Author: normbeange

Wang and Oh (2011), detail an abundance of practical research data that, for the most part, shows that transformational leaders have a strong, measurable ability to improve the performance of individual followers as well as a group. Transformational leaders are highly influential on their followers. Transformational leaders accomplish three things:

1. They “motivate their followers to move beyond self-interest and work for the collective good” (Avolio & Yammarino; Bass; Burns, as cited in Wang, Oh, Courtright & Colbert, 2011, pg. 224).
2. They “increase followers’ confidence and the intrinsic value of performance, resulting in higher levels of motivation” (Seibert, Wang & Courtwright, as cited in Wang et al., 2011, pg. 224).
3. They “motivate followers to go beyond the minimum requirements of their job descriptions” (Podsakoff, MacKenzie & Bommer, as cited in Wang et al., 2011, pg. 228).

Bass argues that there are four distinguishable traits of transformational leaders (as cited in Wang et al., 2011, pg. 230):

1. First, transformational leaders “develop and articulate a shared vision and high expectations” (Wang et al., 2011, pg. 230).
2. Second, they “exhibit the behavior of idealize influence, serving as a role model” (Wang et al., 2011, pg. 230).
3. Third, they “intellectually stimulate their followers to challenge existing assumptions and solicit followers’ suggestions and ideas” (Wang et al., 2011, pg. 230).
4. Fourth, transformational leaders “attend to the needs of their followers and treat each follower as a unique individual” (Wang et al., 2011, pg. 230).

Transformational leaders “enable and motivate their followers” (Wang et al., 2011, pg. 230) by doing five things:

1. Transformational leaders “link followers work roles to a compelling vision of the future” (Bono & Judge; Zhu, Avolio, & Walumbwa, as cited in Wang et al., 2011, pg. 231).
2. Shamir et al. suggest that transformational leaders “instill in their followers a belief that they can achieve the goals that are set out for them (as cited in Wang et al., 2011, pg. 231).
3. Howell and Hall-Merenda argue that transformational leader “provide them with support and tools that they need to accomplish their jobs” (as cited in Wang et al., 2011, pg. 230).
4. Bass says that transformational leaders “encourage and intellectually stimulate followers to challenge the status quo, question assumptions, take risks, suggest innovative ideas, and engage in divergent thinking” (as cited in Wang et al., 2011, pg. 231).
5. Bass states they also “positively influence performance through the communication of a vision that serves to motivate employees and align their efforts” (as cited in Wang et al., 2011, pg. 233).

As described, the positive outcomes of transformational leadership are many. For my purposes, the main benefits of transformational leadership in my organization is in the context of our team. My most desired outcomes for my team are:

1. The nurturing of innovative and creative thinking.
2. Development of team problem solving skills.
3. Increased appreciation and understanding of each team members love language, temperament, learning styles and values.
4. A more unified understanding of our organizations potential and future within a rapidly changing industry.

My main “take away” from this article was research that indicated that followers under the leadership of a transformational leader would “go above and beyond” their job description. The fact that followers would improve and “get better,” wasn’t surprising to me, but the fact that they would “go beyond” was a new understanding for me. Another piece of research indicating that innovation and creativity increased under transformational leadership for me was a new insight.

In the context of leadership, Northouse explains that “ethics is concerned with what leaders do and who leaders are. It has to do with the nature of leaders’ behavior, and with their virtuousness. In any decision-making situation, ethical issues are either implicitly or explicitly involved. The choices leaders make and how they respond in a given circumstances are informed and directed by their ethics” (2019, p. 330). Northouse lists five principles of ethical leadership:

1. Respect
2. Services
3. Justice
4. Honesty
5. Community (2019, p. 341)

The two of the five ethical principles of leadership that appeal to me most are respect and community.  In my leadership context respect in a sense overrides service, justice and honesty because If I don’t have respect from our team, a lack of respect to some degree negates all three. A lack of respect “clouds over” team members’ ability to see or appreciate service, justice and honesty. To gain even more respect I have to listen more intentionally, be more verbal in the team to acknowledge individual contributions and successes, be more verbally affirming and talk less emphatically in team meetings.

