Module: B

Leadership and Its

Development
Serial # Topic Page #
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Definitions of Leadership:
2.3 Personality Characteristics
2.4 Turnover Intention
2.5 Empirical Studies
2.6 Barriers To Leadership Development
2.7 Leadership Opportunities and Threats
2.8 Role of experience in Leadership development
2.9 Leadership Development through education and
training
2.10 Leadership development :combining theory with
practice and application
2.11 Definitions of Supervision
2.12
Change management
2.13
Brainstorming process
2.14
Stress management
2.15
Anger management and stress
2.16 Human Motivation
2.17 Leadership: Influencing Behavior for Excellence
2.18 Employee Participation:
2.19
Major leadership theories, models and traits
2.20

2.21

2.22

2.23

2.24

2.25
1. Module: B: Leadership and its Development

Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the U.S.A

Are Leaders Born or Made?

 Leadership and Supervision:

2.1 Introduction:

This is a resource for individuals who wish to develop their leadership skills. Much of the
university material on leadership development focuses on the organization—what the human
resource manager should do, the succession plan, the responsibilities of the CEO, etc. But
there's a vast number of people stuck in organizations without formal leadership development
programs. When these individuals ask for leadership programs, they must overcome a long list
of mind numbing rationalizations such as, "There's no budget," "We don't have the time," and
my favorite, "What's the ROI on leadership development?" This knoll is for those who wish to
develop themselves as leaders, but lack organizational leadership development support. It's
dedicated to the self-starter, the self-disciplined, the self-motivated, and the self-reliant. If you
are thinking about becoming a great leader, this is a critical question—one that demands an
answer. It's actually a trick question, something known in persuasive circles as a false
dichotomy. It's false because genetics and environment both play a part in leadership
development. However, the relative contribution of each is subject to much scientific debate.
For example, intelligence (IQ) plays a part in leadership development, as does emotional
intelligence (EQ). Certain personality traits such as self-confidence, dominance and extroversion
also play an important role. Our family often influences us, as does our national and
organizational culture. Sadly, some may have the potential to lead, but were never given the
opportunity. And tragically, some believe they cannot lead, when they could have.

However, most leaders would no doubt agree with the words of the great American football
coach Vince Lombardi who said, "Contrary to the opinion of many, leaders are not born.
Leaders are made, and they are made by effort and hard work."

2.2 Definitions of Leadership

What Is Leadership?

Let’s begin by clarifying who leaders are and what leadership is. Our definition of a leader is someone who can
influence others and who has managerial authority. Leadership is what leaders do. It’s a process of leading a group
and influencing that group to achieve its goals. Are all managers leaders? Because leading is one of the four
management functions, yes, ideally, all managers should be leaders. Thus, we’re going to study leaders and
leadership from a managerial perspective.3 However, even though we’re looking at these from a managerial
perspective, we’re aware that groups often have informal leaders who emerge. Although these informal leaders
may be able to influence others, they have not been the focus of most leadership research and are not the types of
leaders we’re studying in this chapter. Leaders and leadership, like motivation, are organizational behavior topics
that have been researched a lot. Most of that research has been aimed at answering the question: What is an
effective leader? We’ll begin our study of leadership by looking at some early leadership theories that attempted to
answer that question.

“Leadership is a combination of activities that lead to motivating a group or an individual to willingly

contribute to the common goals to their full ability and beyond”.

Many people believe that leadership is simply being the first, biggest or most powerful. Leadership in
organizations has a different and more meaningful definition. Very simply put, a leader is interpreted as
someone who sets direction in an effort and influences people to follow that direction` the people can
be oneself, another individual, a group, an organization or a community. How they set that direction and
influence people depends on a variety of factors that we'll consider later on below.
To really comprehend the "territory" of leadership, you should briefly scan some of the major theories,
notice various styles of leadership and review some of the suggested traits and characteristics that
leaders should have. The rest of this library should help you in this regard.
Is Leading Different than Managing? (Pros and Cons) Traditional views of management associate it with
four major functions: planning, organizing, leading and controlling/coordinating. However, many
educators, practitioners and writers disagree with this traditional view.

View That Separating "Leading" from "Managing" Can Be Destructive. Another view is that to be a very
effective member of an organization (whether executive, middle manager, or entry-level worker), you
need skills in the functions of planning, organizing, leading and coordinating activities -- the key is you
need to be able to emphasize different skills at different times.

Yes, leading is different than planning, organizing and coordinating because leading is focused on
influencing people, while the other functions are focused on "resources" in addition to people. But that
difference is not enough to claim that "leading is different than managing" any more than one can claim
that "planning is different than managing" or "organizing is different than managing".

The assertion that "leading is different than managing” and the ways that these assertions are made can
cultivate the view that the activities of planning, organizing and coordinating are somehow less
important than leading. The assertion can also convince others that they are grand and gifted leaders
who can ignore the mere activities of planning, organizing and coordinating they can leave these lesser
activities to others with less important things to do in the organization. This view can leave carnage in
organizations.
This chapter has defined leadership as the process of influencing people to direct their efforts toward
the attainment of some particular goal or goals. What makes an individual an effective leader? Some
people feel the answer rests with personal traits and, to some degree, they are right. However,
situational theory is more commonly accepted today-that is, some leadership styles are more effective
than others; "best" depends on the situation.

One way of studying leadership is by placing the elements of leadership on a continuum. Rensis
Likert's research, for example, shows that an employee-centered manager is more effective than a job-
centered manager. But in recent years scholars and practitioners alike have found a two-dimensional
model more realistic, since it sidesteps an either-or approach and allows consideration of two factors.
The Ohio State leadership research and the Blake-Mouton grid are illustrations of the two dimensional
approach.

The most widely accepted approach now is probably Fred Fiedler's contingency model, which places
prime emphasis on three major situational variables: leader-member relations, task structure, and
position power. Fiedler's model is important because it stresses effectiveness, illustrates that no one
leadership style is best, and encourages management to match the leader with the situation. More
recently, Robert House has postulated the path-goal theory. Meanwhile, at the Center for Leadership
Research at Ohio University, a life cycle theory of leadership has been formulated. All three of these
theories emphasize the importance of the adaptive leader who can rise to the demands of the situation.

The last part of the chapter examined new dimensions in leadership inquiry. Particular attention was
given to the declining work ethic, the importance of matching the leader and the strategy, and the role
of corporate culture. All three are of importance in the study of leadership effectiveness. A related area
is that of human resource development, a topic that will be the focus of attention in the next chapter.
A few definitions of different intellectuals of management are listed below:

Table 2.1 Definition of Leadership

Year Author Definition of Leadership
1957 Hemphill & Coons Leadership is the individual behavior to guide a group to
achieve the common target.
1957 Stogdill Leadership is an influential activity to others or organization
to achieve the target set by the leader.
1969 Bowers Leadership is an activity process of interpersonal
relationship; other’s behavior is influenced through this
process to achieve the set target.
1977 Davis Leadership means persuasion on others to enthusiastically
chase for certain target.
1982 Morphet, Johns & Leadership means, in the social system, the individual action,
Reller behavior, faith and target are influenced by the others under
volunteer cooperation.
1986 Richards & Engle Leadership is about establishment of vision, value and
creation of environment so that the objective can be
accomplished.
1990 Sergiovanni Leadership means the leader satisfies the staff’s demand by
use of consultation, negotiation and compromise so that the
staff trades his work for rewards.
1990 Jacobs & Jaques Leadership helps others to strive and to enhance aspiration
to achieve the target.
1993 Robbins Leadership is the ability to influence the group to achieve the
target.
1994 Yukl Leadership is the process of influence on the subordinate, in
which the subordinate is inspired to achieve the target, the
group is maintained in cooperation, and the established
mission is accomplished, and the support from external
group is obtained.
2001 Northouse Leadership is exchanged relationship between leader and
subordinate.
2003 Fry Leadership means use of leading strategy to offer inspiring
motive and to enhance the staff’s potential for growth and
development.

After reviewing studies on leadership theory conducted in the past, it is generally divided into four
periods:
(1). Traits theory in 1930s--- It focuses on the innate leadership qualities and competence. These innate
qualities are not found in others. The so-called quality can be divided into physiological and mental
aspects. The physiological aspect includes: height, weight, looks, and vigor while the mental aspect
includes intelligence, confidence, and aggressiveness etc. Stogdill (1948) proposed twelve leadership
related studies and was considered as representative of this period.
(2). Behavioral theory from late 1940s to late 1960s--- It believes that a leader will be able to achieve
ideal organizational efficiency if he demonstrates effective leadership behaviors. These leadership
behaviors may be trained or learned through experience. Actual behavior or leadership styles are
emphasized. Representative research is conducted in Ohio State University. Ohio State University
proposed “consideration“ and “initiating structure” of leadership behaviors. Consideration is a behavior
that focuses on strengthening relationship with subordinates based on their needs and perceptions,
while “initiating structure” is a behavior that focuses on subordinate performance in goal
accomplishment.

(3). Contingency theory in late 1960s--- This theory states that there is no set of optimum leadership
model in this world and that it depends on the situation encountered. Situational leadership theory
began its development subsequently. It states that leaders need to adopt the most optimum leadership
style based on different organizational situations. Among which, Fiedler’s contingency theory (1967) is
most well-known.

(4). Contemporary leadership theory since 1970s---The viewpoint of contemporary leadership theory
states that leadership is a type of interactive process with the environment. Bass & Avolio (1990)
proposed transactional leadership and transformation leadership :( 1) transactional leadership---
encouraging subordinates through incentive establishment. In other words, incentive elicits work
performance. Transactional leadership is the basis for most leadership theories. It focuses on the
exchange relationship between the leader and the subordinate (Fry, 2003 ； Northouse, 2001); (2)
transformation leadership---to enhance staff’s trust and respect for leader by altering intrinsic work
value and faith of staff at the same time in order to elicit work capabilities. Because “charisma” is viewed
as an essential element, transformation leader provides incentives for subordinates, enhance
subordinate potential and development. (Fry, 2003); and (3) Charismatic leadership theory refers to the
follower’s perception toward certain behaviors of the leader as being heroic or extraordinary.

2.3 Personality Characteristics

Personality characteristic means one’s psychological and physical phenomenon. At different time and
condition, it adapts to different environment by unique behavioral mode and thinking method.
Friedman & Rosenman (1959) categorize personality characteristics into type A and B. Type A shows
exuberant ambition and aggression. Type B has more patience and pays less attention to competition
and sense of achievement.
Definitions of personality characteristic were summarized as shown into table 2.

Table 2.2 Definitions of Personality Characteristic

Year Author Definition of Personality Characteristic

1959 Guilford Personality characteristic is a combination of individual trait and

property, which generates a lasting and special characteristic
different from the others.
1961 Allport Personality means dynamic behavior from psychological and physical
aspect to adapt to the environment.
1970 Pervin Personality represents structure and dynamics from reaction to the
environment.

1972 Scott & Personality is formed from accumulation of psychological growth and
Mitchell development.
1998 Robbins Personality is one’s reaction to the others and consequence of
interaction with others.
1985 Lee Personality characteristic means psychological attributes of affection
and thought among people; it’s also a specific and lasting behavioral
pattern.
1997 Lu The formation of personality is affected by gene, culture,
environment, and social factor.

2.4 Turnover Intention

Turnover intention means the subjective perception of the organizational member to quite the current
job for other opportunity (Fan, 1978). Table 4 showed definitions of turnover intention defined by
various authors.
Table 2.3 Definition of Turnover Intention
Year Author Definition of Turnover Intention
1973 Porter & Steers Retreating behavior from job dissatisfaction.
1975 Kraut The best anticipation for turnover
1975 Fishbein & Ajzen The best measurement to presume the worker’s turnover
behavior
1978 Mobely Idea of leaving the current organization or post
1982 Bluedorn It is differ from actual turnover behavior which is influenced
by more external element .
1993 Tett & Meyer Perception of a series of retreating cognitions.

2.5 Empirical Studies

The verification researches made by the domestic and foreign scholars on leadership, job stress,
personality characteristic and turnover intention are described as follows:(1)in research of
leader behavior and job stress, Fleishman (1964) found that consideration in the leader
behavior has negative connection with the job stress, while the initiating structure is positively
connected with job stress; (2) in research of leader behavior and turnover intention, Fleishman
& Harris (1962) in the study of the influence of various leadership types on turnover rate and
complaint rate found that consideration for the subordinates is negatively connected with the
turnover, while the initiating structure is positively connected with turnover; (3) in research of
job stress and turnover intention, Parasuraman & Alutto (1984) in the research on 217
employees at the food manufacturing company indicated that job stress had positive
connection with turnover intention;(4) in research of personality characteristics and job stress,
Chang (1998) chose employees of Taiwan Sugar Company as research subject and indicated
that those with type A personality characteristic had higher perception of job stress and shew
more physical and psychological discomfort reactions;(5) in research of personality
characteristics and turnover intention, Chang (2003) released 260 questionnaires to 11 schools
and revealed that personality characteristics had no significant impact on turnover intention.
The relevant empirical researches were listed in table 2.4.

Table 2.4 Empirical Research

Author Year Sample Empirical Result

Hsu 1986 222 operators of China In leadership method, consideration has

Steel Company. significantly negative connection with job
stress, but the initiating structure has
apparently positive connection with job
stress. For overall , leadership is negatively
connected with job stress.
Huang 1984 207 engineers of a R&D Consideration leadership has negative
institute connection with turnover.
Ke 1989 217 employees of 105 In leader behavior, consideration has
companies negative connection with turnover
intention and the initiating structure is
negatively connected with turnover
intention.
Parasuraman 1984 217 employees of food Job stress has significantly positive
& Alutto manufacturing company connection with turnover intention.
Tzeng 1994 Employees of 12 five-star Job stress is positively connected with
hotels in Taipei turnover intention.
Tzeng 2001 180 high-tech industry People with A-type personality
and 255 traditional characteristics perceive job stress more
industry serious while, those who with B-type
perceive the least.
Chang 1998 All inland employees of People with more A-type personality
Taiwan Sugar Company characteristics perceive higher extent of job
stress and also higher improper reaction
physically and psychologically.
Wang 1990 Employees from 95 gas People with A-type personality
stations at 23 cities characteristics have significantly higher job
stress than those of people with B-type.
Chiu 1994 2,400 employees of People with A-type personality
Taiwan Semiconductor characteristics perceive more anxiety,
Manufacturing Co. disconsolation, low self-respect than those
people with B-type, yet the overall job
stress does not reach significant level.
Chang 2003 260 contractual The research result finds that personality
 personnel at 11 schools characteristics has no evident influence on
turnover intention.

Fang 1999 194 staffs of Tainan The research result indicates no significant
Revenue Service Office variance between male and female on job
stress.
Fang 1999 194 staffs of Tainan Age is positively connected with job stress.
Revenue Service Office
Cheng 1999 200 female operators of Age has significantly positive connection
wafer manufacturer in with turnover intention.
Hsinchu Industrial Zone
Cheng 1994 333 bus drivers in Taipei Single people feel higher job stress than the
married ones.
Chen 1997 Employees of enterprises Married people perceive more disconsolate
in mid of Taiwan job stress than single ones.
Cheng 1999 200 female operators of Turnover intention of single people is higher
wafer manufacturer in than that of married ones.
Hsinchu Industrial Zone
Fang 1999 194 staffs of Tainan The research found turnover intention
Revenue Service Office difference between female and male is not
evident.

Chuang 2000 Research of job stress Worker’s seniority has positive connection
and job satisfaction on with job stress.
174 high-tech employees
Cheng 1994 333 bus drivers in Taipei Worker’s seniority has negative connection
with job stress.

2.6 Barriers to Leadership Development:

Leadership is a complex skill—requiring as it does keen psychological insight into the mind,
behaviors both rationale and irrational, beliefs, attitudes, values, emotions, human motivation,
communication skills, and so on. Leadership development is surprisingly difficult. Reasons for
this include organizational factors beyond our control, and individual factors which we can
control. Some of these factors are listed below.

Barrier 1: Lack of Leadership Development Programs

Unless you happen to belong to one of the best corporations in the world or are a member of
the military, there just is not that much organizational support for leadership development (see
below).

Leadership Development Barrier 2: A Lack of University Leadership Courses

Leadership development, when is it studied at all in the university, is commonly included in the
business school curriculum, often included almost as an afterthought somewhere in a
management or organizational development course. Not only are business students short
changed, but the vast majority of university students in the sciences and humanities have no
exposure to leadership theory.

Leadership Development Barrier 3: Faulty Training Methodologies

Even in organizations that offer seminars and courses to the employees, the leadership
development methodology is often wrong—one receives training without development.
Performing an exercise once in a class-room or listening to a speaker in a hotel conference
room fails to address both the issue of knowledge retention and skill development.

A Big Individual Barrier To Leadership Development: Ignorance In Its Various Forms

Primary Ignorance: The most obvious form of ignorance is simply not understanding or not
knowing. We don't know; but we realize we don’t' know we don't know. But there are two
more subtle forms of ignorance.

Partial Ignorance: The form involves a false assumption—that one understands something
thoroughly when one does not. It's a common form of ignorance when it comes to leadership.
Just because you took a course once (of which 90% is now forgotten), read two books years
ago, or attended a 3-day executive seminar does not mean you understand leadership.

The reality is, like in most fields of study, developing leadership expertise requires years of fairly
consistent study and effort. Unfortunately, one sees this form of ignorance in some MBAs --
they think know, but they don't know. And because they don't know, their careers careen to a
halt when a lack of people skills prevent further advancement.

Delusion: The final form of ignorance is more subtle still, what the psychologists call delusion.
According to Wordnet lexical database at Princeton, it is, "An erroneous belief that is held in
the face of evidence to the contrary."

To site one example, here is a fairly common leadership question followed by a typically wrong
answer. The question goes, "What is better, to be respected or liked?" The answer commonly
heard is, "To be respected." However, psychological research has demonstrated the real answer
is, "It’s better to be liked."
Professional and social relationships are based on trust. And we don't trust people we don't
like. In fact, we don't even respect someone we don't like.

Delusions are especially insidious when the false belief becomes part of an political or business
ideology accepted as fact by millions. For example, the belief in self-regulating financial markets
is one type of economic ideology that contributed to the financial crisis.

2.7 Leadership Opportunities and Threats

"Any fool can run the ship when the seas are calm, but it takes a great captain to navigate the
storm." — M. Johannsen

The 2007-2009 financial crisis is as much a failure of leadership as it is a failure of management.

According to the 2009 study titled Leaders Without Sea Legs, leadership failures during a crisis
occurs in a number of different ways. Four of the most obvious ones include:

A failure to take operational control;

Mental rigidity preventing adaptation of new ideas and threatening innovation;
An inability to handle the stress, manifesting itself as a lack of emotional stability; and
A failure to communicate in a way that inspires hope and trust.

One can tolerate this kind of incompetence in middle management. But if it exists at the c level,
the ship is likely to hit the reef and sink.

Corporations Desire Good Leaders But Don't Want to Pay for it

According to this 2008 study, seventy-five (75) percent of executives surveyed for the Global
Leadership Forecast identified improving or leveraging leadership talent as a top business
priority from among a list of 14 challenges. However, only 41% of managers surveyed were
satisfied with their organizations leadership development programs, a decline of 12 percentage
points in only two years. This suggests that in many organizations, you can expect little in the
way of help to develop your leadership ability. Even for those who are on track for
critical overseas assignments find that they are mostly on their own. This same report
mentioned that only 29% of MNCs had processes in place for cross-border leadership.

Leadership Skills Are Important In Working Globally

For those looking at working globally, another 2008 study by DDI called Growing Global
Executive Talent, offers a number of important insights into the types of leadership skills one
should develop. Interestingly enough, the top two priorities were team motivation and cultural
adaptability, while the least important were technical knowledge and making the numbers.
 1. Ability to motivate a team — 34.7%
2. Works well across cultures — 33.5%
3. Developing Talent — 25.7
4. Can make tough decisions — 23.8%
5. Ability to create a strategy — 23.1%
6. Creativity or innovation — 22.8%
7. Ability to execute a strategy — 21.6%
8. Interpersonal Skills — 21.1%
9. Integrity or ethics — 16%
10. Technical Expertise — 11.2%
11. Bring in the Numbers — 10.2%

Organizations Want to Hire Leaders

Business Week in September 2007 examined what traits or skills 95 great companies wanted to
see in college graduates. This is what was listed:

Desirable Traits or Skills Number of Companies

College Major 22
Leadership Skills 19
Analytical Skills 18
Communication Skills 23
GPA 5
Misc. 8

So while one's major (or technical skill) is still extremely important, a large number of the
sample corporations also want new hires to have demonstrated leadership skills.

Leadership Failures Exist Even at the Entry Level

Unfortunately, many new hires lack even basic leadership and human relation
skills. According to a September 2005 study by Leadership IQ, "46% of newly
hired employees will fail within 18 months, while only 19% will achieve unequivocal success."
Interestingly, it was not the technical skills which gave companies problems; it was basic human
relations abilities, the kind associated with basic leadership skills. In this case, the top five
problems were:
o Coachability (26%): In this case, the ability to accept negative feedback.

Emotional Intelligence (23%): EQ typically includes self-awareness, self-

regulation, achievement motivation, human relations and empathy.

o Motivation (17%): The drive to excel or do the job well. Sometimes

known as conscientiousness.
 o Temperament (15%): Here, one should posses both attitude and
personality traits that match job requirements.
o Technical Competence (11%): Functional or technical skills required to do
the job.

The Legacee Skill Mastery Leadership Development Model

The journey of a thousand miles begins with the very first step.— Chinese proverb

Unless you have been blessed with having your own leadership coach or sports psychologist,
the first step in individual leadership development is to understand how to build a skill. The
model presented here for individual development is not the same as that used in organizational
leadership development. This model stresses developing both mental and behavioral leadership
skills in an easy to remember three-phase approach.

Phase 1: Learn Sound Theory

“Our greatest adversary is our own ignorance.”

Your leadership development program is only as good as the theory behind it. In other words,
before you practice, you must know and understand intellectually what has to be done.

Good theory is relevant, practical, detailed and convertible into a behavior. It's important to
understand that many commonly accepted leadership principles are very difficult to turn into
actionable behavior. Take for example, "Treat people with respect." Nothing wrong with the
principle, but respect is an abstract concept not easily turned into actions.

Phase 2: Skill Practice

“If you don't practice, you can fall down, but you can't ski.”

Skills vary tremendously in terms of the amount of time and effort one must dedicate to
practice. For example, learning a new language as an adult is extremely difficult; while for a
three-year old its effortless. Mastering complex skills require a great deal of practice,
sometimes hundreds or even thousands of hours. For example, great leaders are commonly
persuasive speakers. But even those with great aptitude, blessed with a large dose of talent,
need to practice many, many times to get really good. It's also good to keep in mind two more
points.

Practice Requires Motivation

"Skill is nil without will.” — Judah ibn Tibbon, c. 1120-c.1190 Spanish physician and translator, A
Father's Admonition to His Son. It is unrealistic to expect any teacher or coach to motivate you if
you are apathetic or just plain lazy.The primary motivation for skill mastery has to come from
the inside. Still, smart individuals define positive and negative consequences for behaviors that
hinder or accelerate leadership development. And will power is another key component to the
motivational puzzle. Finally, great athletes talk about "psyching themselves up" by using self-
talk and guided imagery to attain peak performance.

Practice Requires Feedback

"Feedback is the true breakfast of champions." —Unknown

While there are many different types of feedback, there are only two real means of receiving it:
self-monitoring or getting feedback from others. Self-monitoring has some real advantages
since it allows one to adjust in real time. However, few know how to monitor thoughts and
behavior real time to make these type of adjustments.

Getting feedback from others can work. However, there are two major problems with this type
of feedback. The first is that people self-censor—they often don't say anything if we do
something wrong. Even if someone says something, individual Ego defense mechanisms often
activate when experiencing negative feedback and that feedback is ignored or distorted.

Phase 3: Skill Mastery

“You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take.” — Wayne Gretzky

Mastery is a special state of mind in which the skill largely runs in the unconscious. This frees up
the conscious mind and the Ego to focus on other things. Sometimes called over learning, one
experiences tremendous accuracy, precision and speed. In fact, if is the very speed of the action
that prevents conscious thought. This can be seen in a number of sports such as basketball and
soccer.

What's true for sports professionals is also true for more common skills such as typing or
driving. It's rather disturbing to imagine that the next time you are on the eight-lane freeway,
that the person on the right and the left, the one in the front and the one in the back, are all
devoting very little thought or attention to driving. Yet, we almost always manage to get to our
destination safely.

Examples of Mastery (Some world records and some unusual behaviors.

Michael Phelps, 7th Race , 2008 Beijing Olympics. What's fascinating about this race is how it
was won at the very end.

Typing The Alphabet (in 1.72 seconds). Ok. This is a nice one to test for whether you are a
novice or an expert typist. How quickly can you type 26 letters?

The Trampoline Jump. You need to watch it to the end to get a feel for the record that was
broken.

Eat Drink, Man and Woman — Opening Scene. Watch a master chef preparing food. You will
see many of the characteristics of mastery: speed, precision and a sense of the aesthetic.

2.8 THE ROLE OF EXPERIENCE IN LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Experience is supposed to be the great teacher. It's always rather amusing to see a resume
where someone talks about having “ten, fifteen or twenty years of experience.” However,
experience by itself does little to enhance understanding of what's needed for leadership
development.

Three Classic Methods of Leadership Development:

2.9 THE ROLE OF EXPERIENCE IN LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Experience is supposed to be the great teacher. It's always rather amusing to see a resume
where someone talks about having “ten, fifteen or twenty years of experience.” However,
experience by itself does little to enhance understanding of what's needed for leadership
development.

As anyone who has traveled overseas knows, experiencing Chinese characters doesn't mean
you understand them. Just because one experiences fire, doesn't mean one can make it,
experiencing water doesn't mean one can swim, listening to music doesn't mean one can be a
musician, and seeing a leader in action doesn't mean one can act like one.

If you study mathematics, you become a historian;

If you study history, you become a historian;
If you study swimming, you drown.
— Anonymous

Sometimes, though, one can learn from experience as the following story following story
relates:

By this time I had started playing the tenor sax. I was even asked to play first trumpet inn the
school band. But I gave up music in order to go into politics. I wanted to be president of my
class in seventh and eight grade--and I was.

In ninth grade I ran for president of the whole school. Jimmy Leiby, my closest friend, was a
genius. He became my campaign manager, and created a real political machine. I won the
election by a landslide and it went to my head. To use the vernacular of the day, I really thought
I was hot shit.
But once I was elected, I lost touch with my constituency. I thought I was a cut above the other
kid, and I stated acting like a snob. I hadn't learned what I know now--the ability to
communicate is everything.

As a result, I lost the election in the second semester. It was a terrible blow. I had given up
music to be in the student council, and now my political career had come to a halt because I
forgot to shake hands and be friendly. It was an important lesson about leadership.
From Iacocca: An Autobiography. Toronto: Bantam Books. Page 18.

To sum up, for the vast majority of people, experience teaches us little and is not that helpful as
a tool for leadership development.

2.10 LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT THROUGH EDUCATION AND TRAINING

There is an old saying which goes, “Those who can, do. Those who can't do, manage. Those who
can't manage, consult. Those who can't consult, teach.”

Having depth in the knowledge base is extremely important. While reading and taking classes is
an extremely important aspect of learning, we are only typically learning knowledge. And
knowledge is not always enough.

As many of us have discovered, college does wonders to improve both self-discipline and self-
motivation; but does little to develop tangible job, such as leadership development or human
relations.

This fundamental truth has been known for a long time, but it must be relearned by each
generation. According to Peter Senge, the author of The Fifth Discipline, “The expression for
learning in Chinese is made up of two symbols: One stands for studying, the other for practicing
constantly. So, you cannot think of learning without practicing constantly.” According to
Robbins (1989) in his book Training In Interpersonal Skills:

Today's business graduates have an abundance of technical knowledge. They can do linear
programming, calculate a discounted rate of return, develop a sophisticated marketing plan,
and crunch numbers on a computer spreadsheet. They're technically solid, but most lack the
leadership development ability necessary to develop people. If there is an area where business
schools need to improve, it's in leadership development.

2.11 LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT: COMBINING THEORY WITH PRACTICE AND APPLICATION

Our preferred method for leadership development combines both theory with experience;
concept and application; concepts with behavior. The aim is to use theory in the real world and
then learn from experience by evaluating what went right and what could go better. When
done properly, this is an extremely powerful learning mechanism.
One of the CEO's in Louis Arthur's book, “Tycoons” put it this way, “This is mental set that's
been present for me all those years--the experience of learning early that if something went
wrong, you should examine what you have done wrong before looking outside yourself. . . The
lesson of being compelled to examine my own actions has been of tremendous value to me
through the years.”

By combining theory, practice and application, one has the best opportunity for leadership
development.

TEACHING STORY: SHARPENING THE SAW

A man was struggling to cut down enough trees to build a fence. An old farmer came by,
watched for a while, then quietly said, “Saw's kind of dull, isn't it?”
“I reckon,” said the fence builder.
“Hadn't ya better sharpen it?”
“Maybe later. I can't stop now-I got all these trees to cut down.”

Moral of the Story: If you take time to sharpen your leadership development ability, the task
will not be so hard. From MacKenzie (1990). The Time Trap. New York: AMACOM, pg. 11

SOME LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT RESOURCES:

The Top Companies for Leadership Development

Not all companies are into developing the leadership potential of managers. Here are twenty-
five that are put time and money into this task. For detailed research also consult companies
for leaders. For detailed results take a look at the 2007 leadership study.

100 Years of Research on Leadership

This short Psychology Today article summarizes the leadership literature in five areas: Are
leaders born or made? At what age do leaders develop? Does leadership training work? Are
their common elements leaders share? And finally, Is leadership situation specific?

Seven Factors Affecting Leadership Development

The mighty oak didn't grow from seed to majestic tree in a week. Similarly, you can't evolve
a manger into a leader based on a three-day seminar."—Murray Johannsen

Despite a voluminous amount of written material, leadership development still remains a

mystery to many. While the experts disagree on the relative importance of genetic and
environmental factors (the never ending nature versus nurture debate), each plays a role in the
leadership development theory.
 (1) Genetics

Studies have shown that genetically identical twins raised in completely different environments,
still show similar behavior patterns. While there does not seem to be a specific gene for
leadership or its development, it can be said that certain genes have a direct impact on
leadership development such as intelligence. While one doesn't need to be genius to for the
development of leadership, one can't be in the special needs category either.

(2) Family

Even though cynics might conclude that television is the great brainwasher of the young, the
strongest leadership development factor molding children is still the family. Prior to the start of
school, children learn a great deal through observation and by modeling those around them.
Future leaders may have been fortunate while young to have a leadership development role
model in a brother, sister, parent, mother, father, aunt or grandparent.
(3) Personality

While there is disagreement in the leadership development theories and studies on whether
certain leadership traits are always present in the expression of leadership, we know that
possessing certain traits can definitely help. This raises on interesting question, is it possible for
a person to change certain personality traits? One might answer that question with a bit of
humor.

Do you know how many psychologists it takes to change a light bulb?

It takes just one—but the light bulb has really got to want to be changed.

(4) Position

In some cases, the position inside an organization forces someone to "grow into it." We have
seen this happen many times in human history when an individual with the title of King or
Queen, also received the label Great beside their name. Katherine, Frederick, Alexander,
Constantine and others used their birth right as a starting point to leadership greatness.

In other cases, managers tend to fall into the trap of over using the authority associated a
position to get results. There is nothing wrong with using authority. However, over reliance on
it tends to inhibit leadership development.

(5) Opportunity

It's been said that certain leader development functions like a battery—all that potential just
waiting for the right conditions for the current to flow. Some have the potential to lead, but the
conditions were never right to take charge, for them to emerge as a leader.
In corporate settings, this occurs when potential leaders are allowed to emerge to take charge
of project teams for example. An emergent leaders generally does well since that person does
not have to deal with legitimacy issues that so often bedevil team leaders appointed by
management.

(6) Belief

One of the most subtle, powerful brakes (or accelerators) of leader development is what one
believes. There is no stronger prison than the one we build within our own minds. For many,
the mental prison consists of a small number of core beliefs that limit accomplishment.

If you ask a group of people, how many are managers, almost everyone will raise their hand,
even if they do not have a business degree. If you ask the same group how many are leaders,
few will raise their hand. Until such beliefs are erased, the person is 100% correct—they can
never, will never lead.

"Contrary to the opinion of many people, leaders are not born. Leaders are made, and they are
made by effort and hard work."

Vince Lombardi, 1913-1970, Professional football coach, Wiebusch, Lombardi (Follett, 1971)

(7) Learning and Effort

While all the other leadership development factors are important, this one clearly dominates
the list. It implies that leadership is a skill, and like all leadership development, it can be
learned.

