BORN OR MADE?

Dilemmas of Destiny and Development

Orientation
The Born or Made Dilemma
Look closely at leadership maps to help understand

The natural born leader trait assumptions Leadership training and the possibility of developing leadership capability in managers

The Leadership challenge

Leaders have fixed preferred styles of dealing with leadership challenges Leaders find that the situation influences their style task oriented vs. concern with relationships

A Leadership Challenge
Which Map makes more sense to you? Map 1: Each leader has a preferred style of dealing with leadership challenges. and shows a preference for relationships with people or a motivation for getting the work tasks done effectively. Map 2: Leaders find their situations influence their style. The characteristics of the task and the characteristics of colleagues contribute to the different styles. The styles may be deliberately assumed, or they may be unconsciously shaped by circumstances What are the implications of your preference for your leadership prospects?
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Brymans Eras of Leadership Theory

Trait Approach
dominant until late 1940s - assumes leaders born, not made

Style Approach
held sway until late 1960s - effects of leadership on those led

Contingency Approach or Situational Approach

popular to 1980s - situational factors are focus for understanding leadership

New Leadership Approach

since 1980s, leader seen as one who defines organizational reality through articulation of a vision
Source: Alan Bryman, Leadership in Organizations.1996
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Trait Approach its Rise and Fall

Traits focus attention on person in the job
Fixed characteristics distinguishing leaders from nonleaders physical traits, personal attributes and abilities

Recent research suggests that traits play a role but they alone cannot account for leadership effectiveness
Perceived traits of Intelligence; dominance & masculinity still retain significance

Leadership Style (Behaviours) Approach

Emphasized what a leader does rather than identifying who would be an effective leader Associated with practical problems of selecting organizational leaders Pioneered in Ohio State Studies identifying two major factors: Relationship or People Orientation (consideration), and Task Oriented (initiation of structure). The studies assumed behaviours can be measured and taught, and had different effects on followers and performance Style approach increased understanding of leadership and focused attention on leadership training. Its simplistic view of very complex processes eventually led to maps studied in subsequent chapters

Contingency Approach
Personality, style or behaviour of effective leader dependent on requirements of the situation No one best way to lead different styles, traits or behaviours can all be effective. Situational or contextual factors help determine best style or behaviour Fiedlers least preferred co-worker model best known contingency approach

Leaders disposition to favour task or relationships assessed by self-reports of leaders view of co-workers

Assumes people can learn to become effective leaders, and both personal & situational characteristics affect leadership effectiveness Little agreement about what constitutes effectiveness

The New Leadership Approach

A move away from trait, style and contingency modes Leadership as a socially constructed process Depict leaders as mangers of meaning rather than in terms of an influence process Revived interest in leaders personal characteristics Role of leadership traits key traits are not enough to make a leader - they are a precondition for effective leadership: Experience, correct choices and exposure to right situations are also key to allow talents to develop
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Days Meta-Study of Leadership Development

Examined leadership development theory practice and research Leader development focus on individual and what leaders are and do & what is needed to become more like them Leadership development considers overall dynamics of organizations in which leaders and followers engage Day examines influential techniques for leadership development
360 Degree Feedback Mentoring Job assignments Coaching Networking Action learning

Developmental Dilemma of Embeddedness

Days degree of embeddedness related to the relative simplicity or complexity of organizational leadership programmes Simple programmes, e.g.360 degree feedback - only identify simple empirical relationships Complex designs, e.g. action research - may identify leadership that seems to be working but its mechanisms are difficult to isolate Dilemma is that study of simple programmes is study of incomplete programmes of development; complex programmes resist resolution to suggest effectiveness of their component parts
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Leadership Development
Fixed Trait View

on being born great the right stuff of leadership exemplified by well-known historical or contemporary leaders Implicit in worldwide leadership developmental programmes Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) John Adair Action Centred Leadership Boyatzis Intentional Change Theory
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Developmental View

CCL Philosophy
Self knowledge most important factor in practice of leadership Provides context which facilitates personal discovery and development Leadership development programmes add value through assessment, challenge and support

Adairs Action Centred Leadership

European cultural tradition Functional Leadership
Task, Team, Individual

Leadership functions enacted across three interacting regions of achieving the task, building and maintaining the team, and developing the individual
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Boyatzis - Intentional Change Theory

Strategies that focus on intentional change are supported by leader development programmes Model focuses on perceptions of actual and ideal selfimages to facilitate individual leadership goals Coaching is means by which individual is helped to understand gaps between actual and ideal self-image Attention is on finding positive emotional experiences which build on strengths As self-directed and intentional change develops, the individual is better able to cope with leadership challenges

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Summary
Two main maps of leadership develop

Eras of Leadership thought and Territory of leadership development

Scientific studies failed to locate ingredients that made leaders Trait theories replaced by increasingly complex theories that shifted emphasis from leaders to leadership Studies focused on leaders at supervisory levels as well as on exceptional person and opened up possibility of leadership development Leadership development programmes now integral part of organizational life Evidence of success of these is extensive but dilemma of embeddedness adds to difficulty of evaluating for improved designs

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