Leadership in Small Groups
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1. Leadership in action
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Is this an effective group?
Does the “leader” think it is effective?
Do the members feel it is effective?
What specific actions influenced the level
of effectiveness?
• Suggestions?
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2. What is leadership?
• acts of guiding, influencing, directing,
inspiring, and/or motivating the actions of
others to achieve organizational goals.
• Designated leader vrs. Actual leader
• Person vrs. Group Activity
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3. Sources of influence
• Legitimate power (positional or role)
• Referent power (attraction, identification,
charisma)
• Expert power (knowledge)
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4. Leadership Theories
• Traits approach (born to win)
– higher IQ, taller, more attractive, larger
– leadership emergence approach
• Styles approach
– democratic
– Laissez-faire
– autocratic
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Theories cont.
• Contingency
– Needs of group members
– Downs & Picket study (high social needs)
• Functional approaches
– Task vrs. People
– Leader as medium - assist group in creating an
organizing scheme (rules/procedures) for
problem solving (how - through leader)
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Theories cont.
• Specific functions
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Leaders provide sufficient info.
Leaders enact a variety of functions
Leaders make sense of decisions
Leaders focus on the here-and-now
• Contingency approach (Task & Relationship)
– You can not adapt (Fiedler)
– You can adapt (Hersey & Blanchard)
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Theories cont.
• Communication competencies of effective leaders:
– encode ideas clearly & concisely
– firmly understand the group’s task
– skilled in mediating info. & ideas supplied by group
(critical thinking)
– express opinions provisionally
– express group centered concerns
– respect others when they speak
– share rewards and credit with the group
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5. Distributed leadership
• a group may be able to function without a
leader, but it cannot function without
leadership
• Basic idea - group members share
leadership functions
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6. Key leadership skills
• Leader as completer
• Equalize opportunity to participate
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Address comments to group
Be a gatekeeper
Actively listen to those who speak less often
Avoid commenting after each speaker
Request opinions of others on key issues
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Leadership skills cont.
• Stimulate critical thinking
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Focus on analysis 1st, solutions 2nd
Encourage evaluation of info.
Clarify assumptions, standards, & criteria
Test solutions against standards & criteria
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Leadership skills cont.
• Foster meeting-to-meeting improvement
– Determine areas of improvement
– Routinely assess strengths/weaknesses
• Establish & Maintain Trust
– Establish norms, stick to them
– Confront trust violators
– Be a principled/ethical leader
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Leadership skills cont.
• Promote teamwork & cooperation
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Use the right pronouns
Create symbols of group identification
Watch out for hidden agendas
Share rewards with all the group
Argue about facts/issues, not personalities
Make it fun!
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