Expert answer:200 Word essay
Expert answer:I need 2 separate 200 word essay’s. Answer the questions in “Journal Questions” Word Doc attachment based on the attachments for the appropriate Unit. No citations required just a 200 word essay for each unit.
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Unit 1 Lesson for Journal
3 INTRODUCTION
Welcome to this report which was commissioned to assist development of the new National
Occupational Standards in Management and Leadership.
It draws together a range of materials detailing approaches to leadership, leadership development and
leadership/management competency frameworks in a wide range of organizations. Much of this material
is sensitive in nature so we request that it is treated with care and not copied or distributed without our
permission.
The purpose of the report is not to propose a framework of standards for providing direction in
organisations, but to draw together a diverse yet comprehensive set of information to act as a reference
for those charged with this task.
The material provided is intended to contribute towards the “Providing direction” part of the framework,
including “Developing a vision for the future”, “Gaining commitment and providing leadership” and
“Providing governance” and as such, some other core activities and responsibilities of leaders and
managers may be omitted.
This report acts very much as a “first step” towards the development of a new set of occupational
standards and it is intended that its results should lead directly into further fieldwork, discussion and
consultation.
Leadership is a complex process and we have serious reservations over the extent to which a set of
standards, qualities or competencies can ever fully capture the nature of what makes some
leaders/organisations successful and others unsuccessful. These concerns are voiced in Section 8.
Finally, we would like to thank all those who helped contribute towards the development of this report,
particularly Geoff Carroll of Chase Consulting who initiated the project and Alan Hooper, Peter Wilkinson
and Martin Wood for their comments. Special thanks also goes to those representatives from the
organisations who were kind enough to contribute their frameworks to this report.
Centre for Leadership Studies, May 2003.
4 REVIEW OF LEADERSHIP THEORY
A review of the leadership literature reveals an evolving series of ‘schools of thought’ from “Great Man”
and “Trait” theories to “Transformational” leadership (see table). Whilst early theories tend to focus upon
the characteristics and behaviours of successful leaders, later theories begin to consider the role of
followers and the contextual nature of leadership.
Great Man Theories
Based on the belief that leaders are exceptional people, born with innate qualities, destined to lead. The
use of the term ‘man’ was intentional since until the latter part of the twentieth century leadership was
thought of as a concept which is primarily male, military and Western. This led to the next school of Trait
Theories
Trait Theories
The lists of traits or qualities associated with leadership exist in abundance and continue to be produced.
They draw on virtually all the adjectives in the dictionary which describe some positive or virtuous human
attribute, from ambition to zest for life.
Behaviourist Theories
These concentrate on what leaders actually do rather than on their qualities. Different patterns of
behaviour are observed and categorised as ‘styles of leadership’. This area has probably attracted most
attention from practicing managers
Situational Leadership
This approach sees leadership as specific to the situation in which it is being exercised. For example,
whilst some situations may require an autocratic style, others may need a more participative approach. It
also proposes that there may be differences in required leadership styles at different levels in the same
Organization.
Contingency Theory
This is a refinement of the situational viewpoint and focuses on identifying the situational variables which
best predict the most appropriate or effective leadership style to fit the particular circumstances
Transactional Theory
This approach emphasises the importance of the relationship between leader and followers, focusing on
the mutual benefits derived from a form of ‘contract’ through which the leader delivers such things as
rewards or recognition in return for the commitment or loyalty of the followers
Transformational Theory
The central concept here is change and the role of leadership in envisioning and implementing the
transformation of organisational performance From ‘Great Man’ to ‘Transformational’ Leadership Each of
these theories takes a rather individualistic perspective of the leader, although a school of thought gaining
increasing recognition is that of “dispersed” leadership. This approach, with its foundations in sociology,
psychology and politics rather than management science, views leadership as a process that is diffuse
throughout an organisation rather than lying solely with the formally designated ‘leader’. The emphasis
thus shifts from developing ‘leaders’ to developing ‘leaderful’ organisations with a collective responsibility
for leadership.
In the current section we will focus primarily on the more traditional, individualistic views of the leader
as we feel these have greatest relevance to the development of management and leadership standards.
We will finish, however, with an introduction to “dispersed leadership” – a concept which will be explored
further in Section 8.
4.1 The Trait Approach to Leadership
The Trait Approach arose from the “Great Man” theory as a way of identifying the key characteristics
of successful leaders. It was believed that through this approach critical leadership traits could be isolated
and that people with such traits could then be recruited, selected, and installed into leadership positions.
This approach was common in the military and is still used as a set of criteria to select candidates for
commissions.
The problem with the trait approach lies in the fact that almost as many traits as studies undertaken were
identified. After several years of such research, it became apparent that no consistent traits could be
identified. Although some traits were found in a considerable number of studies, the results A Review of
Leadership Theory and Competency Frameworks Centre for Leadership Studies 6 were generally
inconclusive. Some leaders might have possessed certain traits but the absence of them did not
necessarily mean that the person was not a leader.
