Leadership Theory and Personal Beliefs Discussion Question

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1) Must be 250 Words EACH

2) Please include intext citation with the following attached ill provide some pages from the book and the reference of it

Applying Leadership Theory

Identify and explain a workplace leadership and management role familiar to you. Describe how the role aligns with leadership theory.


1) Must be 250 words

Leadership Theory and Personal Beliefs

Review the theories of leadership and describe the one that fits best with your philosophical framework of leadership.

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Chapter 1 Leadership in Human Services and Workplace Vocabulary of Leaders and Managers Learning Objectives The student will • • • • describe the human services work sector and the leadership skill sets needed; explain the benefits to human services organizations if employees develop improved leadership skill sets; identify and explain leadership and management vocabulary as described giving a workplace example; and engage with the flow of the learning process used through out the textbook: reflection, diagnosis, and prescription. The scope of this text will focus on the full range of key organizational processes and personal skills of leaders and managers within a human services organization. Leadership in Human Services Effective leadership starts on the inside. This text will provide growth and development for both personal and organizational leadership as well as management. The impact of learning from this text will equip you to establish strong foundations and key skill sets within your organization to become a manager and leader in the field. Your action will be to read, reflect, diagnose, and apply the various skills to personal and organizational situations (prescription). Don’t think of it as a medication for an illness but instead as a treatment of multivitamins for your leadership growth and development. You will be learning not just theory but application of the theories. This challenge requires more than memorization on your part. In each chapter, the concept is introduced, followed by an opportunity to reflect on how the concept is currently active in your life. After reflecting, you will have the opportunity to take a short assessment to see how effective you are in utilizing that leadership concept. This step is called diagnosis. Your need for the third step, prescription, is determined here. Once you know what you want to do differently to become more effective as a leader, you can apply the prescription appropriately. Following the study of each chapter’s concepts, utilize the textbook’s extra resources and seek feedback from peers, faculty members, and human services professionals on the progress of your ability to apply your new learning in leadership. And of course, practice, practice, practice! Learning new skills and behaviors requires practice. What is the Human Services Sector? Agencies, community centers, some government services, educational organizations, health clinics, and many nonprofits fall under the umbrella of the human services sector. Sometimes these organizations are partnered with or are part of national, state, and local governments. Each organization’s outreach varies depending on the community need, organizational mission, functional technology, human resources, and funding. The field of human services can be defined as one that helps individuals cope with problems of a social welfare, educational, psychological, behavioral, health, or legal nature (Mehr & Kanwischer, 2011, p.13). The Human Services Leader: A Snapshot Due to the diverse services and programs human services organizations deliver, leaders within human service organizations have obtained a variety of degrees and experiences that qualify them to be direct service providers, media and marketing coordinators, educators, public health officials, social workers, grant writers, or volunteer coordinators. Leaders of human services organizations work with teams inside and outside of their organization, establishing partnerships as well as ensuring their customers’, clients’, or patients’ needs are met. They have to balance not only the diverse set of needs and talents of their staff but also the diverse set of needs and characteristics of their clients. A typical workday in a human services leadership position will include a substantial number of meetings and communications with staff, clients, board members, and community partners. Leaders find themselves engaged in planning, supervising, handling crises, fundraising, returning phone calls and emails, building the organization’s brand, leading teams, managing large numbers of documents and appointments, reviewing and monitoring budgets, and approving expenditures. Human services organizations are typically challenged with limited fiscal and human resources whether in government, for-profit, or nonprofit sectors. Most employees’ roles include administrator, service provider, program planner, as well as clerk and receptionist, because support staff is a luxury for most of these organizations. Few leaders of human services organizations spend their time engaged in only leadership activities such as documenting and measuring the positive impact of their services, fundraising, providing feedback to staff and other stakeholders, leading board meetings, networking with potential community partners, and assessing community needs and resources. Many leaders of human services organizations also provide direct client services. The Study of Leaders in Human Services Organizations Since the 1990s, interest has grown in understanding civic leadership in communities and the human services field. As you will see in Chapter 2, much of the early historical focus regarding the study of leadership concentrated on military leaders, political leaders, and for-profit business leaders. As you progress in your study of leadership in the human services sector, the overall best practices, skill sets, strategies, and processes of leadership will have many commonalities among the many workplace sectors. However, because the missions-orientation, values, environmental contexts, and operating systems of human services organizations differ from other workplace sectors, this textbook will emphasize and present leadership skill sets, strategies, and processes in a human services organizational context. In other words, leaders in human services use the same tools but may use them in a different way, have a different emphasis, or spend more time with some tools than others. Included in a section of this chapter will also be key vocabulary used in the study of leadership and organizational management that might be unfamiliar or unclear to those who studied only for human services careers. Reflection: Leading a Human Services Organization Begin by comparing the characteristics of a human services and a for-profit organization. Did you realize a human services organization serves a client base and a community while a forprofit organization serves stockholders, owners, and customers? A for-profit organization produces a product that must be sold and return a cash profit. A human services organization produces a product most often in the form of a program, service, or assistance that is not always expected to return a cash profit with returns to stockholders. These products are delivered to clients to alleviate a difficult situation, enabling them to return to a state of well-being. They may compete with programs and services of another agency, but such a marketplace is usually limited by location or rules of eligibility. A for-profit organization competes in a global marketplace of many similar products and services. Leaders in human services organizations always seek to make an impact at the micro level, which can be described as running an effective organization that provides quality, direct services to individual clients. A for-profit organization works to impact at both the micro and macro levels, seeking to gain the loyalty of the customer as well as a larger market share. Now that you can recognize the different characteristics of for-profit and human services organizations, are the characteristics of leadership requirements different in the two sectors? The Table 1.1 defines the needed skill sets for each of the different leadership levels within an organization. Although this list of skill sets is common to leaders in both sectors, leaders in human services organizations require additional skills. Over time, leaders in human services organizations will observe patterns of client risk factors and bureaucratic rules, resulting in a possible need to problem solve at a macro level (to investigate through a larger unit of analysis such as a multiple community study or a national study). By collaborating with other community leaders, human services organizations become part of a collaboration that champions, makes recommendations, and establishes policies on a variety of issues regarding social, educational, health care, and socioeconomic issues. Human services leaders play a vital role in advocating for and building the public policy agendas that shape programs and policies government undertakes (Denhardt, Denhardt, & Aristigueta, 2002). Leadership in this field is more than influencing followers toward a common goal. Human services leaders must consider roles and responsibilities of all, the comprehensive network of community issues and problems, as well as seek to understand the value systems of different populations. Heifetz (1994, p. 22) refers to this as “adaptive work.” Human services leaders are tasked with a difficult job of helping communities learn to adapt to new ways of thinking, living, and accepting people of all backgrounds as valued and deserving of services designed to improve their quality of life. Human services leaders, such as government policy makers, working at the macro level to impact large-scale issues will partner with many organizations, agencies, and community leaders to achieve their goals. The traditional skills of organizational management skills useful in micro-level work are not adequate at the macro level. These leaders need skill sets to become conveners, facilitators, advocates, and conflict negotiators. They must think strategically and motivate others to do the same. They must keep a positive, proactive attitude; possess high personal integrity; and maintain focus on the mission and results (Denhardt et al., 2002). Human services leaders working at the micro level help community members address individual and family needs; later they shift to the macro level to provide advocacy that may diminish the gap between a community’s values, legislative policies, programs, and services and between the disparities community members face. As a future leader in this sector, imagine the breadth of the roles you will play, the skills you will employ, as well as the impact you will have. iagnosis: Leadership Skill Sets Needed in the Human Services Profession How is your academic program and future profession preparing you to succeed as a leader in the human services sector? In 2005, Scotland’s government convened a group of leaders in the social work profession to review current practice of leadership preparation, project the leadership and management needs within the profession, and make recommendations on how to improve and strengthen their services(Leadership and Management Sub Group, 2006). The group determined that a future of increasing demands, greater complexity, and rising expectations of social work services required an upgrade from their current ability levels. Their research concluded needs for a changing service delivery model with engaging clients as active participants, consistently improved outcomes, new collaborative service delivery, and a shift from a welfare-based approach to a delivery of well-being for individuals and communities. Their report highlighted recommendations for improvement in strategic leadership, succession planning, outcomes measures for programs and services, greater accountability, management and leadership training at all levels of the organization, standards of professional practice, and integrated service delivery. In short, the skill set needs were identified, and a call to action was declared. In 2012, the Center for Creative Leadership in the United States facilitated an online discussion of nonprofit professionals to discuss