Business

Lecture

Chapter 1

According to your text:

Most definitions of Leadership agree that it

involves “an influence process for

facilitating the performance of a collective task.” Factors for difference in definitions include: who exerts

the

influence?

who are the intended beneficiaries of the

influence?

how is the influence exerted?, and

what i

s the outcome of the attempt at influence? There is no one single correct definition of leadership,

so our definitions of leadership are useful to the extent that they help us gain an increasing

understanding of the dynamics of effective leadership. Most r

esearchers evaluate leadership

effectiveness in terms of consequences for followers and other organization stakeholders. These

consequences can be difficult to measure and require multiple criteria. Most empirical research studies

fall into the categories:

trait, behavior, power, and situational approaches, with an effort in recent years

to integrate these approaches. Another basis for classifying leadership research and theory is by level of

analysis, levels including: intra

-

individual, dyadic, group, and

organizational.

Yet another basis for

differentiating theories focuses on leader and follower. Past research has focused on the characteristics

of the leader, and followers the object of leader influence, but a more balanced approach is needed.

Leadership

theories can be classified as prescriptive versus descriptive, “what should be” rather than

“what occurs now.” Finally, universal versus contingency, a delineation of the extent to which a theory

describes leadership processes and relationships that are s

imilar in all

situations or

varied in specific

ways in specific situations.

According to Dr. B:

From our prior text Management by Bateman et al., the four functions of management

are planning, organization of resources, controlling means, learning, and

change, and leading. Now, we

focus on leading. The greatest military leaders from Alexander the Great to Schwarzkopf exhibited

excellence in all four categories, although the one they are most known for is their leadership. I am not a

military leader, or

for that matter, comparing myself to these men, but in

planning/organizing/controlling/ leading/managing tax preparations sites of strictly volunteers for the

past 28 years, the best description of my management style includes examples of the 4 functions,

and

was stated by one of my volunteers: “You are the coach who teaches us tax preparation. You are at every

“game.” You give us the strategy and means to win. You use what we did wrong to teach what is right,

and you are the cheerleader on the sides.” Unpa

id volunteers need a leader who values his/her

employees, communicates and illustrates that they are benefiting and benefiting others. Paid employees

are no different.

Chapter 2

According to your text

: Management is inherently hectic. Management issues

vary greatly from one day

to the next. Many factors influence decision making, but decisions are often politically based. Inherent

difficulties in management include activities of people outside the manager’s chain of command,

planning that occurs informal

ly, and a need to be highly adaptive. Managerial decision

-

making often

requires knowledge of individuals widely scattered throughout the organization, and decisions are often

based on either overwhelming

amount

of data or incomplete data. An ongoing diffi

culty exists in

identifying acceptable categories to describe the content of managerial work. Mintzberg’s taxonomy for

managerial roles is one approach. Another is job description research asking mangers to rate the

importance of their various responsibili

ties. Descriptive research into behavior related to managerial

situations discusses several situational influences on leadership behavior such as the manager’s

Lecture

Chapter 1

According to your text: Most definitions of Leadership agree that it involves “an influence process for

facilitating the performance of a collective task.” Factors for difference in definitions include: who exerts

the influence? who are the intended beneficiaries of the influence? how is the influence exerted?, and

what is the outcome of the attempt at influence? There is no one single correct definition of leadership,

so our definitions of leadership are useful to the extent that they help us gain an increasing

understanding of the dynamics of effective leadership. Most researchers evaluate leadership

effectiveness in terms of consequences for followers and other organization stakeholders. These

consequences can be difficult to measure and require multiple criteria. Most empirical research studies

fall into the categories: trait, behavior, power, and situational approaches, with an effort in recent years

to integrate these approaches. Another basis for classifying leadership research and theory is by level of

analysis, levels including: intra-individual, dyadic, group, and organizational. Yet another basis for

differentiating theories focuses on leader and follower. Past research has focused on the characteristics

of the leader, and followers the object of leader influence, but a more balanced approach is needed.

Leadership theories can be classified as prescriptive versus descriptive, “what should be” rather than

“what occurs now.” Finally, universal versus contingency, a delineation of the extent to which a theory

describes leadership processes and relationships that are similar in all situations or varied in specific

ways in specific situations.

According to Dr. B: From our prior text Management by Bateman et al., the four functions of management

are planning, organization of resources, controlling means, learning, and change, and leading. Now, we

focus on leading. The greatest military leaders from Alexander the Great to Schwarzkopf exhibited

excellence in all four categories, although the one they are most known for is their leadership. I am not a

military leader, or for that matter, comparing myself to these men, but in

planning/organizing/controlling/ leading/managing tax preparations sites of strictly volunteers for the

past 28 years, the best description of my management style includes examples of the 4 functions, and

was stated by one of my volunteers: “You are the coach who teaches us tax preparation. You are at every

“game.” You give us the strategy and means to win. You use what we did wrong to teach what is right,

and you are the cheerleader on the sides.” Unpaid volunteers need a leader who values his/her

employees, communicates and illustrates that they are benefiting and benefiting others. Paid employees

are no different.

Chapter 2

According to your text: Management is inherently hectic. Management issues vary greatly from one day

to the next. Many factors influence decision making, but decisions are often politically based. Inherent

difficulties in management include activities of people outside the manager’s chain of command,

planning that occurs informally, and a need to be highly adaptive. Managerial decision-making often

requires knowledge of individuals widely scattered throughout the organization, and decisions are often

based on either overwhelming amount of data or incomplete data. An ongoing difficulty exists in

identifying acceptable categories to describe the content of managerial work. Mintzberg’s taxonomy for

managerial roles is one approach. Another is job description research asking mangers to rate the

importance of their various responsibilities. Descriptive research into behavior related to managerial

situations discusses several situational influences on leadership behavior such as the manager’s