Leadership skills

Leadership (Trait Approach Vs. Skills Approach)

January 30, 2018 by Armin Vossooghi

As we all think about our own leadership abilities, sometimes we can’t help but wonder if we are made up for such a serious and responsible task. For those of us who has no knowledge of leadership and how a leader is formed or in some views born, it might be a challenging task to become one, either at our work place, school, amongst our own peers or even any given small tasks that we inherit spontaneously.

Well the truth of the matter as I have mentioned in my last blog is that not all leaders are born and now as we progress into the course and diverse types of leadership approaches, we came across trait approach. According to trait approach which believes that great leaders are born with a set of traits that qualify them and make them ideal for a leadership role and believe it or not only “great” people possess them (Northouse, 2016).

Well that couldn’t have been far from the truth in my opinion. For example, you might have heard someone say, “I can do anything” and even that shows confidence, that statement might be a bit stretched out from the actual truth.

If one individual trait is appropriate in a specific situation, it does not necessarily make them the right candidate for the next job. For example, if you were born to a family of police officers and law enforcement, chances are that at an early very age you were acquainted with the stories that your family told you about their daily activities on the patrol and (even though not all police officers patrol out streets) on the job. They even might have taken you on some ride along. That’s a perfect example of learned abilities at an early age and an example of Skills approach. With Skills Approach unlike Trait approach it is believed that leaders are trained with a set of traits and are not born with those traits.

Research for a long time has been trying to figure out leadership and they’ve come up with countless terms to define and explain personalities that would determine if we can see whom leaders are and whom are not. Research had broken down majority of these personalities into five major categories, for our sake. One, Consciousness or Dependability, Agreeableness, Neuroticism/Emotional Stability and Adjustment, Openness to Experience/ Intellectance and finally Extra version/ Surgency (PSU, 2018)

I believe there is no other book or course than can get in depth of leadership in my opinion than psych 485. The reason why I say this is that, all the material re straight forward and really explains the types of different leaderships, and leadership approaches. I have to say one thing that I know I will not forget is that, with trait approach we need to remember one size does not fit all. However, with Skilled Approach the skills necessary for the job can be taught and it has a way higher success rate than trait approach leadership.

As I bring this to an end I wanted to mention that Skills Approach has here subcategories; Technical, which in layman term “hand on” and this include factory workers, contractors, custodians and anything that involves hand on work. Second would be Human. This one would be a good example of social workers, therapists, and doctors. They have the skills that they have learned through school and obtaining knowledge to help their fellow mankind. The last one is Conceptual, and this is a notable example of the entrepreneurs. Those who want o to start their own business and think outside of the box. Always ready to make a move and start something new that could take them to the whole different level. I just wanted to mention some of the skills model that can be learned, rather than be born with according to trait approach.

Reference:

Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Seventh Edition. Los Angeles: Sage Publications

Pennsylvania State University, (2018). Psychology 485: Leadership in Work Setting, Lesson 2 and 4: Trait Approach and Skills Approach and

Leadership Styles and Development Levels: That’s what she said!

May 29, 2015 by bbs5079

Leaders are designed and trained to be the decision makers, the head, and the role model for subordinates to follow. With leaders, there are multiple styles to also go off of and encounter with their direction. Some leaders look at at their employees more so as the workers that are helping to accomplish a task to get a job done. This type of leader ship behavior would be more so like directive behaviors. The leader is spelling out what to do, how to do it, and when it needs to be finished. (Lesson 5 Commentary- PSU world campus) Another form of behavior that we will be focusing on with be relationship behaviors or otherwise known as supportive behaviors. These types of behavior are more engaging when it comes to the employee, like listening, supporting, giving motivation to complete the given task. (Lesson 5 Commentary- PSU world campus) For todays example of leadership styles, I would like to highlight NBC’s award winning actor in the hit television series ‘The Office’s very own Michael Scott.

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS6rLnFLEuo

For those that are unfamiliar with the television show, Michael is a manager of a paper company located in Scranton Pennsylvania, Dunder Mifflin. Michael is to over see his Scranton branch in their entire department. Sales, the warehouse, human resources, everything. Selling paper would be one thing, but doing it with a dry, sarcastic, loud and obnoxious leader is another. Within the two leadership styles that was brought up earlier Michael has sense of direction. His direction however is inserting himself into every conversation that is to be had at work except for the ones that have to do with paper!

To Michaels defense, he cares. The only problem is he cares too much when it comes to Dunder Mifflin’s employees personal lives! Michael shows strong behaviors of relationship. This type of style is reflecting personal interest in employees.(Lesson 5 Commentary- PSU world campus) This would be a great approach of the direction was focused toward work, whereas the employees are trying to focus on work when Michael is more interested in what they are doing this weekend or forwarded that funny email from this morning. Having a supportive behavior isn’t a bad trait to have, but it needs to be applied in the right type of conversation.

