Psychology of Leadership - Research Paper Example

Leadership and Psychology The study of psychology has been a very important aspect of leadership in the last several years. Most strong leaders are finding that by studying psychology, they are able to build stronger teams. Although psychology is usually associated with education, it has found a strong place in leadership. In the last several years leadership experts have turned to cognitive psychology, social psychology, personality and other types of research because they are always looking for ways to help managers and employees come together more easily. Today, there is less "top-down" leadership and more building relationships in organizations so that employees will work more effectively. Psychology is normally linked to education or to the science of behavior and this is one of the reasons leadership is a strong fit for this study. Since psychology studies the mind and relationships it is important to consider it in the context of bringing people in the workplace to work together in stronger teams. MAJOR CONCEPTS AND MODELS OF PSYCHOLOGY Traditionally, psychology has been the study of human behavior and thought and this study has been based on various theories. Most of the concepts of psychology are talked about within these theories and they lay the groundwork for the models that came from them. Major Concepts Behavior psychology was begun by B.F. Skinner and is based on conditioning. It was Skinners belief that all behavior was conditioned by stimuli in an environment. He found that by using certain directed stimuli anyone could create a behavior, change it or modify it in anyway. Usually behaviorists would start out with a specific behavior that they wanted to change and create a system of rewards and punishments. Eventually, the behavior began to happen as the rewards were given infrequently. These techniques have been used education to help children with disabilities learn certain tasks that were in other ways difficult. Within behavior psychology, many people are familiar with the experiments done by Ivan Pavlov who found that once he set up the stimulus of "food" the dogs eventually started to salivate before the food came to them within a certain amount of time (Grossman, 2000). In contrast, Cognitive theories use internal rather than external stimuli. Within this theory, descriptions of motivation, self-direction, decision making, and problem solving and learning to think in more positive frameworks can be found. In this area Gardners 7 Intelligences are important because he showed that people learned in more than one way. Specifically, Gardner saw learning in these areas: 1. Linguistic intelligence ("word smart"): 2. Logical-mathematical intelligence ("number/reasoning smart") 3. Spatial intelligence ("picture smart") 4. Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence ("body smart") 5. Musical intelligence ("music smart") 6. Interpersonal intelligence ("people smart") 7. Intrapersonal intelligence ("self smart") 8. Naturalist intelligence ("nature smart") (Armstrong, 2000). Intelligence can also be a product of learning new programs at work or new information; any training must take into consideration that employees learn in different ways and provide training materials through different avenues. Sigmund Freud brought together one of the first theories of personality. Freud believed that all humanity was governed by several "urges" and that these urges served the individual in many different ways. The Id was the part of the personality that was all encompassing and was the part that wanted immediate gratification. When working from the Id an individual could be compulsive, would seek out pleasure and would live their life totally doing whatever they wanted if left unchecked. The Ego was the balance to the Id because it was able to see the rational side of what an individual wanted. The Superego kept a gentle balance between the Id and the Ego by helping the individual see both sides of any situation and allowing them to make decisions about what they would do in any situation (Van Wagner, 2009, p. 1). Today, personality theories translate themselves into testing on personality and many people have taken the Myers Briggs Type Indicator or the 360 degree Assessment in order to understand their management style and the learning/work styles of their employees. Personality theories are involved with the various behaviors that create the uniqueness in each employee. Another important concept in psychology evolved from developmental theories. These discuss how the experiences that an individual has in their early years will determine how they react later in life. Attachment theory is very important to these theories and two people who were very important to the development of this area were John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth. Bowlby formulated the theory and Ainsworth took it a step forward. The basic premise of this theory is that people react to their environment based upon their attachment to their primary care giver. If this attachment was secure the individual would form secure attachments for the rest of their life. If this attachment was insecure, the individual would have difficulty with attachments throughout their life (Bretherton, 2000).. Some of the leadership literature has looked at how employees and managers work together in terms of attachment. Humanist theories look at the needs of the individual, how the individual perceives the world and how the world reacts to them. Central to this category is Maslows Hierarchy of Needs: (Source: Google Images, BK ONE, http://www.bkone.co.in/clubBK/ MaslowsHierarchyofNeeds.asp). Based on this original pyramid Maslow suggested that the lower level needs must be satisfied before they were able to strive towards the higher levels of needs. As an example, an individual must satisfy the biological and physiological needs before they went towards the need for safety. Before an individual could care about self-actualization, they would have to move up the pyramid and experience the other levels that came before self-actualization. Today, the hierarchy is being used as a model for motivation. Social psychology deals with the study of relationships and social behavior. Many researchers in leadership are examining social psychology for discussions of how individual managers and employees can be brought together strategically. Within this theory one will find discussions of conformity, obedience and other social behavior in the workplace. Social psychology also examines group behavior, team work and how employees relate to one another on a variety of levels (Van Wagner, 2). Psychological Models Models are a way to express certain information in a more in-depth way than theories. There are many models in psychology that lend themselves to leadership. Maslows Hierarchy of needs has been used as a model of motivation and training. The five areas that are used in this model are as follows: 1. Basic/Physiological needs -- basic needs in training are for food and water during the process of training. In the workplace this means providing lunch or rest breaks and providing a good salary so people can pay for their essential needs. 