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Leadership
Week 8

ORGANISATIONAL
COMMUNICATION MDIA 5022
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Applying leadership style to
Communications
For Today:
 Communication & leadership
 Leadership Styles
 Visions

 Goals

 Trust
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When is a leader at their best?

 “A leader is best when people barely know he exists,

when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say:
‘we did it ourselves.’”

—Lao Tzu
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What is leadership?

 How would you define leadership?

 What do you see as the difference between management
and leadership?
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Leadership

 Typically, writers describe leadership as influencing people to achieve

goals or to produce change.

 Leadership is the ability to influence individual and groups towards the

achievement of various goals, small and large.

 How someone accomplishes encourages group members is a matter of

leadership style.

 No single leadership style is effective always or the most appropriate style

in every situation.

 When do the various leadership styles work best?

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Some history…
 1800–early 1930s: “The Great Man” theories and Trait
theories.
 Examined the great men and women of history—everything
from head circumference to IQ and psychological tests.
 More interested in leadership emergence than leadership
effectiveness.
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Some history…
1940s–1960s: Functional Theories

 Leaders initiate structure and show consideration (or task

oriented and relationship-oriented behaviours).

 Initiating structure is enacted by giving orders, instructing,

and giving specific feedback.

 Showing consideration is the degree to which the leader

showed concern for followers’ feelings, sense of belonging,
etc.
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Some history…
1940s–1970s: Style theories

 Emerged during the time of Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin.

 Most popular terms for describing leadership styles were

democratic, autocratic, and laissez-faire.
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Some history…
1970s–1980s: Contingency and Situational theories

 Critical element was the situation or context. The best style

or the most appropriate set of traits depends on the
particular context.

 In the contingency theories, leaders are viewed as having

relatively stable motives (or traits)—i.e., more people or task
oriented.

 By contrast, the situational theories assume that people are

not so easily and objectively defined.

 For example, a leader may be directive with new members of

staff but laissez faire with experienced members.
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Some history…
1980–present: Transformational and Charismatic Theories

 Leadership is a process of creating significant changes

 The leader is the change agent.

 Transformational leadership manages meaning through symbolism,

particularly creating and articulating an inspiring vision.

 1990s to present: Teamwork and Facilitation

 2000s: Discourse and Performative Theories

 Assumes neither the context or leader’s essential features are

important or possible to describe – at least not in any objective,
definitive way.

 Sees individuals and contexts as socially constructed without stable,

defining features.

 Leaders, followers and observers negotiate the meanings ascribed to

leaders, leadership acts and contexts.
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Is There an Overemphasis
on “Leadership”?
 Do we attribute too much importance to leadership as an influence on
groups and organisations?

 Is leadership a myth that we perpetuate?

 If so, why do we perpetuate the myth?

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Leadership models
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Activity

 Get into groups.

 Identify three major organisational or political leaders.
 Whatis their leadership style? Briefly explain their style
and why you believe you are correct.
 Does their leadership style work well for them?
 Wouldthey be more successful if they used another
approach?
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Resistance to change
 What is your style like?

 What is your natural leadership style when

communicating?

 Delegation can be hard to do—“I’ll do it

myself and it will get done.”

 Sometimes telling “mates” is hard to do!

 Consensus takes time.

 Selling and coaching can also be time

consuming for a leader.

 How does your cultural background affect

your leadership style and behaviour?
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Applying a leadership style

Activity—what style will you use?

 1. A staff member is falling behind in their work.
 2. Informing the team they have to work late.
 3. Staff are arguing about who gets leave over the end of year
holidays.
 4. An employee is always negative to new ideas.
 5. Spending the team bonus.
 6. Changes to work procedures.
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Vision statements

 What is a vision statement?

 What makes for an effective vision?

 How do leaders use vision as part of leadership?

+ What is a Vision Statement?

 “A vision statement is a statement about how an organisation

will accomplish its mission—what guides the mission
statement…Vision statements include statements of where an
organisation wants to be at predetermined times in the future
and may include specific time frames…” (Kent 2011).
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Pitfalls of vision statements
 Sometimes vision statements engender more cynicism than commitment:

 A vision can be seen as someone else’s idea.

 A vision can seem irrelevant to everyday work processes.

 A vision may seem like a management fad.

 Leaders often don’t “walk the talk,” asking for commitment and
behaviors from employees but not towing the same line (cf., Ivy
Lee’s Declaration of Principles).
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Appropriate use of visions

 Leaders should find opportunities to personalise visions and

adapt them to local contexts.

 Leaders should reference visions in discussing organisational

problems and solutions and in introducing new programs

 Leaders should express their enthusiasm for the vision

 Leaders should develop their own and others’ mental models

relevant to the vision
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Trust changes everything!

To be a leader, coach, counsellor or mentor, trust is essential!

 Have you worked with a leader you have not trusted?

 Why didn’t you trust him/her?

 What was the outcome?

 How do you feel and behave when you don’t trust someone?

 Was there something they could they have done to regain your
trust?
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Trust Matters

 The 2013 the Blessing White Employee Engagement Report found:

 Employees who trust their leaders or executives are more likely

to be engaged in their jobs.

 Although trust in leaders may matter more—it appears harder

to earn as you go up the corporate ladder.

 Why?
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The Speed of Trust

 When trust is high, productivity is also high, and costs are low.

 When trust is low, productivity slows down, and costs go up.

 Workplaces are most dysfunctional when trust is low.

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Assessment three

 Any questions about A3?

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Extra resource

• Stuart, Edmund (2022). ‘What is the difference between

a populist and a dictator? The ancient Greeks have
answers’ The Conversation.
https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-difference-betwe
en-a-populist-and-a-dictator-the-ancient-greeks-have-ans
wers-191719
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Next week

Week 9: Change Management