Chapter 4
Exercises
Skills Practice 4.1: Thinking About Yourself as a Leader
“He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened.” Lao-tzu (c. 604–c. 531 b.c.)
“It is much more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others.” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900–1944), The Little Prince (1943)
If we are to understand and perhaps alter our leader behaviors, it’s important to give some serious thought to our past leadership accomplishments, current leader behaviors, and leadership goals. Often, it is helpful to articulate our thoughts and feelings concerning these issues. With that in mind, answer the following questions.
- Describe some leadership role you now hold or have held (at work, in a social organization, or wherever). How long have you been, or were you, in the position?
- Describe some leadership situation for which you are especially proud of your performance. What about your leadership characteristics or behaviors do you think contributed to that accomplishment?
- Is there some leadership quality you would like to have that you think you are now lacking? Describe that quality.
- Consider a leader who has influenced you or motivated you. Describe the techniques he or she used to engage you as a follower.
- Think of a situation where a leader disappointed you. What did he or she do, or not do, that was disappointing?
- Suppose you were to retire from your firm tomorrow and one of your direct reports (or peers) was asked by your replacement to describe your leadership traits, behaviors, and/or effectiveness. What three or four words or phrases do you think they would be most likely to use?
Skills Practice 4.2: Managing Substitutes for Leadership and Neutralizers of Leadership
Objective
To develop skill in identifying substitutes for leadership and neutralizers of leadership and to match appropriate leadership behaviors to these situations.
Note: Download the worksheet that has been developed for this exercise from the text website.
Procedure
- Analyze the following information and identify the substitutes for leadership and the neutralizers of leadership for the employees in the scenario.
- Develop an action plan for managing the substitutes and neutralizers of leadership in this scenario. What type of leadership behavior, if any, is needed to effectively lead each individual?
The Situation
You are the manager of a team of four video game developers for a major software company called X-GAMES based in California. Your team’s task is to create highly innovative action and fighting games for the major video game systems in the industry. X-GAMES has a very informal and flexible operating structure that is designed to foster creativity in the organization. Information regarding your employees is summarized in the accompanying table.
|
Employee |
Experience and Qualifications |
Need for Independ- ence |
Professional Orientation |
Attitude toward Organizational |
Task Structure |
Intrinsic Task Satisfaction |
Josh Kanvik |
High |
Low |
High |
Positive |
High |
High |
Blake Williams |
Low |
Low |
Low |
Positive |
Low |
Low |
Kenisha Divine |
High |
High |
High |
Indifferent |
High |
High |
Flashcards
Case Studies
Case Study #1: Strident Property Services
http://www.cluteinstitute.com/ojs/index.php/JBCS/article/view/7378/7446
Sample Answers to Discussion Questions
- Describe why the management team was unsuccessful in this case.
- The informal style of the founder, Bernie Jacobs, may have contributed to creating a culture that was too relaxed and did hold people accountable for delivering results. When Alex, his son, took over in the leadership role of the company, he inherited some of these problems.
- While Alex was more clear and direct in articulating his concerns about the company’s performance to his management team, he used intimidation at the first meeting with the team by threatening them with the loss of their jobs, if they did not change. This may have had a demoralizing effect on the team.
- The management team meetings that occurred on a monthly basis were not effective in that they consisted mostly of updates and team members were clearly not working or coordinating with each other in terms of making changes or improvements.
- Can you identify relevant concepts for leading teams in this case?
- Transformational Leadership – It would have been beneficial for Alex to adopt more of a transformational leadership style given that significant changes were needed to restore the company’s performance. Alex could have used more charisma and individualized consideration with his team members to inspire them to improve the company’s results.
- Substitutes and Neutralizers of Leadership – Despite the monthly team meetings that Alex held, there appeared to be a lot of distance between Alex and the rest of his team as they did not appear to be coordinating or communicating much between these meetings, and as a result, they were not cohesive or on the same page. These would be examples of neutralizers of leadership.
- Choose an appropriate theory to evaluate Alex’s attempt to motivate his employees.
- The bottom line here is that Alex was ineffective and unsuccessful in motivating his management team and this is why the company’s performance continued to decline until it was eventually sold. Goal-setting theory would say that Alex failed to provide specific goals for his team to work toward or to enhance the goal commitment and acceptance of his management team so that they would be motivated to put forth the effort required to attain the desired goals.
- Expectancy theory would say that Alex failed to take appropriate action to enhance the perception among his management team that they were capable of being successful, if they put forth effort (expectancy), nor did he take any action to enhance their perception that improved performance would lead to desired outcomes (instrumentality and valence).
- Maslow’s hierarchy of needs would say that Alex failed to understand the active needs of his management team and to take appropriate action to help them to satisfy their needs. Based on how Bernie Jacobs, his father, managed the company, the team appeared to have its safety and security, social, and ego/esteem needs met as his father was big on taking care o f his employees and rewarding them. Unfortunately, Alex used threats and intimidation to try to motivate his team and this was not effective.
Case Study #2: Transformational Leadership at American Airlines
https://www.assess-systems.com/blog/case-studies/american-airlines-leadership-development-programs/
Sample Answers to Discussion Questions
- What the key elements of the transformational leadership training program at American Airlines?
- The program had the support of top management with managing directors and VPs from American Airlines conducting the opening and closing of each leadership workshop.
- High potential managers who completed the training program were selected as keynote speakers for frontline manager workshops.
- Each table of participants had a personal coach to help facilitate their learning process.
- The program used a 360 feedback approach to help participants to understand their leadership styles as perceived by others.
- Each participant received a 45 minute coaching session based on their 360 feedback.
- The second day of the program focused on linking each leader’s style to the leadership of his/her specific team.
- Follow-up coaching sessions were conducted a few weeks after the program was completed to reinforce and support what was learning in the program.
- Do you feel that the transformational leadership development program is effective? Why or why not?
- Overall, this program is very well designed and implemented. It uses appropriate subject matter experts on leadership, it involves leaders from American Airlines to support the program, and it takes a systems view of the leadership development process. Specifically, coaches are used to support learning of participants, 360 feedback is used to promote self-understanding and awareness,
- What are key takeaways for leading teams in real world organizations?
- Leadership development requires a significant investment of organizational resources to be effective. This includes not only financial resources, but also support from top management and a willingness to allow managers to take company time to participate in this kind of program.
- Leadership development programs need to be viewed from a long-term perspective with a focus on what is learned in the program as well as how to support its ongoing implementation over time.
Articles on Teams
- How to Plan for a New Team Member
- https://hr.ucmerced.edu/employment/employment-how-tos/how-plan-new-team-member
- Building Trust Within Your Team
- https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/building-trust-team.htm
- The Importance of Trust Within a Team
- http://work.chron.com/importance-trust-within-team-3940.html
- Rewarding Your Team
- https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMM_54.htm
- Examples of Behavior Modification in Organizations
- http://smallbusiness.chron.com/examples-behavior-modification-organization-13411.html
- Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
- http://www.netmba.com/mgmt/ob/motivation/maslow/
- Locke’s Goal Setting Theory
- https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_87.htm
- Types of Team-Based Incentive Systems
- http://smallbusiness.chron.com/types-team-based-incentive-plans-59545.html
- Expectancy Theory in the Workplace
- http://smallbusiness.chron.com/expectancy-theory-workplace-11482.html
- Adams’ Equity Theory
- https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_96.htm
- Job Characteristics Key to Motivating Federal Employees
- https://www.td.org/Publications/Blogs/GovLearning-Blog/2013/01/Job-Characteristics-Key-to-Motivating-Federal-Employees
- The Ohio State University Leadership Studies
- https://www.boundless.com/management/textbooks/boundless-management-textbook/leadership-9/behavioral-approach-70/leadership-model-the-ohio-state-university-350-3483/
- Transformational Leadership
- http://www.cio.com/article/2384791/careers-staffing/how-to-apply-transformational-leadership-at-your-company.html
Videos on Teams
- Team Building Activities that Improve Team Trust
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCLulyCfMrg
- How to Build Trust in Teams
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gtNK2IGFDs
- Motivating Teams, Peter Baines
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pHMEUj0Yb0
- How Do You Motivate a Team?
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHDUZx0WHYo
- Big Bang Theory Operant Conditioning
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt4N9GSBoMI
- Up and Hierarchy of Needs
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iucf76E-R2s
- Locke’s Goal Setting Theory
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH7SApVTq3E&list=PL_2ilKwDwStVhPkNJPVL8csRghO7YDhCS
- Expectancy Theory
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrCBNfE7s8o
- Equity Theory
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p_4C0Mzne4
- What is Job Characteristics Theory
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxxQuCTVgqY&list=PLv5MO5PbLgS8hxYIoPPa6a88e6YKBkE1I
- Ohio State University Leadership Studies
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV1s_ZtMkP4
- Transformational Leadership
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y970CT5GFPk
- Dr. Judith Wright - Transformational Leadership
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8RC7HXSNGQ
Books on Teams
- Nir, Michael (2014). Six Secrets of Powerful Teams: A practical guide to the magic of motivating and influencing teams (Leadership influence project and team). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
- B. Hollas. (2011). Seven Secrets of Motivating and Inspiring Your Team. Crystal Springs Books.
- McDaniel, A. (2013). The young professional’s guide to managing. Pompton Plains: Career Press
- Losoncy, L. (2010). The motivating team leader. Sanford: DC Press
- Crowley, M. (2011). Lead from the heart. Transformational leadership for the 21st century. Bloomington: Balboa Press.
- Dobbs, R. (2010). Transformational Leadership: A blueprint for change. Dobbs Leadership.
- Tabrizi, B. (2015). The Inside-Out Effect: A Practical Guide for Transformational Leadership. Evolve Publishing.