Session run at Southampton University Business School Fall 2014

1. MSc Project Management
Dr. Ian Cammack
i.j.cammack@soton.ac.uk
MANG6311: Project Leadership

2. Session Objectives
• To present a range of academic meta-theories on leadership.
• To develop an appreciation of our personal constructs of leadership.
• To draw out of academic theory key ideas pertinent to project teams.

3. A Key Question:
“How is Leadership Different to
Management?”

4. Leadership & Management
• Management from administration of household (French) /
breaking in a horse (Italian)
• 1300 ledere, “to cause to go with one” / Old Icelandic derivative
leidha meaning the “person in front”

5. Leadership Definitions:

6. Definitions of Leadership
• Leadership is “the behaviour of an individual … directing the activities of a
group towards a shared goal” (Hemphill & Coons, 1957, p.7)
• “Leadership is about articulating visions, embodying values, and creating
the environment within which things can be accomplished” (Richards &
Engle, 1986, p.206)
• Leadership is “the influential incremental over and above mechanical
compliance with the routine directives of the organisation” (D. Katz & Kahn,
1978 p.528)
• “Leadership is to convince people to do things that are either dangerous (like
invading another country) or stupid (working hard without extra pay)”
(Adams, 1999, p.7)

7. Leadership Safari

8. Heroic
Skills
Charismatic /
Transformational Situational / Contingent
Traits / Behaviours
Distributed Leadership

9. Is Leadership About ...
• Who we are ...
– Height
– Intelligence
– Extraversion
– Fluency
• What we do ...
– Interactions
– Behaviours
– Relationships

10. Leader or Leadership?
• Is leadership about:
– One set of values, beliefs, commitments
– Shared understanding & commitment to objectives
– One source of leadership

11. Exercise: Thinking About Leadership
• What do you understand by ‘Leadership’?
• When was the first time that you can remember beginning to
understand what ‘Leadership’ meant?
• How have your ideas about ‘leadership’ changed since then?
• What common prejudices or stereotypes exist in your culture about
‘leadership’?

12. …further questions you may like to explore
• What do you understand by ‘Leadership’?
• When was the first time that you can remember beginning to understand what ‘Leadership’
meant?
• How have your ideas about ‘leadership’ changed since that time?
• What did you learn from family / friends / culture about ‘leadership’?
• What did you learn from the arts / sciences / media about ‘leadership’?
• From what other sources did you learn about ‘leadership’
• Who agrees and who disagrees with your ideas?
• In what contexts would you feel comfortable or uncomfortable about sharing your ideas about
‘leadership’?
• What common prejudices or stereotypes exist in your culture about ‘leadership’?
• If you had lived one hundred years ago, how might your ideas about leadership have been
different?
• If you had been brought up in a different culture, how might your ideas about ‘leadership’
have been different?
• If you had been born male rather than female (or vice versa) how might this affect your ideas
about leadership?
Ekdawi et al (2000) Whose Reality is it Anyway?

13. Other (initial) thoughts
• Pfeffer -”leadership is the outcome of an attribution process”
• Gemmill & Oakley - process of “reification”
• Van Maurik “quality of its use or misuse arguably makes it the most
important issue in the world today…”
• Bennis, 1959 “[a]lways, it seems, the concept of leadership eludes us
or turns up in another form to taunt us again with its slipperiness
and complexity. So we have invented an endless proliferation of
terms to deal with it … and still the concept is not sufficiently
defined”
• Garrett, 2002 “the abdication of management responsibility”

14. Can Leadership be Taught?

15. Six Practical Insights from
Leadership Theories

16. Leadership Behaviour
Concern for
Results
Concern
for
People
Idea 1

17. Leadership Behaviour (2)
Concern for
Results
Concern
for
People
1,9
Country Club
Management
Thoughtful attention to
the needs of people for
satisfying relationships
leads to a comfortable,
friendly organisation
atmosphere and work
tempo
9,9
Team Management
Work accomplishment
is from committed
people; interdependence
through a “common
stake” in organisation
purpose leads to
relationships of trust
and respect
Impoverished
Management
Exertion of minimum
effort to get required
work done is appropriate
to sustain organisation
membership
1,1
Authority-Compliance
Management
Efficiency in operations
results from arranging
conditions of work in
such a way that human
elements interfere to a
minimum degree
9,1