The second component of the five ethical leadership principles which is most important to me is “community.” In a Christian context, much of the church is about community. Gretchen Rubin, author of the best sellers Better than Before and The Happiness Project, “affirms the centrality of meaningful relationship and important causes to achieving happiness” (as cited in Sasse, 2017, p. 154). Robert Putnam in his book, Our Kids, states, “researchers have steadily piled up evidence of how important social context, social institutions, and social networks-in short, our communities-remain for our well- being” (2015, p. 206). Lukianoff and Haidt argue that “the United States has experienced a steady increase in at least one form of polarization since the 1980s: affective (or emotional) polarization” (2018, p. 141). Here we see the pressing need for community yet on the other hand we see the growing polarization of “community,” therefore I see the great and growing for community.

Question

I wonder if any of you have thoughts about what, if any of the five ethical principles may be more elevated or pronounced in the Scriptures. Is there an order of importance?

References 

Wang, G., Oh, I. S., Courtright, S. H., & Colbert, A. E. (2011). Transformational leadership and performance across criteria and levels: A meta-analytic review of 25 years of research. Group & Organization Management, 36(2), 223-270.

Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Putnam, R. D. (2015). Our Kids. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Lukianoff & Haidt. (2018). The Coddling of the American Mind. New York, NY: Penguin Press.

Sasse, B. (2017). The Vanishing American Adult. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.

From Avolio and Gardner’s (2005) article, Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership, I derive many intangible morals effects of authentic leadership on followers. The article describes how the morals of “authentic leaders” influence the morals and ethics of their followers. Michie and Gooty (2005) note “self-transcendent values (e.g., universal values such as social justice, equality, and broadmindedness; benevolent values, such as honesty, loyalty and responsibility) and positive other-directed emotions (e.g., gratitude, goodwill, appreciation and concern for others) play a fundamental role in the emergence and development of authentic leadership” (as cited in Avolio and Gardner, 2005, pg. 318).

The article promotes the importance of “self-actualized persons . . . who are ‘in tune’ with their basic nature and clearly and accurately see themselves” (Rogers, 1959; 1963 & Maslow, 1968; 1971, as cited in Avolio and Gardner, 2005, pg. 319). In addition, Maslow (1971) sees “self-actualizing people as having strong ethical convictions” (as cited in Avolio and Gardner, 2005, pg. 319).

Luthans and Avolio (2003) “assert that authentic leadership …encompasses an inherently ethical/moral component” (as cited in as cited in Avolio and Gardner, 2005, pg. 324). May et al. (2003) describes how “authentic leaders develop and draw upon reserves of moral capacity . . . to address ethical issues and achieve authentic and sustained moral actions” (as cited in as cited in Avolio and Gardner, 2005, pg. 324). Avolio and Gardner say that they “believe the inclusion of a positive moral perspective is crucial to the emerging work on authentic leadership development” (2005, pg. 324). Burns (1978) said that leadership “clearly invoked a positive moral perspective” (as cited in Avolio and Gardner, 2005, pg. 324). Self-awareness is a process in which “one continually comes to understand his or her . . . sense of purpose, core values, beliefs and desires” (Avolio and Gardner, 2005, pg. 324). Of the authors’ four elements of self-awareness, “values” is first on the list. They state that “self-regulation is the process through which authentic leaders align their values with their intentions and actions” (Avolio and Gardner, 2005, pg. 325).

Avolio, Gardner et al. (2004), Avolio, Luthans et al., (2004), Gardner et al. (2005), “describe personal and social identification processes whereby followers come to identity with authentic leaders and their values. In addition, . . . a positive moral perspective has been consistently identified as a primary mechanism whereby authentic leadership influence and develop followers” (as cited in Avolio and Gardner, 2005, pg. 325). Bass (1998) further states that among other things authentic leaders have a “high moral character” (as cited in Avolio and Gardner, 2005, pg. 329). Authentic leaders influence the morals of their followers. Avolio et al. (2004), Avolio et al. (2004), Gardner et al. (2005), and Ilies et al. (2005) argue that “followers come to identify with authentic leaders and their values” (as cited in Avolio and Gardner, 2005, pg. 325).

