Chapter 12.3 discusses approaches to leadership. The leadership theory of Leader-Member Exchange suggests that “leaders adopt different behaviors with individual subordinates and that the particular behavior pattern of the leader develops over time and depends, to a large extent, on the quality of the leader-subordinate relationship” (Landy & Conte, 2013, p. 494). In essence, this leadership theory references how close the leader is with the staff member. Is there a feeling of trust? Is the staff member one that holds expertise in their role that the leader can rely on? Building a relationship with a staff member doesn’t happen instantly. The relationship grows over time which can result in staff members being a close confidante to the …show more content…
manager or not. These relationships need to be monitored as sometimes those close to the manager can end up being those that cause problems. This section also discusses transformational, authentic, and charismatic leaders. Transformational leaders work with their team. They ensure their staff understands how important their tasks are; they persuade their staff to concentrate on goals and ignore strategies that are self centered; and focus on more important needs such as making contributions that improve society through what they do (Landy & Conte, 2013, p. 497). They are focused on involving their staff in decisions, having a sense of teamwork, and doing what benefits the organization. They do not dictate and look to embrace the knowledge and expertise of their team. Authentic leaders lead with integrity and are genuine (Landy & Conte, 2013, p. 499). They are not fake – they look to achieve goals and are honest. However, an authentic leader needs to be careful of what their share with their staff. They might be too honest – indicating factors that they might be dissatisfied with and could result in their own staff not engaging in corporate initiatives. Charismatic leaders are those that have a trait that compels others to follow them, identify with them, and want to emulate them (Landy & Conte, 2013, p. 500). Charismatic leaders inspire people and make them want to be like them. However, if this leader is not effective in relation to the strategic outcomes or without getting results, their followers will lose faith. Chapter 12.4 discusses changes and challenges for leadership in relation to changes in the workplace, male versus female leadership, personality, and culture. Changes in the workplace are in regard to working in teams, telecommuting, and temporary workers.
Teamwork has become increasingly important as workers no longer focus on just getting their own tasks or the specific tasks of their department done but with working together with their teammates and other departments in achieving corporate goals. As the textbook states, while interactions occur between a manager and their subordinate, interactions occur between a manager and other teams and groups (Landy & Conte, 2013, p. 502). Telecommuting is a way to offer a work-life balance while keeping key people. However, the leader is challenged with keeping track of these employees in regard to monitoring what they are doing and communicating with them (Landy & Conte, 2013, p. 502). Telecommuting is difficult as the manager has difficulty building a relationship with these employees as well as balancing how to keep them engaged in what is going on in the company. They should be in the office periodically in order to keep grounded with the company. Temporary workers are a way of filling a void when additional resources are needed. Temporary resources are used when a company has fluctuating production needs. The challenge is that they may not have the same level of commitment to or have the same values as employees that are full time (Landy & Conte, 2013, p. 504).
The different leadership styles of men and women was discussed. Women prefer democratic and participative styles while men preferred autocratic styles (Landy & Conte, 2013, p. 508). Women can tend to be more interpersonal where men are more focused on tasks versus worrying about how their staff
feels. In relation to culture and diversity, culture differences relate to power distance (do the people accept power and status differences) – those in power have more power; are the needs of individuals versus the group more important; is there fear of the unknown; and does gender inequality exist (Landy & Conte, 2013, p. 513). Basically, a company needs to understand how their values and standards are different from those from a different country or ethnic background. Is authority of importance; is the group more important; do they require more research and analysis before making a decision; and/or are their predispositions in regard to someone’s abilities based on their gender. Leaders have a challenging role due to having to deal with different attitudes, behaviors, culture, and styles. One can continue their course, but they would be most effective if they evaluated these factors to ensure a positive work environment and the possibility of their team working with them to achieve goals.
Social change and charity have two different effects on the community in chapter one of Leadership for a Better World by Susan R. Komives. Chapter one discusses the differentiation in the ideas when one is more practical in a culture. Social change is defined as affecting the root of the social problem (Komives 11). An example of social change is the Civil Rights Movement, where Martin Luther King Jr. led groups of people to end segregation. King wasn’t just trying to help the problem of having sit in the back of the bus or drinking from different water fountains, his objective was to generate an equal society where racial segregation didn’t exist. Charity classification as donating food, money, and other kinds of goods is given to a community. An illustration of this is the local soup kitchen, where they provide food for the
The reading assignment for this unit included reading several articles and one book in particular, The Female Advantage, by Sally Helgesen as an introduction into varying leadership styles. Leadership, as a honed craft is practiced continually in different ways and varying circumstances, no two individuals will have the same leadership style. Certain distinctive traits brought into the forum and on display for followers to observe. Some traits can be visible, clothing or skin color as examples, others, however, are not as visible such as upbringing or family situation. Each of these factors could play a role in the leadership style of a leader. One trait that the author of the book uses to distinguish leaders is gender. As much as men and women must be treated the fairly and equally, it cannot be denied that outside of the biological aspect, men and women are slightly different. Each gender brings a unique approach to leadership situations.
Powell, G., Butterfield, D., and Bartol, K. (2008). Leader evaluations: A new female advantage? Gender in Management: An International Journal, 23, 156-174.
