Topic 1

Nature and Significance of Leadership

Gary Yukl says:

“Leadership is a subject that has long excited interest among scholars and laypeople alike. The term connotes images of powerful, dynamic individuals who command victorious armies, direct corporate empires from atop gleaming skyscrapers, or shape the course of nations. Much of our description of history is the story of military, political, religious, business, and social leaders. The exploits of brave and clever leaders are the essence of many legends and myths.

Gary Yukl says:

“Questions about leadership have long been a subject of speculation, but scientific research on leadership did not begin until the twentieth century. The focus of much of the research has been on the determinants of leadership effectiveness. Behavioral scientists have attempted to discover what traits, abilities, behaviors, sources of power, or aspects of the situation determine how well a leader is able to influence followers and accomplish group objectives.

Historical Impact of Leadership– Homer’s Odyssey – emphasizes the importance

of self-confidence in successful leadership– Confucian writings – emphasize importance of

setting a moral example and using rewards and punishment

– Taoism – emphasizes that effective leaders maintain a low profile and work through others

– Old and New Testament – leadership challenges confronting Moses

– 20th Century – Publications such as Leadership Quarterly, books such as Covey’s The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Name a Good Leader

Name a good leader (someone you think of when you think of the word leader).

Do you think about business leaders like:

Carly FiorinaWayne HuizengaSam WaltonSteve JobsJack WelchJeffrey ImmeltHerb Kelleher

Sue WellingtonBill GatesRichard ParsonsAnne MulcahyMichael EisnerEtc.,Etc.,Etc.

Are these companies known for leadership?

SouthwestWal-MartMicrosoftDellDisney

Home DepotStarbucksHarley DavidsonToyotaEtc.

What are characteristics or qualifications of good leaders?

Qualifications of Good LeadersIntegritySinceritySense of HumorIntelligenceKnowledgeableEnergeticEnthusiastic

DeterminedApproachableFlexibleGood ListenerFairHonestConsistent

Leadership on Stages Large and SmallNot all leaders are famous or powerful.

Most leaders are not known outside their own particular sphere or activity, nor should they be.

Every one of us has the opportunity to be a leader.

Rod Kramer, Professor of Leadership at Stanford

Teaches an MBA Course on Leadership with a focus on “ Genius and Folly ”.

He asks his students to tell him a good leader (or) one who has leadership potential.

Answer is ______________!!!!!!!!!

Previously, most Leadership Research/Theory/Study was classified into 4 approaches:

Trait Approach (personal attributes of Leaders)

Behavior Approach (what manages and leaders actually do)

Power-Influence Approach (examining influence processes between leaders and followers)

Situational Approach (contextual factors)

Great Person Theory of Leadership

Leaders are “born” with a set of personal qualities that make them great leaders

Focus is on identifying the personal traits that characterize those individuals who emerge as leaders

A Study of the Leadership ProcessA fault of some leadership

studies is emphasis upon the “individual” rather than the individual as a factor in a social situation.

Leadership study calls for a situational approach, which is fundamentally sociological rather than psychological

• The study of leadership started with the assumption that it was a phenomenon embedded in the leader, as opposed to within the follower.

• Viewed from a sociological perspective, leadership is an interplay and relationship between two or more actors within a particular context.

Leadership as PartnershipLeadership is a long-term relationship, or

partnership, between leaders and group members.

The power between leader and group members is approximately balanced.

Several Approaches to Defining Leadership• Leadership as a focus of group processes• Leadership as personality and its effects • Leadership as an act or behavior • Leadership as an instrument of goal achievement • Leadership as an emerging effect of interaction • Leadership as a differentiated role • Leadership as the initiation of structure • Leadership as the art of inducing compliance• Leadership as the exercise of influence • Leadership as a form of persuasion • Leadership as a power relationship

Defining Leadership“There are almost as many definitions of Leadership as there are persons who have attempted to define the concept.” (Stogdill, 1974)

Definitions of Leadership

Leadership Defined The creative and directive force of morale

(Munson, 1921).The process by which an agent induces a

subordinate to behave in a desired manner (Bennis, 1959).

The presence of a particular influence relationship between two or more persons (Hollander & Julian, 1969).

Leadership Defined continuedDirecting and coordinating the work of

group members (Fiedler, 1967).An interpersonal relations in which others

comply because they want to, not because they have to (Merston, 1969, Hogan, Curphy, & Hogan, 1994).

