Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
SCHOOL OF BUSINESS-KNUST
LEADERSHIP
(driving high performance)
Expected learning outcomes Describe, compare and evaluate the different approaches to Managerial Leadership Evaluate the concept of transformational and inspirational leadership
Describe the role of leadership in the context of change and high performance organisations Evaluate the concept of Managerial Leadership Effectiveness
Briefly outline two leadership theories and consider how relevant they are to your organisation or an organisation that you are familiar with.
As a leader of a team of experienced professionals, you are asked to implement a particularly unpopular customer care initiative. What leadership style or approach might you adopt in this situation and why? Drucker (1955) saidLeadership is of utmost importance. Indeed there is no substitute for it. But leadership cannot be taught or learned-Critically evaluate this assertion.
LEADERSHIP
Leadership is currently much discussed; academic studies have multiplied like amoeba since the1970s. Entering leadership into Google provided around126 million entries worldwide, and around 8.4 million for the UK alone. A similar search on Amazon UK gave more than 53,000 books on the topic
LEADERSHIP There is no single definition of leadership that satisfies everyone. John Adair, a leading British authority on the subject, says leadership, like all personal relations, always has something unknown, something mysterious about it. To attempt a partial definition, leadership is very much about the ability to influence people by personal attributes and behaviours.
Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (January, 2010)
LEADERSHIP
Leadership is a combination of persuasion and compulsion that results in making people do things they might not otherwise
Managerial Leadership
The vast majority of studies and books on leadership seem to concentrate on the activities of charismatic and maverick Chief Executives or famous explorers whose situations are so far removed from those of most managers and supervisors as to be of minimal value. Our views on what constitutes good leadership in today's organisations, is changing. We see leadership less in images of charismatic commanding officers leading troops into battle and more in terms of the subtle day-to-day interactions between all managers and their staff at every organisational level. Hence, we need a common sense understanding of leadership as it applies to our individual jobs and organisations
leadership encourages an uninspired style, which deadens activities, leadership without management encourages a disconnected style, which promotes hubris (Mintzberg and Gosling-2003)
Leadership and Productivity Employees who receive good leadership are likely to increase productivity. There is an assumption that good leadership leads to high morale, and high morale leads to higher productivity. It also reduces staff turnover and absenteeism, which ultimately raises productivity by minimizing training time and disruption caused by absent workers. Again, leaders are often instrumental in structuring the work so that subordinates could realize their ability for creative achievement.
Transactional Leadership
Transitional or transformational leadership
Qualities/Traits Approach
The qualities/traits approach assumes that leaders are born and not made. They argue that individuals inherit some qualities that makes them effective leaders. The emphasis is on the individual on the job and not the job itself. Hence careful selection of Leaders rather than training for leadership.
TRAIT Intelligence Knowledge and Expertise Dominance Self-confidence High energy Tolerance for stress
LEADERSHIP FEATURE Helps managers understand complex issues and solve problems. Helps managers make good decisions and discover ways to increase efficiency and effectiveness. Helps managers influence their subordinates to achieve organisational goals. Contributes to managers effectively influencing subordinates and persisting when faced with obstacles or difficulties. Helps managers deal with the many demands they face.
Helps managers deal with uncertainty and the making of difficult decisions. Helps managers behave ethically and earn their subordinates trust Integrity and honesty and confidence. Helps managers avoid acting selfishly, control their feelings, and Maturity admit when they have made a mistake.
The danger of subjective inehaustive list of the most important leadership traits
no linkage between leadership trait and group or team performance
Functional/Group Approach
The functional approach builds on this by breaking the leadership role into various functions, with emphasis on doing rather than being. This in turn emphasizes on the functions of leadership and considers how the leader affects and is affected by the individual and groups through series of specific activities and interactions. The proponents are of the view that leadership is always present in any group engaged in a task Leadership is a set of skills that can be learned, developed and perfected.
This approach is an extension of the Functional Approach and it focuses on what leaders do rather than who leaders are. This is associated with the work of Adair (1979) In this approach, the leader engages in three interrelated and overlapping behaviours which are task, team maintenance and individual needs. The central purpose of the theory is how leaders combine the three essential overlapping needs for unity of purpose.
Please read Chpt. 10 of Mullins (2010)
Action-centred Leadership
TASK FUNCTIONS Achieving the objectives of the work group TEAM FUNCTIONS Maintaining morale & building team spirit INDIVIDUAL FUNCTIONS Meeting the needs of individual members of the group Attending to personal problems Giving praise and status Reconciling group needs and needs of the individual Training of individuals
The cohesiveness of the group as a working unit Setting standards Systems of communication within the group Training the group & appointment of subleaders
The Ohio State University studies identified; initiating structure and consideration as the core leadership behaviours. Consideration ;reflects on the extent to which the leader establishes trust, mutual respect and rapport with the group and shows concern, warmth, support and consideration for the individual members
Initiating structure; reflects the extent to which the leader defines and structures group interactions towards the attainment of formal goals.
The Path-Goal Theory of Leadership was developed to describe the way that leaders encourage and support their followers in achieving the goals they have been set by making the path that they should take clear and easy. In particular, leaders:
PATH-GOAL THEORY
Transformational/Transitional Leadership
Transformational leadership is defined as a leadership approach that causes change in individuals and social systems. In its ideal form, it creates valuable and positive change in the followers with the end goal of developing followers into leaders. In the organisational sense, transformational leadership is about transforming the performance or fortunes of a business. They are usually identified in terms of providing vision, sense of mission and arouse strong emotions.
TRANSFORMATIONAL/TRANSITIONAL LEADERS
Inspires followers to trust the leader Increase staff awareness of the importance of their tasks and make the staff feel belonging to the team Make staff aware of their needs for personal growth, development and accomplishment Motivate staff to work for the good of the organisation rather than just their own personal gain or benefit GOING THE EXTRA MILE
Transactional Leadership
Is based on the legitimate authority of leaders within the bureaucratic structure of the organisation. It based on relationship mutual dependence and exchange of process of: I will give you this, if you do that-emphasis is on reward & punishment.
Inspirational Leadership
Leadership based on personal qualities or charisma. The inspirational leader connects with the led, appreciates the capabilities of others and through trust will unlock the powers within others The extent to which charismatic or inspirational leadership helps to bring about improvement in organisational performance is open to debate
Leadership Styles
Authoritarian/Autocratic-is where the focus of power is with the boss, all
interactions within the organisation move towards the boss. The manager alone exercises decision-making and authority for determining policies
Democratic-is where the focus of power is more with the group as a whole
and there is greater interaction within the group. Leadership functions are shared with members of the group and the boss is seen as part of the team.
SHORTCOMINGS OF THE LEADERSHIP STYLE A major criticism of the leadership styles is that they assume these styles are universally applicable. The literature is unable to explain the causal relationship between leadership styles and workers morale and how they impact on productivity because subordinates misperceive or perceive the intentions of their leaders. Another critique of the literature is that it assumes that organisations are rational in selecting effective leaders to step into the leadership positions.
b)
c) d) a)
Leadership Effectiveness
Research has shown that the most successful and efficient leaders rely on more than one leadership style. Effective leaders use a collection of distinct styles each in the right measure at the right time. The main styles being:
A) Visionary- provides long-term vision
B)
C) D)
Commandingdemands compliance
Affiliative-who creates emotional bonds and harmony in work Democratic-who builds commitment through consultation
E)
F)
Effective leaders recognise and develop appropriate leadership style for the different stages of the innovation process.
Leadership is not one size fits all