d”MANAGER’S GUIDE: Successful Leadership (Course)” will help students understand important leadership concepts. It will help students improve their competence in leadership roles.
Successful Leadership Course – Business leaders are often concerned about the quality of the leaders within their organization. They are concerned about leadership effectiveness at all levels within their organization. These executives are often involved in the recruitment of the next great talent to lead within their organization, or they are involved in setting up the required training for the development of internal leadership talent. Leadership talent is a highly sought after skill. Effective organizations require leadership talent. Even though there is such demand for this type of skill, most professionals focus mostly on their particular area of expertise and forget to study leadership. This course aims to address the need for leadership talent within the organization. The course will help students understand important leadership concepts. It will help students improve their competence in leadership roles. It will help students to prepare for and to succeed in team lead, management, or executive roles.
This course is divided up into five sections: introduction to the course and to the management profession, leadership defined, leadership types, leadership power and leadership techniques. These five sections will provide both theoretical and practical insights, which are applicable to the leadership role.
Successful Leadership Course – Curriculum
INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE & TO THE MANAGEMENT PROFESSION
- Lecture 1 – Intro To The Course And To The Instructor
Lecture 1 – Intro To The Course And To The Instructor
Hello, and thank you for registering in “A Manager’s Guide: Successful Leadership”. This course provides an understanding of leadership and psychological concepts present in the workplace. The purpose of the course is to help make you a better manager, by; providing you with knowledge on what makes a good leader, by discussing the types of leadership, by discussing the methods and processes of successful leadership, and providing you with a psychological understanding of challenging leader and follower personalities. The course teaches knowledge from different areas, and delivers selective knowledge applicable to aspiring managers, first time managers and to experienced managers who are looking to improve their skills.
Now let’s think about the problem with some of today’s leadership training processes. Ever managed an employee that asked a million questions and never gave up depending on you? Ever managed an employee that felt stress throughout the day and looked to you for help? It is best to try to answer these types of questions within a psychological context rather than a business context. If you ever take a look at something like the project management body of knowledge, the modern leaders are not always taught to lead from a human perspective, but from a generated science of procedures and documentation that don’t provide you with the quick insights into human behaviour that you need to progress, and heck, even just to survive in today’s organizations. Therefore, this course is meant to fill in some gaps in traditional management training. For aspiring managers, first time managers or experienced managers, this guide will provide a fresh, new and invaluable perspective, the psychological perspective, one that is often overlooked in today’s documentation oriented and procedure oriented management roles.
The course has five sections. In the first section, I introduce the course and the management profession. In the second section, I discuss the main types of leadership. In the third section, I discuss successful leadership methods and processes. By this point, you may be thinking that a lot of theory on leadership methods and processes was covered. And I agree. For this reason, throughout rest of the course, I focus the discussion of challenging real world personality types, the leader and follower personalities. So in the fifth section, I examine the psychology of challenging manager personalities. This new grounding in the psychology of leadership will provide new awareness into the challenging environment, which you will face. Throughout some of these sections, I also discuss some everyday practical management principles that you can apply directly to your work. This information will guide you towards becoming a better leader and manager.
So why did I decide to put together this course. Well, it turns out that there is a common theme within my diverse background, which works well for this course. As part of my career, I’ve gained over six years of experience working for organizations both large and small, and as an independent contractor. I’ve worked in various fields: as an IT Support Administrator, as a Web Developer, as a Computer Technician, as a Computer Sales Associate, as an independent film director, and as a Manager of two small businesses. In terms of my educational background, I hold a Bachelor’s Degree (in Psychology and Computer Science). I’ve also been accepted as an Associate (Information Technology) member of ASTTBC, where the Board recognized that my academics are at an Applied Science Technologist level. In addition, I have also studied Electronics Engineering Technology. My degree in psychology and my experience as a manager in two businesses are some of the experiences, which convinced me to teach this course. In addition, my exposure to different styles of managers throughout my information technology career has prepared me to discuss on the topics of leadership and psychology. I also found leadership to be a centrally important aspect of the independent film projects, which I directed and project managed. Therefore, I decided that an interdisciplinary construct of a course, embodying the concepts of psychology, management, leadership will be what will be of most use to leaders in either project endeavours, work endeavours, or life endeavours.
In this course, you will find that there are quite a few theoretical concepts. I’m going to mention one point about this. I always had to do theoretical study in school. And sometimes, I felt there that we should jump to doing practical things. I learned that there really was a purpose to all that theoretical training. In the end, what I learned was that; doing things without a solid theoretical framework, is just going to end in low productivity, and working towards the wrong direction. Understanding the “background theory”, or the details of how something functions is going to give you a professional advantage. It’s going to allow you to do the right thing, with the least amount of effort, and with the least amount of mistakes. By understanding grounding theory and real world applicability, you will be prepared to think and act to a great deal of challenges that will come your way when trying to lead within an organization.
- Lecture 2 – Psychology In The Workplace
Lecture 2 – Psychology In The Workplace
In this course, I do not discuss the “business aspects” of managing a company. I do not discuss the points from the “business perspective”. Instead, I discuss the “psychological issues” that affect people at work. Also, I provide insights into leadership practice from a “behavioural” or a more “human perspective”.
This idea of psychology in the workplace has become a popular one. This is because; the proper understanding and use of psychology at work can have a positive impact on people’s lives. For example, in the workplace, the employees show all sorts of different behaviours. Some employees would rather work at some other job. Some behave unprofessionally. Some do not aim to reach their full potential. To have a happy and productive workforce, aspiring leaders or managers need to study some of the techniques developed by industrial organizational psychologists. From these techniques, one can learn about human behaviour. Specifically, one can learn methods of enhancing performance, and the performance of colleagues and subordinates.
- Lecture 3 – Circumstances Of Managers
Lecture 3 – Circumstances Of Managers
The management profession is a profession which is desired by many workers across many different industries. Like many other professions, it is associated with status, prestige, control, wealth, achievement, respect and many other positive things. However, one must realize, that at its core, management is not like other professions. It is unique among the professions. What constitutes this difference is the nature of their activities, or, what they have to deal with on a daily basis differs to the kind of things that other professionals have to deal with. The concepts which manager’s deal with include things such as: freedom, powerlessness, insecurity, respect, and conflict. First, does a manager have freedom? Well, if they are in the middle of a hierarchy, one in which they must follow rules, orders and regulations, then they are more restricted than they are free. Second, managers are sometimes dealing with powerlessness. There are various new and modern leadership working structures such as collective leadership, which can make mangers, feel powerless. Third, is a manager insecure? Well, it is difficult to be secure in oneself if the nature of the decision-making means that one has to constantly assess, control and deal with risk. Fourth, managers have less respect than they used to have. In modern times, the new generation seems to be more against the idea of authority than previous generations. This means that managers do not always receive as much respect as they deserve or as much as previous generation received. Fifth, managers deal with conflicts. Manager’s are often forced into dealing with other’s conflicts, rather than their own. As you can see, managers have unique circumstances among professionals and they must deal with and solve psychological challenges.