Although there was little consistency in the results of the various trait studies, however, some traits did
appear more frequently than others, including: technical skill, friendliness, task motivation, application to
task, group task supportiveness, social skill, emotional control, administrative skill, general charisma, and
intelligence. Of these, the most widely explored has tended to be “charisma”. The table below lists the
main leadership traits and skills identified by Stogdill in 1974.
Traits
– Adaptable to situations
– Alert to social environment
– Ambitious and achievement-orientated
– Assertive
– Cooperative
– Decisive
– Dependable
– Dominant (desire to influence others)
– Energetic (high activity level)
– Persistent
– Self-confident
– Tolerant of stress
– Willing to assume responsibility
Skills
– Clever (intelligent)
– Conceptually skilled
– Creative
– Diplomatic and tactful
– Fluent in speaking
– Knowledgeable about group task
– Organised (administrative ability)
– Persuasive
– Socially skilled
Leadership Skills and Traits (Stogdill, 1974)
4.2 The Behavioural School
The results of the trait studies were inconclusive. Traits, amongst other things, were hard to measure.
How, for example, do we measure traits such as honesty, integrity, loyalty, or diligence? Another
approach in the study of leadership had to be found.
After the publication of the late Douglas McGregor’s classic book The Human Side of Enterprise in 1960,
attention shifted to ‘behavioural theories’. McGregor was a teacher, researcher, and consultant whose
work was considered to be “on the cutting edge” of managing people. He influenced all the behavioural
theories, which emphasize focusing on human relationships, along with output and performance.
4.2.1 McGregor’s Theory X & Theory Y Managers
Although not strictly speaking a theory of leadership, the leadership strategy of effectively-used
participative management proposed in Douglas McGregor’s book has had a tremendous impact on
managers. The most publicized concept is McGregor’s thesis that leadership strategies are influenced
by a leader’s assumptions about human nature. As a result of his experience as a consultant, McGregor
summarised two contrasting sets of assumptions made by managers in industry.
Theory X managers believe that:
• The average human being has an inherent dislike of work and will avoid it if possible.
• Because of this human characteristic, most people must be coerced, controlled, directed, or threatened
with punishment to get them to put forth adequate effort to achieve organizational objectives.
• The average human being prefers to be directed, wishes to avoid responsibility, has relatively little
ambition, and wants security above all else.
Theory Y managers believe that:
• The expenditure of physical and mental effort in work is as natural as play or rest, and the average
human being, under proper conditions, learns not only to accept but to seek responsibility.
• People will exercise self-direction and self-control to achieve objectives to which they are committed.
• The capacity to exercise a relatively high level of imagination, ingenuity, and creativity in the solution of
organizational problems is widely, not narrowly, distributed in the population, and the intellectual
potentialities of the average human being are only partially utilized under the conditions of modern
industrial life.
Theory X and Y Managers (McGregor, 1960)
A Review of Leadership Theory and Competency Frameworks Centre for Leadership Studies 7 It can
therefore be seen that a leader holding Theory X assumptions would prefer an autocratic style, whereas
one holding Theory Y assumptions would prefer a more participative style.
4.2.2 Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid
The Managerial Grid developed by Robert Blake and Jane Mouton focuses on task (production) and
employee (people) orientations of managers, as well as combinations of concerns between the two
extremes. A grid with concern for production on the horizontal axis and concern for people on the vertical
axis and plots five basic leadership styles. The first number refers to a leader’s production or task
orientation; the second, to people or employee orientation.
The Blake Mouton Managerial Grid (Blake & Mouton, 1964)
Blake and Mouton propose that “Team Management” – a high concern for both employees and production
– is the most effective type of leadership behaviour.
4.3 The Contingency or Situational School
Whilst behavioural theories may help managers develop particular leadership behaviours they give little
guidance as to what constitutes effective leadership in different situations. Indeed, most researchers
today conclude that no one leadership style is right for every manager under all circumstances. Instead,
contingency-situational theories were developed to indicate that the style to be used is contingent upon
such factors as the situation, the people, the task, the organisation, and other environmental variables.
The major theories contributing towards this school of thought are described below.
4.3.1 Fiedler’s Contingency Model
Fiedler’s contingency theory postulates that there is no single best way for managers to lead. Situations
will create different leadership style requirements for a manager. The solution to a managerial situation is
contingent on the factors that impinge on the situation. For example, in a highly routine (mechanistic)
environment where repetitive tasks are the norm, a relatively directive leadership style may result in the
best performance, however, in a dynamic environment a more flexible, participative style may be
required.
Fiedler looked at three situations that could define the condition of a managerial task:
1. Leader member relations: How well do the manager and the employees get along?
2. Task structure: Is the job highly structured, fairly unstructured, or somewhere in between?
3. Position power: How much authority does the manager possess?
Managers were rated as to whether they were relationship oriented or task oriented. Task oriented
managers tend to do better in situations that have good leader-member relationships, structured tasks,
and either weak or strong position power. They do well when the task is unstructured but position of
power is strong. Also, they did well at the other end of the spectrum when the leader member relations
were moderate to poor and the task was unstructured. Relationship oriented managers do better in all
other situations. Thus, a given situation might call for a manager with a different style or a manager who
could take on a different style for a different situation.