Strange though it may seem, most individuals learn very little from experience. Raw experience
by itself, is rarely enough to learn leadership development. If experience was all one needed,
you could become a marital arts expert by watching Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee movies.

Finally, effort and underlying motivation play an incredibly important role in mastering
leadership development specialties such as transformational leadership. One has to be willing
to put in the hours required to both seek out a sound leadership.

2.12 Definitions of Supervision:

 The Supervisor's Special Role:

The supervisor is the only manager whose subordinates are non management employees
called workers. The three most important types of skills for any manager to possess are
human, technical, and conceptual. All are required for success, but different levels of
management need them to different degrees. Supervisors are responsible to three groups:
their peers, their sub ordinates and their superiors. Each group represents a source of
support, demands on the supervisor's time, and potential problems or challenges for the
supervisor. Each organization attempts to define a supervisor's role through the creation of
a job description and through the demands that various groups and individuals place on the
supervisor. Problems can result from role conflict and role ambiguity. Supervisors, as well as
other managers, represent linking pins, tying two or more organizational groups or units
together by their memberships in each. Educational levels of workers are rising, women's
roles are changing, and the types of jobs that supervisors must manage are undergoing
alterations. Flextime, shared jobs, and temporary workers offer new challenges to
supervisors today. The rewards for successful supervision include pride in oneself pride in
one's performance, pay increases, promotion and career growth opportunities through the
formation of a reputation for getting a job done effectively and efficiently.

A supervisor, like a machine or a method, can become obsolete in skills and abilities in the
absence of a continuing program for his or her future development. Education, both in and
outside college classrooms, is a supervisor's best defense against obsolescence. The higher
a person goes in formal education, the greater his or her job security, promotion ability,
and earnings become (on average). Planning for personal advancement includes efforts
aimed at determining strengths and weaknesses and at building a program for removing
weaknesses. Your career is largely in your hands and must be planned for. A supervisor
needs a personal code of ethics in order to survive, with integrity, in any career.

 Management Concepts:

Management is an activity that uses the functions of planning, organizing, leading, and
controlling human and material resources for the purpose of achieving stated goals.
Management is a team of people that rationally oversees the activities of an enterprise and
attempts to get its tasks and goals accomplished with and through others. A manager is a
member of a team of paid decision makers who gets things done with and through others
by executing the four management functions. Managers occupy positions of formal
authority in an organization. Managers work for formal organizations that have clearly
stated purposes and goals, a division of labor among specialists, a rational organization or
design, and a clearly defined hierarchy of authority and accountability. A person's job
description outlines the authority he or she possesses to mobilize the organization's
resources. Power flows to a person from two sources: the job he or she holds and the skills,
experience, and personality he or she possesses. Authority can be delegated. Responsibility
and accountability cannot be. Your decisions should be made with the aid of a rationally
pre pared decision-making model so that you can consider your alternatives carefully and
avoid problems. The management hierarchy consists of three levels inherent in most
businesses: top, middle, and supervisory or operating. In order to be most effective, staff
managers may exercise functional authority over many other managers. Managing time is
as important as managing a career to a supervisor. Time, like other resources, must be used
effectively and efficiently.

 Management Functions

Planning is often called the first management function because it is a part of every other
function. The planning process requires five sequential steps that set goals, construct a
program to reach those goals, and monitor the progress and results of that pro gram.
Organizing requires managers to determine tasks, break them into activities, identify the
skills needed to perform them, and assign them to qualified people. The organizing
process requires five specific steps that must be taken sequentially and in line with the basic
principles that affect organizing. Leading requires managers to staff their operations and to
train, offer incentives to, evaluate, and discipline their subordinates. Staffing is concerned
with meeting an organization's needs for qualified human resources. It involves human
resource planning and development-recruiting, selecting, placing, promoting, transferring,
and terminating people. Controlling establishes standards to govern people's conduct and
output at work, measures performance and conduct against those standards, detects
deviations, finds the causes for the deviations, and implements appropriate remedies.
Controls may be preventive, diagnostic, or therapeutic. Plans can set forth objectives,
programs, and methods to prevent problems. Diagnostic controls sense deviations and
communicate the fact that they are occurring. Therapeutic controls deal with deviations as
they occur. Controls should be accepted by those who must use them and should be
focused on critical points in vital operations; they must also be economically feasible,
accurate, and timely, clear, and easily understood. The principle of management by
exception tells a manager to spend time on only those matters that demand the manager’s
personal attention and expertise. Other matters can be delegated or reduced to routines.
Management by objectives requires bosses and subordinates to set goals that will become
the standards by which their performances are measured. Each employee sets performance
goals with which the employee's boss can concur. Timetables are established for reaching
each goal, and performances are monitored. Periodic adjustments may be made to the
goals or to the methods of achieving them. Supervisors must take measures to coordinate
the thoughts and actions of those that affect their operations, to avoid confusion, waste,
and duplication of effort.

 Communications

Communication is the transmission of information and a common understanding from one

person or group to another, through the use of common symbols. A common
understanding is achieved when both the sender and the receiver know each other's ideas,
attitudes about the ideas, and frames of reference. The major goals of the communication
process are to be under stood, to gain understanding, to gain acceptance for yourself or
for your ideas, and to produce action or change. A management information system (MIS) is
a formal method for making accurate and timely information available to management to
aid the decision-making process and to aid in the execution of management and
organization functions. Computers are making all kinds of communications more effective
and efficient. The major components or variables in the communication process are the
message, the transmitter, the direction, the medium, and the receiver. Communication
barriers act to interrupt the flow of information and understanding and/or to inhibit it from
taking place. Communications efforts should be planned with the barriers in mind, in order
to eliminate them or to minimize their effects. Delivering a speech or a lecture usually
involves the use of an introduction, an explanation, and a summary. Listening takes up
nearly one-half of our days. It is a skill that can be learned and improved by anticipating a
speaker's next point, by identifying the speaker's supporting elements, by making mental
summaries, and by adopting a tailored approach to note taking. The grapevine consists of
the transmission of information or misinformation through informal channels in the
working environment.

 Managing Change and Stress:

Our experiences help shape our individual beliefs. Our beliefs help shape our attitudes.
When supervisors observe improper attitudes or conduct in sub ordinates-attitudes or
conduct that prevents average or above average performances-they must act to change
them. Changing attitudes requires us to (a) identify the attitude that needs changing, (b)
determine the supports for it, (c) weaken those supports, and (d) offer a substitute and sell
it. Techniques for changing attitudes include force-field analysis, effective communications,
persuasion techniques, participation techniques, training programs, and organization
development activities. Stress is worry, anxiety, or tension that accompanies situations
and problems we face and causes uncertainty about the ways in which we should resolve
them. Stress can distract us from our work, adversely affect our attitudes, and injure our
health, unless we learn to cope with it or to remove it.

2.13 Change management

Organizational and personal change management, process, plans, change management and
business development tips

Here are some rules for effective management of change. Managing

organizational change will be more successful if you apply these simple principles. Achieving
personal change will be more successful too if you use the same approach where relevant.
Change management entails thoughtful planning and sensitive implementation, and above all,
consultation with, and involvement of, the people affected by the changes. If you force change
on people normally problems arise. Change must be realistic, achievable and measurable.
These aspects are especially relevant to managing personal change. Before starting
organizational change, ask yourself: What do we want to achieve with this change, why, and
how will we know that the change has been achieved? Who is affected by this change, and how
will they react to it? How much of this change can we achieve ourselves, and what parts of the
change do we need help with? These aspects also relate strongly to the management of
personal as well as organizational change.

Do not 'sell' change to people as a way of accelerating 'agreement' and implementation.

'Selling' change to people is not a sustainable strategy for success, unless your aim is to be
bitten on the bum at some time in the future when you least expect it. When people listen to a
management high-up 'selling' them a change, decent diligent folk will generally smile and
appear to accede, but quietly to themselves, they're thinking, "No bloody chance mate, if you
think I'm standing for that load of old bollocks you've another think coming…" (And that's just
the amenable types - the other more recalcitrant types will be well on the way to making their
own particular transition from gamekeepers to poachers.)

Instead, change needs to be understood and managed in a way that people can cope effectively
with it. Change can be unsettling, so the manager logically needs to be a settling influence.

Check that people affected by the change agree with, or at least understand, the need for
change, and have a chance to decide how the change will be managed, and to be involved in
the planning and implementation of the change. Use face-to-face communications to handle
sensitive aspects of organizational change management (see Mehrabian's research on
conveying meaning and understanding). Encourage your managers to communicate face-to-
face with their people too if they are helping you manage an organizational change. Email and
written notices are extremely weak at conveying and developing understanding.

If you think that you need to make a change quickly, probe the reasons - is the urgency real?
Will the effects of agreeing a more sensible time-frame really be more disastrous than presiding
over a disastrous change? Quick change prevents proper consultation and involvement, which
leads to difficulties that take time to resolve.

For complex changes, refer to the process of project management, and ensure that you
augment this with consultative communications to agree and gain support for the reasons for
the change. Involving and informing people also creates opportunities for others to participate
in planning and implementing the changes, which lightens your burden, spreads the
organizational load, and creates a sense of ownership and familiarity among the people
affected.

See also the excellent free decision-making template, designed by Sharon Drew Morgen, with
facilitative questions for personal and organizational innovation and change.

To understand more about people's personalities, and how different people react differently to
change.
For organizational change that entails new actions, objectives and processes for a group or
team of people, use workshops to achieve understanding, involvement, plans, measurable
aims, actions and commitment. Encourage your management team to use workshops with their
people too if they are helping you to manage the change.

You should even apply these principles to very tough change like making people redundant,
closures and integrating merged or acquired organizations. Bad news needs even more careful
management than routine change. Hiding behind memos and middle managers will make
matters worse. Consulting with people, and helping them to understand does not weaken your
position - it strengthens it. Leaders who fail to consult and involve their people in managing bad
news are perceived as weak and lacking in integrity. Treat people with humanity and respect
and they will reciprocate.

Be mindful that the chief insecurity of most staff is change itself. See the process of personal
change theory to see how people react to change. Senior managers and directors responsible
for managing organizational change do not, as a rule, fear change - they generally thrive on it.
So remember that your people do not relish change, they find it deeply disturbing and
threatening. Your people's fear of change is as great as your own fear of failure.

Responsibility for managing change

The employee does not have a responsibility to manage change - the employee's responsibility
is no other than to do their best, which is different for every person and depends on a wide
variety of factors (health, maturity, stability, experience, personality, motivation, etc).
Responsibility for managing change is with management and executives of the organization -
they must manage the change in a way that employees can cope with it. The manager has a
responsibility to facilitate and enable change, and all that is implied within that statement,
especially to understand the situation from an objective standpoint (to 'step back', and be non-
judgmental), and then to help people understand reasons, aims, and ways of responding
positively according to employees' own situations and capabilities. Increasingly the manager's
role is to interpret, communicate and enable - not to instruct and impose, which nobody really
responds to well.

Change must involve the people - change must not be imposed upon the people

Be wary of expressions like 'mindset change', and 'changing people's mindsets' or 'changing
attitudes', because this language often indicates a tendency towards imposed or enforced
change (theory x), and it implies strongly that the organization believes that its people currently
have the 'wrong' mindset, which is never, ever, the case. If people are not approaching their
tasks or the organization effectively, then the organization has the wrong mindset, not the
people. Change such as new structures, policies, targets, acquisitions, disposals, re-locations,
etc., all create new systems and environments, which need to be explained to people as early
as possible, so that people's involvement in validating and refining the changes themselves can
be obtained.
Whenever an organization imposes new things on people there will be difficulties.
Participation, involvement and open, early, full communication are the important factors.

Workshops are very useful processes to develop collective understanding, approaches, policies,
methods, systems, ideas, etc. See the section on workshops on the website.

Staff surveys are a helpful way to repair damage and mistrust among staff - provided you allow
allow people to complete them anonymously, and provided you publish and act on the findings.

Management training, empathy and facilitative capability are priority areas - managers are
crucial to the change process - they must enable and facilitate, not merely convey and
implement policy from above, which does not work.

You cannot impose change - people and teams need to be empowered to find their own
solutions and responses, with facilitation and support from managers, and tolerance and
compassion from the leaders and executives. Management and leadership style and behavior
are more important than clever process and policy. Employees need to be able to trust the
organization.

The leader must agree and work with these ideas, or change is likely to be very painful, and the
best people will be lost in the process.

Change management principles

1. At all times involve and agree support from people within system (system = environment,
processes, culture, relationships, behaviors, etc., whether personal or organizational).
2. Understand where you/the organization is at the moment.
3. Understand where you want to be, when, why, and what the measures will be for having got
there.
4. Plan development towards above No.3 in appropriate achievable measurable stages.
5. Communicate, involve, enable and facilitate involvement from people, as early and openly and
as fully as is possible.

John P Kotter's 'eight steps to successful change'

American John P Kotter (b 1947) is a Harvard Business School professor and leading thinker and
author on organizational change management. Kotter's highly regarded books 'Leading Change'
(1995) and the follow-up 'The Heart of Change' (2002) describe a helpful model for
understanding and managing change. Each stage acknowledges a key principle identified by
Kotter relating to people's response and approach to change, in which people see, feel and
then change.

Kotter's eight step change model can be summarized as:

 1. Increase urgency - inspire people to move, make objectives real and relevant.
2. Build the guiding team - get the right people in place with the right emotional commitment, and
the right mix of skills and levels.
3. Get the vision right - get the team to establish a simple vision and strategy, focus on emotional
and creative aspects necessary to drive service and efficiency.
4. Communicate for buy-in - Involve as many people as possible, communicate the essentials,
simply, and to appeal and respond to people's needs. De-clutter communications - make
technology work for you rather than against.
5. Empower action - Remove obstacles, enable constructive feedback and lots of support from
leaders - reward and recognize progress and achievements.
6. Create short-term wins - Set aims that are easy to achieve - in bite-size chunks. Manageable
numbers of initiatives. Finish current stages before starting new ones.
7. Don't let up - Foster and encourage determination and persistence - ongoing change -
encourage ongoing progress reporting - highlight achieved and future milestones.
8. Make change stick - Reinforce the value of successful change via recruitment, promotion, new
change leaders. Weave change into culture.

Kotter's eight step model is explained more fully on his website www.kotterinternational.com.

Related to Kotter's ideas, and particularly helpful in understanding the pressures of change on
people, and people's reactions to change.

Ideas on illustrating change management issues

When people are confronted with the need or opportunity to change, especially when it's
'enforced', as they see it, by the organization, they can become emotional. So can the managers
who try to manage the change. Diffusing the emotional feelings, taking a step back,
encouraging objectivity, are important to enabling sensible and constructive dialogue. To this
end, managers and trainers can find it helpful to use analogies to assist themselves and other
staff to look at change in a more detached way.

On this site there are several illustrations which can be used for this purpose, depending on the
type of change faced, and the aspect that is to be addressed. Here are a few examples, useful
for team meetings, presentations, one-to-one counseling or self-reminder, particularly to help
emphasizes with others facing change:

On the Stories section look at 'Murphy's Plough' (negative thinking = obstacle to change) and
'We've always done it that way' (not questioning need for change). Both good aids for
understanding and explaining why people - all of us - find it difficult to change assumptions,
conditioned thinking, habit, routine, etc.

Look also at the Monkey Story, as to how policies, practices, attitudes and even cultures can
become established, and how the tendency is to accept rather than question.
Just as the state of 'unconscious incompetence', needs to be developed into 'conscious
competence' to provide a basis for training, so a person's subjective emotion needs to be
developed into objectivity before beginning to help them handle change. None of us is immune
from subjectivity, ignorance or denial. The lessons and reminders found in stories and analogies
can help to show a new clear perspective.

Aesop's Fables section has other short and beautifully simple analogies useful for illustrating
aspects of causing or dealing with change, for example (all on the Aesop's Fables section):

The Crow and the Pitcher (change being provoked by pressure or necessity)

The North Wind and the Sun (gentle persuasion rather than force)

The Lion and The Ass (enforced change - might is right)

The Crab and his Mother (lead by example and evidence - or you'll not change people)

The Miller, his Son and the Ass (no single change is likely to please everyone - everyone wants
something different)

The Oak and the Reeds (the need for tolerance - changer or 'changees')

The Rich Man and the Tanner, (time softens change - given time people get used to things)

The Ass and the Mule (agree to reasonable change now or you can risk far worse enforced
change in the future)

Job reorganization, task analysis, job transfer due to IT development or outsourcing etc

First see the modern principles which underpin successful change. It's not always easy or
perhaps even possible to consider matters at such depth, but try to if you can, or try to
persuade others above in their ivory towers to think about the fundamental integrity of the
situation, instead of short-term profit, or satisfying greedy shareholders.

There are various approaches to task analysis and job reorganization, whether prompted by
outsourcing or IT development. Generally change process of this sort is pragmatic, and it's
difficult to identify transferable processes, templates, etc. Examples of projects don't generally
find their way into the public domain, although the likelihood is increasing of government
project pdf's becoming available on the web as this sort of information is increasingly required
to be available to the public. IT vendor case studies and trade journals of the IT and outsourcing
sectors can also provide indicators of best practice or transferable processes. There are some
 useful software tools now available, which are helpful, especially if the change involves a high
level of complexity and a large scale.

As a broad guide when managing this sort of change, these aspects are important for the
process:

 Really understand and clarify mutual expectations about the level of detail and cost that the
project requires. Sometimes it's possible to see it what you need on a table napkin. The organizational
context, and other strategic drivers, personalities and politics are often more significant influences
than the task analysis.
 If you are a consultant or project manager, agree expectations on a pragmatic basis. Agree the
templates and systems to be used and the level of report data required for the decisions to be made.
 Assume that the situation can be improved - it generally can be, so while it's essential to capture
all activities based on current jobs, many of these can be absorbed, superseded, updated, etc., when
you begin to look at the ideal situation ('blank sheet of paper') possibilities, so;
 A new overview analysis enables fresh unencumbered look at the whole, which suggests new
and better ways of doing things. A flip chart and a few creative minds are the main pre-requisites. It
makes a great workshop session and is good for creating ownership and buy-in for major change. It's a
good process also to cascade down to departments to bring out ideas for improved processes and new
ways of doing things.
 In terms of capturing all current processes and inputs, the individual job analysis templates need
to enable jobs to be broken down into sub-tasks, and elements within sub-tasks.
 This is a tricky one, and not practicable in certain X-Theory cultures, nevertheless, be aware of
the high probability of upsetting people whose jobs are threatened by change and try to develop a
way of anticipating and reducing damaging fall-out. Treat people at risk with the respect they deserve
and avoid keeping them in the dark - involve threatened people wherever possible so they can see
what's happening and why. If possible encourage the executive team to take the same humane
approach, and try to establish counseling and support resources if none exist already.
 Analyses are more helpful if they identify critical vs essential task elements - this will help you to
help the decision-makers to be more pragmatic (not least because by applying pressure to some of the
'essential' elements will reveal them to be habitual dispensable or traditional replaceable elements).
 Flow diagrams identify subtask linkage (inter and intra), variation and chronology.
 Behavior needs identifying aside from processes.
 Standards, performance tolerance, % reliability, etc., should be indicated in task analysis as
applicable to the sub-task or activity concerned.

Other points about people and change

Strong resistance to change is often rooted in deeply conditioned or historically reinforced

feelings. Patience and tolerance are required to help people in these situations to see things
differently. Bit by bit. There are examples of this sort of gradual staged change everywhere in
the living world.
 The Psychological Contract is a significant aspect of change, and offers helpful models and
diagrams in understanding and managing change - potentially at a very fundamental level.

Also, certain types of people - the reliable/dependable/steady/habitual/process-oriented types

- often find change very unsettling.

People who welcome change are not generally the best at being able to work reliably,
dependably and follow processes. The reliability/dependability capabilities are directly opposite
character traits to mobility/adaptability capabilities.

Certain industries and disciplines have a high concentration of staff who need a strong
reliability/dependability personality profile, for example, health services and nursing,
administration, public sector and government departments, utilities and services; these sectors
will tend to have many staff with character profiles who find change difficult.

See the personality styles page to help understanding about different types of people.

Age is another factor. Erik Erikson's fascinating Psychosocial Theory is helpful for understanding
that people's priorities and motivations are different depending on their stage of life.

The more you understand people's needs, the better you will be able to manage change.

Be mindful of people's strengths and weaknesses. Not everyone welcomes change. Take the
time to understand the people you are dealing with, and how and why they feel like they do,
before you take action.

Business development driven change

Business development potentially includes everything involved with the quality of the business
or the organization. Business development planning first requires establishing the business
development aims, and then formulating a business development strategy, which would
comprise some or all of the following methods of development.

 sales development
 new product development
 new market development
 business organization, shape, structure and processes development (eg, outsourcing, e-
business, etc)
 tools, equipment, plant, logistics and supply-chain development
 people, management and communications (capabilities and training) development
 strategic partnerships and distribution routes development
 international development
 acquisitions and disposals
 Generally business development is partly scientific, and partly subjective, based on the feelings
and wishes of the business owners or CEO. There are so many ways to develop a business which
achieve growth and improvement, and rarely is just one of these a single best solution. Business
development is what some people call a 'black art', i.e., difficult to analyze, and difficult to apply
a replicable process.

Fast changing environments

Planning, implementing and managing change in a fast-changing environment is increasingly

the situation in which most organizations now work.

Dynamic environments such as these require dynamic processes, people, systems and culture,
especially for managing change successfully, notably effectively optimizing organizational
response to market opportunities and threats.

Key elements for success:

 Plan long-term broadly - a sound strategic vision, not a specific detailed plan (the latter is
impossible to predict reliably). Detailed five years plans are out of date two weeks after they are
written. Focus on detail for establishing and measuring delivery of immediate actions, not medium-to-
long-term plans.
 Establish forums and communicating methods to enable immediate review and decision-
making. Participation of interested people is essential. This enables their input to be gained, their
approval and commitment to be secured, and automatically takes care of communicating the actions
and expectations.
 Empower people to make decisions at a local operating level - delegate responsibility and power
as much as possible (or at least encourage people to make recommendations which can be quickly
approved).
 Remove (as far as is possible) from strategic change and approval processes and teams (or
circumvent) any ultra-cautious, ultra-autocratic or compulsively-interfering executives. Autocracy and
interference are the biggest obstacles to establishing a successful and sustainable dynamic culture and
capability.
 Encourage, enable and develop capable people to be active in other areas of the organization
via 'virtual teams' and 'matrix management'.
 Scrutinize and optimize ICT (information and communications technology) systems to enable
effective information management and key activity team-working.
 Use workshops as a vehicle to review priorities, agree broad medium-to-long-term vision and
aims, and to agree short term action plans and implementation method and accountabilities.
 Adjust recruitment, training and development to accelerate the development of people who
contribute positively to a culture of empowered dynamism.

'Troubleshooting' tips for investigating apparent poor performance

If you are ever give the job of 'troubleshooting' or investigating (apparent) poor performance,
perhaps in another location or business belonging to your own organization, or perhaps as a
consultancy project, here are some simple tips:

Actually 'troubleshooting' isn't a great word - it scares people. Use 'facilitator' or 'helper'
instead. It sets a more helpful and cooperative tone.

On which point, you could well find that the main issue will be people's resistance and
defensiveness to someone coming in to their organization do what you are doing. When you
overcome that challenge, then you can start comparing what's happening with what the
organization sets out to do (mission, values, goals, priorities, targets, key performance
indicators, processes, measures); how the people feel about things (staff turnover, retention,
morale, attitudes); and how customers and suppliers feel about things too (actually go out and
visit customers, and ex-customers particularly).

You must observe protocols very diligently - introduce yourself properly to people and explain
who you are and what you are doing. Don't assume that your task gives you the right to be
secretive, or to have access to anyone or anything without permission. Ask for help. Ask for
introductions. Ask for permission. Be polite and courteous. Respect people more than you
would do normally, because they will be sensitive, understandably so.

Look at the Sharon Drew Morgen facilitation method, which helps with the style and approach
you should use. You must aim to help, enable and facilitate discovery and clarity, not work in
splendid isolation, as an outsider, who's come to 'sort things out'.

And then be led by the people there as to what can be improved. You should adopt the role of a
researcher and enabler rather than a problem solver.

Plan lots of questions that will help people to tell you how they feel about things - customers
and staff and suppliers - and what they think can be done to improve things.

Avoid asking 'why' unless they're really trusting you and working with you. Used early, 'why'
puts people on the defense and you'll not find out anything.

Look at the customer relationship materials as well - customers will tell you what's best to focus
on, and will give you an early opportunity to facilitate some improvement responses. Also look
at the employee motivation survey material.

It's likely that you'll have to write a report and recommendations afterwards, in which case try
wherever possible to involve the people in what you say about them. Let there be no surprises.
Be constructive. Accentuate the positive. Be straight and open with people.

Enjoy the experience. Be respectful and helpful to people and they'll be respectful and helpful
to you.
2.14 Brainstorming process

Brainstorming technique for problem-solving, team-building and creative process

Brainstorming with a group of people is a powerful technique. Brainstorming creates new ideas,
solves problems, motivates and develops teams. Brainstorming motivates because it involves
members of a team in bigger management issues, and it gets a team working together.
However, brainstorming is not simply a random activity. Brainstorming needs to be structured
and it follows brainstorming rules. The brainstorming process is described below, for which you
will need a flip-chart or alternative. This is crucial as Brainstorming needs to involve the team,
which means that everyone must be able to see what's happening. Brainstorming places a
significant burden on the facilitator to manage the process, people's involvement and
sensitivities, and then to manage the follow up actions. Use Brainstorming well and you will see
excellent results in improving the organization, performance, and developing the team.

N.B. There has been some discussion in recent years - much of it plainly daft - that the term
'brainstorming' might be 'political incorrect' by virtue of possible perceived reference to brain-
related health issues. It was suggested by some that the alternative, but less than catchy
'thought-showers' should be used instead, which presumably was not considered to be
offensive to raindrops (this is serious…). Happily recent research among relevant groups has
dispelled this non-pc notion, and we can continue to use the brainstorming expression without
fear of ending up in the law courts…

Brainstorming process

1. Define and agree the objective.

2. Brainstorm ideas and suggestions having agreed a time limit.
3. Categorize/condense/combine/refine.
4. Assess/analyze effects or results.
5. Prioritize options/rank list as appropriate.
6. Agree action and timescale.
7. Control and monitor follow-up.

In other words:

Plan and agree the brainstorming aim

Ensure everyone participating in the brainstorm session understands and agrees the aim of the
session (e.g., to formulate a new job description for a customer services clerk; to formulate a
series of new promotional activities for the next trading year; to suggest ways of improving
cooperation between the sales and service departments; to identify costs saving opportunities
that will not reduce performance or morale, etc). Keep the brainstorming objective simple.
Allocate a time limit. This will enable you to keep the random brainstorming activity under
control and on track.
Manage the actual brainstorming activity

Brainstorming enables people to suggest ideas at random. Your job as facilitator is to encourage
everyone to participate, to dismiss nothing, and to prevent others from pouring scorn on the
wilder suggestions (some of the best ideas are initially the daftest ones - added to which people
won't participate if their suggestions are criticized). During the random collection of ideas the
facilitator must record every suggestion on the flip-chart. Use Blu-Tack or sticky tape to hang
the sheets around the walls. At the end of the time limit or when ideas have been exhausted,
use different colored pens to categorize, group, connect and link the random ideas. Condense
and refine the ideas by making new headings or lists. You can diplomatically combine or include
the weaker ideas within other themes to avoid dismissing or rejecting contributions (remember
brainstorming is about team building and motivation too - you don't want it to have the reverse
effect on some people). With the group, assess, evaluate and analyze the effects and validity of
the ideas or the list. Develop and prioritize the ideas into a more finished list or set of actions or
options.

Implement the actions agreed from the brainstorming

Agree what the next actions will be. Agree a timescale, who's responsible. After the session
circulate notes, monitor and give feedback. It's crucial to develop a clear and positive outcome,
so that people feel their effort and contribution was worthwhile. When people see that their
efforts have resulted in action and change, they will be motivated and keen to help again.

Personal brainstorming

For creativity, planning, presentations, decision-making, and organizing your ideas

Personal brainstorming - just by yourself - is very useful for the start of any new project,
especially if you can be prone to put things off until tomorrow.

Planning a new venture, a presentation, or any new initiative, is generally much easier if you
begin simply by thinking of ideas - in no particular order or structure - and jotting them down
on a sheet of paper or in a notebook. Basically this is personal brainstorming, and it can follow
the same process as described above for groups, except that it's just you doing it.

Sometimes it's very difficult to begin planning something new - because you don't know where
and how to start. Brainstoming is a great way to begin. The method also generates lots of
possibilities which you might otherwise miss by getting into detailed structured planning too
early.
A really useful tool for personal brainstorming - and note-taking
generally - is the wonderful Bic 4-colour ballpen.

The pen enables you quickly to switch colours between red, blue, black
and green, without having to walk around with a pocket-full of biros.

Using different colours in your creative jottings and written records helps
you to make your notes and diagrams clearer, and dramatically increases
the ways in which you can develop and refine your ideas and notes on
paper. To prove the point, review some previous notes in black or blue
ink using a red pen - see how you can organize/connect the content, still
keeping it all clear and legible.

This simple pen is therefore a brilliant tool for organizing your thoughts
on paper much more clearly and creatively than by being limited to a
single colour - especially if you think in visual terms and find diagrams
helpful.

For example, using different colours enables you to identify and link
common items within a random list, or to show patterns and categories,
or to over-write notes without making a confusing mess, and generally to
generate far more value from your thoughts and ideas. Keeping
connected notes and ideas on a single sheet of paper greatly helps the
brain to absorb and develop them. Try it - you'll be surprised how much
more useful your notes become.

The principle is the same as using different colours of marker pens on a

flip-chart. Other manufacturers produce similar pens, but the Bic is
reliable, widely available, and very inexpensive.

The usefulness of different colors in written notes is further illustrated (please correct me or
expand on this if you know more) in a wider organizational sense in the UK health industry.
Apparently, black is the standard color; green is used by pharmacy services, red is used after
death and for allergies, and blue tends to be avoided due to poorer reprographic qualities
(thanks M Belcher). As I say, correct me if this is wrong, and in any event please let me know
any other examples of different colored inks being used to organize or otherwise clarify written
communications within corporations, institutions or industries.

Additionally I am informed (thanks T Kalota, Oct 2008) of a useful brainstorming/organizing

technique using colored pens when reviewing a written specification, or potentially any set of
notes for a design or plan.

Underline or circle the words according to the following:

nouns/people/things black (entities)

verbs ('doing'/functional words) red (relationships)
adjectives/adverbs (describing
blue (attributes)
words)

This technique was apparently used for clarifying written specifications or notes for a database
design, and was termed 'extended relational architecture', advocated by a company of the
same name, at one time. (I've been unable to find any further details about the company or this
application. If you know more please tell me.)

This method of color-coding notes (using underlines or circles or boxes) to help

clarification/prioritization/organization/etc can itself naturally be extended and adapted, for
example:

nouns/people/things black (entities)

verbs ('doing'/functional words) red (relationships)
adjectives (describing a
blue (attributes)
noun/thing/etc)
adverbs (describing a
green (degrees/range/etc)
verb/function)
timings/costs/quantities yellow (measures)

The colors and categories are not a fixed industry standard. It's an entirely flexible technique.
You can use any colors you want, and devise your own coding structures to suit the situation.

In relation to the group brainstorming process above, see also the guidelines for running
workshops. Workshops provide good situations for group brainstorming, and brainstorming
helps to make workshops more productive, motivational and successful.

To create more structured brainstorming activities which illustrate or address particular

themes, methods, media, etc., there is a helpful set of reference points on the team building
games section. Unless you have special reasons for omitting control factors, ensure you retain
the essence of the rules above, especially defining the task, stating clear timings, organizing
participants and materials, and managing the review and follow-up.

2.15 Stress management

Stress at work, stress management techniques, stress reduction and relief

Employers should provide a stress-free work environment, recognise where stress is becoming
a problem for staff, and take action to reduce stress. Stress in the workplace reduces
productivity, increases management pressures, and makes people ill in many ways, evidence of
which is still increasing. Workplace stress affects the performance of the brain, including
functions of work performance; memory, concentration, and learning. In the UK over 13 million
working days are lost every year because of stress. Stress is believed to trigger 70% of visits to
doctors, and 85% of serious illnesses (UK HSE stress statistics). Stress at work also provides a
serious risk of litigation for all employers and organisations, carrying significant liabilities for
damages, bad publicity and loss of reputation. Dealing with stress-related claims also consumes
vast amounts of management time. So, there are clearly strong economic and financial reasons
for organisations to manage and reduce stress at work, aside from the obvious humanitarian
and ethical considerations. If you are suffering from stress yourself the stress management
guidelines here are just as relevant. See the workplace stress research articles below.

