Lecture
The willingness of many people to take the initiative to perform the functions of a leader, identifying problems at their level and solving them, is determined as the most important condition for the viability of a modern organization, as well as of society as a whole.
The problem of leadership for more than 40 years has been actively studied in various countries. The handbook on the theory of leadership, released in 1981, already contained information on more than 5,000 independent studies in this area, but so far only unrecognized criteria have not been formulated, on the basis of which one can identify leaders among the rest of the group or organization, but and criteria to distinguish between effective and ineffective leaders.
Researchers define leadership in accordance with their own ideas about it and based on the fact that they are most interested in this phenomenon. Stogdill ( Stogdill, 1974) noted that there are as many definitions of leadership ; how many people who tried to deal with this phenomenon.
Leadership is defined in terms of leadership behavior, role relations, influence on goal setting, etc. Leadership is considered as a process and as a property. Most definitions of leadership as a process presuppose the existence of influence. This is an informal influence on group members in order to manage and coordinate their actions to achieve goals.
Consequently, a broad understanding of leadership includes :
- influence on setting goals and defining development strategies;
- the impact on the coordination of behavior to achieve goals;
- impact on group support; impact on organizational culture.
As a property, leadership is a set of characteristics or a system of qualities belonging to those who exercise a non-coercive influence. Leadership is not related to the use of force, coercion, pressure, due to the situation in the organization (position, position) or official authority. It involves the interaction of people and the support of the leader of the members of the group in which he is included. All of the above applies to informal leadership. Leaders are viewed as formal leaders who may or may not be informal leaders at the same time.
John Nicole points out the differences in leadership at the micro and macro levels of management. The microleader functions in the internal environment of the organization, focuses on solving current issues, its management is often reactive and situational. Macro leadership is focused on the future, the external environment, building relationships between people within the organization through the creation of an organizational culture.
There are four main approaches that explain what makes a leader effective: behavioral, situational, theory of traits, theory of power and influence.
Approach in terms of power and influence
This approach describes the effectiveness of leadership in terms of power, types of power. Power is important not only in terms of influence on subordinates, but also of influence on partners, customers, senior managers, suppliers.
The main questions that researchers in this direction are looking for are:
- What are the main types and sources of power?
- How is power acquired and how is it lost by leaders?
- How does power determine leadership effectiveness?
An effective leader skillfully uses both the power of a position (position, level of hierarchy) and personal power. In each case, he uses that kind of it, which allows to reduce status differences to a minimum and avoid the danger of a collision with stable self-esteem of subordinates, i.e. authority is exercised “gently”.
An important issue addressed in this approach is the question of the limits of power that a manager should have. For example, what are the consequences of unlimited power? In terms of unemployment and the absence of any organizations protecting the rights of workers, the limits of the power of a formal leader can be significantly expanded. Let us cite the revelation of one of the managers of the building trust: 4 If I propose to any employee of the administrative apparatus to lick, in the literal sense of the word, my car, he will do it. They are afraid of staff reductions and therefore are ready for anything. ” This statement, on the one hand, characterizes the leader and his position, on the other - the situation that led to the expansion of the limits of power.
The bridge between the theory of power and the behavioral approach is the study of influence tactics used by managers. Tactics of influence include: rationalization of motives, distribution of profits, exploitation of attractiveness, appeal to authority, consultation. The choice of influence tactics is determined by the situation, the goals of influence and the status of people in the group.
Behavioral approach
A behavioral approach involves exploring what leaders and leaders actually do. If there are specific features of a leader's behavior that ensure his success, therefore, we can teach leadership, create special programs that allow you to create effective models of leader behavior.
One of the main issues:
- What is the nature of management?
From the standpoint of this approach stand out: typical actions and management decisions. In management activities, typical actions include actions related to the exchange of information, the formulation of problems, the impact on people in order to achieve goals.
- What classifications of management activities are possible?