- Lecture 4 – The Management Profession Is Unique
Lecture 4 – The Management Profession Is Unique
One of the goals of this course is to provide an additional resource, a resource, which can be used to improve upon a key problem in the management profession. This problem has to do with the fact that in the management profession, there are managers, which are not as professional as professionals should be. The quality of managers is not a consistent thing, and after all, the purpose of the professional title is to denote a certain consistency and quality level that has been achieved. In research, some professional manager’s were assigned excellent teams, but delivered subpar or below average results. This denotes that there is a lack of standardized performance among managers. Now, for comparison’s sake, other professionals such as engineers or programmers, most of them are standardized and most are good, with a few exceptions. When it comes to management, the opposite is true, with many being bad and only a few great ones. To be fair, there are many explanations for this phenomenon. First of all, management skills are not something that is practiced by workers, as is the case for other skill sets. Second, many professionals have to undergo strict and long-term academic training, experiential training and licensing. This is not the case for management. People can often be promoted into management without anything at all. Third, many managers’ who are promoted are still expected to perform their previous role as contributor. This diverts their energy from their development as a manager. Fourth, many managers do not have adequate training, mentorship, supervision, or role models from which to gain the professional insights and expertise necessary for the role. Fifth, many workers are promoted into the management role, in a make it or break it scenario, and as such do not have adequate preparation and training for the role. As you can see, there are many factors, which work together to harm and limit the professionalism of many people as they go through this profession.
- Lecture 5 – The Challenges New Managers Face
Lecture 5 – Challenges New Managers Face
A promotion to management can be a mixed blessing. You would think that it could only mean that it is good news, however, there are unexpected consequences. When a person is promoted to management, the rest of the colleagues will react in different ways. The people, who are competitive in nature, out of which there are many, will probably want the manager to be unsuccessful. In this way, they will then have a chance take the spot. They may even do subtle things, which impede or ruin the new manager’s chance at success. Luckily, not everyone is that competitive. There are those that are only somewhat competitive. These people may be jealous of the new manager’s success, and they may or may not do things, which will make the new manager’s role difficult. Then there are people that simply want to embarrass the manager, perhaps by creating certain situations or asking certain questions that expose the new manager’s lack of ability and knowledge. Then there are those that will merely be curious, and will watch the new manager. Others will pretty much be, the “agreeable people”. These people are looking to advance themselves, and will see the new manager’s authority as a way in which they themselves can advance. These people will play up to the new manager and will be agreeable. The rest will simply wait and see how the new manager performs. Obviously, the new manager is in the role where they are watched and judged on a continual basis. You would think that it should be the other way around, in which the manager is the one that does the judging. Actually, most new managers have to prove themselves. This situation is further complicated in that the way the manager is judged will not necessarily be fair to them. They will be judged via a comparison with the performance of the previous manager. If the previous manager was very good, others will see them as having a poor performance. If the previous manager was very bad, the new manager will shine.
Just like it is difficult for many to figure out a path in life that leads to success, when it comes to new managers, figuring out a path that leads to success can also be a great challenge. There are all sorts of challenges that arise when people make transitions in life. One of the big transitions happens when a technical worker, who has worked many years to acquire specialist skills, has to transition to another domain, the management domain. This type of transition is often very overwhelming. The reason being, the skills that that person has spent years to master may have been useful in the technical role, but they are different than the skills used by managers and required in the management role. Managers need skills such as conflict analysis, conflict management, and negation. Conversely, technical people need skills such as analysis, research, and problem solving. These skills are different, and that is why many new technical people in management roles fail to succeed in their new position. These newly promoted technical people end up quitting the management position, or they end up being let go “without cause”.
I started out this discussion by talking about how others might react to someone’s promotion to management. I then discussed how difficult this transition might be for someone who comes from a technical background. To continue down this argument, I need to say that it is not only important to consider how others react to someone’s promotion, but also one must consider the actions they would take in the new role. Among the many things, which the new manager must focus on, they must also focus on their own initial actions. Many new managers, once given control, they like to display the fact that they have this newfound control over others. They do this by making changes. This is problematic because change is something that is feared by the subordinates. Many find adapting to new changes difficult, and would rather continue with something that is familiar to them. Therefore, the new manager should wait on the plans to institute change; instead, the manager should exercise patience. The manager should establish trust with the colleagues, and take the time to explain the upcoming changes. In time, the subordinates will eventually accept the changes and adopt them into their own practice. Further, another consideration that a new manager must make has to do with the fact that there will be some competition between the new manager and the opinion leaders within the group. The opinion leaders are the people, who the rest of the group looks up to, and they look up to them for various reasons, such as, perhaps they are the experts within the group. As a new manager, others may not yet respect or see the new manager as an expert, and as such, the followers may check the decisions, which the manager will make with the opinion leaders. If these leaders are not on the side of the new manager, then the new manager will have problems. As such, it is a good idea for the new manager to get the opinion leaders to be on his or her side. The way to do this is to have separate discussions with the opinion leaders than with the rest of the group. Then, once ideas are considered and things established, the ideas could then be presented and proposed to the rest of the group.
LEADERSHIP DEFINED
- Lecture 6 – What Makes A True Leader
Lecture 6 – What Makes A True Leader
It is useful for aspiring managers, new managers, or experienced managers, to think about and explore ideas of leadership. At the very least, it is useful to be able to define: What does a leader do? And what makes a true leader? So let’s start answering these questions. Some people think of the leader as someone who can direct a group of followers. However, a true leader doesn’t make others do things, the true leader inspires action.
Leaders should use their influence to get others to achieve a goal. This situation is ideal, because if the leader were to go and do something else, the leader’s followers would still work towards that goal. On the other hand, if the leader had used compliance rather than influence, in the advent of that the leader needed to do something else and was unavailable, the followers would not work towards the goal. This idea of influence rather than compliance, distinguishes those who are leaders and those who simply lead. Manager’s, who attempt to make others comply with their orders, are not acting like true leaders. Compliance is not something that stirs feelings of enthusiasm and passion out of the followers, and is therefore less efficient. In addition, attempting to use compliance, can lead to feelings of rebellion among the followers. This could lead them to go do the opposite of what is needed.
