Study Unit 1

Leadership, power and influence

 In its simplest form, a leader is one who lead
 Second, the definition implies that the leader is in front, determining the direction
and setting the pace for others to follow.
 The third implication is that a leader need not only be an individual, it can be a
group, an organisation, an industry, a political party or even a country. Vodacom
a leader in the cellular industry.

“Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of

individuals to achieve a common goal.”

We see that influence is a key element – the individual needs the ability to influence
his/her followers, to motivate and enable them to contribute to the success of the
organisation

THE NATURE OF LEADERSHIP

Table 1.1: Four approaches to leadership -GRINT

Key
Approach question Description
Leadership WHO This approach asks the question: “Is
as vested in a it WHO leaders are that makes them
person leaders?”

Leadership as a HOW This approach asks the question: “Is it

process HOW leaders get things done that makes
them leaders?”

Leadership as a WHERE This approach asks the question: “Is it

position WHERE leaders operate that makes them
leaders?”

Leadership based WHAT This approach asks the question: “Is it

on results WHAT leaders achieve that makes them
leaders?”
LEADERSHIP AND POWER

Whenever there are relationships between people, power is present

• “Power is the product of the position that a person holds in an organisation”

• “The ability to mobilize resources to get things done”
• “The absolute capacity of an individual to influence the behaviour or
attitudes
of one or more designated target persons at a given point in time.

FOCUSED ON THIS

“Power is the ability of a leader to influence the behaviour or attitudes of his/

her follower(s) at a given point in time.

Sources of Power

 Informational power: the ability to provide information about a subject or task

in such a way that the recipient (or follower) will accept that information and
behave in the way that the leader suggests.

 Reward power: the ability to reward or threaten a follower.

 Coercive power: the ability to enforce compliance through fear.

 Legitimate power: the follower accepts that the leader has the right to direct,
request or demand a change.

 Expert power: the leader is believed to possess knowledge or insights that are
accepted as superior and s/he can therefore influence the follower to change
his/her behaviour.

 Referent power: the follower holds the leader in high regard, admires his/her
behaviour and trusts his/her judgement, and so is happy to emulate him/her.

The sources of a leader’s power can also be grouped under the headings of soft and
hard power.
Soft power is personal; it refers to the ability to work at relationships to achieve a
goal. It is expert or referent power.
Hard power consists of power that comes with a position of authority; it is the
power to coerce, reward or punish. It is legitimate power.

A last source of power is called ecological power, which refers to the power to change
the physical work environment through activities such as creating open-plan offices for
staff or the power to change technology.

LEADERSHIP AND INFLUENCE

Influence is when a leader uses his/her ability to build good relationships,

and generate cooperative and collaborative strategies for the organisation. In
this sense, influence is seen as the exercise of personal power (expert and referent
power, as defined in the previous section) rather than positional power (the coercion,
reward and punishment power explained in the previous section). While power is an
element that can be used to get things done, influence is the impact of power being
used in terms of effecting changes in the attitudes, values, beliefs and actions of others.

Table 1.2: Leadership tactics to influence the behaviour and decisions of followers

Leader makes use of ……. to influence behaviour

Tactic
and decisions

Rational
persuasion facts, evidence and logic
Apprising benefits to follower(s)
Inspirational appeals emotional commitment
Consultation involving follower(s)
Exchange offering something of value to follower(s)
Collaboration offering resources
Personal appeals friendship or personal loyalty
Ingratiation compliments and praises
Legitimising
tactics his/her position, policy, rules or norms
threatening words and behaviour, micromanagement and
Pressure demands
Coalition tactics building a coalition of colleagues

Overt Influence
  Force: the blunt instrument of power. The person deploying this tactic has a
large physical presence and perhaps control over resources. Bullying is an
obvious example of this form of influence.

 Exchange: a transaction which depends on one actor having something that the
other actor values. This could take the form of a normal business transaction, a
trade-off between senior managers or, in extreme cases, a bribe.

 Rules and procedures: the power behind this form of influence comes mainly
from position and resource power, as the instigator and implementer of the rules
must be seen to have both the accepted authority to introduce rules and the
ability to reward or punish those who follow or break the rules.

 Persuasion: based on the skills of critical thinking (facts, logic, assumptions,

inference and argument) and on expert and personal power. Persuasion is the
preferred method of influencing and the one most people try first, before
resorting to other means, if necessary.

Unseen influence

 Ecology: the potential of leaders to use the physical environment to influence

the behaviours of many employees. The physical environment refers to the office
space and arrangement of people, the levels of heat, light and noise, the
organisation of business processes and individual job descriptions, the structure
of the business and its geographical spread, and other physical factors under the
control of leaders, such as the climate of the organisation.

 Magnetism: derived from the personal power a leader may have. This is the
acceptance of influence from someone we like, admire, trust and respect.
Influence based on magnetism is easily shattered, as once trust is broken it is
difficult to regain.

Table 1.3: The use of overt and unseen influence

Leader makes use of ……. to

Tactic
influence behaviour and decisions

Overt influence Force Bullying

Exchange a normal business transaction, tradeoff

between senior managers or a bribe

Rules & position and resource power

Procedures
 Persuasion skills of critical thinking, expert and
personal power
Unseen Influence Ecology the physical environment
Magnetism personal power

A modern leader is one who has the ability to develop good relationships with
peers, colleagues and followers. The leader works through relationships to
empower and engage the organisation, generating collaborative approaches
that focus on achieving a common goal. Leadership, then, is about developing
the skills needed to build coalitions that will move an organisation closer to
its defined ends.

Study Unit 2

The leadership/management debate

INDUSTRIALISATION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENTIFIC

MANAGEMENT

Frederick Winslow Taylor

 Developed the concept of scientific management

 noticed the natural differences in productivity between workers
 Initially, he attributed these differences to the talent, intelligence or motivation of
individual wers
 Taylor believed that working practices based on standardisation would produce
better-quality outputs and more efficient production than the old craft-related
‘rules of thumb’ which he still saw in operation around him.
 Putting this belief into effect, he instigated wide-ranging ‘time and motion
studies’ to carefully observe how specific work tasks were accomplished most
effectively, and wrote detailed step-by-step procedures based on his findings
 The application of these procedures was contingent on a high level of managerial
control over employee work practices. ‘Management’ was considered a necessary
control and administration task because workers were seen as unwilling.

Taylor and a number of his followers tried (unsuccessfully) to implement his scientific
approach to management.
 Reasons for their failure include the fact that
o (i) different people have different talents and skills, and the application of
the scientific approach to management failed to take into account that the
most effective way of working for one person could be totally different
from the effective way for another person;
o (ii) the economic interests of workers differ tremendously from those of
management, which has an impact on how new methods are viewed by
 each party. By applying the scientific approach to management, workers
felt they were being exploited by business owners.

Taylor recognised these challenges, but was still unable to make a lasting success of any
of his trials of scientific management.

Henry Gantt

 Henry Gantt developed the famous Gantt chart, in which a series of horizontal
lines show the amount of work done or the production completed within certain
periods of time, in relation to the output planned for those periods.
 Today, the Gantt chart is still used as an important project management tool.
 Gantt’s legacy is mainly related to production management. For example, his
‘task and bonus’ system linked the bonus paid to managers to how well they
taught their employees to improve performance
 he believed businesses have obligations to the welfare of the society in which
they operate – the forerunner of today’s writing on corporate governance, as well
as corporate and social responsibility.

Henri Fayol

 developed a general theory of business administration – often known as Fayolism

– which became one of the most influential contributions to modern concepts of
management
 As defined by Fayol, business administration consists of the performance or
management of business operations and thus the making or implementing of
major decisions within an organisation
 In this context, ‘administration’ refers to the all-encompassing process of
organising people and resources efficiently so as to direct activities toward
common goals and objectives.
 it is clearly recognisable as ‘management’ as we know it today. Fayol’s was one
of the first comprehensive statements of a general theory of management: it put
forward six primary functions of management, namely

▪ forecasting
▪ planning
▪ organising
▪ commanding
▪ coordinating
▪ controlling

Some writers3 reduce these functions to four, namely planning, organising, leading and
controlling,

Fayol also proposed 14 principles of management

 Management principle Explanation

Division of work and labour The division of work refers to the practice of
dividing a job, task, assignment or contract into
smaller tasks, and may include a schedule for
these tasks. Fayol’s principle was based on the
belief that specialisation increases the output
or performance of a worker by making him/her
more efficient
Authority Fayol believed managers must have authority
and give orders to employees
Discipline Employees need to obey and respect the rules
that govern the organisation
Unity of command Each individual employee should receive orders
from only one superior
Unity of direction All the efforts of a group need to be focused
on one goal, directed by one manager, using
one plan
Subordination of individual The interest of the organisation should always
interests to the general be deemed more important than the interest
interest of an individual
Renumeration Workers must receive a fair wage for rendering
services
Centralisation The optimum degree of centralisation and
decentralisation needs to be found for each
situation
Chain of command The chain of command refers to the line of
authority from top management right down
to the lowest levels of management in an
organisation, and communications should follow
this chain
Order People, material and components should be at
the right place at the right time
Equity Management should treat followers kindly and
fairly
Stability of tenure of Low employee turnover is more efficient than
personnel high employee turnover, therefore management
should plan human resources carefully and
ensure replacements for vacant positions
Initiative Employees need to be given the opportunity to
take initiative in the workplace, which will result
in high levels of effort
Esprit de corps Managers need to promote team spirit, and
build harmony and unity in the organisation
None of the researchers and contributors to our body of knowledge regarding leadership
versus management (discussed above) differentiated between leadership and
management. The first researcher to do so was Max Weber

Max Weber

 Weber focused on understanding bureaucracy and classifications of authority.

 He divided authority into three types, namely legitimate, traditional and
charismatic.
 Here we have the first sense of a difference between leadership and
management, and the impending rise of the latter in importance both as a
practice and an academic area of study
 Weber defined charismatic authority as power which drew its legitimacy from the
leader’s exceptional personal qualities or accomplishments, which were such that
they inspired loyalty and obedience in followers.
 In this definition we can clearly see the origins of charismatic leadership and the
notion that a ‘leader’ is somehow more than, or different from, a manager.

LEADERSHIP IS ABOUT CHANGE

John Kotter

 Is known especially for his epigrammatic linking of management to complexity,

and leadership to change.
 Kotter maintained that management is about coping with complexity, and that its
practices and procedures are largely a response to one of the most significant
developments of the twentieth century: the emergence of large organisations.
 Leadership, by contrast, is about coping with change. Part of the reason why it
has become so important in recent years, is that the business world has become
more competitive and more volatile than ever.
 thus attributed the rise of leadership in an organisational context to the change
of pace and growth of uncertainty to be observed there.
 he sets out the functions served by leadership and management respectively in
relation to directing the organisation, developing employees, and implementing
and achieving outcomes.
 So, for example, leaders establish direction, communicate vision and strategy,
and energise people to overcome obstacles while managers decide action plans
and timetables, develop policies and procedures, and take corrective actions
against shortfalls.
 In each case, it can be seen that the more dynamic or exciting tasks fall to the
leader, while the more mundane activities are the lot of the manager.
 Differences between managers and leaders

Managers Leaders

Copes with change Copes with complexity

Administers Innovates
is a copy and imitates is an original and originates
plans and budgets sets a directive
organises staff align people to outcomes
control and solves problems motivates and inspires people and trust

maintains develops
accepts reality investigate reality
focus on systems and structures focus on people
has a short term view has a longer term view
accepts the status quo challengers the status quo
does things rights does the right things
minimise risk takes calculated risks
has objectives and goals has a vision
eyes the bottom line eyes the horizon
Study Unit 3

Born versus made: Early approaches to

understanding leadership

 Are leaders born?