The moral implications of leadership behaviour is such that the absence of moral convictions and beliefs according to the article would mean great diminishing of the leader’s effectiveness in changing behaviour in desirable ways. The leader who doesn’t convey moral convictions cannot be described as an authentic leader. The absence of moral convictions does not promote trust, transparency or unity.

In the context of moral leadership, in my company, I have historically by design have had no written “management pyramid chart,” no written dress codes, policies, rules, mission/visions statements or ethics code. However, in a practical sense, I have fired someone (and paid them severance) for lying. Someone who has a temper explosion is often in my office with their direct supervisor to discuss the problem and to explain that a repetition of their outburst will have serious consequences. Someone who is exhibiting sexist actions is confronted and changed actions and attitudes are demanded. Looking to future I anticipate writing and posting statements about ethical issues and policies regarding issues like marijuana.

Question

How have you handled unethical behaviour in your leadership context? If the behaviour was address, how was the conversation received?

Reference

Avolio, B., & Gardner, W. (2005). Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. Leadership Quarterly, 16 (3), 315–338.

 

 

This research paper on hospitality was insightful because of the many references to creativity and innovation. Successful firms can only obtain “creativity and innovation” if they build “trust and emotional engagement with people, both within and outside the organization” (Akroush, Abu-ElSamen, Samawi, & Odetallah, as cited in Kandampully, Bilgihan and Tingting, 2016, pg. 154). Before reading this paper, I had not made the connection between trust leading to innovation. In another instance, researchers “found that an empowering service climate plays a key role in enhancing employees’ creativity” (Voon, Hamali, Lee, Abdullah & Kueh, as cited in Kandampully et al., 2016, pg. 155). In this instance “empowering” employees can lead to increased creativity. Another aspect regarding innovation in successful companies is the fact they “provide employees with . . . the collective experience in which employees enjoy working together with colleagues and the excel in creativity and innovation” (Kandampully et al., 2016, pg. 157).

I believe that a key part of “employees enjoy working together,” is the importance of interpersonal relationships (Kandampully et al., 2016, pg. 157). “Authentic leadership is an interpersonal process. This . . . outlines authentic leadership as relational created by leaders and followers together” (Eagly, as cited in Northouse, 2016, pg. 196). One of the results of employees enjoy working together, is creativity and innovation. Additionally, employees feel more motivated when they work within a management team and when their contributions are appreciated.

In my manufacturing company which is innovative and product driven, implementing the kinds of technology referred to in this article is not feasible or necessarily desirable. Never-the-less, our management team is analyzing the potential, costs and ramifications of customer contact, support and education through the internet and social media. Thus far, we have over two years of showing weekly product videos to 18,000 email addresses that can be subsequently viewed YouTube. We anticipate soon being able to Skype with all customers. Because we produce such a wide range of unusual and unique products, we are planning to be able to send customized product videos with each order quote we send out. This group team process will hopefully lead to improved employee satisfaction.

My employee development plans going forward is largely based on a simple online Myers-Briggs personality test. I am using this as a starting point to help team members more easily and accurately identify their ten most important behaviours and skills and give them more confidence to narrow the list to three. I feel that that the most important two steps of Rockwell’s (2017) The Anatomy of Performance Enhancing Coaching Conversations are the ninth and tenth steps. Without commitments, step one through eight will or might result in frustration, sense of failure and potential disillusionment with the team leader. The absence of the tenth step will result in far less than hoped for results.

References

Kandampully, J., Bilgihan, A., & Zhang, T. (2016). Developing a people-technology hybrids model to unleash innovation and creativity: The new hospitality frontier. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 29, 154–164.

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Rockwell, D. (2017). The Anatomy of Performance Enhancing Coaching Conversations. Retrieved from https://leadershipfreak.blog/2017/03/05/the-anatomy-of-performance-enhancing-coaching-conversations/

I had an hour-long conversation with “B.” She described to me how the times when she performed really well were circumstances when she had opportunity to critically evaluate leadership situations. She views that one of her main strengths is the ability to intuitively and quickly identify problems; most frequently people problems. At times, B is frustrated because on occasions when she identifies a problem, she has difficulty identify the cause or source of the problem.

