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McKee Chapter 2:

THE LEADERSHIP IMPERATIVE: IT’S UP TO YOU

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

2.1 Recognize why everyone needs to learn how to lead today.

2.2 Understand the characteristics of effective leadership.

2.3 Understand the characteristics of influential leadership.

2.4 Understand the characteristics of responsible leadership.

2.5 Assess theories and models of management and leadership.

2.6 Determine the necessity of transformational leadership.

2.7 Describe HR’s role in supporting and fostering excellent and ethical leadership.

2.8 Describe the steps one must take to become a great leader.

CHAPTER SUMMARY

Exceptional leadership is at the core of any successful organization. As such, the leading function is the key component of effective management. Chapter 2 focuses on what good leadership is actually about, as well as the various theories of leadership, including resonant leadership. It begins by exploring the nature of leadership, in general, and effective leadership, in particular.

Next, the chapter examines the importance of competencies, what they are, and how they break down into their various components. From here, it explores the critical role that social and emotional competencies play in developing highly functional resonant leaders. Next, the roles that different types of power play in the leadership process, such as legitimate, referent, expert, and coercive power are explored. In addition, the importance of empowerment and empowering organizations in today’s leading edge management environments and what its implications are in relation to McGregor’s Theories X, Y, and Z are addressed.

The chapter next explores how effective, influential, and responsible leadership can be demonstrated. The chapter continues with a discussion of ethics – individual, professional, social, and organizational – ethical behavior, and values that are the foundation of moral leadership. Ethical dilemmas – and how to recognize them – and how best to deal with them when they present themselves is examined. The chapter then addresses trait, behavioral, and contingency approaches to leadership. Under the contingency approach, particular attention is devoted to the managerial implications of Fiedler’s contingency model, House’s path-goal theory, and the Hersey-Blanchard situational leadership model.

Finally, the chapter focuses on the difference between transactional and transformational leadership; wrapping up with human resources’ role in supporting ethical and effective leadership.

CHAPTER OUTLINE

Teaching Objective: To provide students with a solid understanding of leadership and its importance to management. To accomplish this, the concepts of emotional and social intelligence, ethics and values, power and its various forms, and the different styles and types of leadership are explored.

  1. Leadership: Whose Responsibility Is It?

1. The key to great leadership is recognizing that each of us has the obligation to use power responsibly, study our own leadership behavior, seek to improve, and constantly stand up for the values and ethics that guide us and our organizations.

