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Leadership:An Overview• Extensive literature on leadership

– early examples: Plutarch’s Lives -- bios– social science studies in the 20th century

• Flaws in the “scientific” studies:– often failed to define subject of study

adequately (what is leadership?)– usually approached multifaceted subject from

unidisciplinary perspective

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Leadership Theories:A 20th Century History• 1900’s: the “great man” theories -- it’s an

innate ability; who is born to lead?

• 1930’s: group theory -- how leadership emerges and develops in small groups.

• 1940’s-50’s: trait theory -- what universal traits are common to all leaders.

• 1950’s-60’s: behavior theory -- what key behavioral patterns result in leadership.

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Leadership Theories:A 20th Century History, cont’d.

• 1960’s-70’s: contingency/situational -- establish which leadership behaviors succeeded in specific situations.

• 1980’s: excellence -- what interaction of traits, behaviors, key situations, and group facilitation allows people to lead organizations to excellence?

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Late 80’s: alternative theories

• Previous theories proposed and discussed primarily by management science and social psychology researchers.

• Limited in perspective, excluding views of leadership developed in other disciplines, as well as in philosophy, history, and art.

• Dominated by a hierarchical, linear, male, pragmatic, Newtonian perspective.

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alternative theories, cont’d.

• Other fields add other dimensions:– anthropologists, culture;– historians, long time frames;– political scientists, political dynamics/power;– sociologists, institutions and societies.

• Selznick (1957, political sociologist): leaders infuse values and purpose into a group.

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alternative theories, cont’d.

• Other notions of leadership:– leadership as influence (difficult to study

influence empirically, however);– leadership as an attribute -- a name which

makes sense out of complex events and their outcomes which are otherwise inexplicable;

– leadership as an exchange based on power relations, requiring bargaining, trading, and compromising among leaders and followers.

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Breakthrough alternatives:

• Burns (1978, historian/political scientist):– following exchange/transactional theories of

leadership, Burns suggested that followers are central to leadership because a) they are significantly involved in the negotiations central to the transactions of power, and b) they have minds of their own (well, duh!);

– leaders transform groups in ethically and morally uplifting ways.

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Breakthroughs, cont’d:

• Greenleaf (1977, manager):– great leaders serve the group they lead, by

creating and maintaining an environment which encourages and supports everyone in maximizing their potential, especially vis-à-vis group goals.

– see Spears on Greenleaf (coursepack) for the ten characteristics of a servant leader.

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Changing definitionsof leadership….• 1927: “...the ability to impress the will of

the leader on those led and induce obedience, respect, loyalty, and cooperation.” (Steward, in Moore, 1927)

• 1930’s: “…interaction between specific traits of one person and other traits of the many, in such a way that the course of action of the many is changed by the one.” (Bogardus, 1934)

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Changing definitionsof leadership, cont’d….

• 1940’s: “Leadership…is the art of influencing…people by persuasion or example to follow a line of action. It must never be confused with drivership…which is the art of compelling…people by intimidation or force to follow a line of action.” (Copeland, 1942)

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Changing definitionsof leadership, cont’d….

• 1950’s: “...the process (act) of influencing the activities of an organized group in its efforts towards goal setting and goal achievement.” (Stogdill, 1950/1958)

• 1960’s: “…acts by persons which influence other persons in a shared direction.” (Seeman, 1960)

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Changing definitionsof leadership, cont’d….

• 1970’s: “…a process in which an individual takes initiative to assist a group to move towards the production goals that are acceptable to maintain the group, and to dispose the needs of individuals within the group that compelled them to join it.” (Boles and Davenport, 1975)

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Six models of leadership….

• Six different models of leadership are offered as examples:– James MacGregor Burns;– Robert K. Greenleaf (see Spears);– Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus;– John P. Kotter;– James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner; and– Joseph C. Rost.

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James MacGregor Burns.Leadership, 1978

• “Leadership over human beings is exercised when persons with certain motives and purposes mobilize, in competition or conflict with others, institutional, political, psychological, and other resources so as to arouse, engage, and satisfy the motives of followers. …in order to realize goals mutually held by both leaders and followers...” (page 18).

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James MacGregor Burns.Leadership, 1978

• Transactional leadership:– occurs when one person takes the initiative in

making contact with others for the purpose of an exchange of valued things. (page 19)

• Transformational leadership:– occurs when one or more persons engage with

others in such a way that leaders and followers raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality. (page 20)

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Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus,Leaders, 1985.

• Leaders lead by pulling rather than pushing;• by inspiring rather than ordering;• by creating achievable, though challenging,

expectations and rewarding progress toward them rather than by manipulating;

• by enabling people to use their own initiative and experiences rather than by denying or constraining their experiences and actions. (page 225)

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Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus,Leaders, 1985.