In five years, B wants to transition out of parachurch work into business and I agree with her reasons for wanting to make this change. She is a dominant, decisive, “black and white” kind of person, and has great difficulty in dealing mediocre performance. We both feel that her leadership style is not appreciated within a Christian leadership context as much as her style would be encouraged and supported in a secular business context.

I feel that B will accomplish her five-year goal of transitioning to very different career because of two important things. First, she has a very health grasp of reality, her circumstances, very emotional needs and spiritual leading of the Lord. Secondly, she has, what I feel is, a very mature and objective understanding of herself. She is aware of and understands her temperament, her learning style, her spiritual gifts, birth order, love language and leadership style.

My advice to B to help her obtain her five-year goal is to:

1. Expand her hobbies of bicycling and hiking for health reasons
2. Read more widely
3. Keep a journal
4. Dream and envision
5. Consciously strive for contentment

There are two critical functions of team effectiveness: Performance, defined as “task accomplishment” and Development, defined as “team maintenance” (Northouse, 2019, pg. 369). Interestingly, as noted by Northouse, many characteristics Larson and LaFasto have identified of successful teams overlap with Hackman’s “enabling conditions” of a good team (as cited in Northouse, 2019, pg. 368).

Larson and LaFasto’s list eight “characteristics of team excellence” are (as cited in Northouse, 2019, pg. 368-372):

1. Clear, elevating goal, which means having a “compelling purpose” (pg. 368)
2. Results-driven structure, which means finding “the best structure for accomplishing … goals” (pg. 369)
3. Competent team members means having “the right number and mix” of people (pg. 369)
4. Unified commitment is a team that “has developed a sense of unity” (pg. 370)
5. Collaborative climate is the ability to work together (pg. 370)
6. Standards of excellence are the “norms of conduct” (pg. 370)
7. External support and recognition includes having the necessary resources to accomplish the task and rewards when they are accomplished” (pg. 371)
8. Principled leadership means having leaders that are assessed using the above criteria (pg. 372)

Hackman’s six “enabling conditions of group effectiveness” are (as cited in Northouse, 2019, pg. 369):

1. Compelling purpose, which means having a “clear, elevating goal” (pg. 368)
2. Right people, which means having “competent team members” (pg. 369)
3. Real team, which means
4. Clear norms of conduct, which means
5. Supportive organizational context
6. Team-focused coaching

Of these 14 conditions or characteristics of group effectiveness or team excellence, three I have experience with are: Compelling Purpose, Results-Driven Structure and Collaborative Climate. If a team has these three aspects, they have, there are, by definition, a Real Team. If a team has a collaborative climate, this means they also have Team-Focused Coaching.

First, an example for helping my team to have a Compelling purpose is my frequent reminder to them during meetings, when we are discussing technical and detailed explanations of ideas, that we have to keep refocusing on the goal of producing a new product that we are able to manufacture.

Next, an example for having a Results-driven structure is my monitoring of the team member to consistently record failures, experiments, negated ideas to drive the focus of our discussions. This eliminates repetition, revisiting failed ideas and focusing on the goal. Each team member is responsible for contributing knowledge or insight on previous jobs, whether profitable or unprofitable.

Lastly, I try to develop a Collaborative climate by doing three things within my business leadership context. First, talking one-on-one with team members when I have found their responses to colleagues being overly negative or done with a demeaning tone. Second, continually directing the conversation to ensure that each team member is heard equally. Thirdly, I try to affirm and encourage people that even though their ideas might have been rejected, I really appreciate their enthusiasm and energy.

Principled Leadership are four processes that influence team effectiveness. Zaccaro et al. (2001) note these are “cognitive, motivational, affective, and coordination” (as cited in Northouse, 2019, pg. 371). The Cognitive process means a leader has clarity to define “the problems confronting the team” (Northouse, 2019, pg. 371). The Motivational process means setting high team standards. The Affective process means the leader enables the team to navigate difficult circumstances. The Coordination process means the leader evaluates strengths of individual members and assigns roles based on these.