A. We Can All Become Great Leaders

  1. Learn how to attend to our values
  2. Learn how to use your power and influence
  3. Learn how to lead
  1. Leadership is learned
  2. leaders are not born—they are made
  3. Three secrets to becoming an outstandingleader:
  4. Emotional and social competence: The secret to effective leadership
  5. Power: The secret to influential leadership
  6. Ethics: The secret to responsible leadership
  1. What Is the Secret to Effective Leadership
  1. We all must master competencies related to emotional and social intelligence
  2. Competencies– capabilities or abilities that include both intent and action that can be directly linked to how well a person performs on a task or in a job
  3. Social and emotional intelligence – abilities linked to self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.
  1. Five Components of Competencies
  2. Motives – needs or drives that fuel action
  3. Traits – psychological or physical characteristics and/ or consistent ways of responding to situations.
  4. Self-concept – attitudes, values, and self-image—all powerful drivers of actions.
  5. Knowledge – information that a person has at his or her disposal
  6. Skills – learned abilities that are needed to perform tasks
  1. Threshold and Differentiating Competencies
  2. Threshold competencies – basicexpertise, experience, and many cognitive abilities.
  3. Differentiating competencies – An outstanding leader will also have competencies related to social and emotional intelligence, pattern recognition, and systems thinking
  1. Technical, cognitive, and relational competencies – competencies that are directly linked to effective management and leadership fall into 3 categories
  2. Technical competencies – proficiency in the use of tools and processes related to a specialized field
  3. Cognitive competencies – the ability to see the “big picture” in systems such as groups and organizations, as well as the ability to analyze complex situations and to understand how the all things and people relate to one another
  4. Relational competencies – referred to as “people skills,” they include self-awareness, self-management, empathy, and inspirational leadership to name a few
  1. Competency models – a set of competencies directly related to success in a job that are grouped into job-relevant categories
  2. Boyatzis and other researchers’ conclusion – whenit comes to leadership, one subset of competencies makes all the difference: competencies related to social and emotional intelligence
  1. Social and Emotional Competencies and Resonant Leadership
  2. Social and emotional intelligence – competencies linked to self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management that enable people to understand and manage emotions in social interactions
  3. Resonant organizations – characterizedby a powerful and positiveorganizational culture in which people have a shared sense of excitement and commitmentto mutual goals.
  4. Resonant leaders– emotionallyintelligent, visionary peoplewho lead and manage in ways that enable everyone to contribute their very best.
  1. Emotional Intelligenceand Limbic Resonance
  1. Limbic resonance – howemotions are both contagious and a powerful driver of our feelings, thoughts, and behaviors
  1. Self-Awareness: The Foundation of Social and Emotional Intelligence
  1. Self-awareness – theability to notice and understand one’s emotions and their effects.
  2. Self-awareness is at the heart of emotional intelligence, and emotional intelligence is at the heart of great leadership
  1. What Is the Secret to Influential Leadership?
  2. Power – influence over or through others
  3. Organizational politicsinvolve many things, including internal competition andthe pursuit of personal goals at the expense of others or the organization.
  1. Sources of Power Exist in Different Forms
  2. Legitimate power – the ability to influence others by right of one’s position in an organization, the office held, or formal authority
  3. Reward Power – the ability to influence others by giving or withholding rewards such as pay, promotions, time off, attractive projects, learning experiences, and the like
  4. Coercive power – the attempt to influence others through punishment
  5. Expert power – the ability to influence others through a combination of special knowledge and/or skills
  6. Referent power – power that comes from personal characteristics that people value and want to emulate and that cause people to feel respect or admiration
  1. Empowerment – trusting employees to make decisions and to take responsibility for their decisions and actions
  2. Empowered employees – empowered employees have a say in how things get done—they have a voice at work, and they use it
  3. Empowering organizations – have systems and processes that encourage employee involvement, such as suggestion programs, ethics hotlines, or quality circles (structured groups that examine and improve work processes
  4. Micromanagement is the practice of over-controlling others and their work, as well as paying far too much attention to details and how employees do their work