A leader needs to convert others towards having the same ideas and goals. Another important aspect of leadership is where the focus on the subject has traditionally been. In the past, leadership concepts have focused on the individual. This is how many people thought of the topic. Though leadership is about individual traits, it is also a group process. For example, followers identifying as a group, and accepting the leader’s proposals as progressing group interests, is central to the idea of leadership. Seeing oneself as part of a unit or as a “we” and seeing the other group as “they” is fundamental to human psychology.
In short, managers need to ask themselves, are the directions they are communicating to the followers, done in a style that is authoritative, controlling, directive, and non-imaginative? It may be easy to communicate in a compliance-seeking manner, but it is not imaginative, not engaging, and not as effective. Or are the directions being communicated in such a way so as to inspire the followers to align their goals, ideas and objectives with those of the leader’s. By putting in more effort into the followers, such as, by providing them with rich examples, ideas, and knowledge, their passion will be stirred, and this will allow them to self-motivate. They will then be converted to the leader’s cause and path.
- Lecture 7 – What Determines Good Leadership
Lecture 7 – What Determines Good Leadership
People have different views on the idea of who is a natural leader and who is someone that just leads. Wouldn’t it be great if there were a systematic way, or an exam of some sort, that would do the work in determining who really would make the best leader? Unfortunately, the idea of a well performing and natural leader contains many different ideas and theories, which complicate the picture sufficiently, that it is not easy to design such a systematic leader prediction test. It should be clear that a leader needs skills. But also the leader should act or behave in certain way. In addition, the situation also plays a role. This forms the foundation of our understanding; that skill, behaviour, and the situation is all part of what it is that determines good leadership. However, there are a few more advanced and less known ideas.
These, I will explore in this lecture. First, good performance can be attributed to a leader’s traits. Second, good performance can be attributed to the leader’s needs. Third, leaders can have task or person orientation, which allows for different levels of performance. These three ideas offer insight into the relationship between personal characteristics and leader performance.
Traits – I will touch briefly on the topic of trait theory as it relates to leader performance. First of all, there are many different personality types. A person can possess many different personality traits. Some people possess a certain set of traits, which are aligned with good leadership, whereas others possess a set of traits, which are not wanted in leaders. This leads us to the idea that a leader’s performance is based upon possessing certain traits. For example; a good leader may be said to be “intelligent”, “independent”, and “friendly”. A bad leader may be said to be “afraid”, “agitated”, and “shy”. The trait theory of leader performance, says that certain traits are necessary to posses so as to have success as a leader. However, possessing these traits does not automatically mean that someone will be a good leader. For example, two people may both possess the same “good leadership traits” however, one person may succeed, and the other person may fail. It may have been the case that one person was luckier, perhaps they were in a particular place at a particular time that allowed for an opportunity that another did not get.
Needs – The type of needs a person has; has an impact on their leadership performance. A person who wants is to achieve, is more focused on the attainment of results than with how others see them. This leads to effective leadership, because prioritizing the objective over being liked allows the leader for an easier time in the decision making process. Imagine a leader needs to ask the employees to work faster and harder, but wants to be liked at the same time. This is a contradiction! Then there are those who want power. It turns out that there is a relation between high performance manager and the need for power. The power that these types of managers seek is organizational power, not personal power.
Task Versus Person Orientation – Different managers have different orientations, which yield different outcomes, and different levels of performance. According to one theory, the manager’s orientation can be on the task or on the person. Managers that are task oriented, structure their own actions and the actions of others. On the plus side, they know how to give directions, set goals and make decisions. The task oriented manager’s employees end up being productive. However, these types of managers do not consult the workers, which can sometimes reduce worker satisfaction. A manager that is person oriented likes to engage in dialogue with workers by asking questions, and offers the workers praise for their achievements. The employees end up being satisfied with this type of leader. However, the best manager is not one that is either task oriented, or person oriented, but one that is both. This is because; the manager needs both productive and satisfied employees to be effective.
- Lecture 8 – Why Do Leadership Roles And Hierarchy Exist
Lecture 8 – Why Do Leadership Roles And Hierarchy Exist
In this lecture, I am going to present some ideas about the existence of leadership. Leadership roles exist for a reason. I mean we wouldn’t have roles like team lead, supervisor, manager, general manager, or executive, if the roles were redundant or not needed in the organization. Simply put, the leadership roles must provide some benefit; otherwise there would be no reason for countless organizations worldwide to have them. The leadership roles exist, because the hierarchy within the organization provides the organization with a competitive advantage. If hierarchy did not provide a competitive advantage, then organizations would cut down on the leadership roles, and would instead, have a simpler flattened structure. Wouldn’t reducing the organization towards including only the work producers, and removing the management overhead, not save money and increase efficiency? It does not. It has been found that the handling of numerous complicated tasks can be most efficiently handled, when they are broken down into hierarchy. So management type roles make organizations able to handle tasks more efficiently. When organizations are faced with having to perform many different complicated tasks, as most often have to, the way the leaders schedule, sequence, and organize the tasks ends up determining the efficiency and success of the organization. In addition, hierarchies serve other functions. For example, the people with most competence are placed higher up the level in the hierarchy, such that they are able to then transfer their skill down the hierarchy to their subordinates. The hierarchies facilitate efficient skills and knowledge transfer. In addition, there is also the matter of speed. Hierarchies are often used in places like the police force or the military, because hierarchically driven organizations have a quick response time to challenging situations. In short, I can summaries these ideas into the idea that leadership exists, to manage efficiently the hierarchies of organizations towards gaining a competitive advantage.
- Lecture 9 – Leadership Is A Group Process
Lecture 9 – Leadership Is A Group Process
While creating this course, I realized that leadership is not just one of my professional interests, but it is an interest which I’ve had and expressed as part of conversations throughout my life. Like me, great deals of people out there have also had an ongoing interest, fascination and discussion on the topic of leadership. In general, leadership is very widely talked about. A book search, which I conducted on Amazon on February 2016, with the keyword leadership, yielded 179905 results. As you can see, it’s a very large topic. This amount of interest on this topic makes the topic very important. A reason for this interest has to do with the fact that leadership is how change is achieved, and change is required to improve the human condition.
Often times, many people have similar goals and objectives. However, a problem that people face is that they find it challenging to devote themselves towards the achievement of the goals. In addition, the motivation required to succeed individually, is very high, as it can be very challenging to complete complex tasks as an individual. As a result, people with similar goals group together. The group requires organization, and this requires leadership. In the leader position, the leader can then uses their influence to organize and motivate the group. Because of the importance of this position, people end up thinking of leadership as an individual thing, or “I” thing. The reality is that leadership is about an interaction between followers and leaders, and that means that leadership is a group process. The prominence of the group should be visible, as it is the followers, which may or may not accept a leader as being a part of the group. If they determine that the leader cannot achieve progress for the group, then the leader will be replaced. The followers are the ones that either accept or reject the potential leader. The followers may be viewed as passive entities who must comply with the demands of those in power; however, in reality, the followers are the ones that have to be convinced to contribute in the first place, so as to turn a particular vision into a reality.
- Lecture 10 – Does The Situation Or Character Determine Leader Behaviour
Lecture 10 – Does The Situation Or Character Determine Leader Behaviour
During August of 1971, an experiment, called the Stanford Prison Experiment was conducted. Philip Zimbardo, a psychology professor, led the researchers. In the basement of Stanford University, a simulated prison was created. Of student participants, some were assigned to be the “prisoners”, and some were assigned to be the “guards”. The students chosen to be the “guards” were excited about their roles. Some took their roles to the extreme, being so enthusiastic so as to derive pleasure from humiliating the prisoners. Due to the increasing brutality shown by the guards, the experiment was terminated after only six days. The power provided to the guards, as exemplified by their uniform, modified their behaviour. The position given to the guards determined their behaviour. The experiment showed that the situation or context determined the leader and the leader’s behaviour. Generally, researchers believe that character is not completely removed by the situation, but the situation does moderate character.
LEADERSHIP TYPES
- Lecture 11 – Charismatic Leadership
Lecture 11 – Charismatic Leadership
When it comes to the quality of leadership, I think everyone has noticed that the quality level can vary. Some leaders are more effective than others. Some leaders are more natural than others. Some are better than others. And sometimes, you just end up with whom you end up with. But what constitutes this difference. For example, what is a key factor which people use to determine whether someone is a better leader than another? The short answer is personality. To show how personality can have a drastic effect on the leadership process, I will focus my discussion on “charismatic leadership”.
So when we talk about “charismatic leadership”, what are we talking about? We’re pretty much talking about the leader’s personality. The leaders with charisma are pretty happy about it. The leaders without charisma, simply, would like to have more of it. Also, in general, there is a desire in many people, to have more charisma than they have. Now, why is this? Well, charisma gives people a competitive advantage. In addition, charisma has a good track record. For example, in history, it has been associated with great movements and important events. Another thing to consider is that charisma has also been associated with seduction, deception, and immoral behaviour.
Charismatic leaders have powerful techniques at their disposal. These types of leaders make their struggle seem to be significant, grand, and heroic. They use techniques such as the exaggeration of plans and then persuade others as to their potential to achieve nearly impossible feats; all acts which motivate their followers. The charismatic leader’s personality influence the followers in such a way, that the leader ends up being considered as a special person. All of this, when taken together, lead charismatic leaders to attract followers which then see the leader a figure that is above, different, and more special than everyone else.
Charismatic leaders behave differently than non-charismatic leaders, and they also think differently. A skill of charismatic leaders has to do with their ability to spot irregularities, weaknesses or limitations of the current condition or situation. They are able to see what it is that bothers people, what it is that that is unfair, what it is that doesn’t work well or is inefficient. They are then able to formulate a vision, which aims to overcome these problems. It is the charismatic leaders views, analysis, and observations that convince others that the charismatic leaders possess a special vision. Further, leadership is about the idea of trade. The charismatic leader provides the follower a mission, often times this mission appeals to the needs of the follower. In return, the follower offers their support. But it isn’t simply that the mission appeals to the follower, I mean, couldn’t the follower achieve the mission on their own and therefore not need the leader? This brings us to the idea of why the followers in an organization agree to be led. The followers are afraid that they cannot achieve the objective on their own. It becomes the follower’s hope, that by following someone, the objective is more likely to be met. The psychology behind this is that following a leader provides a psychological benefit, and that is the reduction of fear. Further, charismatic leaders have confidence that objectives will be achieved, and this confidence, saves people from their fears.
Charismatic leaders have qualities, which make them a great fit as being the response to an emergency or crisis situation. In fact, during many national emergencies, we see the rise of charismatic leaders. During great societal challenges, extraordinary leadership performance is required. Out of all the leader types, charismatic leader types can meet this need. Their method is to inspire everyone so as to bring together everyone’s efforts into a collaboration that will overcome the challenge. In order for them to maintain support, they will need to be successful. Without success, things will fall apart as the public will no longer see them as having charismatic qualities. In terms of business, the process is the same. The charismatic vision will allow them to see market opportunities, the charismatic will be able to offer solutions that inspire and motivate people towards a joint effort.
Now that we know about charismatic leadership, how can one develop such attributes towards the betterment of their own management practice? Things that one can do, include; working on one’s own confidence, working towards maintaining positive demeanour, working towards improving enthusiasm, looking for problems that businesses face, looking for emergency situations, and thinking about visions and potential solutions. These are generalities, so I’ll describe a specific process. First, the manager must believe that the objective is achievable. Second, the manager must act confident. People detect confidence by detecting who among them are inhibited in their actions, and who are disinhibited and free spirited. Those that are disinhibited are assumed to have more confidence. Third, figure out solutions for the organization. One must realize that organizations have problems and require leadership to organize work towards solving their problems. Without having a solution prepared, you will not be requested to lead the problem solving.
After listening to all of that, I’m sure that the importance of charisma has been established. However, some of you might be a bit unhappy with these ideas, especially if you are the type of person that has no charisma. If you don’t have charisma, don’t stress over it. I’ll give you an example. Let’s say a person, which we’ll call Bob, gets a job in management. In this position, followers will listen to what Bob has to say without hesitation. Bob is likely to believe people follow him because of his amazing personality, rather than his position. Attributing the follower’s attitudes towards him to his own personality, it is very likely Bob’s confidence will grow. As Bob’s confidence grows, people will like him even more, which will further his confidence. Bob will end up a lot more free, and will b e disinhibited in his actions. As a result, Bob will gain charisma. This could be you.
- Lecture 12 – Inclusive Leadership
Lecture 12 – Inclusive Leadership
Inclusive Leadership is a type of leadership which focuses on the quality of the connection, or relationship, between the leader and the subordinates. The aim of inclusive leadership is to promote and enhance this connection. Techniques, which are part of this idea, include; making followers a part of the decision making process, thinking of and treating the followers positively, taking into consideration the needs of the followers, and rewarding those that do good work. At first, it may seem that inclusive leadership benefits the followers more than the leadership, however, this is not the case. By benefitting the relationship between those that lead and those that follow, the benefits achieved are reciprocal. For example, when it comes to including followers in the decision making process, the specialized knowledge of the followers which the leadership most likely does not possess, is enough to ensure that more informed decisions are made. In the end, a better decision will be made.
- Lecture 13 – Destructive Leadership
Lecture 13 – Destructive Leadership
Leadership can make good things happen, but also bad things. Most business people associate the idea of leadership with positive qualities, qualities they themselves aim to possess in order to be selected as leaders. However, leadership can be destructive. To show this, I will summarize six areas that are part of destructive leadership.
Narcissistic Leadership. There are various behaviours, which are associated with narcissistic leadership. Some of these include entitlement, superiority, and the manipulation of others.
Toxic Leadership – Toxic leadership can be associated with things such as being controlling and micromanaging. Toxic leaders do not think about how their followers are doing, and they do not look out for the follower’s best interests.
Laissez Faire Leadership – Laissez Faire leaders are calm and passive. They do not do enough work, do not meet their responsibilities, and do not achieve team objectives. They are often distracted or away from their work.
Abusive Leadership. There are various behaviours, which are associated with abusive leadership. Some of these include hostility. For example, a leader who has suffered sometimes redirects their anger and hostility towards their followers.
Dark Charisma – Many have heard the saying, “power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely” The truth is, power sometimes corrupts charismatic leaders. These leaders begin to pursue their own interests, rather than the interests of the company.
Unethical Leadership – Unethical leaders lie, manipulate, shift blame, and cause conflicts.
- Lecture 14 – Strategic Leadership
Lecture 14 – Strategic Leadership
Strategic leadership is not a type of leadership many are familiar with or exposed to. Within organizations, a common leadership type is supervisory leadership. This type of leadership happens in an organization. Strategic leadership has to do with the leadership of an entire organization. When thinking of the term strategic leadership, people often assume it has a great deal to do with planning. But strategic leadership is more than that. Strategic leadership is about being tactical and taking opportunities and making situations work for the company. Also, strategic leaders are inspirational, and use this to get contributions to their causes. Recently, strategic leaders within the private sector of the financial markets were criticized. The criticism started with the 2008 financial crisis, where too much risk tasking in the financial and real estate industries occurred. The public saw the strategic leaders as responsible, and when these leaders were bailed out with public funds, the public was further angered.
- Lecture 15 – Structured Leadership
Lecture 15 – Structured Leadership
I’ve discussed leadership from various perspectives. I’ve talked about it from the viewpoint of crisis situations, exceptional circumstances, and removing fears. But leadership also has another side to it, a more average side. Sometimes businesses have projects and strategic initiatives to capitalize on opportunities, and at other times, businesses just need to operate and make money in a more automated fashion. When there are great objectives to be achieved, the charismatic leadership is very useful. However, when there are simply regular everyday operations, do we really need visionaries with great communications skills and great goals? There is another type of leadership, called structured leadership, which is useful in everyday operations.
During everyday operations, businesses need to operate in an automated fashion. To accomplish this, the leader needs to create systems, rules, workflows and methods. These things are all leadership structures. Some businesses have too few, and some businesses have too many, of these structures. With too few structures, there is too much flexibility, and every problem leads to excessive negotiation and arguments. With too many structures, this can be restricting, such that it demotivates people and gives rise to a counter movement where people strive to have more freedom. So if everyday operations require leadership structures, and therefore a structured leadership style, than why are charismatic leaders hired for these roles. People like charisma and effective communicators, but for effective structured operations, businesses should consider structured leaders as well.
LEADERSHIP POWER
- Lecture 16 – Power Of Leaders
In this lecture, I will focus my discussion on a few main points about power because managers need to be aware of issues that surround the idea of power. The five issues I will consider are. One, managers need an understanding of the importance of power. Two, managers need to do an honest self-assessment in figuring out how much power they actually have. If the manager finds that he or she does not have enough power, then a strategy should be developed and acted upon so as to obtain more. Three, managers should understand that having power has psychological consequences, specifically there needs to be an understanding of the mental change someone can undergo as a result of having power. Four, managers need to be aware that there will be people who oppose those with power, and why the issue of being against power doesn’t make sense.
My first point, deals with the importance of having power. Power sometimes has a negative connotation, but actually, a positive way to view it has to do with the fact that having power increases freedom. The definition of freedom actually has the word power in it, and it is; “the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.” So freedom is about doing things that one wishes, and exerting one’s will. As for power, the definition of power states that it is “the ability to do something or act in a particular way”. So it seems, that the definitions of power and freedom are somewhat similar. Additionally, managers can use their power to accomplish things, but also defend their objectives against attacks and other threats. At a more basic level, holding a group together is actually a function of the leader’s power. Without power, the members of the group may leave. However, with power, the leader is able to exert costs on those that wish to leave the group, and as such, group members choose to stay.
My second point, deals with the knowledge that managers should have regarding how much power they actually possess. For the managers that do not have enough power, then they should at least know or figure out how to get more. This is what I will elaborate on: how to get more power. The process of obtaining power is actually a process of obtaining authority. For a manager to have power, the manager needs a solid grounding of authority. A way to do this is to develop professionally by taking courses that enhance the expert knowledge base. Doing this, in combination with gradually increasing the level of assertion that one displays, should be effective. In addition to the subordinates noticing the changes, the organization is likely to award more power to someone that does this. This is because organizations often recognize professional development work, as they have experienced that those with such work tend to perform better, and organizations are performance oriented.
Third, many people intuitively know that power can affect the psychology of the person who has it. Managers should be familiar with this idea, that is, they should know that: the effects of power affect a leader’s psychological development. To demonstrate this, I will provide an example where there is positive psychological development that arises out of having power. Let’s say a manager asks something of his subordinates. Let’s assume that the subordinates go beyond the call of duty to listen and do more than is requested. The manager sees this willingness the subordinates have in regards to listening to his or her directions. The manager then tries to understand why the followers are more than willing to follow him, and reasons that they must be acting this way as a result of the managers own personal charisma. This rationale leads the manager towards increased confidence, which results in behaviour that is more disinhibited. As people notice this newfound confidence, they like it, and they reply with positive remarks. This cycle repeats, and the manager’s confidence grows. As power can create positive effects in a person’s psychology, it’s important to not forget that negative effects can also be developed.
The fourth and final point in regards to power has to do with the need for managers to realize that others have issues with people in a position of power. The people, who have issues with people that have power, are usually afraid of the potential for the misuse of power, or the dark side of power. Though this is the case often, there is a way to make an argument for power. To start off with, the manager can talk about regulation of power. The manager can describe how the monitoring, control and regulation of power works to prevent negative outcomes. This argument is probably not enough to dissuade those with a view against class structure, hierarchy and power. So the manager will need to find examples of great goals, which have been achieved by those in power. The key is, for great things to be accomplished, power is required. Additionally, the manager can look at emergency and crisis situations, where people in a position of power were able to resolve. Most people want emergencies, catastrophes, conflicts, and crises to be resolved, and will have a tough time to counter argue that it does not require power to resolve these. Therefore, it does not make sense for someone to be against power while also wanting that great things be achieved and crises resolved.
