Leadership And Decision Making
LEADERSHIP
• Leadership is a complex phenomenon involving the leader, the followers, and the situation.
•
Process of influencing an organized group toward accomplishing its goals.
Due to the complexity of leadership, the concept has been defined in many ways:
1) Process by which an agent induces a subordinate to behave in a desired manner
2)
Directing and coordinating the work of group members
3)
Interpersonal relation in which others comply because they want to, not because they
have to
LEADERSHIPS AS A PROCESS OF INFLUENCING AN ORGANIZED GROUP TOWARD ACCOMPLISHING ITS
GOALS
• Pertains to actions that focus resources to create desirable opportunities
• Creating conditions for a team to be effective
• The ability to engage employees, the ability to build teams, and the ability to achieve
results
• The first two represent the how and the latter the what of leadership.
• A complex form of social problem solving.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SUCCESSFUL MANAGERS AND EFFECTIVE MANAGERS
1)
2)
Successful Managers
- Those promoted through the ranks
-
Spend more time in organizational socializing and politicking
-
Spend less time on traditional management responsibilities such as planning and
decision making
Effective Managers
- Make real contributions to their organization’s performance
LEADERSHIP IS BOTH SCIENCE AND ART
-
•
•
•
Leadership remains partly an art as well as a science.
Some managers may be effective leaders without ever having taken a course or training
program in leadership.
Some scholars in the field of leadership may be relatively poor leaders themselves.
LEADERSHIP IS BOTH RATIONAL AND EMOTIONAL
• Leadership involves both the rational and emotional sides of human experience.
•
Some scholars suggest the very idea of leadership may be rooted in our emotional needs.
• Belief in the potency of leadership (the romance of leadership) may be a cultural myth
that has utility primarily insofar as it affects how people create meaning about causal
events in complex social systems.
-
Good leadership is more than just calculation and planning, though a rational analysis
can enhance good leadership.
-
Remember Martin Luther’s King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech. He inspired people to
action and at the same touched their hearts and minds.
-
Aroused feelings can be used positively or negatively. There were leaders who were
able to inspire people to greed deeds of actions and courage and there were others
who made people act mindlessly.
-
Mere presence of a group causes people to act differently than when they are alone
LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
1)
Leadership – is consistent with risk taking, dynamic, creativity, change and vision. It is
value choosing ang value laden.
2)
Management – deals with efficiency, planning, regulations, control, and consistency.
DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN MANAGERS AND LEADERS
MANAGERS
LEADERS
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Administer
Maintain
Control
Have a short-term view
Ask how and when
Imitate
Accept the status quo
Innovate
Develop
Inspire
Have a long-term view
Ask what and why
Originate
Challenge the status quo
Leadership and Management Overlap:
• Leadership and management are two overlapping functions.
• Some functions performed by leaders and managers are unique, but there are functions
which overlap.
LEADERSHIP MYTHS
In general, these myths can be classified into three broad categories of beliefs that hinder the
development of leadership:
1)
2)
3)
“Good leadership is all common sense.”
-
One believes that good leadership only entails common sense.
-
The problem is the term common sense is ambiguous.
-
It implies that there is a body of practical knowledge about life that virtually any
reasonable person with moderate experience has acquired.
-
If leadership were simply common sense, then there would be fewer workplace
problems.
“Leaders are born, not made.”
-
Innate factors and formative experiences influence behavior and leadership
-
Natural talents or characteristics may offer certain advantages or disadvantages to
a leader.
-
What is important is how these factors interact.
-
Research shows cognitive abilities and personality traits are partially innate. Natural
talents may prove to be advantageous or disadvantageous to a leader.
-
Different environments can nurture or suppress different leadership qualities.
“The only school you can learn leadership from is the school of hard knocks.”
-
Formal study and experiential learning complement each other.
-
Formal study of leadship provides students with a variety of ways of examining a
particular leadership situation.
Studying the different ways researchers have defined and examined leadership helps
students use these definitions and theories to better understand what is going on in
any leadership situation.
-
Figure 1.2: The Interactional Framework for Analyzing Leadership
(This framework depicts leadership as a function of 3 elements; leaders, followers and situation.)
THE INTERACTIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYZING LEADERSHIP
It states that leadership is the result of a complex set of interactions among the leader, the
followers, and the situation.
Example: In-groups and out-groups
•
In-groups: High degree of mutual influence and attraction between the leader and a few
subordinates.
•
Subordinates feel a high degree of loyalty, commitment, and trust toward the leader.
In-groups are distinguished by their high
degree of loyalty, commitment and trust
felt toward the leader.
Leaders have more influence to the ingroup followers that with the out-group
followers.
THE LEADER
Characteristics include:
• Unique personal history
• Interests
•
•
Character traits
Motivation
1)
Effective leaders differ from their followers and from ineffective leaders on elements
such as personality traits, cognitive abilities, skills, and values.
2)
Leaders are generally calm and are not prone to emotional outbursts.
3)
Leaders appointed by superiors may have less credibility and may get less loyalty.
4)
Leaders elected or emerging by consensus from ranks of followers are seen as more
effective.
