in as leaders who, when compared to transformational terms. men, are better listeners, more They helped subordinates develop empathic, less analytical, more commit- ment to broader goals people oriented, and less than their own self-interest, and aggressive in pursuit of goals. they described their influence Continued work with women in more in terms of per- sonal corporate leadership positions has characteristics like charisma and both reinforced and clarified these interpersonal skill than mere findings organizational position. That such exciting opportunities According to Rosener, such for leadership development may women leaders encouraged pose a double-edged sword for participation and shared power women, how- ever, is suggested by and information, but went far a variant of the glass ceiling: the beyond what is commonly thought glass cliff. of as participative management. The glass cliff refers to the She called it interactive intriguing finding that female leadership. candidates for an executive position are more likely to be hired than equally qualified male There Is No Simple Recipe for Effective candidates when an organization’s Leadership performance is declining. The following statements about Survey research by Judith Rosener leaders, followers, and the identified several differ- ences in situation make these points a bit how men and women described more systematically: their leadership experiences. o A leader may need to respond to various followers differently in the same situation. o A leader may need to respond to the same follower differently in different situations. o Followers may respond to various leaders quite differently. o Followers may respond to each other differently with different leaders. o Two leaders may have different perceptions of the same followers or situations.