Leadership I: Theories of leadership (coffee hour today after class)

Road Map for Course Personality II I II I Relationships Group Context

Leadership Mastering relational dynamics –Influence –Communicate –Motivate –Exercise power Levesque and Iacocca 3 questions –What do they do? –What are they like as people? –What makes them good leaders?

5 Approaches Descriptive Trait Contingency Normative Functional

Descriptive Models: What do leaders do all day? Mintzberg followed CEO’s – Decisions rely on heuristics and intuition –Unplanned firefighting –Variety of very short tasks >50% tasks are less than 9 min <10% tasks is more than 1 hr Debunks myth of “rational” leader

Trait Models: What are leader’s personal characteristics? Leaders vs. non-leaders –“Right” mix of demographics Effective vs. ineffective leaders –“Right” mix of skills, personality Correlation between traits and leadership effectiveness: r=.11

Contingency Theories Different skills are needed at different times Trait x Situation Fiedler’s Least Preferred Coworker (LPC) Scale Leadership effectiveness= “Fit” between Leader Trait and Situation

Fiedler’s LPC Model Situational Control Leader Effectiveness Relational leaders (High LPC) Task leaders (Low LPC) Low Medium High

Normative Models Camp Counselors –Authoritarian –Democratic –Laissez-faire Vroom’s Decision Tree –3 styles: Autocratic Consultative Consensus –8 situational contingents

Problems with Contingency/Normative Models 1. Over-attribute outcomes to leadership –Leaders-followers: causality? –Manipulate follower’s behavior “Good” followers = democratic leaders “Bad” followers = autocratic leaders Followers’ behavior > leader’s style –Improve leaders by changing followers?

Problems (con’t) 2. Complexity –LPC Situational Control –Vroom decision tree –But real leaders never consult decision tree!

Problems (con’t) 3. Assumes we change styles –Ability to change limited –When the going gets tough, default to “natural” styles –Military: do not train leaders to change styles, manipulate situations

Midterm WHEN AND WHERE –10/26, EH1324, 9am-10am WHAT –30-40 multiple choice, 4-5 short answers –Samples –Lectures, text, coursepack, section exercises BRING – #2 pencil, pen

Review sessions Free-form Q & A M Denn M 5-7B247 EH Structured reviews in sections this week (Section 8, 9 go to anyone below) Th Denn Th 12-2 B239 EH Th 4-6B261 EH F WH F 11-1B261 EH F Denn