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7775 Leadership in Contemporary Organisations Semester 2, 2016. Dr Heba Batainah. Introduction. Overview Unit outline Textbook Daft, R. & Pirola-Merlo, A. (2009). The Leadership Experience . Asia Pacific Edition, South Melbourne: Cengage Learning Australia.
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7775 Leadership in Contemporary OrganisationsSemester 2, 2016 Dr Heba Batainah
Introduction • Overview • Unit outline • Textbook • Daft, R. & Pirola-Merlo, A. (2009). The Leadership Experience. Asia Pacific Edition, South Melbourne: Cengage Learning Australia
Objectives After this session, you should be able to: • Understand the meaning of leadership. • Identify the primary reasons for leadership derailment and the new paradigm skills that can help you avoid it. • Recognise the traditional functions of management and the fundamental differences between leadership and management.
Objectives • Appreciate the crucial importance of providing direction, alignment, relationships, personal qualities and outcomes. • Realise how historical leadership approaches apply to the practice of leadership today.
The nature of leadership • Leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes and outcomes that reflect their shared purposes. - Joseph Rost (2003: pp4) • People activity. • Same qualities required for good leaders as needed for good followers.
The new reality for today’s organisations • World is changing • Scandals and insecurity • War and terrorism • Needs strong leaders in these circumstances • New paradigm
The new reality for leadership Source: Daft and Pirola-Merlo (2009) The Leadership Experience
Comparing management and leadership • Managers need to become effective leaders. • Move to leadership valuing change. • Empowerment and relationships. • Leadership cannot replace management.
Comparing management and leadership The ‘soft’ skills of leadership complement the ‘hard’ skills of management, and both are needed to guide organisations effectively.
Discussion • Can somebody be a good leader and a good manager? • Do today’s leaders have to be good managers and vice versa? • Is it easy to distinguish leadership from management? • Is leadership more concerned with people than is management? (Think about your own workplace experience when answering these questions)
Evolving theories of leadership • ‘Great Man’ • Trait theories • Behaviour theories • Contingency theories • Influence theories • Relational theories • Authentic leadership
Leadership Theories • We will cover a range of leadership theories in this unit. • The following is a very quick over-view of some of the theories and how they relate to each other: • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKUPDUDOBVo
Leadership is not automatic • New paradigm of leadership is the ability to use human skills to build a culture of performance, trust and integrity.
The need for followers • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW8amMCVAJQ
Reasons for executive derailment • Acting in a bullying style. • Being cold, aloof and arrogant. • Betraying personal trust. • Being too ambitious and playing politics. • Performance problems with the business. • Unable to delegate. • Poor selection.
Learning the art and science of leadership • Leadership as an art • leadership skills and qualities cannot be learned from a textbook • takes practice and hands-on experience • personal exploration and development • Leadership as a science • knowledge and facts describe the process • how to use leadership skills to attain organisational goals
The Study of Leadership • ‘Leadership is both the most studied and least understood topic’ (Bennis and Nanus 1985). • ‘This is a book about the future…and the leadership required to move us into the exciting unknown’ (Hesselbein et al 1996). • ‘…suggests that leaders are mere figureheads, propelled by events which are beyond their control, even if it appears that events are controlled by them’ (Grint 1997).
The Study of Leadership • ‘Leadership is widely seen as both the problem and solution to all manner of contemporary issues: from ending world poverty to addressing global warming’ (Jackson and Parry 2007). • ‘Of all China’s challenges, none is more critical—or more daunting—than that of nurturing a new generation of leaders who are skilled, honest, committed to public service, and accountable to the Chinese people as a whole’ (Thornton 2006).
Discussion • Identify a leader who you admire • Explain why you admire this particular leader • How did your chosen leader acquire their leadership capability? • Your chosen leader can be from any field – politics, business, public service, voluntary organisation, sport, military, freedom fighter – and can be from any level – CEO, middle management, local politician, a country’s president.
The Rise and Rise of Leadership • Enormous growth of interest in leadership • Google 376 million items • Amazon 107,161 references • Google Scholar 2,370,000 references • Estimated that US$36-60 billion was annual global expenditure on management and leadership development (at least until the financial crisis). • Institutes or Centres of Leadership established around the world.
Why is the study of leadership so popular? • Leadership seen to be a vital element for performance improvement. • Considerable hype about leadership eg ‘Organizations and nations prosper or decline based solely on the vision and capability of their leaders’ (Krause 1997). • If you want to be successful it now seems you need to develop your leadership skills.
