BOUNDARY SPANNING AND TEAM LEADERSHIP CHAPTER NINE BOUNDARY SPANNING AND TEAM LEADERSHIP © Prentice Hall 2006 9-1

Learning Objectives After reading this chapter, you should be able to do the following: Describe boundary-spanning leader behaviors and provide specific examples of these behaviors. Explain why boundary-spanning behaviors can have positive effects on followers. Describe skills, abilities, and sources of power leaders need to be effective at boundary-spanning. Describe the individual and organizational benefits that can result from effective boundary spanning behaviors. © Prentice Hall 2006 9-2

Learning Objectives (cont.) After reading this chapter, you should be able to do the following: Describe an approach to negotiation that will maximize benefits for all parties Describe team leadership as an important role that requires effective boundary-spanning and other leader behaviors. Identify follower, organizational, and task characteristics for which boundary-spanning leader behaviors would be highly effective and where they would not be effective. © Prentice Hall 2006 9-3

Boundary Spanning Leadership Leader actions that establish and maintain a group’s integrity through negotiating with nongroup members, resolving disputes among followers and subgroups, obtaining resources, establishing influence networks, and helping followers deal with the external environment. © Prentice Hall 2006 9-4

Examples of Boundary Spanning Leadership Behaviors Defining and modifying organizational or unit boundaries so members know who is and who is not a member. Protecting and representing the group while resisting unreasonable demands and responding to outside influence. Managing interactions between leaders and followers, among followers themselves, and among subgroups within the leader’s unit, including helping to resolve stalemates and conflicts. © Prentice Hall 2006 9-5

Examples of Boundary Spanning Leadership Behaviors (cont.) Negotiating with upper management and other outsiders to obtain resources for the unit and to arrange for distribution of the unit’s output. Identifying and describing for group members what they should attend to in the environment and what they should ignore to help them make sense of developments which may affect them (otherwise known as frame alignment). Obtaining, filtering and storing valuable information from the unit’s environment; putting the information into a useful form; and disseminating it to unit members. © Prentice Hall 2006 9-6

Boundary Spanning Leader Behaviors Respond to external demands & influences Define & manipulate unit boundaries Obtain resources & distribute outputs Boundary Spanning Leader Behaviors Resolve stalemates & conflicts Develop & maintain networks Sensitize unit members to environmental issues Obtain, filter, store & disseminate information © Prentice Hall 2006 9-7

Key Leadership Roles Which Managers Play That Involve Some Sort of Boundary Spanning Figurehead—performing symbolic acts such as representing the organization at social gatherings. Liaison—forming and maintaining networks outside the unit including making new contacts, keeping in touch with important outsider, and doing favors. Monitoring—obtaining information from outside the leader’s unit which may help the overall unit’s performance. Disseminator—passing information on to insiders or to subunits about other subunits. Spokesperson—transmitting information and expressing value statements to outsiders. Disturbance handler—dealing with conflicts among subordinates or subunits, loss of subordinates, strikes, and other “crisis situations.” Negotiator—bargaining for the unit in dealing with others over resources and constraints; buffering the unit and its members from higher ups and outsiders. © Prentice Hall 2006 9-8

Skills and Power Sources for Boundary Spanning Leadership Story telling & slogan creation skills Political & negotiation skills Communication skills Conflict management skills Skills and Power Sources for Boundary Spanning Leadership Connection/ resource power Reward & coercive power Expert power Referent power Legitimate power © Prentice Hall 2006 9-9

Guidelines for Negotiating Separate the People from the Problem Focus on Interests, Not Positions Invent Options for Mutual Gain Insist on Using Objective Criteria Know Your Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA) Preparation is the Key © Prentice Hall 2006 9-10

Situational and Follower Characteristics that Affect the Impact of Boundary Spanning Leadership Enhancers of Boundary-Spanning Environmental uncertainty versus predictability Task uncertainty & difficulty Centrality of leader’s unit Leader’s experience and familiarity with organizational operations Leader’s extensive internal & external networks Team-based organization structure Neutralizers of Boundary Spanning Older followers with many years of service Followers with high rank Substitutes for Boundary Spanning Numerous formal organizational procedures © Prentice Hall 2006 9-11

Creating Team-Based Replacements for Leadership Developing leadership replacements involves teaching and coaching the team and its members in several skills of self-leadership, including: Self-observation Self-goal setting Antecedent modification Self-reward and punishment Rehearsal Strategic planning Learning to avoid groupthink © Prentice Hall 2006 9-12

Summary: When Is Boundary Spanning Needed? When an organization is composed of work teams that operate with some independence from higher management, boundary spanning will be especially important. This is a very common situation in today’s organizations, making boundary spanning an important type of leader behavior Leaders may be especially effective at boundary spanning when they are good communicators, assertive, knowledgeable and experienced in organizational operations, and have many connections outside their group or department. © Prentice Hall 2006 9-13

Process Model of Boundary-Spanning Leadership SITUATIONAL FACTORS INCREASING LEADER EFFECTIVENESS Enhancers Environmental uncertainty versus predictability Task uncertainty and difficulty Centrality of leader’s unit Leader’s experience and familiarity with organizational operations Leader’s extensive internal and external networks Team-based organization structure BOUNDARY-SPANNING LEADER BEHAVIORS Defining and manipulating unit boundaries Representing the unit in response to external demands and influence Negotiating to obtain resources and distribute the unit’s output Resolving stalemates and conflicts within the unit and with other units Sensitizing unit members to key environmental issues Developing and maintaining networks Obtaining, filtering, storing, and disseminating information SITUATIONAL FACTORS DECREASING LEADER EFFECTIVENESS Neutralizers Followers who are older or highly experienced Followers with high rank FOLLOWER/GROUP PSYCHOLOGICAL REACTIONS High job satisfaction* Better morale* High confidence in leader* * These psychological reactions and outcomes have shown the strongest improvement from leader’s boundary-spanning. FOLLOWER BEHAVIORS AND OUTCOMES High performance evaluations* Effective performance Lower turnover rates Higher promotion rates © Prentice Hall 2006 9-14

Applying the Model of Boundary Spanning Leadership 1. DIAGNOSING THE SITUATION Is the leader’s environment uncertain, or can it be manipulated? Are followers’ work tasks highly uncertain, difficult, or conflict-prone? Is the leader’s group central to the overall organization’s success? Is the leader responsible for one or more self-managed teams? Does the leader have important connections that can benefit the group? If “yes” to one or more of these questions, followers will probably respond favorably to boundary spanning leadership. 3. MODIFYING FOLLOWERS AND/OR SITUATIONS 2. PROVIDING BOUNDARY SPANNING LEADERSHIP Leaders act to: Build procedures that allow followers to obtain resources & solve problems on their own Place followers who are older, experienced, and high status into boundary spanning positions Create self-leadership capabilities in the leader’s group through training and development Leader demonstrates boundary spanning by: Manipulating and protecting group boundaries to resist jolts from the environment Interacting with outsiders to obtain resources and develop agreements that help the group Managing interactions among followers to resolve conflicts & overcome difficulties Obtaining, filtering, storing & disseminating valuable information for the group’s benefit © Prentice Hall 2006 9-15