Leadership

(Originally published on the OUBS Blog)

Leadership involves influencing others to follow a particular direction or aim for a particular goa. There are three approaches.

Trait theories is what makes someone an effective leader is their own their own personality and personal qualities; that is, leaders are born, not made. The consensus says that intelligence, initiative, self-confidence, an orientation towards achievement and interpersonal skills are important.

Style theories say that it is people’s behaviour rather than their psychological characteristics that determines weather they are effective leaders and this can be described as a concern for task and concern for people. The managerial grid of Blake and Mouton (1962) can be helpful here.

(concern for task/production, concern for people)

\- (1,9): Country club management: production is incidental to lack of conflict and good relationship

\- (1,1) Impoverished management: effective production unobtainable because people are lazy, apathetic and indifferent. Sound and mature relationships are difficult to achieve because human nature being what it is, conflict is inevitable

\- (5,5) Dampened pendulum: Middle of the road, push for production but don’t go all out; give some but not all. Be fair and firm

\- (9,1) Task management: People are a commodity, just like machines. A manager’s responsibility is to plan, direct and control the work of those subordinate to him or her

\- (9,9) Team management: Production is from integration of task and human requirements

Contingency theories say that what constitutes an effective style of leadership will depend on the situation. Early theorist is Fiedler (1967) Favourableness depends on:

\- leader-member relationship

\- task structure

\- the leader’s position power

He also found that:

\- task oriented leaders perform better in situations which are either very favourable or very unfavourable

\- relationship-oriented leaders perform better in moderate faourableness

\- performance depends on the situation and the style

The most important thing here is that a good leader fits his style to the situation. Fiedler said the style is fixed and the situation should be worked on. Then again, Hersey and Blanchard (1988) disagreed and said the style should be adapted.

Some problems here include:

\- often the manager is not the leader

\- it’s about working effectively not about giving a sense of direction

\- you influence your situation � it cannot be objectively analysed

Hoskings (1997) says you should think of leadership as a process. The influence needs to be acceptable and who is regarded as the leader depends on what the leader does and the expectations and perceptions of the followers.

It’s about tackling core issues:

\- Strategic issues

\- Task issues

\- People or maintenance problem

There are three important implications:

\- A leader is someone who influences how the group tackles the core issues it faces but does not necessarily have formal authority

\- A group can have more than one leader and therefore leadership can be focused or dispersed.

\- Knowledge of the wider environment and an understanding of how it is likely to affect the group is needed. Effective networking and being a good ambassador are important leadership skills.

3\. Leadership abilities and skills

There are three main functions: strategic, task and interpersonal.

Leadership is about acceptable influence and effective persuasion depends on knowledge and expertise and on developing interpersonal relationships based on mutual trust and understanding.

A person’s ability to lead depends on their influence within a group and their influence outside it. Being an ambassador and being able to communicate your knowledge is very important. You should also be a role model especially in dealing with interpersonal relationships and for establishing shared values and norms of individual performance and behaviour.

Networking builds up from what we learn from other people and they can be a vital resource. Remember that networking is not about friends but rather about friends of friends. There are some things to consider:

Networks and exchange is a social network, a means of making exchanges and each party gains something.

Entering networks have no formal means of joining and you gradually become part by building a relationship. Some members are more influential and are called the gatekeepers.

Choosing networks is important as with too many networks they become an end in itself.

Creating networks only works if people get something out of it.

Networks and equal opportunities is something you should remember as sometimes they have a negative effect as you can become a clique and people may be kept out of networks for gender or race or other things.

Being an ambassador means you represent the group and are a mobiliser and a director of the group.

Communication skills are very important and it is important to be clear. They are needed to influence people. You need to build channels to communicate effectively.

Being a role model is wonderful as whether you know it or not you lead by example. You are more likely to be effective if your deeds match your words.

To maintain morale, cohesion and commitment create a climate in which conflict is handled constructively. You will need to be able to take some criticism and to absorb some of the anxieties and tensions of the group without over-reacting.

You need to keep a sense of proportion and maintain you sense of optimism, enthusiasm and humor. A group needs a clear sense of where things are going what it is they are trying to achieve while believing the objectives to be important.