Q Topics of Leadership Pequannock Township High School

Looking at Leadership Through Several Lenses Studying only leaders provides just a partial view of the leadership process. Leadership depends on several factors, including the situation and the followers, not just the leader’s qualities or characteristics. Leadership is more than just the kind of person the leader is or the things the leader does. The clearest picture of the leadership process occurs only when you look at all three aspects. McGraw-Hill/Irwin© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 2-2

The Interactional Framework for Analyzing Leadership McGraw-Hill/Irwin© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 2-3

The Interactional Framework for Analyzing Leadership (continued) The framework depicts leadership as a function of three elements: The leader The follower The situation You can have an even better understanding of the leadership process by examining the interactions of the three elements (overlaps). McGraw-Hill/Irwin© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 2-4

The Leader Individual aspects of the leadership equation: Unique personal history Interests Character traits Motivation Leaders differ from their followers. McGraw-Hill/Irwin© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 2-5

The Leader (continued) Leaders who are appointed by superiors may have less credibility with subordinates and get less loyalty from them than leaders who are elected or emerge by consensus from the ranks of followers. A leader’s legitimacy may be affected by the extent to which followers participated in the leader’s selection. A leader’s experience or history in a particular organization is usually important to her or his effectiveness. McGraw-Hill/Irwin© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 2-6

The Followers Certain aspects of followers affect the leadership process: Expectations Personality traits Maturity levels Levels of competence Motivation McGraw-Hill/Irwin© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 2-7

The Followers (continued) Workers who share a leader’s goals and values will be more motivated to do their work. The number of followers reporting to a leader can have significant implications on that leader’s effectiveness. Other relevant variables include follower’s trust in the leader and their confidence (or not) that he or she is interested in their well- being. McGraw-Hill/Irwin© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 2-8

The Situation Leadership makes sense only in the context of how the leader and followers interact in a given situation. McGraw-Hill/Irwin© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 2-9 “You’ve got to give loyalty down, if you want loyalty up.” ~ Donald T. Regan, Former CEO and White House chief of staff

There is no Simple Recipe for Effective Leadership When observing leadership behavior, you need to think about the effectiveness of that behavior in that context with those followers. A leader may need to respond to: Various followers differently in the same situation. The same follower differently in different situations. Follower may respond to: Various leaders quite differently. Each other differently with different leaders. Two leaders may have different perceptions of the same followers or situations. McGraw-Hill/Irwin© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 2-10

Drawing Lessons From Experience The right behavior in one situation is not necessarily the right behavior in another situation. Although we may not be able to agree on the one best behavior in a given situation, we often can agree on some clearly inappropriate behaviors. McGraw-Hill/Irwin© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 2-11

Summary Leadership is a process in which leaders and followers interact dynamically in a particular situation or environment. The study of leadership must include the followers and the situation. McGraw-Hill/Irwin© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 2-12