Stress and stress management are directly related to personal well-being and specifically to
workplace well-being. See the separate article on workplace wellbeing for a detailed
explanation of wellbeing and its relevance to modern work and management.

Quick stress reduction techniques

If you are stressed, do one or all of these things, in whatever order that takes your fancy. These
ideas can also be adapted for team development exercises.

The key to de-stressing in the moment is getting away from or removing yourself from the
stressor. Developing new habits which regularly remove you and distract you from stressors
and stressful situations and pressures is essentially how to manage stress on a more permanent
basis.

In this modern world it is difficult if not impossible to change stressful situations. What we can
do however is change and reduce our exposure to those stressful situations.

These stress reduction ideas and techniques are based on that simple principle. These tips
won't change the situation causing the stress, but they will, more importantly, enable you to
change your reaction and relationship to the stressful situations.

And in keeping with the tone of this stress tips section, and since colour is regarded by many as
a factor in affecting mood, the calming shade of green is used for the headings..

Stress reduction idea 1 - humor

Humor is one of the greatest and quickest devices for reducing stress.
Humor works because laughter produces helpful chemicals in the brain.

Humor also gets your brain thinking and working in a different way - it distracts you from having
a stressed mindset. Distraction is a simple effective de-stressor - it takes your thoughts away
from the stress, and thereby diffuses the stressful feelings.

Therefore most people will feel quite different and notice a change in mindset after laughing
and being distracted by something humorous.

Go read the funny family fortunes answers. Or try the funny letters to the council. Even if
you've seen them a hundred times before. As you start to smile and chuckle the stress begins to
dissipate.

If this material fails to make you laugh then find something which does.

Keep taking the laughter medicine until you feel suitably relaxed and re-charged.

Stress reduction idea 2 - brisk walk and self-talk

Go for a short quick really brisk walk outside.

Yes, actually leave the building.

Change your environment.

Breathe in some fresh air and smell the atmosphere...

Trees, rain, flowers, traffic fumes - doesn't matter - stimulate your senses with new things.

On your way out keep saying to yourself out loud (and to anyone else you see, in that daft way
people say "Elvis has left the building.."):

"(your name) is leaving the building.. "

And when you are outside and free say:

"(your name) has left the building.. "

You can extend the exercise by going to a park and jogging a little.

Or do a few star-jumps - something energetic to get your body moving and relaxing.

Or stroke a dog, or pick up some litter, or kick a kid's football.

You can of course use other mantras or chants, depending on what you want to do and how far
you want to get away from the stress causes, for example:

"(your name) is doing star-jumps/picking up litter/looking for a small non-threatening dog.."

or

"(your name) is leaving/has left the industrial park/district/city/company/country.." etc, etc.

Of course this is daft, but the daftness reduces the stress by removing you from the stress in
mind and body.

Doing something daft and physical - and reinforcing it with some daft chanting - opens up the
world again.

Stress reduction idea 3 - rehydrate

Go get a big cup or a bottle of water.

Here's why...

Most of us fail to drink enough water - that's water - not tea, coffee, coke, 'sports' drinks, Red
Bull or fruit juice...

All of your organs, including your brain, are strongly dependent on water to function properly.
It's how we are built.

If you starve your body of water you will function below your best - and you will get stressed.
Physically and mentally.

Offices and workplaces commonly have a very dry atmosphere due to air conditioning, etc.,
which increases people's susceptibility to de-hydration.

This is why you must keep your body properly hydrated by regularly drinking water (most
people need 4-8 glasses of water a day).

You will drink more water if you keep some on your desk at all times - it's human nature to
drink it if it's there - so go get some now.

When you drink water you need to pee. This gives you a bit of a break and a bit of exercise now
and then, which also reduces stress.
When you pee you can see if your body is properly hydrated (your pee will be clear or near
clear - if it's yellow you are not taking enough water).

This will also prompt some amusing discussion and chuckling with your colleagues ("Nature
calls - I'm off to the bog again...") which is also good for reducing stress.

You do not need to buy expensive mineral water. Tap water is fine.

If you do not like the taste of tap water it's probably because of the chlorine (aquarium fish
don't like it either), however the chlorine dissipates quite naturally after a few hours - even
through a plastic bottle - so keep some ordinary tap water in the fridge for 2-3 hours and try it
then.

If you want to be really exotic add a slice of lemon or lime. Kiwi and sharon fruit are nice too...

So now you are fully watered and guffawing and exercised up to the max, read on for ideas for
how to prevent stress as well as reduce and manage it.

Stress reduction technique 4 - catnap or powernap

(Not so easy but still perfectly possible)

Take a quick nap. It is nature's way of recharging and re-energising.

A quick 10-30 minutes' sleep is very helpful to reduce stress.

It's obviously essential if you are driving while tired, but a quick sleep is a powerful de-stressor
too.

A lunchtime snooze is very practical for home-workers - it just requires the realisation that
doing so is acceptable and beneficial (when we are conditioned unfortunately to think that
sleeping during the day is lazy, rather than healthy).

At some stage conventional Western industry will 'wake up' to the realisation that many people
derive enormous benefit from a midday nap. Sounds ridiculous? Tell that to the many millions
in the Mediterranean countries who thrive on a mid-day siesta.

People in the Mediterranean and Central Americas take a siesta every working day, and this is
almost certainly related to longer life expectancy and lower levels of heart disease.

See the more detailed evidence and reasoning in the sleep and rest section below.
If your work situation is not quite ready to tolerate the concept of a daytime nap then practise a
short session of self-hypnosis, combined with deep breathing, which you can do at your desk,
or even in the loo. It works wonders.

See the self-hypnosis and relaxation page.

In the summer of course you can go to the nearest park and try it alfresco (that's from the
Italian incidentally, al fresco, meaning in the fresh air - which is another good thing for stress
reduction).

Stress reduction technique 5 - make a cuppa

Any tea will do, but a flavoured cup of tea is even better.

Experiment with different natural flavourings using herbs and spices and fruit.

Fresh mint is wonderful, and excellent for the digestive system. Nettles are fantastic and
contain natural relaxants. Orange zest is super (use one of those nifty little zester gadgets).
Ginger root is brilliant. Many herbs, spices, fruits and edible plants make great flavoured tea,
and many herbs and spices have real therapeutic properties.

Use a 'base' of green tea leaves - about half a spoonful per serving - plus the natural
flavouring(s) of your choice, and freshly boiled water. Be bold - use lots of leaves - experiment
until you find a blend that you really enjoy. Sugar or honey bring out the taste. Best without
milk, but milk is fine if you prefer it.

Making the tea and preparing the ingredients take your mind off your problems, and then
smelling and drinking the tea also relaxes you. There is something wonderful about natural
plants and fruits which you can't buy in a packet. Use a tea-pot or cafetiere, or if you are happy
with a bit of foliage in your drink actually brew it in a big mug or heatproof tumbler.

Fresh mint and ginger tea recipe:

Put all this into a teapot or cafetiere and add boiling water for 2-3 cups. Allow to brew for a
minute or two, stir and serve. (This is enough for 2-3 mug-sized servings):

1-1½ heaped teaspoons of green tea leaves

2-4 sprigs of fresh mint (a very generous handful of leaves with or without the stems - more
than you might imagine)
3-6 zest scrapes of an orange
half a teaspoon of chopped ginger root
2-4 teaspoons of sugar or 1-2 teaspoons of honey - more or less to taste
Alter the amounts to your own taste. The recipe also works very well without the orange and
ginger, which is effectively the mint tea drink that is hugely popular in Morocco and other parts
of North Africa. Dried mint can be substituted for fresh mint. Experiment. The Moroccan
tradition is to use small glass tumblers, and somehow seeing the fine colour of the tea adds to
the experience.

Stress reduction technique 6 - crying

Not much is known about the physiology of crying and tears, although many find that crying -
weeping proper tears - has a powerful helpful effect on stress levels. Whatever the science
behind crying, a good bout of sobbing and weeping does seem to release tension and stress for
many people.

Of course how and where you choose to submit to this most basic of emotional impulses is up
to you. The middle of the boardroom during an important presentation to a top client is
probably not a great idea, but there are more private situations and you should feel free to try
it from time to time if the urge takes you.

It is a shame that attitudes towards crying and tears prevent many people from crying, and it's a
sad reflection on our unforgiving society that some people who might benefit from a good cry
feel that they shouldn't do it ever - even in complete privacy. Unfortunately most of us -
especially boys - are told as children that crying is bad or shameful or childish, which of course
is utter nonsense. Arguably only the bravest cry unashamedly - the rest of us would rather
suffer than appear weak, which is daft, but nevertheless real.

Whatever, shedding a few tears can be a very good thing now and then, and if you've yet to
discover its benefits then give it a try. You might be surprised.

People most at risk from stress

In one US study as many as 40% of workers described their jobs as very stressful. While not a
scientific gauge and not measuring serious stress health problems, this gives some indication as
to how prevalent work-related stress is. As regards official health records, in the UK, the nursing
and teaching occupations are most affected by work-related stress, with 2% of workers at any
one time suffering from work-related stress, depression and anxiety. (The figure for teachers
rises to 4% when including physical conditions relating to stress.) Care workers, managers and
professionals are the next highest affected occupations, with over 1% suffering from serious
work-related stress at any one time. UK HSE work-related stress statistics suggest that work-
related stress affects men and women in equal numbers, and that people in the 45-retirement
age suffer more than younger people. More socially-based USA research suggests that the
following American social groups are more prone to stress (this therefore not limited to work-
related stress): young adults, women, working mothers, less educated people, divorced or
widowed people, the unemployed, isolated people, people without health insurance, city
dwellers. Combined with the factors affecting stress susceptibility (detailed below), it's not
 difficult to see that virtually no-one is immune from stress. An American poll found that 89% of
respondents had experienced serious stress at some point in their lives. The threat from stress
is perceived so strongly in Japan that the Japanese even have a word for sudden death due to
overwork, 'karoushi'.

Work-related stress trends

Data is sparse and confused (stress statistics are also complicated by metal health reporting in
the UK), but the statistics do indicate certain growth. In the UK HSE statistics indicate a doubling
of reported clinical cases between 1990 and 1999. Working days lost per annum appear to have
been about 6.5 million in the mid-1990's, but rose to over 13 million by 2001. Greater
awareness of the stress ailment in reporting no doubt accounts for some of this variance, but
one thing's for sure: the number of people suffering from work-related stress isn't reducing.

Costs of stress

UK HSE statistics suggest stress-related costs to UK employers in the region of £700m every
year. The cost of stress to society is estimated at £7bn pa. (These figures were respectively
£350m and £3.7bn in 1995/6 when total days lost were half present levels.)

Stress causes

Stress is caused by various factors - not all of which are work-related of course, (which
incidentally doesn't reduce the employer's obligation to protect against the causes of stress at
work). Causes of stress - known as stressors - are in two categories: external stressors and
internal stressors.

External stressors - physical conditions such as heat or cold, stressful psychological

environments such as working conditions and abusive relationships, eg., bullying.

Internal stressors - physical ailments such as infection or inflammation, or psychological

problems such as worrying about something.

From the above, it is easy to see that work can be a source of both external and internal
stressors.

Stressors are also described as either short-term (acute) or long-term (chronic):

 Short-term 'acute' stress is the reaction to immediate threat, also known as the fight or flight
response. This is when the primitive part of the brain and certain chemicals within the brain cause a
reaction to potentially harmful stressors or warnings (just as if preparing the body to run away or
defend itself), such as noise, over-crowding, danger, bullying or harassment, or even an imagined or
recalled threatening experience. When the threat subsides the body returns to normal, which is called
the 'relaxation response'. (NB The relaxation response among people varies; ie., people recover from
acute stress at different rates.)
 Long-term 'chronic' stressors are those pressures which are ongoing and continuous, when the
urge to fight or flight has been suppressed. Examples of chronic stressors include: ongoing pressurised
work, ongoing relationship problems, isolation, and persistent financial worries.

The working environment can generate both acute and chronic stressors, but is more likely to
be a source of chronic stressors.

Stress effects on health and performance

Stress is proven beyond doubt to make people ill, and evidence is increasing as to number of
ailments and diseases caused by stress. Stress is now known to contribute to heart disease; it
causes hypertension and high blood pressure, and impairs the immune system. Stress is also
linked to strokes, IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), ulcers, diabetes, muscle and joint pain,
miscarriage during pregnancy, allergies, alopecia and even premature tooth loss.

Various US studies have demonstrated that removing stress improves specific aspects of health:
stress management was shown to be capable of reducing the risk of heart attack by up to 75%
in people with heart disease; stress management techniques, along with methods for coping
with anger, contributed to a reduction of high blood pressure, and; for chronic tension
headache sufferers it was found that stress management techniques increased the
effectiveness of prescribed drugs, and after six months actually equalled the effectiveness of
anti-depressants. The clear implication for these ailments is that stress makes them worse.

Stress significantly reduces brain functions such as memory, concentration, and learning, all of
which are central to effective performance at work. Certain tests have shown up to 50% loss of
performance in cognitive tests performed by stress sufferers. Some health effects caused by
stress are reversible and the body and mind reverts to normal when the stress is relieved. Other
health effects caused by stress are so serious that they are irreversible, and at worse are
terminal.

Stress is said by some to be a good thing, for themselves or others, that it promotes excitement
and positive feelings. If these are the effects then it's not stress as defined here. It's the
excitement and stimulus derived (by one who wants these feelings and can handle them) from
working hard in a controlled and manageable way towards an achievable and realistic aim,
which for sure can be very exciting, but it ain't stress. Stress is bad for people and organisations,
it's a threat and a health risk, and it needs to be recognised and dealt with, not dismissed as
something good, or welcomed as a badge of machismo - you might as well stick pins in your
eyes.

Causes of stress at work

These are typical causes of stress at work:

 bullying or harassment, by anyone, not necessarily a person's manager

 feeling powerless and uninvolved in determining one's own responsibilities
 continuous unreasonable performance demands
 lack of effective communication and conflict resolution
 lack of job security
 long working hours
 excessive time away from home and family
 office politics and conflict among staff
 a feeling that one's reward reward is not commensurate with one's responsibility
 working hours, responsibilities and pressures disrupting life-balance (diet, exercise, sleep and
rest, play, family-time, etc)

Factors influencing the effects of stress and stress susceptibility

A person's susceptibility to stress can be affected by any or all of these factors, which means
that everyone has a different tolerance to stressors. And in respect of certain of these factors,
stress susceptibility is not fixed, so each person's stress tolerance level changes over time:

 childhood experience (abuse can increase stress susceptibility)

 personality (certain personalities are more stress-prone than others)
 genetics (particularly inherited 'relaxation response', connected with serotonin levels, the
brain's 'well-being chemical')
 immunity abnormality (as might cause certain diseases such as arthritis and eczema, which
weaken stress resilience)
 lifestyle (principally poor diet and lack of exercise)
 duration and intensity of stressors (obviously...)

Signs of stress - stress test

At a clinical level, stress in individuals can be be assessed scientifically by measuring the levels
of two hormones produced by the adrenal glands: cortisol and DHEA
(dehydroepiandrosterone), but managers do not have ready access to these methods.
Managers must therefore rely on other signs. Some of these are not exclusively due to stress,
nor are they certain proof of stress, but they are indicators to prompt investigation as to
whether stress is present. You can use this list of ten key stress indicators as a simple initial
stress test: tick the factors applicable. How did I do?

 sleep difficulties
 loss of appetite
 poor concentration or poor memory retention
 performance dip
 uncharacteristic errors or missed deadlines
 anger or tantrums
 violent or anti-social behavior
 emotional outbursts
 alcohol or drug abuse
 nervous habits
 Methods of personal stress management and stress relief

If you are suffering from work-related stress and it's beginning to affect, or already affecting
your health, stop to think: why are you taking this risk with your body and mind? Life's short
enough as it is; illness is all around us; why make matters worse? Commit to change before one
day change is forced upon you.

If you recognize signs of stress in a staff member, especially if you are that person's manager,
don't ignore it - do something about it. It is your duty to do so. If you do not feel capable of
dealing with the situation, do not ignore it; you must refer it to someone who can deal with it.
You must also look for signs of non-work-related stressors or factors that increase susceptibility
to stress, because these will make a person more vulnerable to work-related stressors. These
rules apply to yourself as well....

Stress relief methods are many and various. There is no single remedy that applies to every
person suffering from stress, and most solutions involve a combination of remedies. Successful
stress management frequently relies on reducing stress susceptibility and removing the
stressors, and often factors will be both contributing to susceptibility and a direct cause. Here
are some simple pointers for reducing stress susceptibility and stress itself, for yourself or to
help others:

Stress relief pointers

 think really seriously about and talk with others, to identify the causes of the stress and take
steps to remove, reduce them or remove yourself (the stressed person) from the situation that causes
the stress.
 Understand the type(s) of stressors affecting you (or the stressed person), and the contributors
to the stress susceptibility - knowing what you're dealing with is essential to developing the stress
management approach.
 improve diet - group B vitamins and magnesium are important, but potentially so are all the
other vitamins and minerals: a balanced healthy diet is essential. Assess the current diet and identify
where improvements should be made and commit to those improvements.
 reduce toxin intake - obviously tobacco, alcohol especially - they might seem to provide
temporary relief but they are working against the balance of the body and contributing to stress
susceptibility, and therefore increasing stress itself.
 take more exercise - generally, and at times when feeling very stressed - exercise burns up
adrenaline and produces helpful chemicals and positive feelings.
 stressed people must try to be detached, step back, look from the outside at the issues that
cause the stress.
 don't try to control things that are uncontrollable - instead adjust response, adapt.
 share worries - talk to someone else - off-load, loneliness is a big ally of stress, so sharing the
burden is essential.
 increase self-awareness of personal moods and feelings - anticipate and take steps to avoid
stress build-up before it becomes more serious.
 explore and use relaxation methods - they do work if given a chance - yoga, meditation, self-
hypnosis, massage, a breath of fresh air, anything that works and can be done in the particular
situation.
 seek out modern computer aids - including free downloads and desktop add-ons - for averting
stresses specifically caused by sitting for long uninterrupted periods at a computer screen work-
station, for example related to breathing, posture, seating, eye-strain, and RSI (repetitive strain injury).

Note also that managing stress does not cure medical problems. Relieving stress can alleviate
and speed recovery from certain illnesses, particularly those caused by stress, (which
depending on circumstances can disappear when the stress is relieved); i.e., relieving stress is
not a substitute for conventional treatments of illness, disease and injury.

Importantly, if the stress is causing serious health effects the sufferer must consult a doctor. Do
not imagine that things will improve by soldiering on, or hoping that the sufferer will somehow
become more resilient; things can and probably will get worse.

For less serious forms of stress, simply identify the cause(s) of stress, then to commit/agree to
removing the cause(s). If appropriate this may involve removing the person from the situation
that is causing the stress. Counselling may be necessary to identify the cause(s), particularly if
the sufferer has any tendency to deny or ignore the stress problem.

Acceptance, cognisance and commitment on the part of the stressed person are essential. No-
one can begin to manage their stress if they are still feeling acutely stressed - they'll still be in
'fight or flight' mode. This is why a manager accused of causing stress though bullying or
harassment must never be expected to resolve the problem. The situation must be handled by
someone who will not perpetuate the stressful influence.

Removing the stressor(s) or the person from the stressful situation is only part of the solution;
look also at the factors which affect stress susceptibility: where possible try to improve the
factors that could be contributing to stress vulnerability. This particularly and frequently
involves diet and exercise.

The two simplest ways to reduce stress susceptibility, and in many situations alleviate stress
itself (although not removing the direct causes of stress itself) are available to everyone, cost
nothing, and are guaranteed to produce virtually immediate improvements. They are diet and
exercise.

Diet

It's widely accepted that nutritional deficiency impairs the health of the body, and it's
unrealistic not to expect the brain to be affected as well by poor diet. If the brain is affected, so
are our thoughts, feelings and behavior.

We know that certain vitamins and minerals are required to ensure healthy brain and
neurological functionality. We know also that certain deficiencies relate directly to specific
 brain and nervous system weaknesses: The Vitamin B Group is particularly relevant to the brain,
depression and stress susceptibility. Vitamin B1 deficiency is associated with depression,
nervous system weakness and dementia. B2 deficiency is associated with nervous system
disorders and depression. B3 is essential for protein synthesis, including the neurotransmitter
serotonin, which is necessary for maintaining a healthy nervous system. Vitamin B6 is essential
for neurotransmitter synthesis and maintaining healthy nervous system; B6 deficiency is
associated with depression and dementia. B12 deficiency is associated with peripheral nerve
degeneration, dementia, and depression.

Vitamin C is essential to protect against stress too: it maintains a healthy immune system,
which is important for reducing stress susceptibility (we are more likely to suffer from stress
when we are ill, and we are more prone to illness when our immune system is weak). Vitamin C
speeds healing, which contributes to reducing stress susceptibility. Vitamin C is associate with
improving post-traumatic stress disorders and chronic infections.

A 2003 UK 18 month study into violent and anti-social behavior at a youth offenders institution
provided remarkable evidence as to the link between diet and stress: Around 230 inmate
volunteers were divided into two groups. Half were given a daily vitamin/fatty acid/mineral
supplement; half were given a placebo. The group given the supplement showed a 25%
reduction in recorded offences, and a 40% reduction in serious cases including violence towards
others, behaviors that are directly attributable to stress.

Vitamin D helps maintain healthy body condition, particularly bones and speed of fracture
healing, which are directly linked to stress susceptibility.

Adequate intake of minerals are also essential for a healthy body and brain, and so for reducing
stress susceptibility.

A proper balanced diet is clearly essential, both to avoid direct physical stress causes via brain
and nervous system, and to reduce stress susceptibility resulting from poor health and
condition. Toxins such as alcohol, tobacco smoke, excessive salt, steroids, other drugs and other
pollutants work against the balance between minerals, vitamins mind and body. Obviously
then, excessive toxins from these sources will increase stress susceptibility and stress itself.
(Useful information about salt and steroids.)

Some other simple (and to some, surprising) points about food, drink and diet:

 Processed foods are not as good for you as fresh natural foods. Look at all the chemicals listed
on the packaging to see what you are putting into your body.
 Generally speaking, and contrary to popular opinion, butter is better for you than margarine.
This is because the fat in butter is natural and can be converted by the body more easily than the
hydrogenated fat that occurs commonly in margarines.
 Fresh fruit and vegetables are good for you. Simple and true.
 Fish is good for you, especially oily fish like mackerel. Battered fish from the chip shop, cooked in
hydrogenated cooking oil is not so good for you.
 Canned baked beans often have extremely high salt and sugar content. The beans are good for
you, but the sauce isn't if it contains too much salt and sugar. Look at the contents on the label.
 Canned and bottled fizzy 'pop' drinks are generally very bad for you. They contain various
chemicals, including aspartame, which has been linked in several studies with nervous system
disorders. Many squashes and cordials also contain aspartame.
 Too much coffee is bad for you. Interestingly expresso coffee contains less caffeine than filter
and instant coffee, because it passes through the coffee grounds more quickly.
 Tea is good for you. Especially green tea.
 Pills and tablets are not good for you, avoid them if you can. For example, next time you have a
headache, don't take tablets, go for a run, or a walk in the fresh air to relax naturally.

The rule is simple and inescapable: eat and drink healthily, and avoid excessive intake of toxins,
to reduce stress susceptibility and stress itself. If you are suffering from stress and not obeying
this simple rule you will continue to have be stressed, and moreover you will maintain a higher
susceptibility to stress.

Irrespective of your tastes, it's easy these days to have a balanced healthy diet if you want to -
the challenge isn't in knowing what's good and bad, it's simple a matter of commitment and
personal resolve. You have one body for the whole of your life - look after it.

Sleep and rest

Sleep and rest are essential for a healthy life-balance.

We have evolved from ancestors whose sleep patterns were governed by and attuned to
nature. We are born with genes and bodies which reflect our successful evolutionary survival
over tens of thousands of years. Our genes and bodies do not reflect the modern world's less
natural way of life.

Only in very recent generations have the modern heating, lighting, communications and
entertainment technologies enabled (and encouraged) people to keep daft unnatural waking
and working hours. Such behaviour is at odds with our genetic preferences.

Resisting and breaking with our genetically programmed sleep and rest patterns creates
internal conflicts and stresses, just as if we were to eat unnatural foods, or breathe unnatural
air.

Having a good night's sleep is vital for a healthy mind and body.

Napping during the day is also healthy. It recharges and energises, relaxes, and helps to wipe
the brain of pressures and unpleasant feelings.

Evidence of the relevance and reliability of this logic is found for example in the following
research by Androniki Naska et al published in the Archives of Internal Medicine on 12 February
2007, and summarised here:
 The research project is titled Siesta in Healthy Adults and Coronary Mortality in the General
Population. The research team was headed by Androniki Naska PhD of the Department of
Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece.

The introduction of the report extract explains the approach:

"Midday napping (siesta) is common in populations with low coronary mortality, but
epidemiological studies have generated conflicting results. We have undertaken an analysis
based on a sizable cohort with a high frequency of napping and information on potentially
confounding variables including reported comorbidity, physical activity, and diet..."

The research studied 23,681 adults for an average of 6.32 years, and found that men and
women taking a siesta of any frequency or duration had a coronary mortality ratio of 0.66, i.e.,
were 34% less likely to die of heart disease. Those occasionally napping during daytime had a
12% reduction in fatal heart disease, and people systematically napping during daytime had a
37% lower incidence of fatal heart disease. The study found the correlation strongest among
working men. The study concluded: that taking a siesta (midday nap) correlates with reduced
fatality from heart disease, that the correlation strengthens with the consistency of the siesta
habit, and that the association was particularly evident among working men.

While the study did not measure stress per se, it is reasonable to make at least a partial
connection between reduced fatality due to heart disease and reduction in stress, since the two
illnesses (stress and heart disease) are undeniably linked.

Here is the Extract Study report by Androniki Naska et al published in the Archives of Internal
Medicine on 12 February 2007.

Exercise

Physical exercise is immensely beneficial in managing stress. This is for several reasons:

 Exercise releases helpful chemicals in our brain and body that are good for us.
 Exercise distracts us from the causes of stress.
 Exercise warms and relaxes cold, tight muscles and tissues which contribute to stress feelings.
 Exercise develops and maintains a healthy body which directly reduces stress susceptibility.

Exercise increases blood flow to the brain which is good for us. Exercises also releases
hormones, and stimulates the nervous system in ways that are good for us. Exercise produces
chemicals in the body such as beta-endorphin, which is proven to have a positive effect on how
we feel. For many people, serious exercise produces a kind of 'high'. (It's arguable that it has
this effect on everyone, but not since so many people never get to do any serious exercise
they'll never know.......). Scientists still don't fully understand how exactly these effects happen,
but we do know that exercise produces powerful feelings of well-being and a physical glow,
both of which directly reduce stress feelings.
Exercise of all types (muscle-building and stamina-building) relaxes tense muscles and tight
connective tissues in the body, which directly contribute to stress feelings and symptoms
(particularly headaches). Try this next time you get a stress headache - one that comes up the
back of your neck into the back of your head: stand up, leave whatever you are doing, walk
outside, take a few deep breaths, roll your shoulders backwards gently, slowly at first, then
gradually speed up to about one rotation per second and keep it going for one minute. You can
actually feel your shoulders warming and loosening, then feel your neck muscles warming up
and relaxing, and then feel the relaxing feel beginning to take the edge of the pain in the back
of your head. And that's after just sixty seconds of exercise! Imagine what 15 minutes brisk
walking or jogging can do. Ask anyone who's just finished a game of tennis or squash or soccer
if they feel at all stressed. Of course they don't. It's actually impossible to stay stressed if you do
a serious bit of exercise.

Exercise is wonderfully distracting - especially something very competitive which makes you
push yourself further than you might do by yourself. When your body is involved with exercise
it's very absorbing - it's actually very difficult to think about your problems when you are
puffing and panting. Something terrific happens to the brain when the body works out,
especially aerobic exercise - cardiovascular exercise that gets the heart pumping.

We all evolved over millions of years with bodies that were built to exercise, it's no wonder that
avoiding it creates all kinds of tensions.

Exercise, like a better diet, isn't difficult to adopt - the answer is simple, the opportunity is there
- it's the personal commitment that make the difference.

And a final point about 'anger management'....

2.16 Anger management and stress

The term 'anger management' is widely use now as if the subject stands alone. However, 'anger
management' is simply an aspect of managing stress, since anger in the workplace is a symptom
of stress. Anger is often stress in denial, and as such is best approached via one-to-one
counseling. Training courses can convey anger management and stress reduction theory and
ideas, but one-to-one counseling is necessary to turn theory into practice. Management of
anger (and any other unreasonable emotional behavior for that matter) and the stress that
causes it, can only be improved if the person wants to change - acceptance, cognizance,
commitment - so awareness is the first requirement. Some angry people take pride in their
anger and don't want to change; others fail to appreciate the effect on self and others. Without
a commitment to change there's not a lot that a manager or employer can do to help; anger
management is only possible when the angry person accepts and commits to the need to
change.

A big factor in persuading someone of the need to commit to change is to look objectively and
sensitively with the other person at the consequences (for themselves and others) of their
anger. Often angry people are in denial ("my temper is okay, people understand it's just me and
my moods...."), so removing this denial is essential. Helping angry people to realize that their
behavior is destructive and negative is an important first step. Discuss the effects on their
health and their family. Get the person to see things from outside themselves.

As with stress, the next anger management step is for the angry person to understand the
cause of their angry tendency, which will be a combination of stressors and stress susceptibility
factors. Angry people need help in gaining this understanding - the counselor often won't know
the reason either until rapport is established. If the problem is a temporary tendency then
short-term acute stress may be the direct cause. Use one-to-one counseling to discover the
causes and then agree necessary action to deal with them. Where the anger is persistent,
frequent and ongoing, long-term chronic stress is more likely to be the cause. Again, counseling
is required to get to the root causes. Exposing these issues can be very difficult, so great
sensitivity is required. The counselor may need several sessions in order to build sufficient trust
and rapport.

The situation must be referred to a suitably qualified person whenever necessary, i.e. when the
counselor is unable to establish a rapport, analyze the causes, or agree a way forward. In any
event if you spot the need for anger management in a person be aware that serious anger, and
especially violence, is a clinical problem and so must be referred to a suitably qualified advisor
or support group - under no circumstances attempt to deal with seriously or violently angry
people via workplace counseling; these cases require expert professional help.

Establishing commitment to change and identifying the causes is sufficient for many people to
make changes and improve - the will to change, combined with awareness of causes, then leads
to a solution.

Ideas for stress relief - especially for workers at particular risk

Many workers in the healthcare professions are at particular risk from stress and stress-related
performance issues (absenteeism, attrition, high staff turnover, etc). Other sectors also have
staff that are at a higher risk than normal from the effects of work-related stress.

It is the duty of all employers to look after these people. The solutions are more complex than
blaming people for not being able to cope, or blaming the recruitment selection process.

In these situations it is often assumed that better selection of (more resilient) new recruits is
the solution. However, the challenge is two-fold - identifying best new candidates, and more
importantly: helping and supporting staff in their roles.

In terms of identifying best new candidates, look at Emotional Intelligence methodology. The
ability to absorb high levels of stress and pressure is governed largely by emotional maturity
and personal well-being, which to an extent are reflected in the EQ model.
The Emotional Intelligence section contains some useful resources (for example an Emotional
Intelligence competency framework, which can be used to structure interview questions or
even to create an assessment tool to assist in the recruitment process).

Other methodologies are also relevant to the qualities which greatly assist in high-stress roles
(and especially training/support for the people in the roles), including NLP, Transactional
Analysis, and Empathy.

Existing staff and new people in stress-prone roles are also likely to benefit from help given with
relaxation, stress relief, meditation, peace of mind, well-being, etc., all of which increase
personal reserves necessary to deal with stressful situations, which in turn reduces attrition,
absenteeism and staff losses. Happily many providers in these fields are not expensive and
bring great calm to people in a wide variety of stressful jobs.

Television, films, computer games - mood influencing stress factors

In the same way that 'you are what you eat' recent research suggests that also 'you are what
you watch'.

Given how the brain works it is logical - and increasingly proven - that if you subject yourself to
miserable, negative experiences portrayed on film and television, and computer games, that
you will feel unhappy or even depressed as a result. Negative, violent, miserable images,
actions, language and sounds are in effect a form of negative conditioning. They produce stress,
anxiety, and actually adversely affect a person's physical health.

Evidence is growing that positive or negative images and sounds have a corresponding positive
or negative effect on your physical health and well-being. Watching or violent or miserable TV,
films or playing violent computer games are experiences now proven to have a directly negative
effect on a person's physical health, as well as mental state.

