Class 13 January 2011
January 10, 2010 – NYT article
Students need to learn how to think critically or creatively... need to learn how to approach problems from many perspectives
HOW to think – Dr. Canary's approach to leadership communication
explains what happens in practice
S481602
Class 20 January 2011
IAWL Discussion
-Good leaders start out as good followers
Display sociability in order to be a
(executive coaching – watching their interpersonal and leadership interactions
Develop and display competent communication
Leadership is a function, followership is a function
Different situations call for different leadership types and styles
Moral maturity – to be able to successfully reason through moral dilemmas
Class 27 January 2011
Discuss application paper: article involving a leader,
-maybe about the State of the Union
-maybe about the Chinese leader in the States
-Financial crisis was the result of “human action, inaction, and misjudgment.”
There is a difference between an entity and having agency
agency is a human characteristic
anthropomorphism
PEOPLE make policies, decisions, etc.
Focus on the people, not on the entity
The capacity to act and do otherwise=agency
Discussion
Notion of transparency t
Let the people see the struggles, let them see the rational reason, let them see the emotional component, of self-sacrifice
Make the implicit explicit
Give the followers an opportunity to hear the ideas articulated.
Distinction between privacy and secrecy
-Privacy – respecting people's rights to their own information, events, relational history, medical records,etc.
-Secrecy – the process of withholding information from people that that they do need and do have a right to have. Decisions that affect people's livelihoods, but keep secrets about the process
Transparency – when they have a right to that information or need that information
24 February 2011
“Six Sigma Group”
Situational Leadership
Tells leaders what to do or not to do in different situations.
Directive vs. Supportive Component
4 styles of Situational Leadership
Directing – High direction and low support, main focus is on getting the job done (non-supportive – no praise), one-way communication, this style is common among subordinates that are committed, but not competent (new to job or unfamiliar with task)
Coaching – High direction and high support communicates with subordinates while getting task accomplished, communication is two-way, encourage input from subordinates, focuses on employees' emotional and social needs.
Supporting – High support and low direction, leader's support motivates subordinate to accomplish task, subordinates control task (leader available problem solving), leaders credit subordinates, best used when subordinate has necessary skill set but lacks the necessary confidence (used to encourage, not direct)
Delegating – Low direction and low support, employee have more confidence with less direction and less support (as little time with the boss as necessary), these employees are highly skilled and highly committed, giving support or direction – feeling lack of trust in employee – drop in job performance
“If this were my career, I'd have to throw myself in front of the train.”
Case Study: Elite, Inc. page 154 in Rowe book
The 7 Strategies of Decision Making
Reasoning by Analogy – drawing comparisons from past experiences
Imitation – Emulating successful practices from others
Rules of Thumb – Applying common sense short-cuts
Reformulation – Redefining as a series of smaller problems
Deference to Experts – Following expert advice for solutions
Rigorous Debate – Refine and clarify through constructive conflict
Experimentation – Adjust strategy through testing and feedback
“Graduate Student Group”
Contingency Theory
Contingency theory is a leader match theory
It tries to match leaders to appropriate situations
It assumes effective leadership is contingent on matching leadership style to certain situations
Leaders are no effective in all situations
Leadership styles
Contingency theory posits that leadership styles involve two different motivations
-Task motivated (concerned with meeting a goal)
-Relationship motivated (concerned with developing close, interpersonal relationships)
Situational Variables
Situations can be described in terms of three factors:
-Leader-member relations (amount of confidence, loyalty, and attraction followers feel for a leader)
-Task structure (Degree that task requirements are clear and spelled out)
-Position power (amount of leader authority to reward or punish followers)
Strengths of Contingency Theory
-Supported by a lot of research
-We should consider how situations impact leaders
-Contingency theory helps us predict successful leaders
-Allows us to understand not all people are effective n all situations
Criticisms of Contingency Theory
-Contingency theory fails to explain why certain leadership styles are better in some situations
-This theory fails to adequately explain what organizations should do when there is a mismatch
Least Preferred Coworker
-Based on FE Fiedler's Contingency Theory model
-Determines/measures leadership style: task-oriented, relationship-oriented
-Demonstrates what leadership styles work in certain situations
Leadership Styles: Task-Oriented
-Concerned primarily with reaching a goal
-Little to no regard for relationships
-More effective in low-to-moderate control situations
Leadership Styles: Relationship
-Concerned with developing close, interpersonal relationships
-Better able to deal with complex issues and making decisions
-Most effective in moderate control situations
Least Preferred Coworker Exercise
-Rate yourself as quickly as possible
-There are no right or wrong answers
-Tally score
-Determine leadership style
LPC scale activity
The Ten C's of Employee Engagement
- Connect
- Career
- Clarity
- Convey
- Congratulate
- Contribute
- Control
- Collaborate
- Credibility
- Confidence
If employees are the most important part of your company, why are the focused on only yearly. Human Capital
10 March 2011
Video (What Motivates Us?)
