Institutionen för Lärande, Informatik,
Management och Etik (LIME)
Frontiers in leadership research 5 poäng
Examensarbete
Vårterminen 2007
Leadership as a specialized role or
as a shared influence process
Författare: Gunilla Johansson
My research project is about leadership and health. The overall aim of the
research is to explore leadership and health among first-line nurse managers’ and
their subordinate nurses. The research is multi-method designed and the data
material is observations, documents, interviews and a questionnaire. As part of
this research project a literature study have been done with the aim to find
knowledge and references to be used in the introductions of the articles and in
part of the dissertation. The part of the leadership literature I have focused on
are management vs. leadership, leadership as a roll, leadership as a shared
process i e. distributed leadership and group development.
LEADERSHIP THEORY AND LEADERSHIP RESEARCH
Leadership and management
One question in leadership theory and leadership research has been about
defining leadership and management. Ingen har påstått att ledarskap och
management är ekvivalent men uppfattningarna om hur dessa begrepp
överlappar varandra är man starkt oense om (Yukl, 2006). Zaleznik (1977) are of
the meaning that leadership and management are two decisive qualities because
managers and leaders are different kind of people with different kind of
intentions and goals. Jaques (1998) thinks a manager is a person that hold a role
that besides having an own responsibility; also has a responsibility for making
everyone else to achieve a result. The manager also has a responsibility to create
and build a team so there is an opportunity to achieve a result and also has the
responsibility to lead this team. By leadership here means an influence process in
order to make others accept the leaders’ goals or purposes and to get everyone
to work in the direction set by the leader. Jaques (1998) therefore regards
leadership to be an essential part of the manager role. Sandahl et al. (2004) model
where personal skills are combined with leadership tasks shows how the leader’s
behaviour reflects on both management and leadership, and that both parts are
needed to insure that the management is exercised in an efficient way.
Leadership has been defined in numerous ways but most definitions contain
assumptions that leadership is an influence process which aims at facilitating
carrying through a common task (Yukl, 2006).
Leadership as a role
One contradiction in leadership theory and leadership research has been about
whether or not the leadership should be seen as a specialized role or a shared
process of influence. To view the leadership as a specialized role includes that
the leader has responsibilities and functions which can’t be shared with others
without jeopardising the group’s efficiency (Yukl 2006). The person who’s
supposed to practise this special role is called leader. The other participants are
called followers, even though some of the group members assists the leader in
his/hers leadership function. This way to describe the term role has limitations
which gives the term a passive meaning. The term role in this meaning is
prescriptive, i.e. the role is already defined. The term role becomes static and no
considerations are taken to the correlation to changes in the context. This point
of view on the term role also creates a sharp distinction between role and person
(Reed, B. & Bazalgette, J. 2006). In this point of view also lies the assumption
that the leadership role is significant to create and maintain an efficient team.
This view of the leader as a person whom is vital to the group’s ability to
succeed, or not, can be overwhelming and have negative effects on both
potential as well as currant leaders (Wheelan 2005).
An even more active point of view on the term role have (Reed & Bazalgette
2006) and according to their description of the term role every person have
their own ”desires” of what he/she wants to accomplish. From this point of
view the role itself would consist of booth person, system and context. To be
able to take the role the person first has to have found the role and even
shaped it. To find the role is understanding the main task, which goals exists
for the work, what resources there is, in what context one are in and how ones
own knowledge and skills are to be able to handle the situation. To shape the
role is having an intention to act in the organization, one must have insight
about ourselves, thoughts and reactions, earlier experiences that limits,
expectations on ones own and others behaviour. To finally exercise a role is
about being clear over how one will act in order to contribute to the system, to
be willing to take the risk involved when you influence others, believing in
your own strength and competence, to take one owns authority and encourage
to freedom of decisions then to have control (Reed. & Bazalgette 2006).
This point of view is supported by the model of goal-directed actions
described by Pörn (1988, 1993). Three components will determine a
person’s actions – lifeplan, repertoire and environment. When a person
formulates and prioritises his/her goals are acceptance of the goal/goals and
control regarding the abilities decisive factors (Pörn 1988, 1993). Pörn
(1988, 1993) points out that acceptance and control are two decisive factors
when a person formulates and prioritises the goals in his/her goal profile.
