Lecture 6 Flashcards
(20 cards)
What are Senior and Swailes (2010) internal triggers for change
New senior staff – bring their own ideas of how the firm should be run
Unions may bring PRESSURE and or ACTION
Politics and power of particular groups or individuals may be a force for change
Changes as the organisation grows: e.g. increased capacity needs new premises
Redesign e.g. technology, physical layout
What can produce organisational resistance to change?
- Inertia (worry about job security, their values)
- Groups and cultures (organisation as an iceberg)
- Systematic nature of the organisation – knock on effects (organisation as a river)
- Contractual obligations
- Fixed investments – old equipment etc.
- Lack of capability to change – e.g. finance, resources, space, equipment, skills
What are Cummings and Worley’s types of change
Strategic interventions - overall corporate strategy (products offered, corporate values, competitive advantage)
Technostructural inventions - Technological and structural issues (division of labour, redesign of bureaucracy)
Human process interventions - interpersonal and social issues (communication, decision making, leadership, T-groups)
Human resource issues - human issues at individual level (performance mgmt., recruitment and selection)
Describe the organisation as a set of building blocks
- Simple, solid structure
- Knowledge – simply what can be measured and calculated (e.g. Taylor)
- Total top down power coming from mgmt.
- No place for resistance – change uncontested
- A naïve approach to change?
o Simplistic, surface view of the organisation (ignores culture)
o Sees only technostructural side of the organisation
o Neglects messy, human elements (managers and workers may disagree)
o Underestimates resistance
Describe the organisation as an iceberg
ABOVE THE SURFACE
The building blocks of the organisation e.g. buildings, technology, structure, rules, procedures
JUST BELOW THE SURFACE
Social aspects e.g. culture, group dynamics
DEEP BELOW THE SURFACE
Human aspects e.g. attitudes, anxieties, values, feelings, emotions
- Solid structure but with hidden depths consisting of social elements
- Knowledge from getting ‘beneath the surface’ – use of psychology to understand people’s issues with change
- Managers must use psychological techniques to gain power to bring change
- Resistance understandable, but can overcome with long-term planning
- The planned approach to change (3 step model)
o Unfreezing: current situation analysed with force-field analysis
o Movement: organisation changes slowly towards desired state
o Freezing: once change is achieved it is reinforced to avoid return back
Describe the organisation as a river
- Too fluid and dynamic (continually changing) to be a stable structure
- Knowledge escapes management’s grasp: impossible to have complete knowledge of every aspect to use for planning.
- Power is not top down, but in the movement of the organisation itself: without knowledge power is difficult to exert.
- Resistance natural and to be expected
The emergent approach to change
Describe the emergent approach to change
Not one specific approach but a number which recognise the complex nature of the organisation.
- Processual approach:
o Change as ‘untidy cocktail’
o Of political struggles and individual perceptions
o Human and social elements such as fear, anxiety and power of different groups become basis for individuals and group political battles in response to change - Systematic approach: change of one part has a knock on effect in others
o Organisation as ‘a set of different paths which work together as a whole’
o Interdependency of parts: knock on effects of change
Explain the individualistic, great man and trait theory
Individualistic, great man and trait theory
- Continued fascination with ‘great’ leaders
- Leadership seen as something a ‘great man’ is born with
- Learning from biographies of ‘great leaders’ as to what makes them great
- Personal characteristics or traits that make a great leader
- Definitive list of what makes a great leader
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the individualistic approach?
Strengths of individualistic approach
- Focussed research on leadership
- Some evidence as there are number of great leaders throughout history
Weaknesses with individualistic approach
- Lacks empirical evidence
- Lacks explanatory value
- Assumptions of individualistic leadership have tendencies towards elitism (masculine and western).
- Have difficulty in defining what makes a great leader.
