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Trends in Leadership thought.
Quiz (1)
• How would you define leadership?• Where would you expect to find the
earliest recorded descriptions of leaders?• Who wrote about the lives of great
engineers? • What assumption lies behind trait theories
of leadership.• What do we remember as Stogdill’s
contribution to leadership.
Quiz (2)
• What assumption lies behind style theories of leadership?
• Suggest two contrasting leadership styles found in experimental studies.
• What is a contingency theory?
• What leadership style is associated with ‘New Leadership’ theories of the 1980s?
• What is distributed leadership?
Quiz (3)
• What leadership concept was central to Max Weber’s social theorizing?
• How did the theory re-emerge in later leadership studies?
• What are usually listed as the historical periods of leadership thought?
• What led to changes in leadership thought?
KEY STAGES IN LEADERSHIP THOUGHT:
• Heroic leadership; • Trait based theories; • Transactional theories (style & situational approaches)
• The “New leadership” movement (transformation leadership; vision, management of meaning)
Definitions: It depends what you mean by leadership ...
• Influence processes,• Mobilizing resources
to arouse, engage & satisfy the motives of followers;
• Making sense [of what people are doing] …articulating purpose & values.
HEROIC LEADERSHIP:
• Ancient ideas of leadership can be found in all cultures.
• Heroic leaders were historic & mythic figures later analysed by Max Weber (Charisma)
• Other18th/19th century studies examined contemporary & historic figures.
• Influential accounts by Thomas Carlisle, Samuel Smiles, Friedrich Nietzsche.
Max Weber:
• Weber explained the formation & disruption of social institutions;
• His model involved the influence of charismatic leaders.
• These were believed to possess special powers & gifts.
THOMAS CARLYSLE:
• History made up of accounts of heroic leaders.
• He argued that all heroes were flawed
• … but should be excused their flaws.
• “No man is a hero to his valet”.
SAMUEL SMILES:
• Biographer of the hero-engineers of the Industrial Revolution;
• He captured “Victorian values” such as self-help & public duty;
• He tended towards uncritical hero-worship.
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE:
• Complex German Existential Philosopher;
• Believed in the “great man” (Uberman) who was above normal laws of society.
LIMITATIONS OF THE HEROIC VIEW:
• Became regarded as “romantic & pre-modern.”
• Leading figures (Carlisle, Nietzsche) were espoused by totalitarian regimes.
• Considered unsuited to modern organizations.
• Concealed “the dark side.”
TRAIT THEORIES:
• Seek the essence of leaders (‘born to lead’)
• Francis Galton pioneered an empirical approach anticipating subsequent psychometric methods.
• Studies produced many different traits, failed to establish a ‘universal’ theory.
• Thurstone’s five factors proposal ignored for many years (but partially rehabilitated)
DECLINE IN TRAIT THEORIES:
• The multiplicity of traits identified became a problem;
• Stogdill’s Handbook called for a new approach (1960s)
• This helped in the rise of Style theories, & other Transactional theories.
• [Co-editor Bass later associated with transformational leadership]
STOGDILL & STYLE THEORIES: • Stogdill’s group at
Ohio State pioneered style (what leaders do) over traits (what leaders are)
• Labelled main styles as consideration [towards others], & initiation of structure (“People & Task” styles)
DECLINE OF STYLE THEORIES:
• The approach failed to demonstrate a “universally effective leadership style.”
• It overlooked ‘situational’ or contextual effects (which made effectiveness ‘contingent’ or ‘sometimes influenced by’ non-style factors)
STYLE & CONTINGENCY AS TRANSACTIONAL THEORIES:
• Style & contingency can be seen as transactional theories;
• A transactional leader is the term applied to leaders studied in terms of their behaviors, specifically in their transactions with others.
TRANSACTIONAL & TRANSFORMATIONAL THEORIES:
• Transactional theories were replaced trait theories (1960s – 1980s).
• They failed to satisfy needs in organizations for a change-centred theory.
• This was provided by a series of studies by Bernard Bass & colleagues (1970s - )
BOTH/& … NOT EITHER/OR:
• Bass & Avolio’s ‘Full Range’ leadership model indicated that transformational leadership was an ‘add-on’ not a ‘replacement for’ transactional behaviors.
• The factors were important in developing a New Leadership era (1980s)
Factors in the full-range model -
Transactional factors:
Transformational factors:
Contingent rewards (carrots & sticks)
Management by exception (active & passive versions)
Idealized influence (Charisma?)
Inspirational motivation;
Intellectual stimulation;
Individualized consideration.
NEW LEADERSHIP:• Term was coined by Alan
Bryman;
• Became widely-cited;
• Focused on transformational change;
• Regarded leaders as
providers of vision; • Theory is an interpretative
one.
WHAT’S BEYOND NEW LEADERSHIP?
• New Leadership left a lot of issues unanswered.
• These include ‘post-charismatic’ ideas such as 5th-level leadership; distributed leadership; & leaderless groups. (self-directed work teams)
Post- charismatic ideas (1990s-)
• Fifth-level leaders (Jim Collins) were found to be “modest but of fierce resolve.”
• Distributed leadership suggests that a team “owns” different parts of the leadership process.
• Leaderless groups have been proposed as the “natural” condition of informal social activities. (Self-directed work teams)
Distributed leadership Model -
The Slone Distributed Leadership Model (DLM) is based on:
Sensemaking; Relating; Visioning; Inventing. (collaborative designing to realize a shared vision)
DLM ‘seeks to help each leader discover a personal Change Signature (an individual approach grounded in personal beliefs)
How many of the introductory questions are easier to answer
now?
To go more deeply
• Rickards & Clark (2005), Dilemmas of Leadership, Routledge, http://www.routledge.com/textbooks/0415355850/
• Bryman, A., Leadership, • http://www.amazon.com /SAGE-Handbook-
Organization-Studies/dp/0761949968• http://sloanleadership.mit.edu/pdf/Leadershipina
nAgeofUncertainty-researchbrief.pdf