What Is Leadership - Research Paper Example

Contents Contents 1 What is leadership? 2 Leadership Theories 2 Leader Categorization 4 Merits of Categorization Theory 4 Demerits of Categorization theory 5 White Standard Racial Bias 5 Studies to prove biases 6 Gender Bias 7 Cultural Bias 7 Synergistic Leadership Theory 8 Need for SLT 8 SLT Development 8 Four factors of SLT 9 Purposes and application of Synergistic leadership theory 10 Conclusion 10 Bibliography 11 Introduction Leadership is ever green immortal and probably the most talked about topic. Perhaps the reason of its immortality is its relevance to our lives not only professional or business but personal and social life as well. It will not be an overstatement to say that leadership is that life-enriching and vital experiences which is crucial for our existence. Its scope is very vast which cannot be restricted to a single task, job, role or a certain organizational level. In this paper I will discuss in detail what is leadership? Different accepted styles of leadership, theories of leadership their merits and demerits and what was the need for the new theory to evaluate. It will basically be a comparative study of the two theories of leadership. What is leadership? Leadership is very vital and its importance is widely accepted. In order to understand fully different theories of leadership we first need to have a clear picture of what leadership is all about. It may sound simple but in fact leadership is a very complex and complicated social process which depends not only the ways of thinking, vision, creativity, knowledge, skills characteristics and values of the leader but also the followers. Leadership is not all about aura and charisma of a person but a good leader is one who can see the clear picture of the present understands it’s various aspects and through his vision can guide its followers to the bright future. Good leadership (V.Gallos, 2008)is emotional; it compels drives and motivates you to achieve something. It is a continuous process of building and maintaining the relationship between the follower and the leader. In its spirit it is multidimensional which encompasses different skills, vision, process, map, issues, organization levels, cultures, policies, practices and issues. A good leader has to pass the test of time banking on the strengths and minimizing weaknesses while materializing the opportunities and avoiding the threats in the environment without overreliance on any single person or process. Leadership Theories In the twentieth century theories about leadership started to evolve. Classical theories of leadership were based on traits of the leaders such remained the case for about thirty years and then it evolved to behavioral theory of leadership. There are basically six types of theories of leadership. Trait based leadership Contingency leadership Behavioral leadership Participative leadership Transactional leadership Transformational leadership All these theories concentrate only on the leader and do not take into account followers. It was observed that all these theories actually led to a prototypical leader. All the leaders were supposed to have a typical defined set of qualities, characteristics and a set of accepted and laudable behavior. This stereo type leader was a male white. These theories ignored diversity both in the gender and racial sense. According to different studies conducted these leadership theories had many biases. This will be discussed in detail below. Leader Categorization First of all we have to determine what we exactly mean by leader Categorization. Leader categorization theory (George R. Geothals, 2006) says that there are widely accepted and shared beliefs and perceptions about leaders their traits their behavior. Followers have specific and fixed views about general and specific task based upon preconceived ideas and notions about how a leader should be. It includes personal traits such as openness, active, initiator, visionary, focused, determined, interested, honest and caring. People develop schemas about leaders in their minds both about general and specific purposes. Thus leaders are those who confirm to the group identity. Leadership is about selecting the best fit. Hence effectiveness or success of a leader is adjudged through the extent of conformity to the preconceived notions of the followers about the attributes and traits and behavior of the leader. In short we can say how much he resembles to the prototype. Expectations from the leaders also vary according to the conformity to the prototype. Stereotypical leaders are expected to perform better than the no stereotypical or the person who is not the best fit for the preconceived notions of an effective leader. There is substantial statistical evidence available which supports the idea that the successful stereotypical prototype leader is a “white male”. Merits of Categorization Theory Categorization theory has its own set of merits and demerits. The proponents of this theory believe that a prototype leader commands more respect and hence has a greater following which helps in building trust and influence. Trust, confidence and influence are very important in motivation which enhances the effectiveness of a