CHAPTER 1 – Introduction - The nature of leadership

QUESTIONS:
1. What are some similarities and differences in the way leadership has been
defined?
2. Does it really matter how you define leadership? Explain and defend the
position you take on this question.
3. What are the arguments for and against making a distinction between leaders
and managers?
4. Why is it so difficult to measure leadership effectiveness?
5. What criteria have been used to evaluate leadership effectiveness? Are some
criteria more useful than others?
6. What are the trait, behavior and power-influence approaches? What unique
insights does each approach provide about effective leadership?
7. Why does it matter whether leadership is described as an intra-individual,
dyadic, group or organizational process? Which level of analysis is emphasized in
most leadership theories and research?
8. Compare decriptive and prescriptive theories of leadership. Explain why both
types of theory are useful.
9. Compare universal and contigency theories. Is it possible to have a theory with
both universal and contigent aspects?

ANSWERS:

1. One way of similarities in defining leadership concept between many

definitions are that the most definitions of leadership reflect the assumption that
it involves a process whereby intentional influence is exerted over other people to
guide, structure, and facilitate activities and relationships in a group or
organization. The numerous definitions of leadership appear to have little else in
common. They differ in many respects, including who exerts influence, the
intended purpose of the influence, the manner in which influence is exerted, and
the outcome of the influence attempt.
2. Many researchers usually define leadership according to their individual
perspectives and aspects of the phenomenon of the most interest to them. Most
behavioral scientists and practitioners seem to believe that the certain leadership
concept is a real phenomenon that is important for the effectiveness of
organizations. That's mean, the way how you define leadership, the concept and
methods you're considering through the investigation process is ability to increase
the effectiveness and dignity to an organization.

3. There is a continuing controversy about the difference between leadership and

management.
It is obvious that a person can be a leader without being a manager (e.g., an
informal leader), and a person can be a manager without leading.
Some writers (e.g., Bennis & Nanus, 1985; Zaleznik, 1977) contend that
leadership and management are qualitatively different and mutually exclusive.
The most extreme distinction involves the assumption that management and
leadership cannot occur in the same person.
In other words, some people are managers and other people are leaders. The
definitions these writers offer for leaders and managers assume they have
incompatible values and different personalities.
Managers value stability, order, and efficiency and they are impersonal, risk
adverse, and focused on short-term results.
Leaders value flexibility, innovation, and adaptation; they care about people as
well as economic outcomes, and they have a longer-term perspective with regard
to objectives and strategies.
Managers are concerned about how things get done, and they try to get people
to perform better, leaders are concerned with what things mean to people, and
they try to get people to agree about the most important things to be done.

4. It is difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of a leader when there are so many

alternative measures of effectiveness, and it is not clear which measure is most
relevant. For example, growth in sales and market share (e.g. by reducing price
and increasing advertising) may result in lower profits. Likewise, an increase in
production output (e.g. by inducing people to work faster) may reduce product
quality or employee satisfaction.
5. Like definitions of leadership, conceptions of leader effectiveness differ from
one writer to another. The criteria selected to evaluate leadership effectiveness
reflect a researcher's explicit or implicit conception of leadership. Most
researchers evaluate leadership effectiveness in terms of the consequences of
influence on a single individual, a team or group, or an organization.
The most commonly used measures or criterias of leader effectiveness are:
-Performance and growth of leader’s group or organization
-Follower attitudes and perceptions of the leader
-Leader’s contribution to the quality of group processes
-Extent to which a person has a successful career as a leader
-Development of a composite measure

6. Trait approach - One of the earliest approaches for studying leadership was the
trait approach. This approach emphasizes attributes of leaders such as
personality, motives, values, and skills.
Behavior approach - The behavior approach falls into two general
subcategories. One line of research or approach examines how managers spend
their time and the typical pattern of activities, responsibilities, and functions for
managerial jobs. Another subcategory of the behavior approach focuses on
identifying effective leadership behavior.
Power-influence approach – examines influence processes between leaders and
other people. This research or approach seeks to explain leadership effectiveness
in terms of the amount and type of power possesed by leader and how power is
exercised. Power is viewed as important not only for influencing subordinates but
also for influencing peers, superiors, and people outside the organization such as
clients and suppliers.

7. Another way to classify leadership theories is in terms of the "level of

conceptualization" or type of constructs used to describe leaders and their
influence on others. Leadership can he described as (1) an intra-individual
process, (2) a dyadic process, (3) a group process, or (4) an organizational process,
The levels can be viewed as a hierarchy. What level is emphasized will depend on
the primary research question, the type of criterion variables used to evaluate
leadership effectiveness, and the type of mediating processes used to explain
leadership influence.
-Intra-individual process – focuses on processes within a single individual.
-Dyadic process – focuses on the relationship between a leader and another
individual.
Group process – focuses on the leadership role in a task group and how a leader
contributes to group effectiveness.
Organizational process – focuses on leadership as a process that occurs in a larger
open system in which groups are a subsystem.
Multi-level theories – include constructs from more than one level of
explanation.

