SPC 3425- Evaluation

Welcome to Chapter 7 of In Mixed Company! This chapter discusses leadership in groups. Your group for this course may have already met or will be meeting soon so some of the concepts you learn about leadership will be at play in your group dynamic. Even if you aren’t the leader of your group for this course, you may be a group leader in the future and will have some tools to be a great leader!

We know that leaders head up groups of people to achieve a goal but there are many factors at play in defining leadership. Your text defines leadership as “a leader–follower influence process, directed toward positive change that reflects mutual purposes of group members and is largely accomplished through competent communication.” Let’s break down this definition down.

We know that leadership is a “social influence process” whereby leaders convince others to follow their vision. Leadership also involves credibility, as we are more likely to follow someone else if we perceive them to be credible (i.e. you support a member of your student group as leader because you think they know what they’re talking about). The ability to lead also implies that there are followers. If there aren’t people to follow the leader, then true leadership doesn’t exist.

It’s important not to switch leaders and managers. Managers lead groups because of positions they hold or power they are given (i.e. your boss at work may manage the group but may not have leadership qualities). Anyone can have leadership qualities, even if they don’t possess a certain title. Additionally, managers don’t typically seek to change existing conditions, whereas leaders strive to shift them. For example, a manager at work might post sales quotas where a leader might do away with quotas altogether and come up with a way of revolutionizing the company to be more successful. In this way, leaders seek change where managers do not. Scholars call this transformational leadership, which I’ll talk more about in a bit. It is possible for managers to be leaders and leaders to be managers simultaneously but being one does not necessarily mean you are the other.

In order for leaders to be successful, they must possess the skills to communicate effectively with their followers. It doesn’t matter if a person has all the leadership qualities in the world if they can’t communicate well with others. Competent communication includes the ability to listen and to show respect for group members.

Now that we’ve broken down leadership, let’s take a look at how to get it and keep it. In order to gain leadership, you should be on time to important meetings (this also shows respect), be knowledgeable about any issues the group is focusing on, be committed to helping the group reach its goals, allow others to participate and voice their thoughts, listen, be open-minded to varying viewpoints, be supportive, and speak civilly to all group members. All leaders should exhibit these qualities.

Groups use process of elimination to identify their leaders. First, those who are quiet and those to talk a lot are typically dismissed as potential leaders. Then, those who are perceived as too extreme or unable to complete the required tasks are eliminated, as are those who are too bossy. The group is trying to remove those with undesirable traits as potential leaders and select someone who is perceived as being capable of leading the team to success and who is perceived to be a good listener. We also want to see emotional intelligence (aka EQ) in our potential leader. It helps if potential leaders have people within the group who outwardly support or promote them as leaders.

Once someone gains the leader role, they need to exhibit certain behaviors to keep it. The textbook identifies 3 components of retaining leadership: (1) “You must demonstrate your competence as leader; (2) You must accept accountability for your actions; (3) You must satisfy group members’ expectations.” It can be difficult to retain leadership because, as we’ve discussed in previous chapters, group climate, roles, expectations, etc., can change quickly. One of the most important components of retaining leadership is communicating with group members. I want to make special note of a section in your text on gender and ethnic bias in leader emergence. Make sure to read this section and consider it as you select your group’s leader.

The last section we’re going to cover is the various perspectives of leadership. These have developed as communication scholars have done more research on types of leadership. Consider your own thoughts and experiences on each perspective. Let’s start with the traits perspective. Near the beginning of this chapter summary we established that leadership is a process, not a person. The traits perspective views leaders as people and asserts that leaders are born with the necessary qualities to be strong leaders. The traits perspective has been controversial and is not as widely accepted a valid perspective on leadership given subsequent research on other leadership perspectives. Rather than say leaders are born, not made, you could think that leaders are developed, not born, according to your text.

Next, we have the styles perspective. There are three styles within this perspective: autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire. The autocratic style is directive and attempts to control others (i.e. you WILL do this, or else!). The democratic style encourages participation from group members and attempts to reach a consensus (i.e. can we all come to an agreement on how to proceed?). The laissez-faire style is where there is a lack of leadership (i.e. I don’t care what you do). The laissez-faire style is ineffective. The autocratic and democratic styles can both be useful in small groups.

Keep in mind that leadership is not static so what is needed in a leader can shift. It is not a “one size fits all.” Enter the situational perspective. A lot of what we need from a leader and how a leader will be successful depends on many factors, so we need our leaders to be flexible based on the situation. The Hersey-Blanchard model is particularly useful here. It looks at two dimensions we’ve discussed before: task and relationship. There are four styles of leadership within the model: telling (high task-low relationship), selling (high task-high relationship), participating (low task-high relationship), and delegating (low task-low relationship). Each of these styles is good in the right situation and depends largely on follower readiness: whether they have the ability and willingness to tackle a task. Using the wrong style in the wrong situation will cause problems in a group.

The next perspective is the functional perspective. It tells us that leaders fulfill necessary functions within a group, specifically task and relational. Leaders in this perspective have to find the right balance of the two. This perspective reinforces the idea that leaders are not people but are processes.

Last, we have the servant leadership perspective. This perspective focuses on ethical leadership by serving others. In short, ethical leaders place others above themselves and approach leadership with strong morals in mind.

That wraps up Chapter 7! Make sure to read the chapter and take notes on important information, review this week’s module, and complete the assignment/s. Thanks for reading!

Dr. Reed