leadership challenges driving today’s nonprofit landscape (Clark, 2012). The first challenge noted was the struggling economy, which created an environment of fierce competition for funding from foundations, donors, and grants. All funders have raised the bar to require demonstrations of impact and statistical measures of change for the dollars received. The second challenge discussed focused on the leadership capacity of nonprofits. It is critical that nonprofit organizations intentionally develop a pipeline of leaders within the organization both to carry out the mission and strategic plan of the organization and to be trained and ready to fill a vacancy or void. Succession planning builds an organizational pipeline, ensuring one person does not have all of the expertise and experience regarding a particular niche. The third challenge of human services organizations is to evolve with the changing needs of the employees, clients, and board members by adding new leadership development programs and updating leadership tools. Leaders must develop skills that facilitate new ways to operate that favor team approaches and interagency collaboration, new methods to engage board members, creative use of resources, retaining and utilizing volunteers, as well as hiring and retaining highly trained staff. As you can see from these two different studies, it is imperative for successful human services leaders to adapt to changing demands, changing needs of their communities, diverse employees, and environments that evolve due to ongoing social and economic change. Earlier academic programs did not prepare human services professionals for the skill sets required to face today’s leadership challenges. These studies specifically make recommendations to train and develop leaders in the human services sector, to establish bench strength and succession planning, to train leaders for both the micro and macro roles of the organization, to establish a network of shared leadership at all levels of the organization, and to establish a discipline of resource accountability by demonstrating consistent, measured results. Complete this survey as you consider the strength of your skill sets in these diverse leadership success factors. Survey of Human Services Leadership Skill Sets Use the scale of 1 = no knowledge, no practice; 2 = small knowledge, no practice; 3 = some knowledge, little practice; 4 = knowledgeable, some practice; 5 = knowledgeable, successful practice. 1. Able to sustain a community partnership: I am knowledgeable of and can apply the key behaviors and requirements that make a community partnership successful. 2. Teamwork: I can work with a team to make decisions and implement policies and programs. 3. Influence: I can lead others to see and adopt new ways of thinking and living in a diverse community. 4. Lead change: I can work at the micro level to influence others to make positive changes for themselves and their families. 5. Political influence: I can work at the macro level to influence policy makers and leaders in peer organizations to initiate change. 6. Mission driven: I can coach my work team to stay focused on the mission and results. 7. Demonstrate measurable results: I am able to frame results in a quantifiable way so that progress can be measured and compared. Where are your leadership skill sets strong? How many 4s and 5s did you score and in what areas? Where do your skill sets need strength? What areas did you score 1s, 2s, and 3s? Prescription: Guiding Your Leadership Journey The scope of this text will focus on the full range of key organizational processes and personal skills of leaders and managers within a human services organization. You will see measurable improvement in the seven identified leadership skill sets and more. Ken Blanchard (2007) wrote in Forbes that one of the many mistakes E-MBA programs (i.e., online MBA programs) make is spending too much time on teaching strategy and other organizational management concepts before ensuring students have adequately addressed their own credibility as a leader. Kouzes and Posner (2007) and Covey (1989) further emphasize that leadership development begins with an assessment of personal management, values, and credibility. By spending time in each chapter with an honest assessment and real application of new behaviors, you will become that credible leader. Teaching leadership and management in one textbook for what will likely be a one-semester course might seem like entering an eating contest to see how many sandwiches you can eat in 15 sittings. The intention is not to give you indigestion or information overload but to teach you the critical skill sets of successful leaders and managers in human services organizations. In How Great Leaders Grow, Ken Blanchard (2012, p.1) calls this learning process “walking toward wisdom.” In his book, Blanchard states leaders grow when they are willing to receive feedback, open to learning, willing to seek counsel, able to reach out to others, and willing to stretch outside their comfort zones. Be open to reflecting on yours and your classmates’ experiences. Consider adopting new ideas into your repertoire of leadership skills. Picture yourself in a firstlevel leadership role, in a middle-level leadership role, and as the executive director. The goal is to help you gain confidence as you make the skills within this text your skills. The leadership skills you develop rely solely on how far you are willing to study; use the questions, exercises, feedback, and practice. Welcome to the journey. The Workplace Vocabulary of Leaders and Managers Every workplace has a culture and a language peppered with a vocabulary designed to communicate unique concepts and ideas in a profession. Human services, leadership, and management are no different than other professions in their use of specialized terms. In your study of human services, you have gained a rich understanding of that special vocabulary. Now it is time to avail yourself of the important terms in leadership and management. Reflection: Speaking a New Language Becoming a confident and respected leader requires the ability to use the language employed by leaders in the workplace. In fact, let’s start with those two words. Are they interchangeable? Is a leader the same as a manager? Actually, they are not the same. To simplify the concepts, think about a pair of work colleagues in terms of roles they each play on the job. Reference Table 1.2 below to note the role differences between leaders and managers. As you can see, leaders and managers play different yet vital roles ensuring an organization’s success. The manager provides steady and consistent processes and procedures. The leader is looking to the future to keep the organization and staff strategically positioned for the inevitable changes, which will maintain an organization’s future readiness for growth and success. Organizations need the stability and steady progress managers provide. Some organizations have a large enough staff to hire two executives who have complementing skills in leadership and management. Some organizations have a very small staff and must seek an executive director who has both skill sets. Because many human services organizations are resource-challenged, resulting in fewer staff, the ability to play both roles is beneficial and necessary for a human services leader. How strong is your vocabulary in the world of organizations, business, management, and leadership? Diagnosis: Borrowing Words From Other Professions In addition to words such as manager and leader, there are other words and ideas that are common in the business world and useful in the world of human services. Can you give a working definition of these words? It is possible you may have worked in the for-profit sector, and this language is familiar to you. You may also believe that words such as these are necessary in only the for-profit world. Be assured that this vocabulary will be important to you as well as to other human services leaders and partnering community leaders. Can you use these words correctly as a leader in a human services context? Do you currently use these words regularly in the workplace? You will find that management and leadership language translates as easily to small business entrepreneurs as it does to human services organizations and Fortune 500 companies. Rather than give you the Webster’s Dictionary definition of each term, I’ve created a story to help you understand vocabulary concepts through a human services lens. Prescription: Business Vocabulary Translated Into Human Services Speak Business vocabulary is spoken by leaders in all sectors of the workplace, and many business leaders will be represented on your board of directors, advisory board, community stakeholders, and community partners (depending on your organization’s for-profit/nonprofit status). Your ability to use and understand these terms builds your leadership credibility. The vocabulary was selected from What the CEO Wants You to Know: Using Business Acumen to Understand How Your Company Really Works by Ram Charan (2001), and from the 2015 Criteria for the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence (http://www.tncpe.org/framework) The order is based on the sequence of the fictional case study that uses these terms in a human services context. The case: As agency director, you are considering establishing a new service for your health education agency to better serve its clients. This new service will provide to-go healthy meals for families dealing with Type 2 diabetes using after-work (5–7 p.m.) support group services at your agency. A survey of evening support group participants uncovered that fast food consumption (a problem area for those with Type 2 diabetes) had increased among participants of after-work programs. This was an unintended consequence of hosting otherwise convenient after-work programs for working adult participants. If the agency could send the 5 to 7 p.m. participant out the door with healthy to-go meals for the participant and the family, fast food consumption would decrease and participants would have healthier diets, a goal for those with Type 2 diabetes. Mission – This mission is the engine driving your organization in the human services sector. The mission should be able to answer why your organization exists and what it hopes to accomplish? What unique, high quality purpose does it deliver to your community? The mission is the compass by which your leadership steers the agency. Mission: The XYZ Health Education Agency seeks to educate and support citizens in making life-changing decisions for a healthier XYZ community. What programs and services should your organization agree to deliver, and what should other organizations deliver are two of the most important questions a human services organization must determine. In the context of this case study, you must answer the question, Will healthy to-go meals for the 5 to 7 p.m. participants enhance the delivery of your organization’s mission? Anticipate Demand – If you decide the program of healthy to-go meals aligns with your organization’s mission, the next step is to discover if your clients want and need such a service. If they do, are they willing or able to pay a nominal fee for the meals? A willingness to pay a small fee is an indicator of the client value placed on the service. Through this process, you will learn if clients desire and value the meal service and if there is a portion of the cost you can recoup by charging a fee. Market Survey – One way to determine if a healthy to-go meal service will be successful is to interview and survey the clients your organization serves. Here you can ask more detail questions regarding the nominal fee and the client need to determine the extent of the demand. It will also be helpful to research your competitors to determine if similar meal services exist and would therefore compete for funding and clients. A competitor’s program model can help you establish certain baselines such as operations, staffing, costs, facility impacts, and client responses. Competitor – Competition exists in all sectors of the marketplace, even nonprofits. Name the organization(s) that offer similar services as your organization. Then go one step further and ask who offers similar meal services in your market area? The organizations you name are your competitors. It is always beneficial to know who is in your marketplace offering similar services and the details