Various forces will affect these factors. Examples of forces are your relationship with your seniors,
the skill of your people, the informal leaders within your organization, and how your company is organized.
If you are a leader who can be trusted, then those around you will grow to respect you. To be such a
leader, there is a Leadership Framework to guide you:
BE KNOW DO
Every organization has a particular work environment, which dictates to a considerable degree how its
leaders respond to problems and opportunities. This is brought about by its heritage of past leaders and
its present leaders.
Goals, Values, and Concepts
Leaders exert influence on the environment via three types of actions:
- The goals and performance standards they establish.
- The values they establish for the organization.
- The business and people concepts they establish.
Successful organizations have leaders who set high standards and goals across the entire spectrum,
such as strategies, market leadership, plans, meetings and presentations, productivity, quality, and reliability.
Values reflect the concern the organization has for its employees, customers, investors, vendors,
and surrounding community. These values define the manner in how business will be conducted.
Concepts define what products or services the organization will offer and the methods and processes
for conducting business.
These goals, values, and concepts make up the organization's "personality" or how the organization is
observed by both outsiders and insiders. This personality defines the roles, relationships, rewards, and
rites that take place.
Roles and Relationships
Roles are the positions that are defined by a set of expectations about behavior of any job incumbent.
Each role has a set of tasks and responsibilities that may or may not be spelled out. Roles have a powerful
effect on behavior for several reasons, to include money being paid for the performance of the role, there
is prestige attached to a role, and a sense of accomplishment or challenge.
Relationships are determined by a role's tasks. While some tasks are performed alone, most are carried
out in relationship with others. The tasks will determine who the role-holder is required to interact with,
how often, and towards what end. Also, normally the greater the interaction, the greater the liking. This
in turn leads to more frequent interaction. In human behavior, its hard to like someone whom we have no
contact with, and we tend to seek out those we like. People tend to do what they are rewarded for, and
friendship is a powerful reward. Many tasks and behaviors that are associated with a role are brought about
by these relationships. That is, new task and behaviors are expected of the present role holder because a
strong relationship was developed in the past, either by that role holder or a prior role holder.
Culture and Climate
There are two distinct forces that dictate how to act within an organization: culture and climate.
Each organization has its own distinctive culture. It is a combination of the founders, past leadership,
current leadership, crises, events, history, and size. This results in rites: the routines, rituals, and
the "way we do things." These rites impact individual behavior on what it takes to be in good standing
(the norm) and directs the appropriate behavior for each circumstance.
The climate is the feel of the organization, the individual and shared perceptions and attitudes of
the organization's members. While the culture is the deeply rooted nature of the organization that is a
result of long-held formal and informal systems, rules, traditions, and customs; climate is a short-term
phenomenon created by the current leadership. Climate represents the beliefs about the "feel of the
organization" by its members. This individual perception of the "feel of the organization" comes from
what the people believe about the activities that occur in the organization. These activities influence
both individual and team motivation and satisfaction, such as:
- How well does the leader clarify the priorities and goals of the organization? What is expected of us?
- What is the system of recognition, rewards, and punishments in the organization?
- How competent are the leaders?
- Are leaders free to make decision?
- What will happen if I make a mistake?
Organizational climate is directly related to the leadership and management style of the leader, based
on the values, attributes, skills, and actions, as well as the priorities of the leader. Compare this to
"ethical climate" -- the "feel of the organization" about the activities that have ethical content or those
aspects of the work environment that constitute ethical behavior. The ethical climate is the feel about
whether we do things right; or the feel of whether we behave the way we ought to behave. The behavior
(character) of the leader is the most important factor that impacts the climate.
On the other hand, culture is a long-term, complex phenomenon. Culture represents the shared expectations
and self-image of the organization. The mature values that create "tradition" or the "way we do things
here." Things are done differently in every organization. The collective vision and common folklore that
define the institution are a reflection of culture. Individual leaders, cannot easily create or change
culture because culture is a part of the organization. Culture influences the characteristics of the climate
by its effect on the actions and thought processes of the leader. But, everything you do as a leader will
effect the climate of the organization.
Leadership Models
Leadership models help us to understand what makes leaders act the way they do. The ideal is not to lock
yourself in to a type of behavior discussed in the model, but to realize that every situation calls for a
different approach or behavior to be taken. Two models will be discussed, the Four Framework Approach and
the Managerial Grid.
Four Framework Approach
In the Four Framework Approach, Bolman and Deal (1991) suggest that leaders display leadership
behaviors in one of four types of frameworks: Structural, Human Resource, Political, or Symbolic. The style
can either be effective or ineffective, depending upon the chosen behavior in certain situations.
Structural Framework
In an effective leadership situation, the leader is a social architect whose leadership style is analysis and
design. While in an ineffective leadership situation, the leader is a petty tyrant whose leadership style is
details. Structural Leaders focus on structure, strategy, environment, implementation, experimentation, and adaptation.
Human Resource Framework
In an effective leadership situation, the leader is a catalyst and servant whose leadership style is support,
advocate, and empowerment. while in an ineffective leadership situation, the leader is a pushover, whose
leadership style is abdication and fraud. Human Resource Leaders believe in people and communicate that belief;
they are visible and accessible; they empower, increase participation, support, share information, and move
decision making down into the organization.