 Do effective and good leaders learn to lead?
 Are leaders made?

THE TRAIT THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP

Introduction to the trait theories of leadership

 Thomas Carlyle was the 1st researcher to investigate the traits of successful leaders
 Focused not only on who they are but also on the effect they have or the events
they cause or set in motion in a specific situation.
 Carlyle is famous for his “Great Man Theory” which states that a Great Man was
always as lightning out of heaven, the rest of men waited for him liked fuel and they
too would flame.
 Assumption that leaders were born to a certain social class and gender. Qualities
were inherited.
 Various leadership traits were identified
▪ Drive
▪ Intelligence
▪ Insight
▪ Motivation
▪ Honesty
▪ Integrity
▪ Self Confidence
 ▪ Sociability
▪ Emotional Intelligence
▪ Extroversion

The five main factors of personality

Factor Description

Surgency or extraversion The leader is outgoing and assertive,

Agreeableness
Conscientiousness or dependability
Emotional stability (versus
neuroticism)
Openness to experience (or intellect)
possibly even a thrill seeker
The leader is trustworthy, gentle and
warm
The leader has a desire for achievement
and the ability to be dependable
The leader is emotionally stable,
where stability is usually defined by
the neuroticism elements of anxiety,
depression and mood swings, which
are more easily measured
The leader is creative, imaginative and
thoughtful

Furthermore, they realised that a narrow definition of attributes would not suffice.
Instead, a much broader understanding of what differentiates leaders from non-leaders
is necessary. This understanding includes personal qualities such as motives, values,
knowledge and expertise, as well as social and problem-solving skills. These realisations
led to the development of a model of leadership traits that is defined by the integration
of several sets of attributes, namely cognitive capacities, personality attributes, motives
and values, and social capacities. These attributes are explained below.

 Cognitive capacities: defined as the total amount of information an individual’s

brain is capable of retaining at any particular moment. In the leadership traits
 context, cognitive capacity includes the intelligence, creativity and cognitive
complexity of the leader. An individual’s capacity is finite (100%).

 Personality attributes: the attributes that are distinct to an individual, for

example a leader might be an extrovert and open to experience. The “Big Five”
personality traits are openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness
and neuroticism.8
 Motives and values: a motive is simply the reason for doing something, while a
value refers to one’s judgement of what is important. In a leadership context,
motives and values refer to the leader’s desire to achieve and his/ her motivation
to lead.

 Social capacities: this refers to the negotiation and persuasion skills of the
leader as well as his/her social and emotional intelligence.

THE BEHAVIOURAL THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP

The behavioural theories of leadership sought to compare what successful leaders do. In
other words, the behavioural approach sought to measure the observable characteristics
that leaders demonstrated on an everyday basis.

The Ohio State studies asked subordinates to evaluate their leaders against 150 criteria
contained in the Leader Behaviour Description Questionnaire (LBDQ). Subordinates were
asked to comment on how often a leader actually demonstrated the described criteria.
The results were analysed and categorised, giving rise to two main dimensions of
leadership behaviour, namely consideration and initiation:

 Consideration: this dimension of leadership behaviour focuses on relationships

and feelings in terms of the leader seeking to support and involve his/her
followers, valuing open communication, encouraging teamwork and striving
towards mutual trust. A leader who scored high on this element received a
correspondingly high satisfaction rating from subordinates.

 Initiating structure: this dimension relates to the task in which the leader is
focused on the goals of the organisation, and on planning, controlling and
criticising – all to ensure the delivery of the organisational goal. A leader with a
high score on this element was considered more effective, but if s/he did not also
score highly on consideration, s/he experienced greater discontent on the part of
employees, as shown by a higher number of grievances and higher absenteeism

At the same time, researchers from the University of Michigan examined the effect a
leader’s behaviour had on small groups. The Michigan studies identified two main
categories of leadership behaviour, namely employee orientation and production
orientation:
  Employee orientation: leaders with an employee orientation focus on human
relations. They work towards building trust and respect, and encourage
participation in the workplace.

 Production orientation: leaders with a production (or technical) orientation

focus on aspects of the job. They primarily use employees as a means to an end.

Task/relationship approaches to leadership

(i) Blake and Mouton’s leadership grid

Blake and Mouton’s grid developed from the original research into employee and
production orientations. Underpinning their approach is the belief that “there is one
consistently sound style for exercising leadership across different situations”.13 The grid
utilises two variables, namely a concern for people, which draws on the description of an
employee orientation, and a concern for production, which draws inspiration from the
description of the production orientation. Blake and Mouton view these variables as
interdependent, in that at their point of connection they cease to be separate variables
and combine to create something new. This implies that if a leader’s score on one
variable changes, it will have an impact on his/her score on the other variable. The
original grid depicted four main areas of intersection to which a fifth was later added by
Blake and McCanse.

 Impoverished leadership style (1,1): a leader who adopts this style has a low
concern for people and production. S/he is satisfied with minimum effort to get
the very basics of the job done. For example, an impoverished leader at a
university might assign courses to academics without considering their own
academic records, abilities and experience, and might also ignore their
productivity and quality control.
  Produce or perish leadership style (9,1): also called an authority-compliance
leadership style, a leader who adopts this style has a high concern for
results/production, but a low concern for people. For example, an authority-
compliance leader at a university will expect staff to be world class researchers,
administrators and community workers, with little concern for the work-life
balance of those staff members.

 Middle-of-the-road leadership style (5,5): a leader who adopts this style will
be satisfied with adequate organisational performance, through balancing the
necessity to get work done while maintaining the morale of staff at a
satisfactorily level. Such a leader at a university might, for example, casually
monitor job progress and allow staff to sort out their duties and targets
themselves.

 Country-club leadership style (1,9): such leaders create a great working

environment, while sacrificing the speed of task completion. For example, at a
university a country-club leader will be concerned with maintaining high morale
amongst staff, while paying less attention to the quality of the work they
produce.

 Team leader (9,9): a team leader ensures that work is accomplished by

committed staff. His/her followers work interdependently, sharing common
organisational goals. Followers trust and respect the leader and their coworkers.
For example, a leader at a university who follows a team leader approach will
have the highest success and output rates – s/he will maintain high staff morale
while attaining the goals of the organisation.

(ii) Likert’s relationship approach to leadership

Likert’s research in terms of leadership indicated that there were patterns in managerial
behaviour and the effects thereof. Likert grouped these patterns into the Four Systems
model, where each system explains the behaviour of a leader in terms of his/her
relationship with followers. These four systems are explained below.

 System 1: Exploitative authoritative leadership approach: this system

advocates a dictatorial approach from autocratic leaders. The leader delegates
and involves his/her followers to the bare minimum. Followers are motivated
through punishment or fear of punishment.

 System 2: Benevolent authoritative: with this system, a leader delegates to

and involves his/her followers in decision making, although to a minimal extent.
The leader motivates followers through rewards.

 System 3: Consultative: the leader shares information and followers are

involved in decision-making processes. Some teamwork is in evidence and there
is more trust than with systems 1 and 2.
  System 4: Participative: the leader actively involves followers in decisions.
There is open communications at and between all levels. Having the leader
involve followers leads to high levels of trust.

Likert’s Four Systems model

CONTINGENCY/SITUATIONAL APPROACHES TO LEADERSHIP

Fiedler’s situational approach to leadership

The two variables (employee orientation and production orientation) were the basis on
which Fiedler16 developed his initial contingency approach to leadership.

Fiedler used a survey that asked subordinates to describe the manager or leader they
had least enjoyed working for. The results of this survey became known as the Least-
Preferred Co-worker (LPC) scale. Leaders with a low LPC score were thought to be more
task focused and those with a high score were thought to be more relationship
focused.

Fiedler to analyse situations and leadership styles against three criteria which he felt
allowed a leader to assess the favourability of a given situation:

 Leader–member relations: the first criterion used in Fiedler’s research was

leader–member relations, which he associated with the quality of relationships,
and the presence of trust and respect between the leader and his/her followers.

 Task structure: this refers to the clarity with which the task – that the leader
and his/her followers need to perform – has been described, designed and
structured.

 Leader position power: this refers to the formal position of the leader in the
organisation as well as his/her ability to reward and punish.

Fiedler found that those leaders who favoured a task-oriented over a relationship-
oriented approach tended to lead best in situations where they had a high degree of
control and influence over their followers. Leaders who favoured the relationship
orientation tended to lead best in situations where their level of control and influence
was neither high nor low.

Hersey, Blanchard and Dewey’s situational approach to leadership

Hersey, Blanchard and Dewey19 believed leadership behaviour could change not just for
each situation, but specifically for each subordinate. Their model was based on the
belief that effective leadership requires three main competencies, namely diagnosing,
adapting and communicating (see below):

 Diagnosing: this refers to the cognitive ability of the leader to understand

complex and dynamic situations.

 Adapting: the behavioural ability of the leader to change the way s/he behaves
as a leader to match the situation (as s/he has understood it).

 Communicating: defined as a process skill of the leader, in other words the

leader needs to know how to get his/her message across to individual employees
in any given situation. According to Hersey, Blanchard and Dewey’s theory,
leaders can

o (i) improve the ability to understand the situations in which they need to
lead their followers and can adapt to it; and
o (ii) there is no one best way of leading that is applicable in all possible
situations. This theory therefore supports the belief that leaders can be
made!

Hersey and Blanchard’s situational approach to leadership

Hersey and Blanchard developed their situational approach to leadership which again
focuses on the behaviour of the leader towards his/her followers. The approach is based
on three interrelated variables:

 Task-focused direction: this refers to the level of task-focused direction the

leader gives his/her followers. Leaders need to tell their followers exactly what is
expected of them, including what, how, where and when to do the task.

 Relationship-focused support: this refers to the level of relationship focused

support the leader gives his/her followers. This includes the way the leader
communicates with his/her followers, how well they listen to him/her and how
leaders support their people.

 Readiness of the follower: this important dimension of the Hersey and

Blanchard situational approach to leadership refers to the readiness of a follower
to deliver the task expected of him/her. The readiness of followers is a function
of their ability (which includes their knowledge, experience or skill) and
 willingness (which includes their confidence to do the job, their commitment and
motivation).

Hersey and Blanchard’s situational approach to leadership suggests that the leader’s
style needs to change in relation to the readiness of the employee for any given task.

COMPETENCY FRAMEWORKS

A competency framework can be described a model that broadly defines the blueprint
for ‘excellent’ performance within an organisation. Within the organisational leadership
context, such a framework consists of a number of competencies that a leader should
have in order to be successful. Competency frameworks have moved from assessing the
individual leader’s attributes needed to perform a specific job or task, to the capabilities
of the leader doing the job or task. In other words, a move away from what is needed
to complete the task, to how the task is achieved.

Soderquist, Papalexandris, Ioannou and Prastacos20 outline three distinct perspectives on

competencies

 Generic versus organisation-specific competencies: competencies for a

specific job or job family, or a specific job in a specific organisation.

 Managerial versus operational competencies: competencies for a specific

role. Managerial competencies tend to include more interpersonal skills.

 Competencies as skills versus competencies as behaviours: competencies

that are learned and observed as behaviours, or are inherent and influence how
an individual does a job.
Study Unit 4

Transactional, transformational and

charismatic leadership

One of the most popular approaches to understanding leadership at the present time is
that of transformational leadership.

New leadership refers to a collection of approaches which all share a number of

common themes relating to the emotional and symbolic aspects of leadership. These
approaches place greater emphasis on the charismatic and affective elements of
leadership, and draw extensively on intrinsic motivation and follower needs as the
underpinnings of effectiveness. As such, they seem to signal a new way of
conceptualising leadership, and of researching and practising it. As students of
leadership, these new approaches provide us with further insight into the effective
practise of leadership.

TRANSACTIONAL AND TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP

Transactional leadership – also known as managerial leadership – focuses on the

supervision, organisation and performance tasks of a leader. It is a leadership style in
which leaders promote compliance amongst their followers through both rewards and
punishments. Transactional leaders motivate their followers by appealing to their self-
interest. For example, corporate leaders contract employees to perform certain tasks
and activities. In exchange, they pay employees and offer them status for their work
effort. Transformational leadership differs from transactional leadership, in the sense
that the former is a process in which leaders and followers raise one another to higher
levels of morality and motivation, while the latter involves an exchange of
rewards for compliance. When employees are successful, their transactional leaders
reward them; when they fail, they are reprimanded or punished.2 A transformational
leader has followers who trust and admire their leader, show loyalty and respect for
him/her and are motivated to do more than is expected of them. Followers who are led
by transformational leaders report higher levels of performance and satisfaction than
workers led by other types of leaders. The reason for this is that transformational
leaders have positive expectations of their followers, believing that they can do their
best. As a result, they inspire, empower and stimulate their followers to exceed their
normal levels of performance.

The main proponents of transformational leadership in an organisational context are

Bernard Bass and Bruce Avolio. These researchers conceptualised four components of
transformational leadership, commonly referred to as ‘the Four I’s.4 Their framework
identified four factors which, together, constitute the practice of transformational
leadership, namely (i) idealised influence; (ii) inspirational motivation; (iii) intellectual
stimulation; and (iv) individualised consideration

The four I’s of practising transformational leadership

Factor Description

Idealised influence This factor requires leaders to act as strong

role models for their followers. Leaders
need to demonstrate high standards of
ethical and moral conduct
Inspirational motivation Transformational leaders need to motivate
their followers through communicating the
high expectations they have of their
followers. Transformational leaders need to
inspire their followers to make
organisational interest their priority, rather
than self-interest
Intellectual stimulation Transformational leaders need to encourage
their followers to be creative and innovative.
Leaders can give their followers challenging
tasks which allow them to explore their own
beliefs and values, as well as those of the
leader and the organisation
Individualised Transformational leaders should develop
consideration their followers to the highest levels of their
ability. This can be done through the
creation of a supportive and enabling
environment in which the leader listens
closely to the followers’ needs. Leaders may
also provide coaching and mentoring, if
 necessary

Transformational leadership results in higher performance levels amongst followers than

a transactional approach to leadership does Different researchers have diverse views in
this regard: some are of the opinion that transactional and transformational leadership
are at the opposite ends of a spectrum,6 while others7 believe that transactional and
transformational leadership are separate dimensions which could either be practised
together or separately. Based on the latter conceptualisation, the original
transformational leadership model was extended to include a third approach to
leadership, called laissez-faire. Laissez-faire leadership is effectively the absence of
leadership, representing behaviours that are non-transactional such as abdicating
responsibility, delaying decisions, giving no feedback, and so on. The three elements –
transactional, transformational and laissez-faire leadership – were combined to create
the full-range leadership model.

Let us now look at the factors which make up transactional and laissez-faire leadership.
Transactional leadership differs from transformational leadership in that it does not
individualise the needs of followers and is not concerned with their personal
development. Its primary aim is the achievement of predetermined organisational goals
through the exchange of things which are of value to each party. The transactional
leader has three tools, namely (i) contingent reward; (ii) management by exception –
active; and (iii) management by exception – passive. These tools are explained

The three tools for practising transactional leadership

Factor Description

Contingent reward The transactional leader can distribute

Management by exception can take
two forms – active or passive:
Management by exception – active
specific rewards in return for the efforts of
his/her followers. The leader has an
agreement with his/ her followers,
whereby they perform certain tasks in
exchange for rewards such as a salary
The transactional leader can provide
corrective criticism, negative feedback and
negative reinforcement activities. Active
management by exception requires the

Management by exception – passive
leader to watch his/her followers closely
for mistakes, rule violations and other
shortcomings, and to take corrective
action on each occasion
Passive management by exception occurs
when the leader intervenes only after
certain standards have not been met or
certain goals have been missed, with
smaller or less significant contraventions
being allowed to pass uncorrected

CHARISMATIC LEADERSHIP

Charismatic leadership can be described as the process a leader follows in encouraging

certain behaviours in his/her followers, by making use of his/her personality, powers of
persuasion and eloquent communication. Charismatic leaders inspire their followers to
do things or to do things better, by conjuring up enthusiasm in others for a stated vision
or goal. There are three approaches to charismatic leadership: the behavioural, the
attributional and the follower self-concept. The behavioural approach was developed by
House, whereas the attributional and follower self-concept approaches were developed
by Conger and Kanungo,9 and Boas Shamir10 respectively. House11 saw charismatic
leadership as underpinned by certain personality characteristics

The personality characteristics of charismatic leaders

Regardless of whether the charismatic leader follows the behavioural, attributional or

follower self-concept approach, s/he will have certain characteristics. The first is a
dominant personality. An individual with a dominant personality tends to be decisive and
direct. The second characteristic is a person’s desire to influence others – a charismatic
leader wants to influence his/her followers. The third characteristic is self-confidence,
and the last is strong moral values. The four main personal characteristics of a
charismatic leader emerge as behaviours. A charismatic leader is a strong role model for
his/her followers. S/he shows competence in performing his/her tasks as a leader,
clearly articulates the goals of his/her followers and has high expectations of them.
Lastly, a charismatic leader expresses confidence and is a motivator – s/he can motivate
his/her followers to act in such a way that they accomplish their goals. These leader
behaviours have a certain effect on followers. In turn, the followers trust the leader’s
ideology, believe there are similarities between themselves and the leader,
unquestioningly accept the charismatic leader and show affection towards him/her.
Furthermore, followers are obedient, they identify with the leader and are emotionally
involved in their relationship with the leader. Lastly, charismatic leadership leads to
higher goals being set and boosts follower confidence. The relationship between the
personality characteristics of the leader, his/her behaviours and the consequent effects
thereof on followers,
House’s model of charismatic leadership

Personality characteristics of the leader

Leader is dominant, with a high desire to influence followers, is self-confident with
strong
moral values.

Leader behaviour
Leader is a strong role model, competent, articulate goals, has high expectations from
followers, express confidence in followers and motivates them.

Effects on followers
Followers trust the leader, belief in similarities, accept the leader and have affection for
him/her, are obedient, identify with the leader, are emotionally involved, goal oriented
and act with confidence.

The behavioural approach to charismatic leadership

According to House,11 the behaviours of charismatic leaders are centred around
competence and role modelling, articulating goals and communicating high expectations,
as well as fostering encouraging, motivational interaction with followers.
these behaviours are seen as producing trust in, affection for, and obedience towards
the leader, and increased confidence and performance in followers.

The attributional approach to charismatic leadership

Conger and Kanungo14 developed the attributional approach to charismatic leadership.
These researchers were more concerned with the mechanism through which such
leadership operates than with the behaviours or character of the leader. They proposed
that followers will attribute charisma to a leader, if a certain combination of leader
behaviours is present and depending on aspects of the situation. Thus, different leaders
may exhibit different individual behaviours, and their relative importance to followers (in
attributing charisma) would depend, in part, on how those followers perceive the
situation in which the behaviours are exercised. Nonetheless, Conger and Kanungo
identified five behavioural/situational combinations that were most likely to prompt
followers to attribute charismatic leadership to their leader:

1. Advocating a vision that is markedly different from the status quo, but is not so
radical as to be unrecognisable to followers

2. Acting in unconventional ways in order to achieve the vision

3. Taking personal risk and being willing to make personal sacrifices in order to
achieve the vision

4. Appearing confident , both in themselves and in the success and expediency of

their vision
 5. Using visioning and persuasive appeals to engage followers, rather than relying
on either authority or participation

Charismatic leadership

The five behavioural/situational combinations that will most likely lead to the attribution
of charismatic leadership.
Follower self-concept and charismatic leadership

The third approach to understanding charismatic leadership is that of Boas Shamir. His
theory builds on the behavioural approach to charismatic leadership. Shamir, House and
Arthur15 saw the social identification, internalisation and augmentation of self-efficacy
mechanisms (collectively designated as the self-concept theory) as being more
significant. Let us first explain these concepts further before focusing on the theory
itself.
Self-efficacy is the belief that an individual has the ability to succeed in a specific
situation or to accomplish a certain task.16 For example, as a Business Management
student you possess self-efficacy, based on your belief that you have the ability to
complete your studies successfully. Your sense of self-efficacy can play a major role in
how you approach goals, tasks and challenges (such as your studies). Applying this
definition of self-efficacy to leadership, the follower self-concept plays a major role in
how they approach their tasks, goals and challenges. Shamir, House and Arthur
postulate that charismatic leaders are able to harness followers’ self-efficacy or self-
concepts – their sense of identity – to the goals and aspirations of the organisation, and
to bring about the internalisation of these organisational goals, both collectively and
individually, in their followers. They identify four mechanisms through which this
motivational change is brought about:
 1 Changing follower perceptions of the work itself, to make it appear more valuable
or worthy

2 Offering an appealing vision of the future, of which followers feel a part

3 Developing a deep collective identity among followers, such that they are willing
to put this before their own individual identity

4 Heightening both individual and collective self-efficacy, such that followers

believe in their own ability to deliver on demanding goals

Charismatic leadership

Study Unit 5

Leading teams: Delivering team

Performance
Therefore, the leader needs to have the skills to effectively lead the team towards
delivering team performance of an acceptable level. What makes this task even more
challenging is that leaders face numerous barriers and challenges in the process of
leading their teams. For instance, virtual teams are becoming increasingly common in
the workplace, and leaders need to learn how to lead this kind of team. Technology
paves the way for numerous opportunities in the modern workplace, but also brings
problems and challenges.

DEFINING ORGANISATIONAL TEAMS

An organisational team can be defined as a small number of people with complementary

skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goal and approach for
which they hold themselves mutually accountable.
  Departmental teams: also called cross-functional teams, they usually consist
of people with different functional expertise, who work towards a shared goal.
Such teams may include team members from finance, marketing, operations and
so on.

 Production/service/leadership teams: these kinds of teams are usually

responsible for the physical production of a product, e.g., a team consisting of
film producers.

 Self-directed teams: a self-directed work team (SDWT) combines different

skills and talents to work – without the usual managerial supervision – towards a
common purpose or goal.

 Advisory teams: they act in an advisory capacity to other teams, e.g., a team
consisting of human resources specialists will provide advice on human resources
to other departments or sections of the organisation.

 Project teams: a team whose members usually belong to different functions

(e.g., finance, procurement, operations, marketing and so on) who are assigned
to activities on the same project. A team can be divided into subteams according
to need. Usually project teams form for a defined period of time, and disbanded
once the project is deemed complete.

 Virtual teams: such teams consist of individuals from different geographic

locations who work together and rely on communication technology such as
email, fax, and video or voice conferencing services in order to collaborate.

Team members have complementary skills and are committed to a single purpose,
whereas a group comprises a number of people working in a collaborative style, with
individual input and individual accountability.3 The key difference between a team and a
group is that the actual work of a group tends to come about individually, and that there
is no pressure on groups to cohere or for members to be accountable to one another.

DEFINING TEAM LEADERSHIP

 First, team processes exist which successfully integrate the actions of

individuals into a collective whole.

 Second, teams possess the ability to use these team processes to operate in
complex and dynamic environments.

 Third, team goal-setting and the structuring of the team’s activities to accomplish
these goals happen through leadership.

Characteristics of organisational teams

Team leaders foster the integration of the actions and contributions of their followers to
achieve a common goal(s) and vision. By emphasising the differences between groups
and teams, and by defining team leadership in this way, we can conclude that team
leadership is a subtle yet different species within the leadership genus, which produces
a different leadership theory.

HOW GROUPS BECOME TEAMS

Groups become teams through a five-stage process

Stage of Development Explanation

Forming A number of individuals come together,

(ritual sniffing but they are not a team yet. A great deal
of uncertainty pertaining to the group’s
purpose, leadership and structure exists
at this stage.
Storming Members accept the existence of the
(infighting) team. Tensions, raised emotions and
conflict are characteristic of this stage.
Norming Now the team begins to function as a
(experimentation) cohesive unit and members work together
around common standards and working
methods.
Performing At this stage, the team is mature and
(effectiveness) functions well. The structure of the team
has been established and members all
work together to attain its goals.
Adjourning If required, the team can disband at this
(mourning) stage when its work has been
accomplished.

HIGH-PERFORMANCE TEAMS

Organisations expect teams to perform, and to perform well. The ultimate goal of a
team is to be a so-called “high-performing team”. Such a team has all the characteristics
of a real team, but in addition it shows commitment to the personal growth of team
members. High-performance teams perform beyond the expectations of those around
them. To perform well, certain critical conditions must be met, such as:

 Recognised performance need: this means the organisation must recognise

the need for the team to perform well.

 Personal commitment: each individual team member needs to be committed

to the performance of the team.

 Mutual accountability: high-performance team members share accountability

for the team and its performance.

 Shared trust: team members of a high-performance team trust one another.

 Effective operation of leadership roles: as the team develops, leadership

roles become clear and effective.
In summary, to be a high-performing team, members need to recognise the need to
perform, they need to be committed, they are held mutually accountable, they share
trust, and leadership roles are effectively implemented.

MODELS OF TEAM LEADERSHIP

In theory, teams have more collective talent, experience and resources than individuals
working on their own. Still, so often teams are less effective than individuals. One
possible reason why teams perform less effectively than people working individually, is
the behaviour of team leaders. Team leadership can guide effective teams, but it can
also lead to team inefficiencies. It is the task of the team leader to create the key
conditions which will enable the team to succeed.

What are these key conditions?

 The team leader needs to ensure that the team is a “real team”. In other words,
the team needs to meet the characteristics of a team.
  The team needs to have a compelling sense of direction.

 The team needs to operate in an enabling environment, in other words, an

environment that provides members with opportunities to become a high-
performing team.

 The team needs to operate within a supportive organisational context. This is

crucial – all the efforts of a team should be aligned with the overall goals and
objectives of the organisation. Therefore, the organisation should provide a
supportive context for the team.

 Teams need access to expert coaching. We can actually add mentoring, training
and skilling to this.

To create and ensure the sustainability of these conditions, the leader needs
a number of skills, as discussed below

 Envisioning skill: the team leader needs the ability to envision and articulate
desired states.

 Inventive skill: this is the ability to be creative in solving problems and looking
beyond the obvious.

 Negotiation skill: team leaders need to work persistently and constructively

with others to secure resources or support.

 Decision-making skill: a team leader needs the ability to make sound choices,
even in the face of limited information or uncertainty.

 Teaching skill: this refers to the leader’s ability to support team members’
learning, either through direct teaching or the provision of supportive
experiences.

 Interpersonal skill: this refers to the leader’s ability to use a range of

communication skills and styles to work constructively with others, even in
difficult situations.

 Implementation skill: the leader also needs the ability to get things done, at
all levels of complexity.
A FUNCTIONAL APPROACH TO LEADERSHIP IN TEAMS

The main idea of the functional approach to leadership in teams, is that a leader’s main
job is to do (or get done) whatever is not being adequately handled in meeting the
needs of the group. This approach proposes that a leader is effective if s/he ensures
that all tasks and functions which are critical to team performance, are satisfactorily
performed either by him/herself or by team members.

Study Unit 6

Leading change

THE ROLE OF LEADERSHIP IN ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE

Organisations that did best at implementing change initiatives appeared to have strong
leaders who were closely involved with the organisational change process. Being
involved in change processes means that leaders need to play various roles, ranging
from that of director (i.e., someone who takes a controlling stance and sees the desired
outcomes of the change as being wholly achievable) to that of nurturer (i.e., someone
who recognises that even small changes may have a big impact on an organisation, and
that management is unlikely to be able to control all the outcomes of any given change).
The nurturing role of a leader means that s/he sees his/her role as enabling positive
self-organising by members of the organisation.

Another view of the roles of the leader in the change process is that effective
leaders possess six attributes:

(i) Creativity
(ii) A team orientation;
(iii) Good listening skills;
(iv) Good coaching skills
(v) A sense of accountability;
(vi) An appreciation for others.

Regardless of the role leaders play in organisational change, workers will always show a
measure of resistance to change initiatives,

RESISTANCE TO CHANGE

One of the most profound barriers to the successful implementation of organisational

change is resistance to change from those people at the receiving end, in other words,
the people who did not make the decision to change, but need to implement the
change. People in general, and employees in particular, fear change and yearn for
stability in what they do and how they do it – they prefer the status quo. At an
organisational or macro level, change requires the mobilisation of effort in a new
direction, the adoption of new behaviours to achieve change objectives, and the
introduction of new ways of working into the organisational culture. These three stages
are

On an individual level, the process can be depicted as

While some of us are more open to change than others, the research suggests that all
of us go through broadly the same stages of reacting to any changes that are likely to
affect us. The research3 indicates that people’s responses to personal loss (particularly to
bereavement) are similar to a worker’s responses to organisational change. People tend
to go through the so-called “transition curve” when they need to deal with change (see
Figure 7.1 in the prescribed book), which maps the confidence and competence levels of
employees dealing with change over time. The curve suggests that individuals
undergoing change pass through the following seven stages:

 Stage 1: Shock: initially, as the need for change is forced on individuals, they
suffer feelings of shock in realising that their own skills may become obsolete and
their behaviours will have to change. The curve predicts that the individual’s self-
confidence will receive a knock, as a result.

 Stage 2: Denial: after the initial shock there is likely to be a period of denial,
when individuals either convince themselves that the proposed changes will not
happen or that their own behaviour will not need to change. This process of
rationalisation leads to a return of self-confidence, but actually prevents the
individual from moving forward in the ways required to meet the changing needs
of the situation. S/he may attempt to perform new roles or fulfil changed job
requirements by performing in the same old way, and hence will not perform
well.

 Stage 3: Awareness of incompetence: over time, awareness of

underperformance will be forced on individuals, either through their own growing
self-awareness or as a result of feedback from the change initiators, leading to a
further drop in confidence accompanied by feelings of inadequacy or deskilling.

 Stage 4: Acceptance: in parallel with the awareness incompetence of stage 3,

is likely to come an acceptance of the need for change, both in the individual and
in the organisation as a whole, together with a willingness to let go of past
behaviours and attitudes, and adopt new ones.

 Stage 5: Testing: gradually, as individuals test new behaviours and find them
effective in generating improved performance, their confidence will be rebuilt.
Through trial and error, they will discover which behaviours work and which do
not.

 Stage 6: Search for meaning: during this stage, individuals will start to make
sense of the overall pattern of change and how their own role fits into it. This
part of the process represents a search for meaning and identity in an initially
alien and daunting situation.

 Stage 7: Integration: finally, there ceases to be a gap between individuals’

competence to perform their new role and the level of performance expected of
them. New behaviours and attitudes are fully integrated into their sense of “the
way we do things around here”.
NORMATIVE MODELS OF CHANGE

John Kotter outlined eight ‘errors’ which he had seen companies make in an attempt to
implement major change initiatives. This research established a basis of his “eight
stage” model of change. Kotter’s was one of a number of normative models that
suggested that successful change required the change process to go through a linear
series of stages, each of which needed to be completed in order to generate the desired
outcome(s). Most basic amongst these stages is the one of Kurt Lewin4 (1958) called the
“unfreeze–move– refreeze” model.

While this model is still widely used, one of the main criticisms levelled against it is that
in the modern world, where change is ongoing, this is a very static model. Recognition
that refreezing will almost inevitably be followed by a further unfreezing and moving has
resulted in the initial phase often being referred to as mobilising, and the third phase
being renamed institutionalising
One the best-known ‘n-step models’ is Kotter’s eight-step change model, which involves
the following stages

 Stage 1: Establish a sense of urgency: during this stage, the change initiator
(i.e., the individual or group that starts the change process) establishes a sense
of urgency. What typically happens is that the change initiator examines the
 management environment in which the organisation functions and, based on this
information, identifies organisational opportunities, threats, strengths and
weaknesses, which are then used to create a perception of the need for change.

 Stage 2: Create a guiding coalition: here, a team is brought together with

enough power and influence to spearhead the change.

 Stage 3: Develop a vision and strategy: the group or team created during
the previous stage now creates a vision of what the changed organisation
(section/unit/department) will look like, in order to give direction to the change
effort and to develop strategies for achieving that vision.

 Stage 4: Communicate the change vision: the group or team is now ready
to start communicating with the wider organisation.

 Stage 5: Empower broad-based action: this stage involves the removal of

obstacles to change. Here, people should be encouraged to take risks in trying
out new ideas or activities. This is often the stage at which unintended outcomes
can arise.

 Stage 6: Generate short-term wins: to help control and direct the change
process, the guiding coalition (brought together in stage 2) needs to generate
short-term wins that are a clear indication that the change process is delivering
the intended results.

 Stage 7: Consolidate gains and produce more change: by building on the

credibility generated through short-term wins, change leaders can progressively
change all the systems, structures and policies that no longer fit the
transformation vision and/or do not fit the changes that have already been
implemented. This stage includes activities such as recruiting, promoting and
training people to align with the vision, and empowering them with the skills and
abilities to effect change. During this stage it may also be necessary to get rid of
those individuals who do not have the skills and abilities to carry the change
process forward. Change is an ongoing process, meaning that change processes
need to be repeatedly reinvigorated by introducing new projects.

 Stage 8: Anchor new approaches in the culture: this final stage involves
the anchoring of new approaches in the organisational culture.
The change models of Kotter and Lewin
Complexity in the management environment makes it highly unlikely that change will
occur as the simplified, linear process described above. Organisational managers and
leaders will be confronted with unanticipated problems and opportunities, as well as
resistance to change. In the next section, we focus on more sophisticated models of
change, known as contingency models.

CONTINGENCY MODELS OF CHANGE

Contingency models of change recognise that change is not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ process,

but that different responses are required in different situations – much like the
contingency models of leadership. The two most frequently cited models are those of
Dunphy and Stace6 and Kotter and Schlesinger.

Kotter and Schlesinger focus on the causes of resistance to change and offer a systematic
approach to selecting appropriate strategies to dealing with it. This is a micro-level model –
in line with the transition curve depicted in Figure 6.5 – which considers human responses to
organisational change efforts and how these responses can be addressed, should they
counter the organisational goals. According to Kotter and Schlesinger, individuals and groups
can react very differently to change – from passively resisting change, to aggressively trying
to undermine it, to wholeheartedly embracing it. The prescribed book explains the four
common reasons for resisting change (according to Kotter and Schlesinger) which you
should study from the book. Figure 6.8 depicts these reasons.

The desire not to lose something of value

Misunderstanding the change and its implications
The belief that the change does not make sense for the
organisation
Low tolerance for change
The question that now arises is how leaders can deal with different types of resistance.
Kotter and Schlesinger propose six different strategies, each suited to dealing with
different types of resistance. These strategies are explained in the prescribed book and
summarised below:

 Strategy 1: Education and communication

 Strategy 2: Participation and involvement
 Strategy 3: Facilitation and support
 Strategy 4: Negotiation and agreement
 Strategy 5: Manipulation and co-optation
 Strategy 6: Explicit or implicit coercion

CONTEXTUAL MODELS OF CHANGE

Contextual models of change offer a more implementable and realistic approach to

organisational change. The basic premise of contextual models of change is that the ‘n-
step models’ to which they are an alternative are too linear to deal with the complexity
and uncertainty of attempting to initiate change, and propose a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution
to an essentially context-specific problem. Contextual models propose that the design
and management of any change process should be dependent on the specific situation
or context of each organisation. It is dangerous to apply change formulae that worked
in one context directly onto another.
 Power: this includes the power of stakeholders and the autonomy of the
organisation.

 Time: this refers to whether the organisation is currently in crisis, and whether
the change process is envisaged for the long or short term.

 Scope: this element answers the question how much change is envisaged, i.e.,
the breadth and depth thereof.

 Preservation: preservation refers to whether change will be tangible or

intangible, what needs to be preserved and what needs to be destroyed.

 Diversity: one of the major elements to consider, diversity refers to whether

uniformity or diversity is present, the sources of diversity, and the impact of
loyalty and identity on the change process.

 Capability: the capability of both the individuals associated with the

organisation and the organisation itself.

 Capacity: this aspect should be investigated in terms of money, time and

people.

 Readiness: the awareness and commitment to the change process of all parties
involved.
The contextual models of change further suggest that a series of stages need to be
undertaken in identifying the right design choices in any particular context. These
include the following:

 Answering ‘why and what’ questions: this involves an analysis of the

organisation’s competitive position and an identification of its desired future
state.

 Answering ‘how’ questions: this relates to an analysis of the critical features

of the change context, the choice of a change approach, and the levers and
mechanisms needed to support the transition process.

 Leadership questions: all leadership issues relating to the change need to be

analysed.

 Success questions: the final analysis involves determining how the success of
the change outcomes will be evaluated.

Design choices are at the heart of the contextual models of change. They demonstrate
the true complexity of organisational change and why the ‘onesize- fits-all’ approach is
deemed so inadequate. Design choices fall into six categories, namely:

 Change path: the type of change to be undertaken in terms of the nature of

change and the desired end result.

 Change start-point: the main choice here is whether change is to be topdown

or bottom-up within the organisational structure, but other variations in between
are also possible.

 Change style: the extent to which the change will be brought about
collaboratively or forcefully.

 Change target: the main focus of the change, be it in people’s attitudes and
values (i.e. culture change), their behaviours or specific outcomes.

 Change levers: what mechanisms and interventions will be deployed in actually

bringing about change. Options here include technical, political, cultural and
interpersonal.

 Change roles: decisions about who will lead the change and what roles
different individuals and groups will play in the implementation process.
Study Unit 7

Strategic Leadership

STRATEGY AND STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP

a strategy is nothing more than a game plan – a plan of action, designed or drawn up to
achieve a long-term (or overall) goal. ‘Master plan’, ‘grand design’ or ‘plan of action’ are
the terms used as synonyms for ‘strategy’. So what do we mean when we talk about
‘strategic leadership’? Strategic leadership is often equated with executive leadership, in
other words leadership by the top management of an organisation, its senior executives.
Strategic leaders have many responsibilities, the most important of which is to manage
the resources and capabilities of the organisation in the most efficient and effective
manner, to ensure the sustainability of the organisation, and to create and maintain a
competitive advantage. Strategic leadership can also be seen as the leadership of
organisations, and contrasted with supervisory theories of leadership which relate to
leadership in organisations.1 As such, strategic leadership relates to the creation of
meaning and purpose for the organisation2 and the execution of the activities necessary
to attain its purpose

Six requirements of a strategic leader

Strategic leadership can also be viewed as an attitude, and specifically an attitude
towards the organisation and its social context. This view suggests that the strategic
leader should4 be concerned with

 the role that his/her organisation plays in society: good leadership is

characterised by formulating the broad perspectives and responsibilities of the
organisation and ensuring that the organisation acts in an environmentally
conscious and ethical manner.

 his/her own role as strategist, manager and leader: good leadership is

characterised by integrity and genuineness, respect for differences, self-
knowledge, empathy and energy, and social competence.

 the entire organisation, the various parts thereof, coordination and

independence: good leadership is characterised by an analysis of the business
environment, its objectives and meaningfulness, results and logistics.

 uncertainties in the management environment: good leadership is

characterised by insight into new patterns, openness and involvement, the
identification of challenges, timing and innovation.

 the unknown, the risky and the relative: good leadership is characterised by
questioning, experimentation and innovation.

MODELS OF STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP

Boal and Hooijberg5 see the essence of strategic leadership as being

(i) the creation and maintenance of absorptive capacity6 or the ability to learn

(ii) the creation and maintenance of adaptive capacity7 or the ability to change

(iii) managerial wisdom,8 which combines properties of discernment in relation to

variations in the environment, and

(iv) timing9 or the capacity to take the right action at a critical moment
The essence of strategic leadership, as explained above, is depicted in Figure 7.3.

Our discussion of strategy and strategic leadership cannot be complete without

acknowledging that various constraining factors may limit the success and performance
of strategic leaders, including

 External determinants: organisational performance depends largely on

external factors which are beyond the control of executive management and
strategic leaders. For example, fluctuations in the economic environment, current
market conditions, the existence of government policies and regulations, and the
pace of technological change have an impact on the success of the organisation,
although strategic leaders have no control (or any influence) over these factors.

 Limited discretion: a newly appointed senior executive inherits an organisation

with an existing culture, structure and stakeholders. This may result in his/her
ability to act being constrained by powerful internal forces or coalitions, the
financial condition of the organisation, a deeply embedded organisational culture,
and rigidities within the organisation’s primary markets, powerful external
stakeholders, and perceptions of the organisation’s performance.

 Biased attributions: members of the organisation may make biased

attributions in relation to the actions of their senior executives and the impact
these actions have. Thus they might exaggerate the influence of individual
leaders (positively or negatively) as a way of making sense of complex and
confusing events. Leaders, in turn, may engage in impression management
activities to deliberately play on this tendency and make themselves appear more
powerful and/or effective than they really are. In this context, symbols and
rituals such as elaborate inauguration ceremonies reinforce the perceived
importance of leaders and their responsibility for delivering high-level
performance. Not surprisingly, successes are announced and celebrated, while
failures are suppressed or downplayed.
 The constraining factors explained above are summarised

Notwithstanding these constraints, we need to acknowledge the crucial role of strategic

leaders in organisational performance and sustainability. At this point, we also need to
note that we are not limited here to a consideration of a senior executive as a strategic
leader only. Executive teams can exercise strategic leadership in a collective or
collaborative fashion, and can often have advantages over a single, high-profile
individual. By bringing a broader range of skills and experience to the decision-making
process, they can often make better decisions than a single individual can (although the
potential for compromise decisions also exists!). Their collective strength can
compensate for individual weaknesses, ensuring that important tasks are not
overlooked; a team-based structure is more likely to support effective succession
planning and leadership transitions.

Strategic leadership theory can be broadly divided into three separate streams of
research, some more directly related to the field of strategy than others. These three
streams are the upper echelon theory, new leadership theories and emergent leadership
theories. Each stream is briefly explained below:

 Upper echelon theories:11 the first stream deals specifically with the notion
that those at the top of the organisational hierarchy are responsible for its
strategic direction, i.e., it considers the question of executive accountability.
Evolving over time into strategic leadership theory12 per se, this strand of
research treats organisational performance as a dependent variable, and
measures it in terms of return on investment, return on equity, etc.

 New leadership theories: the second stream, which comprises the so-called
‘new’ leadership theories – charismatic, transformational and visionary leadership
is less concerned with strategic outcomes and more focused on the practise of
leadership by individuals. Charismatic and transformational leadership are well
covered in Learning Unit 4 of this module. Visionary leadership can be defined as
the articulation of how past, present and future come together to shape
organisational change.

 Emergent leadership theories: these explore issues of behavioural and

cognitive complexity within the practice of leadership, as well as such themes as
the role of social intelligence and competing values theory.
Study Unit 8

Authentic and ethical leadership

8

What is authentic leadership?

Authenticity7 is a measure of how true you are to your own internal value sets, to your
character and your spirit, in spite of pressure from the external environment to act in a
different way. An authentic person is actively engaged in a continual process of
investigating his/her own experiences, needs, thoughts, wants, emotions, preferences
and beliefs.