The early typology developed in the framework of the behavioral approach distinguished between task-oriented management (achievement of production goals) and relationship-oriented management.
- What type of management activity makes a leader effective?
In other words, what is more effective - orientation of the leader to the task or orientation to the relationship in the group? The answer to this question is connected with the peculiarities of the management culture of various countries.
In the United States, studies of this problem yielded contradictory and inconclusive results, with the exception of the found significant relationships between the general good relations and satisfaction with the subordinates with work.
In Japan, researchers found that both orientations are closely related to leadership effectiveness.
Russian studies have shown that task leaders dominate among effective leaders, they pay less attention to relationships.
Trait theory
The theory of traits include concepts that establish the personal, social, intellectual features that distinguish leaders and non-leaders. The latest studies of the theory of traits are aimed at studying the motivation and specific skills, whereas the early studies were related only to personal characteristics and general intelligence.
Main questions:
- What features determine leadership effectiveness?
The features that determine the effectiveness of management include high self-confidence, vigor, initiative, emotional stability, resistance to stress, and internal locus control. D. Mac Clelland and other researchers found that effective leaders in large hierarchical organizations have a greater need for power, a lesser need for achievements, and a weak need for affiliation. The optimal case is the dominance of the need to achieve and a high degree of independence.
- What skills determine leadership effectiveness?
According to some scientists, the effectiveness of leadership is due to special skills: analytical, oratorical, skills of active listening, reasoning, memory for detail, empathy, etc. Readers have the opportunity to assess whether they have the necessary leadership skills in accordance with the list of D. Hunt and R. Osbourne:
- What combination of individual traits that influence leadership effectiveness can be considered optimal?
The theory of devil does not give a definite answer to this question. Researchers in this area often do not take into account the compensatory vozmolnost of the psyche and features of management. One of the basic concepts of the theory of traits, allowing to remove some of the limitations of this area of research, is the concept of balance.
Considers a balance between:
Situational approach
Within the framework of the situational approach, there are two main areas of research.
The first is studying leadership behavior as a dependent variable. This is a search for an answer to the question: how does the situation affect leadership behavior?
The second direction focuses on situations and examines the influence of the leader on their change.
Main questions:
- What aspects of the situation affect pa leadership behavior?
- How is the effectiveness of leadership related to the situation?
- Leaders adapt their behavior to the requirements of the role and the pressure of the situation.
Management efficiency depends on:
how does the manager understand the requirements of the situation;
how much the pressure of the situation;
Whether opportunities of its change are recognized.
- An effective leader is able to: reconcile role conflicts, use all the possibilities, demonstrate their competence.
- How leaders evaluate information about the execution of tasks by subordinates (assess the situation)!
An attempt to answer this question was made in the framework of the attribution theory (attribution). Two stages of the process: attribution of causality and choice of answer.
External attribution. The head believes that the causes of the current situation, such as large financial losses, are hidden in the external environment for the organization. In this case, the manager tries to change the situation: attract additional resources, better inform, change the task, eliminate difficulties.
Internal attribution (attribution). According to the leader, the causes of certain events are hidden within the organization. The head tries to give direct and indirect advice, more closely monitors subordinates, finds new motivations or warns, punishes.
Situational theories claim that different behaviors can be effective in different situations and that one model can be optimal in many situations.
The group management style can be characterized in three areas: the degree of decision-making ™ (the manager's tendency to give orders, instructions, directives), the degree of support (the tendency of managers to assist employees in achieving goals), the degree of involvement (participation of employees in decision-making). According to supporters of the situational approach, the degree of directivity, support and involvement depends on the stage of development of the group.
Situational theory of leadership effectiveness
Of the many situational theories dwell on three.
1. Theory of cognitive resources . This theory considers the conditions in which leadership cognitive resources (intellect, experience) are associated with the task of the group. Situational variables, such as the complexity of the task, the level of stress, group support, determine the degree of influence of intelligence and leader's experience on group execution.