leader. A research article recently published discusses the case of prototypical leadership and procedural fairness (De cremer & Van Dijki, 2008). This paper explores how prototypical leadership stimulates and ignites follower cooperation. A prototypical leader enhances the hope for the successful future and achievement of goals. He acts as a motivator. His followers have firm belief in him and his success. This high expectation is directly related to effectiveness. Followers believe in their leaders success because according to them he has all the qualities, attributes and characteristics which are necessary for success. This faith leads to positive perceptions about the future. It also positively effects the perceived perception of fairness in procedure. This perceived fairness leads to cooperation by the followers. Demerits of Categorization theory Like all theories categorization theory also has its demerits. It gives rise to many biases which leads to unfairness. A person, a leader is not judged according to his abilities, skills, knowledge, attributes, vision, goal and effectiveness but one is judged on the basis of conformity to a certain standard or prototype. Which not only hampers the success of the individual in his career path but also unfair to others in a way that they are deprived of a different yet capable leader. Leader categorization theory lacks diversity. It ignores minorities, be it racial, gender etc. White Standard Racial Bias It is generally believed that their do exist bias for male whites as business leader prototype. These prejudices are quite implicit and sometimes can be very subtle. They are automatically activated because they are in our subconscious and the extent to which they will affect our outward behavior or response actually depends on our self control. How much we believe in egalitarian values and how much control we have over a specific action. (Andrew Grant- Thomas, 2009). An evidence of the proof such bias is that we are standing on the verge of the twenty first century but still majority of the famous and influential people are Whites be it business leaders, celebrities, philanthropist, think tanks or the technocrats. The underrepresented minorities in the past have managed to break most of the invisible and unsaid undercurrent barriers in the corporate as well as in the social and political spheres since the civil rights movement in 1960’s. But still in today’s world when organizational success is evaluated on the basis of leader’s effectiveness in empirical terms this racial bias can be seen in the form of opportunities entrusted to people to come up and play the role of leaders. Prototypical white leaders manage to get more favorable results as compared to the no prototypical leader who can be an Asian, African American or a Hispanic for example. Race is considered as an attribute. So racial biases do exist but to a lesser degree, barring a few exceptions like president Obama. Studies to prove biases In a research article recently published it was discussed that the scientist performed four experiments to explore the role of race in a perceived prototype of a business leader. (Ashleigh Shelby Rosette, 2008, Vol 93). The result of the first two studies confirmed the notion of existence of bias based on race i.e. white standard racial bias. Study 1 revealed White leaders were more acceptable than their non white counterparts. Study 2 revealed that white leaders were perceived to be more effective than non prototypical leaders. Study 3 revealed that people belonging to white race were perceived to have more leadership potential. Study 4 revealed that when organizational success is linked with leaders the prediction of success confirms the notion of prototypical leader. Results proved some link and correlation between leader race and leader categorization. Another study mentioned in the above general proved the correlation of base rates and leader race. The study was conducted to a well selected group of whites and non whites. The study proved our notion of whites being perceived more in the role of business leaders than in the role of non- business leaders such as employees. These studies found when organizational success was attributed to more external factors rather than internal factors then white prototype gets no favorable response as compared to his non-white counterpart. The same is not true when internal factors are considered more important in organizational success here white prototypes gets the favor. So it proves that leader’s race would only matter when it is important for his career growth. Gender Bias In addition to racial bias some gender biasness was also observed. Females are perceived to be more suitable for some roles like running NGO and helping the humanity. It is considered more feminine. Their male counterparts are supposed to be more suitable in roles of bureaucratic leaders, military rulers, financial experts etc. Cultural Bias Leader categorization actually varies from culture to culture. Some cultures are more flexible in their acceptance of diversity being it racial or gender while some are more rigid and conventional. The culture in which I live in Pakistan there is strong gender biasness. Females are still