Authentic leaders can be described as persons who possess keen insight into their own
self and are aware of their strengths, weaknesses, values and principles. Authentic
leaders are consistent in the application of these principles, despite any external
pressures that may encourage them to act in another way thus being true to
themselves, their values, character and spirit. The authentic leader’s consistency of
application attracts followers.

An authentic leader uses his/her natural abilities; recognises his/her own shortcomings
and works hard to overcome them; leads with purpose, meaning and values; builds
enduring relationships with people; is consistent and self-disciplined; refuses to
compromise when his/her principles are tested; and is dedicated to developing
him/herself, because s/he knows that becoming a leader takes a lifetime of personal
growth. People will choose to follow an authentic leader because they know where they
stand with him/her.

Dimensions and characteristics of the authentic leader

An authentic leader has the following characteristics:

 has a clear purpose and mission (i.e., the leader knows where s/he and his/her
followers are headed). The leader works relentlessly and with passion to achieve
this mission.

 holds strong values (i.e., principles or standards of behaviour; the leader’s

judgement of what is important in life and what is not) and behaves accordingly.

 builds good relationships with his/her followers and stays connected with them.
Good relationships involve working together, trusting one another, and mutual
accountability in getting the job done.

 practises self-discipline consistently in the execution of his/her duties. This means

s/he has the ability to control his/her own feelings and overcome his/her own
weaknesses.

 leads wholeheartedly (with complete sincerity and commitment) and

with compassion.

Authentic leaders know who they are, what they think and how they should behave.
They are perceived by others as being aware of their own and others’ values/moral
perspective, knowledge and strengths; are aware of the context in which they operate;
and are confident, hopeful, resilient and of high moral character. Such leaders know
who they are, where they are going and why.

What are the contemporary dimensions of an authentic leader?

The original conceptualisation of authentic leadership that we explained in the preceding
section, was developed over time by a number of researchers 9 who eventually
produced a model consisting of four dimensions
What are the causes and results of authentic leadership?

Two elements are commonly thought to have an impact on creating an authentic

leader, and the development of authentic leadership:

Personal and environmental elements that have an impact on authentic

leadership

Authentic leadership (based on self-awareness and self-regulation) leads (through

positive modelling) to authentic followership (also characterised by self-awareness and
self-regulation). Authentic followership results in various follower outcomes (e.g., trust,
engagement and workplace wellbeing). Lastly, follower outcomes result in follower
performance, namely a sustainable and veritable organisation

Alignment between authentic leadership, authentic followership and the

results thereof
Good leaders have the right mindset when it comes to leading organisations and people.
What is the right mindset? It involves regarding leadership as a responsibility and not a
right, having self-awareness, self-regulation, emotional intelligence and
integrity. Good leaders know that they have to earn the privilege to lead. Through
positive modelling, leaders create authentic followers who follow the leader’s
direction and desire to make tomorrow better than today. Furthermore, Pretorius
believes that authentic leaders and followers will lead to an environment characterised
by trust, engagement and follower wellbeing, in other words follower outcomes.
Lastly, follower outcomes will lead to follower performance.

ETHICAL LEADERSHIP

A leader has to be both morally good and good at what they do in order to be
called a good leader. An ethical leader is someone who does the right thing, in the right
way and for the right reasons.

This definition of ethical leadership brings together two philosophies on business ethics,
namely deontology and teleology
 The deontological perspective of business ethics argues that a leader should
act out of a sense of duty, or an adherence to the rules.

 The teleological or consequentialist perspective argues that a leader is

deemed ethical if the outcomes of his/her actions can be judged to have
conceived something good, regardless of the actions themselves.

These two descriptions highlight the fact that ethical leadership involves the character
as well as the actions of the leader. The character of a leader will depend on whether
s/he is a moral person and a moral manager. The moral development of a leader can
pass through three different stages:
 Stage 1 is the preconventional stage, where ethical and moral norms are seen as
being imposed externally.
 Stage 2, the conventional stage, is where ethical and moral norms come from the
leader’s close associates.
 Stage 3, the post-conventional stage, is where the leader reasons for him/herself
what is right and wrong from ideas of rights and justice. The moral development
process of a leader is summarised below
Leaders should not only focus on themselves and their values, but also on their virtues
that are, unlike values, developed through continual practice. Typical virtues that ethical
leaders would do well to adopt and continually practise,
include the following

 Altruism: a leader needs to be willing to do things that will be to the benefit of

others.

 Prudence: exercising careful and good judgement, based on past experience

and knowledge.

 Temperance: the ability to exercise self-restraint.

 Justice: the ability to administer fairness.

 Fortitude: mental and emotional strength in facing difficulty, adversity, danger

or temptation.

 Wisdom: the ability to think and act using his/her own knowledge, past
experiences and understanding of a situation.

 Holiness: being endowed with moral character.

 Courage: the ability to do something that is difficult or dangerous.

 Righteousness: the willingness to follow moral laws.

SERVANT LEADERSHIP

Servant leaders15 can be described as people who empower and develop others. They
show humility, are authentic, accept people for who they are, provide direction, and are
stewards who work for the good of the whole. Servant leaders have a number of
attributes, namely:

 Communication skills: the ability to listen, understand and communicate

effectively.

 Withdrawal: the ability to withdraw and reorient oneself.

 Acceptance and empathy: the ability to accept what is offered, even if it is

imperfect, and to understand and be interested in the thoughts, feelings and
positions of others.

 Intuition: ‘a sense for the unknowable’ and the ability to ‘foresee the future’.

 Awareness and as wide a perception as possible: the ability to see the

past, present and future as one entity.
  Persuasion: rather than relying on the resource of power (discussed in Learning
unit 2), a servant leader persuades people to his/her vision.

 Healing: to provide healing for others, and to gain healing for oneself through
service to others.

 Stewardship: someone who sees his/her own position, their staff and their
organisation as being given to them in trust; a commitment to help people grow
and undertaking to build the community.

SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP

Spiritual leadership can be seen as a method of facilitating a culture in the workplace

that allows employees to find a greater purpose and feel socially connected (in a
membership sense). We can highlight three central dimensions of spiritual leadership,
namely a vision, altruistic love and hope/faith:

 Vision: a spiritual leader will provide a vision of where the organisation is

headed in the future. This should be compelling and (perhaps most importantly
for this perspective) it should provide people with a clear sense of meaning for
their work that they can commit to and strive for. The vision of a spiritual leader
should encompass high ideals or moral standards, and encourage in followers a
sense of hope and faith.

 Altruistic love: it produces feelings of wholeness, harmony and wellbeing in the

workplace through focusing on recognising others, appreciating them, and being
caring and having concern for all. Underpinning this concept is a set of values,
virtues and behaviours which includes acceptance, kindness, patience,
forgiveness, compassion, humility, selflessness, truthfulness, self-control, trust
and loyalty.

 Hope and faith: hope is aligned with the vision of the organisation and, as
such, is a destination or desire which is expected to be attained. The faith
element suggests that all employees will have a firm belief that the organisation
can reach its goal, even in the face of great difficulties.
Study Unit 9

Responsible leadership for a sustainable world

The business dictionary defines responsibility as “the duty or obligation to satisfactorily
perform or complete a task (assigned by someone, or created by one’s own promise or
circumstances) that one must fulfil and which has a consequent penalty for failure”.1 In
an organisational context, leaders have a responsibility to satisfactorily perform or
complete organisational tasks (assigned to them by higher authorities), with a
consequent penalty for failure.

RESPONSIBLE LEADERSHIP

Responsible leadership can be defined as “the art of building and sustaining morally
sound relationships with all relevant stakeholders of an organization”.2 An important
aspect of this particular definition is the use of the term ‘stakeholder’. Stakeholders are
those persons who have (or claim to have) ownership, rights or interests in an
organisation and its activities in the present (but also in the past and in the future).
Such rights or interests are the result of transactions with, or actions taken by, the
corporation and these may be legal or moral, individual or collective.3 If we unpack this
definition of a stakeholder, we learn the following:

 The stakeholders of an organisation are NOT only the owners (or shareholders);

 Stakeholders do not necessarily have ownership of the organisation – they may

have rights or other interests in the activities of the organisation;

 Organisational activities include activities performed in the past, present and

future, which implies that stakeholders also have a claim to the outcome or effect
of organisational activities which are still being planned for the future.
Organisational activities conducted in the past have an effect on the
organisation’s performance, and will have an impact on the environment and
society in both the present and the future. A good example is the BP oil spill,
which released millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico on 20 April 2010,4
which had immediate, devastating consequences – 11 workers died, harm was
done to many Gulf Coast residents’ properties, not to mention the ecological and
economic damage of the spill. BP is still responsible for the financial damages
which need to be paid to residents and the families of the workers who lost their
lives. Also, the shareholders of the company were affected by the loss of revenue
due to the oil spill.

If we adopt this definition of a stakeholder, it is clear that organisational leaders have a

responsibility towards all stakeholders, be they internal stakeholders
shareholders/owners, investors, employees and management) or external stakeholders
(community, local and national government, activists, competitors, the media, various
associations, organised labour, customers, suppliers and the environment). We can now
revisit our definition of responsible leadership and phrase it as follows:
Responsible leadership is the art of building and sustaining morally sound
relationships with all people or groups of people who have, or claim to have,
ownership, rights or interests in an organisation and its activities in the past,
present and future.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR)

Focus on CSR, which is a business approach that contributes to sustainable development

by delivering economic, social and environmental benefits for all stakeholders (including
shareholders). CSR is a concept with many definitions and practices. The core principles
of CSR are the following:

 Principle 1: CSR is about considering the impact an organisation can have on its
wider stakeholder group (see preceding section).

 Principle 2: CSR is about a process of engaging with stakeholders to consider

what role an organisation should play in a wider societal context.

 Principle 3: The responsibility of an organisation stretches more widely than the

confines of the company premises, and includes a responsibility towards society
at large, including the environment.

The three principles of CSR indicate that it is the responsibility of organisations and their
leaders to understand the expectations that the wider society (and not only shareholders
or owners) have of them. This view has been condensed into four broad areas
  The primary responsibility of business is to be profitable – referred to as the
economic responsibility (see Figure 9.2). Organisations need to offer the products
and services that people want and need in a profitable manner, and thus must be
able to offer employment that allows staff to earn wages, and in turn help
develop the economy.

 Second, the organisation has legal responsibilities – to obey the law, in other
words to comply with the ethical norms of society that have been codified into
law in every region and country where the company operates. This applies at the
corporate and the individual level.

 Third, organisations have ethical responsibilities – to act in an ethical manner, in

other words to understand and comply with those ambiguous and emerging
norms of society that have yet to become law.

 Fourth, the organisation has philanthropic responsibilities – to be a good

corporate citizen, in other words to go beyond the expectations of society. It is
important to note that these four broad areas of CSR are not mutually exclusive,
but are interdependent areas of responsibility. Typically, organisations are strong
in some areas and weak in others.

