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LDR 6301, Psychological Foundations of Leadership 1

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit I Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

1. Summarize the major psychological foundations of leadership. 1.1 Apply the four foundations of leadership to a scenario. 1.2 Determine leadership traits that aid in empowerment. 1.3 Summarize how emotional intelligence contributes to leadership effectiveness.

Required Unit Resources Chapter 2: Traits, Motives, and Characteristics of Leaders Chapter 7: Power, Politics, and Leadership Unit Lesson

The Four Psychological Foundations of Leadership Welcome to Unit I! As we begin our journey to explore the psychological foundations of leadership, it is critically essential for us first to define the four foundations of leadership. They are social, cognitive, organizational, and industrial. While there are many types of leaders with diverse styles that follow and align with different models, these four foundational elements remain as critical measures for not only assessing capability, but also identifying traits and characteristics essential for leadership success. First, we will examine the social foundation of leadership, and we will explore how and why the ability to interact positively and form enduring relationships is mandatory for success. Second, we will investigate the cognitive foundation of leadership that encompasses the ability to receive, process, and store information and use it to execute decision-making. Third, the organizational foundation will be discussed, where we will gain a better understanding of how the setting and business structure can and will influence leadership efficacy. Finally, the industrial foundation provides a basis for examining how key competencies are critical for leadership success, according to needs related to the well-being and performance of employees.

UNIT I STUDY GUIDE The Psychological Foundations of Leadership

LDR 6301, Psychological Foundations of Leadership 2

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title

The Social Foundation The social foundation of leadership is a critical element, where the abilities to interact, foster, and build long- term beneficial relationships are critical. As a key component, soft skills via the ability to speak with clarity and listen effectively contribute to the effectiveness of the leader. As Kouzes and Posner (2017) posit, leaders must encourage the heart, which further requires the ability to develop and enhance skills of socialization, where trust emerges and remains. Within this effort, relationships are formed and developed that build loyalty not only to the leader but also to the organization. Further, the social foundation promotes the cultivation of harmony, as trust acts as a layer of security. Visible and observable leaders reside at the helm of the organization but maintain approachability to consistently secure and promote a culture of well-being. Zaccaro et al. (2000) posited that social judgment of the leader involves perspective taking, social perceptiveness, behavioral flexibility, and social performance, which are skills that enable the leader to harvest and perpetuate working relationships. This will now lead us to the cognitive foundation where the skills that we examine clearly connect to and integrate with the social foundation. The Cognitive Foundation The cognitive foundation of leadership encompasses mental capacity, where the leader must possess requisite skills inclusive of problem-solving and issue identification as well as keen negotiation skills. Of critical note, emotional intelligence falls into the cognitive foundation and builds on the social dimension, requiring a leader to have the ability to not only relate to people but also to possess empathy to better understand circumstances that affect followers. Sparks (2019) cites that self-actualization is a driving force of the leader in quest of both personal and organizational success, certainly enabled by cognitive skills to receive information, process, relate, and execute appropriate responses. Emotional intelligence consequently enables the leader to sense the perspective of the follower, act with concern, and demonstrate sincere personal interest in quest of building the guiding coalition aimed toward achieving unilateral success. Moreover, emotional intelligence enables a leader to show empathy and further advance trust. Northouse (2016) defines cognitive ability as intelligence that develops over time through experience and education, enabling a leader to assemble a repository of knowledge to consistently meet problems with viable solutions. In addition, this can foster creativity and conceptual thinking, which emerge from the capability of the leader. Now, we proceed to the organizational foundation that encompasses both cognitive and social aspects.

LDR 6301, Psychological Foundations of Leadership 3

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title

The Organizational Foundation The organizational foundation of leadership builds upon the connection between social and cognitive, illuminating how the leader must attain mastery of the setting, consistently surveying opportunities for improvement. Further within this foundation rests the need for a leader to develop and craft a vision. Kouzes and Posner (2017) cite the need for leaders to create a shared vision that involves both social and cognitive skills to operate with trust that supports effective influence toward the attainment of common goals. Leaders need to be able to understand the employee in the context of the organization with a focus upon building strengths and identifying weaknesses for development. As a cyclical, iterative approach with the organizational foundation, the leader regularly seeks opportunities for process improvement, realizing the strength of the least capable employee is the constant focus point. Next, we will relate the organizational foundation supported by cognitive and social dimensions to the larger picture of the industrial foundation. The Industrial Foundation The industrial foundation inextricably relates to social, cognitive, and organizational as the channel for developing strategy to achieve not only the vision but the mission of the organization. Among the many key competencies within this foundation, the leader must have the big picture understanding of the place and function of the organization in the past, present, and future. It further requires a keen ability to seek out opportunities not only for improvement in the short-term but also in quest of business sustainability. At the basis, the leader must understand employee behavior and fully understand what conduct is essential and aligned to organizational expectations for performance. This will differentiate between the success and failure of the leader. Next, by establishing a keen understanding of employee behavior, the leader will foster trust in the relationship, and speaking with clarity will lead to successful empowerment. This will facilitate needed inspiration to spurn follower initiative, and followers will feel empowered to boldly progress with integrity and empathy.

Summary As we continue our journey in exploring these foundations in the larger context of the wealth of knowledge to be gained in this course, please consider how you personally assess your leadership ability across these foundational domains. Chapter 2 explores traits, motives, and characteristics of leaders; please keep the four foundations in mind as you read the chapter and contemplate how self-confidence, humility, trustworthiness, authenticity, extraversion, and assertiveness apply to each. Chapter 7 examines power, politics, and leadership. Given the foundations of organizational and industrial are most closely aligned to these topics, please do not look past the root and basis of social and cognitive aspects, which are guiding beacons in navigating turbulence that can and will occur. A leader is charged with the responsibility and authority to skillfully guide the organization in the right direction to fulfill the vision and achieve the mission; it is important to realize how each of the examined foundations serve as the cornerstone for leadership efficacy in quest of successful outcomes.

References Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2017). The leadership challenge (6th ed.). Wiley. Northouse, P. G. (2015). Leadership: Theory and practice. SAGE. Sparks, W. L. (2019, June 1). Actualized leadership: Meeting your shadow and maximizing your potential.

Society for Human Resource Management. Zaccaro, S. J., Mumford, M. D., Connelly, M. S., Marks, M. A., & Gilbert, J. A. (2000). Assessment of leader

problem-solving capabilities. The Leadership Quarterly, 11(1), 37–64. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1048- 9843(99)00042-9