Conversely, watching or listening to an amusing experience or portrayal in a variety of media

(TV, film, even books) has a beneficial effect on your mood, and thereby will tend to improve
your physical health, mental state, and reduce your stress levels.

Negative viewing and game-playing experiences are bad for you. Positive, funny experiences
are good for you.

Think about and control the influences upon you - reduce the negatives and increase the
positives - and you will improve your physical and mental health, and you will most certainly
reduce your stress levels.

Some useful references:

Research published in 2005 by Dr Michael Miller of the University of Maryland in Baltimore
confirmed the positive and negative effect on blood vessels and their 'endothelium' lining, from
respectively positive and negative viewing and listening experiences, and the resulting
hormonal changes that result, producing stress, and aversely affecting blood vessel
performance. Healthy blood vessels and endothelium are able to dilate (open) more freely and
quickly, aiding blood flow and reducing propensity to clots and related blood flow problems
such as heart risks. Basically, negative experiences reduce capability of blood vessels to dilate,
and positive viewing experiences and laughter reduce stress and improve blood vessel dilation.
Specifically the research found that stress caused blood flow to slow by around 35%, but
laughter increased it by around 22%. Miller also referenced numerous prior studies
demonstrating the positive effects of humor and laughter on stress and health, together with
evidence of the contrary negative effects on health, stress and the body's natural functions
caused by negative viewing experiences. Miller found that stress and reduced blood vessel
performance resulting from negative experiences last for around 45 minutes, and suggested
that unrelenting stress could permanently (adversely) alter blood vessels.

Professor Andrew Steptoe, British Heart Foundation Professor of Psychology at University

College London, has previously shown associations between positive emotional states such as
happiness and low levels of the stress hormone cortisol, (as well as finding that people with a
more positive outlook appear to be less affected by stressful events).

Dr Margaret Stuber's US research has demonstrated that laughter is an effective pain reducer in
children, and specifically that children's stress levels were reduced after laughing, and in UK
hospitals 'clown doctors' are used in children's wards to improve patients' tolerance to stress
and pain, including prior to an aesthetic and operating theatre.

Workplace stress and workplace health research articles

If you needed any further evidence of the damaging effects of stress and pressures in the
workplace - especially for managers, here's a useful research article released 28 April 2006 by
the Chartered Institute of Management:

Poor workplace health is no laughing matter for uk managers

Increased anger and loss of humor amongst people in the workplace are just two of the knock-
on effects that businesses now have to deal with due to poor workplace health, according to
new research (published April 2006).
 The 'Quality of Working Life' report published by the Chartered Management Institute and
Workplace Health Connect uncovers a high number of physical and psychological symptoms
and highlights the impact these have on business performance.

The survey questioned 1,541 managers in the UK revealing a poor picture of health, with only
half (50%) believing they are currently in 'good' health.

Key findings of the report were:

 Anger and mood: 43% admitted to feeling or becoming angry with others too easily and one
third (31%) confessed to a loss of humor creating workplace pressures.
 Muscle tension and headaches: More than half of those questioned (55%) complained of
muscular tension or physical aches and pains. 44% said they experienced frequent headaches.
 Tiredness and insomnia: Asked about psychological symptoms, 55% experienced feelings of
constant tiredness at work. 57% complained of insomnia.

The report also shows that ill-health is having an impact on morale and performance. One-third
(30%) admit they are irritable 'sometimes or often' towards colleagues. Some managers also
want to avoid contact with other people (26%) and many (21%) have difficulty making decisions
due to ill health.

Mary Chapman (no relation), chief executive of the Chartered Management Institute, says:
"With the impact of ill-health being keenly felt in the workplace, managers need a better
understanding of the consequences of letting relatively minor symptoms escalate. They need to
take more personal responsibility for improving their health because inaction is clearly having
an effect on colleagues and the knock-on effect is that customer relationships will suffer, too."

Elizabeth Gyngell, programme director at Workplace Health Connect, says: "Health activities
should not be driven by a concern over legislation, but by the understanding that improved
well-being can generate significant benefits to morale and performance. This means
organizations should ensure their employees are well versed in identifying and addressing
symptoms before they escalate."

1.17 Human Motivation

Industrial studies have shown that people are stimulated to action by five basic human
needs and rewards, outcomes, or incentives offered by their employers. The Hawthorne
studies of the 1920s demonstrated the social and esteem needs that people has and the
natural tendencies of workers to form their own groups cliques. Abraham Maslow has
ranked human needs in a hierarchy that progresses from physical needs through four
psychological needs. Each has the power to act as a motive for human behavior. Managers
and their organizations have the power to assist employees in their search for satisfaction in
every need category. Frederick Herzberg has identified two sets of factors that can either
prevent dissatisfaction or promote motivation in employees. These are called, respectively,
maintenance and motivation factors. The contingency theory of motivation holds that all of
us desire a sense of competence. That desire can be met by organizations and managers
who tailor jobs, job assignments, and supervisory approaches to fit individual’s needs and
capabilities. The expectancy theory of motivation holds that people will work to exhibit the
behaviors an employer or boss expects if they know what the rewards will be, are certain
that the reward is forthcoming, desire to posses the reward, and have or perceive that they
have the capabilities required to exhibit the behaviors required. The reinforcement theory
states that behavior that is desirable will be repeated if rewarded and that undesirable
behavior can be discouraged by providing punishment for it. Productivity and quality go
together. Efforts to improve one must also act to improve the other. Efforts to improve
both must never end. Quality of work life (QWL) involves programs and projects to help
employees satisfy their needs and fulfill their expectations about work. It is part of
organization development and uses such approaches as job rotation, job enrichment, and
training programs.

 Building Relationships with Individuals

Human relations involve the development and maintenance of sound on-the-job

relationships with subordinates, peers, and superiors. Building sound human relationships
with subordinates and peers requires you to play four fundamental roles: educator,
counselor, judge, and spokesperson. As an educator, you share your knowledge, skills, and
experiences with others. As a counselor, you provide advice, service, and a sympathetic and
empathetic ear. As a judge, you evaluate performances of subordinates, enforce company
and departmental rules and standards, settle disputes, and dispense justice. You win your
boss's respect and confidence by meeting his or her expectations of you and by playing your
role as it has been prescribed. You learn your boss's job by creating time in which to
execute the boss's tasks. Just as you train your replacement through delegation of your
formal authority, so too does your boss train his or her replacement.

 Supervising Groups

A group is two or more people who are aware of one another, who consider themselves to
be a functioning unit, and who share a quest for a common goal or benefit. Problem-solving
meetings may or may not allow for interaction between and among group members.
Interaction allows individual group members to react to input from other members. The
interacting group works best to evaluate possible alternatives and to obtain a group
solution in the form of a consensus of opinions. Brainstorming and round-robin sessions
work best to construct a list of potential solutions or ideas that bear on the subject under
discussion. The roles that group members play may affect the group either positively or
negatively, depending on what motivates each group member in the use of each role.
Various pitfalls can undermine group meetings and their results. Being aware of them and
acting to render them negligible is the job of every group leader or chairperson. Groups that
compete experience both positive and negative changes. The most negative feature of
intergroup competition is what happens between competing groups: hostility, lack of
cooperation, and outright sabotage can result, eventually bringing both groups down.
Supervisors must recognize that informal groups exist and can wield positive or negative
powers. Their leaders possess strong personalities and are potential management material.

 Leadership and management Styles

Leadership is based on a person's skills, knowledge, and formal authority. Not all leaders are
managers, and not all managers are leaders. People who can get work done through willing
followers who respect them in the process are leaders. Various leaders have various
different traits, such as enthusiasm, tact, and endurance. No one set of traits is cohesion to
all leaders. Leadership principles offer advice on how a person who wants to be a leader
should behave. They are illustrations of the three skills of a manager studied in chapter 1.
The contingency model of leadership holds that the effectiveness of a group or organization
depends on the leader and the leader's situation. Basic leader orientations are task- or
relationship-oriented. Most leaders focus on one or the other, as the circumstances dictate.
The management GRID system represents the possible positions managers may take with
respect to their focus on and blending of their two primary orientations-people and tasks.
The leadership continuum illustrates the positions a leader can take with regard to sharing
authority with subordinates. The four basic management styles are autocratic, democratic,
spectator, and bureaucratic. Only the last is not a leadership style.

 Selection and Orientation

A proper selection process involves the supervisor of the worker who will be hired, usually
as the interviewer in the final selection interview. Supervisors should make the final
selection because their commitment to the success of new employees is vital. People
interviewed in a final selection interview should be pre screened by personnel or the
human resource management department, using proper selection devices. Selection
devices include any interview, form, or other instrument that will be weighed or used in
making the decision to hire. Selection devices and procedures should not adversely affect
minorities and women, and they should have validity. The selection process is both an
information-gathering and an information-giving process. Errors in the selection process can
be expensive both in fines and court costs connected with discrimination charges and in
replacing a person who should not have been selected. Orientation programs are usually
conducted by the personnel or human resource management departments and are
designed to welcome new employees to the enterprise as a whole. Induction programs are
usually conducted by the supervisor of the new employee and are designed to welcome
new employees to a specific job, working environment, and peer group. Orientation and
induction programs are normally tailored to fit the specific needs of different groups of new
employees. Studies show that the first few days on a new job are extremely important and
determine to a great extent the future performance and careers of newcomers. The
supervisor of a new person, more than any other factor at work, can mean the difference
between success and failure on the job. Both orientation and induction programs should be
designed to remove sources of anxiety and to help new employees satisfy their needs for
competence, security, and social acceptance.

 Training

Training is the supervisor's responsibility. It may be delegated, but the supervisor is

accountable for it. Training imparts skills, knowledge, and attitudes needed by trainees now
or in the near future. Training benefits you, your trainees, and your employer. Be certain
that trainees know what they are to learn and why. You are judged on your performance
and on the performances of your subordinates. The better they do, the better you all look
to each other and to superiors. Anyone may train if he or she possesses the body of
knowledge skills, and attitudes to be taught, knows and follows the principles that govern
training, and wants to train. The training cycle asks you to identify your training needs, to
prepare performance objectives, to create a training program, and to conduct the training.
The central purpose behind training is to get performances up to standard-to make certain
that they turn out as planned.

 The Appraisal Process

Efforts to evaluate subordinates take place daily. Formal appraisals usually take place once
or twice each year. The appraisal process is too important for a supervisor to delegate.
Appraisals look at a person's personal growth and changes in performance capabilities.
Appraisals must be based on known standards and linked to definite rewards and
punishments. The many approaches and methods of appraising subordinates all have
advantages and disadvantages. All allow for personal bias and subjective judgments. By
being aware of the pitfalls in appraising individuals, you can act to prevent their occurrence
in your appraisals. The real value of appraisals lies in sharing them with the rated individual.
Supervisors get to know their people better and vice versa. Specific problems and
achievements can be noted, and plans can be made for improvement. The appraisal
process is a cyclical one. As old problems are corrected, new ones appear. Change is
inevitable and requires new methods and approaches to routine and special tasks that
every one faces.

 Discipline
Both positive discipline and negative discipline are needed if reasonable and safe conduct at
work is to be promoted, along with a sense of responsibility for one's work. When an
organization or an individual supervisor tolerates a poor performer the organization or the
supervisor cannot, in con science discipline anyone whose performance exceeds the poor
performer's, The best kind of disciplinary system is one based on the individual employee's
sense of responsibility for his or her own work and on each employee's self-control. People
need to know what is expected of them and how well they are or are not doing; they have a
right to expect consistent enforcement of necessary rules, policies, and standards, People
need to know that good work will be rewarded and that poor performance will earn swift
and predictable responses from management. People do not resent punishment that they
know they deserve. They do resent being punished for something they did not know was
wrong-for not being forewarned. The majority of your subordinates will not need negative
discipline if the positive side of discipline has been developed. Discipline is either an easy
task or a hard one, depending on how well you have built your relationships with your
subordinates and how well you have instilled a measure of self-control in each of them.

 Complaints, Grievances, and the Union

Complaints are serious matters to be dealt with in a serious way. In a unionized

organization, complaints can and often do turn into grievances. Handling complaints
requires honesty, sincerity, and an open discussion of all the relevant facts and emotions
involved. As a supervisor, you must treat them seriously. Your subordinates do. The
grievance procedure begins when you and a subordinate or the union steward meet to
discuss a formal complaint alleging a violation of a union contract and cannot agree on a
solution. When you manage in a union environment, you must know your labor
agreement's provisions and the results of grievances that act to explain and define its limits.
You need to know federal and state laws that regulate your treatment of employees in all
matters-not just in labor-relations areas. Develop a cooperative relationship with your
steward. You are not enemies or adversaries. Both of you are paid to look out for special
interests and to reach accommodations when it is in your mutual interests to do so.
Unions exist to serve their members. In many companies, they are a fact of life.

 Security, Safety, and Health

The security of your company's and subordinates' assets is partly your responsibility. Your
people depend on you and the company's policies, pro grams, and procedures, along with
their own efforts, to protect them from recognized and recognizable hazards. While safety
and security are everyone's legitimate concern, your organization depends on you and its
other managers for planning, implementing, and enforcing proper programs. Engineering,
education (training), and enforcement are the keys to successful safety and security efforts.
Since 1971, over 40 million working Americans have depended on regulations and
enforcement inspections provided by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration,
along with their employers efforts and their own actions, to make the workplace a less
hazardous environment. Supervisors who really care about safety and security listen to
their employees, look for hazards, fix responsibility for safety and security, enforce
standards and procedures, and discipline violators of safety and security policies.

The supervisor is the only manager whose subordinates are non management employees
called workers. The three most important types of skills for any manager to possess are
human, technical, and conceptual. All are required for success, but different levels of
management need them to different degrees. Supervisors are responsible to three groups:
their peers, their sub ordinates and their superiors. Each group represents a source of
support, demands on the supervisor's time, and potential problems or challenges for the
supervisor. Each organization attempts to define a supervisor's role through the creation of
a job description and through the demands that various groups and individuals place on the
supervisor. Problems can result from role conflict and role ambiguity. Supervisors, as well as
other managers, represent linking pins, tying two or more organizational groups or units
together by their memberships in each. Educational levels of workers are rising, women's
roles are changing, and the types of jobs that supervisors must manage are undergoing
alterations. Flextime, shared jobs, and temporary workers offer new challenges to
supervisors today. The rewards for successful supervision include pride in oneself pride in
one's performance, pay increases, promotion and career growth opportunities through the
formation of a reputation for getting a job done effectively and efficiently.

2.18 Leadership: Influencing Behavior for Excellence

Explain leadership and behavioral relationships in organizations.

Relationships between leaders and subordinates are critical for explaining how leaders
behave. Leadership implies a system of inequalities in which superiors influence
subordinates and direct behavior in groups to satisfy a wide variety of individual,
organizational, and social objectives. Leadership behavior must account for human
relationships as well as for task relationships.

Identify and discuss traits and characteristics of effective leaders.

Individuals become successful leaders by demonstrating their capability for eliciting
results&-oriented actions from subordinates. Effective leaders tend to be achievement&-
oriented and confident of their ability to perform well, solve problems, and influence others
to perform well. They are relatively intelligent and capable of making effective judgments,
have strong reasoning skills, and are often creative. The most effective leaders also skillfully
apply management techniques to plan, organize, and control work.

Describe and contrast major theories on leadership. Discuss the Blake and Mouton
Managerial Grid.
 The Ohio State University and University of Michigan model consists of a two&-
dimensional grid&-"concern for people" and "concern for tasks"&-and four primary
approaches to leadership "abdicative," "directive," "supportive," and "participative." Likert's
refinement of the model, System 4 Management identifies similar behavioral sets ranging
from "autocratic" to participative."

Blake and Mouton's Managerial Grid combines the Ohio State ad University of Michigan
model and Likert's four systems of behavior into a nine&-by&-nine matrix encompassing a
broad range of leadership behavior.

Fiedler's contingency theory suggests that successful leadership results from matching
managers' styles which are grounded in personality and thus hard to change, with
situations. There is no one best approach to leadership, but rather an optimal approach in
each situation. Robert House's path&-goal theory links this contingency approach to
expectancy theory by specifying that a leader's responsibility is to increase subordinates'
motivation to perform work by providing a path, or a direction, for accomplishing tasks that
leads to expected rewards the path&-goal model adds to participation or team building a
dimension called "achievement&-oriented leadership."

The Vroom&-Yetton model incorporates expectancy theory of motivation into a formal

decision&-tree analysis. Managers adapt their behavior according to a systematic analysis
of the task environment and leader&-subordinate relationships. This model proposes that it
is the type of decision that influences leadership style rather than the other way around.

The Hersey and Blanchard life cycle theory is conceptually similar to Fiedler's theory.
However, Fiedler based his theory on personality characteristics and situational variables,
while the life cycle model focuses on the "maturity" of subordinates, defined as the
experience, skill, and ability to perform a task combined with the psychological willingness
to assume responsibility. Managers adopt one of four approaches to leadership, ranging
from delegating to telling, according to both the nature of the task and a group profile of
the maturity of subordinates.

The Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid have two dimensions, each with nine points that
create a matrix of coordinates. One dimension is the manager's degree of "concern for
people," and the other is his or her degree of "concern for production." In each dimension,
a scale value of 1 implies least concern and a scale value of 9 implies maximum concern.
Therefore a 1.1 orientation, suggests little concern for either people or production
(impoverished management). At the opposite extreme, a 9,9 orientation indicates a fully
participative approach to leadership that seeks to attain both maximum satisfaction for
employees and maximum work, results (team management). Other benchmarks on the grid
are a 1,9 orientation, which implies a low concern for tasks and a high concern for
employees (country club management); and a 9,1 orientation, which suggests a high
concern for production with little regard for subordinates (authority&-obedience
management).

Discuss how motivation and leadership are interrelated and explain the role of decision
making in effective leadership. The common assumption of leadership models is that
leadership is a process of influencing subordinates to perform well in exchange for
something they value. Likert's System 4 model assumes there is "one best way" to lead&-
through participation&-implying that, in general, subordinates want to be involved in
decisions and will be more productive when they have a voice in directing their work, Blake
and Mouton propose that leadership behavior must be matched to subordinates'
expectations.

Both the Vroom&-Yetton model and the path&-goal theory are explicitly based on the
expectancy theory of motivation. According to Vroom&-Yetton, leaders model their
behavior in concert with organizational expectations for performance and employees'
expectations for rewards, whereas the path&-goal theory proposes that leaders clarify a
direction of effort for work, that leads to rewards subordinates perceive as important.

Contingency theories encompass a wide range of motivational elements including

content needs of employees, perceptions of job satisfaction, perceptions of task
requirements, and the interaction required between superiors and subordinates. These
theories take a situational approach, incorporating both human, and, task elements of the
organizational environment; Leadership consists of motivating employees to fulfill
organizational goals while satisfying their personal expectations for participation.

Describe the multicultural environment and transformational leadership as critical

management issues.
As organizations become more culturally diversified, managers must acclimate
themselves to changes taking place in their work groups. Cultural diversity is explained by
the profile of individuals working for the organization, including their sex, race, ethic, age,
and religious characteristics. Within this framework, organizational leaders are concerned
with providing appropriate opportunities for minorities, reconciling differences in behavior
among their employees, and, most important, transforming their organization into
multicultural enterprises devoid of stereotypes and unproductive biases.

Transformational leadership addresses the human resource issues of managing a

multicultural organization, but it also encompasses a philosophy of leadership whereby
leaders are able to make profound changes, introduce new visions for their organizations,
and inspire people to work toward achieving those visions. In contrast to transactional
leadership, which focuses on incremental changes or adjustments in relatively stable
environments, transformational leadership is the process of making fundamental changes in
where an organization is headed.
2.19 MAJOR LEADERSHIP THEORIES, MODELS AND TRAITS

Early Leadership Theories

People have been interested in leadership since they started coming together in groups to accomplish goals.
However, it wasn’t until the early part of the twentieth century that researchers actually began to study
leadership. These early leadership theories focused on the leader (leadership trait theories) and how the leader
interacted with his or her group members (leadership behavior theories).

Leadership Trait Theories:

Researchers at the University of Cambridge in England recently reported that men with longer ring fingers,
compared to their index fingers, tended to be more successful in the frantic high-frequency trading in the London
financial district.4 What does a study of the finger lengths of financial traders have to do with trait theories of
leadership? Well, that’s also what leadership trait theories have attempted to do—identify certain traits that all
leaders have. Leadership research in the 1920s and 1930s focused on isolating leader traits—that is, characteristics
—that would differentiate leaders from non-leaders. Some of the traits studied included physical stature,
appearance, social class, emotional stability, fluency of speech, and sociability. Despite the best efforts of
researchers, it proved impossible to identify a set of traits that would always differentiate a leader (the person)
from a non-leader. Maybe it was a bit optimistic to think that a set of consistent and unique traits would apply
universally to all effective leaders, no matter whether they were in charge of Kraft Foods, the Moscow Ballet, the
country of France, a local collegiate chapter of Alpha Chi Omega, Ted’s Malibu Surf Shop, or Oxford University.
However, later attempts to
identify traits consistently associated with leadership (the process of leading, not the person) were more
successful. The seven traits shown to be associated with effective leadership. Researchers eventually recognized
that traits alone were not sufficient for identifying effective leaders since explanations based solely on traits
ignored the interactions of leaders and their group members as well as situational factors. Possessing the
appropriate traits only made it more likely that an individual would be an effective leader.
Therefore, leadership research from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s concentrated on the preferred behavioral
styles that leaders demonstrated. Researchers wondered whether something unique in what effective leaders did
—in other words, in their behavior—was the key.

Seven Traits Associated with Leadership:

1. Drive. Leaders exhibit a high effort level. They have a relatively high desire for achievement, they are ambitious, they have a lot of
energy, they are tirelessly persistent in their activities, and they show initiative.
2. Desire to lead. Leaders have a strong desire to influence and lead others. They demonstrate the willingness to take responsibility.
3. Honesty and integrity. Leaders build trusting relationships with followers by being truthful or nondeceitful and by showing high
consistency between word and deed.
4. Self-confidence. Followers look to leaders for an absence of self-doubt. Leaders, therefore, need to show self-confidence in order to
convince followers of the rightness of their goals and decisions.
5. Intelligence. Leaders need to be intelligent enough to gather, synthesize, and interpret large amounts of information, and they need
to be able to create visions, solve problems, and make correct decisions.
6. Job-relevant knowledge. Effective leaders have a high degree of knowledge about the company, industry, and technical matters. In-
depth knowledge allows leaders to make well-informed decisions and to understand the implications of those decisions.
7. Extraversion. Leaders are energetic, lively people. They are sociable, assertive, and rarely silent or withdrawn.
*** Sources: Based on S. A. Kirkpatrick and E. A. Locke, “Leadership: Do Traits Really Matter?” Academy of Management Executive, May 1991, pp. 48–60; and T.
A. Judge, J. E. Bono, R. Ilies, and M. W. Gerhardt, “Personality and Leadership: A Qualitative and Quantitative Review,” Journal of Applied Psychology, August
2002, pp. 765–780.

Leader:

Someone who can influence others and who has managerial authority

Leadership
A process of influencing a group to achieve goals

Leadership Behavior Theories:

Bill Watkins, former CEO of disk drive manufacturer Seagate Technology, once responded when asked how he
handled his board of directors, “You never ask board members what they think. You tell them what you’re going to
do.” In contrast, Joe Lee, CEO of Darden Restaurants during the aftermath of 9/11, was focused on only two things
that morning: his Darden people who were traveling and his company’s Muslim colleagues. 6 These two leaders of
successful companies, as you can see, behaved in two very different ways. What do we know about leader
behavior and how can it help us in our understanding of what an effective leader is? Researchers hoped that the
behavioral theories approach would provide more definitive answers about the nature of leadership than did the
trait theories.

UNIVERSITY OF IOWA STUDIES:

The University of Iowa studies explored three leadership styles to find which was the most effective. 7 The autocratic
style described a leader who dictated work methods, made unilateral decisions, and limited employee
participation. The democratic style described a leader who involved employees in decision making, delegated
authority, and used feedback as an opportunity for coaching employees. Finally, the laissez-faire style leader let the
group make decisions and complete the work in whatever way it saw fit. The researchers’ results seemed to
indicate that the democratic style contributed to both good quantity and quality of work. Had the answer to the
question of the most effective leadership style been found? Unfortunately, it wasn’t that simple. Later studies of
the autocratic and democratic styles showed mixed results. For instance, the democratic style sometimes
produced higher performance levels than the autocratic style, but at other times, it didn’t. However, more
consistent results were found when a measure of employee satisfaction was used. Group members were more
satisfied under a democratic leader than under an autocratic one.

## Behavioral Theories of Leadership:

University of lowa Democratic style: involving Behavioral Dimension Conclusion

subordinates,
delegating authority, and
encouraging
participation
Democratic style of leadership
was most
effective, although later
studies showed
mixed results.
Autocratic style: dictating work
methods,
centralizing decision making,
 and limiting
participation
Laissez-faire style: giving group
freedom
to make decisions and
complete work
Consideration: being High–high leader (high in
Ohio State considerate of consideration
followers’ ideas and feelings and high in initiating structure)
achieved
Initiating structure: structuring high subordinate performance
work and and
work relationships to meet job satisfaction, but not in all
goals situations
Employee oriented: Employee-oriented leaders
emphasized were
University of Michigan interpersonal relationships and associated with high group
taking productivity
care of employees’ needs and higher job satisfaction.

Production oriented:
emphasized
technical or task aspects of job.

Concern for people: measured Leaders performed best with a

Managerial Grid leader’s 9,9 style
concern for subordinates on a (high concern for production
scale of and high concern for people).
1 to 9 (low to high).

Concern for production:

measured
leader’s concern for getting job
done
on a scale 1 to 9 (low to high)

Now leaders had a dilemma! Should they focus on achieving higher performance or on achieving higher member
satisfaction? This recognition of the dual nature of a leader’s behavior—that is, focus on the task and focus on the
people—was also a key characteristic of the other behavioral studies.

THE OHIO STATE STUDIES: The Ohio State studies identified two important dimensions of leader behavior. 9 Beginning
with a list of more than 1,000 behavioral dimensions, the researchers eventually narrowed it down to just two that
accounted for most of the leadership behavior described by group members. The first was called initiating structure,
which referred to the extent to which a leader defined his or her role and the roles of group members in attaining
goals. It included behaviors that involved attempts to organize work, work relationships, and goals. The second was
called consideration, which was defined as the extent to which a leader had work relationships characterized by
mutual trust and respect for group members’ ideas and feelings. A leader who was high in consideration helped
group members with personal problems, was friendly and approachable, and treated all group members as equals.
He or she showed concern for (was considerate of) his or her followers’ comfort, well-being, status, and
satisfaction. Research found that a leader who was high in both initiating structure and consideration (a high–high
leader) sometimes achieved high group task performance and high group member satisfaction, but not always.
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN STUDIES: Leadership studies conducted at the University of Michigan at about the same time
as those being done at Ohio State also hoped to identify behavioral characteristics of leaders that were related to
performance effectiveness. The Michigan group also came up with two dimensions of leadership behavior, which
they labeled employee oriented and production oriented.10 Leaders who were employee oriented were described
as emphasizing interpersonal relationships. The production-oriented leaders, in contrast, tended to emphasize the
task aspects of the job. Unlike the other studies, the Michigan researchers concluded that leaders who were
employee oriented were able to get high group productivity and high group member satisfaction.

THE MANAGERIAL GRID:

The behavioral dimensions from these early leadership studies provided the basis for the development of a two-
dimensional grid for appraising leadership styles. This managerial grid used the behavioral dimensions “concern for
people” (the vertical part of the grid) and “concern for production” (the horizontal part of the grid) and evaluated a
leader’s use of these behaviors, ranking them on a scale from 1 (low) to 9 (high). 11 Although the grid had 81
potential categories into which a leader’s behavioral style might fall, only five styles were named: impoverished
management (1,1 or low concern for production, low concern for people), task management (9,1 or high concern
for production, low concern for people), middle-of-the-road management (5,5 or medium concern for production,
medium concern for people), country club management (1,9 or low concern for production, high concern for
people), and team management (9,9 or high concern for production, high concern for people). Of these five styles,
the researchers concluded that managers performed best when using a 9,9 style. Unfortunately, the grid offered
no answers to the question of what made a manager an effective leader; it only provided a framework for
conceptualizing leadership style. In fact, little substantive evidence supports the conclusion that a 9,9 style is most
effective in all situations.12 Leadership researchers were discovering that predicting leadership success involved
something more complex than isolating a few leader traits or preferable behaviors. They began looking at
situational influences. Specifically, which leadership styles might be suitable in different situations and what were
these different situations?

Contingency Theories of Leadership:

“The corporate world is filled with stories of leaders who failed to achieve greatness because
they failed to understand the context they were working in.” 13 In this section we examine
three contingency theories—Fiedler, Hersey-Blanchard, and path-goal. Each looks at defining
leadership style and the situation, and attempts to answer the if-then contingencies (that is,
if this is the context or situation, then this is the best leadership style to use).

The Fiedler Model

The first comprehensive contingency model for leadership was developed by Fred Fiedler.
The Fiedler contingency model proposed that effective group performance depended upon properly matching the
leader’s style and the amount of control and influence in the situation. The model was based on the premise that a
certain leadership style would be most effective in different types of situations. The keys were to (1) define those
leadership styles and the different types of situations, and then (2) identify the appropriate combinations of style
and situation. Fiedler proposed that a key factor in leadership success was an individual’s basic leadership style,
either task oriented or relationship oriented. To measure a leader’s style, Fiedler developed the least-preferred
coworker (LPC) questionnaire. This questionnaire contained 18 pairs of contrasting adjectives—for example,
pleasant–unpleasant, cold–warm, boring–interesting, or friendly–unfriendly. Respondents were asked to think of
all the coworkers they had ever had and to describe that one person they least enjoyed working with by rating him
or her on a scale of 1 to 8 for each of the 18 sets of adjectives (the 8 always described the positive adjective out of
the pair and the 1 always described the negative adjective out of the pair). If the leader described the least
preferred coworker in relatively positive terms (in other words, a “high” LPC score—a score of 64 or above), then
the respondent was primarily interested in good personal relations with coworkers and the style would be
described as relationship oriented. In contrast, if you saw the least preferred coworker in relatively unfavorable
terms (a low LPC score—a score of 57 or below), you were primarily interested in productivity and getting the job
done; thus, your style would be labeled as task oriented. Fiedler did acknowledge that a small number of people
might fall in between these two extremes and not have a cut-and-dried leadership style. One other important
point is that Fiedler assumed a person’s leadership style was fixed regardless of the situation. In other words, if you
were a relationship- oriented leader, you’d always be one, and the same for task-oriented. After an individual’s
leadership style had been assessed through the LPC, it was time to evaluate the situation in order to be able to
match the leader with the situation. Fiedler’s research uncovered three contingency dimensions that defined the
key situational factors in leader effectiveness.

_ Leader–member relations: the degree of confidence, trust, and respect employees had for their leader; rated as
either good or poor.

_ Task structure: the degree to which job assignments were formalized and structured; rated as either high or low.

_Position power: the degree of influence a leader had over activities such as hiring, firing, discipline, promotions,
and salary increases; rated as either strong or weak.

Each leadership situation was evaluated in terms of these three contingency variables, which when combined
produced eight possible situations that were either favorable or unfavorable for the leader. (See the bottom of the
chart in Exhibit 17-3.) Situations I, II, and III were classified as highly favorable for the leader. Situations IV, V, and
VI were moderately favorable for the leader. And situations VII and VIII were described as highly unfavorable for
the leader. Once Fiedler had described the leader variables and the situational variables, he had everything he
needed to define the specific contingencies for leadership effectiveness. To do so, he studied 1,200 groups where
he compared relationship-oriented versus task-oriented leadership styles in each of the eight situational
categories. He concluded that task-oriented leaders performed better in very favorable situations and in very
unfavorable situations. (See the top of Exhibit 17-3 where performance is shown on the vertical axis and situation
favorableness is shown on the horizontal axis.) On the other hand, relationship-oriented leaders performed better
in moderately favorable situations. Because Fiedler treated an individual’s leadership style as fixed, only two ways
could improve leader effectiveness. First, you could bring in a new leader whose style better fit the situation. For
instance, if the group situation was highly unfavorable but was led by a relationship-oriented leader, the group’s
performance could be improved by replacing that person with a task-oriented leader. The second alternative was
to change the situation to fit the leader. This could be done by restructuring tasks; by increasing or decreasing the
power that the leader had over factors such as salary increases, promotions, and disciplinary actions; or by
improving the leader–member relations. Research testing the overall validity of Fiedler’s model has shown
considerable evidence to support the model.15 However, his theory wasn’t without criticisms. The major one is
that it’s probably unrealistic to assume that a person can’t change his or her leadership style to fit the situation.
Effective leaders can, and do, change their styles. Another is that the LPC wasn’t very practical. Finally, the
situation variables were difficult to assess. 16 Despite its shortcomings, the Fiedler model showed that effective
leadership style needed to reflect situational factors.

Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory

Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard developed a leadership theory that has gained a strong following among
management development specialists.17 This model, called situational leadership theory (SLT), is a contingency theory
that focuses on followers’ readiness. Before we proceed, two points need clarification: Why a leadership theory
focuses on the followers, and what is meant by the term readiness.
The emphasis on the followers in leadership effectiveness reflects the reality that it is the followers who accept or
reject the leader. Regardless of what the leader does, the group’s effectiveness depends on the actions of the
followers. This important dimension has been overlooked or underemphasized in most leadership theories. And
readiness, as defined by Hersey and Blanchard, refers to the extent to which people have the ability and willingness
to accomplish a specific task. SLT uses the same two leadership dimensions that Fiedler identified: task and
relationship behaviors. However, Hersey and Blanchard go a step further by considering each as either high or low
and then combining them into four specific leadership styles described as follows:

_ Telling (high task–low relationship): The leader defines roles and tells people what, how, when, and where to do
various tasks.
_ Selling (high task–high relationship): The leader provides both directive and supportive behavior.
_ Participating (low task–high relationship): The leader and followers share in decision making; the main role of the
leader is facilitating and communicating.
_ Delegating (low task–low relationship): The leader provides little direction or support.
The final component in the model is the four stages of follower readiness:
_ R1: People are both unable and unwilling to take responsibility for doing something. Followers aren’t competent
or confident.

_ R2: People are unable but willing to do the necessary job tasks. Followers are motivated but lack the appropriate
skills.
_ R3: People are able but unwilling to do what the leader wants. Followers are competent, but don’t want to do
something.
_ R4: People are both able and willing to do what is asked of them. SLT essentially views the leader–follower
relationship as like that of a parent and a child. Just as a parent needs to relinquish control when a child becomes
more mature and responsible, so, too, should leaders. As followers reach higher levels of readiness, the leader
responds not only by decreasing control over their activities but also decreasing relationship behaviors. The SLT
says if followers are at R1 (unable and unwilling to do a task), the leader needs to use the telling style and give
clear and specific directions; if followers are at R2 (unable and willing), the leader needs to use the selling style and
display high task orientation to compensate for the followers’ lack of ability and high relationship orientation to get
followers to “buy into” the leader’s desires; if followers are at R3 (able and unwilling), the leader needs to use the
participating style to gain their support; and if employees are at R4 (both able and willing), the leader doesn’t need
to do much and should use the delegating style. SLT has intuitive appeal. It acknowledges the importance of
followers and builds on the logic that leaders can compensate for ability and motivational limitations in their
followers. However, research efforts to test and support the theory generally have been disappointing. Possible
explanations include internal inconsistencies in the model as well as problems with research methodology. Despite
its appeal and wide popularity, we have to be cautious about any enthusiastic endorsement of SLT.

Path-Goal Model:

Another approach to understanding leadership is path-goal theory, which states that the leader’s job is to assist
followers in attaining their goals and to provide direction or support needed to ensure that their goals are
compatible with the goals of the group or organization. Developed by Robert House, path-goal theory takes key
elements from the expectancy theory of motivation. The term path-goal is derived from the belief that effective
leaders remove the roadblocks and pitfalls so that followers have a clearer path to help them get from where they
are to the achievement of their work goals.
House identified four leadership behaviors:

_ Directiveleader: Lets subordinates know what’s expected of them, schedules work to be done, and gives specific
guidance on how to accomplish tasks.
_ Supportive leader: Shows concern for the needs of followers and is friendly.
_ Participativeleader: Consults with group members and uses their suggestions before making a decision.
_ Achievement oriented leader: Sets challenging goals and expects followers to perform at their highest level. In
contrast to Fiedler’s view that a leader couldn’t change his or her behavior, House assumed that leaders are
flexible and can display any or all of these leadership styles depending on the situation. Path-goal theory proposes
two situational or contingency variables that moderate the leadership behavior–outcome relationship: those in the
environment that are outside the control of the follower (factors including task structure, formal authority system,
and the work group) and those that are part of the personal characteristics of the follower (including locus of
control, experience, and perceived ability). Environmental factors determine the type of leader behavior required
if subordinate outcomes are to be maximized; personal characteristics of the follower determine how the
environment and leader behavior are interpreted. The theory proposes that a leader’s behavior won’t be effective
if it’s redundant with what the environmental structure is providing or is incongruent with follower characteristics.
For example, some predictions from path-goal theory are:

_ Directive leadership leads to greater satisfaction when tasks are ambiguous or stressful than when they are highly
structured and well laid out. The followers aren’t sure what to do, so the leader needs to give them some
direction.
_ Supportive leadership results in high employee performance and satisfaction when subordinates are performing
structured tasks. In this situation, the leader only needs to support followers, not tell them what to do.
_ Directive leadership is likely to be perceived as redundant among subordinates with high perceived ability or with
considerable experience. These followers are quite capable so they don’t need a leader to tell them what to do.
_ The clearer and more bureaucratic the formal authority relationships, the more leaders should exhibit supportive
behavior and deemphasize directive behavior. The organizational situation has provided the structure as far as
what is expected of followers, so the leader’s role is simply to support.
_ Directive leadership will lead to higher employee satisfaction when there is substantive conflict within a work
group. In this situation, the followers need a leader who will take charge.
_ Subordinates with an internal locus of control will be more satisfied with a participative style. Because these
followers believe that they control what happens to them, they prefer to participate in decisions.
_ Subordinates with an external locus of control will be more satisfied with a directive style. These followers believe
that what happens to them is a result of the external environment so they would prefer a leader that tells them
what to do.
_ Achievement-oriented leadership will increase subordinates’ expectancies that effort will lead to high
performance when tasks are ambiguously structured. By setting challenging goals, followers know what the
expectations are. Testing path-goal theory has not been easy. A review of the research suggests mixed support. To
summarize the model, however, an employee’s performance and satisfaction are likely to be positively influenced
when the leader chooses a leadership style that compensates for shortcomings in either the employee or the work
setting. However, if the leader spends time explaining tasks that are already clear or when the employee has the
ability and experience to handle them without interference, the employee is likely to see such directive behavior as
redundant or even insulting.

Contemporary Views of Leadership

What are the latest views of leadership? We want to look at four of these views:
Leader–member exchange theory, transformational-transactional leadership, charismatic visionary leadership, and
team leadership

Leader–Member Exchange (LMX) Theory

Have you ever been in a group in which the leader had “favorites” who made up his or her in-group? If so, that’s
the premise behind leader–member exchange (LMX) theory.

Leader–member exchange theory (LMX) says that leaders create in-groups and out groups and those in the in-group
will have higher performance ratings, less turnover, and greater job satisfaction. LMX theory suggests that early on
in the relationship between a leader and a given follower, a leader will implicitly categorize a follower as an “in” or
as an “out.” That relationship tends to remain fairly stable over time. Leaders also encourage LMX by rewarding
those employees with whom they want a closer linkage and punishing those with whom they do not. 22 For the
LMX relationship to remain intact, however, both the leader and the follower must “invest” in the relationship. It’s
not exactly clear how a leader chooses who falls into each category, but evidence shows that in-group members
have demographic, attitude, personality, and even gender similarities with the leader or they have a higher level of
competence than out-group members.23 The leader does the choosing, but the follower’s characteristics drive the
decision.
Research on LMX has been generally supportive. It appears that leaders do differentiate among followers; that
these disparities are not random; and followers with in-group status will have higher performance ratings, engage
in more helping or “citizenship” behaviors at work, and report greater satisfaction with their boss. 24 This probably
shouldn’t be surprising since leaders invest their time and other resources in those whom they expect to perform
best.

Other Theories:There are also numerous theories about leadership, or about carrying out the
role of leader, e.g., servant leader, democratic leader, principle-centered leader, group-man
theory, great-man theory, traits theory, visionary leader, total leader, situational leader,
etc. The following articles provide brief overview of key theories.

Douglas Mcgregor - theory x y

Douglas McGregor's XY Theory, managing an X Theory boss, and William Ouchi's Theory Z

Douglas McGregor, an American social psychologist, proposed his famous X-Y theory in his 1960
book 'The Human Side Of Enterprise'. Theory x and theory y are still referred to commonly in
the field of management and motivation, and whilst more recent studies have questioned the
rigidity of the model, Mcgregor's X-Y Theory remains a valid basic principle from which to
develop positive management style and techniques. McGregor's XY Theory remains central to
organizational development, and to improving organizational culture.

McGregor's X-Y theory is a salutary and simple reminder of the natural rules for managing
people, which under the pressure of day-to-day business are all too easily forgotten.

McGregor's ideas suggest that there are two fundamental approaches to managing people.
Many managers tend towards theory x, and generally get poor results. Enlightened managers
use theory y, which produces better performance and results, and allows people to grow and
develop.
 McGregor's ideas significantly relate to modern understanding of the Psychological Contract,
which provides many ways to appreciate the unhelpful nature of X-Theory leadership, and the
useful constructive beneficial nature of Y-Theory leadership.

Theory x ('authoritarian management' style)

 The average person dislikes work and will avoid it he/she can.
 Therefore most people must be forced with the threat of punishment to work towards
organizational objectives.
 The average person prefers to be directed; to avoid responsibility; is relatively
unambitious, and wants security above all else.

theory y ('participative management' style)

 Effort in work is as natural as work and play.

 People will apply self-control and self-direction in the pursuit of organizational
objectives, without external control or the threat of punishment.
 Commitment to objectives is a function of rewards associated with their achievement.
 People usually accept and often seek responsibility.
 The capacity to use a high degree of imagination, ingenuity and creativity in solving
organizational problems is widely, not narrowly, distributed in the population.
 In industry the intellectual potential of the average person is only partly utilized.

Tools for teaching, understanding and evaluating xy theory factors

The XY Theory diagram and measurement tool below (pdf and doc versions) are adaptations of
McGregor's ideas for modern organizations, management and work. They were not created by
McGregor. I developed them to help understanding and application of McGregor's XY Theory
concept. The test is a simple reflective tool, not a scientifically validated instrument; it's a
learning aid and broad indicator. Please use it as such.

Characteristics of the x theory manager:

Perhaps the most noticeable aspects of McGregor's XY Theory - and the easiest to illustrate -
are found in the behaviors of autocratic managers and organizations which use autocratic
management styles.

What are the characteristics of a Theory X manager? Typically some, most or all of these:

 results-driven and deadline-driven, to the exclusion of everything else

 intolerant
 issues deadlines and ultimatums
 distant and detached
 aloof and arrogant
 elitist
 short temper
 shouts
 issues instructions, directions, edicts
 issues threats to make people follow instructions
 demands, never asks
 does not participate
 does not team-build
 unconcerned about staff welfare, or morale
 proud, sometimes to the point of self-destruction
 one-way communicator
 poor listener
 fundamentally insecure and possibly neurotic
 anti-social
 vengeful and recriminatory
 does not thank or praise
 withholds rewards, and suppresses pay and remunerations levels
 scrutinizes expenditure to the point of false economy
 seeks culprits for failures or shortfalls
 seeks to apportion blame instead of focusing on learning from the experience and
preventing recurrence
 does not invite or welcome suggestions
 takes criticism badly and likely to retaliate if from below or peer group
 poor at proper delegating - but believes they delegate well
 thinks giving orders is delegating
 holds on to responsibility but shifts accountability to subordinates
 relatively unconcerned with investing in anything to gain future improvements
 unhappy

How to manage upwards - managing your X theory boss

Working for an X theory boss isn't easy - some extreme X theory managers make extremely
unpleasant managers, but there are ways of managing these people upwards. Avoiding
confrontation (unless you are genuinely being bullied, which is a different matter) and
delivering results are the key tactics.
 Theory X managers (or indeed theory Y managers displaying theory X behavior) are
primarily results oriented - so orientate your your own discussions and dealings with them
around results – i.e., what you can deliver and when.
 Theory X managers are facts and figures oriented - so cut out the incidentals, be able to
measure and substantiate anything you say and do for them, especially reporting on results
and activities.
 Theory X managers generally don't understand or have an interest in the human issues,
so don't try to appeal to their sense of humanity or morality. Set your own objectives to meet
their organizational aims and agree these with the managers; be seen to be self-starting, self-
motivating, self-disciplined and well-organized - the more the X theory manager sees you are
managing yourself and producing results, the less they'll feel the need to do it for you.
 Always deliver your commitments and promises. If you are given an unrealistic task
and/or deadline state the reasons why it's not realistic, but be very sure of your ground, don't
be negative; be constructive as to how the overall aim can be achieved in a way that you
know you can deliver.
 Stand up for yourself, but constructively - avoid confrontation. Never threaten or go
over their heads if you are dissatisfied or you'll be in big trouble afterwards and life will be a
lot more difficult.
 If an X theory boss tells you how to do things in ways that are not comfortable or right
for you, then don't questioning the process, simply confirm the end-result that is required,
and check that it's okay to 'streamline the process' or 'get things done more efficiently' if the
chance arises - they'll normally agree to this, which effectively gives you control over the
'how', provided you deliver the 'what' and 'when'.

And this is really the essence of managing upwards X theory managers - focus and get
agreement on the results and deadlines - if you consistently deliver, you'll increasingly be given
more leeway on how you go about the tasks, which amounts to more freedom. Be aware also
that many X theory managers are forced to be X theory by the short-term demands of the
organization and their own superiors - an X theory manager is usually someone with their own
problems, so try not to give them any more.

See also the article about building self-confidence, and assertiveness techniques.

Theory z - william ouchi

First things first - Theory Z is not a Mcgregor idea and as such is not Mcgregor's extension of his
XY theory.

Theory Z was developed by not by Mcgregor, but by William Ouchi, in his book 1981 'Theory Z:
How American management can meet the Japanese Challenge'. William Ouchi is professor of
management at UCLA, Los Angeles, and a board member of several large US organizations.
Theory Z is often referred to as the 'Japanese' management style, which is essentially what it is.
It's interesting that Ouchi chose to name his model 'Theory Z', which apart from anything else
tends to give the impression that it's a Mcgregor idea. One wonders if the idea was not
considered strong enough to stand alone with a completely new name... Nevertheless, Theory Z
essentially advocates a combination of all that's best about theory Y and modern Japanese
management, which places a large amount of freedom and trusts with workers, and assumes
that workers have a strong loyalty and interest in team-working and the organization.

Theory Z also places more reliance on the attitude and responsibilities of the workers, whereas
Mcgregor's XY theory is mainly focused on management and motivation from the manager's
and organization’s perspective. There is no doubt that Ouchi's Theory Z model offers excellent
ideas, albeit it lacking the simple elegance of Mcgregor's model, which let's face it, thousands of
organizations and managers around the world have still yet to embrace. For this reason, Theory
Z may for some be like trying to manage the kitchen at the Ritz before mastering the ability to
cook a decent fried breakfast.

To develop your understanding of McGregor's X-Y Theory, complete the free or doc version,
which indicates whether your organization is more Theory-X or Theory-Y, as well as indicating
your own (or the particular individual's) preference to be managed by X or Y style. The test is a
simple reflective tool, not a scientifically validated instrument, designed to give a broad
indication of XY Theory tendencies and to aid understanding of the model.

The free XY Theory diagram )or doc version, is helpful for teaching and training, presentations
and project work, and is adapted from McGregor's ideas so as to convey simply and quickly the
essence of the concept.

Behavioral Theory:

Assumptions: Leaders can be made, rather than are born.

Successful leadership is based in definable, learnable behavior

Description
Behavioral theories of leadership do not seek inborn traits or capabilities. Rather, they look
at what leaders actually do.

If success can be defined in terms of describable actions, then it should be relatively easy
for other people to act in the same way. This is easier to teach and learn then to adopt the
more ephemeral 'traits' or 'capabilities'.

Discussion
Behavioral is a big leap from Trait Theory, in that it assumes that leadership capability can
be learned, rather than being inherent. This opens the floodgates to leadership
development, as opposed to simple psychometric assessment that sorts those with
leadership potential from those who will never have the chance.

A behavioral theory is relatively easy to develop, as you simply assess both leadership
success and the actions of leaders. With a large enough study, you can then correlate
statistically significant behaviors with success. You can also identify behaviors which
contribute to failure, thus adding a second layer of understanding.

Contingency Theory:

Assumptions: The leader's ability to lead is contingent upon various situational factors,
including the leader's preferred style, the capabilities and behaviors of followers and also
various other situational factors.

Description

Contingency theories are a class of behavioral theory that contend that there is no one best
way of leading and that a leadership style that is effective in some situations may not be
successful in others.
An effect of this is that leaders who are very effective at one place and time may become
unsuccessful either when transplanted to another situation or when the factors around
them change.
This helps to explain how some leaders who seem for a while to have the 'Midas touch'
suddenly appear to go off the boil and make very unsuccessful decisions.

Discussion

Contingency theory is similar to situational theory in that there is an assumption of no

simple one right way. The main difference is that situational theory tends to focus more on
the behaviors that the leader should adopt, given situational factors (often about follower
behavior), whereas contingency theory takes a broader view that includes contingent
factors about leader capability and other variables within the situation.

Functional Theory:

Great Man Theory

Assumptions: Leaders are born and not made.
Great leaders will arise when there is a great need.
Description
Early research on leadership was based on the study of people who were already great
leaders. These people were often from the aristocracy, as few from lower classes had the
opportunity to lead. This contributed to the notion that leadership had something to do
with breeding.
The idea of the Great Man also strayed into the mythic domain, with notions that in times
of need, a Great Man would arise, almost by magic. This was easy to verify, by pointing to
people such as Eisenhower and Churchill, let alone those further back along the timeline,
even to Jesus, Moses, Mohammed and the Buddah.

Discussion

The 'great man' theory was originally proposed by Thomas Carlyle.

Gender issues were not on the table when the 'Great Man' theory was proposed. Most
leaders were male and the thought of a Great Woman was generally in areas other than
leadership. Most researchers were also male, and concerns about androcentric bias were a
long way from being realized.
It has been said that history is nothing but stories of great men. Certainly, much has this
bias, although there is of course also much about peoples and broader life.

Situational Leadership

Assumptions: The best action of the leader depends on a range of situational factors.

Style
When a decision is needed, an effective leader does not just fall into a single preferred
style, such as using transactional or transformational methods. In practice, as they say,
things are not that simple.
Factors that affect situational decisions include motivation and capability of followers. This,
in turn, is affected by factors within the particular situation. The relationship between
followers and the leader may be another factor that affects leader behavior as much as it
does follower behavior.
The leaders' perception of the follower and the situation will affect what they do rather
than the truth of the situation. The leader's perception of themselves and other factors
such as stress and mood will also modify the leaders' behavior.

Yukl (1989) seeks to combine other approaches and identifies six variables:

 Subordinate effort: the motivation and actual effort expended.

 Subordinate ability and role clarity: followers knowing what to do and how to do it.
 Organization of the work: the structure of the work and utilization of resources.
  Cooperation and cohesiveness: of the group in working together.
 Resources and support: the availability of tools, materials, people, etc.
 External coordination: the need to collaborate with other groups.
 Leaders here work on such factors as external relationships, acquisition of resources,
managing demands on the group and managing the structures and culture of the
group.

Discussion
Tannenbaum and Schmidt (1958) identified three forces that led to the leader's action: the
forces in the situation, the forces in then follower and also forces in the leader. This
recognizes that the leader's style is highly variable, and even such distant events as a family
argument can lead to the displacement activity of a more aggressive stance in an argument
than usual.

Maier (1963) noted that leaders not only consider the likelihood of a follower accepting a
suggestion, but also the overall importance of getting things done. Thus in critical situations,
a leader is more likely to be directive in style simply because of the implications of failure.

Assumptions: People are motivated by reward and punishment.

Social systems work best with a clear chain of command.
When people have agreed to do a job, a part of the deal is that they cede all
authority to their manager.
The prime purpose of a subordinate is to do what their manager tells them to
do.

Style
The transactional leader works through creating clear structures whereby it is clear what is
required of their subordinates, and the rewards that they get for following orders.
Punishments are not always mentioned, but they are also well-understood and formal
systems of discipline are usually in place.

The early stage of Transactional Leadership is in negotiating the contract whereby the
subordinate is given a salary and other benefits, and the company (and by implication the
subordinate's manager) gets authority over the subordinate.

When the Transactional Leader allocates work to a subordinate, they are considered to be
fully responsible for it, whether or not they have the resources or capability to carry it out.
When things go wrong, then the subordinate is considered to be personally at fault, and is
punished for their failure (just as they are rewarded for succeeding).
The transactional leader often uses management by exception, working on the principle
that if something is operating to defined (and hence expected) performance then it does
not need attention. Exceptions to expectation require praise and reward for exceeding
expectation, whilst some kind of corrective action is applied for performance below
expectation.

Whereas Transformational Leadership has more of a 'selling' style, Transactional

Leadership, once the contract is in place, takes a 'telling' style.

Discussion
Transactional leadership is based in contingency, in that reward or punishment is
contingent upon performance.

Despite much research that highlights its limitations, Transactional Leadership is still a
popular approach with many managers. Indeed, in the Leadership vs. Management
spectrum, it is very much towards the management end of the scale.

The main limitation is the assumption of 'rational man', a person who is largely motivated
by money and simple reward, and hence whose behavior is predictable. The underlying
psychology is Behaviorism, including the Classical Conditioning of Pavlov and Skinner's
Operant Conditioning. These theories are largely based on controlled laboratory
experiments (often with animals) and ignore complex emotional factors and social values.

In practice, there is sufficient truth in Behaviorism to sustain Transactional approaches. This

is reinforced by the supply-and-demand situation of much employment, coupled with the
effects of deeper needs, as in Maslow's Hierarchy. When the demand for a skill outstrips
the supply, then Transactional Leadership often is insufficient, and other approaches are
more effective.

Assumptions: Charm and grace are all that is needed to create followers.
Self-belief is a fundamental need of leaders.
People follow others that they personally admire.

Style

The Charismatic Leader gathers followers through dint of personality and charm, rather
than any form of external power or authority.

The searchlight of attention

It is interesting to watch a Charismatic Leader 'working the room' as they move from person
to person. They pay much attention to the person they are talking to at any one moment,
making that person feel like they are, for that time, the most important person in the world.
Charismatic Leaders pay a great deal of attention in scanning and reading their
environment, and are good at picking up the moods and concerns of both individuals and
larger audiences. They then will hone their actions and words to suit the situation.

Pulling all of the strings

Charismatic Leaders use a wide range of methods to manage their image and, if they are
not naturally charismatic, may practice assiduously at developing their skills. They may
engender trust through visible self-sacrifice and taking personal risks in the name of their
beliefs. They will show great confidence in their followers. They are very persuasive and
make very effective use of body language as well as verbal language.

Deliberate charisma is played out in a theatrical sense, where the leader is 'playing to the
house' to create a desired effect. They also make effective use of storytelling, including the
use of symbolism and metaphor.

Many politicians use a charismatic style, as they need to gather a large number of followers.
If you want to increase your charisma, studying videos of their speeches and the way they
interact with others is a great source of learning. Religious leaders, too, may well use
charisma, as do cult leaders.

Leading the team

Charismatic Leaders who are building a group, whether it is a political party, a cult or a
business team, will often focus strongly on making the group very clear and distinct,
separating it from other groups. They will then build the image of the group, in particular in
the minds of their followers, as being far superior to all others.

The Charismatic Leader will typically attach themselves firmly to the identify of the group,
such that to join the group is to become one with the leader. In doing so, they create an
unchallengeable position for themselves.

Alternative views

The description above is purely based on charisma and takes into account varying moral
positions. Other descriptions tend to assume a more benevolent approach.

Conger & Kanungo (1998) describe five behavioral attributes of Charismatic Leaders that
indicate a more transformational viewpoint:

Vision and articulation;

Sensitivity to the environment;
Sensitivity to member needs;
Personal risk taking;
Performing unconventional behavior
Musser (1987) notes that charismatic leaders seek to instil both commitment to ideological
goals and also devotion to themselves. The extent to which either of these two goals is
dominant depends on the underlying motivations and needs of the leader.

Discussion
The Charismatic Leader and the Transformational Leader can have many similarities, in that
the Transformational Leader may well be charismatic. Their main difference is in their basic
focus. Whereas the Transformational Leader has a basic focus of transforming the
organization and, quite possibly, their followers, the Charismatic Leader may not want to
change anything.

Despite their charm and apparent concern, the Charismatic Leader may well be somewhat
more concerned with themselves than anyone else. A typical experience with them is that
whilst you are talking with them, it is like being bathed in a warm and pleasant glow, in
which they are very convincing. Yet afterwards, ask the sunbeam of their attention is moved
elsewhere, you may begin to question what they said (or even whether they said anything
of significance at all).

The values of the Charismatic Leader are highly significant. If they are well-intentioned
towards others, they can elevate and transform an entire company. If they are selfish and
Machiavellian, they can create cults and effectively rape the minds (and potentially the
bodies) of the followers.

Their self-belief is so high, they can easily believe that they are infallible, and hence lead
their followers into an abyss, even when they have received adequate warning from others.
The self-belief can also lead them into psychotic narcissism, where their self-absorption or
need for admiration and worship can lead to their followers questioning their leadership.

They may also be intolerant of challengers and their irreplaceability (intentional or

otherwise) can mean that there are no successors when they leave.

Assumptions: People are born with inherited traits.

Some traits are particularly suited to leadership.
People who make good leaders have the right (or sufficient) combination of
traits.

Description
Early research on leadership was based on the psychological focus of the day, which was of
people having inherited characteristics or traits. Attention was thus put on discovering
these traits, often by studying successful leaders, but with the underlying assumption that if
other people could also be found with these traits, then they, too, could also become great
leaders.

Stogdill (1974) identified the following traits and skills as critical to leaders.

 Traits Skills
 Adaptable to situations
 Alert to social environment
 Ambitious and achievement-orientated
 Assertive
 Cooperative
 Decisive
 Dependable
 Dominant (desire to influence others)
 Energetic (high activity level)
 Persistent
 Self-confident
 Tolerant of stress
 Willing to assume responsibility
 Clever (intelligent)
 Conceptually skilled
 Creative
 Diplomatic and tactful
 Fluent in speaking
 Knowledgeable about group task
 Organized (administrative ability)
 Persuasive
 Socially skilled

McCall and Lombardo (1983) researched both success and failure identified four primary
traits by which leaders could succeed or 'derail':

Emotional stability and composure: Calm, confident and predictable, particularly when
under stress.
Admitting error: Owning up to mistakes, rather than putting energy into covering up.
Good interpersonal skills: Able to communicate and persuade others without resort to
negative or coercive tactics.
Intellectual breadth: Able to understand a wide range of areas, rather than having a narrow
(and narrow-minded) area of expertise.
Discussion
There have been many different studies of leadership traits and they agree only in the
general saintly qualities needed to be a leader.

For a long period, inherited traits were sidelined as learned and situational factors were
considered to be far more realistic as reasons for people acquiring leadership positions.

Paradoxically, the research into twins who were separated at birth along with new sciences
such as Behavioral Genetics have shown that far more is inherited than was previously
supposed. Perhaps one day they will find a 'leadership gene'.

A Real World Leader:

Ajay Banga, CEO of MasterCard, has had well-rounded leadership experiences.25

Born in India, Banga honed his leadership skills at Nestlé and PepsiCo before
moving to Citigroup to head up its Asia-Pacific division. Citigroup was a
challenging situation as he found a vast banking group that “worked fluidly in its
product clusters but lacked coordination, synergy, or vision.” Banga undertook
the painful process of breaking down those “silos and stitching them together
again under a single umbrella structure.” When he was offered a position at
MasterCard as president and chief operating officer, Banga jumped at the chance.
Now as CEO, Banga is the company’s cheerleader, shaking up the company’s low-
key corporate culture with hugs and fist bumps in the hallways. One analyst
describes him as “energetic, open, and engaging.”

The Attributional Leadership Model : The Influence of Implicit Theories on Leader Attributions and
Behavior.

A theoretical model is developed to propose how a leader’s implicit theories about malleability
influence the attribution patterns that the leader develops for a subordinate’s behavior and
performance. These leader attribution patterns are then proposed to influence a leader’s behavior
toward the subordinate. The paper concludes with an exploration of the substantial ramifications of
a leader’s implicit theories for setting into motion upward and downward spirals of subordinate
performance.

Attribution theory describes how individuals develop causal explanations for behaviors and
outcomes, and how their causal explanations influence subsequent reactions (Martinko, 1995).

Although there are many variations of attribution theory, research on attributions has primarily

focused on two conceptual approaches; (1) achievement motivation models (e.g., Weiner, 1986)

which emphasize how individuals explain their own successes and failures; and (2) observer

models (e.g., Kelly, 1973) which emphasize how individuals explain the behaviors and outcomes

of others.

Attribution theory has played a prominent role in the development of the attributional
leadership model (e.g., Green & Mitchell, 1979; Mitchell, Green, & Wood, 1981). The attributional
leadership model is grounded in the concept of responsibility assignment. The leader makes
observations to determine which causal factors are responsible for the subordinate's behavior and
outcomes. These attributions about causality then influence the leader's reactions to the subordinate.
An important determinant of the casual attributions developed by a leader is the leader's
information processing of the subordinate's behavior along the three dimensions of Kelly’s (1967)
covariation model: (1) distinctiveness -- did the subordinate’s behavior occur during the performance of
this task only? (2) consistency -- is this behavior unusual for the subordinate in other situations? (3)
consensus -- is this behavior unusual for the subordinate’s cohort? The conclusions reached on these
three dimensions influence whether the leader makes causal attributions of responsibility for the
behavior to the subordinate (an internal attribution) or to some aspect of the subordinate’s situation (an
external attribution).

The attributional leadership model also posits that leaders evaluate subordinate behaviors by
using classification schema such as the classical two-dimensional model of Weiner et al. (1972). The
Weiner model is composed of (1) a locus of control dimension which delineates whether the primary
cause of the behavior is a characteristic of the subordinate (an internal attribute) or a characteristic of
the situation (an external attribute); and (2) a stability dimension which delineates whether or not the
subordinate’s behavior is likely to remain constant (stable) or change over time (unstable). The crossing
of the locus of control and stability dimensions produces a 2 by 2 matrix of four causal factors that a
leader can utilize to explain a subordinate’s behavior: stable/internal (ability); stable/external (task
difficulty); unstable/external (luck/chance); unstable/internal (effort).

As a leader determines the casual factor(s) for a subordinate’s performance, the ascribed
attributions influence both the leader's expectations for future performance and his or her behavior
toward the subordinate. Leaders are more likely to take corrective action toward the situation when
performance problems are attributed primarily to external causal factors. In contrast, leaders are more
likely to take corrective action toward the subordinate when a performance problem is primarily
attributed to internal factors (Mitchell & Wood, 1980). In addition, corrective action is more likely to be
punitive in nature when the leader attributes poor performance to a lack of effort, as compared to a lack
of ability. To illustrate the relationship between a leader’s casual factor attributions and behavioral
responses, consider several potential attributional scenarios for when a salesperson has not met his or
her district sales volume quota. If the subordinate’s sales manager determines that the sales volume is a
function of advertising support for the district (a task difficulty attribution), the manager can direct effort
toward enhancing the advertising support for the sales district. If the subordinate is new to the position
and inexperienced at product sales (a low ability attribution), the manager can focus on skill
development by engaging in coaching activities and by providing training program opportunities. If the
manager views the employee as lazy (a low effort attribution), the manager may engage in a disciplinary
action such as a reprimand, demotion, or termination.

The Attributional Leadership Model and the Person-

Situation Interaction
As noted by a number prominent scholars (e.g., Pervin, 1989), organizational behavior theories
often fall into one of two categories -- behavior as a function of the person or as a function of the
situation. Scholars (e.g., Mischel & Shoda, 1995, 1998; Mitchell, 1997), however, have noted the need
for a better understanding of the influence of the interaction of the person and situation.
Consistent with Pervin’s observation of the person-situation dichotomy, attributional leadership
models have been primarily developed and tested from the situational perspective. Specifically, leaders
develop attributions based on their observations of the situation (the subordinate's behavior and
context). Researchers such Martinko & Gardner (1987) have noted that leader reactions to subordinate
performance vary, and they suggested that individual difference characteristics (of the leader) moderate
the relationship between subordinate behavior and leader attribution development. However, a review
of the attributional leadership model literature reveals that research on individual difference
characteristics has primarily focused on demographic variables such as gender and ethnicity. To
summarize the status of attributional models of leadership research to date, scholars have primarily
used a situational perspective for theory development and theory testing.
A growing body of research findings, reported primarily in the journals of the educational and
social psychology, suggest a very promising individual difference variable candidate for inclusion in the
attributional leadership model-- the construct of implicit theories (Dweck, 1999). The paper next
provides an overview of the implicit theories concept and then continues by developing the theoretical
relationships between implicit theories and leader attribution development about subordinate behavior.