Political Framework
In an effective leadership situation, the leader is an advocate, whose leadership style is coalition and building.
While in an ineffective leadership situation, the leader is a hustler, whose leadership style is manipulation.
Political leaders clarify what they want and what they can get; they assess the distribution of power and interests;
they build linkages to other stakeholders, use persuasion first, then use negotiation and coercion only if necessary.
Symbolic Framework
In an effective leadership situation, the leader is a prophet, whose leadership style is inspiration. While in
an ineffective leadership situation, the leader is a fanatic or fool, whose leadership style is smoke and mirrors.
Symbolic leaders view organizations as a stage or theater to play certain roles and give impressions; these
leaders use symbols to capture attention; they try to frame experience by providing plausible interpretations
of experiences; they discover and communicate a vision.
This model suggests that leaders can be put into one of these four categories and there are times when one approach
is appropriate and times when it would not be. Any one of these approaches alone would be inadequate, thus we
should strive to be conscious of all four approaches, and not just rely on one or two. For example, during a
major organization change, a structural leadership style may be more effective than a visionary leadership style;
while during a period when strong growth is needed, the visionary approach may be better. We also need to
understand ourselves as each of us tends to have a preferred approach. We need to be conscious of this at all
times and be aware of the limitations of our favoring just one approach.
Managerial Grid
Take the Leadership
Matrix Tool.
The Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid (1985) uses two axis:
- "Concern for people" is plotted using the vertical axis
- "Concern for task" is along the horizontal axis.
They both have a range of o to 9. The notion that just two dimensions can describe a managerial behavior has
the attraction of simplicity. These two dimensions can be drawn as a graph or grid:
|
High
P
e
o
p
l
e |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 9 |
Country Club |
|
Team Leader |
| 8 |
|
| 7 |
|
| 6 |
|
| 5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 4 |
Impoverished |
|
Authoritarian |
| 3 |
|
| 2 |
|
| 1 |
|
| 0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
Low
High
Task
|
Most people fall somewhere near the middle of the two axis. But, by going to the extremes, that is, people
who score on the far end of the scales, we come up with four types of leaders:
- Authoritarian (9 on task, 1 on people)
- Team Leader (9 on task, 9 on people)
- Country Club (1 on task, 9 on people)
- Impoverished (1 on task, 1 on people).
Authoritarian Leader (high task, low relationship)
People who get this rating are very much task oriented and are hard on their workers (autocratic). There is
little or no allowance for cooperation or collaboration. Heavily task oriented people display these
characteristics: they are very strong on schedules; they expect people to do what they are told without
question or debate; when something goes wrong they tend to focus on who is to blame rather than concentrate
on exactly what is wrong and how to prevent it; they are intolerant of what they see as dissent (it may just
be someone's creativity), so it is difficult for their subordinates to contribute or develop.
Team Leader (high task, high relationship)
This type of person leads by positive example and endeavors to foster a team environment in which all team
members can reach their highest potential, both as team members and as people. They encourage the team to
reach team goals as effectively as possible, while also working tirelessly to strengthen the bonds among
the various members. They normally form and lead some of the most productive teams.
Country Club Leader (low task, high relationship)
This person uses predominantly reward power to maintain discipline and to encourage the team to accomplish
its goals. Conversely, they are almost incapable of employing the more punitive coercive and legitimate powers.
This inability results from fear that using such powers could jeopardize relationships with the other team members.
Impoverished Leader (low task, low relationship)
A leader who uses a "delegate and disappear" management style. Since they are not committed to either task
accomplishment or maintenance; they essentially allow their team to do whatever it wishes and prefer to
detach themselves from the team process by allowing the team to suffer from a series of power struggles.
Team Leader (high task, high relationship)
The most desirable place for a leader to be along the two axis at most times would be a 9 on task and a
9 on people -- the Team Leader. However, do not entirely dismiss the other three. Certain situations might
call for one of the other three to be used at times. For example, by playing the Impoverished Leader, you
allow your team to gain self-reliance. Be an Authoritarian Leader to instill a sense of discipline in an
unmotivated worker. By carefully studying the situation and the forces affecting it, you will know at what
points along the axis you need to be in order to achieve the desired result.
The Process of Great Leadership
The road to great leadership (Kouzes & Posner, 1987) that is common to successful leaders:
- Challenge the process - First, find a process that you believe needs to be improved the most.
- Inspire a shared vision - Next, share you vision in words that can be understood by your followers.
- Enable others to act - Give them the tools and methods to solve the problem.
- Model the way - When the process gets tough, get your hands dirty. A boss tells others what to do...a leader
shows that it can be done.
- Encourage the heart - Share the glory with your followers' heart, while keeping the pains within your own.
References
Bass, Bernard (1989). Stogdill's Handbook of Leadership: A Survey of Theory and Research. New York: Free Press.
Bass, Bernard (1990). From transactional to transformational leadership: learning to share the vision. Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 18, Issue 3, Winter, 1990, 19-31.
Blake, Robert R. and Mouton, Janse S. (1985). The Managerial Grid III: The Key to Leadership Excellence. Houston: Gulf Publishing Co.
Bolman, L. and Deal, T. (1991). Reframing Organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Kouzes, James M. & Posner, Barry Z. (1987). The Leadership Challenge. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
U.S. Army Handbook (1973). Military Leadership.
Test Questions: