The Concept of Leadership from the Perspective of Leader-Follower Exchange Theory - Essay Example

Leadership Introduction There are an almost infinite number of ways to study or think about the phenomenon of leadership. Some deal with the traits or personal qualities of leaders (in contrast to those of nonleaders), some deal with the skill sets of leaders, and other approaches examine the situations that elicit leadership. The ideas that I describe focus on leadership as the relationship between leaders and their followers. In this sense my ideas fall within the area of leadership theory that is called leader-follower exchange. The heart of this idea of describing the concept of leadership from the perspective of leader-follower exchange theory is that followers follow because they get something from being followers and leaders provide some value that benefits followers. Followers respond in ways that benefit the leader. Current approach has a few dimensions that shape the concept of leader and leadership. Vision and Direction Leaders provide vision and direction to their followers. They provide answers to the questions, “Where are we going? What are our objectives? What are we trying to achieve?” In some cases these objectives are modest and concrete, but in others the vision is quite grand. Some authors (Collins & Porras, 1994) have described the vision as a BHAG, a “big, hairy, audacious, goal. ” It is a vision that says we are here to do more than meet our numbers or to pass the next inspection. We are here, in this group or organization, for a far grander purpose. So the vision not only provides a sense of direction, it can also provide “meaning, ” or an answer to the question, “Why are we here?” Protection and security A second benefit that a leader can provide is security and protection for followers. This is an important function in military contexts and also in corporate and political domains. In extreme cases leaders can place themselves in harms way to protect followers. Less extreme versions of this type of behavior can be seen when executives put their own careers in jeopardy to argue against laying off subordinates, or when political leaders take risks to protect the interests of their constituencies. In hostile environments, be they military or economic, leaders place their personal wellbeing at risk to shield their followers. Achievenemt and effectiveness Through the completion of group or organizational tasks, leaders allow their followers to achieve goals that would be difficult or impossible to achieve by one person alone or by a group without the leader. The need to be effective is one of the frequently overlooked human motives. There are many goals that can only be attained through group or collective effort— economic prosperity by corporations, pleasant and livable neighborhoods by communities, or military victories by battalions, to name but a few. Leaders coordinate and orchestrate to make success real. Success leads to a sense of power and competence in followers, competence to achieve things that one alone could never accomplish. An important ingredient in instilling the will to achieve in followers is optimism. This is a feature that has been noted by many scholars who have written about leadership. Perkins (2000), for instance, in writing about Shackletons adventure, notes how Shackleton not only instilled optimism in himself but also how he fostered a spirit of optimism in his men. The optimism not only maintained the belief that they could eventually survive and return home, but it also improved the mood of the men and made their lives more pleasant and bearable, thereby increasing the chances of success. Inclusion and belongingness Leaders include followers as valued members of groups and organizations, be they groups, families, nations, corporations, or universities. Our sociality is a fact that is often overlooked by leaders. I think it is important to recall that among the early settlers in North America, one of the most severe forms of punishment for people who violated the norms of the community was ostracism, the practice of treating people as if they did not exist. Modern versions of this practice are called “shunning” or being given the silent treatment. Allowing people to be a member of a group is to permit them to share vicarious pleasures of others successes. We all experience a satisfaction when the strangers who represent our team are victorious over the strangers who are their team. Who we and they are can change from situation to situation. Today it may be my university against theirs. Pride and slelf-respect The final benefit that leaders afford their followers is a sense of pride and self-respect. This benefit derives partly from the other dimensions that I have already described; from acheivement, from belonging to a valued group, or from knowing what one is working toward. However, I think there is an independent contribution that conies from being treated like a valuable person, from being respected and entrusted to undertake challenging jobs. Leaders can make their followers feel respected as individuals, and trusted as group members who can cause a team or organization to succeed or fail. In other words, good leaders make the followers feel important as individuals, and they make them feel important because good leaders make the followers important. What I am talking about is not deception, it is about empowerment and it is about empowerment at an individual level. I can illustrate this point with a couple of examples. First, in their book about Shackletons leadership style, Morrell and Capparell (2001) highlight the following characteristics. Shackleton allowed his men to put their individual stamp on the immediate surroundings (when he decided that the dogs should live in shelters off the Endurance he allowed the men to create “dogloos” for their dogs and some created quite elaborate frozen steeples on these structures; p. 114); he made sure everyone had meaningful work to do; he gave individual feedback in terms of praise or corrections; and he treated each of his men as a human being, not just a worker. This, of course,meant that he had to know his men individually and to know them well. It seems obvious that followers gain a great deal from their leaders. They get direction, security, empowerment, inclusion, and pride. But what do leaders get in return from followers? One of the keys to understanding the flip side of this exchange is to grasp the fact that leaders goals are group goals. The leader wants to achieve something that only the team, group, or organization can achieve. The person in the leadership role may have personal ambitions, to be sure, but that person understands that personal success is attained via the success of the organization or group or team. My hypothesis is that in each of the dimensions on which leaders provide benefits for followers, followers reciprocate by providing benefits to the leader and advancing the leader toward his or her goal. I do not think of this exchange as a quid pro quo in which people sit down and legalistically work out the terms of an agreement about who gets how much of what. I see the exchange as emerging from natural social psychological processes in a more or less uncalculated, spontaneous, and unpremeditated fashion. The psychological exchange is the result of someone taking on leadership responsibilities, but it is not the goal of such a step. With this said, I will outline what I think leaders get from followers. In the end I want to note that the integrity of the leader is essential to this exchange. The reciprocity works when the leader is seen as sincere and motivated by benevolence, by the interests of the group. If the leader is seen as self-interested, as I have said before, his or her actions will appear false, hypocritical, and manipulative. Our species is very sensitive to sham altruism. Sham leadership, the pursuit of personal gain by mimicking leadership and concern for others, will not be successful in the long run. In the long run, sham leaders will not reap benefits from followers but will elicit the contempt and derision of followers. Bibliography: 1. Collins, J. C., & Porras, J. I. (1994). Built to last. New York: Harper Business. 2. Morrell, M., & Capparell, S. (2001). Shackletons way. New York: Viking. 3. Perkins, D. N. T. (2000). Leading at the edge. New York: Amacom. 4. Read More