Implicit Theories
A basic assumption found in most attribution theory models is that attributions can be organized
within a limited number of underlying cognitive dimensions (Martinko, 1995). In addition, most
attribution theory models include a stable/unstable dimension and classify ability as a relatively stable
attribute (e.g., Weiner et al., 1972).
In contrast to the assumption that ability is a stable attribute, research by Dweck and her
associates (e.g., Dweck, Chiu, & Hong, 1995; Dweck, Hong, & Chiu, 1993) has found that individuals
differ considerably in the implicit theories (beliefs) they hold about the malleability of various personal
attributes. Dweck’s early research program primarily focused on implicit theories about intelligence
(Dweck & Leggett, 1988), but her ongoing program of research has found that individuals also hold
implicit theories about additional personal attributes such as interpersonal skills, personality, and moral
character (see Dweck, 1999 for an extensive review). In the implicit theory model, some individuals
endorse an incremental theory and believe that personal attributes such as intelligence are not innate,
static qualities that they simply possess. Rather, they believe that such attributes are dynamic and
malleable in nature and can be developed through sustained effort and experience. Research indicates
that when faced with a setback or challenge, individuals holding an incremental theory tend to remain
task focused and resilient. Specifically, they are more likely to have a learning goal orientation about the
situation, set goals for developing the requisite capabilities needed to eventually succeed, strategically
pursue development of the capabilities, and persist in their deployment of effort to succeed. In contrast,
other individuals endorse an entity theory and perceive that personal attributes such as intelligence are
innate, trait-like qualities that are fixed in nature and are difficult to change or develop. When these
individuals encounter a setback or challenge, they are prone toward anxiety and tend to withdraw from
the situation. In addition, given the belief that personal capabilities are difficult to develop, these
individuals also tend to avoid pursuit of developmental opportunities for developing the capabilities that
could help them to eventually succeed in a challenging situation. Instead, they focus on performance
goals of obtaining positive judgments and avoiding negative judgments about their personal capabilities
(Elliott & Dweck, 1988).

The most extensive implicit theory research has been conducted with an instrument developed
to assess implicit theories of intelligence (Dweck et al., 1995). An example item reads, “You have a
certain amount of intelligence and you really can’t do much to change it.” Items are answered on a 6-
point response scale from 1(strongly agree) to 6 (strongly disagree). Although individuals have implicit
theory beliefs that are located along a continuum of the entity and incremental anchor end points,
studies assessing implicit theories of intelligence and moral character have found that about 42.5
percent of the respondents endorse an entity theory (overall score of 3.0 or below), an equal
percentage endorse an incremental theory (overall score of 4.0 or above), and a remaining 15 percent
do not clearly endorse either theory (Dweck, 1996). For this paper, Dweck’s classification prototypes are
used for the sake of clarity.

Validation evidence on instruments developed to assess implicit theories is reported in Dweck

(1996) and Dweck et al. (1995). Across six samples, the internal reliability coefficients for the item
responses ranged from .94 to 98, the test-retest reliability coefficients averaged .80, and the exploratory
factor analysis loadings conformed robustly to the hypothesized patterns. Similar to personality
variables such as hope, optimism, and anxiety, research indicates that implicit theories occur in both
trait and state forms (Dweck, 1999). An implicit theory is a trait in that it is a relatively stable belief that
an individual will characteristically bring to a situation. However, implicit theories also have a state
nature in that these beliefs can be influenced with interventions. In laboratory studies, such as the
seminal study conducted by Wood and Bandura (1989), implicit theories have been manipulated by
giving study participants explicit instructions about whether an attribute is fixed or malleable in nature.
Implicit theory interventions have also been conducted in longitudinal field study settings. For example,
Aronson and Fried (1998) developed a training program for African-American undergraduate students to
educate them on the concept of an incremental theory of intelligence. The training program was
composed of presenting research findings and testimonial evidence in video, article, and lecture
formats. Participants in the treatment group also wrote letters to grade-school children that explained
how intellectual ability could be developed. Compared to students in a control group, the students in
the incremental theory treatment group earned a higher level of academic achievement at the end of
the semester and reported enjoying school more. In a later section of the paper, I will discuss the
managerial significance of being able to influence the implicit theories held by individuals.

Finally, there is an interesting and pertinent parallel of attribution theories and implicit theories
to identify. As noted in the introduction, there are two primary conceptual approaches to attributions
theory -- attributions about the self and attributions about others. Likewise, implicit theory research has
also found that individuals hold implicit theories about the self and about others (Dweck, 1999).
Although both conceptual approaches are employed in the paper, the primary focus will be on how
implicit theories about others influence leader attribution development about subordinates.

Implicit Theories and the Attribution Process

As outlined in the paper’s introduction, attributional leadership models propose that leaders

observe subordinates and develop attributions about the subordinates' behaviors and performance

based on covariation analysis. However, the findings from implicit theory research (Dweck,

1999) indicate that attributions and subsequent reactions may not only arise from a leader's

observation of a subordinate, but that leaders also approach a given situation with an attributional

process style that is grounded in the implicit theories they hold. The belief in an entity versus an

incremental theory about personal attributes can be seen as a core assumption by which

individuals construct their reality. These implicit theories create the cognitive frameworks for

processing the environment and then foster judgments and reactions that are consistent within

these frameworks. I next review and synthesize the accumulation of implicit theory research

findings to develop a contour of the relationship pattern of implicit theories and attribution

development.

Attributional Orientation

Among the core processes in the attributional leadership model, is the decision to make an
internal or external attribution for a subordinate's behavior. In the social psychology literature,
researchers have found that in ambiguous situations, individuals are biased toward making dispositional
(internal) rather than situational (external) attributions (Jones, 1990). Research reported by Dweck et al.
(1993) indicates that the bias toward making internal attributions is further intensified when individuals
hold an entity theory. The underlying logic of their research is that entity theorists, who by definition
believe that personal attributes are fixed in nature, believe that understanding themselves and others
entails assessing underlying personal attributes such as dispositions. They reported that entity theorists
were more likely than incremental theorists to assume that one's disposition was superior to one's
situation for explaining behavior, and entity theorists were are also more willing to make dispositional
judgments about others based on relatively small amounts of information. In addition, they found that
in contrast to entity theorists, incremental theorists were able to generate significantly more situational
factors to explain an individual's behavior.
Ybarra and Stephan (1999) conducted a series of studies that provide a potentially interesting
extension to the ramifications of an individual being disposed toward making dispositional or situational
attributions. Their study did not use the Dweck framework of implicit theories, but rather, they studied
the relationship between one's attributional orientation and the prediction of another's behavior. They
found a positive relationship between the focus on a dispositional attribution to explain behavior and
the prediction that a target individual would engage in negative behavior. In contrast they found a
positive relationship between the focus on a situational attribution for explaining behavior and the
expectancy that a target individual would engage in positive behavior. These results were found both
when the attributional orientation was assessed as an individual difference variable, and when it was
primed with manipulation information in an experiment. In tandem, the findings of the Dweck et al.
(1993) and the Ybarra and Stephan (1999) studies suggest that if entity theorists are prone to make
dispositional attributions to explain behavior, that they may also have a propensity to expect negative
behaviors of a subordinate to occur or to continue.

Halo Effect
The research of Dweck et al. (1993) found that entity theorists tend to perceive a closer

correspondence between dispositional traits and behaviors than do incremental theorists. In

subsequent research, Chiu, Hong, & Dweck (1997) found that an entity theory was also

associated with a halo effect type of phenomenon. Compared to the responses of incremental

theorists, when entity theorists were provided with information about a target individual's

dispositional-relevant behavior for one occasion, they were more likely to expect similar

behavior to recur in the future in very different situations. The researchers also found that

entity theorists, compared to incremental theorists, more strongly believed that even a single

behavior of an individual is very indicative of that individual's underlying moral character.

Similar to the dual research methodology approach that Dweck has used in much of her

research, the researchers also conducted an experiment where they manipulated implicit

theories by having the participants read a “scientific article” that was written to espouse and

document either an entity or an incremental theory of human attributes. Parallel to the results

found when the they assessed dispositional implicit theories, Chiu et al., found that the

participants who read the entity-theory article were more likely than participants who read the

incremental-theory article to predict that a single behavior could be used as a strong indicator
of someone's underlying moral character.

To summarize, entity theorists appear to perceive a closer relationship between

dispositions and behaviors than do incremental theorists. Entity theorists tend to use limited

information to develop dispositional explanations for behavior, and the inferred dispositions

are then extrapolated to develop more global judgments about the target and to predict

behaviors in other domains. Incremental theorists are not as likely infer trait explanations for

behavior, and do not rely on such explanations as much to predict future behavior. Instead they

are more likely to focus on the larger context in which a behavior occurs when they seek to

understand or explain an individual's behavior (Dweck et al., 1995).

Information Processing Styles

Another stream of implicit theory research has investigated information processing styles.

First, studies have found that entity and incremental theorists differ in their initial processing of

information. Sorich and Dweck (1994) found that entity theorists were quicker than

incremental theorists to develop attributions for behavior. As they encoded new information,

entity theorists also attach stronger positive and negative evaluative labels to the information

(Hong, Chiu, Dweck, & Sacks, 1997). Second, entity and incremental theorists differ in the

likelihood of revising their initial judgments when subsequent counter evidence is presented.

Erdley and Dweck (1993) had participants view slides of an individual who displayed negative

behaviors. When the study participants were later provided with counter positive evidence

about the individual, entity theorists were much less likely to revise their initial negative social

judgment about the individual. More recently, Plaks, Stroessner, Dweck, and Sherman (2001)

investigated how individuals respond to new information that was counter to the initial
information provided about hypothetical individuals and hypothetical groups. After providing

initial information about an individual (a priest or a neo-Nazi skinhead), the researchers found

that the entity theorists consistently displayed greater attention to information that was

congruent with the initial stereotype information provided, whereas the incremental theorists

tended to display greater attention to information that was inconsistent with the initial

stereotype information. For the group stereotype study, the researchers also found that when

participants were presented with counterstereotypic information, that entity theorists were

less likely than incremental theorists to revise their impressions about the hypothetical groups.

Social Stereotyping

An elegant series of studies by Levy, Dweck, & Stroessner (1998) found that implicit theories
also predicted social stereotyping behavior. In the first study, the researchers asked the participants
(undergraduate psychology students) to generate lists of positive and negative stereotypes for five
ethnic groups and to indicate to what degree they believed that each stereotype was true or false.
Although individuals who were classified as either entity or incremental theorists generated the same
number of stereotypes, the entity theorists more strongly endorsed the stereotypes as being accurate.
In the second study, a group of participants were asked about the validity of a list of stereotypes about
African-Americans. Compared to incremental theorists, the entity theorists were again more likely to
endorse the stereotypes as being accurate, and they were also more likely to indicate that the
stereotypes reflected innate characteristics of African-Americans rather than being a potential by-
product of environmental or social causes within the American society. A third study had participants
read a scenario about novel, hypothetical groups that behaved in either a generally desirable or
undesirable manner. The study found that when forming impressions of a positive or negative group on
the basis of relatively sparse information, individuals endorsing an entity theory made more extreme
group judgments than individuals endorsing an incremental theory. In addition entity theorists made
judgments more quickly, and they had greater confidence in the sufficiency of information used to form
their judgments.

Summary on the Attribution Development Process

The research findings of Dweck and associates strongly suggests that beyond situational covariation
analysis of subordinate behavior, that implicit theories can be incorporated into the attributional
leadership model to develop a more powerful and comprehensive explanatory model of the attribution
process. Compared to incremental theorists, entity theorists are more likely to develop internal
attributions for subordinate behavior, develop such attributions rapidly, use a limited set of information,
extrapolate attributions from specific situations to more global expectations, endorse stereotypes, and
resist revision of their judgments in the face of counter evidence.
The above summary begets an intriguing question: Why would individuals endorse an entity theory
rather than an incremental theory if the former appears to be counterproductive for developing
accurate attributions? It appears that holding an entity theory may give individuals a sense of security in
a complex world. Individuals desire to be able to explain and predict events (Kelly, 1967), and the
cognitive framework fostered by an entity theory provides individuals with a sense of surety that their
world is predictable. However, with the feeling of security that comes from a sense of being able to
explain events, also comes the danger of reaching premature judgments based on limited information,
and, a resistance to changing such judgments in the face of counter information.

We next turn to considering additional ramifications of implicit theories by proposing how the different
attributional patterns that are developed by holding an entity or incremental theory also differentially
influence the behavioral interactions of leaders with subordinates.

Leader Attributions and Behavior

Classical attributional leadership models (i.e., Mitchell et al. 1981) propose two significant patterns of
leader responses to a subordinate when the subordinate’s behavior or performance is problematic.
First, the leader's behavior is more positive in tone for external attributions than for internal
attributions. Second, the leader's behavior is more positive in tone for ability attributions than for effort
attributions.

The incorporation of a leader's implicit theories into the attributional leadership model produces a more
complex pattern of predicted leader attributions and behavioral responses. Specifically, the behavioral
response patterns will be significantly influenced by whether the leader's attribution development is
primarily influenced by an entity or an incremental implicit theory. The prior discussion of attribution
development, and additional research on the influence of implicit theories, suggest that implicit theories
have considerable potential for explaining leadership behaviors such as: 1) subordinate evaluations, 2)
subordinate feedback and development, 3) leader-subordinate relationship development, and 4)
corrective actions.

Subordinate Evaluations

In the attributional leadership model, the initial judgments that the leader makes about a subordinate's
behavior and performance are a central influence on the subsequent leadership behavioral style. As
noted earlier, leaders who endorse an entity theory will have a propensity to make internal attributions
about a subordinate's behavior and performance. In addition, leaders who endorse an entity theory will
tend to make their evaluations based on relatively limited information. The propensity to make internal
attributions with relatively limited information is likely to decrease the accuracy of the leader's
evaluation and to decrease the leader's depth of understanding of the contextual factors impeding the
subordinate’s behavior and performance.

Subordinate Feedback and Development

Implicit theories should also influence a leader's style of feedback giving and subordinate development.
By definition, a leader who endorses an entity theory believes that a given attribute is fixed in nature
and difficult to develop. If a leader perceives that ability deficiencies are difficult to rectify, the leader
should not feel that diagnostic/developmental feedback would be of much utility. Rather, the feedback
provided to the subordinate is likely to be evaluative in nature (a judgment of the subordinate's
deficiencies). In addition, if an entity theorist has developed only a surface level understanding of the
subordinate's behavior and contextual factors, then the leader's wherewithal to actually provide
accurate and useful diagnostic feedback about how to improve behavior or performance is diminished.
In contrast, leaders who endorse an incremental theory believe by definition that various personal
attributes can be developed, so these leaders should be more receptive to providing diagnostic and
process type feedback to foster subordinate development. Given that incremental theorists have
developed judgments about their subordinates based on a richer repertoire of information, these
leaders are also more likely to have developed the requisite knowledge base to understand what
feedback is needed to remedy behavior and performance deficiencies. In addition, incremental theorists
should be more likely to develop an insightful understanding of what contextual factors for the
subordinate will need to be addressed. Incremental theorists are also more receptive to revising their
judgments when they receive new information. Thus, these leaders should more able to accurately
recognize when the feedback interventions are productive, and they should be more likely to update
their assessment of the subordinate’s progress and their plan for future developmental support needs.
Relationship Development

Research on romantic relationships provides very interesting insights about how implicit theories might
influence the professional interpersonal relationship of a leader with a subordinate. Knee (1998) used
the implicit theory framework to develop a conceptual model about romantic relationship beliefs.
Building on the entity theory concept, he proposed that some individuals hold a destiny belief about
romantic relationships and believe that the relationship partners are either made for each other or they
are not. Building on the incremental theory concept, he proposed that other individuals hold a growth
belief about relationships and believe that successful relationships are not based on destiny, but are
cultivated and developed over time. Consistent with his hypotheses and the implicit theory framework,
Knee found that individuals who held a destiny belief made quick judgments about prospective partners
and were quick to terminate dissatisfying relationships. In contrast, individuals who held a growth belief
were more likely to take a long-term approach to dating a new partner, and they were more likely to
engage in relationship development activities. In subsequent research, Knee, Nanaykkara, Vietor,
Neighbors, and Patrick (2001) found that individuals with a high-growth/low destiny belief profile,
compared to individuals who held one of the other three growth/destiny profile combinations, were
more likely to remain satisfied with their partner despite the partner's flaws and limitations. Extending
Knee's findings to leader-subordinate relationships, I propose that leaders who endorse an incremental
theory, compared to those to endorse an entity theory, will also be more likely to consider their
professional relationship with a subordinate as a long-term developmental process, be more willing to
engage in behaviors to develop the relationship, and be less prone to focus on dissatisfaction with their
subordinate's flaws.

Preliminary research on demographic differences also suggests that implicit theories may influence the
professional relationship development of a leader and subordinate. Levy, Freitas, & Dweck (1999) found
that undergraduate students who were entity theorists, compared to those who were incremental
theorists, played a game more competitively and less cooperatively when they thought their opponent
was a law student. However, the two groups of theorists played equally competitively and cooperatively
against an opponent’s student status was unspecified. In a second study with undergraduate students,
Levy et al., found that when they asked the study participants to grade a group of student assignments,
entity theorists were more likely to vary their grade assignment based on the ethnicity of the student.
Specifically, the entity theorists gave higher grades to the same paper when they thought that the
student belonged to one ethnic group versus another. Extending these findings to leader-subordinate
relationships, leaders who are entity theorists may be less willing to devote time and energy to
relationship development when the subordinate differs from them on demographic variables such as
gender or ethnicity. This hesitation for relationship development is likely to be exacerbated when an
entity theorist holds negative stereotypes about the subordinate's demographic group, and early in the
relationship, the leader develops negative attributions about the subordinate's behavior and
performance.

Leader Corrective Action

Studies by Mitchell and Wood (1980) and Green and Liden (1980) found that internal attributions lead to
punitive supervisory responses to a subordinate’s low performance significantly more often than did
external attributions. Leaders making external attributions are less likely to punish subordinate failure
because they perceive failure to be beyond the member's control. For internal attributions, causal
attributions to effort appear to be a primary determinant of punishment, whereas ability attributions are
less likely to elicit punitive responses (Mitchell et al., 1981). In general, it appears that leaders perceive
ability to be less subject to subordinate control and, consequently, less deserving of punishment. On the
other hand, because leaders believe subordinates can control effort, they expect that punishment will
lead to improved performance. Of course some leaders who attribute member failure to ability will,
nevertheless, administer punishment.

Again, implicit theories provide potential insight for explaining variance in leader behaviors. As noted
earlier, an entity theory predisposes a leader toward ascribing internal attributions such as ability to
explain the cause of behavior. In contrast, an incremental theory predisposes a leader toward searching
beyond internal attributions and to more actively also consider contextual factors that could impact
behavior.

Numerous studies conducted by Dweck and associates (i.e., Dweck et al., 1995; Gervey, Chiu, Hong, &
Dweck, 1999) also suggest that a leader’s implicit theory may moderate his or her reactions to a
subordinate's behavior. Their research has found that when individuals holding an incremental theory
encounter problematic behavior by another individual, they are likely to recommend positive
interventions of training, education, and encouragement to change the behavior. In contrast, when
entity theorists make internal attributions, they are much less likely to recommend positive
interventions. In addition, entity theorists are likely to endorse punishment and retribution and harbor
ill will toward a target when they feel that the target has harmed or violated them.

Attribution theory research by Weiner, Amirkhan, Folkes, and Verette (1987) provides additional
insight about the potential relationship of implicit theories with corrective responses. In their study,
Weiner et al. found that when participants were provided with external causes to explain a
transgression by another, that the participants were less angry and liked the transgressor more.
Integrating the research findings of Dweck and Weiner suggests that the tendency of entity theorists to
overlook potential external attributional causes for behavior could explain why they also express harsh
responses when they feel that a subordinate has let them down with low performance.

In commenting on this body of research, Dweck (1999) suggested that entity theorists do not
grant themselves, or others, the potential to grow and lose confidence in the future. She continued by
suggesting that incremental theorists see their own failures as problems to be solved and grant others
the same potential for their shortcomings. Although it remains to be empirically tested in work settings,
I find it compelling to suggest that the corrective response patterns found by Dweck’s research program
for entity and incremental theorists in laboratory settings will also be found in future attributional
leadership research.

The Subordinate Performance Spiral (Highway to Heaven or Hell)

Research from the organizational behavior literature provides evidence to develop causal
pathways to explain the eventual influence of a leader’s implicit theories on a subordinate’s behavior
and performance.

Conveyance of Implicit Theories to Subordinates

A seminal article by Wood and Bandura (1989) conducted an early test of the influence of
implicit theory induction on self-regulation and task performance. In a laboratory study with MBA
students, Wood and Bandura used treatment instructions to induce entity or incremental beliefs about
managerial decision-making skills. The participants then served as decision-makers in a simulated
organization where they had to make decisions about employee utilization and discover and apply
managerial rules to maximize organizational performance. After the implicit theory treatments,
participants in the entity treatment condition suffered a loss in self-efficacy, lowered their goals, and
became less efficient in their analytic strategies. Participants in the incremental treatment condition
maintained their self-efficacy, set challenging goals, and used effective analytical skills. Path analysis
revealed that the differences in self-regulation activities also helped the participants in the incremental
treatment condition to achieve much high levels of organizational performance than the participants in
the entity treatment condition.

Additional evidence of the differential impact of inducing entity and incremental implicit
theories comes from Martocchio’s (1994) field study of employees participating in a microcomputer
skills training class. Eighty percent of the participants had never used a computer, and the remaining
participants indicated that their computer experience was limited to following co-worker instructions on
simple keyboard steps. Martocchio used treatment instructions to induce entity or incremental beliefs
about the ability of individuals to develop computer operation skills. Compared to the participants in the
incremental condition, the participants in the entity condition expressed greater anxiety and had lower
self-efficacy about using a computer correctly.

The findings of Wood and Bandura (1989) and Martocchio (1994) on the detrimental impact of an entity
theory on self-regulation and performance have also been found in studies conducted with adolescents
and undergraduate students by Dweck and associates (see Dweck, 1999 for a comprehensive summary).
In sum, the ramifications of these studies for employee performance are profound. The research
evidence strongly indicates that even though employees hold characteristic implicit theories, these
implicit theories can be influenced by information from others. If a leader holds an entity theory about
an important work related aptitude, and conveys that belief to a subordinate, the leader has the
potential to influence the subordinate’s implicit theory about that aptitude. A leader should be
especially able to influence a subordinate’s implicit theory framework when the subordinate is new to
the position and has a limited experience base. Of course, the start of a new position by an
inexperienced subordinate is the very time when the subordinate would benefit most in being exposed
to incremental (rather than entity) theory to help master the challenge of learning the skills needed to
succeed in the position.
Stereotype Threat
Steele's seminal research on the stereotype threat syndrome suggests another pathway
by which a leader's implicit theory can influence a subordinate's performance. Steele (1997)
and Steele and Aronson (1995) found in their research that telling African-American
participants that a test was an indicator of intelligence resulted in poorer test performance
compared to participants who are not told such. Entity theorists tend to develop internal
attributions about subordinate performance, to endorse stereotypes as accurate, and to
encode information with strong evaluative tags. This pattern of cognitive processing should
make ability stereotype more cognitively salient and enhance the likelihood of the leader
conveying to a subordinate that an aptitude (which is stereotyped as a weakness of the
subordinate's social group) is an important indicator of potential performance success. Steele's
research indicates that the presentation of such information can influence an individual to
engage in stereotype-consistent behaviors that undermines the individual’s potential for
successful performance.
Pygmalion Effect
The Pygmalion effect, the process by which leader expectations have a self-fulfilling prophecy
impact on subordinates, is also likely to be differentially activated when a leader holds an entity versus
an incremental implicit theory. Eden and Shani (1982) conducted a field experiment with participants in
a leadership-training program. The students were actually randomly assigned to one of the three groups
of “assessed” leadership potential (unknown, average, or high potential) and the leadership instructors
were informed of each student’s potential. Although the instructors actually received bogus assessment
information, the students in the high potential group classification had significantly higher post-training
test scores and more positive attitudes than the students in the unknown or average group
classifications.
The interplay of the Pygmalion effect and implicit theories could occur as follows. A leader who
endorses an entity theory observes deficient behavior or performance by a subordinate. The leader
makes an attribution of low ability as the cause of the subordinate's deficiency. Given that the leader
believes that the subordinate’s underlying ability to performance is difficult to develop (a stable, fixed
attribute), the leader’s expectations about the subordinate’s future performance are likely to be low.
The leader conveys these low expectations to the subordinate, and the self-fulfilling prophecy process
leads to subordinate cognitions and behaviors that sabotage the potential for the subordinate’s future
performance improvement.

Leader Behavioral Patterns

In the prior sections of the paper, entity and incremental theories were predicted to influence
leaders to engage in different attribution patterns, and in turn, different behavioral patterns with
subordinates. These different behavioral patterns should further differentiate the potential level of
subordinate performance. Compared to a leader who holds an entity theory, a leader who holds an
incremental theory is more likely to be conscientious and insightful when making subordinate
evaluations, to provide feedback that is diagnostic and developmental in nature, to work at developing
an effective professional relationship, and to utilize coaching, training and encouragement to remedy
performance problems. In contrast, a leader who endorses an entity theory is more likely to make more
superficial evaluations, provide evaluative feedback that does not give direction for improvement, be
less willing to develop a professional relationship, be skeptical about the value of coaching and training
to remedy deficiencies, and be willing to respond with negative behaviors such as punishment.
In summary, organizational research on the inducement of implicit theories, the stereotype
threat, the Pygmalion effect, and the proposed leadership behavior patterns strongly suggest that
leaders who endorse an incremental theory will be more effective at enhancing subordinate
performance than will be leaders who endorse an entity theory.

Managerial Implications
With regard to leader selection, it would appear to be beneficial to screen leaders on the basis
of their implicit theories. The endorsement of an implicit theory belief by a leader should be especially
valuable when a leader is in the role of working with new, inexperienced employees who are in jobs that
require substantial skill development. Such leadership training may also be especially useful in industries
such as life insurance, financial services, and real estate where the discouragement from low sales
success results in high attrition rates for new salespeople.
Implicit theories also have implications for the management of incumbent leaders. Training
leaders on the concept of incremental theories can enhance leadership effectiveness for managing
subordinates. To maximize the training program impact, entity theorists will need to be provided with
evidence that the skills they have assumed to be difficult to develop can indeed be developed. In
addition, incremental training programs will be more effective by providing the leaders with requisite
knowledge and procedures on how to effectively help subordinates in their skill development.

Boundary Conditions
Several comments regarding the focus and boundary conditions of the paper are specified and
discussed.
First, the attempt to resolve ambiguity about the causes of an individual's behavior is a primary
driver for an observer to engage in the attribution process. Ambiguities often arise when a target’s
behavior or performance deviates from "normal" levels (Lord, 1997). Given that poor performance often
poses greater problems than average or superior performance, leaders are more likely to engage in
attributional analysis when confronted with the former. The focus of this paper, thus, has been primarily
on the development of attributions for poor performance rather than attributions for average or
superior performance.
Second, the empirical research reported in this paper indicates that individuals who endorse an
entity theory are predisposed to develop internal, dispositional attributions to explain behavior. As
noted by Mitchell et al. (1981), however, there are times when leaders are confronted with situational
factors such as organizational policies, social norms, and strong contextual cues that can influence a
leader's attributional development and responses to subordinates. Research by Plaks et al. (2001)
provides initial evidence that situational factors can moderate the influence of implicit theories on the
attribution process. In their study on stereotypes, entity theorists were exposed to one of three levels of
counter information after they had formed an initial impression of a target’s academic ability. They
found that small or moderate levels of counter information did not lead to judgment revision about the
target. However, entity theorists who were provided with very strong counter expectant information (an
outstanding level of academic performance by the target) did revise their judgments upward about how
well the target would do in the future. Thus, in the face of very strong information cues, entity theorists
appear able to deviate from their predictable cognitive patterns.

Third, this model is not a comprehensive discussion of the potential forms of leader-subordinate
attribution development. For example, Martinko and Gardner (1987) extended the original attributional
leadership model of Mitchell and his colleagues by describing the interactive-dyadic nature of the
leader-subordinate attributional process. In a more recent article, Lepine and Van Dyne (2001)
developed an attributional model of helping behavior in the context of groups. To retain precision, the
current paper is restricted to leader-subordinate dyadic relationships, with the leader as the primary
protagonist for attribution development.

Fourth, research indicates that implicit theories can differ by major domains in one's life. For
example, an individual could hold an entity theory about intelligence, but hold an incremental theory
about other domains such as personality or moral character (Dweck, 1999; Dweck et al., 1993). The
domain specificity of implicit theories will require that researchers carefully assess which implicit theory
domains are most appropriate for inclusion in empirical testing of attributional leadership models.

Fifth, Lord (1997) noted that compared to individuals raised in Eastern cultures, individuals
raised in Western cultures may value the illusion that behaviors arise from internal, stable, controllable
causes. Lepine and Van Dyne (2001) made a similar observation that attribution processes may be
influenced by national culture. Along these lines, a study by Chiu et al. (1997) found that American
students tended to exhibit a somewhat greater tendency than Hong Kong Chinese students to make
trait indicative judgments about behavior, but they also found support for cross-cultural generality of
the association between implicit theories of morality and the tendency to make moral trait attributions
from behavior. Given the limited research to date on the cross-cultural generality of implicit theories,
there are considerable future research opportunities to conduct comparative studies of various Eastern
and Western cultures for various attribute domains for attributional leadership models.

Transformational-Transactional Leadership

Many early leadership theories viewed leaders as transactional leaders; that is, leaders that lead primarily by using
social exchanges (or transactions). Transactional leaders guide or motivate followers to work toward established
goals by exchanging rewards for their productivity. 26 But another type of leader—a transformational leader—
stimulates and inspires (transforms) followers to achieve extraordinary outcomes. Examples include Jim Goodnight
of SAS Institute and Andrea Jung of Avon. They pay attention to the concerns and developmental needs of
individual followers; they change followers’ awareness of issues by helping those followers look at old problems in
new ways; and they are able to excite, arouse, and inspire followers to exert extra effort to achieve group goals.
Transactional and transformational leadership shouldn’t be viewed as opposing approaches to getting things
done.27 Transformational leadership develops from transactional leadership. Transformational leadership produces
levels of employee effort and performance that go beyond what would occur with a transactional approach alone.
Moreover, transformational leadership is more than charisma, because the transformational leader attempts to
instill in followers the ability to question not only established views but those views held by the leader.

The evidence supporting the superiority of transformational leadership over transactional leadership is
overwhelmingly impressive. For instance, studies that looked at managers in different settings, including the
military and business, found that transformational leaders were evaluated as more effective, higher performers,
more promotable than their transactional counterparts, and more interpersonally sensitive. 29 In addition, evidence
indicates that transformational leadership is strongly correlated with lower turnover rates and higher levels of
productivity, employee satisfaction, creativity, goal attainment, follower well-being, and corporate
entrepreneurship, especially in start-up firms.
Charismatic-Visionary Leadership

Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, is a person who exudes energy, enthusiasm, and drive. He’s fun-
loving (his legendary laugh has been described as a flock of Canadian geese on nitrous oxide), but has pursued his
vision for Amazon with serious intensity and has demonstrated an ability to inspire his employees through the ups
and downs of a rapidly growing company. Bezos is what we call a charismatic leader—that is, an enthusiastic, self-
confident leader whose personality and actions influence people to behave in certain ways.