Why is the study of leadership so popular? • Storey puts forward four explanations: • Conventional explanation: Increasing complexity and rapid pace of modern society • Institutional explanation: Pressure on individuals and organisations to emulate others • Sociological explanation: legitimises authority, power, and privileges of élites • Strategic advantage explanation: leadership needs to be cultivated to secure competitive advantage
So what is leadership? • ‘There are almost as many different definitions of leadership as there are persons who have attempted to define it’ (Bass 1990). • ‘The ability to inspire confidence and support among the people who are needed to achieve organisational goals’ • ‘The process of influencing others towards organisational goal achievement’ • ‘Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it’ • ‘leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes and outcomes that reflect their shared purposes’
Defining Leadership 2 • Many definitions incorporate the following: • Leadership is a process • Leadership involves influence • Leadership occurs in groups • Leadership involves vision • Leadership includes attention to goals
Defining Leadership 3 • The text adds a few more generalizations: • Leadership is about change • Leadership is non-coercive • Leadership is multi-directional • Leadership is not ‘done’ to people • And ‘the qualities needed for effective leadership are the same as those needed to be an effective follower’ • What does this mean? Do you agree?
Key elements of leadership Lussier and Achua (2007) Leadership Influence Leadership Leaders-Followers Organizational Objectives Change People
Key elements of leadership R. Daft (2008) The Leadership Experience
Discussion • Do you think leadership can be learned? • Do you think you can change yourself to become a better leader? • What do you see as the most difficult aspect of leadership for you?
Towards a definition of leadership 1 • Avery makes the following general points about the meaning of leadership • Leadership not a concrete entity • Cultural variation in concept of leadership • Temporal variation in concept of leadership • Leadership studies replete with myths • Heroic leader no longer possible
Towards a definition of leadership 2 • Grint (2005) four quite different ways of understanding what leadership is: • Person: is it WHO ‘leaders’ are that makes them leaders? • Result: is it WHAT ‘leaders’ achieve that makes them leaders? • Position: is it WHERE ‘leaders’ operate that makes them leaders? • Process: is it HOW ‘leaders’ get things done that makes them leaders?
Should we abandon leadership? • Argument that leadership • Highly romanticised • Unnecessary • Process of selection imposes limited range of leadership styles • Discretion and behaviour of leadership constrained • Leader can’t affect many of the variables in the environment • Counter-argument that • ‘leave people without a term to describe the factor that provides direction and cohesion to a group’
Should we abandon leadership? • Counter-argument includes academics who see • Importance of ‘top team’ in organisations • Direct and indirect effects of leadership • Empirical studies that show leadership ‘does make a difference’ to organisational performance
What does a leader do? • This approach to defining leadership looks at functions • Task functions • Cultural functions • Symbolic functions • Political functions • Relational functions • What do you think are the most important tasks of leadership?
Roles of leaders • Figurehead • Spokesperson • Negotiator • Coach • Team-builder • Team player • Technical problem solver • Entrepreneur • Strategic planner
Discussion • For the list of roles on the previous slide, give an example of each role? • Have you performed any of these leadership roles? • Which roles do you find • Easiest? • Hardest?
The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership (Kouzes and Posner) • Model the way • Inspire a shared vision • Challenge the process • Enable others to act • Encourage the heart • What are these and why are they important? • How do Lindsay and Alan demonstrate these practices? • Do you think that these are exemplary practices for all cultures?
Learning from the past • There are many examples of contemporary writers who analyse successful leaders from history to identify their ‘secrets’ for success • These ingredients for success are particular behaviours and characteristics • They are seen to be generic and hence timeless and can be applied to the present
Who is this leader? Revered by some, Mass murderer to others
Case Study: Genghis Khan • John Man (also written on Attila) has analysed Genghis’s leadership and identified the following ‘secrets’: • Control the message • Accept criticism • Get a vision • Keep promises • Share hardship • Know your own limitations • Make loyalty the prime virtue, and reward it
Case Study: Genghis Khan • Make firm rules and make them clear • Get real • In peace train for war • Make your interests the state’s interests • Choose an heir, allow debate • Employ the best • Surprise + Terror + Magnaminity = Victory • Philosophize (or at least pretend to) • Cultivate humility • Plan for eternity • Know your limits
Case Study: Genghis Khan • John Man does make the proviso that ‘Ghengis’s life story does not contain a recipe for successful leadership’ • ‘At best , among his responses to the challenges he faced, some leaders may spot some things which may suggest skills that may apply in the world today.’ • John Man then passes the task of selecting from Ghengis’s skills over to us.
Perception and leadership • https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/12/10/study-finds-gender-perception-affects-evaluations • Why have some countries embraced female leaders and others have not?
Accoutrements of leadership • How important are signs and symbols for leadership? • http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x156uvg_patton-s-opening-speech-to-the-troops-george-c-scott_shortfilms • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV9kyocogKo