18. Behaviour Characteristics of 3 styles of Leadership
Laissez-faire
• Little / no control
• Motivates by support when
requested by group
• Little direction is provided
• Communication is between
members of groups and
flows upwards /
downwards
• Emphasis is on group
• Criticism is not given
Democratic
• Less control
• Economic & ego awards
are used to motivate
• Direction through
suggestions & guidance
• Communication flows up
and down
• Decision making involves
others
• Emphasis on difference
‘We’
• Criticism is constructive
Authoritarian
• Strong control
• Motivation by coercion
• Direction through
commands
• Communication one way
(downwards)
• Decision making doesn’t
involve others
• Emphasis on difference ‘I’
and ‘You’
• Criticism is punitive
Marquis & Huston 1996 p14

19. Behaviour Characteristics of 3 styles of Leadership
Laissez-faire
• Little / no control
• Motivates by support when
requested by group
• Little direction is provided
• Communication is between
members of groups and
flows upwards /
downwards
• Emphasis is on group
• Criticism is not given
Democratic
• Less control
• Economic & ego awards
are used to motivate
• Direction through
suggestions & guidance
• Communication flows up
and down
• Decision making involves
others
• Emphasis on difference
‘We’
• Criticism is constructive
Authoritarian
• Strong control
• Motivation by coercion
• Direction through
commands
• Communication one way
(downwards)
• Decision making doesn’t
involve others
• Emphasis on difference ‘I’
and ‘You’
• Criticism is punitive
Marquis & Huston 1996 p14

20. Manager
makes
decision
and
announce
s it
Manager
presents
ideas and
invites
questions
Manager
presents
problem,
gets
suggestion
s, make
decision
Manager
defines
limits,
asks group
to make
decision
Manager
permits
subordina
te to
function
within
limits
defined by
superior
Manager
presents
tentative
decision
subject to
change
Manager
“sells”
decisions
Boss-
Centred
Leadership
Subordinate
-Centred
Leadership
Tannenbaum & Schmidt (1958)
Idea 2

21. 0-6 months
Settling in
6-9 months
Opening up
9-18 months
Participating
& Reflecting
18-24 months
Transforming
Team Facilitator
Control
Group Member
Control
Plan, direct
control
Coach, open
communications
Participative
strategies &
critical
thinking
Teach others
to lead
themselves
Facilitative leadership
Source: Glaser (1992) cited in Linstead et al (2009 p. 563)

22. Situational Leadership
• No single profile of an ‘ideal’
leader; rather than the leader
needs to be conscious of the
context and environment in
which the leadership acts are
taking place.
Source : Blanchard et al
Idea 3

23. LMX: In-groups and out-groups
• ‘In-groups’ are given ‘prized’ tasks, the resources to complete them
and the trust to deliver. This can create a ‘virtuous’ circle.
• However, the ‘out-groups’ are closely supervised in the execution of
mundane / difficult tasks with limited resources. Creating an
environment where failure can be an expectation ...
Idea 4

24. Working with ‘Out-Groups’
• Deep Listening
• Empathy
• Recognise Contributions on ‘out-group’
• Inclusiveness
• Develop Relationships
• Empowerment

25. Transformational Leaders help people to:
•interpret events
•recognise opportunities &threats
•understand when major change is necessary
•assume more responsibility
•maintain enthusiasm and effort in the face of obstacles
Idea 5

26. Charismatic Leadership
Source: http://www.slideshare.net/GeorgeXintarakis/what-charismatic-leaders-do-differently
Downloaded 19th August 2014

27. Recipients
Are followers a ‘blank page’ ….?
• Socially constructed from early experiences:
– parents, teachers , politicians, captains and (latterly) managers
• We develop an implicit perspective of leadership and seek to judge
leaders according to our own theories
(Hall & Lord 1995)
Idea 6

28. To Sum Up

29. A Process of Leadership
Leader
behaviour
Power
Situation
Traits
Relationship:
Perceptions,
attributions,
exchanges, etc
Action
&
reaction
Objectives & outcomes
Style
Experiences
Skills
Leader Follower
Implicit
leadership theories
Skills and
experience
Romance of
leadership
Behaviour
& power