regarding what they offer. Core Competency – A core competency is your organization’s area of greatest expertise. Your organization may be excellent at health education but not excellent in meal preparation. Although a good idea, this new healthy to-go meal service may be better executed by a partnering agency whose expertise is quality meal preparation. Products – In the human services sector, these are deliverables to the clients. The deliverables are programs and services that benefit the clients of your organization. The proposed healthy togo meal plan would be classified as a service provided by your organization. Sales Forecast – This is an attempt to predict the number of meals you anticipate delivering each day you are in operation. You can compare this number to your actual served meal count each day to see if you are meeting your goals and reflect on opportunities for change. Merchandising – Any service (food especially) must look appealing and fresh. Even if the clients want the service, if it does not look or smell appealing, they will not participate. How will you package and make the healthy to-go meals attractive to current and future clients? Advertise – Once your agency adopts the healthy to-go meal service as one of its programs, how will you communicate this service to your clients? How will you secure their loyalty to the program? How will you reach out to potential clients and ensure their future loyalty? Product Mix – When you offer the healthy to-go meals, you will likely have choices for what makes up the meal. Some of these decisions can be fleshed out during the market research phase. However, there will inevitably be some clients who are unsatisfied due to the lack of variety, gluten-free, or vegetarian options. Therefore, it is important to determine if your organization will meet these needs or evolve to discontinue some of the unpopular choices after the service is in place. Cash – This term has a different meaning in many organizations within the human service sector. Yes, all organizations operate with cash. The sources of that cash are as varied as the types of organizations. Cash can come from sales of products, fees for services, insurance reimbursements, donors, and grants. If your organization is a government or nonprofit agency, you will need to know that the expenses for the service do not exceed what you budgeted for the cost and that the service provided value to the client. Measuring this value is in effect a demonstration of your profit. If your organization is a for-profit agency, you will need to know the cost of delivering the program; not only should the program not exceed the total expenses incurred, but also there must be a profit (cash for the agency to keep) to show for the work. Profit Margin – This term means the same as net margin. It is a calculation to help an organization know how closely priced the item is to its cost. For example, jewelry is sold at a higher margin than groceries. Margin is not the same as the markup on an item. The profit margin formula looks like this: Net Profit Margin = [Revenue – Cost]/Revenue × 100 Let’s say you spent $400 on 4,000 pounds of ingredients for the healthy to-go meals. If all to-go meals are sold at a 2% profit margin, assuming the staff salaries are covered and there is no food waste, the agency has a profit of $80. Therefore, your organization will make a 20% return on assets (80/400 = .20 or 20%), which can either be reinvested to grow the program, grow other programs, or support other new programs. Client/Customer/Patient Focus – Agencies strive to know whether their services and programs create value and return clients to a sense of well-being. One way they do this is to put themselves in their clients’ shoes to determine if the services alleviate the problem and are delivered in a way that pleases the client. Clients have choices today in selecting their service providers. In the health care arena, patient focus is a key determinant in the accreditation ratings of clinics and hospitals. Foundations and government-funded grants are also interested in value to client and client satisfaction. Clients have the ability to choose most service providers. A healthy to-go meal will have to be convenient, high quality, high choice, and a good economic deal to interest the client. Brand – Funding streams tend to follow organizations that create client demand and show results. That reputation is known as the agency brand. As a leader, the organization’s focus is not only to deliver on the agency mission but also to deliver in such a way that clients are well served. This translates into an enhanced brand. Any new service or program added to the agency must deliver in a way that continues to enhance the brand. Delivering a quality, healthy to-go meal causes clients to want to return to your service/organization as well as rave about their experience to other current or potential clients. Today that conversation method includes texts, emails, twitter, blogs, and so on. Your agency’s reputation can be elevated or reduced by a few keystrokes. Many human service organizations rely on their brand reputation to secure donors, grant funds, and ensure ongoing government funding. Although your agency’s goal is not to become a long-term competitor to McDonalds, you want your funders and board members to understand the agency has a new quality, healthy to-go meal service that adds to the reputation of your organization’s brand. Stakeholders Versus Shareholders – The for-profit term is shareholders and refers to those who have made a monetary investment in the business, and will expect a return of cash on that investment. A stakeholder in a nonprofit expects a return on the investment in the form of an enhanced community. The term stakeholder applies to all types of organizations and is someone who is impacted by the organization: a key stakeholder is impacted directly. Using this definition, the list of stakeholders for an organization is large. Adding a new service to your organization certainly impacts its internal stakeholders such as employees and board members as well as external stakeholders such as clients, competitors, and community partners. When you pitch the idea for the healthy to-go meals to internal stakeholders, you must be able to articulate the organizational impact on staff, resources, future clients, board members, major donors, and so on. Accounts Receivable/Accounts Payable – Accounts receivable are funds clients owe the organization. These can be agency fees or even the discounted cost of the new healthy to-go meal service. Accounts payable are funds the agency owes to suppliers. These can be utility bills or the cost of the food items for the to-go meals. Organizations must have appropriate cash on hand to pay for those items in the accounts payable column. Therefore, leaders must know what it will cost to incorporate the new meal service and if the money is not in the current budget, how you will intend to raise the funds. Asset – These are things (not people) you have invested in for your organization. Ownership of the facility, equipment, technology, and vehicles are considered assets. Supplies such as paper or packaging for the healthy to-go meals are not assets since those are items that are consumed. It might be that the new food service will require purchase of assets such as new kitchen equipment: ovens, microwaves, stoves, and refrigerators. Return on Assets – Leaders must understand the value of an investment of funds for an asset. They will refer to it as an ROA (return on assets) or ROI (return on investment). The terms are interchangeable. How might you describe the ROI of cash and staff-time to add the new meal service? Is the return an increase in participation? A return could mean healthier eating patterns for participants and their families, resulting in a reduction of their out-of-pocket medical expenses? Most organization boards of directors will ask such questions before approving expenditures for new equipment to support new programs like the healthy to-go meal service. Effective – This term describes whether a service achieves its intended purpose. What are the intended purposes of the healthy to-go meal? (1) Meal convenience maintains client participation. (2) Healthy meal choices support the organization’s clients overall well-being as well as the after-work programs that educate families impacted by Type 2 diabetes. (3) The healthy to-go meal service provides families an economic option to eat healthy. Using these purposes, you can measure effectiveness of the new service. Goals – A goal is a performance level an organization intends to attain. In launching the new healthy to-go meal service, your goal might be to reduce after-work program participation decline by 50% in 6 months. Participants reported it was too difficult to manage a healthy evening family meal and attend 5 to 7 p.m. programs. If the new meal service caused 25 of those participants to return to after-work programs over 6 months and the organization had previously seen a decline of 50 participants, we would say the goal had been met. Measure – This is numerical information that quantifies input, output, and overall outcomes of a program or service. In an organization that provides services designed to provide clients with a sense of well-being, measuring the impact of services is challenging. Programs and services in human services organizations are usually directed to produce behavior changes, which can be attributed to multiple influences. A sustained behavior change presents even more challenges to measure since the organization will need to monitor the change for months or even years. If your after-work program is one that provides education and support on weight loss, the program is an input to the participant’s goal to lose weight. Another input is participating in the healthy to-go meals. An output in the process is the number of times the participant attended the 5 to 7 p.m. program. The overall outcome is the number of pounds the participant lost or gained. Each of these items can be measured. Each plays an important part in measuring the behavior change. Process – A set of linked activities with the purpose of producing a program or service for clients is a process. Many times the sequence of activities is important to a process. The case study program describes linked activities that make up the programs and services for families with Type 2 diabetes. Teaching families to prioritize healthy eating is part of the process of successfully living with Type 2 diabetes. The healthy to-go meal is an optional part of the services that support learning about healthy eating processes. Other parts of a healthy eating education change process could be teaching how the body uses different nutrients in foods, how exercise changes metabolism and burns calories, how to read product labels, how to change recipes to use healthier ingredients, and how to plan your week to include shopping, cooking, and exercise instead of relying on typical fast food. Strategy – Engaging in a strategy session requires analyzing all internal and external impacts of an organization to determine a plan of action that allows the organization to achieve intended objectives and positive growth. Such a strategy session may have produced the idea for the healthy to-go meal service, or a decision within the strategy session may have been made to eliminate other programs so that limited resources could be focused on this initiative’s specific long-term goals. Strategy can expand or focus an organization’s work. Sustainability – The organization’s ability to address needs, to evolve, and to strategically plan to successfully prepare for the future needs of the community in their market area is work to sustain the long-term success of the organization. To have long-term viability, organizations must look at both internal and external factors. Factors may include workforce capability, technology, resources, facilities, and so on. It is the social responsibility of the organization to act in a manner that benefits all stakeholders. As an organization, taking on many small new services can reduce its capability to respond to major community needs as they arise. To preserve your organization’s agility and future resources, leaders may choose not to offer the innovative, healthy to-go meal service, so that resources are not spread too thin. Leaders of human services organizations must focus on both the sustainability