8. Important distinction among leadership theories is extent to which they are

descriptive or prescriptive. Descriptive theories explain leadership processes,
describe the typical activities of leaders and explain why certain behaviors occur
in particular situation. Prescriptive theories specify what leaders must do to
become effective, and they identify any necessary conditions for using particular
type of behavior effectively. A prescriptive theory is especially useful when a wide
discrepancy exists between what leaders typically do and what they should do to
be most effective.

9. Universal theory describes some aspect of leadership that applies to all types
of situation. Universal theory can be either descriptive or prescriptive. A
descriptive universal theory may descrihe typical functions performed to some
extent by all types of leaders, whereas a prescriptive universal theory may specify
functions all leaders must perform to be effective. A contigency theory decribes
some aspects of leadership that applies to some situations but not to others. It is
also can be decriptive or precriptive. Descriptive contingency theory may explain
how leader behavior typically varies from one situation from another, whereas
prescriptive contingency theory may specify the most effective behavior in each
type of situation. The distinction between universal and contingency theories is a
matter of degree, not a sharp dichotomy.
CHAPTER 2 – Managerial traits and skills

QUESTIONS:

4. How is managerial motivation related to the effectiveness and advancement of

managers in large organizations?
5. What are the major reasons some managers derail in their careers?
6. How are technical, conceptual, and interpersonal skills related to managerial
effectiveness?
7. Why is it important to consider the nature of managerial job situation when
trying to identify essential traits and skills?
8. Which skills are most important at lower, middle and higher levels of
management?
9. What are emotional and social intelligence, and how are they relevant for
effective leadership?

ANSWERS:
4. According to the McClelland research on managerial motivation the results for
motives relevant for advancement in large organizations are less clear, perhaps
because the relationship depends more on the type of organization and
managerial position. According to the Miner's research on managerial motivation
In large bureaucratic organizations, significant correlations were found between a
manager's overall score on managerial motivation and advancement to higher
levels of management. The particular motivation subscales that correlated most
consistently with advancement included desire to exercise power (similar to need
for power), desire to compete with peers (similar need for achievement) and
positive attitude toward authority figures.

5.There are two main reasons. First: Managers who derailed were likely
dismissed, transferred, retired early, or plateaued. Another one reason is lack or
appearance of the following traits and skills. Those are:
- Emotional stability - Managers who derailed were less able to handle pressure.
They were more prone to moodiness, angry outbursts, and inconsistent behavior,
which undermined their interpersonal relationships with subordinates, peers, and
superiors.
-Defensiveness – The managers who derailed were more likely to be defensive
about failure. They reacted by attemting to cover up mistakes or blame other
people.
-Integrity - Many of the derailed managers were too ambitious about advancing
their career at the expense of others. These managers were more likely to betray
a trust or break a promise.
-Interpersonal skills – Managers who were derailed were usually weaker in
interpersonal skills. The most common reason for derailment was insensitivity,
which was reflected in abrasiv or intimidating behavior toward others.
-Technical and cognitive skills - For most of the managers who derailed, their
technical brilliance was a source of successful problem solving and technical
achievement at lower levels of management, where their expertise was usually
greater than that of subordinates. However, at higher levels this strength could
become a weakness if it led to overconfidence and arrogance, causing the person
to reject sound advice, to offend others by acting superior, and to micromanage
subordinates who had more expertise.

6. Technical Skills – Include knowledge about methods, processes, and equipment

for conducting the specialized activities of the manager’s organizational unit.
Conceptual Skills – Involve good judgment, foresight, intuition, creativity, and the
ability to find meaning and order in ambiguous, uncertain event.
Interpersonal Skills – Include knowledge about human behavior and group
processes, ability to understand the feelings, attitudes, and motives of others, and
ability to communicate clearly and persuasively.

7.

8. Top level managers are occupied by many activities and events during the
working process. . In this managerial level conceptual skills are necessarily
important because it helps the manager to for example make a decision to find
the order in complex or uncertain action. Otherwise, the interpersonal skills are
another factor that are necessary for manager to develop relationships, obtain
information, influence his subordinate to implement his decisions and so on.
The role of another two mangerial category is primarily related for implementing
the goals and policies or maintaing work properly. Both, middle and low
managers needs diverse doses of conceptual and interpersonal skills, but more
importantly the technical skills is the essential factor at the this level of
managerial leadership skills.

9. Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to perceive, control and evaluate

emotions. Emotional intelligence is relevant and usable for leadership
effectiveness in many ways. Emotional intelligence, for example, can help leaders
to solve some complex problems, to make better and rational decision, to plan
how to use their time effectively, adapt their behavior to the situtation and
manage crisis.
Social Intelligence is the ability to get along well with others, and to get to
cooperate with others. Social intelligence may be helpful for managers in terms of
to better understand and percept functional needs, problems, and opportunities
that are relevant for a group or organization. For example, leader with that high
social perceptiveness comprehend what needs to be done to make a group or
organization more effective and how to do it.

CHAPTER 3 – The nature of managerial work

QUESTIONS:
5. How are managerial activities and behavior affected by level of management,
unit, size and lateral independance?

9. Why do managers have so much difficulty in managing their time?

10. What can be done to improve time management and problem solving?
ANSWERS:

5. Level of management - Job responsibilities and the skills necessary to carry

them out vary somewhat for managers at different authority levels in the
organization. Higher-level managers are usually more concerned with exercise of
broad authority in making long-range plans: formulating policy, modifying the
organization, structure, and initiating new ways of doing things. They need to
make decisions and think about these things by considering what will happen for
10 to 20 years in the future. Middle managers are primarily concerned with
interpreting and implementing policies and programs, and they usually have a
moderately long time perspective (2-5 years). Low-level managers are primarily
concerned with structuring, coordinating, and facilitating work activities, and they
have a shorter time perspective (couple of weeks to 2 years)

Size of organizational unit - The implications of work unit size or "span of

control" for leader behavior have been investigated in several types of research,
ranging from studies with small groups to studies on chief executives. Managers
of the larger organizational subunits have more demanding jobs in comparison to
managers of smaller units. Decisions are more difficult due to the sheer volume of
issues and activities and the lack of detailed knowledge a manager is likely to
have.
Because larger units are likely to have a more bureaucratic structure, managers
must cope with more constraints (e.g., rules, standard procedures, and required
authorizations). Hence, general managers in larger organizational units have
larger networks and attended more scheduled meetings.

Lateral independance - The extent to which a leader's subunit is dependent on

other subunits in the same organization ("lateral interdependence") or on
external groups will affect leader behavior to a considerable extent. As
interdependence increases with other subunit, coordination with them becomes
more important and there is more need for mutual adjustments in plans,
schedules, and activities. Lateral interdependence represents a threat to the
subunit because routine activities must be modified more frequently to
accommodate the needs or other subunit. with a resulting loss in autonomy and
stability.

9. There are a lot of reasons why it's happening :

- Perception of demands and constraints inevitably involves subjective judgments,

but many managers fail to take the time necessary to gather sufficient
information on which to base these judgments.
- Too many managers focus on the demands and constraints and fail to give
adequate consideration to opportunities to define the job in different ways.

- Unclear set of manager's objectives and priorities lead to the ineffectiveness of

accomplishing work requirements at the time.
- It is difficult to improve time management without knowing how time is actually
spent. Most managers are unable to estimate very accurately how much time
they spend on different activities.

- Another possible reason of difficulty in managing job is that managers who

become overloaded with unnecessary tasks are likely to neglect activities that are
important for attaining key objectives.

10. There are couple of guidelines how managers can improve their time
management:

-Understand the reasons for demands and constraints

-Expand the range of choices
-Determine what you want to accomplish
-Analyze how to use your time
-Plan daily and weekly activities
-Avoid unnecessary activities
-Conquer procrastination
-Take advantage of reactive activities
-Make time for reflective planning
And also, the guidelines for problem solving:

-Identify important problems that can be solved

-Look for connections among problems
-Experiment with innovative solutions
-Take decisive action to deal with crises

CHAPTER 4 – Perspectives on effective leadership behavior

QUESTIONS:

7. Why do the toxonomies proposed by different theorists show so many

differences?
8. Why are planning, clarifying and monitoring relevant for leadership
effectiveness?
9. Why are supporting, developing and recognizing important for leadership
effectiveness?
10. In general, what has been learnt from research on effective leadership
behavior?
11. To what extent are the findings consistent for this chapters an previous one?

ANSWERS:

7. The past half-century of research has produced a bewildering variety of

behavior concepts pertaining to managers and leaders. Sometimes different
terms have been used to refer to the same type of behavior. At other times, the
same term has been defined differently by various theorists. What is treated as a
general behavior category by one theorist is viewed as two or three distinct
categories by another theorist. What is a key concept in one taxonomy is the
absence from another. With so many divergent taxonomies, it is difficult to
translate from one set of concepts to another.

