2 questions mgt

Answer to the two questions below must be 250 words each and authentic with citations.

chapter 10 of Applied Organizational Behavior and Leadership Development entitled: “ Authenticity  and  Ethicality in Identity”. 

The chapter introduces impression management, defined by Lester and Lester as “the active measures taken via social interaction designed to shape the perceptions of others” (2023). This foundational leadership concept is one we actively employ daily in both our personal and professional lives, projecting identities and having them interpreted by the people around us with varying degrees of success.

To that end theories have been postulated to provide clarity and prescription on ways to increase leadership efficacy in utilizing these tools - one of which was put forth by Gardner and Avolio in 1998 known as the Dramaturgical approach. The theory states that “leaders are actors performing roles on stages”, followers and employees the willing audience bearing witness to the four-stage process in real time. The first is framing: “a quality of communication that causes others to accept one meaning over another” (Lester & Lester, 2023). Here leaders derive meaning from company values and goals. Next, scripting determines how the goals are met and who all is involved. Staging takes hold and leaders interpret how resources are expended in furtherance of the firm’s efforts. Lastly, performing the work. With any luck the leader has convinced their followers enough to share meaning and not walk away with less understanding than they came with. 

The book goes on to note (5) more commonly practiced strategies used in the workplace by leadership in their attempts to impress upon employees their identity. There’s ingratiation, where individuals attempt to make them more likable through selfless acts, the competence highlighting self-promotion strategy, leading through perception of action or exemplification,  supplication, where individuals attempt to “signal helplessness” in order to have others perform their work. Lastly, we all have been privy to intimidation in some shape, form, or fashion, the way or coercion and threats. Only exemplification and ingratiation have been linked to transformational leadership making them the preferred methods of effective leaders who wish to get the most out of their followers. 

Moving along, the book springs forth Peck and Hogue’s Typological Model of impression management, one concerning the analysis of specific categories of phenomenon based on their commonalities. A brief summation of the theory includes categorizing leader behavior across (2) spectrums: the pro-self continuum vs. the pro-social action to determine if leadership is projecting a particular identity to benefit their self or the organization, using morality (the perceived standards of right and wrong) and ethics (the way individuals and society judges actions to be either right or wrong) as a foundation. The former two concepts are furthered by Brown et.al. under the umbrella of Ethical Leadership: “the demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships and the promotion of such conduct to followers through two-way communication, reinforcement, and decision making” (2005, p.120) whereby demonstrating, promoting, and reinforcing ethical actions a leader can both impress upon their followers the semblance of integrity and instill the same characteristics in them as well. 

The closing section discusses Authentic Leadership and the importance of authenticity (“being guy to oneself across a range of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors” (Gordon et. al., 2005) in today’s workplace. The theory is housed on four basic tenets: self awareness, balanced processing, internalized moral perspective and relational transparency.

After reading the chapter, I ask of you all one simple question: 

1. Do you believe the identity impressed upon you by your most recent superior (professional, academic, sports, etc.) was authentic and ethical and what evidence from the reading supports your analysis?

Our textbook Organizational Behavior defines leadership as “guiding of others towards an objective” (Pearce 2024).

Leadership is not only exhibited by those in formal positions like managers. Others can exhibit leadership potential. There are three fundamental tasks of a leader:

1. They have vision.

2. They enlist others to work towards these visions.

3. They take action.

Vision

Creating a vision is essential to leading others. A leader must establish a direction for the team before anyone can follow.

Vision should be communicated often and in person to as many people as possible.

Vision builds a sense of community. There is a shared purpose. Everyone is working towards the same shared purpose.

Structure

The most effective leader will have structure and consideration as opposed to one or the other. Employees realize that leaders need to take whatever action is needed for the success of the team and organization.

Laissez-faire leadership is when a leader leaves their employees free to do whatever they want. This type of leadership has little to no structure for the employees.

Successful Leaders

The list of characteristics on what makes a successful leader changes often from writers. However, it still stems from two biases that people possess.

1. Romance of Leadership- This is when people attribute too much success or failure to the leader.

2. Hindsight bias – This is when people have a distorted remembrance of past events when the results are already known. This allows people to create an explanation that may be inaccurate for events.

One personal characteristic that makes some leaders more successful than others is cognitive ability (intelligence) which helps with managing the many tasks and analyzing the information to communicate the vision clearly. The second characteristic is strong confidence and psychological capital which is a combination of self-confidence, optimism, hope, and resiliency.

Integrity is important to successful leadership. It reflects the consistency between a person’s words and actions.

Unsuccessful Leaders

Research has identified three unsuccessful leadership approaches:

· Autocratic – They make all the decisions themselves. Little to no input from anyone.

· Abusive – They mistreat the employees verbally and intimidate, ridicule, and humiliate.

· Narcissistic Leadership – They put themselves first before the team. They consider themselves the best and exceptional in all situations.

Supplemental Resources:  

https://hortoninternational.com/cultivating-successful-leaders-through-key-traits-and-lifelong-learning/

https://ace.edu/blog/what-are-the-qualities-of-an-effective-leader-your-guide-to-inspiring-success/

Pearce, J. L. (2024). Organizational behavior: Real research for real managers (5th ed.). Melvin & Leigh, Publishers. 

 

2. There has been research found that reflects what makes you a successful leader has no impact on successful leadership. Do you agree or disagree and why?