5)
Leader’s experience or history in a particular organization is usually important to her or
his effectiveness.
6) Leader’s legitimacy is affected by the extent of follower participation in a leader’s
selection.
THE FOLLOWERS
Both practitioners and scholars stress the relatedness of leadership and followership.
Following aspects of followers affect the leadership process:
•
Expectations
•
Personality traits
•
Maturity levels
•
Levels of competence
•
Motivation
5 Basic Styles of Followership according to Robert Kelley:
1)
Alienated Followers – they habitually point out the all the negative aspects of the
organization to others.
2)
Conformist Followers – are the “yes people” in the organization.
3)
Pragmatist Followers – are rarely committed to their group’s work goals, but they have
learned not to make waves.
4)
Passive Followers – they don’t have the characteristics of the exemplary followers. They
rely to their leader to do all the thinking.
5)
Exemplary Followers – present a consistent picture to both leaders and coworkers of
being independent, innovative and willing to stand up to superiors. Their talents are
applied to the benefits of the organization.
Workers who share a leader’s goals and values, and who feel intrinsically rewarded for
performing a job well may be more motivated.
Following factors have significant implications:
•
•
Number of followers reporting to a leader
Followers’ trust and confidence in the leader
Importance of the leader and follower relationship has undergone dynamic change for the
following reasons:
1.
2.
3.
Increased pressure to function with reduced resources.
Trend toward greater power sharing and decentralized authority in organizations.
Increase in complex problems and rapid changes in an organization.
Ways in which followers can take on new leadership roles and responsibilities in the future:
1. Being proactive in their stance toward organizational problems.
2. Contributing to the leadership process by becoming skilled at “influencing upward.”
3. Staying flexible and open to opportunities.
Alternative approach to understanding followership:
•
Constructionist approach – Views leadership as combined acts of leading and following by
different individuals, whatever their formal titles or positions in an organization may be.
THE SITUATION
Leadership makes sense in the context of how the leader and followers interact in a given
situation.
• Most ambiguous aspect of the leadership framework
Illustrating the Interactional Framework: Women in Leadership Roles
Women are taking on leadership roles in
greater numbers than ever before.
Problems that constrain the opportunity
for capable women to rise to the highest
leadership roles still exist.
Findings from studies regarding problems that constrain women from gaining leadership roles:
• Mentors of women executives had less organizational influence and clout than did the
mentors of their male counterparts.
• Compared to men, women’s trust in each other decreases when work situations become
more professionally risky.
•
•
•
•
•
Women’s commitment to the organizations they worked for was more guarded than that
of their male counterparts.
Strong masculine stereotype of leadership continues to exist in the workplace.
Women are seen as less well suited to the requirements of leadership than men.
Practice interactive leadership
Interactive leadership developed by women’s socialization experiences and career paths
Factors that explain the shift toward more women in leadership roles:
• Women themselves have changed
• Organizational practices have
changed
• Leadership roles have changed
• Culture has changed
GLASS CLIFF
-
Female candidates for an executive position are more likely to be hired than
equally qualified male candidates when an organization’s performance is
declining.
-
Challenge for women in addition to the glass ceiling.
-
Reflects a greater willingness to put women in precarious positions.
THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND FOR EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP
Leadership must always be assessed in the context of the leader, the followers, and the
situation.
Leaders may need to respond to:
1. Various followers differently in the same situation
2. Same followers differently in different situations
Followers may respond to:
1.
2.
3.
Various leaders differently
Each other differently with different leaders
The right behavior in one situation is not necessarily the right behavior in another
situation.
CHAPTER 1 SUMMARY:
Leadership is the process of influencing an organized group toward achieving its goals.
Considerable overlap exists between leadership and management.
Study of leadership must also include two other areas: the followers and the situation.
Good leadership makes a difference, and it can be enhanced through greater awareness
of the important factors influencing the leadership process.
INTRODUCTION
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT VS. LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
1)
Leader Development – is more appropriate to use when referring to methods intended
to facilitate growth in individual’s perspective or skills.
2)
Leadership Development – focus on developing shared properties of whole groups or
social systems such as the degree of trust among all members of a team or
department, or on enhancing the reward systems in an organization to better
encourage collaborative behavior.
“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.”
- John F. Kennedy
Leadership is a Process, Not a Position
THE ACTION-OBSERVATION-REFLECTION MODEL (A-O-R Model)
This shows that leadership development is enhanced when the experience involves the
following processes:
•
•
Action
•
Observation
Reflection
Leadership development through experience may be better understood as the growth resulting
from repeated movements through all three phases rather than merely in terms of some objective
dimension.
Action
What did you
do?
How specifically
did you do it?
e
x
p
e
r
i
e
n
c
e
Observation
What happened?
What were the
results? How did it
impact others?
e
x
p
e
r
i
e
n
c
e
Reflection
How do you
understand it now?
What was the
paradigm shifts?
Learning theorists suggest that people can learn the most from experiences when
they spend time thinking about and reflecting on those experiences.
This notion provides the basis for the action-observation-reflection (A-O-R) model
and the spiral of experience.