not trusted for serious high level managerial jobs. But we do have our exceptions as Shamshad Akhtar in the role of ex governor of State Bank . Synergistic Leadership Theory The modernist theories of leadership such as the one discussed in detail above were very masculine and lacked the feminine touch. Hence came the post modernism theories of leadership such as the Synergistic Theory of Leadership (STL) which provided the much needed alternative of the traditional theories (Klein, 2007).STL particularly reflects and represents women’s voices which were previously neglected. This theory which is based on the qualitative approach and has been proved empirically is now well recognized nationally as well as internationally. Need for SLT Existing leadership theories lacked the feminine attributes like collaboration, constructive behavior, contingency decision making, empowerment, motivation, group decision making, nurturance and diversity which were widely practiced and preached. Such attributes were not present in the modernist theories. SLT filled that gap. Older theories had its limitations in its applicability on large scale. Some of the aspects of the old theory were irrelevant for females which led to discrimination against women. Older theories promoted stereotypical organizational culture, which restricted diversity and multidimensional view of a situation. SLT Development The approach used in SLT was qualitative rather than quantitative approach. In quantitative approach (QNT) a certain goal is defined with defined process of reasoning and deduction based on empirical data. Whereas in qualitative approach (QLT) there is no arbitrary goal set by researchers. The data is collected from the empirical world and hence more close to realty which is subsequently tested through process of inquiry. Resultant inferences are hence empirically tested and are derived from the context. Three major positive points of QLT approach is Use of various data sources Multiple researchers and evaluators Usage of multi methods to study a given problem. Although before SLT some literature was available which talked about gender equity. These theories took into consideration female experiences and perspectives which were applicable to both male and females equally. SLT was the first theory of leadership developed by female researchers. Four factors of SLT SLT is not a rigid theory it is nonlinear. In this theory different factors are relational and interact with each other. The four basic factors (Beverly J Iirby) are Beliefs, values, attitude Organizational structure External forces Leadership behavior These four factors together by interacting with each other determine effectiveness of leadership. Belief, attitude and values are the basic guiding principles (Fred C Lunenburg, 2008). Congruency in these principles is important for healthy interactions. These principles have widespread applicability. Leadership behavior can vary from the two extremes of autocratic to collaborative and nurturing. External forces are beyond the control of the organization but they play an important part. It includes climate, technology conditions, political etc. Organizational structure also is an important factor. How the organization operates hierarchy, delegation of authority etc. Purposes and application of Synergistic leadership theory SLT had three main purposes To increase its applicability as compared to modernist theories by delaminating biases such as race and gender and including female perspective which is reflective of female experiences as well. It can apply to both male and female. STL aimed at improving relevance of all the training programs inculcated to employees. It identified four vital factors which interact with each other to create a framework. Conclusion SLT is a far superior theory than the theory of leader categorization. Its applicability is very vast. It can be applied to as varied a situation as selecting and hiring individuals for job, in teaching environment in hospitals etc. STL helps in finding the best “fit” for the job taking care of all the relevant factors that interact with each other. It is reliable and surpasses all geographical boundaries. Bibliography Andrew Grant- Thomas, G. o. (2009). Twenty first century color lines:Multicultural change in contemporary America. Philadelphia: Temple university press. Ashleigh Shelby Rosette, G. J. (2008, Vol 93). The White Standard Racial Bias in Leader Categorization. Journal of Applied psychology , 758-777. Beverly J Iirby, G. B. (n.d.). The synergistic leadership theory. The Journal of Educational administration , 304-319. De cremer, D., & Van Dijki, M. (2008). Motivation to cooperate in Organizations the case of protypical leadership and procedural fairness. Psychologica Belgica volume 48 , 157-175. Fred C Lunenburg, A. C. (2008). Educational Administration: Concepts and Practices. Belmont: Thompson books. George R. Geothals, G. J. (2006). The Quest for a General Theory of Leadership. Massachusetts: Edward Elger publishing Inc. Klein, S. S. (2007). Handbook for Achieving Gender equity through Education. New jersey: Lawrence Elhaurm Associates inc. V.Gallos, J. (2008). Business leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Read More