Based on the human being as an acting subject, acceptance is considered to
mean that the person has a positive attitude (internal environment) toward
the demands and expectations placed on him/her, as a professional, by
others or by himself/herself in relation to different goals and the ideal self
(Pörn 1988, 1993). What is meant by control, based on the human being as
an acting subject, is that the person experiences having abilities (a
repertoire) to meet the demands and expectations so that goal fulfilment is
attained.
Personal attributes and leadership stiles
The earlier described roll approach has primarily focused on leaders qualities,
their behaviour and which effects this behaviour has on the group’s or
organization’s members.
The most prominent leadership styles have been the relation oriented and the
task oriented leadership style and also different combinations of these two. In
recent time personality has reappeared as an aspect in the leadership research
since it is thought to have an impact on the behaviour (Ekvall 1996). The
transformational leadership style is an example of this and is seen to be the
one leadership style that is most frequently described in the research (Larsson
1999).
The theory about the transformative och den transactive leadership style was
published by Burns (1979). The transformative leader brings forward the
actor’s better sides and makes the work towards higher and more universal
needs and purposes. They are visionaries leaders, and the visionary leadership
is essentially of a symbolic nature, i e. they create meaning of experiences and
they discovers and convey a vision. The leadership means a two-way process.
Burns (1979) contrast the transformative leadership style with the transactive
leadership style which is approaching its followers in order to make a
transaction by giving something else in return.
Leadership as a shared process i.e. a distributed leadership
Some scientist and theorists on the other hand thinks that leadership doesn’t
differ ate from the social process that happens within a group, they see
leadership as a shared process between the members of the group. Leadership
should according to this point of view be collectively (Yukl 1989). An advocate
of the latter approach is Gronn (2002) whom means that we would gain more
from a revised leadership term i.e. a distributive leadership, instead of focusing
on leadership as a distinct phenomenon. The present duality point of view is
unsatisfactory both for those called leaders and followers. It implies a focus on
leaders, on individual qualities and styles, contributes to resistant towards
leadership and sustains us by already existing analytical experiences and works
against a new understanding of the leadership. To the followers it is about trying
to eliminate subordination and depending status. The complementary and the
collective leadership involve helplessness and obedience. Gronn (2002) has
developed the line of thought which Gibbs launched in the 1950s and thinks
that organisations are a process of negotiations between leaders and defines
leadership ”as a status ascribed to one individual, an aggregate of separate
individuals, sets of small numbers of individuals acting in concert or lager pluralmember organizational member units.” (Gronn 2002, p. 428). The basis of this
state of mind is an influence that is voluntarily between members or between
different units. The influence can occur through direct contact, but also through
representatives, rumours, ideas etc. The distributive leadership implies that the
leadership within an organization distributed among some of, many of or even
all of the members. All members within the organization can in other words
practise leadership at some point (Gronn 2002). The concertive distributive
leadership is characterized by three different forms - cooperation forms that
occur spontaneously, intuitive understanding which occurs among close relations
between colleagues plus variations of structural relations and institutional
arrangements which form to regular actions. A key-factor in concertiv actions is
conjoint agency, which means that the agent are coordination their actions
regarding their on plans, the colleges plans and to their feeling to be a member
of the unit. The have must an experience of a synergy of the coordination work
and that there are mutual dependent between the members.
According to Yukl (2006) it is the point of view of shared leadership that has
started to gain more attention. Changes in tasks and new demands have created
qualitatively different forms of co-dependency and coordination between
members of organizations and this is the development that has stimulated to
development of a distributed leadership (Gronn 2002).
A shared responsibility for the leadership functions and subordinate own
power is more efficient than a heroic leadership, but can’t happen as long as
people expects one specific leader to take full responsibility for the
organization and its’ result (Bradford & Choen (1984). Our view on
leadership is still dominated by the fact that the leader is a key factor to a
groups’ development. The view of the group as a co-dependent system is a
better applied point of view (Wheelan 2005).
Angränsande aspekter och teorier till ett shared ledarsip
Participative leadership is a normative model for leader decision making,
developed by Wroom & during the 70s, to understand a leaders a choice of
autocratic vs. participative behaviours. The model guides the leader in five steps
– witch aims toward improving quality in decisions, committing to decisions,
reducing time and costs, and increasing subordinate development (Yammarino
2005). With a participative leadership means that the manager tries to encourage
and facilitate the subordinates so they make decision that otherwise would have
been to done by the manager. The leaders attempt to make the subordinates
participant can happen by partly changing made deacons, asking for advice,
asking the group to commonly discuss and make a decision and leaving the hole
entire decision to the group (Yukl 2006). The most equipped leadership style
should above all be autocratic, consultative, collaborative sharing. Which
leadership style that is the most suitable is also depending on the situation
(Yammarino 2005). Research evidence is not strong and consistent why it is
difficult to draw conclusions (Yukl 2006).