of the organization as well as the sustainability of its programs and services upon which your clients and community depend. Values – Guiding principles that embody how the organization and its people are expected to operate are its values. Examples of organizational values usually include demonstrating integrity and fairness, valuing diversity, and striving for excellence in the organizations programs and services. Your organization may value nutrition and want to help clients make healthy eating choices. Therefore, the healthy to-go meal service is aligned with your organization’s values. Vision – This is a statement that describes in a sentence or two a picture of what the organization is striving to be in the future. The organization focusing on services for families with Type 2 diabetes may seek to create an all-encompassing set of programs and services to facilitate a health and wellness focus on Type 2 diabetes with support to empower clients toward healthy weight loss. The organization’s vision might be “All families deserve the knowledge to make healthy choices.” With such a vision, this organization may see the healthy to-go meals as a new service in alignment with their vision statement. Summary Diving into new material can feel like learning to swim all over again. Don’t worry; this content will help you learn how to swim in these new waters. The material in this text will prepare you to step into your first leadership position as well as to move into progressively increasing responsibility-laden leadership positions in the human services sector. You were able to appreciate a snapshot of the skill sets required of human services leaders, admire the depth and variety of leaders’ varied organizational duties, as well as gain an understanding of the likelihood of needing to wear both the leader and manager hat in the organization. Human services leaders play both a micro role in the organization and a macro-leadership role in the larger community. You studied the current needs of human services organizations and the profession shared through research studies regarding leaders and leadership development within this sector. And through the use of a human services case study, you have been able to translate key business, managem Chapter 2 Theories of Leadership and Management— Building a Philosophy of Leadership Learning Objectives The student is expected to • • • trace the history of the development of leadership and management theories, identify and paraphrase the important outcomes of each theory of leadership and management, and draw conclusions from each theory to inform his or her own philosophy of leadership. Theories of leadership and management have their roots in the theories of psychology and sociology. When analyzing leadership as a study of the actions of a group of people who intend to work together to achieve a set of goals, it becomes apparent that the same influences on individual human behavior come to bear on group behavior. Reflection: The Complex Dynamics of Leading Consider the human interactions you experience as a participant and observer at home, work, and school. What influences people to communicate, think, interpret, and behave in certain ways? And why do we respond in particular ways to others’ words and actions? If more than two people are involved in an interaction, do the dynamics change? Now let’s insert some complexity to the interaction by adding a few deadlines, differing cultural perspectives, or uneven power dynamics. The mixture becomes even more intense when a healthy dose of environmental influence and differing levels of motivation are added. With all these ingredients, we have created a “leadership stew” for researchers in the fields of psychology, sociology, education, military science, political science, and management sciences to “taste.” Research in leadership seeks to observe, interview, measure, and analyze seeking patterns, responses, and outcomes that result in consistent explanations, predictable behaviors, and common interpretations to test in a variety of situations. What follows is a historical summary of leadership theory development, derived from decades of scientific research, which serves to inform the recommended practices of developing leaders today. As each leadership theory unfolds, watch how the focus on the leader as a perfect hero with a defined set of attributes, transitions to an imperfect hero who must make choices to evaluate and use several leadership skill set options. Also, become familiar with the discovery of how different situations and teammates affect the choices of skills leaders use. Eventually the “hero leader” realizes that he or she must rely on others to solve complex problems. The focus of the theory broadens from individuals as leaders, leaders and situations, leaders and team relationships, empowerment, collaboration, and a diverse perspective of solutions to problems. “Leadership is one of social science’s most examined phenomena,” according to Antonakis, Cianciolo, and Sternberg (2004, p. 4). The amount of research on leadership and management increased after World War II as countries acquired new borders, names, and powers; selected new political leaders; and internally rebuilt industries. Given the crisis all had survived as well as the global complexity of the leadership situation, the desire for quality leaders was a high priority and is reflected by the increase in research in universities, industry, and the military. This research continues throughout the decades fueled by the leadership needs of communities, diverse populations and organizations, as well as the interdisciplinary nature of the contributing theories. Scientists expect the magnitude of leadership information and findings to increase exponentially as increasingly more research studies are conducted during the coming years. Many authors of leadership books have classified leadership research into different categories or schools of thought. Antonakis et al. (2004) identifies six schools of thought that will be used to describe each theory indicating key researchers and authors for each theory, the impact of the theory on the field of leadership, and the important takeaways you will apply to your own philosophy of leadership. Studying the history of leadership theory and research should be done with a purpose. One of the reasons you choose to study leadership is to increase your chances of finding a job in human services and to improve career performance. Having a philosophy of leadership will do both. Your growing philosophy of leadership will become your guide as you navigate the succeeding lessons in this chapter’s sections, understand the impact and implications of each theory, and apply your acquired knowledge in real-world leadership situations. Diagnosis: The Process of Building a Philosophy of Leadership What is your philosophy of leadership? This is not an uncommon question in a job interview or essay for graduate school admission. Building a philosophy of leadership begins by understanding your personal values and asking yourself key questions regarding how those values influence your choices about how you interact with others in work groups. Review the 10 questions listed below (adapted from Chalker, 2015), and keep them in mind as you read this chapter. You will use them at the conclusion of this chapter to draft your philosophy of leadership. 1. List the top three values you embody that speak to your role as a future leader. 2. Do you believe that others on your team are capable of working toward a common goal or are only motivated by what is in it for them? 3. What is the contribution you want to make by serving as a leader? 4. How do you want to treat others and how do you want others to treat you? 5. Describe the leadership style you think others see in you. 6. In a group, do you think first about group tasks or relationships with the group members? 7. How do others describe their working relationship with you? 8. How do others describe the way you accomplish tasks? 9. How do you work to build your influence with others? 10. Do you believe your leadership skills are already set and are waiting to be uncovered, or do you believe you must actively grow and cultivate these skills? Making theories come alive for readers is challenging. Compiling ideas from various theories into a philosophy can feel overwhelming. This chapter will guide you through the process of connecting with each theory and evaluating its place in your philosophy of leadership. During your tenure as a student of leadership, you will engage in reflective thinking and picture the theory’s impact on you, the team, and shared goals. You will resonate with certain ideas and values, and through this process, you will develop your leadership philosophy. For those readers engaged currently in a workplace full or part time, you might conduct what Ferrance (2000) describes as action research, a process in which participants reflectively examine their own practices systematically. It is carried out in the context of the observations you make in your working environment posing questions about the leadership theories you see demonstrated around you. If you are a team leader, the research questions you pose relate to your actions. If you are a team member, the research questions you pose relate to your perceptions of the supervisor or team leader. In your workplace, internship, classroom, or community organizations, • • • • • • observe and reflect on the leadership you see practiced around you, gather data about the leader’s effectiveness, interpret the data and reflect on its relationship to the leadership’s practices, connect the related theory as presented in this chapter, determine the actions to change and related skills to learn, and measure the resulting change, if possible. To examine the effectiveness of the leadership results (data), a context is needed. As a human services professional, you are actively engaged in the study of theory and action research every day, helping clients achieve an improved state of well-being. In human services, the context comes from the study of psychology, sociology, human development theory, and so on. In leadership, the context comes from the scientific research and resulting theories examined in the rest of this chapter. You must know the whole story in order to interpret your data and recommend a better course of action as a leader. Understanding the story and the theory will allow a diagnosis of the leadership problem and a supported recommendation for change in thinking and action. At the close of each leadership school discussion, you will be asked four questions: 1. 2. 3. 