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CHAPTER 9

Leadership and Management Skills in Public Organizations

 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Exploring the variety of leadership theories, particularly as they relate to public leaders

2. Learning about the importance of and improving communication

3. Understanding the skills needed to delegate and motivate

4. Improving personal decision-making skills

5. Understanding the issues of group dynamics

 SUMMARY OVERVIEW

This chapter focuses on the personal skills required to lead and manage a public organization. The

authors emphasize that leadership is a subtle and complex phenomenon that goes beyond issues

of power and formal hierarchical relationships, and that effective leadership and management

involves both strong skills and a great deal of flexibility. The chapter emphasizes that effective

leadership and management depends upon effective communication and interpersonal skills, and

also addresses negotiating and group processes as aspects of effective leadership and

management. These skills and processes underlie the capacity of leaders and managers to act

effectively and responsibly.

The authors begin by addressing the relationship between power and leadership, framing power

as just one aspect of a leader’s skill set. This section offers an overview of various theories of

leadership, from early trait and behavior approaches to more contemporary views that incorporate

situation and context and embrace the idea that leadership can and should be exercised throughout

an organization. Leadership is defined as the character of the relationship between the leader and

group or organization that stimulates group members to reach their full potential. It is the capacity

of the leader to “energize” the group, the authors argue, that is central to effective leadership.

The focus then turns to the need for communication skills, as the authors emphasize that

communication is the basis for setting goals, engaging others, and ensuring cooperation. A

detailed discussion of effective listening skills is presented, along with information about

speaking and writing skills that are necessary for managers and leaders. This is followed by an

examination of delegation and motivation, which also are key issues for effective leadership and

management. The particulars of effective delegation are addressed, including the need for both

authority and responsibility, and justifications for delegating rather than “doing it myself” are

presented. Next, several methods of motivation are explored, including issues related to pay and

job satisfaction, the psychology of reinforcement, and goal setting. This discussion includes

specific information that will help students begin to build skills in this area. A discussion about

decision making, which the authors argue is the most universal activity of leaders and managers,

114 Chapter 9: Leadership and Management Skills in Public Organizations

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also is presented here, including an examination of rational, “satisficing,” and incremental models

of individual decision making.

The final section of this chapter addresses the importance of group dynamics and group decision

making in leadership and management. Both the advantages and disadvantages of group decision

making are explored, including a detailed discussion of the problems inherent in groupthink, and

problems related to interpersonal dynamics in groups are examined. This section also presents

information about the roles or functions of leaders in group dynamics and specialized techniques

for leading the decision-making process in a group setting. The chapter concludes with a look at

conflict, bargaining, and negotiation, in which the authors note that the ability to resolve

differences in an equitable way is a key skill for leaders and managers in the public sector. To

that end, “principled negotiation” and alternative dispute resolution are advanced as alternatives

to traditional bargaining.

 CHAPTER OUTLINE

I. LEADERSHIP AND POWER

 Exploring Concepts: BASES OF SOCIAL POWER

II. COMMUNICATION

A. Listening

 Take Action: PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE LISTENING

1. Have a Reason or Purpose 2. Suspend Judgment Initially 3. Resist Distractions 4. Wait before Responding 5. Rephrase What You Listen To in Your Own Words 6. Seek the Important Themes 7. Use the Thinking-Speaking Differential to Reflect and Find Meaning

B. Speaking

C. Writing

 Take Action: SECRET WEAPONS FOR ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION

III. DELEGATION AND MOTIVATION

A. Delegation

B. Motivation 1. Pay and Job Satisfaction 2. Reinforcement Theory 3. Goal Setting

C. Individual Decision Making

IV. GROUP DYNAMICS

A. Advantages of Group Decision Making

B. Disadvantages of Group Decision Making

C. Interpersonal Dynamics in Groups

Chapter 9: Leadership and Management Skills in Public Organizations 115

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 Take Action: LEADERSHIP ROLES IN GROUP DYNAMICS

D. Specialized Techniques for Group Decision Making

E. Conflict, Bargaining, and Negotiation

 Take Action: GUIDELINES FOR SUCCESSFUL NEGOTIATIONS

V. SUMMARY AND ACTION IMPLICATIONS

 KEY TERMS

Brainstorming Technique for enhancing the alternative-generation portion of the decision-

making process.

Delegation Assigning tasks to others.

Groupthink A mode of thinking in which greater emphasis is placed on conformity than on

making good decisions.

Hidden agenda Privately held goals and priorities.

Nominal group Face-to-face meeting that allows only limited interaction among participants.

Parity principle Idea that an individual should have equal amounts of authority and

responsibility.

Risk shift Difference in the daringness of decisions group members make as a group, compared

to the average risk of the same decision if each member made it alone.

Role ambiguity Occurs when the rights and responsibilities of the job are not clearly understood.

Role conflict Occurs when one faces two different and incompatible sets of demands.

Satisficing decision One that is just “good enough” in terms of some criterion.

Two-factor theory Model of motivation involving two variables: job satisfaction and job

dissatisfaction.

 WEB LINKS

The following are links to a variety of perspectives on leadership:

James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership: (http://www.academyofleadership.org/).

The Research Center for Leadership in Action: (http://wagner.nyu.edu/leadership/).

The Center for Integrative Leadership: (http://www.leadership.umn.edu/).

The following are links to information about conflict resolution:

Conflict Resolution Center: (http://www.crnhq.org/).

National Association for Community Mediation: (www.nafcm.org).

Illinois’s Center for Conflict Resolution: (http://www.ccrchicago.org/).