  1. Empowerment and Theories X, Y,Z
  2. Theory X – a belief system that holds that the average employee is inclined to be lazy, without ambition, and irresponsible
  3. Theory Y – a belief system that holds that workers are inherently ambitious, responsible, and industrious, and that they will work hard to help an organization reach its goals
  4. Theory Z – a belief system that in organizations that have strong, relational cultures, employeescan have freedom in local decision making and can be trusted to work autonomously
  1. Empowerment Movement Today
  1. Organizations are “flatter” today. Flat organizationshave few levels of hierarchy, which means more people need to make decisions.
  2. Organizations have become much leaner – fewerpeople are doing more work
  1. What Is the Secret to Responsible Leadership?
  2. The secret to great management and leadership is ethics
  1. Developing Values and Ethics
  2. Ethics – aset of values and principles that guide the behavior of an individual or a group
  3. Ethical code – a system of principles governing morality and acceptable conduct.
  4. Values – Ideas that a person or a group believe to be right or wrong, good or bad, attractive or undesirable
  5. Terminal values –what we desire for ourselves and others in life, such as freedom, wisdom, love, equality, a world at peace
  6. Instrumental values – preferred behaviors or ways of achieving our terminal values
  1. Levels of ethics
  2. Individual ethics – A personal code of conduct when dealing with others
  3. Professional ethics – Standards that outline appropriate conduct in a given profession.
  4. Organizational ethics – The values and principles that an organization has chosen that organization and/or what stakeholders expect of the organization
  5. Societal ethics – Principles and standards that guide members of society in day-to-day behavior with one another
  1. Business ethics: It’s Complicated
  2. Stakeholders – Any organization, group, or person either internal or external to the company who has a stake in the company’s success or failure.
  3. Ethics in Business and the Role of Law
  4. Sarbanes-Oxley Act – established new legal standards and improved on existing ones for all U.S. public company boards, management, and public accounting firms
  5. International Anticorruption and Good Governance Act of 2000 – to ensure that United States assistance programs promote good governance by assisting other countries to combat corruption throughout society and to improve transparency and accountability at all levels of government and throughout the private sector.
  6. Ethical dilemmas –situations in which values conflict, outcomes are unclear, or when two or more choices have conflicting ethical implications
  7. Rationalizing unethical behavior – People typically use any one of many reasons to justify unethical behavior – “everyone’s doing it,” “I won’t get caught,” It’s for the good of the organization,” etc.
  1. How Do Theories and Models Explain Management and Leadership?
  1. Trait theories of leadership – models that attempt to explain leadership effectiveness by articulation of physical, psychological, and social characteristics, as well as abilities, knowledge, and expertise
  2. Traits – Enduring and distinguishing personal characteristics that may be inherited, learned, or developed
  1. Behavior models and approaches to leadership – studied the actual behaviors leaders engaged in when guiding and influencing others
  2. OhioState Studies: Consideration and Initiating Structure – discovered two major dimensions of leadership
  3. Consideration structure–people-oriented behaviors such as respect, openness to employees’ ideas and feelings, and concern for employees’ well-being.
  4. Initiating structure – behaviors related to task and goal orientation such as giving clear directions, monitoring employees’ performance, planning and setting work schedules and deadlines, and the like.
  5. University of Michigan Studies: Studied the behavior of effective supervisors – identified Production- and Employee-Oriented Behavior
  6. Production-oriented behavior – focuses on efficiency, costs, adhering to schedules, and meeting deadlines
  7. Employee-oriented behavior –behavior approach that is supportive of employees, emphasized relationships, and focused on engaging employees through setting and assisting in the attainment of high-performance goals.
  8. Leadership Grid – managerial behaviors could be plotted along horizontal and vertical axes measuring concern for people and concern for production, and then grouped into management or leadership styles.
  1. Contingency approaches to leadership – models and theories of leadership that take into account leader behavior and various aspects of the organizational situation and/or characteristics of followers
  2. Fiedler’s Contingency Theory – asserts that leadership effectiveness is dependent on the characteristics of the leader and the characteristics of the situation
  3. Leader style – behavior focused on task or relationship oriented approach to leading