4. How would you describe the theories in action in your workplace, school, or home? What evidence do you see regarding the theory’s effectiveness? How does this evidence support your conclusions about the theory’s effectiveness? How will you include the theories of this school into your leadership philosophy? Schools of Leadership Trait School Before the 19th century, leadership was a social and biological concept that revolved around the great man theories, which are rooted in the belief that the heredity and intermarriage of the elite would produce exceptional, individual leaders (Komives, Lucas, & McMahon, 1998). Bass (1990) explains that all societies created myths that gave exaggerated explanations for the strength of their leaders and the powerless submission of their subordinates. The greater the economic injustice in the world, the more distorted the realities of the leaders’ powers, morality, and effectiveness. Historically, leaders were selected from the upper classes, disconnected from the realities of everyday life, and educated in the world of crisis management, fear, and privilege. Leadership was exhibited through power in military, government, religious organizations, and families. In the pre-19th-century era, leaders were male and in most cases, leadership positions were handed down from one male family member to another. Legal and social standing in these times did not allow women to participate fully in government, religious, social, and work-related organizations; therefore, it was rare for a woman to hold a leadership position. Goffee and Jones (2011) explain that the modern study of leadership began in the early 1900s, about the time of World Wars I and II, with the primary purpose to improve the process of identification and selection of military leaders. Because of the long-held belief that leadership was a set of inherited traits, trait patterns were explored to determine whether such characteristics were inherited (Bass, 1990). As the study of traits became more popular, defining the list of traits considered imperative to leadership became increasingly more complex. Characteristics such as self-confidence, intelligence, agreeableness, persistence, command of voice, extraversion, and many more comprised the profile of a perfect leader. Research regarding traits continues; yet, one trait, intelligence, consistently correlates positively with leadership effectiveness (Bass, 1990). Eventually, trait theories broadened to include not just the traits of the leader, but also the traits of the situation or crisis. Researchers studied patterns of matching the needs of the situation with the traits of the leader. Leaders were identified and selected for skills that matched the situation to solve the problems at hand (Bass, 1990). Eventually research determined that there was not one definitive set of perfect leadership traits. Keep in mind the era in which this research was conducted and its original purpose. The participants in leadership research until the late 1900s came from large employers, usually the military and manufacturing, and therefore were predominantly Caucasian males. Until the last quarter of the 20th century, the participants of leadership research were not representative of the population by gender, race, or ethnicity. Overall, the impact of organizations choosing leaders based only on traits is usually negative. First, there is a level of bias toward certain traits that results from the person or group making the decisions. People tend to select team members who look and sound like themselves. Members of minority groups usually are not considered for leadership positions, as their physical and cultural traits are different from the preconceived familiarity of the majority group. Given that preferred leadership traits are thought to be inherited, the idea of developing leaders and valuing alternative leadership perspectives becomes a moot point. Choosing leaders based only on traits assumes that quality leaders are born, and therefore, leadership is not a learned skill. People are described as “born leaders” every day based on their appearances and perceptions of abilities to influence. Subscribing to that perspective has in turn created many ill-prepared leaders that have made unfortunate decisions across the world throughout history. The trait school of thought is a leader-centered perspective, one that is focused on finding that perfect person to heroically fix the problem. It was and still is not uncommon to see organizations conduct a search for the ideal leader. Unfortunately, citizen voters, based on their historical voting patterns, subscribe to the trait theory as well when casting a ballot at the voting booth. (Lipman-Blumen, 2005) Traits, and the assumptions that accompany those traits, establish your initial expectations about others as you make a quick and sometimes superficial assessment of someone else’s abilities. In other words, traits become the palette by which you create a first impression of another person, and likewise, how others make initial impressions regarding you. First impressions are the baseline from which you build leadership influence with others. Those first impressions cause people to make choices about the level of influence someone initially has. People become gatekeepers, allowing some to have influence and others not. Closing the gate based only on the assumptions and perceptions of a leader’s traits too often limits opportunities for important voices to have access to both formal and informal positions of leadership. Today, we acknowledge flaws with the trait theory in which someone’s leadership ability isn’t strictly attributed to genealogy, personality, or physical characteristics. We know now that leadership is a learned set of skills that involve our ability to work with people and manage the operational side of the organization. Leadership philosophies based only on trait theories are not congruent in an organizational structure that includes shared leadership responsibilities that are more typical of today’s diverse organizations with team-oriented expectations. Today’s workplace requires shared responsibilities and support for the learning and growth of the whole team as opposed to the cookie cutter notion of a definitive list of leadership traits. Tapping your understanding of trait theory, respond to these questions: 1. 2. 3. 4. How would you describe the trait theories in action in your workplace, school, or home? What evidence do you see regarding the theory’s effectiveness? How does this evidence support your conclusions about the theory’s effectiveness? How will you include the theories of this school into your leadership philosophy? Behavioral School In the 1930s, behavioral researchers began to identify what leaders do as a learned set of behaviors and skills instead of genetically inherited innate characteristics. In 1939, psychologist Kurt Lewin’s research team identified three types of leaders based on the leader’s interactions with a group: authoritarian, participative, and delegative (Lewin, LIippert, & White, 1939). Later, the three styles were referred to as autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire. Lewin’s study, which used school children as the subjects, found that participative/democratic leadership was both productive and allowed for high quality, creative contributions from the followers. The children in Lewin’s study also demonstrated that authoritarian/autocratic type leaders were productive in results while delegative/laissez-faire leaders were neither highly productive nor creative. In 1955, Katz published one of the first articles regarding effective administrative skills in the Harvard Business Review. Katz described three essential areas of skills as technical, human, and conceptual, defining skill “as ability which can be developed, not necessarily inborn, and which is manifested in performance, not merely potential” (pp. 33–34). Stogdill and Coons (1957) described two major clusters of leadership behaviors: (1) “consideration” behaviors that centered on concern for followers, and (2) “initiation of structure” behaviors that centered on goal attainment. This breakthrough was important since most current theories focus on these two constructs to describe and categorize leader behaviors. Today these clusters are referred to as relationship versus task behaviors. Blake and Mouton (1964) first depicted a model of managerial behavior in a diagram that also conceptualized Stogdill and Coon’s two manager behavior constructs: leaders’ concern for people and the need to complete the task (results or production). This well-known leadership grid maps five different leadership styles on a graph with two axes: The vertical axis represents concern for people, and the horizontal axis represents concern for tasks. Each square is numbered one through nine to represent the strength of the concern. Five leadership styles emerge from the grid: (9,1) authority-compliance, (1,9) countryclub, (1,1) impoverished management, (5,5) middle of the road, and the most desirable style (9,9) team management. The leaders whose behaviors are illustrated by (1,9) on the upper left side of the grid are more concerned with the people on the team and least concerned with the tasks and results. Leaders who are most focused on the tasks and results and least concerned with the people on the team are deadline driven and usually seek compliance for the one way to accomplish the task (9,1). The leader whose behaviors are described in the (1,1) impoverished frame are generally not engaged with the team and are perceived as disconnected with the goals of the organization. The (5,5) leader is somewhat unsure of the commitment from the team and seeks to compromise for fear of conflict among the team members. There is progress toward the tasks assigned, but a lack of confidence in leadership ability keeps this team from their full potential. A (9,9) leader exhibits confidence in himself or herself and the team. They share ownership of the tasks and results, frequently celebrating and empowering others to higher levels of performance. Figure 2.1 The Leadership Grid Behavior theories opened doors to the idea that certain behaviors and skills leaders used can be identified, observed, and learned. This meant people weren’t just born with an ability to lead, but instead that these skills could be learned through modeling, teaching, and feedback. Acceptance of this theory exponentially increased the pool of potential leaders for organizations. In addition to the wider pool of potential leaders, new understanding regarding the framework of the two clusters of leader behaviors—(1) consideration (people focused) and (2) structure (task focused)—are foundational to understanding yours and others’ actions in the workplace. Tendencies to be relationship or task focused are each observable in interactions with coworkers, classmates, and even interpersonal relationships. Due to these tendencies, some people relate better to task-focused leaders while others relate well with relationship-focused leaders. Even without reading a leadership theory textbook or having a formal leadership style assessment in hand, you can determine the relationship and task-focused preferences of those you interact with on a regular basis. Think about your own tendencies. Some may resonate well with others who are task-oriented and be motivated to complete the task at hand. Others might think that was rude and would rather spend time engaged in icebreakers to get to know the entire team before getting to work, the tendency of a relationship-oriented person. Behaviorists using Blake and Mouton’s (1964) managerial grid believed that a perfect leader was both high task and high relationship focused. In reality, most people have style tendencies in one direction or the other on the continuum. But the continued search for the perfect leader actually raises this question: Is there a perfect leader? Some researchers (trait theorists and behavioral theorists) are still focused on describing the ideal leader. Then a different group of researchers made a breakthrough with connections to the Lewin et al. 1939 study with the school children, integrating his findings with the newly developed contingency leadership school. Tapping your understanding of behavior theory, respond to these questions: 1. 2. 3. 4. How would you describe the behavior theory in action in your workplace, school, or home? What evidence do you see regarding the theory’s effectiveness? How does this evidence support your conclusions about the theory’s effectiveness? How will you include the theories of this school into your leadership philosophy? Contingency School Research from the behavioral school was focused on leadership styles: task centered versus relationship centered, as well as other characteristics involving a leader’s tendencies and preferences when interacting with teams. Questions by contingency school researchers asked if different behavior styles worked effectively in all situations. Fiedler (1967) studied contingency theories seeking to demonstrate that different situations called for different leader behaviors. He later determined that leadership style alone was not sufficient to determine leadership effectiveness (Fiedler & Chemers, 1974). In general, contingency theories work to match situational characteristics to the appropriate leadership style. The contingency school extends our view beyond the individual leader and broadens our attention to include additional variables: the characteristics of those being led and the details of the situation. Hersey and Blanchard introduced situational theory, also in the contingency theory family, in the 1960s. Their research found that the leader’s choice of leadership style is best determined by the followers’ task-related maturity (Hersey & Blanchard, 1993). Task-related maturity is the level of experience one has in the ability to complete a task similar to the one previously performed. If you have successfully completed task A and your supervisor assigns a similar task B, you would feel confident (mature) in your ability to be successful at task B. In situational theory, leaders were expected to be cognizant of the followers’ abilities and have the flexibility to choose from several types of