q topics of leadership pequannock township high school

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Topics of LeadershipPequannock Township High School

Looking at Leadership Through Several Lenses

Looking at Leadership Through Several Lenses

Studying only leaders provides just a partial view of the leadership process.

Leadership depends on several factors, including the situation and the followers, not just the leader’s qualities or characteristics.

Leadership is more than just the kind of person the leader is or the things the leader does.

The clearest picture of the leadership process occurs only when you look at all three aspects.

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The Interactional Framework for Analyzing Leadership

The Interactional Framework for Analyzing Leadership

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The Interactional Framework for Analyzing Leadership (continued)The Interactional Framework for Analyzing Leadership (continued)

The framework depicts leadership as a function of three elements: The leader The follower The situation

You can have an even better understanding of the leadership process by examining the interactions of the three elements (overlaps).

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The LeaderThe Leader

Individual aspects of the leadership equation:Unique personal historyInterestsCharacter traitsMotivation

Leaders differ from their followers.McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.2-5

The Leader (continued)The Leader (continued)

Leaders who are appointed by superiors may have less credibility with subordinates and get less loyalty from them than leaders who are elected or emerge by consensus from the ranks of followers.

A leader’s legitimacy may be affected by the extent to which followers participated in the leader’s selection.

A leader’s experience or history in a particular organization is usually important to her or his effectiveness.

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The FollowersThe Followers

Certain aspects of followers affect the leadership process:ExpectationsPersonality traitsMaturity levelsLevels of competenceMotivation

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The Followers (continued)The Followers (continued)

Workers who share a leader’s goals and values will be more motivated to do their work.

The number of followers reporting to a leader can have significant implications on that leader’s effectiveness.

Other relevant variables include follower’s trust in the leader and their confidence (or not) that he or she is interested in their well-being.

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The SituationThe Situation

Leadership makes sense only in the context of how the leader and followers interact in a given situation.

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“You’ve got to give loyalty down, if you want loyalty up.”

~ Donald T. Regan,Former CEO and

White House chief of staff

There is no Simple Recipe for Effective Leadership

There is no Simple Recipe for Effective Leadership

When observing leadership behavior, you need to think about the effectiveness of that behavior in that context with those followers.

A leader may need to respond to: Various followers differently in the same situation. The same follower differently in different situations.

Follower may respond to: Various leaders quite differently. Each other differently with different leaders.

Two leaders may have different perceptions of the same followers or situations.

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Drawing Lessons From ExperienceDrawing Lessons From Experience

The right behavior in one situation is not necessarily the right behavior in another situation.

Although we may not be able to agree on the one best behavior in a given situation, we often can agree on some clearly inappropriate behaviors.

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SummarySummary

Leadership is a process in which leaders and followers interact dynamically in a particular situation or environment.

The study of leadership must include the followers and the situation.

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