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Chapter 01-What Do We Mean by Leadership?

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Part 1: Leadership Is a Process, Not a Position

Chapter 1: What Do We Mean by Leadership?

Leader

Chapter 01-What Do We Mean by Leadership?

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Chapter 1 Outline

What Do We Mean by Leadership?

Introduction

What is Leadership?

Leadership is both a science and an art

Leadership Myths

Myth: Good leadership is all common sense

The Interactional Framework for Analyzing Leadership

The Leader

Illustrating the Interactional Framework: Women in Leadership Roles

There Is No Simple Recipe for Effective Leadership

Summary

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Key Learning Points

Introduction

The text opens with a story of leadership issues faced by a Uruguayan rugby team that was involved

in a plane crash in the Andes mountains en route to a game in Chile. It is a tale of survival and

What is Leadership?

Leadership is a complex phenomenon involving the leader, the followers, and the situation. Some

leadership researchers have focused on the personality, physical traits, or behaviors of the leader;

others have studied the relationships between leaders and followers; still others have studied how

experience. It is distinct from both management and followership.

Leadership Myths

In general, these myths can be classified into three broad categories of beliefs that hinder the

development of leadership: 1) “good leadership is all common sense;” 2) “leaders are born, not

made;” and 3) “the only school you can learn leadership from is the school of hard knocks.” In the

first case, the implicit (or explicit) notion is that there is a body of commonly accepted knowledge that

The Interactional Framework for Analyzing Leadership

Leadership scholars have spent a great deal of time focusing their studies on specific leaders as the

means for improving our understanding of leadership. However, focusing exclusively on the leader

ignores the followers and the situation in the leadership process. Using all three lenses of the

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The Leader

What does the leader bring to the table as an individual? This component contains personal history,

interests, character, personality, intelligence, and motivation. How leaders achieve leadership status

The Followers

Although researchers have not paid a great deal of attention to the role of followers, this is beginning

to change. In fact, research shows that followers’ expectations, personality traits, maturity levels,

their own abilities and attempt to function at the same operational level with fewer resources.

The Situation

This aspect of the model is possibly the most ambiguous and complex of all. This is the case because it

Illustrating the Interactional Framework: Women in Leadership Roles

Research shows that increasing numbers of women are occupying leadership positions in

organizations. A 2010 study indicated that women comprised an estimated 40 percent of U.S.

managers. While this is encouraging, several obstacles still exist that constrain opportunities for

capable women to rise to the highest levels of organizations. For example, although more female than

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There Is No Simple Recipe for Effective Leadership

It is simply impossible to offer a recipe for successful leadership—a specific behavior (and its

effectiveness) occurs within a specific context and with a specific set of followers—these areas need

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An Overview of This Book

Leadership is best viewed as a process that involves the interaction between the leader, the followers,

and the situation (the basis of the LFS Interactional Framework used in the text). In line with this

framework, the book is organized into four parts. Part 1 focuses on the notion that leadership is a

process, not a position. Part 2 focuses on the “L,” or leader, portion of the model and considers

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Brief Definitions of the Key Terms for Chapter 1

Leadership: A complex phenomenon involving the leader, the followers, and the situation. Also,

the definition, as used in the text, is “the process of influencing an organized group toward

accomplishing its goal” (Roach & Behling, 1983 cited in Hughes, Ginnett, & Curphy, 2005 p. 8).

Academic tradition: Research-based literature that uses data and statistical techniques to make

inferences about effective leadership.

position, and expertise.

Followers: The second element of the interactional framework—includes concepts like values,

norms, and cohesiveness.

Situation: The third element of the interactional framework—includes concepts like the task, the

environment, and stress/crisis.

Interactions: The important distinction that leadership is not just about individuals and their

characteristics but rather how these individuals leverage their characteristics within a particular

environment or context—leadership is not context (or setting) free.

Passive followers: Endpoint of Kelly’s broad followership dimension indicating followers who

do not engage, dodge responsibility, and need constant supervision.

Heroic Theory: The assumption that leadership is a general personal trait expressed

independently of the situation in which the leadership was manifested

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Interactive Leadership: Leadership style that enhances others’ self-worth and believes that the

best performance occurs when people are excited about their work and feel good about

themselves.

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Overview of the Learning Resources for Chapter 1

Exercise 1-2: Getting Acquainted. In this 20−40-minute exercise, students get into small groups

Exercise 1-3: Getting to Know You. This 20-minute ice-breaking exercise is designed to help

Exercise 1-4: Point North. This 5-minute exercise demonstrates that even experts disagree on

what constitutes good leadership.

Exercise 1-5: Leadership is Leadership (or Is It?). In this 25-minute exercise, small groups are

Exercise 1-7: Chernobyl. This 50-minute experiential exercise does an excellent job introducing

students to the concepts of leadership, management, followership, and the myths of leadership.

Exercise 1-8: The Blind Men and the Elephant. This 25-minute exercise uses a poem by John

Exercise 1-9: Leaders, Followers, and Managers. This 25-minute exercise is an effective way to

identify and discuss the differences between leaders, followers, and managers.

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Sample Lesson Plans for Chapter 1

Lesson 1: 60 minutes.

Pre-work: A combination of Exercise 1-9: Leaders, Followers, and Managers and Exercise 1-8: The Blind

Men and the Elephant.

Lesson Plan:

Both portions of this exercise should be completed in small groups with a final, composite discussion

Part I:

• Each small group will generate the lists of attributes from Part I of Exercise 1-8 (15 minutes)

• Have the groups report their finding to the class paying particular attention to the discussion

points listed in Part II of Exercise 1-8 (10 minutes).

Part II:

• Read or present the poem, The Blind Men and the Elephant to the class (5 minutes).

Lesson 2: 60 minutes

Pre-work: Exercise 1-7, Chernobyl. This exercise should be completed with the entire class (or

in groups of 15−20 students; students not participating in the exercise can be used as observers).

No outside work is required prior to using this exercise in the classroom.

Lesson Plan:

• Assign students to the required positions, including observers, and overview the exercise in

very general terms (5 minutes).

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• After the observers’ debriefing, instructors highlight their significant observations during the

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Minicase, “Richard Branson Shoots for the Moon,” Sample Answers

Question 1: Would you classify Richard Branson as a manager or a leader? What qualities

distinguish him as one over the other?

Perhaps it would be useful to think about the distinctions made by Bennis (1989) and others as a

place to frame this discussion. For example:

Leaders

Managers

Innovate

Administer

Develop

Maintain

Long-term view

Short-term view

Ask what and why

Ask how and when

Originate

Imitate

Challenge the status quo

Accept the status quo

Generally, it is quite evident that Branson exhibits qualities listed in the left-hand column of the

table above—he is innovative, inspiring, and original, and he challenges the status quo (“Got a

Big Idea?”). However, it is important to note that the management functions cannot (and should

Question 2: As mentioned earlier in this chapter, followers are part of the leadership

process. Describe the relationship between Branson and his followers.

Branson appears to have a knack for sharing his vision and creating excitement in those who

Question 3: Identify the myths of leadership development that Richard Branson’s success

helps disprove.

Foremost in this minicase, Branson’s history helps disprove the notion that leadership is all

common sense—prior to reading (or knowing) the results of his actions, it is unlikely many

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Chapter 1 Exercises & Instructions

Exercise 1-1

Exercise Title: Truth or Lies

Purpose: To introduce classmates to each other.

Summary: Instructors should pass out two large Post-it notes to each student, and then ask students to

write something true and something false about themselves on each note. The students should then attach

the two notes to themselves. Students should then be asked to go around the room and determine the true

This exercise takes about 25 minutes to complete.