LEADERSHIP: MOBILIZING PEOPLE
*Lecture 1 The trait approach (individual characteristics)
*Lecture 2 The dark side of leadership (individual characteristics)
*Lecture 3 Leadership styles (behaviors)
*Lecture 4 Boardroom dynamics
*Lecture 5 Leadership and diversity (leadership situation + individual characteristics)
*Lecture 6 Leading and innovation (behaviors + effectiveness)
*Lecture 7 Leadership and health (behaviors + effectiveness)
*Lecture 8 Critical perspectives on leadership (behaviors)
*Lecture 9 Leadership development
*Lecture 10 Who is leading culture?
Articles: canvas à meta-analytic studies
, WEEK 1
INTRODUCTION
Leadership – the ability to influence, motivate and enable others to contribute toward the
effectiveness and success of the organization.
Power – part of the influence process of a leader (e.g. ministers, doctors, teachers).
§ Galinsky (2008) – does power protect people from influence as well?
o Negative sides of power – internal conflict, dissonance, attitude change.
o High-power participants are less influenced than low-power participants and
more affected by intrapsychic (private) processes.
Different forms of leadership (trait vs. process, and assigned vs. emergent):
§ Trait leadership – born to be a leader, natural leader.
§ Process leadership – available for everyone by leader/follower interactions.
§ Assigned leadership – leaders because of their formal position in an organization.
o Position power
§ Emergent leadership – well performance and supported by the group.
o Personal power
Leadership vs. management
§ Leaders – produces change and movement.
§ Managers – produces order and consistency.
TRAIT APPROACH
Trait approach = intelligence (IQ) + personality (big 5)
Leaders are born and not developed. It focusses on the leader, not on followers or situation.
§ Strengths – benchmark, appealing.
§ Weaknesses – situational who and which traits are most fitted in certain situations.
Big five personality traits
1. Openness to experience – insightful, curious, diverse interests.
2. Conscientiousness (best trait predictor of effective leadership (De Reu, 2011)) –
aware of their responsibilities and motivated to reach goals.
3. Extraversion (most important trait of effective leadership) – sociable, assertive.
4. Agreeableness – accepting and trusting (weak association with leadership).
5. Neuroticism – emotional stability (anxious, nervous, worried and short fused)
Emotional intelligence
§ Self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship management.
§ Weaknesses – the trait approach doesn’t take emotions into account and assumes you
can perform perfectly in every situation = not true.
Relevant traits
§ Intelligence (emotional intelligence only for select jobs).
, o Less important than assumed (little relations to effectiveness).
o Apparent intelligence may be more important than actual intelligence.
§ Personality: OCEAN
o More important than assumed and more important than intelligence.
§ Physical features: height, weight, gender, age, etc.
THE DARK SIDE OF LEADERSHIP
Moral identity – caring, fair, friendly, generous, helpful, hardworking, honest, etc.
§ Decelles (2021) – The higher your moral identity and awareness, the lower you
express self-interested behavior at work when having high power and the higher your
organizational interests are.
Lifton’s 8 criteria for brainwashing (thought reform)
1. Milleu control – control of the environment.
2. Mystical manipulation – things aren’t spontaneous, but scripted.
3. Demand for purity – black/white vision.
4. