3.5 Developing Your Leadership Skills

• What is the nature of leadership?
• What are core traits of successful leaders?
• What leadership skills will be needed in the future?

Leaders are people who take charge of or guide the activities of others. They are often seen as the focus or orchestrator of group activity, the people who set the tone of the group so that it can move forward to attain its goals. Leaders provide the group with what is required to fulfill its maintenance and task-related needs.

Organizations have two kinds of leaders: formal and informal. A formal leader is that individual who is recognized by those outside the group as the official leader of the group. Often, the formal leader is appointed by the organization to serve in a formal capacity as an agent of the organization. Jack Welch was the formal leader of General Electric, and Leonard Bernstein was the formal leader of the New York Philharmonic symphony. Practically all managers act as formal leaders as part of their assigned role. Organizations that use self-managed work teams allow members of the team to select the individual who will serve as their team leader. When this person’s role is sanctioned by the formal organization, these team leaders become formal leaders. Increasingly, leaders in organizations will be those who “best sell” their ideas on how to complete a project—persuasiveness and inspiration are important ingredients in the leadership equation, especially in high-involvement organizations.

Informal leaders, by contrast, are not assigned by the organization. The informal leader is that individual whom members of the group acknowledge as their leader. Athletic teams often have informal leaders, individuals who exert considerable influence on team members even though they hold no official, formal leadership position. In fact, most work groups contain at least one informal leader. Just like formal leaders, informal leaders can benefit or harm an organization depending on whether their influence encourages group members to behave consistently with organizational goals.

The last three decades of the 20th century witnessed continued exploration of the relationship between traits and both leader emergence and leader effectiveness. Edwin Locke from the University of Maryland and several of his research associates, in their recent review of the trait research, observed that successful leaders possess a set of core characteristics that are different from those of other people. Although these core traits do not solely determine whether a person will be a leader—or a successful leader—they are seen as preconditions that endow people with leadership potential. Among the core traits identified are:

• Drive—a high level of effort, including a strong desire for achievement as well as high levels of ambition, energy, tenacity, and initiative
• Leadership motivation—an intense desire to lead others
• Honesty and integrity—a commitment to the truth, where word and deed correspond
• Self-confidence—an assurance in oneself, one’s ideas, and one’s ability
• Cognitive ability—conceptually skilled, capable of exercising good judgment, having strong analytical abilities, possessing the capacity to think strategically and multidimensionally
• Knowledge of the business—a high degree of understanding of the company, industry, and technical matters
• Other traits—charisma, creativity/originality, and flexibility/adaptiveness

While leaders may be “people with the right stuff,” effective leadership requires more than simply possessing the correct set of motives and traits. Knowledge, skills, ability, vision, strategy, and effective vision implementation are all necessary for the person who has the “right stuff” to realize their leadership potential. According to Locke, people endowed with these traits engage in behaviors that are associated with leadership. As followers, people are attracted to and inclined to follow individuals who display, for example, honesty and integrity, self-confidence, and the motivation to lead.

Thus, a person is not born with self-confidence. Self-confidence is developed, honesty and integrity are a matter of personal choice, motivation to lead comes from within the individual and is within his control, and knowledge of the business can be acquired. While cognitive ability does in part find its origin in the genes, it still needs to be developed. Finally, drive, as a dispositional trait, may also have a genetic component, but it too can be self- and other-encouraged. It goes without saying that none of these ingredients are acquired overnight.

It is now common to think of effective leadership in terms of what leaders do. CEOs and management consultants agree that effective leaders display trust in their employees, develop a vision, keep their cool, encourage risk, bring expertise into the work setting, invite dissent, and focus everyone’s attention on that which is important.

A group of Ohio State University researchers, under the direction of Ralph Stogdill, began an extensive and systematic series of studies to identify leader behaviors associated with effective group performance. Their results identified two major sets of leader behaviors: consideration and initiating structure.

After consideration and initiating structure behaviors were first identified, many leaders believed that they had to behave one way or the other. If they initiated structure, they could not be considerate, and vice versa. It did not take long, however, to recognize that leaders can simultaneously display any combination of both behaviors.

Researchers at the University of Michigan also began to investigate leader behaviors. They attempted to identify behavioral elements that differentiated effective from ineffective leaders.

The two types of leadership behavior that stand out in these studies are job centered, and organizational member centered. Job-centered behaviors are devoted to supervisory functions, such as planning, scheduling, coordinating work activities, and providing the resources needed for task performance. Employee-member-centered behaviors include consideration and support for organizational members.

Subsequent research at Michigan and elsewhere has found additional behaviors associated with effective leadership: support, work facilitation, goal emphasis, and interaction facilitation.

Much of the credit for disseminating knowledge about important leader behaviors must go to Robert R. Blake and Jane S. Mouton, who developed a method for classifying styles of leadership compatible with many of the ideas from the Ohio State and Michigan studies. In their classification scheme, concern for results (production) emphasizes output, cost effectiveness, and (in for-profit organizations) a concern for profits. Concern for people involves promoting working relationships and paying attention to issues of importance to group members. As shown in Exhibit 12.9, the Leadership Grid® demonstrates that any combination of these two leader concerns is possible, and five styles of leadership are highlighted here.

Blake and Mouton contend that the Impoverished (indifferent) Manager is the most ineffective. They have little interest in creating systems or a motivating team environment. The Produce-or-Perish (authoritarian) Manager views the team members as only producers and chooses punishment as opposed to motivation. The Middle-of-the Road (status quo) Manager shows a balance between productivity and team satisfaction. The Country Club (accommodating) Manager worries about the feelings of the team members. They view a happy and relaxed atmosphere as one that will motivate employees to work hard. The Team (sound) Manager is viewed as the most productive by Blake and Mouton. This leader works hard to motivate the team and prioritizes the need for production.

1. What are two types of leaders found in organizations?
2. According to Blake and Mouton which leadership style is considered most effective?

This chapter began by helping you explore the many career options available and which careers would be the best fit for you. You learned how to create a plan to reach your career goals through activities such as networking, creating a resume, informational interviewing, and having an online presence. The various types of degrees were explored to help you create an academic plan.

You learned about the importance of leadership in the 21st century and the nature and types of leaders. Developing your leadership skills will be a key component of your success in your dream career.