2. Safety and security -- business should address the training needs of their employees and encourage them towards career advancement inside the company. It is also necessary to create an environment that is safe physically, emotionally and mentally. Within that environment diversity should also be encouraged and supported. For security in the workplace strong retirement plans and job security are important. 3. Social needs -- within a training situation this model encourages the trainer to include time for socializing during the training and participants should be encouraged to bring their ideas to the group. In the workplace, this need is met when the company creates projects for their teams to do and social events throughout the year. 4. Esteem needs -- in a training situation it helps to encourage participation from and to build in aspects where everyone is recognized for their efforts. In the general workplace this calls for employee recognition and giving making sure that job titles support the jobs that the employees actually do. 5. Self-actualization -- in training it is important to know where leaders want to go in the training and help them to get there. Mentoring and coaching will be important after the training. For the workplace this means that leaders must give their employees challenges and opportunities to move ahead I their career. (Lucas, 2009 and NetMBA, 2007). Frederick Herzberg created a motivation model based on his Two Factor Theory. This is considered a "content" theory because he analyzed job habits. He did research to understand what factors satisfied employees and then looked for reasons why they were dissatisfied. He found that the factors between the two were different and he developed the Motivation Hygiene Model: (Source: Riley and Riley, People and organizations, Tutor2u). With this model Herzberg saw that motivation should be examined through two different approaches. The hygiene factors considered the issue that businesses should strive not to have conflict within the workplace. Factors such as wages, monetary compensation, quality of leadership, quality of work place and feelings of job security would create satisfaction in the workplace. If any of these are lacking it would create dissatisfaction with workers. The second approach is to look at leadership through "motivator factors". This are based on an individual employees need to move forward in the business; in other words, their growth potential. When an employee perceives that they receive status, opportunities to advance in their career, recognition for their achievements, increased responsibility, work that is challenging and rewarding and a sense of personal achievement, they will be more satisfied with their jobs and the employee will provide "above average" and put more effort into their work; when it is not present they will not do as great a job. (Riley and Riley, n.d.). Employees who are not motivated will show up as low producers, low service quality, may engage in strikes or other disputes with the company and communications will break down between employees and management. This will also be the group that will complain about working conditions and their pay. Employee satisfaction is important for a leader to know because it aids them in finding the tools and the skill that creates an opportunity to grow with the company and take others with them in that growth. THEORIES OF PSYCHOLOGY AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO LEADERSHIP CONCEPTS Psychology and leadership are becoming synonymous in todays world of business. On a global level, psychology plays a part when organizations want to work with people of different cultures and backgrounds. In todays workplace diversity can include multiple generational cohorts with very different values and attitudes often working side by side. These experiences can be emotional and various core attitudes can be formed during a persons coming of age in these situations (Meredith and Schewe, 2002). The role of psychology in this situation brings these groups together and helps them form a more cohesive unit which in turn helps them work more effectively. According to the study by the Hudson Institute, Workforce 2000 (Johnston & Packer, 1987), in the next 15 years, the corporate cultures of most organizations will have changed completely. This will add new complexity to the already difficult job of managing work forces. Barriers to performance that are created by racial, sexual, and/or cultural differences hinder effectiveness of an organization. In Megatrends 2000, Naisbitt and Aburdene (1990) spoke to the importance of capitalizing on the benefits of diversity. They point out that the advantage for American businesses in the world market will be based upon our success in optimizing and utilizing this richly diverse work force. How well the diverse groups work together will have a direct impact on the productivity and the bottom line of all organizations that will be operating in the next century. Part of how we do this will come from learning to use psychological models that reinforce work with others and places building relationships as the most important aspect of this work. Groups need excellent leadership skills and Goethals (2005) used Freuds model of psychodynamics to show how leaderships works. Freud studied the difference between leaders and followers and found that some groups showed blind obedience to their leaders while others showed minimal obedience for some leaders. In his study he found that in order for someone to blindly obey a leader they needed: 1) "an instinct to submit to authority" and 2) the leader had to be strong enough to "assume the position of master of authority" (Goethals, p. 99). When an individual had this strength and had similar personality characteristics to the group they were able to gain prestige with the group. Freud also found that an individual could establish this through his demeanor and actions (Goethals, p. 97). In essence Freud found four major elements in his model: 1. Human beings will react emotionally to leaders with envy, love, fear or obedience when they appear as dominant or as part of a "dangerous primal horde leader." 2. The leader brings this type of obedience when they have a "strong and opposing will" and have characteristics that are similar to the group. 3. When the leader has a strong faith in ideas the followers will automatically awake their faith in the project. (Goethals, p. 102). A social psychology model is important to leadership because it shows how relationships work together. Today this model emphasizes social-cognitive process. One of these processes is social identity and most individuals will gain their social identity by identifying with their group or team. In the more current literature, the social psychology model emphasizes two specific processes: a) The individual cognitive model where there is individual social orientation and where group processes are not incorporated and the individual is not a consideration and b) The individual already has charismatic properties so that individual characteristics will attract other individuals and not include a group process (Hogg, 2001, 0. 