- Lecture 17 – Leadership Through Power
Lecture 17 – Leadership Through Power
Sometimes, managers use power strategically in order to lead. Power is important to management, because a manager that has power is able to influence other people. After being influenced, others will then do what is necessary to bring about the change that the manager seeks. If the manager were to be without any power, then they would be unable to bring about change. They would not be able to access the resources they need, update the policy of the organization, or achieve anything substantial. For this reason, lets discuss five basic types of power to be aware of and know how to use; reward power, coercive power, legitimate power, referent power and expert power.
Reward Power – Managers should have reward power. They need to be able to provide financial and non-financial rewards. As part of the financial rewards, they need to be able to promote people, or offer salary increases. As part of the non-financial rewards, they need to be able to influence such things as the type of work one does.
Coercive Power – To some people, the word Coercive can be a bit confusing. The simple definition states that it means, using force or threats to make someone do something. Now with this definition in mind, Coercive doesn’t seem to sound very “managerial”. However, the terms “coercive power” dbelong in the manager’s toolset. For a manager to have coercive power, it means that they need to behave in such away so as to show their seriousness towards disciplinary actions. To maintain discipline, the manager must maintain their ability to punish, and the employees must know that the manager has this ability and must believe that the manager would use this ability if needed. If the manager has difficulty with punishing employees, the manager must fake it, so as to maintain their coercive power.
Legitimate Power – Legitimate power is the power a person gets when they are accepted into a formal or official position of leadership within a company or other type of organization. The position this usually refers to is that of a team lead, supervisor, manager or executive. As an example, a sports coach has legitimate power over the members of a boxing team. As another example, in the military, a sergeant has legitimate power over a private. As another example, in a business, a president has legitimate power over a vice-president. Though it would be nice to simply use this kind of power in the organization, there is a risk to doing so. The people respond poorly and are not satisfied with being given orders based on a figure that has control due to their level in the hierarchy. The followers would be more satisfied with being influenced based on other forms of power.
Referent Power – Sometimes, doing what is necessary to have power can require quite a bit of discipline, work, and can be challenging. However, this is not the case with Referent Power. It is easier to obtain Referent power than other forms of power. This type of power deals with doing favours for people, being nice to people, and complimenting when the opportunity arises. A manager, which acts in positive way consistently, and goes about it in a genuine way, will eventually leave a positive impression on others. When the time comes to influence these people, it will be a much easier task, as the people will have been prepared psychologically with a positive response.
Expert Power – Expert power is a challenging and difficult power to obtain and maintain. Even if achieved, maintaining expert status can be challenging both because people can forget what they learn, and in addition, the world offers a fast paced and ever changing environment to contend with. Expert power requires a lot of study, preparation, training, and eventually networking among expert peers so as to attain recognition or expert status. However, for those that succeed, and do attain expert knowledge, they then attain a great power. Being the manager of computer technicians would be a difficult thing without technician knowledge, as the nature of the job itself requires technical knowledge. Also, it is expected from the regular computer technicians that the manager know m ore than they do. Also, even if the computer technicians were to look the other way and not expect their superior to have expert knowledge, what would they then do if they did not know the answers to the technical problems, which arise during the course of the work.
- Lecture 18 – The Power Method
People generally understand that those who can exercise power are considered leaders. This is because those who have “power” are able to use it to get others to follow. If they did not have this power, then they would be unable to get others to follow. For leadership to work, one must be able to get others to follow, and this is can be done with some form of power.
Consider an example where a manager wishes to get his employees to attend a series of courses lasting one week long in another city. The manager may strongly believe in these courses. The manager may see all of the potential benefits the newly trained employees could bring to the company; however, the employees may not see things the same way. The employees may not realize the full benefits, and may even see the proposal as a nuisance and more work. If these courses happen to not be an organizational requirement, then the manager will have a problem. However, the problem only exists if the manager doesn’t have some sort of power over the employees. The manager will likely need to use his or her power to convince and push the employees towards attending these courses. There are several types of power, which I’ve discussed before, which can be used. First, as part of reward power, the employees are more likely go to the courses if some sort of reward is to be offered. Second, as part of informational power, the employees are more likely to go if they will get some important information or knowledge relevant to their work. Third, as part of legitimate power, the manager can simply pressure the employees with his or her position, which the employees will recognize and most likely listen to. Fourth, as part of coercive power, the employees are likely to go if they fear that they will be punished for not going. Fifth, as part of expert power, if the employees see the manager as an expert, than they will likely follow the advice. Sixth, as part of referent power, the employees are likely to go if they have respect for their manager.
There are many influencers, or forms of power, which can influence whether or not the employees go on an optional learning endeavour. The manager’s role is to figure out which form or combination of forms of power he or she should use that will be most effective in leading the subordinates. One thing to watch out for is that the use of power is dependent on the person on who is the target of control. For example, informational power and expert power are fairly passive forms of power which can easily be used on most people regardless of status, however, other more active forms of power, may be limited to subordinates only.
LEADERSHIP TECHNIQUES
- Lecture 19 – How To Become A Leader And Be Accepted As A Leader
Some of you may have gone through the steps to become a leader, and some of you may not have. But regardless of where you’re at, an important question to ask or know the answer to is; how does someone become a leader? Before leadership can happen, there is a stage at the beginning, where the leader analyzes and assesses the situation that exists. The leader then thinks about future possibilities; what is missing, what could be changed, or what could be improved upon. After formulating some unique ideas, the leader then thinks from the perspective of setting some goals or objectives that will capitalize on the possibilities that have been discovered. Then begins a fight or struggle towards achieving these goals or objectives. Being wise, the leader realizes that achieving the goals may require more effort and labour than possible as one person. The leader then attempts to recruit others in the same endeavour, to struggle and fight as well, therefore pooling all the effort for maximum benefit. This sounds easy, but it is not. There is a technique that can be used to attain these helpful alliances, and that is basically by creating rationales and presenting the idea that things could be better than they presently are. The leader should focus on pushing the idea that others shouldn’t settle on the current limitations or poor situation that exists. There will be some resistance to these ideas, because they naturally lead to the conclusion that one should follow the will of the leader, which implies that they should no longer follow their own will, which requires giving up some freedom. And naturally, why would anyone want to give up any freedom? Again, the answer is to highlight a goal that if achieved, would improve upon some aspect of the present situation. Further, the goal must be achievable, and the leader must have full belief in its achievability. The confidence in the endeavour is what will remove the follower’s fears to undertake an initiative. There are usually many difficulties in achieving objectives that require leadership. However, we’ve discovered; with a will, a goal, and a belief in the goal’s attainability, the leader should be able to overcome the challenges.