leadership behaviors as the ability, confidence, and maturity of the followers in the situation required. Hersey and Blanchard (1993) determined that a leader’s ability to self-assess, as well as observe and assess the followers and then choose the appropriate approach, was an integral part of a leader’s success. The leaders choice to respond in a more directive manner (task orientation) or supportive manner (relationship) is based upon the group members’ competence (knowledge and experience doing the specific task) as well as commitment (motivation to want to accomplish the task; see Figure 2.2). Blanchard, Zigarmi, and Nelson’s (1993, p. 26) model divides followers abilities into four developmental levels: • • • • Development Level 1 – Group members new to the organization are typically enthusiastic but not knowledgeable. They are excited to start something new but untrained in the expectations of the organization. Development Level 2 – Generally group members have some experience at this level but now understand how far they have to go to become a master at the task. It can seem overwhelming and motivation can wane. Development Level 3 – By this time, group members have learned and practiced the skills required for the job and are considered highly competent. Motivation levels can vary greatly from team member to team member, requiring leaders to listen to individuals, to support and grow the confidence of others, and to troubleshoot individual problems. Development Level 4 – The highest level of development demonstrates the impact of motivated and competent team members. Through careful and deliberate coaching, as well as a razor sharp focus on results, leaders can build and sustain high performing teams. The third situational variable studied in the contingency school during the1960s was the workplace environment and its prominent role in creating situational influences on team members. Three important elements of the workplace situation include leader–member relations (group atmosphere), task structure (clarity, simplicity, and urgency), and the level of the position with the corresponding power of the leader (authority to reward and punish). Figure 2.2 The Situational Leadership Model II An individual’s motivation is a strong influence on performance and increases as an individual meets physical, emotional, and intellectual needs. Herzberg’s (1966) research on motivation theory found that meeting workers’ lower level (hygiene) needs prevented dissatisfaction in the workplace. If workers higher level needs (motivators) were met, it would drive workers to a higher level of performance. Hygiene factors met physical needs such as sufficient weekly pay (food and shelter), tools to accomplish the job, and a consistent work schedule. Motivators (intellectual and emotional needs) included the ability to make suggestions in the workplace, feel appreciation, and know your work is important to the success of the organization (Bass, 1990). McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y (1966) contrasted a supervising leader’s perspectives about the nature of employees as driven by needs of power and rewards as opposed to their need for responsibility and internal satisfaction. Theory X represents a negative view of human nature, assuming workers are naturally lazy and resulting in a belief that workers need close management supervision. Theory Y represents a positive view of human nature, assuming workers naturally want to work and resulting in a belief that workers want to believe they are trusted and to participate in decision making; therefore, they do not need close supervision. House (1971, 1996) studied the influence of a leader’s task and relationship orientation on follower motivation and satisfaction, which is referred to as path-goal theory. This research question asked which focus (task or relationship) motivates employees and how leaders can modify their own behaviors and choices to influence followers desire to achieve. The study of path-goal theory added task characteristics as well as the needs of motivated followers to the previous situational research results of leader style and follower characteristics. House learned the more challenging the path toward goal attainment, the more appreciation followers have for a manager with a structured leadership style. Followers seek more autonomy in less difficult tasks choosing to engage in some leadership roles in the group. The importance of relationship in the workplace is important to most followers at a basic level (respect and appreciation) and increases with the preferences and needs of the worker (House, 1971). The importance of task orientation is high when the followers are navigating unknown waters. Contingency theories do not subscribe to the belief that there is a perfect leader, perfect team, or perfect situation. Instead, the impact of the leader’s style choices, the details surrounding the task, and the characteristics of the team create multiple sets of complex and fluid variables in organizational leadership. As demonstrated by Figure 2.3, team members are influenced by the leader and the situation, while the leader is influenced by the team and the situation, and the situation is influenced by the team and the leader. The important takeaway is that successful leaders must be observant, thoughtful, and conscious of their own patterns and tendencies as well as others behaviors, while analyzing the situational variables. The take-charge leader, responding without thoughtful attention to the task, employees’ competence and commitment, and environmental influences, might feel good emotionally but likely is not making the best choices that consider all the important variables. Creating a short checklist of questions that considers the variables of a leader’s style, situational characteristics, as well as the team’s knowledge and commitment can help you learn and practice the process of a thoughtful analysis of variables in situational leadership decisions. Practicing this mental analysis in calmer moments will provide you with a go-to tool when the situation is tense and time sensitive. This a sample go-to tool, a checklist of questions, that will help you evaluate the major components of situational leadership: 1. Describe the team. Rate them on a scale of 1 to 10 on factors of experience in similar problems, emotional maturity, motivation, demonstration of good teamwork, loyalty, and trustworthiness. 2. Describe and rate the leader on a scale of 1 to 10 on factors of experience with similar problems, emotional maturity, motivation, demonstration of good skill sets in leading teams, loyalty, and trustworthiness. Is the leader more task or relationship focused? Is the leader in a formal or informal position of power? 3. Describe the situation. Is it under control or out of control? Does it have the potential to explode in conflict? Is it time sensitive? Is the leader clear about the task? Are there clear processes in place? Will new skills be needed? As you can see from the set of questions, the choice of leadership approach flows from the leader’s assessment of the variables. Generally a more task-focused approach is best for teams who either know what they are doing and work well together or for groups who are new and not yet acclimated to operating as a team. A leader’s choice of a stronger relationship focus shows more success when work groups faced with uncertain decisions or environments test their expertise first, gain new skills, and build confidence. This theory is not trying to promote leadership by formula, but researchers noted patterns that lend themselves to one approach more than another. Historically, the industrial age, command and control environments that existed until well into the 1970s, believed followers worked best in a consistent high power, high structure, and high achievement work environment. Contingency theories not only demonstrate the success of multiple leadership approaches but also demand the need and skill of leaders to operate with flexibility to be successful. Leaders now know to analyze followers and situations and then choose from multiple leadership methods. If a leader is only successful at applying one method to every situation, success in the endeavor and in the leadership relationship is unlikely, and as the saying goes, “if the only tool in the leader’s toolbox is a hammer, then every situation looks like a nail.” Tapping your understanding of contingency theory, respond to these questions: 1. 2. 3. 4. How would you describe the contingency theory in action in your workplace, school, or home? What evidence do you see regarding the theory’s effectiveness? How does this evidence support your conclusions about the theory’s effectiveness? How will you include the theories of this school into your leadership philosophy? Relational School The interactions of leaders and followers are the focus of study in this school of thought. Leadership is not a solo practice; you are in a leadership role because you are working with followers. Relationships are built around the reciprocal desire of Person A to meet the needs of Person B, and for Person B to meet the needs of Person A. Leader–member exchange theory (Graen & Scandura, 1987) emphasizes the one-on-one relationship between a leader and a follower. Each leader–follower relationship may be slightly different because each person is unique. Some relationships are easier to establish and maintain because of common experiences and values. A high quality relationship between the leader and follower is labeled an in-group relationship and results in positive outcomes for both parties. Leader–follower relationships characterized by a lack of understanding between the leader and follower or between some followers and less engaged followers are referred to as out-group relationships. The relationships among the followers can sometimes influence the leader to be less welcoming to those excluded. These types of relationships usually result in unsatisfactory outcomes for the follower, leader, and the organization. This in-group/out-group phenomenon happens on playgrounds, in classrooms, in offices, and even in families. Those who share more common experiences tend to become increasingly friendly with each other and are chosen more often by leaders of the same group for new opportunities. In-groups are also referred to as “cliques” and exist in the workplace as well. Leader–member exchange theory illuminates the responsibility of the leader to build relationships that move as many followers from the out-group into the in-group status and to foster relationship building between in- and out-group members, thus facilitating acceptance of new in-group members. Too often leaders have had an ambivalent attitude or worse, have sought opportunities to transfer or dismiss out-group followers. Later we will see how this theory is connected to the multicultural school and to our own familiarity with such terms as “glass ceilings” and “cement walls.” Organizations have become more heavily dependent on the success of work teams. Team leadership theory is part of the relational school and involves a complex array of leadership functions, which can be classified as maintenance (relationship) functions and task functions. Maintenance functions include establishing a culture of trust, meeting team member/follower needs, creating a culture that respects team members and encourages their development, and providing resources for team members to achieve their goals. There are several excellent books about teams and trust (The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni, 2002; The Speed of Trust by Stephen M. R. Covey, 2006) that articulate the importance of a work environment built on high trust. Trust is the foundation of all relationships and therefore foundational to teamwork. Team members must be able to “be vulnerable with each other about their needs, talents, weaknesses, fears, and commitment,” states Lencioni (2002, p. 7). Once trust is established, the team’s effectiveness is increased due to the additional four steps of Lencioni’s teamwork model: (1) sharing differences of opinion, (2) willingly listening to all voices around the table, (3) building confidence so each team member will come through on promises, and (4) establishing alignment so all are working for the benefit of the team. Without trust, the team cannot open the door to the four steps of Lencioni’s teamwork model in order to succeed. Larson and