The gap between men and women produce three important concepts that reason the difference. First is the discussion of the better leader- men or women? It has been studied that women approach their followers with an interactive style with the encouragement of sharing power and information with others, participation, and self-worthiness to others. On the other hand, men have a consistency to be more task-oriented in their leadership styles and emerge in short-term conditions. The simple claim that women are just different than men, can be argued with the idea that men have effective traits for leadership. Women are less likely to negotiate and as a leader, this leads to lack of communication. And as discussed, leadership’s main ingredient is communication. Without it, nothing gets across to followers, and nothing is reciprocated to leaders. As a leadership position becomes larger and larger, (such as a CEO’s leadership position) there are fewer and fewer women holding these positions. The biggest question is why? Generally, females and males share the leadership values, work equally as hard to accomplish their goals, and react accordingly. Society plays a huge role in the gender gap. Some jobs aren’t even offered to women because of their gender and women
A leadership theory is a clarification of some features of leadership; theories have practical importance as they are being used for better understanding, anticipating, and controlling successful leadership. Hence, the main principle of any theory is to inform practice(Lussier and Achua 2009). Leadership theories could be classified into eight main categories: Great man, trait, behavioral, contingency, Situational, Participative, Relationship , management (Cherry 2010).
In the previous study, the authors stated that there are various studies about the telecommuting include references to corporate attitudes toward telecommuting, motivation, productivity, supervision and employee satisfaction.
Leadership is being able to direct or guide other people by either your own actions or by actually guiding them into the right direction (Acumen). Inspiration to be a leader might come from many different areas like your family, friends, peers, or even teachers. My inspiration didn’t really occur to me until I started attending college in August 2013. In all actuality I never even thought of how to be a leader until I was in Mrs. Moore’s Perspectives class. I now have a desire to be a great leader, and the inspiration has come from Mrs. Moore, and my family. I am the first to attend college out of my family, so in a away I have already started leading my siblings in the right direction. Being a leader means inspiring others to pursue their dreams, and aspirations and helping throughout the journey to success. Being a leader has nothing with authority or being able to tell other what, and how to do things, it’s about having people who look up to you and want to follow your example.
The Keller Case Paper describes Wolfgang Keller and the way he is trying to turn around the Konigsbrau-Hellas beer company subsidiary in Greece. In this paper, the leadership style that Keller was effective in using as well as the business concepts that made him an effective leader will be further explained.
This is not about being nasty or nice – it is entirely about being achievement oriented by focusing on performance and organizational goals. Being achievement oriented, leaders have to recognize that they have to be mindful of and accountable for the choices they make because they are setting the model of what’s appropriate and inappropriate. Words matter, they are as much a form of expression for leaders as they are to poets, singers, and writers. According to Posner and Kouzes(p. 59) to be a leader, you got to awaken to the fact that you don’t have to copy someone else or follow a script and you don’t have to wear someone else’s style. Currently, there are an increasing number of women who are in leadership roles in the workplaces. It is a generally accepted as true that woman are supposed to use feminine ways of doing leadership. However, this is not always true. In some cases, women also use masculine ways of leadership. In this paper, Miranda Priestly illustrates how a female leader breaks traditional gender stereotypes and uses masculine leadership style.
One of the main driving factors for any company is economics and how will telecommuting allow the corporation to be profitable. The primary saving for companies embarking upon the telecommuting concept is the reduction in the amount of office space required to conduct business. Telecommuting benefits the employer because they have an expanded pool of employees. The skills of employees with commuting difficulties, childcare conflict, disabilities, geographical barriers are made available to a telecommuting employer. Companies are now starting to expanding oversees where the labor price is cheaper for telecommuting. This however can be looked at as both an advantage to the employer, and as a disadvantage to the employee.
Interest in the impact of gender on leadership is relatively new. The first studies were conducted in the US in the early 1970s when male managers at nine insurance companies were asked to characterise ‘women in general’, ‘men in general’ and ‘successful managers’. Successful managers were overwhelmingly identified exclusively with male traits. Many similar studies have been carried out since that time and all have demonstrated that the successful managerial stereotype remains male.
When we think about how it used to be 100 years ago, the only people in leadership roles where men, and there was no presence of women. Why is it that we tend to see more men in leadership positions? Usually when we think of what a leader looks like, we tend to describe them as powerful, assertive and confidence. Because of stereotypes our society immediately labels this person as a man, due to the roles that we are expected to follow. Today, there has been a huge shift for women in leadership positions; however, there are many challenges that they still have to overcome. A process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal (Northouse, 2007) defines a leader. Moreover, leaders come in different forms whether in a professional, educational, or group setting. As a male college student and an advocate for equal rights between men and women, my understanding of the struggles that women face has a huge impact on my philosophy of leadership. The three most important concepts in this course that has resonated with me the most are double bind, and think manager-think male and glass ceiling.
...adership Practices in Relation to Productivity and Morale." In D. Cartwright and A. Zander, Group Dynamics: Research and Theory, 2nd ed. (Elmsford, NY: Row, Paterson, 1960)
However, researchers agree that gender differences in leadership styles do exist and that men often use a more task-oriented approach, while women, on average, rely on leadership styles heavily based on quality of interpersonal relationships (Eagly & Johnson, 1990; Gray, 1992; Eagly, 1987; Eagly & Karau, 2002). Female leaders have also been described as taking a more “take care” leadership approach compared to the males’ “take charge” approach (Martell & DeSmet, 2001; Yukl, 1994; Hater & Bass, 1998). Researchers have also found that women tend to emerge as more transformational leaders, while men are likely to use a transitional leadership approach (Bass & Avolio, 1994; Rosener, 1990). The article Women and Leadership (2015 January 14) supports the research that looks at who makes a better leader; the article states that 80% of the public thinks that both male and female can be excellent leaders in society, while 11% said men and 7% said women.
What does it take to be an effective leader? This is something that has been asked many times over the course of human history. Some might say that having a strong personality and a commanding presence is needed in order to be a strong leader. Others might say that someone who stays on top of everything and keeps order is more effective as a leader. Everyone has their own opinion on this subject and in many regards, they are not wrong. Good quality leadership is something that is hard to possess and is not something everyone can do. Leadership is something that has been studied and analyzed many times, and from these studies, many theories have emerged from them. Each of these theories of leadership has their own benefits and can be useful