SUSTAINABILITY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

What is sustainability in a business context? We can define sustainability as the ability of

an organisation to continue to do business over the long term – and possibly
indefinitely. But, most importantly, sustainable business is tied up with the impact that
the business has on the environmental resources of the world that it consumes in the
process. Sustainability suggests that business leaders need to critically consider how
their organisations can reduce and minimise their impact on the natural resources they
utilise. By doing this well, business leaders can help to ensure that their businesses will
be around in the future, and that future generations will continue to have the ability to
support themselves and to flourish, thanks to the impact of current business strategies
and practices.

Sustainable development has three core elements, namely:

 Society: this refers to people living in a particular country or region as a nation,

where they share customs, common traditions, values, laws, activities and
interests.

 The environment: in the context of sustainability and sustainable development,

the environment refers to the natural environment, the biosphere in which
humanity and all other life on earth exists.

 The economy: this refers to a community’s system for using its resources to
produce wealth.
The three elements of sustainable development, as explained above (society, the
environment and the economy), are all related and interconnected

The three elements of sustainable development should be viewed in no particular order,

meaning that one is not more important than the other. Furthermore, these elements
should be balanced – an organisation cannot pursue a profit maximisation goal at the
expense of the environment or to the detriment of society. By the same token, an
organisation will not be able to survive in the long term (i.e., be sustainable) if it does
not make a profit to sustain its business. Every decision that the leader makes, every
project that is considered, should be done in a sustainable manner. This means that the
leader should link the economic, social and environmental component to strengthen it in
totality.
Organisations respond to the challenges of responsibility and sustainability either by
taking a position on, or by moving through, six levels or phases of commitment:8

 Phase 1: Rejection: a focus on exploiting all resources (human and ecological)

for the sake of maximising profit. Leaders here would not accept responsibility or
listen to sustainability arguments, and would actively work against possible
regulation or activism.

 Phase 2: Non-responsiveness: characterised by a lack of awareness or

ignorance of sustainable or social issues, rather than active opposition to these
issues.

 Phase 3: Compliance: complying with laws and regulations to avoid risk, or

complying with self-regulatory measures to avoid legislation which may limit the
activities of the firm.

 Phase 4: Efficiency: sustainability is seen as a cost reduction and efficiency

strategy. Principles of sustainability are incorporated into everyday business
practice.

 Phase 5: Strategic pro-activity: sustainability is viewed as potentially giving

competitive advantage as well as ensuring cost efficiencies. Leaders here see
 sustainability as a strategic route to taking a position of leadership in an industry,
and thus maximising returns.

 Phase 6: The sustaining corporation: one that is committed to the principles

of social and ecological sustainability, that is maintaining returns, but is focused
on meeting the needs of the present without compromising the opportunities of
future generations.

Phases of commitment to sustainability

SUSTAINABLE LEADERSHIP

Being a responsible leader means accepting that you have obligations to the health of
the business, to your workers, customers, the community and nature.9 A sustainable
leader recognises the challenges in terms of sustainability and sustainable development.
Where the traditional business model focuses on profit maximisation, a sustainable
leader is able to conceive a different business model – one where the full price of
resources can be paid and where an equal focus on profit, people and planet is good for
business. This is a very different conceptualisation of ‘good business’, which can also be
described in two alternative and extreme approaches, namely the locust leadership
approach and the honeybee leadership approach:

 Locust leadership is aligned with the idea that the only purpose of business is
to do business, to maximise profit and return profits to shareholders. In this
approach the world is perceived as primarily being a competitive place, where
the survival of the fittest is the main rule. Leadership is, according to this
approach, particularly ruthless and asocial, where employees are treated as a
means to an end and not ends in themselves, and where society and the
environment are legitimate areas on which to externalise business costs. The
typical behaviour of locust companies includes taking short-term decisions aimed
at improving share prices in the next quarter, paying the lowest wages possible,
avoiding or evading tax, and giving or accepting bribes. The mantra of the locust
leader is shareholder value, which is sold as the most important value to which
the organisation has no choice but to adhere.
  Honeybee leadership is in sharp contrast to locust leadership. The honeybee
approach to leadership presents a more positive idea. This is an approach
Characterised by the community-focused behaviour of bees which work together
for the good of all, and in the process improve their surroundings by pollinating
various plants in their neighbourhood. Honeybee leadership is therefore more
complex, focusing on the business but also on society and a wide range of
stakeholders. Rather than short-term decisions, this type of leadership views
business from a long-term perspective, aiming to take all stakeholders of the
business on a journey together. The characteristics of a honeybee business
include investment in innovation, training and development, high levels of trust
between management and workers (as employees are seen to be valued in
themselves), internal succession plans, ethical and sustainable decision making,
and a long-term view taken by investors.

Anyone seeking to be a responsible leader for a sustainable world would adopt a

leadership approach closer to the honeybee model than the locust model; developing
successful, productive businesses that work in collaboration and partnership with others
and balance the needs of all stakeholders, including the shareholders.
Study Unit 10

Leadership development and performance

Leader development is said to work at an individual level. It seeks to improve an
individual’s mastery of the cognitive, socio-emotional and behavioural skills associated
with leadership to aid the development of self-awareness and increase the individual’s
capacity to take on the role of leader. By contrast, leadership development focuses
on
developing the quality and collective capacity for leadership in an organisation, and as
such is more focused on social processes and structures, group or team activities, and is
more tightly tied in with ideas of organisational development.

LEADER DEVELOPMENT

By developing these three skills, a leader has the capacity and the capability to learn
through situations that are complex and problems s/he has not encountered before, and
for which there is no obvious solution.

 Cognitive skills: ‘cognitive’ refers to conscious mental activities such as

thinking, reasoning, understanding, remembering and learning – in other words,
what you are currently achieving! ‘Cognitive skills’ therefore refer to an
individual’s ability to perform activities related to thinking, reasoning,
understanding, remembering and learning. Within the category of cognitive skills,
leader development seeks to enhance a leader’s ability to think, reason,
understand, remember and learn.

 Socio-emotional skills: often called ‘soft skills’, these are perhaps more widely
known as interpersonal skills. The concept refers to an individual’s ability to work
with other people. In a leadership context, it refers to a leader’s ability to
communicate with other individuals and groups/teams of people, to understand
individuals, groups/teams and situations, and mentor others in order to develop
capability in the wider team.

 Behavioural skills: generally speaking, these involve the reflective ability of an

individual in relation to the situation s/he is facing. In the leadership context,
behavioural development is focused on how a leader’s behaviour impacts on
his/her followers, groups and teams.

Key leader attributes are very similar to the characteristics of the authentic leader,
described in Learning Unit 8, and include self-awareness, openness, trust, creativity, as
well as practical, social and general intelligence. The acquisition of these skills and
attributes allows a leader to develop the ability to be adaptable in dealing with the
difficult problems arising in today’s world of business
During leader development programmes, three categories of capabilities are usually
developed, namely

 Self-management capability: this refers to a person’s ability to manage him/

herself in a work situation and in his/her private life. To have self-management
capabilities, the leader first needs self-awareness – in other words, the conscious
knowledge of his/her own character and feelings. Second, the leader needs to be
able to balance conflicting demands. For example, the shareholders of an
organisation will demand the highest possible return on their investments in the
organisation, while the leader’s followers will demand fair remuneration, good
working conditions and an enabling environment. A leader needs to balance
these conflicting demands. Third, the leader needs to constantly learn – new
approaches, the application of new technology and so on. Fourth, a leader needs
to have strong leadership values, a concept discussed numerous times in this
module.

 Social capability: this refers to a person’s ability to work well with others. To
have social capabilities, the leader first needs to be able to build relationships –
not only with his/her followers, superiors and peers, but with all other
stakeholders. Second, the leader needs to be able to maintain those
relationships. Third, s/he needs the ability to build effective teams – as explained
in detail in Learning Unit 5. Fourth, the leader needs to have the ability to
communicate well – with followers, superiors, peers and all other stakeholders.
Lastly, the leader needs to have the ability to develop others (mainly his/her
followers).

 Work-facilitation capabilities: the business organisation exists in order to

meet the needs of various stakeholders. In Learning Unit 9, we defined
responsible leadership as the art of building and sustaining morally sound
relationships with all the relevant stakeholders of an organisation. The work
facilitation capability has to do with the ability of the leader to do what needs to
be done in order to meet the needs and demands of all stakeholders of the
organisation. First, the leader needs management skills – the ability to plan,
organise and control. Second, the leader needs strategic thinking and execution
abilities (see Learning Unit 7). Third, the leader needs to be able to think
creatively and implement creative ideas. Lastly, the leader also needs to initiate
and deliver change, as discussed in detail in Learning Unit 6.

The point here is that a leader develops his/her leadership skills through gaining
experience, having the ability to learn while working through an experience, and being
able to reflect on and learn from experiences. These experiences should be varied in
nature, have a certain level of challenge to them, and be supported by constructive
feedback, in order to be most effective.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Leadership development focuses on developing the quality and collective capacity for
leadership in an organisation, and as such is more focused on social processes and
structures, group or team activities, and more tightly tied in with ideas of organisational
development. One of the key successes of leadership development programmes is that
they allow time and space for groups to discuss, contextualise and develop their own
understanding of the issues around leadership. In what follows, we focus on
leader/leadership development tools and techniques.

LEADER/LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES

Various tools and techniques can be implemented to develop leaders and leadership in
organisations. In this section, we focus on

 Action learning

There can be no learning without action and no (sober and deliberate) action without
learning.

Action learning, as suggested by the name, is a learning (rather than training) approach
to individual and organisational development. At its essence, action learning involves
collaborative problem solving, in which individuals come together in a learning set to
discuss the difficult issues they face. As such, it is a method of learning through
experience, using workplace issues as the main vehicle for learning, asking questions to
further understanding about the issue, and generating action to be taken to address the
issue.6 Action learning has become a popular leadership development tool. The rapidly
changing nature of the global economy, and the continuous change faced by companies
has created a need for leaders to be able to understand and learn their way through
complex problems, to be at ease with this complexity and purposeful in action at the
same time.

 Coaching, mentoring and counselling

The terms ‘coaching’ and ‘mentoring’ are used interchangeably in leadership

development literature.

the simplest level, coaching is a process and a relationship within which the person
being coached decides what their course of action will be and devises their own
solution. In this sense, coaching is seen as a non-directive form of cognitive
development, where the coach facilitates the coachee to discover their own solutions.
Characteristics of coaching are the following
  Coaching is non-directive
 The coach does not give the coachee advice
 The focus is on solutions
 Coaching is based on the belief that individuals hold the answers
 Coaching is based in the present and the future
 The focus is on strengths
 Coaching is committed to specific actions
 Coaching promotes a high degree of independence
 Coaching relies on skills such as questioning, reflecting and clarifying.

