MMM132
Topic 9
Leadership
Chapter 13
&
Communication
Chapter 14
Deakin University CRICOS Provider Code: 00113B
Learning outcomes
LO 9.1 What is leadership versus management pp. 240 - 241
LO 9.2 Who are leaders what do they do pp. 242 – 245
LO 9.3 Strategic & visionary leadership pp. 254 – 257
LO 9.4 What is communication p. 258
LO 9.5 Perception & communication pp. 259 - 262
LO 9.6 The communication process pp. 262 - 268
LO 9.7 One -on-one communication pp. 268 - 272
LO 9.8 Organisation-wide communication pp. 272 - 275
Leadership
versus managememt
Definition: Leadership is the process of influencing
others to achieve group or organisational goals.
Leaders are different from managers
Organisations need both leaders & managers
Trait (characteristics) theory
Traits are stable characteristics (i.e. abilities, Emotional
Intelligence, behaviours).
Effective leaders possess similar traits:
• Desire to lead
• Drive
• Knowledge of the business
• Cognitive ability
• Emotional stability
• Self-confidence
• Honesty and integrity
Leadership behaviours
(tasks & people)
1. Initiating structure (production tasks): setting goals, giving
directions, setting deadlines, and assigning tasks
2. Consideration (people relationships): friendly, approachable
and supportive and shows concern for employees
The Blake/Moulton
leadership grid
(5 leaderships styles)
Strategic & visionary
leadership
Strategic leadership is: ability to anticipate,
envision, maintain flexibility, think strategically and work
with others to initiate changes that will create a positive
future for an organisation. It inspires change &
extraordinary effort.
Visionary leadership: creates a positive image of the
future that motivates staff & provides direction for planning
& goal setting.
Charismatic
leadership
Versus
Transformational
leadership
Charismatic leadership
Charismatic leaders:
• have strong, confident, dynamic personalities
that attract followers
• create extremely strong relationship between
leader & followers.
Charismatic leaders:
o
o
o
o
articulate a clear vision, based on values
model values consistently with vision
communicate high performance expectations
display confidence in followers’ abilities
Ethical & unethical
charismatics
Ethical versus unethical
charismatics
Ethical charismatics:
• Provide developmental opportunities
• Are open to positive and negative feedback
• Recognise others’ contributions
• Share information
• Concerned with the interests of the group/organisation/ society
Unethical charismatics:
• Control and manipulate followers
• Do what is best for themselves
• Only want positive feedback
• Share only information that is beneficial to themselves
• Have moral standards that put their interests before everyone else’s
Transformational versus
transactional leadership
Transformational leadership generates awareness and acceptance
of purpose and mission. Gets employees to see (and accomplish)
beyond their own needs and self-interests for the good of the group.
Charisma or
idealised influence
Inspirational
motivation
Intellectual
stimulation
Individualised
consideration
Transformational
leaders act as role
models for their
followers
Followers are
motivated and inspired
by providing meaning
and challenge to their
work
Followers are
encouraged to be
creative and
innovative, question
assumptions and look
at problems and
situations in new
ways, even if different
from leader's ideas
Attention is paid to
followers' individual
needs by creating
learning opportunities,
accepting and
tolerating individual
differences,
encouraging two-way
communication and
being a good listener
Transactional leadership based is
based on an exchange process, in which
followers are rewarded/punished for their
performance. Less effective in the long run.
Chapter 14
Managing
communication
Perception (processes & problems)
Perception processes
Perception: process by which individuals attend to, organise, interpret
and retain information from their environments
Perception filters: personality, psychology or experienced-based
difference that influences people to ignore or pay attention to particular
stimulus
Perception problems
Selective perception: tendency to notice and accept objects and
information consistent with our values, beliefs and expectations and
ignores, screen out or not accept inconsistent information
Closure: tendency to fill in the gaps of missing information by
assuming what we don’t know is consistent with what we do know
Perception of others &
self perception
Perception of others
Attribution theory
Humans need to understand causes of other people’s behaviour.
--Internal attribution: behaviour is voluntary/under their control
--External attribution: behaviour is involuntary/beyond their control
Defensive bias: people perceive themselves as personally and
situationally similar to someone who is having difficulty
Fundamental attribution error: people ignore external causes of
behaviour and attribute other people’s actions to internal causes
Perception of self
Self-serving bias: people overestimate their value by attributing
successes to themselves (internal causes) and attributing failures to
others or the environment (external causes)
The interpersonal
communication process
1
8
7
2
6
3
5
4
Noise (interference)occurs if:
• the sender is unsure what message to communicate
• the message is not clearly encoded
• the wrong channel is chosen
• the message is improperly decoded
• the receiver lacks experience or time.
Formal communication
channel
Definition: official approved communication channels
Includes:
Downward communication: flows from higher to lower levels
Upward communication: flows from lower to higher levels
Horizontal: flows among managers and workers at same level
How to improve formal communication
1. Decrease reliance on downward communication
2. Increase chances for upward communication
3. Encourage greater use of horizontal communication
4. Be aware of communication problems
Informal communication
channels
Transmitting messages from employee to employee outside of
formal channels. The ‘grapevine’
It is highly accurate
o Information is timely
o Senders seek feedback
o Accuracy can be verified
Managing organisational grapevines
Don’t withhold information from it.
Don’t punish those who use it.
Embrace the grapevine and keep employees informed.
Use it as a source of information.
https://www.gingersoftware.com/content/wp-content/uploads/11842_grapevinef-300x300.jpg
Coaching & counselling:
one-on-one communication
Coaching communications: to improve the person’s on-the-job
performance or behaviour
Counselling communications: to discuss non-job related issues
affecting or interfering with the person’s performance
Choosing the right communication
medium
Being a good listener
Giving effective feedback
Concepts in communication
Non-verbal communication: 93% of our communication is not words.
• Kinesics (visual body language)
• Paralanguage (vocal language)
Communication medium: delivers the message
• Oral
• Written
Active listening (not just hearing):
• A conscious effort - clarify, paraphrase, summarise
• Two-way communication and non-judgemental feedback
Empathetic listening
• Show desire to understand
• Reflect feelings & emotions
Giving feedback
• Destructive feedback
• Constructive feedback (immediate, specific, problem-oriented focus
on behaviour not personality).
Organisation-wide
communication
Improving transmission (getting the message out)
• Email
• Online discussion forums
• Televised/videotaped speeches and conferences
• Broadcast voice mail
Improving reception (hearing what others think)
Company
hotlines
Phone numbers
that anyone in the
company can
anonymously call
to leave
information for
upper
management
Survey feedback
Information
collected by survey
from organisational
members that is
then compiled,
disseminated and
used to develop
action plans for
improvement
Informal
meetings
Surprise visits
Between top
Allow managers to
managers and
get a realistic look
lower level
at what’s going on
employees are one
in the company
of the best ways
for top managers
to hear what others
feel and think
Blogs
Obtain personal
opinions,
recommendations,
news summaries
and reader
comments