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Leadership in organizational settings

66 important questions on Leadership in organizational settings

How do we call influencing, motivating, and enabling others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organizations of which they are members?

leadership

What key components does leadership have?

leaders motivate through persuasion and other influence tactics
leaders enable others; allocate resources, optimize work relationships, etc.

how do we call the view that leadership is a role, not a position assigned to one person; consequently people within the team and organization lead each other?

shared leadership

When does shared leadership exist?

when employees champion the introduction of new technologies and products
when employees engage in organizational citizenship behaviors to assist performance and well-being

what is essential for shared leadership to work

formal leaders are willing to delegate power and encourage employees to take initiative and risks without fear of failure
a collaborative rather than a competitive culture
lack of formal authority
employees develop effective influence skills

how do we call a leadership perspective that explains how leaders change teams or organizations by creating, communicating, and modeling a vision for the organization or for unit and inspiring employees to strive for that vision?

transformational leadership

Which types of leadership are there?

- transformational
- managerial
- implicit
- personal attributes

What are the core elements of transformer leadership?

- develop and communicate a strategic vision
- model the vision
- encourage experimentation
- build commitment to the vision

how do we call a positive image or model of the future that energizes and unifies employees?

a vision

what are the features of an effective strategic vision?

- refers to an idealized future with a higher purpose
- associated with personal values that fulfill the needs of stakeholders
- meaningful and appealing to employees and energizes them to strive for the ideal
- is a challenging, distant, abstract goal.
- unifying, bonds employees together and aligns employee’s values with the organization’s values

Why is a strategic vision abstract?

- the vision hasn’t yet been experienced, so it is not possible to detail what the vision looks like
- an abstract description enables the vision to remain stable over time, yet is flexible for operational adjustments in a shifting environment

What determines a strategic vision’s effectiveness

how leaders convey it to followers and other stakeholders

how does a leader successfully convey a strategic vision to followers and other stakeholders?

- generate meaning and motivation by relying on symbols, metaphors, stories and other ways that go beyond plain language
- carefully frame the vision to generate meaning and emotion
- communicate the vision with humility, sincerity, and a level of passion

What are ways for a leader to model the vision?

- stepping outside the office and doing things that symbolize the vision
- creating significant events or actions that show the vision and the progress
- ensuring routine daily activities are consistent with the vision and it’s values

Why is it important to mode the vision?

- it legitimizes and demonstrates what the vision looks like in practice
- it builds employee trust in the leader

Why is it important for transformational leaders to encourage experimentation?

transformational leadership is about change, change is about discovering new behaviors and practices that are better aligned with the desired vision.

in what ways build transformational leaders commitment towards the vision?

- words, symbols, and stories build a contagious enthusiasm that energizes people to adopt the vision as their own
- demonstrate a can-do attitude by enacting and behaving consistently with their vision, persistence and honesty reflecting an image of honesty, trust, and integrity
- through rewards, recognition, and celebrations on milestones of progress
- encourage experimentation involves employees in the change process making it a collective activity

How do we call a personal trait or relational quality that provides referent power over followers?

charisma

how is charisma distinct from transformational leadership?

- transformational leadership motivates through behaviors that persuade and earn trust, charisma motivates through it’s leaders inherent referent power
- charismatic leadership tends to produce dependent followers, where transformational leading builds follower empowerment
- charismatic leaders may become intoxicated by their power which leads to a greater focus on self-interests than the common good

what are the advantages of transformational leadership?

subordinates more satisfied and have higher affective organizational commitment
subordinates perform better and engage more in citizenship behaviors,
employees make better more creative decisions
organizational commitment and financial performance increases

what are the problems of transformational leadership?

- not suited for stable environments
- hard to measure if it works

how do we call a leadership perspective stating that effective leaders help employees improve their performance and well-being toward current objectives and practices?

managerial leadership

what are the differences between managerial leadership and transformational leadership?

- managerial leadership assumes the organization’s objectives are stable and aligned with the external environment, transformational leadership assumes the organization’s misaligned
- managerial leadership focuses on developing or maintaining effectiveness of employees and work units towards established objectives and practices, while transformational leadership focuses on change of direction
- managerial leadership is more micro-focused and concrete because it relates to specific performance and well-being of individuals and work units, transformational leadership is more macro-focused and abstract because it changes and entire organization

how do managerial leadership and transformational leadership interdepend on each other?

- transformational leadership identifies, communicates, and builds commitment to a better future, managerial leadership translates the abstract vision into more specific operational behaviors and practices, improves employee performance in the pursuit of the future ideal
- transformational leadership set the right direction, managerial leadership gets the organization towards the directed goal.

what does a task-oriented leader do?

- assign work and clarify responsibilities
- set goals and deadlines
- evaluate and provide feedback on work quality
- establish well-defined best work procedures
- plan future work activities

What does a people-oriented leader do?

- show interests in others as people (instead of just employees or even ‘tools’)
- listen to employees
- make the workplace more pleasant
- show appreciation to employees for their performance contribution
- is considerate of employee needs

how do we call the view that leaders serve followers, rather than vice versa; leaders help employees fulfill their needs ad are coaches, stewards, and facilitators of employee development?

servant leadership

What are the features of servant leadership?

- extension or variation of people-oriented leadership
- leaders have natural desire to serve others; deep commitment to help others in personal growth
- leaders maintain relationships with others that are humble, egalitarian, and accepting
- leaders anchor their decisions and actions in ethical principles and practices

of how many components does the model of the path-goal leadership theory consist?