In my team setting, the Cognitive process shows itself in marketing planning meetings. For instance, in a meeting where the goal is to establish which marketing method is most effective among four types, website, direct mail, magazine and trade shows, my role is to supply financial data for each strategy, marketing data from competitors, the complexities of each and the difficulty and skill required to execute each option. We discuss this information the team is able to determine which methods to use.

Question

Zaccaro et al.’s Affective process is not something I would immediately think of as being important to team effectiveness. Overcoming adversity, however, is one of life’s important challenges. Is there a specific instance you can think of where a leader either helped or hindered the team in navigating difficult circumstances?

Reference

Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

 

 

In the article for this activity, the Speers lists ten important characteristics of servant leaders (Spears, 2010, pgs. 27-28). Among these ten characteristics of a servant team leader, three that I value highly are: Listening, Awareness and Conceptualization. When coordinating a group project, a leader should at all times be listening to all conversations and ideas. Spears states that a servant leader should not only listen to what is said, but also “listen to what is unsaid” (Spears, 2010, pg. 27). This means a leaders should take time to reflect on conversations and meeting dialogue. This process “is essential to the growth and well-being of the servant leader” (Spears, 2010, pg. 27). In my opinion, listening further enables empathy, healing and commitment to the growth of people. Listening facilities the servant leader’s thinking and gives him or her more time to be more articulate and gain insights.

Awareness enables the servant leader to better focus, to more accurately analyze and be more discerning. Awareness is the opposite of “solace” because when the servant leader is aware, he or she is “sharply awake” and alert (Spears, 2010, pg. 27). When coordinating a group project, a servant leader can demonstrate Awareness by asking precise questions, evaluating body language, by being objective, analytical, flexible and teachable.

Conceptualization is the ability to analyze a situation by viewing it from “beyond day-to-day realities” (Spears, 2010, pg. 28). Servant leaders must, when coordinating a group project, think longer term and more “visionary” than conventional leaders (Spears, 2010, pg. 28). The servant leaders needs to combine both the day-to-day processes and the vision of the group. This helps group members stay on task while protecting them from becoming overwhelmed.

The servant leader, by being cognizant of daily processes and long-term goals and objectives, must consistently convey the same balance to team members. The team members are more aware of the value of the project, in and of itself, at the same time being appreciative of the value of the results in the big picture. Seeing the value of the project, in the big picture of the entire organization, enhances the perceived value of the individual group project.

Question

What are practical ways a Servant Leader can balance thinking about the day-to-day processes and the long term? Do you have an example of a leader who had achieved this balance?

Reference

Spears, Larry C. (2010). Character and Servant Leadership: Ten Characteristics of Effective, Caring Leaders. The Journal of Virtues & Leadership, 1(1), 25-30.

 

Learning Activity 1 – Team Leadership

I read your post with interest because of your frequent references to a compelling purpose in your workplace. Your references to a supportive organization you worked in and your expressed concern that you received feedback rarely from leadership. I appreciate your succinct summation of the eight characteristics of team excellence followed by the four processes that teams need to have. You’re fortunate in having what you call “a compelling purpose” and your team’s “united commitment.” I believe that among the components of team leadership that the goal or purpose or vision of the team being front and foremost is crucial to a team’s success. You also refer to the “supportive organizational context” in which you worked. It is evident that this leadership component allowed you to build your team and supplied the team with the resources to be successful over a long period of time. Any organization that is not supportive of a team and supplied resources dooms the team to failure. Having outside support of the team is often outside the influence of the leader’s ability to acquire. It is predicated on the culture and decision of the organization. Lastly, you refer to the benefit of feedback. In my experience in Christina organizations, feedback is infrequent and I feel that feedback is often perceived as being critical, unsupportive and “un-Christian.”

Your experience with a lack of feedback from your superiors highlights to me the importance of feedback to not only growth within the position but also with maintaining morale. Thank you for the reminder that leadership isn’t just about getting a job done but also making sure people want to keep doing the job.