Transforming followers, creating visions of the goals that may be attained, and articulating for the followers the ways to attain those goals (Bass, 1985; Tichy & Devanna, 1986).

Leadership Defined continuedThe process of influencing an organized

group toward accomplishing its goals (Roach & Behling, 1984).

Actions that focus resources to create desirable opportunities (Campbell, 1991).

The leader’s job is to create conditions for the team to be effective (Ginnett, 1996.)

Leadership:

1. Leadership is “the behavior of an individual when he is directing the activities of a group toward a shared goal.” (Hemphill&Coons)

2. Leadership is “interpersonal influence, exercised in a situation, and directed, through the communication process, toward the attainment of a specified goal or goals.” (Tannenbaum)

3. Leadership is “the initiation and maintenance of structure in expectation and interaction.” (Stogdill)

Leadership:

4. Leadership is “the influential increment over and above mechanical compliance with the routine directives of the organization.” (Katz & Kahn)

5. Leadership is “the process of influencing the activities of an organized group toward goal achievement.” (Rauch & Behling)

Leadership:

6. Leadership is a process of giving purpose (meaning direction) to collective effort, and causing willing effort to be expended to achieve purpose. (Jacobs & Jaques)

7. Leaders are those who consistently make effective contributions to social order, and who are expected and perceived to do so. (Hosking)

Peter Senge, The Fifth DisciplineIn a learning organization, leaders are

designers, stewards, and teachers. They are responsible for building organizations where people continually expand their capabilities to understand complexity, clarify vision, and improve shared mental models-that is, they are responsible for learning.

Irwin Federman:“If you think about it, people love others

not for who they are, but for how they make us feel. We willingly follow others for much the same reason. It makes us feel good to do so. Now, we also follow platoon sergeants, self-centered geniuses, demanding spouses, bosses of various persuasions and others, for a variety of reasons as well. But none of those reasons involves that person’s leadership qualities. In order to willingly accept the direction of another individual, it must feel good to do so.

Irwin Federman (cont.)“This business of making another person feel

good in the unspectacular course of his daily comings and goings is, in my view the very essence of leadership.””

The ability to inspire confidence and support among the people who are needed to achieve organizational goals

Definition of LeadershipDefinition of Leadership

A leader is any person who influences individuals and groups within an organization, helps them in the establishment of goals, and guides them toward achievement of those goals, thereby allowing them to be effective.

Keys Elements of the Keys Elements of the Definition Definition of Leadershipof Leadership

Leadership is a group phenomenon

Leadership is goal oriented; leaders guide

and influence others

Leadership involves some form of hierarchy

in the group

Definition of Leadership Definition of Leadership EffectivenessEffectiveness

Leader are effective when their followers achieve their goals, can function well together, and can adapt to the changing demands from external forces.

The group achieves its goals

Internal processes are smooth

The group can adapt to external

forces

Leaders are Effective Leaders are Effective When:When:

A Working Definition of Leadership

“Leadership is the process of influencing others to understand and agree about what needs to be done and how to do it, and the process of facilitating individual and collective efforts to accomplish shared objectives.”

Type of Influence ProcessLeadership only occurs when influence

attempts results in enthusiastic commitment

All types of influence need to be examined – even when forcing or manipulating subordinates

What Leaders Can Influence

• The interpretation of external events by members

• The choice of objectives and strategies to pursue

• The motivation of members to achieve the objectives

• The mutual trust and cooperation of members

• The organization and coordination of work activities

What Leaders Can Influence

• The allocation of resources to activities and objectives

• The development of member skills and confidence

• The learning and sharing of new knowledge by members

• The enlistment of support and cooperation from outsiders

• The design of formal structure, programs, and systems

• The shared beliefs and values of members

Ron Heifetz:

Leadership is an activity.

Leadership is what individuals do in mobilizing other people, in organizations or communities, to do what I call “adaptive work.”

Ron Heifetz Con’t:Adaptive work can mean clarifying a

conflict in values, or bridging the gap between the values that we stand for and the current conditions under which we operate. When you have a problem or a challenge for which there is no technical remedy, a problem for which it won’t help to look to an authority for answers – the answers aren’t there- that problem calls for adaptive work.

INC.: Can you give us a succinct definition of leadership?HEIFETZ: I define leadership as an activity,

not as a set of personality characteristics. So what I’m interested in is developing people’s capacity to perform a particular activity, and I call this activity “leadership.” And the activity of leadership I define as the mobilization of the resources of a people or of an organization to make progress on the difficult problems it faces.