2. Model Faded (Yukl). The model is based on the fact that execution largely depends on six variables:
team member efforts;
abilities of group members;
work organization;
group work and collaboration;
the availability of substantial resources;
coordination with the activities of other parts of the organization.
The situation largely determines the importance of each of the listed variables. A leader can take into account the significance of these variables in various ways, therefore, the effectiveness of leadership is partly related to the situation.
3. Theory of leader - environment - follower - interaction ".
In accordance with this theory, the diligence of subordinates depends on four factors: the ability to perform work, motivation, a clear and adequate perception of the role, and the presence or absence of the appropriate environment. The effectiveness of leadership is determined by the abilities and skills of subordinates, their ability to learn.
Modern situational concepts proclaim the existence of a leadership crisis related to the fact that in recent times business has changed significantly, and most people have not learned to change with it. Time determines the necessary type of leadership, the most effective in a given society with its socio-economic characteristics.
Transformational and Charismatic Leadership
Transformational leadership is based on the influence of a leader on subordinates, but the effect of influence enables subordinates to take part in the process of transforming an organization. The main components of this theory are: the leader’s ability to lead, an individual approach, intellectual stimulation, “inspiring” motivation, and the involvement of other people in interaction, in which the leader and the rest of the group contribute to mutual social growth. The developmental plan for transformational leadership involves the formation of basic characteristics of management style (visibility and accessibility of the leader; creation of good working groups; support and inspiration for talented people; use of training for personal and group development; creation of a personal code of values) and analysis of the stages of the organization's change process.
Charismatic Theory of Conger and Kanungo.
This theory is based on the assumption that charisma is attributed to the leader. Followers attribute the leader charismatic characteristics based on their own observations of his behavior. Traits that increase the likelihood of attributing charismatic characteristics:
- self-confidence;
- pronounced managerial skills;
- cognitive (intellect, memory, attention) abilities, allowing to assess - the situation and recognize the favorable opportunities and limitations in the way of achieving the goal;
- social sensitivity (sensitivity) and empathy (the ability to understand the experiences of another), required to understand the needs and values of followers.
The practical application of leadership theories
- Some features of a leader make it possible to predict his success, but the fact that a manager has a high level
- development of intelligence, domination, self-confidence does not mean that his subordinates will work productively or will be satisfied with their work activity.
- The autocracy-democrat continuum and various modern typologies of leadership styles help to evaluate, predict, adjust management activities.
- The success of a leader largely depends on the coherence of the individual style with the environment.
Management Review magazine has conducted a survey of experts regarding the leading features of American business leaders of the 1990s. According to the survey, leaders have the following features:
1. Anticipation, insight. It should be noted that this is not just a foresight, but a “foresight of glory,” that is, a leader
should know the place of the company in the future. But this is not enough: this vision should be shared by the whole company. The main thing is to determine the direction and carry people along. He who has foresight, but does not have the ability to bring his ideas to action, is just a dreamer.
2. Integrity, consistency. Being inconsistent, the leader cannot expect people to follow him. A leader must have values and he must consistently do what he thinks is right.
3. Trust. Two aspects of this characteristic are significant. A leader, on the one hand, is a trustworthy person; on the other, he trusts the people with whom he works.
4. Creativity. A leader must see the world consisting of a huge number of opportunities. He is open to learning various ways to achieve goals.
Hardness. He should be able to make unpopular, but necessary decisions. Experts argue that the leader must clearly understand what he wants. He must have high standards and he must not change his principles.
5. Communication skills. A good leader constantly and effectively communicates with people. According to one of the experts, sometimes the leader is forced to tell his people everything he knows, and what he does not know.
6. Propensity to risk. The leader should push people to new and new issues, to encourage the pursuit of innovation. An organization ceases to prosper as soon as changes cease to take place.
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Psychology of management
Terms: Psychology of management