Engr. Mgt 211 Managing Engineering

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Engr. Mgt 211 Managing Engineering Technology

• Chapter 14
• Basic Issues in Leadership

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What is Leadership?

• Leadership is an influence process
• Informal leaders can exhibit leadership even
  though they do not hold formal leadership
  positions
• Management is about dealing with complexity -
  drawing up formal plans, designing organizational
  structures, and monitoring outcomes
• Leaders establish direction by developing a
  vision and then communicating this vision to
  people and inspiring them to overcome obstacles

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Key Leadership Variables
Leadership Context
Leader Characteristics and Style
Leader Behavior
Leadership Effectiveness
Follower Characteristics
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Leadership Effectiveness

• Researchers have used at least five different
  definitions
• Objective verses perceptual measures
• Acceptance verses rejection of the leader
• Individual versus group performance measures
• Productivity verses satisfaction
• Level of analysis

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Leader Characteristics and Style

• Do leaders have common traits?
• Ambition and energy, the desire to lead, honesty
  and integrity, self-confidence, intelligence,
  job- relevant knowledge, and self-monitoring
  personality
• None of these traits guarantee success

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Leader Characteristics and Style

• Does experience make leaders more effective?
• While the belief that experience prepares one for
  leadership prevades the business community,
  experience does not necessarily contribute to
  leadership effectiveness

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Leader Characteristics and Style

• Do effective leaders use a common leadership
  style?
• Style options
• Task dimension
• People dimension
• Style effectiveness
• Because evidence is mixed on the relationship
  between leadership style and group effectiveness,
  we cannot generalize across a variety of workers

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Leader Characteristics and Style

• Are leadership styles fixed?
• Some say that leadership style is fixed and that
  stylistic changes will take place within a narrow
  range
• Others claim that even though they will favor
  certain behaviors, leaders are flexible and
  situationally adaptive

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Leader Characteristics and Style

• If you cant be a leader, can you at least look
  like one ?
• In the context of leadership, people attribute
  the following characteristics to effective
  leaders
• Intelligence
• Outgoing personality
• Strong verbal skills
• Aggressiveness
• Understanding behavior
• Industriousness

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The Managerial Grid
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
(1,9)
(9,9)
(5,5)
Concern for People
(9,1)
(1,1)
1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9
Concern for Production
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Are Leadership Styles Fixed?
Higher
Higher
High Self- Monitoring
Flexibility
Flexibility
Low-Self Monitoring
Lower
Lower
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Attribution Theoryof Leadership
Traits of a Leader
Intelligence Industriousness Outgoing Personality
Aggressiveness Understanding Strong Verbal Skills
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Follower Characteristics

• When someone was asked what it took to be a great
  leader, he responded, Great followers
• Do followers matter? Followers are important
  because
• They differ in their abilities and require
  adjustments by leaders
• Good followers exhibit common characteristics
  that reinforce leadership
• Reengineering has given followers autonomy and
  accountability

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Follower Characteristics

• What characteristics of followers seem to be
  important?
• They manage themselves well
• They are committed to a purpose outside
  themselves
• They build their competence and focus their
  efforts for maximum impact
• They are courageous, honest, and credible

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Follower Characteristics

• Can great leadership overcome mediocre followers?
• Because the attitudes of followers are not fixed,
  superior leaders can inspire mediocre followers
  to become effective

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Follower Characteristics

• Do leaders treat all followers alike?
• In-group members are trusted, get extra
  attention, and receive special priviledges

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Significant Follower Characteristics
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Leader-Member Exchange Model
Personal Compatibility and/or Subordinate Compet
ence
Leader
Formal Relations
High Interactions
Trust
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Leader Behavior

• How do follower characteristics influence the
  effectiveness of a leaders style?
• Certain characteristics of followers influence a
  leaders choice of style
• Followers personality
• Followers experience
• Followers ability
• Followers motivation

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Leader Behavior

• How much involvement should followers be given?
• The leader makes decisions alone
• The leader asks for information from group
  members but makes the decision alone
• The leader shares the situation with each group
  member individually
• The leader and group members meet to discuss the
  situation, but the leader makes the decision
• The leader and group members meet to discuss the
  situation, and the group makes the decision

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Leader Behavior

• Leaders should increase group participation when
• The lack sufficient information to solve problem
  themselves
• The problem is unclear, and help is needed to
  clarify the situation
• Acceptance of the decision by others is necessary
  for its successful implementation
• Adequate time is available to allow for true
  participation

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Leader Behavior

• Leaders should give up less control and rely more
  on unilateral behaviors when
• They personally have the expertise needed to
  solve the problem
• They are confident and capable of acting alone
• Others are likely to accept the decision they
  make
• Little or no time is available for discussion

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Leadership context

• Fiedler Model
• The Fiedler Leadership Model proposes that
  effective group performance depends on the proper
  match between the leaders style and the degree
  to which the situation is conductive to control
  and influence by the leader

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Findings of the Feidler Model
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Leader Behavior

• Path-Goal Model
• According to the path-goal model of ladership,
  the leader assists his or her followers to set
  and attain goals that are compatible with
  organizational objectives

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Path-Goal Model
Environmental Situational Factors
Outcomes
Leader Behavior
Subordinate Situational Factors
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Cultural Variables

• Two additional factors play an important role in
  determining leadership effectiveness
• National culture
• Organizational Culture

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National Cultureand Leadership
Defines What Is Acceptable to Followers
Shapes the Preferences of Leaders
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Jobs That Are Unambiguous or Highly Satisfying
Workers That Are Experienced or Highly-trained
Substitutes for Leadership
Goals That Are Formalized or Rules That Are Rigid
Workgroups That Are Cohesive
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Leader Behavior

• When are formal leaders Relatively unimportant?
• Even though formal leaders can be replaced,
  leadership cannot
• Leadership will happen, either through informal
  leaders or organizational channels

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What We Know About Leadership
Effectiveness
Characteristics
Context
Followers
Behavior