Kaarten: C&O Week 6 Part 1 | Quizlet

Leadership (Stogdill)

The process of influencing the activities of an organised group in its efforts toward goal setting and goal achievement

Three approaches to leadership

1. Trait approach
2. Style approach
3. Situational approach

Trait approach

Leaders are born rather than made - leadership determined by personal qualities or traits (physical appearance, abilities and personality)

Problems with Trait approach

1. Inconsistent and contradictory findings - no consensus regarding key traits of a successful leader
2. Attempted to establish universal traits that were relevant regardless of context - disregarded social and organisational context
3. Ignored the role of followers
4. Unethical to say leaders are born rather than made

Style approach

Leaders are characterised by learned behaviours - Three main theories (Lewin, Ohio State University, Blake & Mouton)

Three styles of leadership (Lewin)

1. Autocratic - highly controlling; most efficient
2. Laissez-faire - hands-off style
3. Democratic - promotes active involvement and participation; most satisfaction

Two main components of leadership behaviour (OhioSU)

1. Consideration - concern for subordinates as people, being responsive to their needs (higher morale)
2. Initiating structure - Leaders focus closely on task, defining what subordinates should do (higher production); leaders who do both components are most affective

Five styles of leadership styles (Blake & Mouton)

1. Impoverished (low concern for production and people)
2. Country club (high concern for people, low concern for production)
3. Authority compliance management / produce or perish (low concern for people, high concern for production
4. Team leader (high concern for people and people)
5. Middle-of-the-road (compromise that focuses on both

Problems with Style approach

1. Emphasis on formal leaders - ignores informal leadership among employees
2. Inconsistent research
3. Difficult to establish universal leadership styles - ignored fact that effective leadership was influenced by context and circumstances

The situational approach

Argues that contextual factors have a mediating effect on the leadership approach that different leaders adopt - no single leadership style or trait will be effective across different situations

Communication climate

The internal environment of information exchange between keaders and members through formal and informal networks

Open communication climate (Democratic)

Free flow of info up and down, members feel free to express opinions, complaints etc

Closed communication climate (Autocratic)

Information flow is blocked: leads to organisational silence (members feel that speaking up is ineffective or unwise

Causes of organisational silence

1. Leaders are concerned about receiving negative feedback (feel threatened)
2. Belief that employees don't understand organisational matters

Consequences of organisational silence

1. Less effective organisational learning
2. Low employee motivation
3. Anxiety and stress among employees

Disadvantages to traditional Leadership models

1. Doesn't take into account followers
2. Inconsistent findings
3. (for trait approach) promotes homosocial reproduction (people hang around with those like them

Narrative leadership

Symbolic action is linked to this - creation of meaning and shaping realities through stories; stories also play a leadership role in how they are retold and outlive people

Critical communication perspective

Leadership is coproudiced by leaders and followers, not just one

Risks of narrative leadership

1. Stories may be interpreted differently
2. Counter-narratives may challenge the official story

Resistance leadership

Leaders who challenge views within organisations - focus on societal goals e.g whistleblowers

Consensensual-Egalitarian

Decisions are made through lengthy discussions - leaders help facilitate discussion but do not necessarily decide

Consensual-Hierarchial

Decisions are made through discussions - members desire to be involved in process of decision making

Top-Down-Hierarchial

Clear authority figure - decisions are followed without much pushback

Top-Down-Egalitarian

Members share ideas to help leader make decision - once decision is reached, members are expected to align with the leader

Contingency model of leadership (Fiedler)

A leader's effectiveness depends on two interacting factors:
1. Personality of leader
2. Organisational situation - Extent that the situation provides leader with influence and lack of uncertainty

Personality of leader dimensions

1. Relationship oriented and accomplish tasks through maintaining good relations with group members
2. Task oriented and prefer evidence of group members competence (e.g by completing tasks)

Organisational situation dimensions

1. Leader-member relations - degree that leader feels supported by group members
2. Structure of task - how clear-cut or ambiguous it is
3. Position power - ability of leader to reward or punish group members

Problems with Fielders contingency model

1. Focused on formal, designated leaders - not informal leaders
2. Focuses on personality, which is difficult to change - however good leaders can adapt to various work situations
3. Inconsistent and unreliable findings

New leadership

Umbrella term referring to a host of different orientations to leadership that emerged around broad themes / theories, such as
1. Viewing leadership as symbolic action
2. Transformational neo-charismatic approach
3. Greater focus on followership
4. Shift from formal aspects to everyday, informal leadership
5. View of leadership as a socially constructed phenomenon

Leadership as symbolic action (Cultural/Interpretive approach)

Leadership is realised in the process where one or more individuals succeed in attempting to frame and define the reality of others - its socially constructed through interaction and emerges from actions of the leaders and the led; not a thing but a process

Transformational Leadership distinction

Distinguished between manager and leader - manager simply directs subordinates and exercises authority, leaders inspire and promote commitment

Transactional leadership (Burns)

Exchanges between leaders and members in which the leader sets goals and provides the members with rewards (pay) when these goals are met - reflects managerial worldview

Transformational (neo-charismatic) leadership (Burns)

Involves binding the leader and members together in a higher moral purpose; leader is selfless and gets members to think and act better

Three distinctions in transformational leadership (Bass)

1. Charisma / inspiration - commands attention of followers and inspires them
2. Individualised consideration - gets to know followers' needs and abilities so they can take on their own leadership roles
3. Intellectual stimulation - make followers think about work in novel ways

Followership

A dialectical relationship exists between followers and leaders - they mutually define each other, one cannot exist without the other

Two dimensions of followership

1. Independent critical thinking vs dependent, uncritical thinking
2. Positive energy and active engagement vs negative energy and passive engagement

Five followership roles based on the two dimensions of followership

1. Sheep - uncritical and passive
2. Yes people / conformists - Uncritical and active
3. Alienated followers - critical and passive
4. Pragmatic / survivors - middle of both
5. Star/exemplary followers - critical, positive and active

Romance leadership perspective (Meindl)

Leadership is a product of followers, they are romanticised and created by followers - Attention is placed on followers constructing leaders, not other way round

Followership approach advantage

1. Decenters ideas of heroic leader and instrad looks at leadership as a socially constructed process
2. Highlights cruciality of followers role in organisational decision making

Critical communication perspective on leadership characteristics

1. Rejects separation of leader and follower - favours coproduced leadership
2. Post-heroic view of leadership - not romanticised single person but distributed through organisation
3. Socially constructed process which people interdependently create
4. Communication is the way leadership is socially constructed
5. Focuses on power and control that characterises those social construction - leadership can also be form of resistance

Three different areas within a critical communication approach to leadership

1. Leadership and disciplinary power
2. Resistance leadership - dissent itself is a form of leadership
3. Narrative leadership e.g IBM security story