It is not enough just to have experiences, but one needs to think about what they
did, what the outcomes were, and how they can leverage what they did to learn
the skills required to continue to perform effectively or how they can change to be
more effective.
Developing the skills necessary to observe the consequences of one’s actions and
reflecting on the importance and meaning will improve leadership development and
leadership performance.
The Spiral of experience – is the most productive way to develop as a leader.
KEY ROLE OF PERCEPTION IN THE SPIRAL OF EXPERIENCE
1.
2.
3.
Experience depends on what events happen to one and how one perceives those events.
Perception affects all three phases of the action, observation, and reflection or A O R model.
People actively shape and construct their experiences.
PERCEPTION AND OBSERVATION
• With respect to observation, people selectively attend to events in the environment.
• One phenomenon that demonstrates this selectivity is called perceptual set.
• Perceptual sets can influence any of our senses, and they are the tendency or bias to
perceive one thing and not another.
• Many factors can trigger a perceptual set, such as feelings, needs, prior experience, and
expectations.
Perceptual sets can influence any of one’s senses.
-
Tendency or bias to perceive one thing and not another.
-
Feelings, needs, prior experiences, and expectations can all trigger a perceptual set
-
Stereotypes about gender, race, and the like represent powerful impediments to
learning because they function as filters that distort one’s observations.
PERCEPTION AND REFLECTION
• Perception influences reflection.
• Reflection – is how humans interpret their observations.
• Perception – is inherently an interpretive, or a meaning-making, activity, of which
attribution is an important aspect
Factors that affect the attribution process:
a. Fundamental attribution error: Tendency to overestimate the dispositional causes of
behavior and underestimate the environmental causes when others fail.
b.
Self-serving bias: Tendency to make external attributions for one’s own failures and
make internal attributions for one’s own successes
c.
Actor or observer difference: Refers to the fact that people who are observing an
action are much more likely than the actor to make the fundamental attribution error
Apart from perception and attribution, reflection also involves higher functions like evaluation
and judgment.
PERCEPTION AND ACTION
•
Research shows that perceptions and biases affect supervisors’ actions toward poorly
performing subordinates.
•
Research shows that perceptions and biases affect supervisors’ actions toward poorly
performing subordinates.
•
Self-fulfilling prophecy – Occurs when one's expectations or predictions play a causal role
in bringing about the events he or she predicts.
•
Having expectations about others can subtly influence our actions, and these actions can,
in turn, affect the way others behave.
REFLECTION AND LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
1.
Reflection offers leaders insights about framing problems differently, viewing situations
from multiple perspectives, and understanding subordinates better.
2.
Leaders tend to ignore reflection because they lack time or they lack awareness of its value.
3.
Leadership development can be enhanced by raising implicit beliefs to conscious awareness
in order to aid thoughtful reflection.
4.
Intentional reflection may prompt one to see potential benefits in experience not initially
considered relevant to leadership.
Fundamental Archetypes of Leadership:
These archetypes provide the value for helping developing leaders articulate their tacit
knowledge on leadership, see the similarities and differences and have a better understanding on
the complexities of leadership.
•
•
•
Teacher and mentor
Father and judge
Warrior and knight
•
•
Revolutionary and crusader
Visionary and alchemist
Single and Double-loop Learning:
1)
Single-loop learners
- They seek relatively little feedback that may significantly confront their fundamental
ideas or actions.
-
2)
Individuals learn only about subjects within the comfort zone of their belief systems.
Double-loop learning
- Involves being willing to confront one’s own views and inviting others to do the same.
- Mastering double-loop learning is viewed as learning how to learn.
- Learning is enhanced through a practice of systematic reflection or after event
reviews or A E Rs.
MAKING THE MOST OF ONE'S LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCES: LEARNING TO LEARN FROM EXPERIENCE
1.
Research shows a meaningful link between stress and learning.
2.
The learning events and developmental experiences that punctuate one’s life are usually—
perhaps always—stressful.
3.
In stressful situations, there is a tendency to do what’s always been done.
4.
What results is one of the great challenges of adult development: the times when people
most need to break out of the mold created by past learning patterns are the times when
they are most unwilling to do so.
5.
Being able to go against the grain of one’s personal historical success requires an
unwavering commitment to learning and a relentless willingness to let go of the fear of
failure and the unknown.
6.
To be successful, learning must continue throughout life, beyond the completion of one’s
formal education.
Leader Development in College:
University courses in leadership generally provide a broad survey of
leadership research and findings.
In these settings, knowledge is often transferred via the
lecture method.
Additionally, these courses make use of individualized feedback,
role playing, and case studies to enhance learning and development.
Simulations and games are other methods
of leader development.
Recent research suggests that development as a leader may most authentically
and enduringly occur when the context and design of the experiences afford
learns the opportunity to deeply personalize their lessons of experience.
Leadership programs should be multidisciplinary and should cultivate values
represented in the broader field.
Service learning is used to inculcate values such as social responsibility and the
expectation to become engaged in one’s community.
Should focus on expected developmental outcomes, with associated assessment
and evaluation to determine program effectiveness.
•
Different leader development methods may be used beyond service learning.
