Module Three Lecture Notes and Discussion Questions

Module Three

Discussion topics include:            1.   Leadership Power            2.   Leadership values            3.   Leadership across cultures 4.   Leadership ethics

Assignments for Session 3 include: 1.     Text: Chapters 4-5

This week you will be reading Chapters 4 and 5 in the textbook. Underlying all leadership influence are one or more power bases.  The French and Raven model of power is perhaps the best known management model. According to these researchers, there are several possible power bases.

1.    Legitimate power emanates from your position in the organization. 2.    Reward power correlates with your ability to provide the rewards that followers want. 3.    Coercive power refers to your ability to force people to do your will. “Do it my way or you’re fired.”  This type of power is certainly out of step with today’s emphasis on empowerment and democratic workplace behavior. 4.    Expert power arises from the perception that you have expertise in a given area and that you will help people out.’ 5.    Referent power is an emotional, personal power base where people seek your approval.

Leaders may have more than one type of power base or different power bases with different constituencies.  Think of the many situations where you are a leader in terms of your ability to influence others. What type of power bases do you have in these situations?

Chapter 5 looks at leadership and values, especially ethical values. Values are simply gut-level belief systems that help us distinguish what is good vs. bad, normal vs. abnormal.  Ones values start forming at an early age when family is the single most important programmer of values.  Schools, churches, media, television, music, and peers quickly become other important value programmers. By the time we are 20, our values have pretty much formed our filter for how we see the world.

What about ethics?  Ethical values have to do with a concept of morality, of good versus evil. Ethics is a big question in Corporate America today where scandal after scandal have left many believing that ‘business ethics” is an oxymoron.  Leaders often represent to the outside world the key values of the organization.

Culture begins, obviously, with the founders of the organization. The founder’s vision of what the organization should be like is very important.  Later, as employees are added,  the founders hire people who reflect the same vision and carry it forward.  Likewise, these  early employees hire others of similar vision.  As new employees arrive, they are socialized  into the organization.  Once inside an organization, employees learn culture especially  through the rites, rituals, stories, and reward systems that they observe.   Module Three Discussion Questions

Note: Please type the question and then the answer which should be about 250 words for each question.

1.    There have been some interesting studies on the effect of gender on leadership style. Respond to the following statement with your opinions and experiences:  “Successful male and female leaders tend to have many similarities; yet, women as a group tend to be more democratic in style than men. The modern concept of managerial coaching may thus be more natural for women than men.”  Incorporate at least one outside reference into your answer.

2.    What value differences might you as a leader expect to find among your Baby Boomer, Gen Xers and Millennial employees?  Discuss.  Use at least one outside reference in your answer.

Module 4

Module Four

Discussion topics include: 1.     Attributes/Trait theories of leadership 2.     Emotional intelligence 3.     Behavioral theories of leadership

Assignments for Session 4 include: 1.     Text: Chapters 6-7

The chapters you are reading this week give you good historical background on some of the early leadership research.  First, there were trait theories which looked at what traits leaders have; then came behavioral theories trying to answer the question, “How do leaders behave?” As you will see later in the course, the action today is in situational theories which suggest that successful leaders behave in appropriate ways to interact with a particular situation.

Of all the research done in the area of trait theory, the one trait that keeps coming up over and over again as positively correlated with successful leadership is intelligence.  Leaders are smart. But what is intelligence?  How can it be measured? And, are leaders truly smarter than the rest of us?  Chapter 6 looks at these questions and zeros in on the concepts of intelligence and then the newer, hot topic of emotional intelligence.  It seems that some leaders, even those with IQs off the charts, simply don’t have the emotional stability and sensitivity to be successful leaders in today’s organizations.

As you read Chapter 7, be sure to learn about the Ohio State Studies and the University of Michigan Studies. Together, they formed the basis of the field of behavioral leadership studies.  Be familiar with the vocabulary of these studies like “initiating structure” and “consideration.”   It was a short jump from these concepts to the The Leadership Grid of Robert Blake and Jane Mouton. While the Leadership Grid (originally the Managerial Grid) speaks of “concern for results” and “concern for people,” these are the same concepts.

Chapter 7 covers the ways of using 360 degree appraisal systems to assess leadership behavior.  Also in chapter 7 is an interesting discussion of community leadership referring to the special leadership skills needed for leading volunteer activities.

Module Four Discussion Questions (due by Thursday)  

Note: Please type the question and then the answer which should be about 250 words for each question.

1.    Chapter 6 introduces you to the very popular MBTI personality instrument.  Go to http://www.personalitypathways.com/type_inventory.html           Read more about the MBTI and do the sample test to approximate your own               style. Tell us what style you came out, what this means, and whether or not                  you agree with it.

2.    Go to the following link and take the Emotional Intelligence (EI) test associated with EI author Daniel Goleman.  Discuss your results. https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/ei-quiz.htm

3.    How would you describe your own leadership style according to The Leadership Grid?  What evidence can you give for choosing this style as the best representation of your leadership behavior?