HEIFETZ Con’t:Notice that I am not talking about routine

problems; I don’t think they require leadership. I’m talking about difficult problems. In those situations, someone exercising leadership is orchestrating the process of getting factions with competing definitions of the problem to start learning from one another.

Heifetz Con’t:There is so much hunger for leadership in

business today. Everyone wants better leaders. What do great leaders do?

The real heroism of leadership involves having the courage to face reality – and helping the people around you face reality. It’s no accident that the work “vision” refers to our capacity to see. Of course, in business, vision has come to mean something abstract or even inspirational. But the quality of any vision depends on its accuracy, not just on its appeal or on how imaginative it is.

Heifetz Con’t:Mustering the courage to interrogate reality is a

central function of a leader. And that requires the courage to face three realities at once. First, what values do we stand for – and are there gaps between those values and how we actually behave? Second, what are the skills and talents of our company – and are there gaps between those resources and what the market demands? Third, what opportunities does the future hold – and are there gaps between those opportunities and our ability to capitalize on them?

Heifetz Con’t:Now, don’t get the wrong idea. Leaders don’t answer those

questions themselves. That’s the old definition of leadership: The leader has the answers – the vision – and everything else is a sales job to persuade people to sign up for it. Leaders certainly provide direction. But that often means posing well-structured questions, rather than offering definitive answers. Imagine the differences in behavior between leaders who operate with the idea that “leadership means influencing the organization to follow the leader’s vision” and those who operate with the idea that “leadership means influencing the organization to face its problems and to live into its opportunities.” That second idea – mobilizing people to tackle tough challenges – is what defines the new job of the leader.

Are Leaders Born or Made?Do some people just almost seem to have an

innate ability to be leaders – a proclivity to lead?

Or

Do you have to learn, study, research, read, and work at being a leader?

• 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.

Scientific and artistic perspectives of leadership are interdependent, not mutually exclusive. Knowing the leadership research is neither necessary nor sufficient for being a good leader; however, it does lend additional perspectives for analyzing leadership situations.

Thos KuhnKuhn characterized leadership as an

immature science, i.e. not precise – we know how to study leadership but we can’t predict human behavior and its effects with precision.

Formal leadership education may give individuals the skills to better understand leadership situations, and mentorships and experience may give individuals the skills to better influence others.

Leadership Is Both Rational and Emotional.

Rational techniquesEmotional

appeals

Effective Leaders Impact Followers at Both a Rational and Emotional Level.

Rational:Establishment of

Rules and Guidelines

Goal-Setting

Decision-Making

(Vroom & Yetton)

Emotional:Emotions affect the

perceptions and actions of leaders and followers

Can be Negative –Sarcasm

Can be Positive -Inspiring/Charismatic

Leadership is Both Rational and Emotional

• Leadership includes actions and influences based on reason and logic as well as those based on inspiration and passion.

• Good leadership is more than just calculation and planning, or following a “checklist.”

• Good leadership involves touching others’ feelings; emotions play an important role in leadership too.

Leadership is Both Rational and Emotional (continued)• Aroused feelings can be used

either positively or negatively, constructively or destructively.

• The mere presence of a group can cause people to act differently than when they are alone.

• Leaders need to consider both the rational and the emotional consequences of their actions.

Warren Bennis

“Managers do things right, while leaders do the right things.”

Distinctions Between Managers and Leaders (Bennis)

Leaders:• Innovate• Develop• Inspire• Take the long-term

view• Ask what and why• Originate• Challenge the

status quo

Managers:AdministerMaintainControlHave a short-term

viewAsk how and when ImitateAccept the status

quo

Leadership and ManagementLeader-Team direction Manager- Structure and systemsLeaders- Effectiveness, results Managers- Efficiency, methodsLeaders- Build team Managers- Specific activities

Kotter:Management is more formal and scientific

than leadership. It relies on universal skills such as planning, budgeting, and controlling. Management is an explicit set of tools and techniques, based on reasoning and testing, that can be used in a variety of situations.

Leadership, in contrast to management, involves having a vision of what the organization can become.

Leadership requires eliciting cooperation and teamwork from a large network of people and keeping the key people in that network motivated, using every manner of persuasion.

Self-Leadership

SymbolicLeadership

ServantLeadership

OrganizationalLeadership

StrategicLeadership

Coleadership

Small Groups15 MinutesTopic: Open

Discussion:What was topic?Who suggested topic?Leader emerge?Anyone dominate?Anyone remain silent?