Self-management is a motivating theory and can be a substitute for leadership.
By the co-workers taking a greater responsibility over their own decisions they
don’t have to become so dependent on the leader (Yukl 2006). Booth behaviour
and cognitive strategies is part of self-management. The behavioural strategies
are about self-reward, self-punishment, self-monitoring, self-goal setting, selfrehearsal and cue modification. The cognitive strategies involve positive self-talk
and mental rehearsal. The leader’s role in self-management is to help and
motivate the subordinates to encieving a self-management in their work.
Group development
All members in a group have a responsibility to insure that the workgroup
becomes productive and efficient (Wheelan 2005). Efficient teams or groups
can only be created through a dynamic group or team development consisting
of four steps. The first step is characterized by 1) dependency and inclusion.
The members are dependant on the leader and expect the leaders to make
decisions and also take responsibility for what the members should do. The
groups members a more concerned about the security of belonging to the
group and to be accepted by each other rather the task itself. The other step is
characterized by 2) counter dependency and fight. Darning this step the
members tries to make themselves independent of the leaders and fights with
each other regarding group goals and procedures. The group’s task is to
develop group goals and procedures. Conflicts are a necessary part of this step
to establish essential trust and a climate in witch people feels free to disagree.
If the leader works with conflict management the members trust increases.
Commitment to the group and the willingness of their cooperation.
Professional territories decrease when the members are focusing on the work
tasks rather then status, power och influence. Step three is characterized by 3)
trust and structure. In this step negotiations take place between members
regarding roles, organization and procedures and work towards establishing
solid positive working relations between each other. In the fourth step 4) work
the group already have reach a stage of intense productiveness and efficiency.
If the problems in the earlier steps already have been solved the group’s
members can focus on goal fulfilment and the tasks performance. Work is
done in every four steps but the quantity and quality significantly increases in
step four.
In the leadership role there is an assumption that the leadership role is
essential to create and maintain an efficient team. This view of the leader as a
person whom can become critical to if the group succeeds or fails can become
overvaluing and have negative effects on both potential as well as currant
leaders. Instead Wheelan (2005) means that all group members have
responsibility to create the efficient group. Many discussions between group
members might result in different opinions about goals and methods and the
leader is an important part in this process. Our view on leadership is
dominated by the leader being a key-factor for the group’s development.
Wheelan (2005) regards the view upon groups as a co-dependent system to be
a more exact point view.
Wheelan (2005) thinks that studies show that 80-90% of groups have
problems to achieve the fourth step. What the leader can do to make the group
process easier is to adjust the leadership to every phase in the group
development and as a leader always insure to be an active group member. In
the first faze the leaders has an active role in the group to decrease fear,
anxiety and insecurity with the participants. Here open discussions about
goals, task and values, positive feedback, and possibility to development, are
necessary. The manager has to deal with environment factors that affect the
group. In the second faze it is important to the leaders to make an open
discussion and conflict solving easier in questions about values, goals and
leadership. Here the leadership can be exposed to attacks and challenges of
different kind. In faze three the leader should encourage och support the
participant’s efforts by dividing the leadership functions within the group and
encourage the group to make the necessary structural changes that is needed
to simplify the group’s productivity. When the group have reached
productivity it is important to continue the team’s process and be attentive on
possible regression. View regularly if the group has the organizational support
needed. The way to facilitate the group process development is to adjust the
leadership to each phase in the group process and as a leader always make
sure to bee an active group member (Wheelan 2005).
Model for Communication analyses
To modify communication patterns among members in a group can involve
changed behaviours in interaction between members. The SAVI. Model is a
system where the coo-workers themselves can categorize the verbal
communication. The purpose is to evaluate the potential of an effective
information transfer and how the balance is between the participant’s feelings
and topic of the information (Byram, C., Marshall, E. & Simon, A. 2006) The
SAVI is an example on a method monitoring and moderating verbal
communication. This is a tool to analyse how coo-workers talk to each other.
Awareness about the communication pattern proved to have significant impact
on the teachers behaviour and the interaction with the students.
Referenser
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