- 4 leadership styles
- 2 employee contingencies
- 2 environmental contingencies
- 3 indicators of leader effectiveness

which leadership style of the path-goal leadership theory is described; encourage and facilitate employee involvement in decisions.

participative

which leadership style of the path-goal leadership theory is described; emphasizes behaviors that encourage employees to reach their peak performance.

achievement-oriented

what are the employee contingencies of the model of the path-goal leadership theory?

- skills and experience
- locus of control

which leadership style should be used with inexperienced and unskilled employees, and why?

- a combination of directive and supportive
- directive leadership gives information about how to accomplish the task
- supportive leadership helps them cope with the uncertainties of unfamiliar work situations

which leadership style should not be used with experienced and skilled employees, and why?

- directive leadership style
- it introduces too much supervisory control

how do we call people who believe they have control over their work environment?

people with an internal locus of control

how do we call people who believe that their performance is due more to luck and fate?

people with an external locus of control

which leadership style should be used with people with an external locus of control and which one with people with an internal locus of control?

- directive and supportive leadership styles
- participative and achievement-oriented leadership styles

which environmental contingencies are there?

- task structure
- team dynamics

which leadership style should be used when the task is non routine, and why?

- directive style; minimizes role ambiguity that occurs in complex work situations
- participative; in lack of rules and procedures gives it discretion to achieve challenging tasks

which leadership styles should, and should not be used when the task is routine, and why?

- not directive; unnecessary and may be viewed as unnecessarily close control
- not participative; because they lack discretion over their work
- supportive leadership; helps cope with tedious nature of the work and lack of control over the pace of the work

when should a leader use supportive leadership style considering team dynamics and why?

- when team cohesion is low;
- cohesive teams with performance-orientated norms act as a substitute for most leader interventions,
- high team cohesion substitutes for supportive leadership, where performance oriented team norms substitute for directive and achievement-oriented leaderships

what are the features leadership effectiveness can be measured with?

- employee motivation
- employee satisfaction
- leader acceptance

what are the four leadership styles that the situational leadership theory identifies?

- telling
- selling
- participating
- delegating

which leadership styles does Fiedler’s contingency model identify?

two leadership styles that correspond to people- and task-oriented leadership

how do we call the degree if power and influence that the leader possesses in a particular situation?

situational control

how do we call the extend to which the leader possesses legitimate, reward, and coercive power over subordinates?

position power

how do we call the clarity or ambiguity of operating procedures?

task structure

how do we call how much employees trust and respect the leader and are willing to follow his guidance?

leader-member relations

according to Fiedler’s contingency model, what are the characteristics of the highest situation favorableness for the leader?

- good employee-leader relations
- high task structure
- strong position power

besides the fact that there wasn’t much empirical evidence, what are the contributions Fiedler made to leadership knowledge with his model?

- it recognizes the importance of leader’s power in determining the best leadership style
- states that leaders aren’t able to change their style easily, they use mainly, the style most consistent with their personality and values

how do we call a theory identifying conditions that either limit a leader’s ability to influence subordinates or make a particular leadership style unnecessary

leadership substitutes

according to the leadership substitutes theory, what are the conditions making task-oriented leadership unnecessary?

- when performance-based reward systems keep employees directed towards organizational goals
- increasing employee skill and experience

what are the reasons people overestimate the leader’s influence on organizational outcomes?

- leadership is a useful way to simplify life events; easier to explain successes and failures with the leader’s ability
- strong tendency to believe that life events are generated more by people than uncontrollable natural forces; feel better thinking results come from actions of leaders

what are the eight leadership attributes?

- personality
- self-concept
- drive
- integrity
- leadership motivation
- knowledge of business
- cognitive and practical intelligence
- emotional intelligence

what characteristics does an effective leader have considering; personality?

- Extraversion (outgoing, talkative, sociable, assertive)
- Conscientiousness (careful, dependable, self-disciplined)

what characteristics does an effective leader have considering; self-concept?

Positive self-evaluation 
High self-esteem and self-efficacy 
Complex, internally consistent self-concept
Internal locus of control

what characteristics does an effective leader have considering drive?

Inner motivation to pursue goals 
Inquisitiveness, action-oriented, bold

what characteristics does an effective leader have considering integrity?

Truthfulness
Consistency in words and actions

what characteristics does an effective leader have considering leadership motivation?

High need for socialized power to achieve organizational goals (vs personalized power)

what characteristics does an effective leader have considering knowledge of the business?

Understands external environment
Aids intuitive decision making

what characteristics does an effective leader have considering practical and cognitive intelligence?

Above average cognitive ability 
Able to solve real-world problems

what characteristics does an effective leader have considering emotional intelligence?

Recognizing and regulating emotions in self and others

how do we call the view that effective leaders need to be aware of, feel comfortable with, and act consistently with their values, personality, and self-concept?

authentic leadership

what are the steps taken in authentic leadership?

- engage in self-reflection
- receive feedback from trusted resources
- understand your life story
- develop your own style
- apply your values
- maintain a positive core self-evaluation

how do authentic leaders regulate their decisions and behavior?

- develop their own style, and where appropriate, move into positions where that style is most effective
- continually think about and consistently apply their stable hierarchy of personal values to decisions and behavior

what are the limitations of authentic leadership perspective?

- it assumes that all effective leaders have the same personal characteristics that are equally important in all situations
- alternative combinations of attributes are equally successful
- the personal attributes perspective views leadership as something within a person, yet leadership is relational

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

Organizational Behavior | 9781259921704 | Steven L McShane, et al

View summary

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