Some courses or program elements might involve individualized feedback to students in
the form of:
a. Personality, intelligence, values, or interest test scores
b. Leadership behavior ratings
c. Case studies and role playing are used as vehicles for leadership discussions
d. Simulations and games are structured activities designed to mirror the challenges or
decisions commonly faced in the work environment
Leader Development in Organizational Settings
Leadership training programs are more narrowly focused than university courses
and are much shorter.
Oftentimes, these training programs target a specific audience and the set of
skills that audience needs to better accomplish their job tasks and responsibilities
(e.g., mid-level managers).
Increasingly leadership development is occurring in the context of work itself.
A great deal of research has demonstrated the positive effects of education and
training programs on performance and advancement, but the content of these
programs varies substantially.
Program Content Depends on the Organization Level of Participants:
1)
First-level supervisors
2)
Mid-level managers
Programs for the first-level
supervisors uses lectures, case
studies, and role-playing exercises to
improve supervisory skills. They focus
on:
Mid-level manager programs use
individualized feedback, case studies,
presentations, role playing,
simulations, and in-basket exercises
to improve:
•
•
•
Interpersonal skills
Oral and written communication
• Monitoring
skills
• Giving feedback
• Time management
• Conducting performance reviews
• Planning
• Goal setting
Conger states that a multi-tiered approach is effective and should focus on personal
growth, skill building, feedback, and conceptual awareness.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Training
Some approaches to leadership development emphasize individualized feedback about
each person’s strengths and weaknesses based on standardized assessment methods.
Others emphasize that leader development in the twenty-first century must occur in
more lifelike situations and contexts.
Leadership programs for senior executives and CEOs focus on strategic planning,
public relations, and interpersonal skills.
Training Programs and Action Learning
Traditional training programs involve personnel taking leadership classes during work hours.
Traditional training programs involve personnel taking leadership classes during work
hours.
Such training addresses common leadership issues, but its artificial nature makes it
difficult to transfer concepts to actual work situations.
Action learning involves the use of actual work issues and challenges as the
developmental activity itself.
They are conducted in teams of work colleagues who are addressing real company
challenges.
Development Planning
To make enduring behavioral changes, leaders must provide positive answers to the
following five questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Do leaders know which of their behaviors need to change?
Is the leader motivated to change these behaviors?
Do leaders have plans in place for changing targeted behaviors?
Do leaders have opportunities to practice new skills?
Are leaders held accountable for changing targeted behaviors?
Good development plans are constantly being revised as new skills are learned
or new opportunities to develop skills become available.
Provides a methodology for leaders to improve their behavior even as they go
about their daily work activities.
Coaching
Key leadership skill that can help leaders improve the bench strength of the
group and retain high-quality followers.
Process of equipping people with the tools, knowledge, and opportunities that
they need to develop and become more successful.
Types of Coaching:
1)
Formal coaching programs: Designed for the specific needs and goals of individual
executives and managers in leadership positions.
Features of Formal Coaching:
• One-on-one relationship between manager and coach lasts from six months to
more than a year.
• The process begins with an assessment of the manager to clarify development
needs.
•
Coach and manager meet regularly to build skills.
•
Role plays and videotape are used extensively, and coaches provide immediate
feedback.
Outcomes of coaching programs
•
•
Clarification of managers’ values
•
Identification of discrepancies between managers’ espoused values and their
actual behaviors
•
Development of strategies to better align managers’ behaviors with their values
(Formal coaching programs can be expensive. It cost more than 100,000 dollars.)
(Coaching may be more effective at changing behavior than more traditional learning and
training approaches.)
2)
Informal coaching: Takes place whenever a leader helps followers to change their
behaviors.
•
The process can be used to diagnose why behavioral change is not occurring and
what can be done about it.
•
It can and does occur anywhere in the organization and is effective for both
high-performing and low-performing followers.
•
Increases in difficulty when it occurs either remotely or across cultures.
Peterson and Hicks: Steps in Informal Coaching
1
2
3
Forging a
Inspiring
Growing
partnership
commitment
skills
4
Promoting
persistence
5
Shaping the
environment
Mentoring
Personal relationship in which a more experienced mentor acts as a guide, role model, and
sponsor of a less experienced protégé.
Mentoring is not the same as coaching because:
1. It may not target specific development needs
2. Guidance is provided by someone several leadership levels higher in the
organization and not the immediate supervisor
3. Mentor may not even be part of the organization
4. There are formal and informal mentoring programs
5. Informal mentoring occurs when a protégé and mentor build a long-term
relationship based on friendship, similar interests, and mutual respect
Mentor
- experienced person willing to take an individual under his or her wing
- usually someone 2 to 4 levels higher in an organization
- provides protégés with knowledge, advice, challenge, counsel, & support about
career opportunities, organizational strategy and policy, and office politics.
•
In a formal mentoring program, the organization assigns a relatively inexperienced but
high-potential leader to a top executive in the company.
Often used to accelerate the development of female or minority protégés.
Informal mentoring may be more effective than formal mentoring as it creates a
stronger emotional bond and can last a lifetime.
•
•
BUILDING ONE'S OWN LEADERSHIP SELF-IMAGE
1.
2.
3.
Not everyone wants to be a leader or believes he or she can be.
