trends in leadership thought

Trends in Leadership thought.

Quiz (1)

• How would you define leadership?• Where would you expect to find the

earliest recorded descriptions of leaders?• Who wrote about the lives of great

engineers? • What assumption lies behind trait theories

of leadership.• What do we remember as Stogdill’s

contribution to leadership.

Quiz (2)

• What assumption lies behind style theories of leadership?

• Suggest two contrasting leadership styles found in experimental studies.

• What is a contingency theory?

• What leadership style is associated with ‘New Leadership’ theories of the 1980s?

• What is distributed leadership?

Quiz (3)

• What leadership concept was central to Max Weber’s social theorizing?

• How did the theory re-emerge in later leadership studies?

• What are usually listed as the historical periods of leadership thought?

• What led to changes in leadership thought?

KEY STAGES IN LEADERSHIP THOUGHT:

• Heroic leadership; • Trait based theories; • Transactional theories (style & situational approaches)

• The “New leadership” movement (transformation leadership; vision, management of meaning)

Definitions: It depends what you mean by leadership ...

• Influence processes,• Mobilizing resources

to arouse, engage & satisfy the motives of followers;

• Making sense [of what people are doing] …articulating purpose & values.

HEROIC LEADERSHIP:

• Ancient ideas of leadership can be found in all cultures.

• Heroic leaders were historic & mythic figures later analysed by Max Weber (Charisma)

• Other18th/19th century studies examined contemporary & historic figures.

• Influential accounts by Thomas Carlisle, Samuel Smiles, Friedrich Nietzsche.

Max Weber:

• Weber explained the formation & disruption of social institutions;

• His model involved the influence of charismatic leaders.

• These were believed to possess special powers & gifts.

THOMAS CARLYSLE:

• History made up of accounts of heroic leaders.

• He argued that all heroes were flawed

• … but should be excused their flaws.

• “No man is a hero to his valet”.

SAMUEL SMILES:

• Biographer of the hero-engineers of the Industrial Revolution;

• He captured “Victorian values” such as self-help & public duty;

• He tended towards uncritical hero-worship.

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE:

• Complex German Existential Philosopher;

• Believed in the “great man” (Uberman) who was above normal laws of society.

LIMITATIONS OF THE HEROIC VIEW:

• Became regarded as “romantic & pre-modern.”

• Leading figures (Carlisle, Nietzsche) were espoused by totalitarian regimes.

• Considered unsuited to modern organizations.

• Concealed “the dark side.”

TRAIT THEORIES:

• Seek the essence of leaders (‘born to lead’)

• Francis Galton pioneered an empirical approach anticipating subsequent psychometric methods.

• Studies produced many different traits, failed to establish a ‘universal’ theory.

• Thurstone’s five factors proposal ignored for many years (but partially rehabilitated)

DECLINE IN TRAIT THEORIES:

• The multiplicity of traits identified became a problem;

• Stogdill’s Handbook called for a new approach (1960s)

• This helped in the rise of Style theories, & other Transactional theories.

• [Co-editor Bass later associated with transformational leadership]

STOGDILL & STYLE THEORIES: • Stogdill’s group at

Ohio State pioneered style (what leaders do) over traits (what leaders are)

• Labelled main styles as consideration [towards others], & initiation of structure (“People & Task” styles)

DECLINE OF STYLE THEORIES:

• The approach failed to demonstrate a “universally effective leadership style.”

• It overlooked ‘situational’ or contextual effects (which made effectiveness ‘contingent’ or ‘sometimes influenced by’ non-style factors)

STYLE & CONTINGENCY AS TRANSACTIONAL THEORIES:

• Style & contingency can be seen as transactional theories;

• A transactional leader is the term applied to leaders studied in terms of their behaviors, specifically in their transactions with others.

TRANSACTIONAL & TRANSFORMATIONAL THEORIES:

• Transactional theories were replaced trait theories (1960s – 1980s).

• They failed to satisfy needs in organizations for a change-centred theory.

• This was provided by a series of studies by Bernard Bass & colleagues (1970s - )

BOTH/& … NOT EITHER/OR:

• Bass & Avolio’s ‘Full Range’ leadership model indicated that transformational leadership was an ‘add-on’ not a ‘replacement for’ transactional behaviors.

• The factors were important in developing a New Leadership era (1980s)

Factors in the full-range model -

Transactional factors:

Transformational factors:

Contingent rewards (carrots & sticks)

Management by exception (active & passive versions)

Idealized influence (Charisma?)

Inspirational motivation;

Intellectual stimulation;

Individualized consideration.

NEW LEADERSHIP:• Term was coined by Alan

Bryman;

• Became widely-cited;

• Focused on transformational change;

• Regarded leaders as

providers of vision; • Theory is an interpretative

one.

WHAT’S BEYOND NEW LEADERSHIP?

• New Leadership left a lot of issues unanswered.

• These include ‘post-charismatic’ ideas such as 5th-level leadership; distributed leadership; & leaderless groups. (self-directed work teams)

Post- charismatic ideas (1990s-)

• Fifth-level leaders (Jim Collins) were found to be “modest but of fierce resolve.”

• Distributed leadership suggests that a team “owns” different parts of the leadership process.

• Leaderless groups have been proposed as the “natural” condition of informal social activities. (Self-directed work teams)

Distributed leadership Model -

The Slone Distributed Leadership Model (DLM) is based on:

Sensemaking; Relating; Visioning; Inventing. (collaborative designing to realize a shared vision)

DLM ‘seeks to help each leader discover a personal Change Signature (an individual approach grounded in personal beliefs)

How many of the introductory questions are easier to answer

now?

To go more deeply

• Rickards & Clark (2005), Dilemmas of Leadership, Routledge, http://www.routledge.com/textbooks/0415355850/

• Bryman, A., Leadership, • http://www.amazon.com /SAGE-Handbook-

Organization-Studies/dp/0761949968• http://sloanleadership.mit.edu/pdf/Leadershipina

nAgeofUncertainty-researchbrief.pdf