These environmental variables are combined in a weighted sum that is termed “favourable” at one end
and “unfavourable” at the other. Task oriented style is preferable at the clearly defined extremes of
“favourable” and “unfavourable” environments, but relationship orientation excels in the middle ground.
Managers could attempt to reshape the environment variables to match their style.
Another aspect of the contingency model theory is that the leader-member relations, task structure,
and position power dictate a leader’s situational control. Leader-member relations are the amount of
loyalty, dependability, and support that the leader receives from employees. It is a measure of how the
manager perceives he or she and the group of employees is getting along together. In a favourable
relationship the manager has a high task structure and is able to reward and or punish employees
without any problems. In an unfavourable relationship the task is usually unstructured and the leader
possesses limited authority. The spelling out in detail (favourable) of what is required of subordinates
affects task structure.
Positioning power measures the amount of power or authority the manager perceives the organization
has given him or her for the purpose of directing, rewarding, and punishing subordinates. Positioning
power of managers depends on the taking away (favourable) or increasing (unfavourable) the
decision-making power of employees.
The task-motivated style leader experiences pride and satisfaction in the task accomplishment for the
organization, while the relationship-motivated style seeks to build interpersonal relations and extend
extra help for the team development in the organization. There is no good or bad leadership style.
Each person has his or her own preferences for leadership. Task-motivated leaders are at their best
when the group performs successfully such as achieving a new sales record or outperforming the
major competitor. Relationship-oriented leaders are at their best when greater customer satisfaction is
gained and a positive company image is established.
4.3.2 The Hersey-Blanchard Model of Leadership
The Hersey-Blanchard Leadership Model also takes a situational perspective of leadership. This
model posits that the developmental levels of a leader’s subordinates play the greatest role in
determining which leadership styles (leader behaviours) are most appropriate. Their theory is based
on the amount of direction (task behaviour) and socio-emotional support (relationship behaviour) a
leader must provide given the situation and the “level of maturity” of the followers.
• Task behaviour is the extent to which the leader engages in spelling out the duties and responsibilities
to an individual or group. This behaviour includes telling people what to do, how to do it, when to do it,
where to do it, and who’s to do it. In task behaviour the leader engages in oneway communication.
• Relationship behaviour is the extent to which the leader engages in two-way or multi-way
communications. This includes listening, facilitating, and supportive behaviours. In relationship behaviour
the leader engages in two-way communication by providing socio-emotional support.
• Maturity is the willingness and ability of a person to take responsibility for directing his or her own
behaviour. People tend to have varying degrees of maturity, depending on the specific task, function, or
objective that a leader is attempting to accomplish through their efforts.
In summary therefore leader behaviours fall along two continua:
Directive Behaviour Supportive Behaviour
• One-Way Communication
• Followers’ Roles Clearly Communicated
• Close Supervision of Performance
• Two-Way Communication
• Listening, providing support and encouragement
• Facilitate interaction Involve follower in decision-making
For Blanchard the key situational variable, when determining the appropriate leadership style, is the
readiness or developmental level of the subordinate(s). As a result, four leadership styles result:
• Directing: The leader provides clear instructions and specific direction. This style is best matched with a
low follower readiness level.
• Coaching: The leader encourages two-way communication and helps build confidence and motivation
on the part of the employee, although the leader still has responsibility and controls decision making.
Selling style is best matched with a moderate follower readiness level.
• Supporting: With this style, the leader and followers share decision making and no longer need or
expect the relationship to be directive. Participating style is best matched with a moderate follower
readiness level.
• Delegating: This style is appropriate for leaders whose followers are ready to accomplish a particular
task and are both competent and motivated to take full responsibility. Delegating style is best matched
with a high follower readiness level.
To determine the appropriate leadership style to use in a given situation, the leader must first determine
the maturity level of the followers in relation to the specific task that the leader is attempting to accomplish
through the effort of the followers. As the level of followers’ maturity increases, the leader should begin to
reduce his or her task behaviour and increase relationship behaviour until the followers reach a moderate
level of maturity. As the followers begin to move into an above average level of maturity, the leader
should decrease not only task behaviour but also relationship behaviour. Once the maturity level is
identified, the appropriate leadership style can be determined.
4.3.3 Tannenbaum & Schmidt’s Leadership Continuum
One criticism of early work on leadership styles is that they looked at styles too much in black and white
terms. The autocratic and democratic styles or task-oriented and relationship-oriented styles which they
described are extremes, whereas in practice the behaviour of many, perhaps most, leaders in business
will be somewhere between the two. Contingency theorists Tannenbaum and Schmidt suggested the idea
that leadership behaviour varies along a continuum and that as one moves away from the autocratic
extreme the amount of subordinate participation and involvement in decision taking increases. They also
suggested that the kind of leadership represented by the democratic extreme of the continuum will be
rarely encountered in formal organisations.
Four main leadership styles can be located at points along such a continuum:
• Autocratic: The leader takes the decisions and announces them, expecting subordinates to carry
them out without question (the Telling style).
• Persuasive: At this point on the scale the leader also takes all the decisions for the group without
discussion or consultation but believes that people will be better motivated if they are persuaded that the
decisions are good ones. He or she doe …
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