As regards mentoring, the mentor is usually a more experienced person from the same
company or a similar sector or industry to the person being mentored. The mentor’s job
is to provide advice and specific knowledge about the area in question. One possible
danger in granting mentoring advice is the status difference between the mentor and
the mentee, which could lead the mentee to feel pressured to act on advice s/he is not
convinced about. In contrast, coaching seeks to enable someone to take his/her own
decisions and seek his/her own advice and guidance, as necessary. Mentoring has the
following characteristics:

 The mentor has expert knowledge/experience

 The mentor gives specific advice
 Mentoring may be solutions focused or explorative
 The mentor has ‘real’ answers
 Mentoring is usually directive at some level
 Mentoring may/may not result in specific actions
 Mentoring can promote dependence on the mentor
 Mentoring uses the skills of questioning, reflecting, clarifying and telling.

Counselling in the workplace can be described as the supply of short-term sychological

therapy for the employees of an organisation. This intervention is paid for by the
organisation. The service includes, inter alia, face-to-face sessions, a telephone helpdesk
and legal advice to assist employees. The upside is that this type of intervention could
reduce employees’ stress levels. The characteristics of counselling are the following:

 Counselling looks backwards and at the present

 The process is non-directive
 No advice is given Counselling is not usually solutions focused
 Counselling is based on the belief that individuals hold the answers
 The process often operates at an emotional level
 Counselling may promote a degree of dependence
 Depending on the style of counselling, it may use the skills of questioning,
reflecting, clarifying and regressing.
  Leadership coaching

Leadership coaching is a dynamic relationship, usually one-to-one between the leader

and the coach, which is geared towards the development of the leader.7 Leadership
coaching, as a form of leadership development, focuses on four main areas, namely:

 The needs of the leader within the organisational context

 The unique skill set required by the coach
 The importance of the relationship between the coach and the coachee
 Flexibility in the process used during coaching in order to achieve preagreed
 objectives.

The purpose of leadership coaching is to enhance skills and performance, and possibly
to enable the development of a vision, direction or objectives for the organization.8
“Coaching is the art of facilitating the performance, learning and development of
another.”

 Mentoring

Mentoring is a relationship between a more experienced and a less experienced leader.

As with coaching, the relationship is focused on the development of the mentee,
sometimes referred to as the protégé.10 The mentor can help the mentee feel more
comfortable in his/her new role as leader, and it is argued that gaining an effective
mentor can increase the effectiveness of leader development in individuals.11 Effective
mentoring may lead to improved morale and commitment to the organisation, plus
promotion and better pay for the mentee.

 Experiential learning

Experiential learning in leader development programmes can be thought of in two ways:

the first is the development of a leader’s ability to reflect on his/ her own practice,
essentially to be able to learn from everyday opportunities and experiences, and thus to
be able to continuously self-develop. The second is the training that occurs to develop
this capability, usually problem-solving activities linked to reflection and feedback
sessions. These activities can include role play, simulations, structured activities,
sensitivity training and outdoor adventure training.

An important aspect of experiential learning is the methods used to help leaders learn
from their experiences. One of the best-known of these methods was developed by
David Kolb,13 who described experiential learning as a process that transforms
experience into knowledge. Understanding the process that individuals follow to develop
their principles and values from their experience is essential for gaining insight into how
people are likely to behave in new situations.14 Kolb proposed that people follow a four-
stage cycle, namely:
  Concrete experience: this first stage involves the leader having an experience.
Concrete experience has two elements, namely the objective description of the
facts as they happened, and the subjective description of the feelings, thoughts
and perceptions the individual had in the moment of having the experience.

 Reflective observation: during this stage the leader reviews or reflects on

his/her experience, to consider what meanings/significance the experience may
have. It requires the individual leader to explore different perspectives on his/her
experience.

 Abstract conceptualisation: the third stage refers to the conclusions drawn by

the leader and what s/he learnt from the experience. Abstract conceptualisation
requires the individual to theorise about the experience, either drawing on
existing theories or creating his/her own hypothesis.

 Active experimentation: this refers to the planning or execution of what the

leader has learned. It asks the question ‘so what?’. How will the leader change,
in the future, to try out a new method in light of what s/he learnt from this
experience?

 Reflection

The ability to reflect has been identified as one of the main processes in using
experiential learning successfully.15 In Learning Unit 8 we saw that a key element of
authentic leadership was the ability to develop a suitable level of self-awareness. The
process of reflecting on leadership experiences, values and beliefs is critical in
developing high levels of self-awareness. Reflection in the context of leadership
development is defined as serious thought or consideration. By giving serious thought to
an experience, a leader can examine the event and decide what meaning is to be gained
from the experience. The process of reflection enables leaders to surface what may be a
hidden understanding or belief about reality. Once this has been done, the leader can
decide what has been learned from this process.
 Summary of leader/leadership development tools and techniques

EVALUATION OF LEADERSHIP PERFORMANCE

In any organisation it is crucial to evaluate the success and effectiveness of leaders on a

continuous basis. Why is it crucial? For the following reasons:

 Organisations depend on their leaders to influence and direct the behaviour of

subordinates, so that organisational goals are accomplished.

 Organisational leaders are entrusted with an organisation’s most valuable

resource, namely its human resources. Leaders are expected to create an
enabling environment for workers so that organisational objectives and individual
objectives can be attained.

 Organisational leaders play a significant role in ensuring the sustainability of

organisations over the long term.

 Leaders also play a role in ensuring that products and/or services are offered,
jobs are created, contributions are made to the community and society at large,
and a profit is realised that meets the expectations of the owners of the
organisation.

 Effective leadership is crucial for building and maintaining good relationships with
all the organisation’s stakeholders.

 Skilled human resources are very scarce and leaders play a major role in
attracting, selecting, placing, remunerating, retaining, training and developing
those individuals
To evaluate the effectiveness of a leader, organisations can follow a four-step approach
as indicated

Formulate leadership performance standards and measures

The first step in evaluating the effectiveness of a leader is to formulate leadership

performance standards. First, a performance standard indicates what exactly is expected
of a leader. Second, it gives an indication of how well the leader needs to perform. A
leadership performance standard can therefore be defined as a management-approved
expression of the performance requirements that must be met, to be appraised at a
particular level of performance. For each critical element an appropriate standard needs
to be formulated and included in the leader’s performance plan. Performance standards
should be objective, measureable, specific, realistic, congruent, recorded and
acceptable. Leaders’ performance standards should be written in specific measures that
will be used to appraise performance. To develop specific measures, general measures
should first be drafted to appraise leadership performance. The following four general
measures can be used for this purpose:

 Quality: as a general measure, quality addresses how well the work of the
leader is performed and/or how accurate or effective the final product is. Quality
refers to accuracy, appearance, usefulness or effectiveness.

 Quantity: quantity addresses how much work is produced. A quantity measure

can be expressed as an error rate, such as the number or percentage of errors
allowable per unit of work, or as a general result to be achieved.

 Timeliness: this measure addresses how quickly, when or by what date the
work is produced. The most common error made in setting timeliness standards
is to allow no margin for error. As with other standards, timeliness standards
should be set realistically in view of the other performance requirements and
needs of the organisation.
  Cost effectiveness: this measures aspects such as reducing costs, increasing
profits, reducing the time it takes to perform certain tasks and activities, and so
on.

For each of the above general measures, specific measures of leadership performance
should be developed. In Table 10.2, each of the four general measures is listed, with an
indication of the specific measures of leadership performance.

General measures
of leadership Specific measures of leadership performance
performance
Quality Leads with a conscience and places integrity, ethics and
trust above all else

Provides an appropriate amount of structure, direction

and feedback to ensure a high level of group/team
performance

Defines, delegates and directs the work of followers in a

flexible manner

Recognises that proper delegation, communication, and

the setting of priorities and goals help group and team
members feel empowered and self-motivated

Structures projects and assignments with clear goals

and measureable outcomes so that group and team
members can creatively individualise solutions

Empowers groups and teams to embrace change

opportunities

Inspires group and team members to take ownership

of their own performance improvement and career
development

Finds creative ways of working towards group

consensus

Creates internal competition by forming groups and

teams tasked with identifying viable solutions to
ongoing
quality challenges

Values the individual differences of group and team

members

Adheres consistently to safety standards, and all

 company policies and protocols

Supports the organisation’s strategic plan and ensures

that business practices are consistent with its mission
Sets a high standard for integrity and respect and is
consistently viewed as an objective and fair leader

Engenders trust by communicating openly with others,

shares feedback in a constructive fashion, and
addresses problematic situations head-on in a spirit of
positive confrontation

Serves as a model of cooperation, sharing and goodwill

Assumes good intentions and practises selfless

leadership

Sets others up for success and inspires them to reach

their personal best and stand out among their peers

Strives to provide a healthy work-life balance and

maintain perspective in the light of a constantly
changing environment with constantly changing
priorities

Creates a common mindset of learning, growing and

acquiring new skills
Quantity Sets realistic work demands and fairly distributes
assignments amongst group and team members

Plans, prioritises and executes the tasks of the group or

team in the light of budget guidelines and constraints

Ensures that group or team members work their plan

and plan their work consistently on a day-in, day-out
basis

Focuses on specific and measurable outcomes

Sets incremental milestone targets, and celebrates

victories and successes along the way

Engages groups and teams in setting specific,

measurable goals as well as concrete outcomes

Is highly self-aware and holds others accountable for

their own perception management

Regularly celebrates successes and learns from

mistakes, while making it safe for others to take risks
 and volunteer innovative recommendations

Focuses on aligning group and team members by

setting a common vision and measuring progress
toward particular goals

Uses training opportunities to develop creative people,

innovative groups and teams, and profitable revenue
streams

Strives to provide open-book leadership so that team

members understand the financial and operational
drivers of organisational success
Timeliness Plans, prioritises and executes the tasks of the group or
team in the light of time frames, guidelines and
constraints
Cost effectiveness Collects best practice ideas from team members in
terms of getting work done more effectively and
efficiently

Creates an environment in which team members can

find new ways of performing tasks to embrace
technology and be more cost-effective

Measure leadership performance

This step involves collecting information and reporting on the actual performance of the
leader. The information collected should be reliable and should compare meaningfully
with the performance agreement (and the general and specific measures of
performance included in the performance agreement). Observations and actual
measurements of Performance should occur at strategic points and according to the
desired outcomes of the leader. This step may also require the identification of certain
key milestones as interim measures of success, since many of the outcomes expected of
organisational leaders take a long-term view. These milestones should be achieved on
time and within the required performance parameters

Evaluate leadership performance

This involves a comparison between the actual performance and the set performance
standard (as described in the leader’s performance agreement). The leader’s actual
performance may be above or below or identical to the performance standards and
measurements. If actual performance is above the performance standard, it may mean
that the performance standard was too low and should be higher in future. Or, it may
indicate excellent performance by the leader in terms of quantity, quality, timeliness and
cost-effectiveness measures. If actual performance is below the performance standard,
the question is how much deviation from the desired outcome should be allowed before
remedial action is taken.
Take corrective action

In instances where the leader’s actual performance exceeds the set performance
standard, the leader needs to be recognised for exceptional performance and rewarded
accordingly. In cases where leadership performance is lower than the set performance
standards and measures, remedial action is necessary. Leadership training and
development might be worthwhile. This step is aimed at achieving or improving the
overall performance of the leader.