REFLECTIVE GENERAL

MBA401

People, Culture and

Contemporary

Leadership

Workshop Week 7

Perspectives on Leadership

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Workshop Objectives

• To understand what is meant by leadership.

• To identify the link between leadership and performance.

• To understand the anti-leadership perspective.

• To be able to identify the different leadership roles.

• To understand the concept of leadership effectiveness.

• To understand the concept of followership.

• LO3 - Describe contemporary approaches to leadership.

• LO4 - Analyse the characteristics and psychology of different leaders.

• LO5 - Apply leadership skills across a variety of domains.

What is Leadership?

Leadership?

Leadership?

Leadership?

Leadership?

• The ability to inspire confidence and support among the

people who are needed to achieve organisational goals.

• Leadership Effectiveness refers to attaining desirable

outcomes such as productivity, quality, and satisfaction in

a given situation.

• Leadership Process elements include:

– Leader

– Group Members

– Context of the Situation

Meaning of Leadership

Source: Dubrin (2013)

Leadership?

• Leadership is a partnership between leaders and

group members and thus involves a sharing of

leadership responsibility.

• The power between leaders and group members is

approximately balanced, meaning this partnership

occurs when control shifts away from authoritarianism

toward shared decision making.

• Additionally, leadership often shifts depending on the

expertise needed as most relevant at the moment.

What this means is that the most senior individual on a

work team is not always the leader based on seniority.

Source: Dubrin (2013)

Leadership is a Partnership

• Factors necessary for a valid partnership and shared

responsibility include:

– Exchange of purpose

– A right to say no

– Joint accountability

– Absolute honesty

• The leadership role within a team is seldom the

responsibility of only one person.

• Leadership may shift, depending on whose expertise is

the most relevant at the moment.

Leadership is a Shared

Responsibility

Source: Dubrin (2013)

• Leadership is a relationship between the

leader and the people being led.

• “Leadership isn’t something you do to

people. It’s something you do with them.”

- Ken Blanchard

• How leaders build this relationship has

changed as technology and the use of

social media and email has increased.

Leadership is a Relationship

Source: Dubrin (2013)

• Research shows leadership matters when:

– Leader is perceived to be responsible and inspirational.

– Leaders throughout the organisation are involved in making decisions and these individuals are knowledgeable about the problem to be resolved.

– Leaders change, company performance changes.

• Statistical analysis suggests the leader might be responsible for between 15-45% of a firm’s performance.

• Study findings have shown the leader’s activities have a 66% probability of achieving a positive outcome in an organisation’s performance.

Source: Dubrin (2013)

Leadership and Performance

• Watch the following TED talk and answer the following questions with the person next to you.

• https://www.ted.com/talks/roselinde_torres_what_it_take s_to_be_a_great_leader#t-510287

• Questions – What is leadership?

– What do leaders do?

– How do they do it?

Activity - Video

• Arguments against the importance of leadership include:

– Substitutes exist for leadership; factors in the work

environment that provide guidance and incentives to

perform, make the leader’s role almost superfluous.

– Leaders can be irrelevant; people lead themselves

and outside influences can overwhelm them; factors

outside the leader’s control have a larger impact on

business outcomes than do leadership actions.

– Organisational systems are far too complex to

attribute success to leadership; forces outside the

leader’s control determine a company’s fate.

Anti Leadership Movement

Source: Dubrin (2013)

• Figurehead

• Spokesperson

• Negotiator

• Coach and Motivator

• Team Builder

• Team Player

• Technical Problem Solver

• Entrepreneur

• Strategic Planner

• Executor

Leadership Roles

Activity – Leadership Roles

• You work as an HR leader in a large corporation and

have just received a call from the police to say there is a

suspicious package in the office canteen.

• In groups of 3 or 4, come up with three actions for each

of the leadership roles that would be most appropriate in

dealing with that problem.

Activity - Leadership

• The things I would find personally satisfying about

leadership are:

• 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

• The things I would find personally frustrating about

leadership are:

• 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

Leadership Effectiveness

Source: Dubrin (2013)

• Whether or not a leader is effective depends on four sets of variables:

1. Group Member Characteristics

• Attributes of the group members

• Examples include their intelligence and high level of motivation to assist the leader with doing an outstanding job

2. Leader Characteristics & Traits

• Leader’s inner qualities that help the leader function effectively in many situations

• Examples include self-confidence and problem-solving ability

3. Leader Behaviour & Style

• Activities the leader engages in, including his/her characteristic approach

• Examples include participative leadership, task-orientation behaviour

4. Internal & External Environment

• Elements/forces of the situation that may or may not be within the leader’s control

• Examples include economy, diversity of workforce, organisational culture

Leadership Effectiveness

• To be an effective leader, one needs good followers.

• Leaders cannot exist without followers.

• Key aspects of effective group members: – Types of followers.

– Personal characteristics of productive followers.

– Importance of collaboration between leaders and followers.

• Followers differ in their individual engagement approach to being a group member.

Source: Kellerman (2007)

1. Group Member Characteristics

Types of Followers

Source: Kellerman (2007)

Activity - Types of Followers

Source: Kellerman (2007)

Which type of follower are you in this class?

Activity - Leadership

• On your own complete the following exercises:

1. Leadership Self-Assessment Quiz

2. Leadership Skill-Building Exercise

• Find a buddy and discuss the following:

1. What is your readiness for a leadership role and why?

2. What are your key capabilities and what do you need to

develop?

• Leadership is multi-faceted.

• For leadership to be effective, a number of

key attributes must be present.

• Followership refers to the behaviour of

group members.

• Leaders have a number of different roles.

Summary

Any Questions?

Activity – Do Before Next Week

• Undertake the free 16PF test either:

www.psychometrictest.org.uk

or

http://personality-testing.info/tests/16PF.php.

• Using research that you undertake, interpret

your results and their meaning for leadership for

discussion in the next workshop.

• Log your reflections in your journal.

28

• From today’s workshop:

– What have you learned about leadership?

– What has surprised you?

– What have you learned about yourself?

– How could you apply these learnings in the

workplace?

– How could these learnings be reflected in

Assessment 2?

Activity – Journal Reflection

Assessment 2 - Overview

• Refer to subject outline.

Any Questions?