Many people are selling themselves short.
People who want to avoid the responsibilities of leadership should keep an open mind
about the importance and pervasiveness of leadership.
CHAPTER 2 SUMMARY:
One way to add value to one's leadership courses and experiences is by applying the
action, observation, and reflection model.
To become a better leader, one must seek challenges and try to make the best of any
leadership opportunity.
Behavior change efforts are most successful if some formal system or process of
behavioral change is put into place.
Systems include action learning, development planning, informal and formal coaching
programs, and mentorships.
Leaders can help their followers with behavioral change through coaching or mentoring
programs.
CHAPTER 3: SKILLS FOR DEVELOPING YOURSELF AS A LEADER
THE NEW LEADER ONBOARDING ROAD MAP
BEFORE YOU
START
Prehire data
gathering
Posthire
activities
THE FIRST DAY
Meet your boss
Meet your
entire team
THE FIRST TWO
WEEKS
Meet team
members
Meet peers
Meet stars
Other meetings
THE FIRST TWO
MONTHS
Obtain
external
perspectives,
strategy,
structure, and
staffing
Socialize
decisions
THE THIRD
MONTH
Establish
culture
Team off-site:
- Values
- Strategy
- Operating
Rhythm
Improvement
areas
Get feedback
Sub team
analyses
(This is a road map to help people make successful transitions into new leadership
positions.)
BEFORE YOU START: DO YOUR HOMEWORK
•
A candidate should prepare for the interview.
•
The candidates should gather as much information about their potential company as
they can.
•
Sources of information include Websites, annual reports, press releases, and
marketing literature.
•
Can also use Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, and other social networking sites to set up
informational interviews with people inside the organization.
•
These informational interviews will help the candidates to learn more about the
organization’s history and culture and provide important insight about the vacant
position.
THE FIRST DAY: MAKING A FIRST IMPRESSION
The first meeting with the boss happens in the boss’s office and lasts an hour.
The key topics to address in the meeting are:
1. Identifying the team’s key objectives, metrics, and important projects.
2. Understanding the boss’s view of team strengths and weaknesses.
3. Working through meeting schedules and communication styles.
4. Sharing plans for the day and the next several weeks.
THE FIRST TWO WEEKS: LAY THE FOUNDATION
The new leaders should meet people both inside and outside the team.
Key objectives for these meetings are:
•
•
•
Learning as much as possible
Developing relationships
Determining future allies
One-on-one meetings with key team members should provide the leader with answers to
critical questions:
•
•
•
•
•
•
What is the team member working on?
What are the team member’s objectives?
Who are the “stars” a level or two down in the organization?
What are the people issues on the team?
What can the team do better?
What advice do team members have for the new leader, and what can the new leader
do to help team members?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
New leaders should minimize their personal interactions with direct reports during
their first two months on the job.
They should discuss the following during meetings:
Their peers’ objectives, challenges, team structure, etcetera
Their perspectives on what the new leader’s team does well and could do better
Their perspectives on the new leader’s team members
How to best communicate with the boss
How issues get raised and decisions made on their boss’s team
During the first two weeks, new leaders should also try to meet with individuals who were
once part of the team but have taken positions in other parts of the organization.
These individuals can offer unique insights into the history of the team and its team
members, and this source of information should not be overlooked.
The two other pieces of organization new leaders should gather during the first two
weeks are what the organization sees as the critical roles on the team and if they were
any internal candidates for the team leader position.
New leaders should need this information to ensure they have the best talent filing key
roles and to see if anyone on the team may be hoping to fail.
FIRST TWO MONTHS: STRATEGY, STRUCTURE, AND STAFFING
•
It is essential for the Leader to gather more information, determine the direction, and
finalize the appropriate structure and staffing for the team for the next six weeks.
•
The first 90 days on the job provide a unique window for driving change and leaders
should know how to “socialize” their strategy, structure, and staffing ideas with their
bosses and peers before making any personnel decisions.
The tasks to be performed include:
a. Gathering benchmarking information from other organizations
b. Meeting with key external customers and suppliers
c. Meeting with the former team leader, if appropriate
New leaders need to be able to articulate:
d. Where the team has been and where it needs to go over the next one to three
years
e. What the team needs to accomplish and what changes will be needed to make
this happen
f. Their expectations for team members
•
Once the proposed changes have been agreed to, new leaders need to have one-onone meetings with all team members affected by any strategy, structure, and staffing
decisions.
•
The new leaders should seek feedback from peers and recruiters.
THIRD MONTH: COMMUNICATE AND DRIVE CHANGE
Things to do include:
a. Articulating how the team will win
b. Identifying the what, why, and how of any needed changes
c. Defining a clear set of expectations for team members
The Major events for the third month:
a. Meet with the entire team
b. Meet off-site with direct reports if the team is large
The purpose of the first meeting is to enable the leader to share the information he
gathered during the process, vision for the future, staffing model, team structure, his/her
expectations about the team members and any rationale regarding changes in the team.
The change pertains to the tangible actions taken by the leader.