In history, leaders and followers have worked together to accomplish many great things. Out of all the great things accomplished, it is pretty much a certainty that they were at one point or another simply an objective in the mind of a leader. Goals were set, and they were achieved. However, goals vary in difficulty and complexity. The more difficult goals require that the followers exert more effort, which then requires that the leader have a greater aptitude and ability to motivate them towards exerting more effort. Leaders need to believe in the attainability of the goals, and show this belief confidently, and this helps with creating an atmosphere of motivation.
Leaders don’t just have one goal to achieve; they usually need to achieve a few different goals. The leader’s role is to harness the group effort and direct it and organize it for optimum effect in meeting the different objectives. How can this be done? Simple, announce the goals. Once announced, there will be an emotional reaction from the team, which could be either negative or positive. On the negative side, they may feel unhappy, sad, scared and many other combinations. On the positive side, they may feel full of enthusiasm and excitement. Their reaction is an opportunity. The reaction represents energy, which needs to be harnessed and directed towards solving the challenges outlined. This energy provides the power necessary to achieve the goals together.
Sometimes, some followers may be against the idea of leadership. They may like the goals presented, but they may not think that they need your leadership. Fortunately, there is a technique, which can be used to convince others that your leadership is exactly what they need! The key is to present the goal and overall situation as an emergency or crisis. The key is to create an atmosphere where the followers fear that they may not be able to do things on their own. You must make the situation seem dramatic. The more dramatic the better! The more dramatic the situation, the greater will be their need for your leadership. An example of a potential argument to make that sounds logical, but is actually very dramatic is this: “Though we currently have clients and are making good money, there are new services launching that will probably render our services obsolete. If we do not take on this project, we may not be able to compete with them, and will lose our customers.” By instilling some fear, the followers will want to change things, they will not be sure they can accomplish it on their own, and they will seek out your help. The goal of the leader is to align the fears of the followers, into a shared vision of the crisis. Then the leader can provide a solution to the crisis that involves them as well.
- Lecture 20 – Phases Of Leadership
Lecture 20 – Phases Of Leadership
Leadership is involved, and it is complicated. It’s going to take a few lectures to explain it sufficiently. For now, I will give a broad overview of the process. I will describe the process it in terms of three ideas: analyze, define, and achieve. To begin with, “analyzing” implies that a leader should do some thinking. Consider the situation where an aspiring leader enters a group of people with the goal to take control and lead the group. The aspiring leader acts in a dominant fashion, in the hopes of overpowering the group members into accepting his or her rule. If only it were this easy. It turns out that these actions actually reduce the chance that the group will select this person as the leader. By acting dominant, this person has actually set himself or herself apart from other members of the group. The difference created makes it more difficult to connect, and the right bonding doesn’t take place to facilitate them getting selected as the leader. Now consider another aspiring leader who enters the group, but acts like one of the followers. This is a much better strategy, as it will be possible to connect with the others in this position. As one of the followers, it will be possible to learn, discuss, and identify with the others. Having all of this information will then make it possible to influence other group members towards certain directions; therefore, it will be possible to lead them. These ideas are perfectly demonstrated by the “BBC Prison Study” experiment. In this experiment, prisoner DM didn’t try to act dominant from the beginning; instead, he sat and listened to other cellmates in his cell. He asked about various topics. After he understood the goals of the prisoners and the weakness in the guard positions, that is, their conflicting views, DM took action. The “analyzing”, was necessary, and it led to DM to gather support for his ideas. Analyzing is necessary, because it is impossible to lead a group, which is not understood.
What follows “Analyzing”, is “Defining”. Defining is the step in the process where one declares certain ideas to the group. The leader must accomplish three things in this phase. First, the leader has to define the group, has to define themselves, and then has to show the similarities between themselves and the group. Second, the leader then needs to test the waters and propose ideas. Hopefully this will align with the group such that the ideas will be accepted, which will then lead to the creation of policies. Third, the leader needs to make an overall vision. All of these things need to happen in the defining process.
And lastly, it’s time to talk about “Achieving”. Certain types of leaders, such as charismatic leaders, always seem to have an answer. Their answers also seem to be very motivating. However motivating certain ideas may be, if the ideas remain as ideas, the motivation does not last forever. As such, the leader needs to realize the ideas into tangible results. The leader needs to achieve. In my earlier example from the BBC Prison Study, I discussed prisoner DM’s methods. Prisoner DM knew how to become a leader. Prisoner DM asked questions of the prisoners and then understood their goals. He also observed the guards, and realized that they were not coordinated. For example, anyone could ask questions of the guards. His “achieving” phase included things such as promoting unity among the prisoners and promoting disunity among the guards. He was strategic in his achievement actions.
- Lecture 21 – Creativity, Wisdom, Intelligence And The Synthesis Of Stories
Organizations need good leadership to thrive in today’s environment. This makes finding effective leaders a priority for many organizations. A way to detect potential candidates for the role is to look at their attributes. A good set of attributes and relevant to effective leadership, which I recently came across, includes: creativity, wisdom, and intelligence. But effective leadership isn’t merely about possessing these attributes, but having the attitude to use them. A way to use these attributes is to synthesize the attributes into interesting and motivating stories. I will explain the attributes in more detail. With creativity, one is able to create new and interesting ideas, ideas that can then become stories. If the stories appeal and make sense to people, then they will follow. Do not underestimate the power of explaining situations and circumstances in the form of a story. With intelligence, one is able to analyze if the ideas created are any good. Intelligence also allows for a full end to end analysis, from the idea, which aims to solve a problem, to the plan for solving the problem, to the observation of the problem solving taking place, to the final result. And finally, with wisdom, one is able to pursue the common good. Wisdom involves the use of both knowledge and attitude. Synthesizing wisdom, intelligence, and creativity allows a person to lead effectively. Effective leaders are able to use their creativity to create content that they can use as part of stories towards motivating followers. The alignment between the leader’s story and the follower’s stories will determine the leader’s success.
- Lecture 22 – Conflict Management
Lecture 22 – Conflict Management
As a leader, you will encounter many situations in your career that will involve the handling of conflict. This is part of the job responsibility, to manage conflict. Organizations sometimes face conflict with other organizations, but most of the time, the conflict to be resolved is the more regular type of conflict within the organizations. Between the followers, there can be disagreements, tension, and even conflict. The leader must try to regulate such conflict through diplomacy. To accomplish this, the leader must give each side the chance to speak and voice their opinion. After all the points are made, the leader needs to communicate the points provided, so that each side understands each other’s viewpoints. Unfortunately, this process would work if people did not have opposing interests or emotionality, but this is simply not the case. The leader needs to do more than this. You would think this wouldn’t be the case, but conflict may even be increased after each side has explained their issues. As part of the debate, frustration may set in, and people may start to react uncontrollably. The manager needs to control the potentially escalating situation by acting in an opposite manner to how the two sides are acting. This means that the manager must act consistent, controlled, rational, and logical. Further, the manager must make a point to not get drawn into the conflict and to use good judgment in making decisions. All of these things should help to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control.