Several authors have attempted to identify personal characteristics of the charismatic leader. The most
comprehensive analysis identified five such characteristics: they have a vision, the ability to articulate that vision, a
willingness to take risks to achieve that vision, a sensitivity to both environmental constraints and follower needs,
and behaviors that are out of the ordinary. An increasing body of evidence shows impressive correlations between
charismatic leadership and high performance and satisfaction among followers. 34 Although one study found that
charismatic CEOs had no impact on subsequent organizational performance, charisma is still believed to be a
desirable leadership quality. If charisma is desirable, can people learn to be charismatic leaders? Or are charismatic
leaders born with their qualities? Although a small number of experts still think that charisma can’t be learned,
most believe that individuals can be trained to exhibit charismatic behaviors. For example, researchers have
succeeded in teaching undergraduate students to “be” charismatic. How? They were taught to articulate a far-
reaching goal, communicate high performance expectations, exhibit confidence in the ability of subordinates to
meet those expectations, and empathize with the needs of their subordinates; they learned to project a powerful,
confident, and dynamic presence; and they practiced using a captivating and engaging voice tone. The researchers
also trained the student leaders to use charismatic nonverbal behaviors, including leaning toward the follower
when communicating, maintaining direct eye contact, and having a relaxed posture and animated facial
expressions. In groups with these “trained” charismatic leaders, members had higher task performance, higher
task adjustment, and better adjustment to the leader and to the group than did group members who worked in
groups led by non-charismatic leaders. One last thing we should say about charismatic leadership is that it may not
always be necessary to achieve high levels of employee performance. It may be most appropriate when the
follower’s task has an ideological purpose or when the environment involves a high degree of stress and
uncertainty.37 This distinction may explain why, when charismatic leaders surface, it’s more likely to be in politics,
religion, or wartime; or when a business firm is starting up or facing a survival crisis. For example, Martin Luther
King Jr. used his charisma to bring about social equality through nonviolent means, and Steve Jobs achieved
unwavering loyalty and commitment from Apple’s technical staff in the early 1980s by articulating a vision of
personal computers that would dramatically change the way people lived. Although the term vision is often linked
with charismatic leadership, visionary leadership is different; it’s the ability to create and articulate a realistic,
credible, and attractive vision of the future that improves upon the present situation. 38 This vision, if properly
selected and implemented, is so energizing that it “in effect jump-starts the future by calling forth the skills,
talents, and resources to make it happen.”39 An organization’s vision should offer clear and compelling imagery
that taps into people’s emotions and inspires enthusiasm to pursue the organization’s goals. It should be able to
generate possibilities that are inspirational and unique and offer new ways of doing things that are clearly better
for the organization and its members. Visions that are clearly articulated and have powerful imagery are easily
grasped and accepted. For instance, Michael
Dell (Dell Computer) created a vision of a business that sells and delivers customized PCs directly to customers in
less than a week. The late Mary Kay Ash’s vision of women as entrepreneurs selling products that improved their
self-image gave impetus to her cosmetics company, Mary Kay Cosmetics.

Team Leadership
Because leadership is increasingly taking place within a team context and more organizations are using work
teams, the role of the leader in guiding team members has become increasingly important. The role of team leader
is different from the traditional leadership role, as J. D. Bryant, a supervisor at Texas Instruments’ Forest Lane plant
in Dallas, discovered. One day he was contentedly overseeing a staff of 15 circuit board assemblers. The next day
he was told that the company was going to use employee teams and he was to become a “facilitator.” He said,
“I’m supposed to teach the teams everything I know and then let them make their own decisions.” Confused about
his new role, he admitted, “There was no clear plan on what I was supposed to do.” What is involved in being a
team leader? Many leaders are not equipped to handle the change to employee teams. As one consultant noted,
“Even the most capable managers have trouble making the transition because all the command-and-control type
things they were encouraged to do before are no longer appropriate. There’s no reason to have any skill or sense
of this.”42 This same consultant estimated that “probably 15 percent of managers are natural team leaders;
another 15 percent could never lead a team because it runs counter to their personality—that is, they’re unable to
sublimate their dominating style for the good of the team. Then there’s that huge group in the middle: Team
leadership doesn’t come naturally to them, but they can learn it.” The challenge for many managers is learning
how to become an effective team leader. They have to learn skills such as patiently sharing information, being able
to trust others and to give up authority, and understanding when to intervene. And effective team leaders have
mastered the difficult balancing act of knowing when to leave their teams alone and when to get involved. New
team leaders may try to retain too much control at a time when team members need more autonomy, or they may
abandon their teams at times when the teams need support and help.

One study looking at organizations that reorganized themselves around employee teams found certain common
responsibilities of all leaders. These leader responsibilities included coaching, facilitating, handling disciplinary
problems, reviewing team and individual performance, training, and communication. 45 However, a more
meaningful way to describe the team leader’s job is to focus on two priorities: (1) managing the team’s external
boundary and (2) facilitating the team process.46 These priorities entail four specific leadership roles.

Leadership Issues in the Twenty-First Century:

It’s not easy being a chief information officer (CIO) today. The person responsible for managing a company’s
information technology activities will find that the task comes with a lot of external and internal pressures.
Technology continues to change rapidly—almost daily, it sometimes seems. Business costs continue to rise. Rob
Carter, CIO of FedEx, is on the hot seat facing such challenges. 47 He’s responsible for all the computer and
communication systems that provide around-the-clock and around-the-globe support for FedEx’s products and
services. If anything goes wrong, you know who takes the heat. However, Carter has been an effective leader in
this seemingly chaotic environment. Leading effectively in today’s environment is likely to involve such challenging
circumstances for many leaders. In addition, twenty-first-century leaders do face some important leadership
issues. In this section, we look at these issues that include managing power, developing trust, empowering
employees, leading across cultures, and becoming an effective leader.

Managing Power

Where do leaders get their power—that is, their right and capacity to influence work actions or decisions? Five
sources of leader power have been identified: legitimate, coercive, reward, expert, and referent. Legitimate power
and authority are the same. Legitimate power represents the power a leader has as a result of his or her position in
the organization. Although people in positions of authority are also likely to have reward and coercive power,
legitimate power is broader than the power to coerce and reward.
Coercive power is the power a leader has to punish or control. Followers react to this power out of fear of the
negative results that might occur if they don’t comply. Managers typically have some coercive power, such as
being able to suspend or demote employees or to assign them work they find unpleasant or undesirable. Reward
power is the power to give positive rewards. A reward can be anything that a person values such as money,
favorable performance appraisals, promotions, interesting work assignments, friendly colleagues, and preferred
work shifts or sales territories.

Expert power is power that’s based on expertise, special skills, or knowledge. If an employee has skills, knowledge,
or expertise that’s critical to a work group, that person’s expert power is enhanced.
Finally, referent power is the power that arises because of a person’s desirable resources or personal traits. If I
admire you and want to be associated with you, you can exercise power over me because I want to please you.
Referent power develops out of admiration of another and a desire to be like that person. Most effective leaders
rely on several different forms of power to affect the behavior and performance of their followers. For example,
the commanding officer of one of Australia’s state-of-the-art submarines, the HMAS Sheean, employs different
types of power in managing his crew and equipment. He gives orders to the crew (legitimate), praises them
(reward), and disciplines those who commit infractions (coercive). As an effective leader, he also strives to have
expert power (based on his expertise and knowledge) and referent power (based on his being admired) to
influence his crew.

Developing Trust

In today’s uncertain environment, an important consideration for leaders is building trust and credibility, both of
which can be extremely fragile. Before we can discuss ways leaders can build trust and credibility, we have to know
what trust and credibility are and why they’re so important. The main component of credibility is honesty. Surveys
show that honesty is consistently singled out as the number one characteristic of admired leaders. “Honesty is
absolutely essential to leadership. If people are going to follow someone willingly, whether it be into battle or into
the boardroom, they first want to assure themselves that the person is worthy of their trust.” 49 In addition to being
honest, credible leaders are competent and inspiring. They are personally able to effectively communicate their
confidence and enthusiasm. Thus, followers judge a leader’s credibility in terms of his or her honesty, competence,
and ability to inspire. Trust is closely entwined with the concept of credibility, and, in fact, the terms are often
used interchangeably. Trust is defined as the belief in the integrity, character, and ability of a leader. Followers who
trust a leader are willing to be vulnerable to the leader’s actions because they are confident that their rights and
interests will not be abused.50 Research has identified five dimensions that make up the concept of trust:

_ Integrity:honesty and truthfulness

_ Competence: technical and interpersonal knowledge and skills
_ Consistency: reliability, predictability, and good judgment in handling situations
_ Loyalty: willingness to protect a person, physically and emotionally
_ Openness: willingness to share ideas and information freely

BUILDING TRUST:

Practice openness.
Be fair.
Speak your feelings.
Tell the truth.
Show consistency.
Fulfill your promises.
Maintain confidences.
Demonstrate competence.

Of these five dimensions, integrity seems to be the most critical when someone assesses another’s
trustworthiness. Both integrity and competence were seen in our earlier discussion of leadership traits found to be
consistently associated with leadership. Workplace changes have reinforced why such leadership qualities are
important. For instance, the trends toward empowerment and self-managed work teams have reduced many of
the traditional control mechanisms used to monitor employees. If a work team is free to schedule its own work,
evaluate its own performance, and even make its own hiring decisions, trust becomes critical. Employees have to
trust managers to treat them fairly, and managers have to trust employees to conscientiously fulfill their
responsibilities.

Also, leaders have to increasingly lead others who may not be in their immediate work group or may even be
physically separated—members of cross-functional or virtual teams, individuals who work for suppliers or
customers, and perhaps even people who represent other organizations through strategic alliances. These
situations don’t allow leaders the luxury of falling back on their formal positions for influence. Many of these
relationships, in fact, are fluid and fleeting. So the ability to quickly develop trust and sustain that trust is crucial to
the success of the relationship. Why is it important that followers trust their leaders? Research has shown that
trust in leadership is significantly related to positive job outcomes including job performance, organizational
citizenship behavior, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Given the importance of trust to effective
leadership, how can leaders build trust?(Also, see the Building Your Skill exercise in Chapter 5.) Now, more than
ever, managerial and leadership effectiveness depends on the ability to gain the trust of followers. 55 Downsizing,
financial challenges, and the increased use of temporary employees have undermined employees’ trust in their
leaders and shaken the confidence of investors, suppliers, and customers. A survey found that only 39 percent of
U.S. employees and 51 percent of Canadian employees trusted their executive leaders. Today’s leaders are faced
with the challenge of rebuilding and restoring trust with employees and with other important organizational
stakeholders.

Empowering Employees

Employees at DuPont’s facility in Uberaba, Brazil, planted trees to commemorate the site’s 10th anniversary.
Although they had several things to celebrate, one of the most important was the fact that since production began,
the facility has had zero environmental incidents and no recordable safety violations. The primary reason for this
achievement was the company’s STOP (Safety Training Observation Program) program—a program in which
empowered employees were responsible for observing one another, correcting improper procedures, and
encouraging safe procedures.57
As we’ve described in different places throughout the text, managers are increasingly leading by empowering their
employees. As we’ve said before, empowerment involves increasing the decision-making discretion of workers.
Millions of individual employees and employee teams are making the key operating decisions that directly affect
their work. They’re developing budgets, scheduling workloads, controlling inventories, solving quality problems,
and engaging in similar activities that until very recently were viewed exclusively as part of the manager’s job. 58 For
instance, at The Container Store, any employee who gets a customer request has permission to take care of it.
Garret Boone, chairman emeritus, says, “Everybody we hire, we hire as a leader. Anybody in our store can take an
action that you might think of typically being a manager’s action.” One reason more companies are empowering
employees is the need for quick decisions by those people who are most knowledgeable about the issues—often
those at lower organizational levels. If organizations want to successfully compete in a dynamic global economy,
employees have to be able to make decisions and implement changes quickly. Another reason is that
organizational downsizings left many managers with larger spans of control. In order to cope with the increased
work demands, managers had to empower their people. Although empowerment is not a universal answer, it can
be beneficial when employees have the knowledge, skills, and experience to do their jobs competently.

Leading Across Cultures

“In the United States, leaders are expected to look great, sound great, and be inspiring. In other countries—not so
much.” In this global economy, how can managers account for cross-cultural differences as they lead? One general
conclusion that surfaces from leadership research is that effective leaders do not use a single style. They adjust
their style to the situation. Although not mentioned explicitly, national culture is certainly an important situational
variable in determining which leadership style will be most effective. What works in China isn’t likely to be effective
in France or Canada. For instance, one study of Asian leadership styles revealed that Asian managers preferred
leaders who were competent decision makers, effective communicators, and supportive of employees. 61 National
culture affects leadership style because it influences how followers will respond. Leaders can’t (and shouldn’t) just
choose their styles randomly. They’re constrained by the cultural conditions their followers have come to expect.
Because most leadership theories were developed in the United States, they have an American bias. They
emphasize follower responsibilities rather than rights; assume self-gratification rather than commitment to duty or
altruistic motivation; assume centrality of work and democratic value orientation; and stress rationality rather than
spirituality, religion, or superstition.

Cross-Cultural Leadership

Korean leaders are expected to be paternalistic toward employees.

• Arab leaders who show kindness or generosity without being asked to do so are seen by other Arabs as
weak.
• Japanese leaders are expected to be humble and speak frequently.
• Scandinavian and Dutch leaders who single out individuals with public praise are likely to embarrass, not
energize, those individuals.
• Effective leaders in Malaysia are expected to show compassion while using more of an autocratic than a
participative style.
• Effective German leaders are characterized by high performance orientation, low compassion, low self-
protection, low team orientation, high autonomy, and high participation.

Sources: Based on J. C. Kennedy, “Leadership in Malaysia: Traditional Values, International Outlook,” Academy of Management
Executive, August 2002, pp. 15–17; F. C. Brodbeck, M. Frese, and M. Javidan, “Leadership Made in Germany: Low on Compassion,
High on Performance,” Academy of Management Executive, February 2002, pp. 16–29; M. F. Peterson and J. G. Hunt, “International
Perspectives on
International Leadership,” Leadership Quarterly, Fall 1997, pp. 203–231; R. J. House and R. N. Aditya, “The Social Scientific Study of
Leadership: Quo Vadis?” Journal of Management, vol. 23, no. 3, 1997, p. 463; and R. J. House, “Leadership in the Twenty-First
Century,” in A. Howard (ed.), The Changing Nature of Work (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1995), p. 442.

How to become an Effective Leader:

Organizations need effective leaders. Two issues pertinent to becoming an effective leader are leader training and
recognizing that sometimes being an effective leader means not leading. Let’s take a look at these issues.

LEADER TRAINING. Organizations around the globe spend billions of dollars, yen, and euros on leadership training
and development. These efforts take many forms—from Tk. 50,000 leadership programs offered by universities
such as Harvard to sailing experiences at the Outward Bound School. Although much of the money spent on leader
training may provide doubtful benefits, our review suggests that managers can do some things to get the
maximum effect from such training. First, let’s recognize the obvious. Some people don’t have what it takes to be a
leader. Period. For instance, evidence indicates that leadership training is more likely to be successful with
individuals who are high self-monitors than with low self-monitors. Such individuals have the flexibility to change
their behavior as different situations may require. In addition, organizations may find that individuals with higher
levels of a trait called motivation to lead are more receptive to leadership development opportunities.

What kinds of things can individuals learn that might be related to being a more effective leader? It may be a bit
optimistic to think that “vision-creation” can be taught, but implementation skills can be taught. People can be
trained to develop “an understanding about content themes critical to effective visions.” 68 We can also teach skills
such as trust-building and mentoring. And leaders can be taught situational analysis skills. They can learn how to
evaluate situations, how to modify situations to make them fit better with their style, and how to assess which
leader behaviors might be most effective in given situations.

SUBSTITUTES FOR LEADERSHIP. Despite the belief that some leadership style will always be effective regardless of the
situation, leadership may not always be important! Research indicates that, in some situations, any behaviors a
leader exhibits are irrelevant. In other words, certain individual, job, and organizational variables can act as
“substitutes for leadership,” negating the influence of the leader. For instance, follower characteristics such as
experience, training, professional orientation, or need for independence can neutralize the effect of leadership.
These characteristics can replace the employee’s need for a leader’s support or ability to create structure and
reduce task ambiguity. Similarly, jobs that are inherently unambiguous and routine or that are intrinsically
satisfying may place fewer demands on leaders. Finally, such organizational characteristics as explicit formalized
goals, rigid rules and procedures, or cohesive work groups can substitute for formal leadership.

2.20 Employee Participation:

Employee participation is the process whereby employees are involved in decision making
processes, rather than simply acting on orders. Employee participation is part of a process
of empowerment in the workplace.
Empowerment involves decentralizing power within the organization to individual decision
makers further down the line. Team working is a key part of the empowerment process.
Team members are encouraged to make decisions for themselves in line with guidelines
and frameworks established in self managing teams.
Employee participation is in part a response to the quality movement within organizations.
Individual employees are encouraged to take responsibility for quality in terms of carrying
out activities, which meet the requirements of their customers. The internal customer is
someone within the organization that receives the 'product of service' provided by their
'supplier' within the organization. External customers are buyers and users outside of the
organization. Employee participation is also part of the move towards human resource
development in modern organizations. Employees are trusted to make decisions for
themselves and the organization. This is a key motivational tool.

Employee participation is also referred to as employee involvement (EI)

Examples of employee participation include:

 Project teams or quality circles in which employees work on projects or tasks with
considerable responsibility being delegated to the team.
 Suggestion schemes - where employees are given channels whereby they can
suggest new ideas to managers within the organization. Often they will receive
rewards for making appropriate suggestions.
 Consultation exercises and meetings whereby employees are encouraged to share
ideas.
 Delegation of responsibility within the organization. In modern organizations ground
level employees have to be given considerable responsibility because they are
dealing with customers on a day-to-day basis often in novel situations. Such
employees need to be trusted to make decisions for themselves.
 Multi-channel decision making processes. In such situations decisions are not only
made in a downward direction, they also result from communications upwards,
sideways, and in many other directions within the organization.

 Interpersonal and Group Dynamics:

Managing Interpersonal and Group Dynamics, a highly experiential workshop, focuses

on the importance of managing multiple perspectives and using personal power and
influence to meet and exceed organizational objectives.

Group dynamics refers to a system of behaviors and psychological processes that occur
within a social group (intragroup dynamics), or between social groups (intergroup
dynamics). The study of group dynamics can be useful in understanding decision-making
behavior, tracking the spread of diseases in society, creating effective therapy techniques,
and following the emergence and popularity of new ideas and technologies.[1] Group
dynamics are at the core of understanding racism, sexism, and other forms of social
prejudice and discrimination.

Intra-group dynamics:

Intra-group dynamics (also referred to as in-group, within-group, or commonly just ‘group

dynamics’) are the underlying processes that give rise to a set of norms, roles, relations, and
common goals that characterize a particular social group. Examples of groups include
religious, political, military, and environmental groups, sports teams, work groups, and
therapy groups. Amongst the members of a group, there is a state of interdependence,
through which the behaviors, attitudes, opinions, and experiences of each member are
collectively influenced by the other group members.[9] In many fields of research, there is
an interest in understanding how group dynamics influence individual behavior, attitudes,
and opinions.

Intergroup dynamics

Intergroup dynamics refers to the behavioral and psychological relationship between two or
more groups. This includes perceptions, attitudes, opinions, and behaviors towards one’s
own group, as well as those towards another group. In some cases, intergroup dynamics is
pro-social, positive, and beneficial (for example, when multiple research teams work
together to accomplish a task or goal). In other cases, intergroup dynamics can create
conflict
Managing interpersonal dynamics and maximizing individual strengths are not only difficult
skills to master but also require constant attention. Successful management of these skills
can power individual and organizational performance, while inattention to them can cause
an organization to falter. Internal political strife, conflicting perspectives and overlooking
true performance potential are conditions that may impede any company's growth.

# Models of Group Dynamics:

Tuckman’s forming storming norming performing model

Bruce Tuckman's 1965 Forming Storming Norming Performing team-development model

Dr Bruce Tuckman published his Forming Storming Norming Performing model in 1965. He added a fifth
stage, Adjourning, in the 1970s. The Forming Storming Norming Performing theory is an elegant and
helpful explanation of team development and behaviour. Similarities can be seen with other models,
such as Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum and especially with Hersey and Blanchard's Situational
Leadership® model, developed about the same time.

Tuckman's model explains that as the team develops maturity and ability, relationships establish, and
the leader changes leadership style. Beginning with a directing style, moving through coaching, then
participating, finishing delegating and almost detached. At this point the team may produce a successor
leader and the previous leader can move on to develop a new team. This progression of team behaviour
and leadership style can be seen clearly in the Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum - the authority and
freedom extended by the leader to the team increases while the control of the leader reduces. In
Tuckman's Forming Storming Norming Performing model, Hersey's and Blanchard's Situational
Leadership® model and in Tannenbaum and Schmidt's Continuum, we see the same effect, represented
in three ways.

Tuckman's forming storming norming performing four-stage model

The progression is:

 1. Forming
2. Storming
3. Norming
4. Performing

Here are the features of each phase:

forming - stage 1

High dependence on leader for guidance and direction. Little agreement on team aims other than
received from leader. Individual roles and responsibilities are unclear. Leader must be prepared to
answer lots of questions about the team's purpose, objectives and external relationships. Processes are
often ignored. Members test tolerance of system and leader. Leader directs (similar to Situational
Leadership® 'Telling' mode).

storming - stage 2

Decisions don't come easily within group. Team members vie for position as they attempt to establish
themselves in relation to other team members and the leader, who might receive challenges from team
members. Clarity of purpose increases but plenty of uncertainties persist. Cliques and factions form and
there may be power struggles. The team needs to be focused on its goals to avoid becoming distracted
by relationships and emotional issues. Compromises may be required to enable progress. Leader
coaches (similar to Situational Leadership® 'Selling' mode).

norming - stage 3

Agreement and consensus is largely forms among team, who respond well to facilitation by leader. Roles
and responsibilities are clear and accepted. Big decisions are made by group agreement. Smaller
decisions may be delegated to individuals or small teams within group. Commitment and unity is strong.
The team may engage in fun and social activities. The team discusses and develops its processes and
working style. There is general respect for the leader and some of leadership is more shared by the
team. Leader facilitates and enables (similar to the Situational Leadership® 'Participating' mode).

performing - stage 4

The team is more strategically aware; the team knows clearly why it is doing what it is doing. The team
has a shared vision and is able to stand on its own feet with no interference or participation from the
leader. There is a focus on over-achieving goals, and the team makes most of the decisions against
criteria agreed with the leader. The team has a high degree of autonomy. Disagreements occur but now
they are resolved within the team positively and necessary changes to processes and structure are made
by the team. The team is able to work towards achieving the goal, and also to attend to relationship,
style and process issues along the way. team members look after each other. The team requires
delegated tasks and projects from the leader. The team does not need to be instructed or assisted.
Team members might ask for assistance from the leader with personal and interpersonal development.
Leader delegates and oversees (similar to the Situational Leadership® 'Delegating' mode).
Tuckman's forming storming norming performing model

Tuckman's fifth stage - Adjourning

Bruce Tuckman refined his theory around 1975 and added a fifth stage to the Forming Storming
Norming Performing model - he called it Adjourning, which is also referred to as Deforming and
Mourning. Adjourning is arguably more of an adjunct to the original four stage model rather than an
extension - it views the group from a perspective beyond the purpose of the first four stages. The
Adjourning phase is certainly very relevant to the people in the group and their well-being, but not to
the main task of managing and developing a team, which is clearly central to the original four stages.

adjourning - stage 5

Tuckman's fifth stage, Adjourning, is the break-up of the group, hopefully when the task is completed
successfully, its purpose fulfilled; everyone can move on to new things, feeling good about what's been
achieved. From an organizational perspective, recognition of and sensitivity to people's vulnerabilities in
Tuckman's fifth stage is helpful, particularly if members of the group have been closely bonded and feel
a sense of insecurity or threat from this change. Feelings of insecurity would be natural for people with
high 'steadiness' attributes (as regards the 'four temperaments' or DISC model) and with strong routine
and empathy style (as regards the Benziger thinking styles model, right and left basal brain dominance).

Hersey and Blanchard's Situational Leadership® model

The classic Situational Leadership® model of management and leadership style also illustrates the ideal
development of a team from immaturity (stage 1) through to maturity (stage 4) during which
management an leadership style progressively develops from relatively detached task-directing (1),
through the more managerially-involved stages of explanation (2) and participation (3), to the final stage
of relatively detached delegation (4), at which time ideally the team is largely self-managing, and
hopefully contains at least one potential management/leadership successor.

The aim of the leader or manager is therefore to develop the team through the four stages, and then to
move on to another role.

Ironically this outcome is feared by many managers. However, good organisations place an extremely
high value on leaders and managers who can achieve this.
The model also illustrates four main leadership and management styles, which a good leader is able to
switch between, depending on the sitution (ie., the team's maturity relating to a particular task, project
or challenge.)

Situational Leadership® is a trademark of the Center for Leadership Studies, which represents the
interests and products of Dr Paul Hersey. Ken Blanchard (who incidentally wrote 'The One Minute
Manager') went on to develop the Situational Leadership® system into what he called Situational
Leadership II®, and which now covers a range of products marketed by his organization, The Ken
Blanchard Companies.

Use of material relating to Situational Leadership® and/or Situational Leadership II® requires licence and
agreement from the respective companies.

Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum

The Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum also correlates in a way to the models above - esentially that
management style tends to offer more freedom as the group matures.

The diagonal line loosely equates to the dotted line on the other two models. As the team matures
and becomes more self-suffient and self-directing, so the manager's style should react
accordingly, ideally becoming more detached, more delegating, encouraging and enablung the
group to run itself, and for a successor (or if you are a good manager or a lucky one, for more
than one successor) to emerge.

See the Tannenbum and Schmidt page for more detailed notes about this model.

This is merely an overview of the Tuckman forming storming performing norming model - if you need to
know more there are various detailed Tuckman model pages on the web.
There is also an excellent free test at Don Clark's Big Dog site, to indicate whether your team is forming,
storming, norming or performing.

Refer also to the Johari Window model for personal and inter-group communications and awareness
development.

For an additional and useful perspective on human development see Erik Erikson's Psychosocial Theory.

The personality models and theories section explores behaviour and style of individuals, with obvious
implications for managing groups, as does the learning styles and multiple intelligences section.

.
 Managing Change and Conflict

In any organization, conflicts and changes are bound to occur. Whether these are
constructive or destructive forces depends significantly on the supervisor’s skills in
managing conflict and change. Conflict is a positive force when it leads to necessary
changes by signaling that a problem exists. When conflict involves anger at management or
the organization, it may lead to destructive behavior.

Conflict puts some people under stress that may affect their productivity. The conflict may
be within a person, or a person may have to make choices that cause internal conflict.
Conflict may also arise between people, or interpersonal conflict. There may also be
structural conflict, resulting from the way the organization is structured.

Several strategies are described for managing conflict.

 Compromise,
 Ignoring,
 Forcing solutions, and
 Confronting and solving the problem.

Only confronting and solving the problem, or conflict resolution, tries to solve the
underlying causes of problems. The other methods attempt to avoid the consequences of
conflict. The supervisor can
 Be involved in conflict resolution,
Respond to a conflict, and
 Mediate conflict resolution.
He or she can initiate conflict resolution by interpreting the conflict in terms of the action
causing the problem and the effects of that action. When parties to the conflict are
communicating in these terms, they can find a solution and agree on what each person will
do. This is also the method used to respond to a conflict.
To mediate, the supervisor begins by establishing a constructive environment, and then
asks each person to explain what the problem is and what he or she wants.
 The supervisor then
 Restates the problem,
 Asks for solutions, and
 Encourages the parties to select a mutually beneficial solution.

Supervisors have
 Legitimate power: which comes from their position in the organization;
 Referent power: which comes from the emotions they inspire in others;
 Expert power: which comes from their knowledge or skills;
 Coercive power: which comes from fear related to their use of force;
 Reward power: which comes from giving people something they want;
 Connection power: which comes from their relationships to people in power; and
 Information power: which comes from the possession of valuable information..

Supervisors can use their power to gain a competitive edge in the organization. Some
tactics for establishing a competitive edge are
 Doing an exceptional job,
 Spreading rumors and lies about peers, and
 Taking credit for the work of others.

The last two approaches can backfire. When caught, the person who uses them can lose the
trust of others.
Socializing has political implications. When socializing with others in the organization, the
supervisor should use common sense, avoiding risky behavior such as getting drunk or
dating a subordinate. In general, the supervisor should use common sense and act
naturally.

Conflict: The struggle that results from incompatible or opposing needs, feelings, thoughts,
demands within a person or between two or more people.

Conflict is a range of behaviors and feelings or emotional responses to behavior. Conflict

can be a minor difference of opinion with a feeling of mild annoyance. At the other end of
the range is war with feelings of hatred. The feelings may remain long after the conflict has
been resolved. Although we are most likely to think of conflict as negative, conflict can also
result in positive outcomes. Conflict can bring about necessary changes. When conflict
serves as a signal that a problem exists, it can stimulate creative response.

Supervisors need to understand the nature of conflict before they can respond effectively
to it. Conflict can arise within an individual or between individuals or groups.
Conflict within an individual is called intrapersonal. The basic types of conflict involving
more than one person are called
 Interpersonal,
 Structural, and
 Strategic.

 Intrapersonal: An intrapersonal conflict arises when a person has trouble selecting from
among goals. Choosing one of two possible goals is easy if one is good and the other is
bad. Most choices fall into three categories:
a. A choice between two good possibilities;
b. A choice between mixed possibilities;
c. A choice between two bad possibilities;

In many cases, a supervisor lacks the expertise to resolve an intrapersonal conflict. If a

supervisor notices an employee who is struggling with an intrapersonal conflict, he or she
should consider referring that employee to a professional with skills to handle intrapersonal
conflicts. Conflict between individuals is called interpersonal conflict. Supervisors may at be
involved in conflict with their boss, an employee, a peer, or even a customer.

There may the also be conflict to manage between two or more of their employees. This
type of conflict may arise from differing opinions, from misunderstandings about a
situation, or from differences in values or beliefs.

Conflict between employees may be an indicator that their supervisor is not exercising
enough leadership. Supervisors should establish and communicate guidelines for acceptable
behavior.

Structural: Conflict that results from the way the organization is structured is called
structural conflict. This may arise between line and staff personnel, or between
departments such as production and marketing. Because supervisors do not decide on the
organization’s structure, they are rarely able to reduce the amount of structural conflict.
However, awareness of this type of conflict will help prevent supervisors from taking the
issues personally. Structural conflict costs may be minimized if supervisors proceed
cautiously and diplomatically in conflict areas.

Strategic: Sometimes management or an individual will intentionally bring about a conflict

in order to achieve an objective. For example, a contest may cause conflicts between
 Employees,
 Departments, or
 Divisions of an organization.
Most people have experienced all of the types of conflict listed above. They may have
strategies for managing conflict. However, supervisors may have to learn new strategies to
ensure they are able to achieve the organizational and department goals, and to maintain
good morale in the department.

The text includes several strategies for conflict management.

 Compromise
 Avoidance and smoothing
 Forcing a solution

Compromise: This means that the parties to the conflict settle on a solution that gives each
of them part of what he or she wanted. No one gets exactly what he or she wanted, but no
one loses entirely either. Compromise does not really solve the underlying problem.
Therefore, it is most useful for relatively minor problems and when time is limited.

Avoidance and smoothing: Conflict is managed by avoiding it or pretending that no conflict

exists. Avoiding conflicts does not make them go away, and it does not make opposing
points of view any less valid or significant. These strategies are most useful for conflicts that
are not serious and for which a solution would be more difficult than the problem.
Conflict Management: Responding to problems stemming from conflict. See the conflict
resolution strategy below.
Compromise: Settling on a solution that gives each person part of what he or she wanted;
no one gets everything, and no one completely loses.
Smoothing: Managing a conflict by pretending it doesn’t exist

However, ongoing conflict has negative consequences. It can lead to increased stress and
lost productivity. Depending on the source of the conflict, the people involved may be angry
at management or the organization and may vent their anger in ways that are destructive
to the organization. A cultural-related issue is that people in many non-Western cultures
believe it is best to avoid conflicts. In these cultures, people place higher value on harmony
than on confronting and solving problems.

Forcing a Solution: The supervisor may want to try a direct approach to ending a conflict. A
forced solution means that a person with power single-handedly decides on what the
outcome will be. Forcing a solution is a relatively fast way to manage a conflict, and it can
therefore be the best approach in an emergency. However, it can leave bad feelings, which
may lead to future conflict. Confrontation or Problem Solving. The most direct, and
sometimes difficult, way to manage conflict is to confront the problem and solve it.

This is also called conflict resolution. It requires listening to both sides and attempting to
understand, rather than to place blame. Parties in the conflict need to identify the areas in
which they agree and the ways they can both benefit from possible solutions. Both parties
should examine their own feelings and take their time at reaching a solution. This creative
approach can leave both sides feeling like winners.

There are three different supervisor-conflict relationships.

 The first is when the supervisor has a conflict with another person.
 The second type is when another person has a conflict with the supervisor.
 The third situation is when the supervisor is asked to mediate, or help others
resolve a conflict that does not directly involve the supervisor.

In each case the supervisor starts with understanding the problem. Initiating Conflict
Resolution. The first step is to understand the conflict. Focus on behavior.
 State politely to the other person what action is causing the problem and how
that action affects you and others.
 Then listen to how the other person responds.
 If the other person doesn’t acknowledge that there is a problem, restate your
concern until the other person understands or until it is clear that you can’t make
any progress on your own.