KEY OBJECTIVES OF THE OFF-SITE MEETING:
1)
Get agreement on the critical attributes and values of team members. - New leaders
should set-off time to finalize and clearly define the positive and negative behaviors
for all attributes and values they want to see in their members.
2)
Create a team scorecard. – New leaders will create the vision and overall objectives for
the future, direct report teams need to formulate concrete, specific goals with timelines
and benchmarks to measure success.
3)
Establish an operating rhythm. – Teams need to work on their rules of engagement.
4)
Establish task forces to work on key change initiatives. – Issues need to be addressed
by the team can be done on off-site meetings, whereas task forces may be a better
venue for resolving other issues.
LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE
Leadership practitioners can enhance the learning value of experiences by:
•
Creating opportunities to get feedback – The most helpful information for developing
leadership comes from feedback regarding perceptions in one’s behavior, and impact on
the group’s overall effectiveness.
•
Taking a 10 percent stretch - It conveys the idea of voluntary but determined efforts
to improve leadership skills.
•
Learning from others - Leaders can learn a lot by observing how others react to and
handle different challenges and situations.
•
Keeping a journal of daily leadership events – Good journal entries give leaders a wealth
of examples they can use.
•
Having a developmental plan – Leaders should have a systematic plan outlining selfimprovement goal and help them take advantage of opportunities that they may
otherwise overlook.
TECHNICAL COMPETENCE
It concerns the knowledge and repertoire of behaviors one can utilize to complete a task
successfully.
Followers with technical competence earn better performance appraisal ratings, exert
influence in their groups, and are more likely to be a member of a leader’s in-group.
This is related to improved managerial promotion rates, better training skills, lower rates of
group conflict, reduced levels of role ambiguity, and higher motivation levels among followers
for leaders.
REASONS WHY FOLLOWERS NEED A HIGH LEVEL OF TECHNICAL COMPETENCE:
•
Performance is a function of technical competence.
•
Followers with high level of technical competence have a lot of expert power and at
times can wield more influence in their groups than their leader.
•
Individuals with high levels of technical competence may be more likely to be of a
leader’s in-group and more likely to be delegated tasks and asked to participate in
decisions.
STEPS IN BUILDING TECHNICAL COMPETENCE:
•
Determining how the job contributes to the overall success of the organization.
•
Becoming an expert in the job through education, training, observation, asking
questions, and teaching.
•
Seeking opportunities to broaden one’s experiences by performing tasks associated with
the other positions in one’s work group and visiting other parts of the organization.
BUILDING EFFECTIVE RELATIONSHIPS WITH SUPERIORS
In order to understand the superior’s world better, followers should:
•
Understand the superior’s personal and organizational objectives.
•
Realize that superiors do not have all the answers and have both strengths and
weaknesses.
•
Keep the superior informed about various activities in the work group or new
developments or opportunities in the field.
ADVANTAGES OF HAVING A GOOD WORKING RELATIONSHIP WITH SUPERIORS:
a.
Superiors and followers sharing the same values, approaches, and attitudes will:
-
b.
Experience less conflict
Provide higher levels of mutual support
Be more satisfied with superior and follower relationships
Followers receive better performance appraisal ratings.
Requires followers to adapt to the superior’s style by:
Clarifying expectations about their role on the team, committee, or work group
Listing major responsibilities and using the list to guide discussions with superiors about
different ways to accomplish tasks and relative priorities of the tasks
Being honest and dependable
BUILDING EFFECTIVE RELATIONSHIPS WITH PEERS
Research suggests that a key requirement of leadership effectiveness is the ability to build
strong alliances with others.
WAYS TO ESTABLISH AND MAINTAIN GOOD PEER RELATIONSHIPS:
-
Recognizing common interests and goals
Understanding peers’ tasks, problems, and rewards
Practicing a theory Y attitude
Recognition of an individual’s strengths and weaknesses
DEVELOPMENT PLANNING
It is a systematic process of building knowledge and experience or changing behavior.
Peterson and Hicks believe that there are five interrelated phases to developmental
planning:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Identifying development needs
Analyzing data to identify and prioritize development need
Using prioritized development needs to create a focused and achievable development
plan
Periodically reviewing the plan, reflecting on learning, and modifying or updating the
plan as appropriate
Transferring learning to new environments
CONDUCTING A G-A-P-S ANALYSIS
•
•
G – goals
A – abilities
P- perceptions
S- standards.
The first phase in the planning stage.
This helps the leader to gather and categorize all pertinent development planning
information.
STEPS IN GAPS ANALYSIS:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Identifying career goals
Identifying strengths and development needs related to the career goals
Determining how one’s abilities, skills, and behaviors are perceived by others by asking
others for feedback or through performance reviews or 360-feedback instruments
Determining the standards of one's boss or organization has for one's career
objectives
BRIDGING THE GAPS: BUILDING A DEVELOPMENT PLAN:
Following are the steps for developing a high-impact development plan:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Working on career and development objectives
Determining the criteria for success
Determining action steps
Deciding whom to involve and reassessing dates
Stretching assignments
Using various resources
Reflecting the knowledge with a partner
SUMMARY
•
The first three months give leaders unique opportunities to make smooth
transitions, paint compelling pictures of the future, and drive organizational
change.
