9. Leadership Flashcards
(18 cards)
What is leadership?
- a process of social influence through which an individual enlists and mobilises the aid of others in the attainment of a collective goal
Why does leadership matter?
can have effect on various domains:
- high performing CEOs and executives increase the value of their companies
- sport leaders: better managers = higher success
- political leaders
- activists
What makes a successful leader?
- personality determinants
- are they different from others?
- are certain leadership styles more effective than others? - situational determinants
- is the situation that gives rise to effective leadership?
- can anyone be an effective leader in the right situation? - interactionist perspectives
- is it about the interaction between the personality/style of leadership and the situation?
What is the dark triad of personality associated with the dark side of leadership?
- narcissism
- psychopathy
- Machiavellianism
What are leadership styles?
- autocratic: aloof and focusses on organising the groups activities and giving out orders
- democratic: very hands on
- laissez-faire: little interest
What did Lippitt and White find the impact of leadership to be?
- democratic was liked the most
- also had high levels of productivity, regardless of leader presence (unlike the other 2)
What is task focussed vs socioemotional leadership?
- task focussed: concerned with achieving the aims and goals of the group by focussing on the tasks needed to achieve those goals
- socioemotional: concerned with group dynamics and ensuring that the group members form a cohesive and friendly group
autocratic: task focussed
democratic: both
laissez faire: socioemotional
What is the contingency theory? (Fiedler)
- effectiveness of a leader is contingent upon how well leadership style matches the situation/task
situational control: (in order of importance)
- quality of leader-member relations
- the clarity of the structure of task
- legitimacy of the leaders
task oriented vs socioemotional leaders
- developed least preferred co-worker (LPC) to measure leadership style
- LPC rated positively: socioemotional leader
- LPC rated negatively: task-oriented leader
How does Fielder explain situational control and leadership style?
- low control: group needs guidance to achieve goals, less time for building relationships with group members (task oriented)
- high control: leader-member relations are already positive, leader can instead focus on achieving the groups goals (task oriented)
- moderate control: leader shows not have total control of the group or the task structure is unclear (socioemotional)
What is the critical evaluation of contingency theory?
- support from empirical evidence
- leadership style considered to be a stable characteristic
- only focusses on high/low scoring on the LPC ignoring 20% of the population
What does the glass ceiling refer to?
- underrepresentation of women/minorities in leadership positions
- represents the invisible and systemic barriers that prevent women and other minorities from rising to leadership positions
What is the glass cliff effect?
- phenomenon where women and minorities are more likely to be appointed to leadership positions during times of crisis, increasing their risk of failure
What did Morgenroth et al’s meta analysis on evidence for the glass cliff find?
- women were ranked as more suitable and more likely to be selected for leadership positions than men during times of crisis/poor performance
Give an overview of Ryan, Haslam, Hersby and Bongiorno’s study into think manager - think male
- masculinity and femininity of Scheins Descriptive Index established in a pre-study
- PPs asked to rate the index as a characteristic (manager of successful company vs unsuccessful company)
- think manager - think male: traits rated as characteristic of men also rated as characteristics of managers of successful companies (decisive, dominant, hides emotions etc)
- think crisis - think not male: men as unlikely to be seen as leaders of unsuccessful companies
Give an overview of Ryan, Haslam, Hersby and Bongiorno’s study into think crisis - think female
- during times of crisis, qualities expected from leadership positions are strongly associated with stereotypically female traits
- PPs asked to rate the Scheins Descriptive Index on desirability for either the ideal manager of a successful vs unsuccessful company
- think crisis - think female: traits rated as characteristic for women were also rated desirable for managers of unsuccessful companies (understanding, modest, sympathetic etc)
What did Ryan, Haslam, Hersby and Bongiorno find in terms of women being better at handling crisis?
- PPs asked to rate the desirability of stereotypically feminine/masculine traits for managerial position in a poorly performing department
- the managerial role is active or passive
- women preferred at times of crisis not because they are expected to be better at dealing with it, but to act as scapegoats
How has glass cliff been presented in racial/ethnic minorities?
- politics (Kulich, Ryan and Haslam)
- conducted archival analysis of UK genny lecs
- individuals from ethnic minority background were overrepresented in constituencies with hard to win seats
- explains lack of electoral sucess - business (Cook and Glass)
- analysis of companies over 15 years
- ethnic minorities and women were more likely to be promoted as CEO in firms with worsening performance - sports (Cook and Glass)
- ethnic minority coachers more likely to be promoted to losing basketball teams
- minority coaches then replaced with white coaches when unsuccessful
What are the implications of the glass cliff? (Morgenroth et al)
- those from underrepresented groups who manage to break through the glass ceiling have limited leadership opportunities
- women/minorities in glass cliff leadership positions face an uphill battle
- failure may be attributed to person attributes rather than situational factors, further perpetuating stereotypes
- positions that set minority leaders up for failure can have detrimental impacts on their careers but also their mental wellbeing