- Successful in one scenario and fail in another
- Not necessarily applicable to work organization, post-hoc rationalization,
Describe behavioural leadership
Behavioural leadership
- Examines what a leader actually does
- Examines the behaviour of leaders and followers
- All behaviour the product of conditioning
- Leaders role therefore vital in shaping the environment
What are the different aspects of employee and task centred leadership
TASK CENTRED
- STYLE: Focuses on task, clear expectations and deadlines
- FOCUS: Focus on goal
- INSPIRED by: Taylorism
- Leaders AIM: higher production
- PROBLEMS: increased absenteeism
EMPLOYEE CENTRED
- STYLE: listen to subordinates, encourage participation
- FOCUS: satisfying emotional and social needs of employees
- INSPIRED by: Human relations theory
- Leaders AIM: increased satisfaction
- PROBLEMS: lower production
Describe Lewin’s three leadership styles, give an advantage and disadvantage of each
Autocratic - quick decision making (A), can hinder creativity (D)
Participative - Involvement and originality (A), Can be slow in a time of crisis (D)
Laissez faire - Freedom of group members (A), Slow and often unproductive (D)
What are the strengths and weaknesses of behaviourism
STRENGTHS
- More subtle than many previous theories
- Examines the interaction of the leader and follower and the impact the leader has on the group
- Practice of leadership
- Possibility of training
WEAKNESSES
- Hard to measure
- Present’s a ‘one best way’ approach and does not take into account the situation
- Male and western bias
- Validity of research
- Overemphasis on taxonomies
- Simplistic
- Examines only behaviour, not its impact
Behaviourism offers a simplistic and mechanical understanding of followers’ behaviour, as simply a reaction to stimulus with little free will.
Explain the contingency leadership theory
Contingency leadership theory
Appropriate leadership style depends on the situation, particularly
- The skills and experience of followers
- The complexity of tasks
- The speed of decision making required
Different leaders good in different situations
o Task, people, organisation, timeframe
Fiedler, 3 factors affect whether task orientated/relationship orientated
o Leader relations with employees
o High/low task structure
o Leader position of power
Nature of task
o Routine: directive leadership
o Dynamic: flexible leadership
Hersey and Blanchard
o Maturity of group and nature of task = leadership style
What are the strengths and weaknesses of contingency theory
Pros
- Understand situation
- No ideal leader
- Variety of leadership styles
- More flexible models
- Impact on followers
Cons
- Neat models but applicable to real life?
- Still limited view on the group
- Potentially normative
- North-American and gender bias
- Limited look structure, politics
Difference between transactional and transformative leadership
Transactional leadership operates by trying to control followers and cut deals with them.
Transformative is more about uplifting.
Drawing from the work of Maslow, Burns argued that great leaders lift people up through the hierarchy of needs by focussing attention away from low level needs towards loftier goals, such as self-esteem and self-actualisation.
Transactional
- Cuts deals with employees
- Exchange with workers
- Monitors and controls workers
- Extrinsic motivation
- Short term self interest
- Works best with inexperienced followers
- Manager
- Tame problems
- Preserver/trustee
- Organisational Man
Transformational
- Transforms institutions
- Offer a vision of the future people want to buy into
- Employees feel part of the solution
- Intrinsic motivation
- Long-term substantive goals
- Works best with experienced followers
- Charismatic leadership
- Leader
- Wicked problems
- Insurgent engineer
- Maverick
What are problems with leadership?
- Fat cats – uneven distribution of income
- Do leaders really know better?
- Acceptance of existing power structures and hierarchy
- Create dependency and subservient attitude
- Yes men
- Reduced autonomy and human creativity
- Lacks democracy
What is the post-heroic perspective?
Post-heroic perspective - The theory sought to redress the balance that has over-emphasized the role of individual leaders at the top of the organizations hierarchy.
- Romanticism of leadership
o Heroic image
o Over-emphasise the role of leaders
o Under-emphasise the role of followers
o Downplay leadership as a process - Leadership occurs throughout the organisation
- Feminine vision of leadership
o Empathy, community, vulnerability and collaboration
What is a non hierarchical organisation?
Non hierarchical organisations
- Work without a leader
- Run by consensus based decision making
- Sometimes everyone paid the same
- Required greater individual responsibility and commitment
- Can increase participation and ownership
Explore and critique key leadership theories
Great man and trait theory
Leadership is something a ‘great man’ is born with, definitive list of qualities exists
Behavioural theory
Examines the behaviour of leaders and followers
Leaders role vital in shaping the environment
Contingency theory
Different leaders good in different situations
o Task, people, organisation, timeframe
Situational theory
a more flexible contingency leadership theory
leaders can be high or low in both task and relationship focus.
Transformational theory
Transactional leadership operates by trying to control followers and cut deals with them.
Transformative is more about uplifting.
Post-heroic perspective
Theory sought to redress the balance of over-emphasized leaders
- Leadership styles
- Alternatives to leadership theories