•
Performance is a function of technical competence.
•
Individuals who have good superior-follower relationships are often in the
superior’s in-group.
•
Fundamental requirement of leadership effectiveness is the ability to build strong
alliances with others.
•
Development planning is the systematic process of building knowledge and
experience or changing behavior.
IMPORTANT DISTINCTIONS:
1)
Power - is defined as the capacity to produce effects on others or the potential to
influence others.
•
It refers to the function of the leader, the followers, and the situation. It does not
need to be exercised in order to have its effect.
•
Attributed to others on the basis and frequency of influence tactics they use and
on their outcomes.
2)
Influence - is the change in a target agent’s attitudes, values, beliefs, or behaviors as
the result of influence tactics.
3)
Influence tactics - One person’s actual behaviors designed to change another person’s
attitudes, beliefs, values, or behaviors.
•
Apart from leaders, followers can also wield power and influence over leaders as
well as over each other.
•
These are overt behaviors exhibited by one person to influence another.
DISTINCTION BETWEEN POWER AND INFLUENCE:
POWER
INFLUENCE
Power is the capacity to
cause change
Influence is the degree of
actual change in a target
person’s attitudes, values,
beliefs and behaviors.
MEASUREMENT OF
INFLUENCE
Influence can be measured
by the behaviors or
attitudes manifested by
followers as a result of a
leader’s influence tactics.
•
Leaders with high amounts of power can cause fairly substantial changes in
subordinates’ attitudes and behaviors.
•
Leaders and followers make use of variety of tactics to influence each other’s behavior
or attitudes.
•
The amount of power followers has in work situations can also vary dramatically.
•
Individuals with a relatively large amount of power may successfully employ a wider
variety of influence tactics.
•
Some followers may exert relatively more influence than the leader does in certain
situations.
•
Followers often can use a wider variety of influence tactics than the leader.
-
This is because the formal leader is not always the person who possesses the most
power in a leadership situation.
POWER AND LEADERSHIP
SITUATIONS THAT CAN AFFECT PERCEPTION OF ONE’S POWER:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Furniture and arrangement
Shape of the table used for meetings and seating arrangements
Prominently displayed symbols
Appearances of title and authority
Choice of clothing
Presence or absence of crisis
SOURCES OF LEADER POWER IN THE LEADER, FOLLOWER, AND SITUATION FRAMEWORK:
•
French and Raven identified five sources or bases
of
power by which an individual can influence another.
•
These five sources include one that is primarily a
function of the leader, another is the relationship
of the leader and followers, one is primarily a
function of the leader and situation, one that is
primarily a function of the situation, and finally one that involves the three elements.
FRENCH AND RAVEN’S BASES OF SOCIAL POWER
EXPERT POWER
1)
2)
3)
POWER OF KNOWLEDGE
•
Some people are able to influence others with their relative expertise in particular
areas.
•
Followers may have more expert power than leaders at times.
•
If different followers have considerably greater amounts of expert power, the
leader may be unable to influence them using expert power alone.
REFERENT POWER
•
It refers to the potential influence one has because of the strength of the
relationship between the leader and the followers.
•
Takes time to develop but can be lost quickly.
•
Desire to maintain referent power may limit a leader’s actions in certain situations.
•
The stronger the relationship, the more influence leaders and followers exert over
each other.
•
A relative degree of responsiveness is primarily a function of the strength of the
relationship.
•
Followers with relatively more referent power than their peers are often
spokespersons for their units and have more latitude to deviate from work-unit
norms.
LEGITIMATE POWER
•
Depends upon on a person’s organizational role or his or her formal or official
authority.
•
Allows exertion of influence through requests or demands deemed appropriate by
virtue of one’s role and position.
•
Holding a position and being a leader are not synonymous.
•
Effective leaders often intuitively realize they need more than legitimate power to
be successful.
•
Followers can use their legitimate power, job descriptions, bureaucratic rules, or
union policies to influence leaders.
4)
REWARD POWER
•
Involves the potential to influence others through control over desired resources.
•
Potential to influence others through reward power is a joint function of the
leader, the followers, and the situation.
Problems Associated with Rewards:
a.
Overemphasizing performance rewards can lead to workers feeling resentful
and manipulated.
b.
Extrinsic rewards such as praise or compensation may not have the same
behavioral effects as intrinsic rewards such as personal growth and
development
c.
Rewards may produce compliance but no other desirable outcomes like
commitment.
Leaders can enhance their ability to influence others based on reward power by:
a.
Determining what rewards are available and most valued by subordinates.
b.
Establishing policies for the fair and consistent administration of rewards
for good performance.
Followers can exercise reward power over leaders by:
5)
a.
Controlling scarce resources
b.
Modifying their level of effort based on the leader’s performance
COERSIVE POWER
•
It is the potential to influence others through the administration of negative
sanctions or the removal of positive events.
•
Reliance on this power has inherent limitations.
•
Informal coercion can change the attitudes and behaviors of others.
•
One of the most common forms of coercion is a superior’s temperamental
outbursts.