One of the other top sales representatives at Dunder Mifflin, Jim Halpert, was asked in one season to help ‘co manage’ the branch with Michael. One was to focus on day-to-day work and the other was to focus on the big picture! This was an interesting few episodes because of the management style of Jim and Michael working together. Jim is brought in to help give direction to the employees. Jim shows a much more directive behavior with focusing on a task and making sure everyone is onboard to do their part in succeeding. He still cares about the employees personally, but is much more focused on who is doing what, and making sure it is done correctly. (Lesson 5 Commentary- PSU world campus) Yet again, Michael is more interested in the staff thinking Jim is more import and holds more authority then he does so the rest of the few episodes Michael is trying to prove that he is still the senior boss.

As the series came to an end, Michael learned to somehow put his personal feelings aside, barely, and help complete the assigned jobs that needed done. Jim went back to sales full time, still giving his input on day-to-day and big picture during meetings. This series is meant for comic relief but does a great job demonstrating these styles of behavior form a directional approach and also a relationship approach.

–Lesson 5 Commentary- PSU world campus

Micromanagement in The Situational Leadership Approach

May 26, 2015 by sir1

The premise of the situational leadership approach demands that a leader match his/her style to the competence and commitment of the followers. Effective leaders recognize what employees need and adapt their own style to match those needs. (Jayne, n.d). The difference between what the leader sees and what the follower sees as a follower’s competence and commitment can lead to the perception of micromanagement.

A situation could occur where a leader assigns a new project to a subordinate. The leader finds the subordinate a developmental-level one follower and unable but willing/confident to perform the tasks involved. The level of the subordinate’s readiness is leader directed and the leader has to intervene by directing (Jayne, n.d.). This developmental level offers a subordinate very little autonomy in performing the tasks to complete the project because of the constant oversight and direction the leader believes the subordinate requires.

If the subordinate believes that he or she is a developmental-level four in completing the project, the subordinate feels as if he or she is both able and willing/confident to complete the project. The subordinate’s level of readiness in his or her belief is follower directed and the leader has to intervene minimally by delegating (Jayne, n.d.) – the subordinate sees him or herself as having the skills to complete the project with little leader oversight or direction. When a leader provides direction on a project that the subordinate does not feel he or she needs it creates a sense of micromanagement for the subordinate.

Situational leadership is applicable at both the beginning of a project and during subsequent phases of the project (Northouse, 2013). In order to prevent a sense of micromanagement in the situational leadership approach the leader must remain diligent in keeping abreast of any changes in project specifications to circumvent a subordinate’s potential lack of skill because of the change, the exact depth and breadth of each subordinate’s skills, and exactly where each subordinate is along the developmental continuum in all stages of project completion.

Jayne, B. (n.d.). Lesson 5 (Part 2): Situational Approach. PSYCH485: Leadership in Work Settings. Retrieved from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/su15/psych485/001/content/
05_lesson/04_topic/01_page.html

Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: theory and practice. Los Angeles. Sage Publications.

Do you work for a Toxic Leader?

July 11, 2014 by Aidan Kitching

It’s safe to assume that at one point or another, each of us has had the misfortune of experiencing toxic leadership. Wikipeida defines toxic leadership as “is a person who has responsibility over a group of people or an organization, and who abuses the leader–follower relationship by leaving the group or organization in a worse-off condition than when s/he first found them.” In other words, they’re a bad boss. Some example behaviors exhibited by a toxic leader could be:

Oppositional behavior.
Plays corporate power politics.
An over competitive attitude to other employees.
Perfectionistic attitudes.
Abuse of the disciplinary system (such as to remove a workplace rival).
A condescending/glib attitude.
They are shallow and lack self-confidence. Toxic leaders are not confident with themselves and become aggressive to cope.
Poor self-control and/or restraint.
Physical and/or psychological bullying.
Procedural inflexibility.
Discriminatory attitudes (sexism, etc.).
Causes workplace division instead of harmony.
Use “divide and rule” tactics on their employees.
Arrogant
Irritable

At a minimum they can be difficult to work for and in some circumstances they can be downright miserable to the point of warranting legal action. In most cases It can lead to undesired attrition of good people while the bad apples remain in place and continue spoiling the bunch.

So Why is it so tricky to identify toxic leaders?

Today’s fast paced challenges call for super-performance. As a result, people tend to focus on the results and deliverables, and not pay enough attention to the method or the way things get done. Additionally, in the corporate world, the effects of a toxic leader are harder to detect, and symptoms might be attributed to other issues or go unnoticed. Employees should feel secure in their workplace and know that their employer’s human resource department is there to intervene in situations of toxic leadership. While the employee should feel comfortable in being able to blow the whistle on this type of behavior it isn’t enough. Companies should also make sure they’re investing in establishing processes that first identify, and then keep toxic leaders at bay.

Watching out for toxic leadership in your organization. (n.d.). World’s Largest Professional Network. Retrieved July 11, 2014, from https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140204184838-10810077-watching-out-for-toxic-leadership-in-your-organization

Toxic leader. (2014, June 7). Wikipedia. Retrieved July 11, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxic_leader

Toy Story’s Woody: Toys Unite!

April 21, 2014 by Alicia McCormick

The Disney Pixar movie, Toy Story, is loved by young and old alike. This is the reason the beloved characters and story were continued through two subsequent movies, Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3, making it a trilogy of behavior to evaluate (and enjoy!). The characters in the movie span personality characteristics across many dimensions allowing the audience to relate to all the characters. The group of toys owned by Andy is a small, well-constructed work group in which Woody the cowboy is the leader. Woody’s leadership can be assessed through the “Leadership Grid”, developed by Blake and Mouton (1985) (Northouse, 2012) in reference to the skills approach. Woody employs a Team Management style when employing his leadership behaviors as compared to the Leadership Grid. Blake and Mouton (1985) state that most leaders have a dominant management style that they use most of the time; however they utilize a backup style in times under pressure (Northouse, 2012). Woody’s backup style lies with the Authority-compliance management spectrum.

The Skills Approach attempts to view leadership actions and behaviors. Two categories have arisen through both the Ohio State Studies in the late 1940s, based on studies by Stogdill (1948) and the University of Michigan Studies around the same time (Northouse, 2012). The most common developmental tool through this approach, the Leadership Grid, was created by Blake and Mouton in 1964 and has been revised several times (Northouse, 2012). The two categories according to the Leadership Grid by Blake and Mouton (1985) are concern for production and concern for people. These categories reflect initiating structure and consideration, coined by Stogdill (1974), and employee orientation and production orientation labeled by the University of Michigan studies (Northouse, 2012). Concern for production is attributed to issues such as attention to policy decisions, workload, and process issues (Northouse, 2012). In essence the concern for production behavior category is what the leadership behavior is seeking to accomplish. Concern for people contains such behavior as promoting positive social relations, good working conditions, and building organizational commitment and trust (Northouse, 2012).

Retrieved from: http://clouducation.wordpress.com/2012/03/07/5-educational-leadership-realities/

Woody is in the leadership position of the group of toys. His behavior is illustrated throughout all 3 of the movies. His style is reflective in Team Management on the Leadership Grid. Team Management leader behavior is seen as: “stimulates participation, acts determined, gets issues into the open, makes priorities clear, follows through, behaves open-mindedly, and enjoys working”(Northouse, 2012, p. 81). His leadership behaviors are committed to doing what will keep the toys safe and being available for their owner Andy when he needs them. Woody engages the toys in weekly meetings to keep all the toys committed and informed, to educate on safety and protocol, or as needed when a problem arises. During meetings the toys are encouraged to participate and share ideas with the group. In the original movie, when Andy is having a birthday party, the toys are congregated together to receive the information of which new toys Andy receives so that the toys are prepared for whatever comes their way. Woody continually supports the other toys by reaffirming their place in Andy’s room. No matter what Andy receives they will deal with it together and no one is being thrown away, a large fear among toys. The process by which they find out what Andy receives for his birthday is well constructed and orchestrated by Woody, showing his concern for production. The army guys are deployed orderly to obtain the information and Woody has the toys in Andy’s room gathered to hear the news. Woody knows what is needed to accomplish the goals that are set.

In Toy Story 3, Woody is concerned for the well-being of not only the toys but Andy as well. Although Andy has grown, Woody is committed to being available if he should ever need him or the other toys. Woody continually acts determined to this end and gets issues out into the open. Both the meetings and ultimate goal commitment are demonstrative of Team Management from the Leadership Grid (Northouse, 2012). Woody stimulates the group to share their ideas and thoughts so that they may stay together. The group’s thoughts are important to Woody as the leader and although he does not always agree with the group, he is continually open-minded in receiving their thoughts and ideas. The toys have also discussed what they have learned at such meetings as “Rust Prevention” and “Battery Safety” throughout the trilogy, illustrating Woody’s continual policy development and education to the group. His persistence to keep the group safe and committed through his openness to ideas, his stimulation of participation from the group, his determination, and making the priorities clear show his Team Management style of leadership.

Through the skills approach Leadership Grid, Blake and Mouton (1985) said that most leaders have a dominant style and at times, use a backup style (Northouse, 2012). There are times where Woody feels that the group is jeopardizing their safety and in these moments, while under pressure, employs his backup style. Woody tends to shift his style to the Authority-Compliance Management style as a backup. In this type of leadership style the leader is seen as controlling and demanding (Northouse, 2012). These situations tend to arise in the movies in several capacities. In Toy Story 3, Woody feels as though they should stay with Andy but the group does not want to be stored away and never played with so they feel they should move on. Woody attempts to assert his authority by demanding the group stay with Andy. When under pressure, Blake and Mouton (1985) state that the leader will resort to their backup style (Northouse, 2012). Woody only resorts to this type of behavior when he feels the group is making the wrong decision and feels pressured to do so as though he has no other option to change their minds.

Woody and the gang from Toy Story exhibit the leader and subordinate relationship that resembles Team Management Style from the Leadership Grid developed by Blake and Mouton (1985) (Northouse, 2012). As discussed, Woody only deploys his backup style when under pressure. The safety and commitment of the toys to Andy is fostered in a positive environment by Woody in order to preserve the group’s emotional needs and well-being. Woody displays more commitment to the overall goals and group than most leaders we see today.

References

Northouse, Peter G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Sixth Edition. Sage Publications.