• The four strategies (pages 26-27):– attention through vision: creating focus with a mental

image of a possible and desirable future.

– meaning through communication: influencing, organizing, and sharing meaning within the group.

– trust through positioning: clearly, consistently, and reliably communicate and stick with your position.

– deployment of self through 1) positive self-regard and 2) the Wallenda factor: 1) know your own worth; continually develop your skills, and 2) keep trying.

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John P. Kotter.Leading Change, 1996

• Leadership means (page 26):

– establishing direction -- developing a vision of the future, and the strategies to create it;

– aligning people -- communicating direction in words and deeds to everyone whose cooperation is needed to create the vision;

– motivating and inspiring -- energizing people to overcome major political, bureaucratic, and resource barriers to change by satisfying basic, but often unfulfilled, human needs.

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Kotter. Leading Change, 1996The Eight-Stage Process of Creating Major Change

1 establish a sense of urgency;

2 create the guiding coalition;

3 develop a vision and strategy;

4 communicate the change vision;

5 empower broad-based action;

6 generate short-term wins;

7 consolidate gains and produce more change; and

8 anchor new approaches in the culture. (page 21)

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James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner.The Leadership Challenge, 1987.

• The five leadership practices, and the ten commitments of leadership (pages 7-14):

1 Challenging the Process --

• 1. Search for Opportunities

• 2. Experiment and Take Risks

2 Inspiring a Shared Vision --

• 3. Envision the Future

• 4. Enlist Others

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James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner.The Leadership Challenge, 1987.

3 Enabling Others to Act --

• 5. Foster Collaboration

• 6. Strengthen Others

4 Modeling the Way --

• 7. Set the Example

• 8. Plan Small Wins

5 Encouraging the Heart --

• 9. Recognize Individual Contribution

• 10. Celebrate Accomplishments

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Joseph C. Rost. Leadership for the Twenty-first Century, 1993.• Leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and

followers who intend real changes that reflect their mutual purposes.

• Four essential elements must be present:– 1. The relationship is based on influence.

• The influence relationship is multidirectional;

• the influence behaviors are noncoercive.

– 2. Leaders and followers are the people in this relationship.• The followers are active;

• there must be more than one follower, and there is typically more than one leader in the relationship;

• the relationship is inherently unequal because the influence patterns are unequal.

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Joseph C. Rost. Leadership for the Twenty-first Century, 1993.

– 3. Leaders and followers intend real changes.• Intend means that the leaders and followers purposefully desire

certain changes;

• real means that the changes the leaders and followers intend must be substantive and transforming;

• leaders and followers do not have to produce changes in order for leadership to occur: they intend changes in the present; the changes take place in the future if they take place at all;

• leaders and followers intend several changes at once.

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Joseph C. Rost. Leadership for the Twenty-first Century, 1993.

– 4. Leaders and followers develop mutual purposes.• The mutuality of these purposes is forged in the noncoercive

influence relationship;

• leaders and followers develop purposes, not goals;

• the intended changes reflect, not realize, their purposes;

• the mutual purposes become common purposes. (pages 102-103)

• Rost emphasizes that management should not be denigrated to ennoble leadership: “People love to work for well-organized managers who facilitate getting the job done by coordinating the work of various people…”

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Comparing management and leadership: Rost

• Leadership– an influence

relationship;

– leaders and followers;

– intend real changes;

– intended changes reflect mutual purposes.

• Management– an authority

relationship;

– managers and subordinates;

– produce and sell goods and/or services;

– goods/services result from coordinated activities. (page 149)

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Comparing management and leadership: Kotter

• Management:– planning and

budgeting,

– organizing and staffing,

– controlling and problem-solving;

– produces predictability, order, consistency.

• Leadership:– establishing direction,

– aligning people,

– motivating and inspiring;

– produces useful, dramatic change.

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Leadership, power, authority...

• Jacobs (1970) insisted leadership be distinguished from authority and power.– what is authority?

• what kinds exist? who grants it? how is it wielded?

– what is power?• what kinds exist? how is it gathered? how wielded?

– what role do “followers” have in the distribution of and access to, power, if any?

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Leadership, power, authority...

• Burns, on power:

– power “is the probability that one actor within a social relationship will be in a position to carry out his own will despite resistance.” (page 12, quoting Weber)

– dimensions of power: distribution, scope, and domain. (page 16, quoting Robert Dahl)

– examples of power resources: constituency support, access to information, financial resources, skill, reputation, all relative to the competition’s strength.

– “…power and leadership are measured by the degree of production of intended effects.” (page 22)