Leadership

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Leadership
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By the end of the lesson you should be able to

• Identify the characteristics of leaders.
• Understand the importance of effective
  leadership.
• Describe emergent and prescribed leaders.
• Understand trait, social learning and
  interactionist perspectives on leadership.
• Explain the theories of leadership.

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• In the activity you have just done, do you
  think anyone acted as a leader? Did this
  influence the group in any way? How effective
  were they as leaders?

Leadership is ..

• The behavioural process influencing individuals
  and groups towards set goals.

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Sporting Non Sporting
Michael Vaughan Hitler
Alex Ferguson Winston Churchill
Sir Alf Ramsey Robert the Bruce
Vince Lombardi Nelson Mandela
Sir Matt Busby Pope John Paul II
Clive Woodward Gandhi
Martin Jol Margaret Thatcher
What characteristics do these people all have
which make them good leaders?
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Shows Empathy
Has respect of group
Must be the best player
Good Communication
Good at making decisions
Be a born leader
Experience
Ambition
High Motivation
Good Leader
Be friendly with their subjects
Determination
Have a clear goal
Be carefully selected
Charisma
Disciplinarian
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• An effective leader has a number of qualities,
  no single quality will ensure effectiveness on
  its own. Qualities of leadership include
• Good communication skills
• High motivation
• Having a clear goal or vision of what needs to
  be achieved
• Empathy
• Ambition
• Charisma/presence
• Determination
• Good at making decisions
• Experience

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Are Leaders Born or Made?
This is a controversial issue. There are 3
theories
Trait Approach This theory suggests that leaders
are born with the skills necessary to take
charge. It suggests that leadership traits such
as intelligence, assertiveness and self
confidence are stable personality dispositions
If this is true, the trait approach suggests that
a leader should be able to take control of any
situation. How likely is this?
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Social Learning Theory This theory suggests that
all behaviours are learned. For example, when an
aspiring captain judges a situation to have been
handled well by an experienced leader, the method
will be remembered and copied should the
situation arise again.
This is called vicarious reinforcement.
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Interactionist Theory According to this theory,
leadership competencies emerge because of both
inherited abilities and learned skills. This
is generally perceived as giving a more realistic
explanation of human behaviour in sport.
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Selection of a Leader

• Individuals can become leaders in one of 2 ways

• Emergent leader come from within the group
  because they are skilful or because the rest of
  the team select them by vote or interview.

• Prescribed leader are appointed from an
  external source to a team.

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• Think of advantages and disadvantages of an
  emergent leader and a prescribed leader.

Prescribed or emergent?
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Emergent
Advantages Disadvantages
Respect gained quickly by the group who rate his/her skill Respect may well be short lived and familiarity can breed contempt
They tend to be more popular individuals and are well liked They tend to be more popular individuals and are well liked
other group members feel less threatened Other group members feel less threatened
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Prescribed
Advantages Disadvantages
They have externally recognised authority and therefore high status slow acceptance from other group members because of perceived threat
May be able to see problems more objectively and be more detached the new leader does not know group members and therefore may make incorrect decisions initially
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Leadership Styles

• Two main types
• Task oriented or autocratic concerned with
  the task demands of the group.
• Person oriented or democratic concerned with
  the interpersonal behaviour of the group members.

Person
Task
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The Autocratic Leader .

• Makes all decisions.
• Does not take into account the opinions of the
  group.
• Focuses on group performance and achieving goals.

Is used ..

• When quick decisions are needed
• With large groups of people
• In potentially dangerous situations

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The Democratic Leader

• Will share decision with the rest of the group
• Is interested in developing meaningful
  inter-personal relationships within the team.
• Tries to give ownership of the task to each
  individual.

Is Used ..

• In a game situation when there are no time
  constraints and personal support may be required

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• Which style did the leaders of the group
  activity use?

• Which style of leadership would you adopt in
  the following situation

1. You are introducing yourself as the new coach
to a hostile group.
Task / Autocratic
2. You would like to bring together a very large
group of athletes as a team before a big meeting.
Task /Autocratic
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3. You are coaching a highly skilled squash
player.
Person / Democratic
4. A friendly, successful team of lacrosse
players asks you to be their coach
Person / Democratic
5. A novice weightlifter needs coaching just
before the lift
Task Person
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According to Fiedler, the correct style of
leadership to adopt depends on the
favourableness, of the situation
Highly favourable situation Highly unfavourable situation
Leaders position is strong Leaders position is weak
Task is simple with clear structure Task is complex with vague structure
Warm group and leader relations Hostile group and leader relations
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Fiedler states that autocratic, task oriented
leaders are more effective in both the most and
least favourable situations
Democratic, person oriented leaders are more
effective in moderately favourable situations
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High
Group Performance Effectiveness
Low
Least favourable
Most favourable
Situation Favourableness
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Laissez Faire Style In this style the leader will
stand aside and allow the group to make its own
decisions. Lewin (1985) found that members of
this type of group tended to be aggressive
towards each other when mistakes occurred and
they gave up easily.
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Chellandurais Multidimensional Model of Sports
Leadership
Type of Leader Behaviour
Characteristics affecting behaviour
Consequences
Situational Characteristics
Required Behaviour
Group Performance / Group Satisfaction
Leader Characteristics
Actual Behaviour
Member Characteristics
Preferred Behaviour
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• Chellandurai identified three factors that
  affect leadership. These are called Antecedents

• Situational Characteristics.

• Leader Characteristics

• Group Member Characteristics

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Next, Chellandurai recognises 3 types of leader
behaviour that would be guided by the antecedents

• Required Behaviour
• Actual Behaviour
• Preferred Behaviour

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All 3 behaviours must coincide exactly (be
congruent) before effective leadership can take
place.
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Have you met the objectives?
Are you able to

• Identify the characteristics of leaders.
• Understand the importance of effective
  leadership.
• Describe emergent and prescribed leaders.
• Understand trait, social learning and
  interactionist perspectives on leadership.
• Explain the theories of leadership.