Autonomy
Mastery
Purpose
Path-Goal Theory of Leadership
How do you motivate your leaders?
Know who you work for – know them
healthy organizational cultures develop leadership pipeline
Purpose – our outcomes will be meaningful.
It's difficult to work hard if I can't see that my efforts matter.
This is why we see a lot of burnout
work to home spillover
with menial tasks and can't find meaning in it.
I need to be seen as integral as meeting the goal of our organizations
Corporate vision workshops
-talk about those specific set of tasks in each dept, how does that translate into the excellence of the company, how do you relate to the mission statement. All the pieces of the puzzles
What are follower responsibilities in the situation?
- Directive
- Supportive
- Participative
- Achievement-Oriented Leadership
- Facilitating
- Group Decision making processes
- Work group networking/self presentation
- Displaying holistic leader values
What are your strengths and weaknesses? Base your answers on your self-assessments like the Path-Goal worksheet
- Which ways did Jack Welch contribute to employee motivation? List some specific behaviors that are mentioned.
- What are some employee factors or characteristics that affected employee motivation under Jack Welch?
- How would you describe task characteristics of GE across systems and time?
- How does Jeffrey Immelt differ from Jack Welch on those above questions?
- What would you recommend for Immelt – paths, reach goals, and avoid or remove obstacles?
continue to use the effective product
only include the warnings required by law
ask his own employees to take extra precautions
Pros (Agree)
followed federal and state guidelines put up by the fda
"Could be" doesn't mean "is" harmful
Calculated risk - part of Biz
all but 1 follower agreed
product credibility -- common use
Dialogue w/employees
warning included - harm common
Cons (Disagree)
didn't take time and detailed info
Extra precautions only for employees, not consumers
Did not include all personnel in
guidelines may not be adequate
Kidder's ethical checkpoints
Didn't pass the "tests" of ethical decision-making
widespread potential harm with many companies using this product
missing leadership opportunity
missing potential sales opportunity, setting himself apart as one who is more interested in his customer
How can you ensure they are following the guidelines
-risk manager
-training standardized
-inspections
The burden of knowledge
What happens
To make a decision to disclose or not -- blurry line between privacy and secrecy
Interpersonal interactions - we consider half-truths deceit
On a business level often on a broader scale, we separate ourselves that deception is on a continuum... "he's not lying, but he is withholding information."
Ethical leadership does not leave customer less off.
Strongest arguments for each side:
"followed Federal and State guidelines"
Only one dissenter
product credibility (institutional theory)
didn't take the time to find out more information
only taking precautions with employees and not consumers
Groups take the time to think about the flip side to be their own devil's advocate
Listen to people who oppose your decisions
Our arguments can be stronger when we analyze the other side as well. More of a critical thinker.
