Dilemmas of Destiny and Development BORN OR MADE? Dilemmas of Destiny and Development

Orientation The Born or Made Dilemma The Leadership challenge Look closely at leadership maps to help understand The natural born leader trait assumptions Leadership training and the possibility of developing leadership capability in managers The Leadership challenge Leaders have fixed preferred styles of dealing with leadership challenges Leaders find that the situation influences their style task oriented vs. concern with relationships

A Leadership Challenge   Which Map makes more sense to you?   Map 1: Each leader has a preferred style of dealing with leadership challenges. and shows a preference for relationships with people or a motivation for getting the work tasks done effectively.   Map 2: Leaders find their situations influence their style. The characteristics of the task and the characteristics of colleagues contribute to the different styles. The styles may be deliberately assumed, or they may be unconsciously shaped by circumstances What are the implications of your preference for your leadership prospects?

Contingency Approach or Situational Approach Bryman’s Eras of Leadership Theory Trait Approach dominant until late 1940s - assumes leaders born, not made Style Approach held sway until late 1960s - effects of leadership on those led Contingency Approach or Situational Approach popular to 1980s - situational factors are focus for understanding leadership New Leadership Approach since 1980s, leader seen as one who defines organizational reality through articulation of a vision Source: Alan Bryman, Leadership in Organizations.1996

Trait Approach its Rise and Fall Traits focus attention on person in the job Fixed characteristics distinguishing leaders from non-leaders physical traits, personal attributes and abilities Recent research suggests that traits play a role but they alone cannot account for leadership effectiveness Perceived traits of Intelligence; dominance & masculinity still retain significance

Leadership Style (Behaviours) Approach Emphasized what a leader does rather than identifying who would be an effective leader Associated with practical problems of selecting organizational leaders Pioneered in Ohio State Studies identifying two major factors: Relationship or People Orientation (consideration), and Task Oriented (initiation of structure). The studies assumed behaviours can be measured and taught, and had different effects on followers and performance Style approach increased understanding of leadership and focused attention on leadership training. Its simplistic view of very complex processes eventually led to maps studied in subsequent chapters

Contingency Approach Personality, style or behaviour of effective leader dependent on requirements of the situation No one best way to lead – different styles, traits or behaviours can all be effective. Situational or contextual factors help determine best style or behaviour Fiedler’s least preferred co-worker model best known contingency approach Leader’s disposition to favour task or relationships assessed by self-reports of leader’s view of co-workers Assumes people can learn to become effective leaders, and both personal & situational characteristics affect leadership effectiveness Little agreement about what constitutes effectiveness

The New Leadership Approach A move away from trait, style and contingency modes Leadership as a socially constructed process Depict leaders as mangers of meaning rather than in terms of an influence process Revived interest in leader’s personal characteristics Role of leadership traits key traits are not enough to make a leader - they are a precondition for effective leadership: Experience, correct choices and exposure to right situations are also key to allow talents to develop

Day’s Meta-Study of Leadership Development Examined leadership development theory practice and research Leader development – focus on individual and what leaders are and do & what is needed to become more like them Leadership development – considers overall dynamics of organizations in which leaders and followers engage Day examines influential techniques for leadership development 360 Degree Feedback Coaching Mentoring Networking Job assignments Action learning

Developmental Dilemma of Embeddedness Day’s degree of embeddedness related to the relative simplicity or complexity of organizational leadership programmes Simple programmes, e.g.360 degree feedback - only identify simple empirical relationships Complex designs, e.g. action research - may identify leadership that seems to be ‘working’ but its mechanisms are difficult to isolate Dilemma is that study of simple programmes is study of incomplete programmes of development; complex programmes resist resolution to suggest effectiveness of their component parts

Leadership Development Fixed Trait View on being born great – the ‘right stuff’ of leadership exemplified by well-known historical or contemporary leaders Developmental View Implicit in worldwide leadership developmental programmes Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) John Adair – Action Centred Leadership Boyatzis – Intentional Change Theory

Adair’s Action Centred Leadership CCL Philosophy Self knowledge most important factor in practice of leadership Provides context which facilitates personal discovery and development Leadership development programmes add value through - assessment, challenge and support Adair’s Action Centred Leadership European cultural tradition Functional Leadership Task, Team, Individual Leadership functions enacted across three interacting regions of achieving the task, building and maintaining the team, and developing the individual

Boyatzis - Intentional Change Theory Strategies that focus on intentional change are supported by leader development programmes Model focuses on perceptions of actual and ideal self-images to facilitate individual leadership goals Coaching is means by which individual is helped to understand gaps between actual and ideal self-image Attention is on finding positive emotional experiences which build on strengths As self-directed and intentional change develops, the individual is better able to cope with leadership challenges

Summary Two main maps of leadership develop Eras of Leadership thought and Territory of leadership development Scientific studies failed to locate ingredients that made leaders Trait theories replaced by increasingly complex theories that shifted emphasis from leaders to leadership Studies focused on leaders at supervisory levels as well as on exceptional person and opened up possibility of leadership development Leadership development programmes now integral part of organizational life Evidence of success of these is extensive but dilemma of embeddedness adds to difficulty of evaluating for improved designs