Category: Learning Activity 1

Greatly summarized, the case study of The Glass Ceiling (Northouse, 2018, p. 412-413) describes the story of Lisa, a competent, confident, experienced, extremely well educated, investment executive who was blatantly discriminated against because of her gender. In spite of outperforming her peers, she was denied promotion. She was publicly discriminated against when the CEO, when seeing Lisa with another woman, “he called out to the men, ‘Hey, guys, two women in one room. That’s scary’.” (Northouse, 2019, p. 412). This obvious gender discrimination is disturbing to me. I would like to think that Lisa would today have grounds for a law suit.

In the light of this article, and other readings in the context of gender discrimination, I have assessed my own organization of 65 people. Half of our sales force is female. Our plant manager and assistant manager are female, three of four departments are led by woman, two of three production managers are female and three out of four of the highest paid salaries are paid to females. However, I acknowledge, that in our management team (of three woman and four men), the men “out talk,” the woman. While this is largely because the men have more technical knowledge in the areas we discuss, I plan on making it my goal to tip the balance of conservation, so it is more balanced.

When thinking about gender discrimination, this week I’ve read of a number of discrimination instances that have received a public profile. For instance, recently there was tremendous backlash again when “women scientists who were told that they might be too distracting to the male scientist in the lab” (Dulski, 2018, p. 27).

Historical evidence of gender discrimination is the fact that not a single woman is pictured on Canadian currency. To address this, Merna Forster “led a successful campaign calling for women to be put Canadian currency . . . [to ensure] woman are recognized for their contributions to society” (Dulski, 2018, p. 172). Eventually Forster was successful, and Viola Desmond was placed on Canadian currency (Dulski, 2018, p. 175).

A woman named Celine Schillinger who worked in a very large organization recognized “that her organization possessed a significant gender imbalance – where the majority of the senior roles were occupied by men and the majority of promotions were awarded to men-Celine wrote a letter to the CEO” (Pontefract, 2016, p. 89). She described the problem and identified ways in which to remedy the situation. The letter went vial throughout the organization. Over 2,500 people supported her. The CEO agreed that gender balance was an issue and changes were made. Her outspoken voice made a difference.

The president of one of the greatest universities in America “opined publicly that perhaps biological differences were responsible for the underrepresentation of woman in science and technology.” (Hennessy, 2018, p. 71). Ten years later after an immensely strong criticism of this opinion, “this struggle continues, as evidences by the famed “Google memo,” containing similar opinions about biology and ability” (Hennessy, 2018, p. 72).  As the author says, that in spite of ten years of voluminous push-back against a university president’s, gender discrimination statement, it obviously hasn’t ended the debate.

Kahnweiler writes that female introverts are judged by men “as being ‘cold and unfeeling’” (2018, p. 13). In contrast, these same men do not view male introverts “as cold and unfeeling”. This is clear evidence of gender discrimination. Because of this study I am much more aware of gender discrimination. I plan to more proactive about identifying ways this discrimination shows up in my organization, church and friendship circle.

References                                                                      

Dulski, J. (2018). Purposeful. New York, NY: Penguin.

Hennessy, J.L. (2018). Leading Matters. Stanford, CA: Standford University Press.

Kahnweiller, J.B. (2018). The Introverted Leader. Oakland. CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

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

Pontefract, D. (2016). The Purpose Effect. Boise, Idaho: Elevate Publishing.

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.

 

 

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.

 

 

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.

Transformation leadership (Northouse, 2019, pg. 161) is one of the eight leadership trends that Northouse identifies from the last 120 years (Northouse, 2019, pgs. 2-5). Is transformational leadership simply another trend or popular research topic? Transformational leadership will stand the test of time because it has one strong distinctive. Unlike other styles of leadership, the biggest and most important differentiation of transformational leadership is the great desire “to empower their followers and nurture them in change” (Northouse, 2019, pg. 175). The most important component of a transformational leader’s approach is their emphasis on individuals. Northouse also compares transformational, transactional and laissez-faire leadership styles. While the latter two styles impact followers in various areas, only transformational leadership impacts areas of personal growth. Transformational leadership will prove to be a more effective and lasting leadership trend because of its emphasis on the growth of followers.

My idea of a transformational leader of the past would be Dr. Henry Hildebrand, the founder and 45-year president of Briarcrest College in Saskatchewan. In my interactions with him over a span of four decades, he demonstrated interest in my well-being and growth. He was always vision-directed and pragmatic and was continually refining the management processes of the school. Additionally, he was remarkably open to new ideas, processes and options. In many senses, he was my spiritual mentor. Among the many things I learned from this man and, in my opinion, transformational leader, the most important was that when making a decision, analyze objectively the cost of failure.

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