Often a conflict exists simply because the other person hasn’t realized your point of view or
your situation. When you can communicate about the problem, you can work together on a
solution. Restate the solution to be sure you are both in agreement. Responding to a
Conflict. Sometimes the supervisor is a party to a conflict that is bothering someone else.
 Again understand the problem.
 Listen to the other person and try to understand what the problem is really about.
 If the other person is emotional, let him or her vent his or her feelings, then get
down to discussing the problem.
 Avoid statements of blame, and find out what specific actions the other person is
referring to.

Understanding the problem can be complicated if one of the people involved has a “hidden
agenda.” A hidden agenda is a central concern that is left unstated. Usually this means that
the anger is about something else, but those feelings are directed at some other issue. If
the other person’s feelings seem to be out of proportion to the problem he or she is
describing, it is probably worthwhile to look for a hidden agenda. Finding one can save you
from trying to resolve the wrong conflict. When you understand the problem, build an
environment for working together on a solution.

Mediating Conflict Resolution: Sometimes the supervisor is not personally involved in a

conflict, but the parties ask the supervisor for help in resolving their conflict. If the parties
to the conflict are peers of the supervisor, getting involved can be risky. If the parties are
the supervisor’s employees, then mediating the conflict is part of the supervisor’s job and
an important way to keep the department functioning as it should.

Steps for mediating a conflict include:

Establish a constructive environment. Focus on the issue; Avoid name calling. Ask each
person to explain what the problem is. Get each to be specific and respond to the other
person’s charges. When everyone seems to understand what the problem is, have each
employee state what he or she wants to accomplish or what will satisfy him or her. Restate
in your own words what each person’s position has is. Have all participants suggest as many
solutions as they can. Begin to focus on the future. Encourage the employees to select a
solution that benefits all of them. Combine or modify suggestions as necessary. Summarize
what has been discussed and agreed on. Make sure all participants know what they are
supposed to do, and ask for their cooperation.

Change in society and in organizations is occurring at an ever-increasing rate. Changes in

your organization may include a
 newly organized work force,
 world competition,
 fewer resources, and
 Increasing and decreasing demands on production.
 New employees, new management, new technology, and downsizing are just a
few of the potential changes you may experience.

The work force is changing to become increasingly older, and includes more racial and
ethnic diversity and more women. Many of the changes have happened in the past as well
as the present. It is the rate of change that is different today. When change is slow and less
complex, it is easier to absorb and adjust to.

Changes are not isolated incidents.

 Changes in financial resources affect who and how many employees are hired and
trained.
 Changes in regulation or laws, for example, the Americans with Disabilities Act,
can lead to changes in the facilities as well as changes in employee characteristics.

Any kind of change is uncomfortable to some degree. Uncertainty about your role or even
the security of your job is not the only concerns. Both operative employees and supervisors
may have misgivings about some of the changes introduced. Fears about change are
sometimes well founded.
People resist change most when they aren’t sure what to expect or why the change is
necessary. Also, when people don’t understand the reasons for change, the effort to change
doesn’t seem worthwhile.

Overcoming Resistance and Implementing Change. The organization can overcome

resistance to change by addressing the employees’ concerns. Because supervisors are
closest to the operative employees, the organization relies heavily on the supervisor to do
this.

The key to overcoming resistance is good communications. The supervisor should tell
employees about a change as soon as he or she learns about it. Explain what the change is,
making sure they understand it. Then explain how the change is likely to affect them.
 Be positive about the change and cite benefits to the employees.
 Also indicate how the organization is going to help employees cope with the
change, such as what training is going to be provided.

Do not hide bad news such as layoffs. Give the employees the truth, acknowledging their
fears and possibilities. People need emotional support during these times. The supervisor
should give the employees plenty of opportunity to express their concerns and to ask
questions. It is better to hear concerns and questions than for these thoughts to circulate in
the rumor mill. Answer questions as soon as possible.

Some employees will think of questions only after some time has passed, so the supervisor
should provide opportunities for employees to ask questions on an ongoing basis, not just
at the time of the announcement.

Implementing change will be part of the supervisor’s job. The key is to build on successes.
The supervisor should determine what aspects of the change he or she has control over,
and then seek to carry out those aspects of the change successfully. Use the planning skills
learned. A key to implementing change is to build on successes.

The supervisor might have control over which people are directly involved in the change
and the order in which people will get involved. Start with individuals who are already
enthusiastic about the changes will help other employees in the department.

When a group of employees work together well and enjoys each other’s company, it makes
sense to try to keep these employees together. When a change involves bringing together
two groups of employees from different organizations, locations, or shifts, the supervisor
might try teaming up employees from each group in order to build cooperation.

People form habits and beliefs that support their behaviors and attitudes. When procedures
or job requirements change, it means that individuals must break old habits and learn new
habits. Employees and supervisors are likely to slip back into old ways of doing a task.
Follow up is necessary to keep people on track. The supervisor should remind employees
about what they have achieved so far and what is expected of them in the future.
Organization politics involves activities by which people seek to improve their position
within the organization. Improving one’s position is not in itself good or bad, and
organization politics also is not necessarily good or bad. Political skills are important. They
help the supervisor obtain the cooperation and support of others in the organization.

The usual way that people use politics is to improve their position by gaining power. Power
is the ability to influence people to behave in a certain way. Position power is power that
comes from one’s formal role in an organization. Personal power is power that arises from
one’s personal characteristics. Power can come from both the position of a person in the
organization and from personal characteristics. Every supervisor has some position power
with regard to the employees he or she supervises. Higher-level managers have a greater
degree of position power than supervisors.

Because a person does not need to be a manager in an organization to have personal

power, the supervisor may find that employees view one of their co-workers as having
more power than the supervisor. For example, if a change is to be made in the organization,
an employee may successfully urge everyone to rally around the new plan, or may
undermine morale by making fun of the change. Supervisors cannot eliminate personal
power in subordinates, but they should be aware of it in order to use it to their advantage.
For example, supervisors can seek ways to get the informal leaders on their side.

Supervisors can have a variety of types of power. If supervisors have less position power
than they would like, they might consider the following types of power to see whether
there are some they can develop.

Sources of Power
 Legitimate Power
 Charismatic Power
 Expert Power
 Coercive Power
 Reward Power
 Connection Power
 Information Power

Legitimate power: comes from the position a person holds. To exercise legitimate power
effectively, the supervisor needs to be sure employees understand what they are directed
to do and are able to do it.
Charismatic power: comes from the emotions a person inspires. People like working for
supervisors who have a winning personality that includes enthusiasm, energy, and genuine
enjoyment of the job. Employees will perform beyond the call of because they want the
supervisor to like them.
Expert Power: comes from a person’s knowledge or skills. Employees respect supervisors
who know their job better than they do and will follow supervisor’s instructions.
Coercive power: arises from fear related to the use of force. This type of power tends to get
results in the short run, but in the long run employees come to resent the supervisor and
may try to get around him or her.
Reward power arises from giving people something they want. A supervisor who plans to
rely on reward power to lead employees had better be sure that he or she is able to give
out rewards consistently.

Connection power stems from a person’s relationship to someone powerful.Connection

power can be a problem for the organization and its managers when people who have it
place the interests of their relationship ahead of the interests of the organization.

Information power comes from possessing valuable information. For example, secretaries of
top managers have information power as well as connection power.

Common Strategies for Organization Politics: A person’s political strategies are the methods
used to acquire and keep power within the organization. The following strategies are
commonly used:
 Do favors
 Making good impressions
 Cultivating the grapevine
 Supporting the boss
 Avoid negativism
 Giving praise

Do Favors: People remember favors and are generally willing to help out or say a good word
in return. However, doing favors solely to create an obligation is unethical.

Making Good Impressions: Those who are skilled at organization politics know that it is
important to create a positive image of themselves.

Cultivating the Grapevine: Knowledge is power.

Supporting the Boss: The supervisor’s boss can be a powerful ally. Help the boss look good.
Avoid Negativism: People have more respect for those who propose solutions than for
those who merely criticize

Giving Praise: People like to be praised, and written compliments are especially valuable

At the heart of organization politics is building a base of power. An important way in which
supervisors can build their power base is to please their boss. Peers and subordinates who
recognize that a supervisor has a close relationship with his or her boss tend to treat the
supervisor carefully to avoid antagonizing the boss. Another approach is to do favors so that
others will be in his or her debt. Doing favors can help the supervisor with one of the other
techniques for building a power base, developing alliances with others in the organization.
The supervisor who has many people on his or her side is able to get more done and to
build a good reputation. Organization members seek to gain a competitive edge, so that
when raises, promotions, and choice assignments are handed out they will be the
recipients. Ethical efforts to establish a competitive edge are generally based on trying to do
an exceptional job. Some unethical approaches include spreading lies and rumors about
peers and taking credit for the ideas and work of one’s subordinates.
 Trying to look good at the expense of someone else may be effective at first, but in the
long run the user of this tactic winds up the biggest loser.
 In the long run, the most successful way to look exceptional is to produce exceptional
results.

At many organizations, part of the game of getting ahead includes socializing with co-
workers. Depending on the supervisor’s behavior, socializing can be helpful or can put an
end to his or her career growth.
 Getting roaring drunk at a party is likely to lead the supervisor to behave foolishly and
say things he or she will regret later.
 Likewise, dating a subordinate is an invitation to problems. in general, the wisest course
is to be sensible but natural.

Discuss the concept and nature of organizational change.

Change implies disruption, but for an organization to progress, constructive disruptions are
essential. Managers must encourage change to improve organizational performance. As
change occurs, it is important to have in place a system that assures a smooth transition
from old to new methods, technologies, or expectations.

Explain the process of change and the major approaches to effect change.
Change in Lewin's model is a three&-stage process. The first, unfreezing, consists of making
employees aware that change is necessary. The second, the change stage, consists of
introducing new methods and motivating employees to adapt to them. The third stage,
refreezing, is the process of stabilizing changes made in the second stage by reinforcing
desired behavior.
 There are three approaches to change. In the first, called top down, higher&-level
managers dictate what they want changed and use their authority to implement it. In the
second approach, called bottom up, higher&-level managers only encourage change; actual
change is initiated by lower&-level employees. The third approach relies on participatory
management to encourage teamwork for suggesting and implementing change.

Discuss organizational development and intervention techniques.

Organizational development (OD) is an effort to renew organizational processes by
emphasizing cultural change patterns and by working with individual managers and work
teams.(OD) is an intense educational approach to effecting change, usually by having
consultants work with managers and workers to alter patterns of behavior. One method of
intervention, team building, encourages participation by creating decision&-making teams.

Describe types of conflict within organizations.

First, role conflict occurs within an individual when one role (e.g., parent) interferes with
another role (e.g., employee) so that the employee fails to perform well at work. Second,
conflict can occur between individuals, such as through personality differences or debates
that one person must win at another's expense. Third, conflict between individuals and
groups occur when one employee is isolated from the work group, purposely disrupts group
work, or rejects group norms. Fourth, conflict can exist between groups such as between
line and staff department or between functional departments.

Discuss methods of resolving conflict while enhancing healthy competition.

A conflict over resources may be resolved by creating excess resources for the competing
groups. A conflict between individuals or groups may be resolved by a buffer, which can be
physical separation or an individual who acts as a counselor or a negotiator. Resolution may
be achieved by integrating conflicting parties through cooperative work patterns or liaisons
among groups that tend to have misunderstandings. Personal intervention techniques, such
as career development programs, are often used to resolve role conflict.

Relate stress to organizational productivity and personal health.

Stress is essential to accomplish anything, and a certain degree of stress exists in every
job. when employees endanger themselves physically or psychologically with excessive
strain or anxiety, however, they undergo distress. A healthy level of stimulation is called
eustress, which is the effective mobilization of an individual mentally and physically.

Explain how organizations and individuals within organizations can manage stress. It is
ultimately the individual who must take the initiative in recognizing and managing stress.
Such practices as setting realistic deadlines, exercising regularly, and eating properly will
help the individual cope with and respond appropriately to stress. However, organizations
can do much to prevent and resolve distress. Training programs, individual employee
counseling, and on&-site wellness facilities are just some of the ways companies can
effectively manage employee stress.

 Organization Development & Training

 Training

Some Basics to Know About Training

Variety of Reasons for Training: Employee job training can be initiated for a variety of
reasons for an employee or group of employees.
 When a performance appraisal indicates performance improvement is needed
 To "benchmark" the status of improvement so far in a performance improvement
effort
 As part of an overall professional development program
 As part of succession planning to help an employee be eligible for a planned change
in role in the organization
 To "pilot", or test, the operation of a new performance management system
 To train about a specific topic

Very Basic Types of Training: When planning training for your employees, it helps to
understand some basics about training. Let's look at four types of training.

 Self-Directed Learning: Self-directed learning is where the learner decides what he or

she will learn and how.
 Other-Directed Learning: Other-directed learning is where other people decide what
the learner will learn and how.
 Informal training: Informal training has no predetermined form. Examples are
reading books to learn about a subject, talking to friends about the subject,
attending a presentation, etc.
 Formal Training: Formal training has a predetermined form. The form usually
includes specification of learning results, learning objectives and activities that will
achieve the results, and how the training will be evaluated. Examples might be
college courses, workshops, seminars, etc. Note that because formal training has a
form, it does not necessarily mean that formal training is better than other forms.

Informal Means of Training: This is probably the most common type of training and
includes, for example, on-the-job training, coaching from supervisors, using manuals and
procedures, advice from peers, etc.

 Coaching: Probably the most common form of informal training is job coaching.
  The supervisor, or some other expert at the subject matter or skill, tells the
employee how to do something.
 The employee tries it.
 The expert watches and gives feedback.
 The employee tries it until he or she gets it right.
The above approach works best in tasks or jobs that include straightforward procedures or
routines. As jobs and roles become more complex, employees often require more formal
training.

Common Pitfalls in Employee Training

 New managers and supervisors often underestimate the value of training.
 Or, they perceive it as occurring only in classrooms.
 Or, they assume that because an employee has attended a course, workshop or
seminar, than he or she must have learned what they needed to know.
 Or, they believe that good training can only occur from highly trained professionals.

Learn How to Plan Your Training:

Supervisors and employees can accomplish highly effective training by following certain
guidelines. The following guidelines (along with additional advice and resources to fill out
your training plan) are included in the Complete Guidelines to Design Your Training Plan at
http://managementhelp.org/training/systematic/guidelines-to-design-training.htm

Determining Your Overall Goals in Training

 Are there any time lines that you should consider in your plan?
 Are you pursuing training and development in order to address a performance gap?
 Or, is your plan to address a growth gap?
 Or, is your plan to address an opportunity gap?
 Get feedback from others
 Should you conduct a self-assessment?
 Is a list of competencies, job descriptions or job analysis available to help you
identify your training and development goals?
 Begin thinking about how much money you will need to fund your plan.
 Write down your training goals.

Identifying Your Learning Objectives and Activities

 What new areas of knowledge or skills are needed to reach the training goals. Each
of these new areas is a learning objective. Write down the learning objectives.
 In what sequence should the learning objectives be attained?
 Carefully consider -- When you have achieved all of your learning objectives,
will you indeed have achieved all of your overall training goals?
  What are the best learning activities (methods) for you to achieve your
learning objectives? Do your learning activities include your ongoing
reflections about your learning?
 What observable results, or evidence of learning, will you produce from your
learning activities that can be reviewed for verification of learning?
 Who will verify that each of your learning objectives were reached?
 Now that you know what activities that will be conducted, think again about any
costs that will be needed, e.g., for materials, facilities, etc.
 How will you handle any ongoing time and stress management issues while
implementing your plan?

Developing Any Materials You May Need

 Consider if you need to obtain, or start:
a. Enrolling in courses
b. Buying books
c. Scheduling time with experts
d. Getting a mentor
e. Scheduling time with your supervisor, etc.

Planning Implementation of Your Training Plan

 During your training, how will you be sure that you understand the new information
and materials?
 Will your learning be engaging and enjoyable?
 Are you sure that you'll receive the necessary ongoing feedback, coaching,
mentoring, etc., during your training and development activities?
 Where will you get necessary administrative support and materials?

Planning Evaluation of Your Training Plan and Experiences

 Who's in charge of implementing and tracking your overall plan?
 Consider having a local training expert review the plan.
 Are approaches to evaluation included in all phases of your plan?
For example, are your methods being pretested before being applied? Do you understand
the methods as they're being applied? Are regularly providing feedback about how well you
understand the materials? How will the you (and your supervisor, if applicable) know if
implementation of the plan achieves the training goals identified in the plan? Are there any
plans for follow-up evaluation, including assessing your results several months after you
completed your plan?

Budget Necessary Resources for Training

1. Consider costs of trainers, consultants, room rental, books, tuition, labor to pay the
employee while attending training, etc. Additional general resources about training and
development

Orienting New Employees: Develop an employee orientation checklist and consider the
following activities for inclusion on the list. The following activities should be conducted by
the employee's supervisor.

o Before the employee begins employment, send them a letter welcoming them to the
organization, verifying their starting date and providing them a copy of the employee
policies and procedures manual. Note that you'll dedicate time for them to discuss with
manual with you later.

o When the employee begins employment, meet with them to explain how they will be
trained, introduce them to staff, give them keys, get them to sign any needed benefit
and tax forms, explain the time-recording system (if applicable), and provide them
copies of important documents (an organization chart, last year's final report, the
strategic plan, this year's budget, and the employee's policies and procedure manual if
they did not get one already).

o Show them the facilities, including layout of offices, bathrooms, storage areas, kitchen
use, copy and fax systems, computer configuration and procedures, telephone usage,
and any special billing procedures for use of office systems.

o Schedule any needed computer training, including use of passwords, overview of

software and documentation, location and use of peripherals, and where to go to get
questions answered.

o Review any policies and/or procedures about use of facilities.

o Assign an employee to them as their "buddy" who remains available to answer any
questions.

o Take them to lunch on the first day and invite other employees along.

o Meet with them at the end of the day to hear any questions or comments.

o Meet with the new employee during the first few days of employment to review the job
description again. Remind them to review the employee manual and sign a form
indicating they have reviewed the manual and will comply with its contents. Review any
 specific goals for the position, e.g., goals from the strategic plan. In the same meeting,
explain the performance review procedure and provide them a copy of the performance
review document.

o Have one-on-one meetings with the new employee on a weekly basis for the first six
weeks, to discuss the new employee's transition into the organization, get status on
work activities, hear any pending issues or needs, and establish a working relationship
with their supervisor.

What is Orientation? What is On-Boarding?

Planning an orientation to employees should be as carefully done as planning a systematic

approach to training. For example, there should be overall goals that you want to
accomplish with the orientation. There should be carefully chosen activities and materials
used in the orientation to achieve the goals. Participants should produce certain tangible
results that can be referenced to evaluate the orientation both during and after the
orientation.

A progressive view of orientation is that of "on-boarding." On-boarding works from the

perspective that the organization must do all it can to fully equip the employee for
maximum performance for the organization -- and for maximum fulfillment of the
employee. Some organizations have on-boarding programs that last up to a year, where the
employee experiences a several-day orientation program, which includes, not only the
orientation to the facilities and personnel, but also various self-assessments for the
employee to get clear on what he or she wants from employment in the organization. The
employee might be placed in a peer group of fellow, new employees who share advice and
other feedback to learn more about the company and other roles in the organization.

Basic Checklist to Orient Employees: While the approach to on-boarding is usually quite
unique to the nature and needs of an organization, here's a checklist that can be used to
orient an employee to an organization. The following activities should be conducted by the
employee's supervisor. The checklist is relevant to the activities that should occur after the
employee has received a job offer.

Before the Employee Begins Employment, Send a Welcome Letter: Verify the exact starting
date and also provide a copy of the employee policies and procedures manual. Note that
you'll dedicate time for them to review the manual later. Do not specify the terms of salary
and compensation -- that should have been included in the job offer.

Provide a Job Description and Any Suggested Performance Goals: All employees deserve
explanation of what is expected from them. A job description, which explains duties and
responsibilities, often is not enough. Therefore, suggest some additional areas of focus,
ideally in the context of performance goals for the employee to address especially during
the first year of employment. Make it clear that you will discuss these with the employee
soon.

When the Employee Begins Employment, Meet With Them Right Away: Explain how they
will be trained, introduce them to staff, give them keys, get them to sign any needed
benefit and tax forms, explain the time-recording system (if applicable), and provide them
copies of important documents (an organization chart, last year's final report, the strategic
plan, this year's budget, and the employee's policies and procedure manual if they did not
get one already.

Show Them the Facilities: Show them the layout of offices, bathrooms, storage areas,
kitchen use, copy and fax systems, computer configuration and procedures, telephone
usage and any special billing procedures for use of office systems. Review any Policies
and/or procedures about use of facilities.

Schedule Any Needed Computer Training: Include training about the most frequently used
software applications. Be sure the employees learn any security procedures for computer
information, including careful use of passwords, overview of location of manuals and other
useful documentation, location and use of computer networks and other peripherals, and
where to go to get questions answered.

Assign a Staff Member As Their "Buddy": This is extremely important. Identify another
employee, other than you (the supervisor), that the employee might quickly establish
rapport with, to pose any questions that the employee is not comfortable posing to the
supervisor. The buddy can invite the new employee to various social functions undertaken
by other employees.

Take Them to Lunch on the First Day: Use this opportunity to be with them in other than a
work setting. Don't talk about work. Ask them about their family and share some
information about yourself.

Meet With Them at the End of the Day: Take just a few minutes to ask if they have any
questions or any needs they'd like to talk about. Remind them that you or their buddy is
there if they have any questions or needs.

Meet Again With the New Employee During the First Few Days: Review the job description
again. Remind them to review the employee manual and sign a form indicating they have
reviewed the manual and will comply with its contents. Review any specific performance
goals for the position. In the same meeting, explain the performance review procedure and
provide them a copy of the performance review document.
Have One-On-One Meetings On a Weekly Basis for the First Six Weeks: One of the biggest
mistakes of new supervisors is to meet with direct reports only when there are problems.
That sends the message "I'm only here if you have a problem, and you better not have any
problems." Instead, meet to discuss the new employee's transition into the organization,
get status on work activities, hear any pending issues or needs, and establish a working
relationship with the new employee.

REVIEW AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. Define leader and leadership and explain why managers should be leaders.
2. What does each of the four behavioral leadership theories say about leadership?
3. Explain Fiedler’s contingency model of leadership.
4. How do situational leadership theory and path-goal theory each explain leadership?
5. What is leader–member exchange theory and what does it say about leadership?
6. Differentiate between transactional and transformational leaders and between
charismatic and visionary leaders.
7. What are the five sources of a leader’s power?
8. What issues do today’s leader’s face?
9. Do you think that most managers in real life use a contingency approach to increase their
leadership effectiveness? Explain.
10. Do the followers make a difference in whether a leader is effective? Discuss.

Case Study#1: Growing Leaders

H ow important are excellent leaders to organizations? If you were to ask 3M CEO George Buckley, he’d say extremely

important.71 But he’d also say that excellent leaders don’t just pop up out of nowhere. A company has to cultivate leaders who
have the skills and abilities to help it survive and thrive. And like a successful baseball team with strong performance statistics
that has a player development plan in place, 3M has its own farm system. Except its farm system is designed to develop
company leaders. 3M’s leadership development program is so effective that in 2010 it was number three on the list of
BusinessWeek’s “Top 20 Companies for Leadership” and in 2009, Chief Executive magazine and Hay Consulting Group named
the company the best at developing future leaders. What is 3M’s leadership program all about? About 8 years ago, the
company’s former CEO (Jim McNerney, who is now Boeing’s CEO) and his top team spent 18 months developing a new
leadership model for the company. After numerous brainstorming sessions and much heated debate, the group finally agreed
on six “leadership attributes” that they believed were essential for the company to become skilled at executing strategy and
being accountable. Those six attributes included the ability to “chart the course; energize and inspire others; demonstrate
ethics, integrity, and compliance; deliver results; raise the bar; and innovate resourcefully.” And now under Buckley’s guidance,
the company is continuing and reinforcing its pursuit of leadership excellence with these six attributes.
When asked about his views on leadership, Buckley said that he believes leaders differ from managers. “A leader is as much
about inspiration as anything else. A manager is more about process.” He believes that the key to developing leaders is to focus
on those things that can be developed—like strategic thinking. Buckley also believes that leaders should not be promoted up
and through the organization too quickly. They need time to experience failures and what it takes to rebuild. Finally, when
asked about his own leadership style. Buckley responded, “The absolutely best way for me to be successful is to have people
working for me who are better. Having that kind of emotional self-confidence is vital to leaders. You build respect in those
people because you admire what they do. Having built respect, you build trust. However hokey it sounds, it works.” And it must
be working as the company was named the number one most admired company in the medical and other precision equipment
division of Fortune’s most admired ranking for 2009.

Discussion Questions:

1. What do you think about Buckley’s statement that leaders and managers differ? Do you agree? Why or why not?
2. What leadership models/theories/issues do you see in this case? List and describe.
3. Take each of the six leadership attributes that the company feels is important. Explain what you think each one involves.
Then discuss how those attributes might be developed and measured.
4. What did this case teach you about leadership?
CEO George Buckley continues to pursue 3M’s leadership excellence based on six leadership attributes: the ability to “chart the course; energize
and inspire others; demonstrate ethics, integrity, and compliance; deliver results; raise the bar; and innovate resourcefully

Case # 2:

CASE APPLICATION
Master and Commander

T he U.S. military is widely known for its leaders and its leadership training. And rightly so. It’s important in the types of

situations faced by military units, teams, and squads that they have strong leaders, leaders who can take command and who
can understand the situation in deciding what needs to happen. But how and where does leader style factor in? Is it expected
and accepted that by the very nature of those types of situations, military leaders have to be hard-nosed, no-nonsense, and
tough? With a father who was a Navy captain, Holly Graf, the first woman to command a Navy cruiser, had long dreamed of
doing just that ever since her high school days in Connecticut. Upon graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1985,
colleagues sensed that she was on a fast track to leadership. Her assignments were well-rounded—from tours aboard a
destroyer tender, a frigate, and a destroyer, to shore assignments at the Pentagon and as a Navy instructor at Villanova
University. However, Graf’s “darker side began to emerge when she was assigned to the destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur as the
executive officer (XO) or second in command.” One individual (now retired) says his tour on the Curtis Wilbur was “the worst
time in my life.” Graf’s constant berating of the crew led him to complain, but nothing was done. A few years later, Graf made
U.S. Naval history by becoming the first female commander of a destroyer, the USS Winston Churchill. A Navy chaplain recalls
his time aboard the Churchill as “the strangest of more than 200 such visits to ships in his career. Morale was the lowest he had
ever encountered on any vessel.” He tried to talk to Graf about what he was hearing from the crew and junior officers, but she
cut him off and said she didn’t want to talk to him about it. Then, one eventful night began the unraveling of Graf’s career. On
the eve of the Iraq war in 2003, the Churchill was steaming out of a Sicilian port when, without warning, all 9,000 tons of the
vessel shuddered as it cleared the harbor’s breakwater. It wasn’t long before the 511-foot-long ship was adrift. Commander
Graf grabbed the cowering navigator and pulled him aside screaming, “Did you run my x_____x ship aground?” But amid all the
chaos and shouting, the Navy chaplain aboard said that “the sound heard next was more startling. Sailors on the Churchill’s
stern, suspecting that their ship had run aground— meaning Graf’s career would be instantly over—broke gleefully into song:
“Ding Dong, the witch is dead!” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Even today, the chaplain can’t fathom which was
worse, that U.S. sailors were openly berating a captain or that the captain seemed to deserve it. But that incident didn’t end her
career.
Graf’s next command as captain of the guided missile-cruiser USS Cowpens would be her last, however. She was relieved of
duty in January 2010, after nearly two years, for “cruelty and maltreatment” of her crew. The Navy Inspector General’s report
stated, “Persons in authority are forbidden to injure their subordinates by tyrannical or capricious conduct, or by abusive
language.” But Graf did so “by demeaning, humiliating, publicly belittling and verbally assaulting . . . subordinates while in
command of Cowpens with harsh language and profanity . . . rarely followed by any instruction.”
Discussion Questions

1. What do you think of this description of Captain Holly Graf’s leader style? Do you think thatCaptain
Graf could even be called a leader? Discuss.
2. What kinds of power do you think Graf used as a ship commander? Explain your choices.
3. Not surprisingly, this whole scenario rocked the Navy to its core because it reflected on the way the
Navy chooses, promotes, and then monitors its handpicked leaders. What changes, if any, do you think
need to take place in its leadership training and development?
4. Some critics of Graf’s treatment have said that institutional sexism played a role in her removal. Do
you think that could be possible? Discuss. Would that “excuse” the way she led? Explain.

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Appendix-2.A: The ‘X - Y Theory’ Questionnaire (Page 1 of 2)

Indicates whether the situation and management style is the ‘X’ or ‘Y’ style:

Score the statements (5 = always, 4 = mostly, 3 = often, 2 = occasionally, 1 = rarely, 0 =

never)

_ 01) My boss asks me politely to do things, gives me reasons why, and invites my suggestions.

_ 02) I am encouraged to learn skills outside of my immediate area of responsibility.

_ 03) I am left to work without interference from my boss, but help is available if I want it.

_ 04) I am given credit and praise when I do good work or put in extra effort.

_ 05) People leaving the company are given an 'exit interview' to hear their views on the organisation.

_ 06) I am incentivised to work hard and well.

_ 07) If I want extra responsibility my boss will find a way to give it to me.

_ 08) If I want extra training my boss will help me find how to get it or will arrange it.

_ 09) I call my boss and my boss's boss by their first names.

_ 10) My boss is available for me to discuss my concerns or worries or suggestions.

_ 11) I know what the company's aims and targets are.

_ 12) I am told how the company is performing on a regular basis.

_ 13) I am given an opportunity to solve problems connected with my work.

_ 14) My boss tells me what is happening in the organisation.

_ 15) I have regular meetings with my boss to discuss how I can improve and develop.

_ Total Score
 60 - 75 = Strong Y Theory Management (Effective long & short term)
45 - 59 = Generally Y Theory Management
16 - 44 = Generally X Theory Management
0 - 15 = Strongly X Theory Management (Autocratic leadership may be effective in the short term but poor in the long term)

Most people prefer ‘Y-theory’ management. These people are generally uncomfortable in ‘X-theory’ situations and
are unlikely to be productive, especially long-term, and are likely to seek alternative situations. This quick test
provides a broad indication as to management style and individual preference, using the ‘X-Y Theory’ definitions.

The ‘X - Y Theory’ Questionnaire (Page 2 of 2)

Indicates whether the person prefers being managed by the ‘X’ or ‘Y’ style:

Score the statements (5 = always, 4 = mostly, 3 = often, 2 = occasionally, 1 = rarely, 0 =

never)

_ 01) I like to be involved and consulted by my boss about how I can best do my job.

_ 02) I want to learn skills outside of my immediate area of responsibility.

_ 03) I like to work without interference from my boss, but be able to ask for help if I need it.

_ 04) I work best and most productively without pressure from my boss or the threat of losing my job.

_ 05) When I leave the company, I would like an ‘exit interview’ to give my views on the organisation.

_ 06) I like to be incentivised and praised for working hard and well.

_ 07) I want to increase my responsibility.

_ 08) I want to be trained to do new things.

_ 09) I prefer to be friendly with my boss and the management.

_ 10) I want to be able to discuss my concerns, worries or suggestions with my boss or another
manager.

© Alan Chapman 2001-08 based on Douglas McGregor's X-Y Theory. Layout by N Lacasse. More free
online learning materials are at www.businessballs.com. Not to be sold or published. Sole risk
with user. Author accepts no liability.
_ 11) I like to know what the company's aims and targets are.

_ 12) I like to be told how the company is performing on a regular basis.

_ 13) I like to be given opportunities to solve problems connected with my work.

_ 14) I like to be told by my boss what is happening in the organisation.

_ 15) I like to have regular meetings with my boss to discuss how I can improve and develop.

_ Total Score
 60 – 75 = Strongly prefers Y Theory Management (Effective long & short term)
45 - 59 = Generally prefers Y Theory Management
16 - 44 = Generally prefers X Theory Management
0 - 15 = Strongly prefers X Theory Management (Autocratic leadership may be effective in the short term but poor in the long term)

Most people prefer ‘Y-theory’ management. These people are generally uncomfortable in ‘X-theory’ situations and
are unlikely to be productive, especially long-term, and are likely to seek alternative situations. This quick test
provides a broad indication as to management style and individual preference, using the ‘X-Y Theory’ definitions.

© Alan Chapman 2001-08 based on Douglas McGregor's X-Y Theory. Layout by N Lacasse. More free
online learning materials are at www.businessballs.com. Not to be sold or published. Sole risk
with user. Author accepts no liability.