55-56). Social identity is the "basis of perception, attitudes, feelings, behavior and self-conception…"(Hogg, p. 56). This is the major point of the social identity model and it means that in group interaction when the leader is strong and the individuals being supervised have a strong feeling of belonging, these group members will be more outstanding and the will show this in their work. If they do not have a strong leader, they will tend to "depersonalize" the leader because they will see that the leader has the same characteristics as members of the group (Hogg, p. 73). PERSONAL LEADERSHIP PSYCHOLOGY My personal leadership psychology has a basis for several of these models. I am more prone to supervise through some of the educational models because I think that we as leaders are there to help our employees learn something. I find my self as a Constructivist. However, situations occur in learning where different education methodologies work better than others. Principles that I find in my worldview of education and leadership are as follows: 1. Individual centered-focusing on the unique experiences, capacities and insight of each person. I believe that this matches the social identity model because I want to make sure that employees have an understanding of who they are and where they want to go forward under my command. 2. Whole person approach- mind, body, and spirit. I think that in order to become a leader in Freuds model, I would need to be a strong leader although I do not see myself as one who is "a dangerous primal horde leader" but I do think that my employees relate to me as someone who has faith in their ideas and can help them move forward. 3. Clarify and connect who they are and what they know with their social environment. I understand that social identity is very important but I also feel that Maslows Hierarchy of needs is important to motivate employees. When they are happy and they feel that they are respected I see that they are more productive. Herzbergs Motivation Hygiene Model is important because I want to make sure that my employees are mostly those who are motivated. However, I think that motivation has to come from within and I feel that Maslows motivation theory encourages the individual to go within for motivation. I think that personal leadership is about building and maintaining relationships both inside and outside a company. An effective leader will find a way to help others gain the training and understanding that they need to build relationships. Attachment theory is also important because some employees may need to go to counseling in order to explore their attachment challenges so they can be more fully engaged in teamwork and projects. PERSONAL APPROACH TO EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP AND PSYCHOLOGY My personal approach to effective leadership is that I believe in the inherent good of all people. I also know that people can become better if they are treated well. I have also seen what happens when people are not treated well; in this situation people feel threatened and they act out. Because of our current economic crisis people feel pressured to get money any way they can and in a way they make money their god. When people start to do this and make money the only thing that becomes valuable it is difficult for them to see the bigger picture. For me, the bigger picture is to be a strong leader. This means that I will need to understand the personalities of my workers and how they relate to the job. I will want to examine their needs and see where I can help them met those needs. One of the challenges with leadership today I think is that people are afraid for their jobs. Most will see that job security is a think of the past and their morale may go down with time. If an individual loses a job it is difficult for them to try again and open to what they might be able to do if they make a career change. I believe that leaders must be more open to diversity and to do this they have to understand more about the psychology of relationships and what makes people who they are at any given moment. Every organization has a unique culture that influences change, and they need to bring different types of people together to get the job done. Understanding a firm’s culture is critical to understanding how to work with a variety of differences including sexual orientation, disability, ethnicities and race. Although most companies know that diversity is important, most only think about race or ethnicity which may mean that there may be numerous obstacles that need to be understood and removed before the company can value all employees. I have been in situations where I saw leaders pass over good people because they were "different" than the individual felt their employees should be or when someone had a disability or other challenge. For me, I think that in order to understand how an individual will react in stressful situations, we must as leaders get to know them. Psychology is the study of people. In leadership it means that learning to build relationships inside and outside the company will help all employees develop their careers and it will lend itself towards keeping employees instead of sending them out of the organization. Another area where psychology is important is in the area of change. Today, organizations realize the importance of coaching executives in the reengineering and restructuring of their organization, but they often wait until the executive is in trouble. A better way in my opinion is to build a relationship with the executives so that we can easily see what they need to do to further career. Also, attachment theory will be important here because we will want executives to feel comfortable with what they are doing and how it works with the rest of the company. My personal approach would be to get to know my executives and find out their needs for coaching in order to become a stronger leader; we can only do that if we build the relationship first. focusing on human psychology, I can relate to employees who feel less motivated and find ways to help them become more involved as the team players. This will help them be a stronger part of the team and could lead to further promotions. References Armstrong, H. (2000). Multiple Intelligences. Retrieved July 28, 2009 from http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/multiple_intelligences.htm. BK ONE Corporate Center for Training. (n.d.). Maslows Hierarchy of Needs Retrieved July 28, 2009 from http://www.bkone.co.in/clubBK/ MaslowsHierarchyofNeeds.asp. Bretherton, I. (1992). The origins of attachment theory: John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth. Developmental Psychology 28, 759-775. Retrieved July 28, 2009 from http://www.psychology.sunysb.edu/attachment/online/inge_origins.pdf. Corey, C. (2008). 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Retrieved July 28, 2009 from http://psychology.about.com/od/psychology101/u/psychology-theories.htm. Read More