8. Planing - Planning of work activities means deciding what to do, how to do it,
who will do it, and when it will be done. The purpose of planning is to ensure
efficient organization of the work unit, coordination of activities, and effective
utilization of resources. Planning is a broadly defined behavior that includes
making decisions about objectives, priorities, strategies, organization of the work
etc.
Clarifying - Clarifying is the communication of plans, policies, and role
expectations. The purpose of this clarifying behavior is to guide and coordinate
work activity and make sure people know what to do and how to do it. It is
essential for each subordinate to understand what duties, functions, and activities
are required in the job and what results are expected.

Monitoring - Monitoring involves gathering information about the operations of

the manager's organizational unit, including the progress of the work, the
performance of individual subordinates, the quality of products or services, etc.
Monitoring provides much of the information needed for planning and problem
solving, which is why it is so important for managerial effectiveness. For
example, information gathered from monitoring is used to identify problems and
opportunities, as well as to formulate and modify objectives, strategies, plans,
policies, and procedures.

9. Supporting - Supporting includes a wide variety of behaviors that show

consideration, acceptance, and concern for the needs and feelings of other
people. Supportive leadership helps to build and maintain effective interpersonal
relationships. A manager who is considerate and friendly toward people is more
likely to win their friendship and loyalty. For example, it is more satisfying to
work with someone who is friendly, cooperative, and supportive than with
someone who is cold and impersonal, or worse, hostile and uncooperative.

Developing - Developing includes several managerial practices that are used to

increase a person's skills and facilitate job adjustment and career advancement.
Developing offer a variety of potential benefits for the manager, the subordinate,
and the organization. One benefit is to foster mutually cooperative relationships.
Potential benefits for subordinates include better job adjustment, more skill
learning, greater self-confidence, and faster career advancement. The leader can
gain a sense of satisfaction from helping others grow and develop.

Recognizing - Recognizing involves giving praise and showing appreciation to

others for effective performance, significant achievements, and important
contributions to the organization. The primary purpose of recognizing, especially
when used with suhordinates, is to strengthen desirable behavior and task
commitment.

10. Most research on leadership effectiveness has examined behaviors

individually rather than examining how effective leaders use patterns of specific
behaviors to accomplish their agendas. It is likely that specific behaviors interact
in complex ways, and that leadership effectiveness cannot be understood unless
these interactions are studied. For example, monitoring is useful for discovering
problems, but unless something is done to solve the problems, monitoring will
not contribute to leader effectiveness. Planning is likely to be ineffective unless it
is based on timely, accurate information gatherted from monitoring, consulting,
and networking, and developing plans is pointless unless the leader also
influences people to support and implement them.

CHAPTER 5 – Participative Leadership, Delegation and Empowerment

QUESTIONS:

1. What are the potential benefits and risks of using participative leadership?
2. What have we learned from the research on participative leadership?
3. What determines the success of a participative decision?
4. Briefly explain the Vroom-Yetton normative model of leadership and the
Vroom-Jago extension of the model.
5. How useful are these prescriptive models if a leader does not know the
answers to some of the situational questions?
6. What are some guidelines on how to encourage participation?
7. What are the potential benefits and risks of delegation?
8. Under what conditions is delegation most likely to be successful?
9. What are some guidelines on what to delegate?
10. Why do some managers find it so difficult to delegate or share power?
11. What are essential elements of psychological empowerment?
12. What are some facilitating conditions for employee empowerment?
13. What types of leadership behavior contribute to high empowerment?
ANSWERS:

1. Potential Benefits of Participation are

-Decision quality
-Decision acceptance
-Satisfaction with the decision process
-Development of participant skills

2.

3. -Decision Procedure
-Situational Variables
-Decision Acceptance – Degree of commitment to implement a decision
effectively
-Decision Quality – Objective aspects of the decision that affect group
performance aside from any effects mediated by decision acceptance
-Decision Rules

4. Vroom-Yetton - Vroom and Yetton (1973) is actually built upon the initial or
earlier approaches but went further in specifying which decision procedures will
be the most effective in each of several specific situations.

Vroom-Jago model - This model was designed to correct some of the weaknesses
in the earlier version (Vroom-Yetton).
-Incorporates additional aspects of the situation
-Incorporates additional outcome criteria
-Managers given more choices in setting priorities for the criteria in the model
-Allows managers to differentiate among five choices in describing the situation

5. 1. Difference between leaders and managers 2.emotional and social intelligence 3.benefits and risks of
participative leadership 4.guidelines on what to delegate 5.what types of power mostly related to leadership
effectiveness.