•
Followers that use coercive power to influence a leader’s behavior tend to have a
relatively high amount of referent power among co-workers.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS ABOUT FRENCH AND RAVEN’S POWER OF TAXONOMY
•
Leaders can usually exert more power during a crisis than during periods of relative
calm.
•
During a crisis, followers may be more eager to receive direction and control from
leaders.
•
Research indicates that leaders who rely on referent and expert powers have
subordinates who:
-
Are more motivated and satisfied
Are absent less
Perform better
FOLLOWING GENERALIZATIONS CAN BE MADE ABOUT POWER AND INFLUENCE:
•
Effective leaders take advantage of all their sources of power.
•
Leaders in well-functioning organizations are open to being influenced by their
subordinates.
•
Leaders vary in the extent to which they share power with subordinates.
•
Effective leaders generally work to increase their various power bases or become more
willing to use their coercive power.
LEADER MOTIVES
•
One way of looking at the relationship between power and leadership involves
focusing on the individual leader’s personality.
•
People vary in their motivation to influence or control others.
•
Need for power is expressed in the following ways:
a.
Personalized power – is exercised for personal needs by selfish, impulsive,
uninhibited individuals who lack self-control.
b.
Socialized power - is used for the benefit of others or the organization and
involves self-sacrifice.
c.
Thematic Apperception Test, a projective personality test, can assess the need
for power.
d.
Need for power is found to be positively related to various leadership
effectiveness criteria.
Individuals vary in their motivation to manage.
Miner describes motivation to manage in terms of the following composites:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Maintaining good relationships with authority figures
Wanting to compete for recognition and advancement
Being active and assertive
Wanting to exercise influence over subordinates
Being visibly different from followers
Being willing to do routine administrative tasks
•
Miner’s Sentence Completion Scale or M S C S measures a person's motivation to
manage.
•
The overall composite M S C S score consistently predicts leadership success in
hierarchical or bureaucratic organizations.
•
Findings concerning need for power and motivation to manage have several
implications for leadership practitioners:
- Not all individuals like being leaders
-
High need for power or motivation to manage does not guarantee leadership
success
•
High need for socialized power and a high level of activity inhibition may be required
for long-term leadership success.
•
Followers and leaders differ in the need for power, activity inhibition, and motivation
to manage.
TYPES OF INFLUENCE TACTICS BASED ON THE INFLUENCE BEHAVIOR QUESTIONNAIRE:
1)
Rational persuasion: When logical arguments or factual evidence is used to influence
others.
2)
Inspirational appeals: When a request or proposal is designed to arouse enthusiasm or
emotions in targets.
3)
Consultation: When targets are asked to participate in planning an activity.
4)
Ingratiation: When an agent attempts to get a target in a good mood before making
a request.
Personal
Appeals
Exchange
Coalition
Tactics
When a target
is asked to do a
favor out of
friendship.
When a target
is influenced
through the
exchange of
favors.
When agents
seek the help
of others to
influence the
target.
Pressure
Tactics
Legitimizing
Tactics
When threats
or persistent
reminders are
used to
influence
targets.
When agents
make requests
based on their
position or
authority.
INFLUENCE TACTICS AND POWER
•
If power is the capacity to influence others, influence tactics pertain to the actual
behaviors used by an agent to change the attitudes, opinions, or behaviors of a
target person.
•
Various instruments have been developed to study influence tactics, but the Influence
Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ) was the most promising.
•
A strong relationship exists between the relative power of agents and targets and
the types of influence tactics used.
•
Leaders with high referent power generally do not use legitimizing or pressure tactics.
•
Leaders with only coercive or legitimate power tend to use coalition, legitimizing, or
pressure tactics.
Hard Tactics are Used When:
Soft Tactics are Used When:
a.
a.
b.
c.
b.
c.
An influencer has the upper
hand
Resistance is anticipated
The other person’s behavior
violates important norms
One is at a disadvantage
Resistance is expected
There is personal benefit if the
attempt is successful
•
Using influence tactics is a social skill.
•
People select influence tactics as a function of their power relationship with another
person.
-
Relationship holds true universally across different social domains.
OTHER WAYS TO SUCCESSFULLY INFLUENCE SUPERIORS:
a.
b.
c.
Thoroughly preparing beforehand
Involving others for support or coalition tactics
Persisting through a combination of approaches
A CONCLUDING THOUGHT ABOUT INFLUENCE TACTICS
An important lesson for leaders is the value of being conscious of what influence
tactics one uses and what effects are typically associated with those tactics.
Knowledge of such effects can help a leader to make better decisions about her or his
manner of influencing decision.
Leaders should pay attention to the actual influence tactics they use and why they
believe particular methods are effective.
•
Influence efforts intended to build others up more frequently lead to positive
outcomes than influence efforts intended to put others down.
SUMMARY:
•
By reflecting on their different bases of power, leaders may better understand
how they can affect followers and even expand their power.
•
Leaders can improve their effectiveness by finding ways to enhance the value of
their personal contribution to their team.
•
Leaders should discourage in-group and out-group rivalries from forming in the
work unit
•
Exercise of power occurs primarily through the influence tactics leaders and
followers use.
•
Leadership practitioners should always consider why they are using a particular
influence attempt before they actually use it.