1)Task oriented – leaders who focus on accomplishments and seek to ensure that employees perform well on the job

2)Relationship oriented – leaders who emphasize good relationships and being liked by employees

  1. Situational leadership theory – contingency model that links four identified leader styles with followers’ readiness for tasks.
  2. Readiness – extent to which employees are capable, confident, and willing to complete an assigned task or perform well on the job.
  3. Leadership Style

1)Telling style – appropriate when followers are unable, unwilling, or insecure—they need clear direction, close supervision, and guidance

2)Selling style – appropriate when employees are unable to complete tasks, but they are willing and/or confident.

3)Participating style – can be used when employees are able, but unwilling or insecure

4)Delegating style – can be used when employees are able, willing, or confident

  1. Path-Goal theory of leadership – a contingency approach to leadership stating that the leader is responsible for motivating employees to attain goals
  2. Effective leaders boost employee motivation (and presumably effectiveness) by illuminating the path toward organizational and personal goals and linking rewards to goal attainment.
  3. Leader substitute models – states that certain characteristics of people or of the situation can make direct leadership unnecessary
  1. Is It Time to Take a Stand for Transformational Leadership?
  2. Transformational leaders – people who have social and emotional intelligence and who can inspire people to seek an extraordinary vision
  3. Transactional leaders – traditional approach to management in which leaders see their, and their followers behavior as an instrumental exchange
  4. Charisma – charismatic leaders are self-confident without being arrogant, honest in all their dealings with their employees, they communicate clearly, and they exhibit the following attributes:
  5. Vision and articulation
  6. Sensitivity to the environment
  7. Sensitivity to people’s needs
  8. Personal risk taking
  9. Unconventional behavior
  1. What Is HR’s Role in Supporting Excellent and Ethical Leadership?
  1. HR’s Leadership Roles: coaches, strategic business partners, changeagents, and leadership development architects
  2. Coach: HR coaches help managers solve complex problems related to things like team conflicts, interpersonal problems, issues with a boss, and career choices.
  3. Strategic business partner: HR leaders must understand the business they support.
  4. Change agent: HR change agents know howto diagnose complex organizational issues and plan for change.
  5. Leadership development architect: HR leaders who see their role asan architect of leadership development look across the entire organization, identifylearning needs, and create a curriculum that encompasses a set of interrelatedprograms.
  1. Developing Ethical Leaders – programs designed to clarify the organization’s code of ethics and reinforce the importance of professional ethics, as well as to embed ethical leadership in all levels of the organization.
  1. What Can We All Do to Become Great Leaders?
  2. Self-aware leaders are authentic
  3. Authenticity – the genuine presentation of one’s thoughts, feelings, and beliefs
  4. Authentic leaders inspire trust
  5. Trust – expectation by employees that a leader will act in an ethically justifiable manner, will have their best interests at heart, and will strive to achieve the organization’s goals
  6. Authentic Leaders Have Integrity andCourage, and They Live by a Code of Ethics
  7. Integrity – thequality of steadfastly holding tohigh moral principles and professionalstandards
  8. Courage – thewillingness and ability to facefear, danger, uncertainty, or painwithout giving up whatever courseof action one believes is necessary and right.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Discussion Questions for Objective 2.1:

1. Why does organizational success depend on everyone assuming some leadershipresponsibilities?

Suggested Answer:

Student responses will vary.In an age of unprecedented change and churn, it is critical that everyone practice behaviors that have been deemed for leaders only. Our communities, businesses, and organizations ask us all to take on leadership responsibilities. There are just entirely too many average and bad leaders out there. We need to recognize that each of us is obligated to use power responsibly, study our own leadership behavior, seek improvement, and stand up for our values and ethics.

2. Think about bosses, coaches, and teachers you have had. Under the headings “Bad Boss” and “Good Boss,” list the names of a few of these people. Now list a few adjectives that describe the people in each group. Do these descriptors reflectresponsible use of power, self-awareness, and ethical decision making? Why or why not?

Suggested Answer:

Student responses will vary.

3. Look at the lists of adjectives describing your good and bad bosses. Which of these would people use to describe you?

Suggested Answer:

Student responses will vary.

Discussion Questions for Objective 2.2:

1. Think about an individual you know and respect at school or at work. What technical, cognitive, and relational competencies does the person have that you admire? Why do you admire these competencies?

Suggested Answer:

Student responses will vary. With reference to technical competencies, students should be looking at proficiency in the use of tools and processes related to a specialized field. With cognitive competencies, the ability to see the “big picture” in systems such as groups and organizations, as well as the ability to analyze complex situations and to understand how the all things and people relate to one another. And finally, for relational competencies, the “people skills,” they include self-awareness, self-management, empathy, and inspirational leadership to name a few in developing this list.

2. Review the social and emotional competencies in Exhibit 2.2 and consider them in the context of your best leadership experience. Which of these competencies did you demonstrate? How did you demonstrate them?

Suggested Answer:

Student responses will vary. Students should be utilizing competencies linked to self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.