There are times, however, where control of the situation is lost. Usually, when people are in a conflict, they have a choice to make. They can both lose control of themselves and escalate the conflict, or they can tone it down, inhibit their aggression and maintain control. The benefit they seek in losing control is that they will then pursue their own interest in trying to dominate the other party, thus getting their way. However, if they choose to inhibit their aggression, then they are prioritizing on maintaining the quality of the relationship. Unfortunately, many people give in to their impulses and lose control of the conflict situations. The reason for this is unfortunate, and it is that once the conflict has occurred, it leaves a permanent mark, one that cannot be undone. The end result is that trust is lost in the relationship.
I’ve mentioned a bit about the role of the manager in managing conflict. However, my arguments imply that conflict must be regulated, as escalating conflict is a negative thing. This is not always the case, as conflict can actually be escalated for useful reasons. Consider a manager who has subordinates that are not well liked by the manager’s colleagues. After analyzing his subordinates, the manager determines there is nothing wrong or being done wrong by any of his subordinates. The manager reasons that his own colleagues have no case and are being a nuisance. If the manager were to attempt to reduce the conflict, it is not likely this solution would yield a good long-term result. After all, what incentive do the manager’s colleagues, which are at his level, have to reduce their constant complaints about the subordinates. However, if the manager were to allow his impulsivity to be expressed a little bit, and thus escalating the conflict, the manager would be heard, and most likely, it would be very effective. The point is that conflict that is done strategically, but not out of irrational emotionality, may be an effective tool and just what is needed sometimes.
- Lecture 23 – Today’s Managers Versus Yesterday’s Managers
Lecture 23 – Today’s Managers Versus Yesterday’s Managers
Nowadays, the state of the global economy has given rise to a new economic pessimism. Arguments have been made that the global economy is “sinking”. Some argue, that the current economic trends don’t hold a good promise for the future of the world. In short, this leads to the idea that the economic system and its direction don’t represent a future worth striving for. Just like the financial system, corporations also have trouble in giving positive meaning for society. The problem lies with the fact thatcorporations have goals which sound too investor driven, such as “increase sales by 20%”. By focusing on the investor, the employees lose touch and connection with the company, as it provides no meaning to them. This is where the manager comes in. It is the manager’s role to convert the goals to make them sound more relevant to the employees. This could be done by, forgetting the investor perspective, and focusing on the customer perspective.
Today’s managers are different than yesterday’s managers. They derive their leadership strength differently. Today’s manager derives leadership strength from the use of meaning. Yesterday’s manager derived their leadership strength from their power. The difference lies with the fact that today’s manager has far less power than yesterdays’ manager. Nowadays, there are limitations placed on the use of power, and there are rules and regulations, which most managers have to contend with. This difference has meant that modern managers have had to go the extra mile; they have had to adopt new skills. Today’s managers need far more social skill to be successful than was needed by past managers in the similar positions. Here’s an example to demonstrate the difference. Today’s manager exerts power in a subtle fashion. The manager may say something like “John, the GM, was unhappy this morning. I’m not sure, but you weren’t here in the morning, and that may have had something to do with it.” The manager has instilled fear into the employee, with only a slight inference.
- Lecture 24 – When To Be Fair And When To Be Unfair
Lecture 24 – When To Be Fair And When To Be Unfair
Fairness is a key idea when it comes to leadership practice. To be successful as a leader, it involves knowledge on when to be fair and when to be unfair. It may sound surprising that one must know when to be unfair, as one would assume that being fair at all times could make for a good rule. However, this is not the case. Sometimes, being fair is advantageous and garners support from others, and sometimes being unfair garners support. I will get back to this idea shortly. Lets start with the idea that fairness is the necessary psychological foundation upon which influence and therefore leadership can exist. The group that the leader is in charge of has an expectation of the leader to be fair. Others will follow the leader as long as he or she is fair. Further, it is important that two main points are remembered. First, the leader must show themselves to be similar to the group, and treating themselves and the members of the group similarly does this. Sometimes, leaders treat themselves better than the members of the group, which sets them apart from the rest of the group, which leads to dissatisfaction with their leadership. Second, the leader sometimes treats certain members of a group preferentially. By doing this, the leader is not showing egalitarian fairness to the members of the group, and again, their leadership practice is jeopardized.
There is a study I’m going to mention, which discusses this idea. In New Zealand, a study with university students took place. The students were shown a memo from a “CEO” that discussed dividing up time on a Kidney Dialysis machine between two New Zealanders. When the time split was to be equal, the CEO received support. When the time split between a New Zealander and an immigrant was to be equal, the CEO did not receive support. In this study, the students also provided support as long as the CEO provided the New Zealander more time than the outsider. This shows that the leader can maintain support if he is both fair to a member of the group, but unfair to an outsider. The leader must know when to be unfair.
What am I going to get from this course?
- Become a more objective, insightful and effective leader.
- Learn about the power that leaders possess and how to achieve it.
- Gain insights and learn leadership principles that will prepare you for a management position.
- Improve your practice as a manager through the use of professional leadership techniques.
- Absorb interesting concepts, terminology and examples.
- Improve your ability to discuss leadership and management with your colleagues and recruiters.
- Gain leadership strength and authority through insights.
- Learn advanced techniques in areas such as “conflict management”, “leadership through power” and “becoming a leader”.
- Make a smooth transition from a worker to a manager, and once a manager, have the knowledge required to stay there!
- Enhance your management performance through application of leadership principles.
Become a better manager who is respected by subordinates, superiors and peers.
Who is the target audience?
- Production Workers, Team Leaders, Supervisors, Managers
- Students of leadership, management, and psychology.
- Anyone wishing to become an effective leader or manager.
- Anyone wishing to gain an insight into the responsibilities of a manager.
- Anyone wishing to understand how psychology impacts the role.
- Anyone who is likely to be promoted to a new management role.
- A person who is a new manager and is undergoing training.
- Management professionals pursuing professional development.
- Production workers who wish to understand their manager’s role.
- Business professionals who need to perform leadership functions.
- Business professionals who wish to lead objectively and effectively.
What are the requirements?
- To have an interest in management and leadership.
- To have an interest in the development of professional management skills.
- To be open to learning insights which apply to the role.
- It is recommended to review the lectures more than once. It is recommended to write down notes and thoughts after every lecture. These actions will help you to remember the material.
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