Go to the primary source and then find out if this evidence and support for the claim
When we're in group decision making contexts we're working with groups of individuals (with loyalties and structures) but it's important for us to surround ourselves with people who will bring up their individuality, that's when we are providing quality challenging, development oriented decision making. Collective of individuals
Defining Moments (Joseph Badaracco, Harvard Business professor)
these moments are always difficult. there are multiple stakeholders. everyone has a different idea of what's the right thing to do.
what's ethical is not always what's legal
a dilemma - when both sides have pros and cons
1.encourage us all not not just look at surface reason or evidence or "common sense" obvious things, but to really look at the advantages of deliberation and to get a little bit of a sense to feel what it's like to really be a juror or someone in a similar situation
2. importance and value of looking at things from the other side
people who have opposing views often have good reasons for having that view.
4/7/11
Rowe and Guerrero
Transformational Leadership
"Charisma is a special quality of leaders whose purpose, powers, and extraordinary determination differentiate them from others." Page 259
Their personal power transcends their position power
Followers identity becomes linked to the identity of the organization
Transformational Leadership Model
-Transformational
-Transactional
-Non-transformational/Non-transactional
How does Transformational Leadership Work?
They:
-develop a culture open to change and encourage subordinates to change
-provide a strong example of moral values and ethical behavior that followers want to imitate.
-help a vision to emerge that sets a direction for the organizations
Very often transformational leaders emerge in times of chaos and stress.
Someone who can articulate a vision and someone can organize themselves around the vision, so they can achieve and come together.
This is one of the concerns of diplomats and specialist of the middle east in terms of new leaders rising up in the Middle east. Leaders who arise that are transformational may be pseudo-transformational (like Hitler) be able to articulate a vision, but the motivation is unethical and harmful in the end. There is uncertainty on a global scale.
Trans
Idealized influence
inspirational motivation
intellectual stimulation
individual consideration
(Also refer to Johnson book and Row and Guerrero regarding transformational leadership)
4/14/11
Ethical Organizational Climates
-Instrumental – base decisions on what is best for organization/person
-Caring – base decisions on concern for others
-Law and code – base decisions on laws & professional codes
-Rules – base decisions on organizational rules & procedures
-Independent – members use own judgment for decisions
These ethical climates came from Victor & Cullen (1988)
chart
Impact of Ethical Climates
-How decision making occurs
Principle priorities, profit
-Whose interests are privileged
-How organizational change is viewed
-Often institutionalized in industry
-Influence on behavior
-Member/organization match
Organizational Integrity
-Sensible, clearly communicated values & commitments
-Leaders committed to and act on values
-Values integral to decision making & organizational activities
-Systems and structures support values
-Knowledge & skills needed to make ethical decisions
People make choices, people have agency,
Transparency when we have dilemmas and tough decisions, we talk through the decision processes.
There is a real danger of separating the managing of work and the doing of work.
Model of Corporate Moral Development
Stage I - Amoral organizations (Blood Diamond movie)
Stage II - Legalistic organizations
Stage III - Responsive organizations - reactive to crises rather than proactive
Stage IV - Emergent ethical organizations - proactive approach
Stage V - Ethical organizations
4/21/11
Diversity
-actually better for the bottom line (multiple perspectives, differing opinions, etc.)
-doing things more creatively
-no diversity - not tapping all your resources, you're missing out on lots of opportunities
-most of us will work with multi-national companies if we don't already - we must move "out" in order to move up... demonstrate competencies and capabilities across cultures
-ethical case
-diversity in terms of race, sex, culture, and skills/abilities also
Women in leadership
stereotype expectation that women are nurturing and relationship oriented
men are tough as nails and task orientation
meta-analysis (a study of studies) - goldmine
Studies show:
women tend to be more democratic, more participative
women tend to be less valued in traditionally male-dominated fields or industries
Glass ceiling effect
Rowe and Guerrero's "Labyrinth" (page 383)
Human capital differences (social advantages that give us clout in moving up in a career)
definitely more apparent in certain industries -