LaFasto (1989) found eight consistent characteristics of highly successful teams: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Quality leadership Clear, elevating goal Results-driven structure Competent team members Unified commitment Collaborative climate Standards of excellence External support and recognition Assessing the level of these eight characteristics within a team is useful for troubleshooting problems or training team leaders. Summarizing Larson and DeFasto (1989), the two key components of leading teams are (1) the foundational work of establishing team trust and (2) attending to the eight characteristics of successful teams. Leading a team is a complex job, but it does not require a hierarchy (formal organizational power structure). With a flatter structure (fewer positions of power), more team members are sharing in the leadership functions of the team. Sharing leadership with the team positively impacts trust, commitment, interpersonal relationships, and motivation to succeed. Strategies for building trust will be shared in Chapter 4 in this text. These theories connect to the relationship school because of the leader’s desire to create a positive work environment and meet the needs of followers/team members. A leader’s ability to be inclusive is invaluable to the trust and work ethic of all team members. Workplace cliques are not conducive to successful teamwork or the health and empowering culture of the organization. If moral reasons are not convincing enough, there are legal protections in place against unfair employment practices and the segregation of employees. Therefore, leaders must be committed and skilled in listening, negotiation, and embracing a diverse work team. Historically, certain members of organizations have been relegated to out-group status because of their gender, race, ethnicity, ability, sexual orientation, and gender identity to name a few. The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was created to protect minority groups from unfair firing, hiring, and other illegal workplace practices. (Note that EEOC currently does not protect all the classes named here although many organizations and some states have taken that extra step.) It is the responsibility of the leader to develop trust and respectfully lead every member of the team. Tapping your understanding of relational theory, respond to these questions: 1. 2. 3. 4. How would you describe the relational theory in action in your workplace, school, or home? What evidence do you see regarding the theory’s effectiveness? How does this evidence support your conclusions about the theory’s effectiveness? How will you include the theories of this school into your leadership philosophy? Multicultural School In the 1980s and 1990s, skeptics began to question the validity of leadership research as well as the impact of leadership on organizational performance (Meindl & Ehrlich, 1987; Bass, 1990; Antonakis, Cianciolo, & Sternberg, 2004). The study of leadership “benefitted from such questioning by A) using more rigorous methodologies, B) differentiating top-level leadership from supervisory leadership, and C) focusing on followers and how they perceive reality” (Antonakis et al., 2004, p. 262). Even the data collected for the previous 50 years was questioned due to the minuscule numbers of nonwhite male participants. Prior to this, most participants in leadership research were white males, since the majority of mid- and high-level leaders in forprofit, nonprofit, and government work sectors hired very few women, Latinos, African Americans, or other races and ethnicities. Political leadership suffered the same homogenous membership. The Center for American Women and Politics (2011) at Rutgers University and the Congressional Research Service maintain statistics documenting examples of gender and race disparities of elected officials in the US Congress; the 95th US Senate (1977–1978) had only one more woman member than the 87th US Senate (1961–1962) for a total of two. In the 113th US Congress, there are 20 women serving in the Senate. Six African American males have served in the US Senate while only one is currently serving, elected in 2013: two during reconstruction (1870–1881) and seven between 1967 and 2013 (Manning & Shogan, 2012). These are just a few examples of disparities that caused leaders to question the validity of leadership research because it excluded significant portions of the population and rendered findings to be not generalizable across all populations. These assertions caused greater scrutiny of leadership research normative data sets for participation to be inclusive of gender, race, and ethnicity. From Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954, to the passage of Title IX of the Education Amendments in 1972, as well as the Americans with Disabilities Act passed in 1990 (and amended in 2009), our paradigms are beginning to shift regarding how we see others, leading to more inclusive perceptions about who is qualified to be a leader. Students of leadership research results must question the normative data, and ask to see participant demographics. Practitioners of inclusive leadership will seek to facilitate acceptance for the whole team to ensure an “us” versus “them” culture does not exist. As an employee, evaluate leadership teams in your organization or department. Are all stakeholders represented? Are all employee demographics represented? Are meeting outcomes communicated quickly to all who need to know? As a leader, are the members of your team clear about your expectations on acceptance, value, and respect? Question the representativeness of community collaborations in which your organization participates. Advocate for inclusiveness in nominated and elected bodies such as the city council, community advisory boards, nonprofit boards, and school boards. Are there policies and procedures within your control that prevent out-group members from full participation? Multicultural leaders seek to advocate, coach, mentor, and serve as role models for acceptance, understanding, and a willingness to work together effectively. Seek to become a multiculturally competent leader. Tapping your understanding of multicultural leadership theory, respond to these questions: 1. How would you describe the multicultural leadership theory in action in your workplace, school, or home? 2. What evidence do you see regarding the theory’s effectiveness? 3. How does this evidence support your conclusions about the theory’s effectiveness? 4. How will you include the theories of this school into your leadership philosophy? The New Leadership School The late 1970s began an era of reciprocal leadership theories (Komives et al., 1998). Transformational leadership (Burns, 1978), servant leadership (Greenleaf, 1977) and followership (Kelley, 1992; Kellerman, 2008), and authentic leadership (George, 2007) are the major theories in this category. Transformational leaders change the behaviors of followers as well as themselves because of the compelling vision and action that inspires and engages both leaders and followers. It is reciprocal because of the change that transforms all involved. To understand transformational leadership, it must be distinguished from transactional leadership. Transactional leaders engage in a formal or informal contract with their followers promising something in exchange for a desired outcome or level of effort. Examples of such transactions manifest as pay bonuses for meeting a work quota, high grades for a quality level of work in a class, or a treat for earning a good grade on a major exam. Transformational leaders work with followers, inspiring the team to fulfill a high level common goal, while raising the morality of all in the process. These leaders have inspired people to believe the impossible is possible. They have encouraged players in athletic competition, students in lecture halls, congregations in houses of worship, families in homes, and clients of human services professions. They have inspired citizens to volunteer, collect signatures for petitions, adopt a healthier lifestyles, or given people confidence to make important career choices. The impact of transformational leaders resonates with followers’ emotions. Their message feels good, captures imaginations, and inspires commitment. Transformational leaders are passionate about an issue, cause, or celebration; members of their team call them influential and inspirational. They are focused on the needs around them—the beneficiaries of the cause as well as the team with whom they work. Authenticity enables these leaders to have earned the trust of their followers and therefore, be influential and inspirational. Authentic leaders have strong internal values and ideals and they make choices in alignment with their core values. Charisma is not a requirement, but they do engage well with others. They are well versed in the situation, the organization, and the leadership process. It is a level of leadership to which many aspire. It is within your capability to achieve the skills of a transformational leader. Transformational leaders must attend to these questions: • • • • • • • What social issues are you determined to change? How dedicated are you to this mission; what sacrifices will you make? Does this cause align with your core values? Are you authentic in your words and actions? Are you well read on all sides of the issue? Do you engage well with others? Can you communicate your ideas clearly with your determination visible? If your responses connect to your deepest passion about the issue or idea, you will be able to transform your team to carry this effort forward with you. Servant leaders serve those around them first and emerge as leaders from the trust and competence demonstrated to the group. Servant leadership is reciprocal from the trust relationship that is built between the one serving and the followers. Trust is what empowers the followers to seek the servant as their leader. The leader builds trust with the followers because followers can see and feel the leader’s commitment and passion for the cause. A communication manager at AT&T, Robert Greenleaf, first described this theory in the leadership world. He wrote extensively on servant leadership and its use in the workplace, in boardrooms, and in education. Greenleaf (1970) described servant leaders as those who are “servants first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead” (p. 15). He goes on to describe a kind of “litmus test” for servant leadership. Greenleaf (1970, p.15) writes, It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead.… The best test…is do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived? In order to illustrate the development of servant leadership in a group, let’s examine a group of college students at East Tennessee State University, in Johnson City, Tennessee, and how they interacted in a servant leadership living-learning environment. This group of students chose to have no formal constitution or bylaws with established officer positions. Their purpose was to enhance their leadership abilities by meeting weekly, reading and discussing selected books on leadership, and serving the community. In addition to their leadership education, they also lived in groups of four students per apartment in one campus apartment building adjacent to the university. They learned to live and work together, to establish their own expectations, and to serve each other as well as the campus and community. Each year through an informal process of serving each other day-to-day, the group came to identify and respect one or two members who had earned everyone’s trust. Those students were the servant leader of the community for that academic year, guiding the members in their leadership and academic journeys. There was no vote or discussion, simply a transformation though service and trust. Since most students did not remain in the living-learning program for more than 2 years, the servant leader role quietly transitioned each year, always through the same process. It is common to think of servant leadership in service-oriented professions such as leaders of faith organizations, teachers, counselors, or other human services careers. It is also common to think this leadership philosophy is only practical in less formal and lower level positions. The strength of Greenleaf’s philosophy is that no matter the type of organization or the level of position in the organization, one must serve others. Have you participated in a group with members who stepped into a similar service role? In this leadership culture, the servant leader chooses to serve as a way of leading the team. The leadership culture is built first with trust. It takes time to become a servant leader. Trust isn’t built in a day … week … or month. It is a series of big and little things done from your heart that signals to others your courage, compassion, and commitment. The recent emphasis on followership is a paradigm shift that lifts the term follower from the Industrial Age perspective of one who needs to be led, Theory X (McGregor, 1966), to one of an equal who chooses to be led, educated, and respected as a future leader, Theory Y. Followers, according to Kelley (1992), can be anywhere on a continuum from active and loyal to passive or even alienated. Kellerman (2008) placed followers on a continuum of engagement: • • • • • Isolated – totally detached Bystander – observes but does not participate Participant – invests himself or herself to try to have an impact Activist – works hard on behalf of leaders or against them Diehard –devoted, all-consuming Deeper yet in this study of the relationships between leaders and followers is the understanding of why followers seek out leaders. Jean Lipman-Blumen’s (2005) research explores the phenomenon of toxic leaders. Toxic leaders practice negative leadership through charm and manipulation, which leads to the mistreatment and devastation of their followers. Humans have a subconscious need to feel secure and chosen, to belong, and to be identified as competent. Toxic leaders can manipulate followers based on their needs and create a psychological dance between the leaders and followers, trapping either in a bad leadership relationship. For example, executive leaders in and around the Nixon presidency manipulated the citizens to trust them because of the citizens’ trust and need to feel secure with the institution of the federal government. Watergate (1974) ushered in a heightened societal awareness of ethics and integrity in all leadership positions and a growing distrust for institutions of authority. The trust was shattered between American citizens and their political leaders (Kellerman, 2004). The impact of the loss of trust in government and social institutions is pervasive. Dealing with the fears associated with this loss is the only path to an intercultural leadership community of nontoxic leadership (Lipman-Blumen, 2005). The illusion of the “white knight leader,” a leader who swoops in to save followers, offering to deliver on impossible promises, is a toxic expectation. Followers must work beyond their fears to find the leader inside themselves. Empowering each other to become leaders brings communities/groups together, enabling them to work toward a shared authentic dream. Organizations are strengthened by the human potential of its members. When that potential is engaged, all share in the responsibilities and rewards. Goals become selected by most, not a handful. Trust levels are high, and members bring their authentic selves to the organization. When followers share responsibilities with the leader, the need to be rescued is eliminated and a “white knight leader” becomes unnecessary. Leaders and followers together devote the time necessary to engage all members of the group/organization. Engagement is the key for this effort to be sustained. Members become engaged both logically and emotionally. Stephen Covey (2004) calls this whole person leadership. Leaders and followers must be willing to engage both head and heart to have an organization engaged at its full potential. Tapping your understanding of the new leadership school, respond to these questions: 1. How would you describe the new leadership perspectives in action in your workplace, school, or home? 2. What evidence do you see regarding the theory’s effectiveness? 3. How does this evidence support your conclusions about the theory’s effectiveness? 4. How will you include the theories of this school into your leadership philosophy? Emerging Issues in Leadership New perspectives on leadership theories revolve around the view of leaders and followers as human, imperfect, teammates, and diverse. Leaders are leading in increasingly more complex situations: • • • In organizations with multiple locations both locally, cross country, and internationally. In person and virtually through many kinds of electronic communication tools. In extreme situations of conflict across languages and cultures that do not understand each other. Therefore, no one leadership theory is a fit for all leaders in all situations. The construction of hybrid theories will be the next frontier for leadership researchers. (Antonakis et al., 2004) These research studies include the unique perspectives of cultures (House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, & Gupta, 2004), the GLOBE Studies; the impact of technological tools, envisioning the future (Friedman, 2005); and a return to the foundations of character, communication, trust, and ethics (George, 2007; Covey, 2004, 2006). Ethics and moral development have become essential elements of leadership research (Antonakis et al., 2004) as government, institutions, and organizations from many sectors of the workplace and communities appear to have lost their moral compass. Concerns of accountability and transparency continue to make headlines from proficiency testing in education to the quality of consumer goods, as well as the investments of the financial industry. The actions and results of leadership decisions are reviewed and monitored by the public and media. Followers also have found new power in social media for organizing, communicating, and influencing organizations. The speed of communication and accessibility of the Internet empowers and enables citizens to quickly know how decisions are made, who is responsible, and what action is required. Presidential elections, government shutdowns, Middle Eastern revolutions, as well as decisions of nonprofit boards, and for-profit CEO’s have all triggered national and international waves of citizen action and resistance. Tapping your understanding of management theory, respond to these questions: 1. How would you describe the management theories in action in your workplace, school, or home? 2. What evidence do you see regarding the theory’s effectiveness? 3. How does this evidence support your conclusions about the theory’s effectiveness? 4. How will you include the theories of this school into your leadership philosophy? Management Theories and Their Application The history of management is a study of facilitating the many processes that bring products, programs, and services to market. As far back as you may have studied in history, there are stories and examples of crafts artisans who individually created products to sell or trade. Such products were crafted to the individual specifications of the artisan. It was not until the time of the US Civil War that the idea of replaceable parts and common equipment standards was widely entertained. The magnitude of equipment needs for wagons and battle implements during this war was huge. To have craftspersons using common specifications meant equipment didn’t have to be continuously replaced but could be repaired economically by someone other than the original craftsperson. A few decades later, the industrial revolution caused everyone to evolve and accept new ideas regarding mass production, products and services, standards, and manufacturers needing to meet customer expectations. Leaders of manufacturing companies determined that production of products could be improved by separating two management processes: production of the product and inspection of the product quality. It was during this era that Frederick Taylor, the father of scientific management, studied time and motion of workers on assembly lines and made recommendations for proper tools, training, incentives, and methods so workers could better accomplish their tasks. In 1914, Henry Ford sponsored the development of a moving assembly line, which created yet another separation in the product development process. Planning, production, and inspection became separate processes and required management to oversee each function. World War II intensified the need for mass production and quality assurance. Lives as well as an international victory depended on quality ships, planes, ammunition, radios, boots, uniforms, and other equipment. Taxpayers and political leaders were unwilling to support the war if the soldier’s equipment wasn’t deadlier than the enemy. Wartime innovations led to Walter Shewhart’s development of the statistical quality control chart. In 1951, J. Edwards Deming, Shewhart’s student, was a member of a group of engineers General McArthur assembled to aid the Japanese in rebuilding their industry after World War II. Another member of this prestigious group of engineers was Joseph Juran, editor of the now classic Quality Handbook. Together their work in quality management, along with Peter Drucker, creator of the six stages of management by objectives (MBO) and considered the father of modern corporate management, made the 1950s a renaissance era in management theory. The goal of managers in the manufacturing sector was to bring standardized products to the marketplace while simultaneously meeting consumer expectations. To maintain consistent quality required management to monitor the steps of each process and create production lines with the most efficient systems. The six stages of MBO are as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Define corporate objectives. Analyze management tasks and devise formal job specifications for frontline managers. Establish performance standards. Achieve agreement for specific objectives. Align goals with organizational objectives. Establish a management information system to monitor achievements against objectives. Between the 1960s and 1980s, leaders and managers of manufacturing companies in Japan took to heart Juran, Deming, and Drucker’s lessons. By the 1970s, “Made in Japan” took on new meaning for high quality electronics, automobiles, and other consumer products. To compete with Japan and encourage American efforts in quality management principles, the federal government established the Malcolm Baldrige Award in 1988 to provide an assessment tool and presidential recognition for manufacturing organizations that achieved quality in performance excellence. After a few years, the award was expanded to include all sectors of the workplace: manufacturing, service, nonprofit, education, health care, and government. There are seven key areas of the organization that are assessed for this award: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Leadership Strategic planning Customer focus Measurement, analysis, and knowledge management Workforce focus Operations focus Results A human services example of the principles of good management processes is in the development of Case Management procedures. Case management is a profession with standards and is practiced in law, social work, health care, and mental health care. Its purpose is to provide the best treatment plan and coordination of care for clients using systematic processes. Principles of quality management and assessment of workplace processes are becoming standard practice in health care, education, and government agencies. Tapping your understanding of management theory, respond to these questions: 1. How would you describe the management theories in action in your workplace, school, or home? 2. What evidence do you see regarding th...
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Applying Leadership Theory
Leadership theories stem out of an attempt in trying to explain how some individuals
excel in their leadership roles. The theories explore various characteristics and behaviors that are
associated with people in leadership roles and how one can emulate them to be successful.
However, there are debates that some leadership skills are inborn in the sense that some
individuals are born possessing some traits that guarantee them automatic leadership abilities
(Houben 72). Others argue that leadership skills are acquired through a learning process, and
individuals excel in the field through time in life. One leadership role that is prevalent among
most organizations is that which requires all sta...


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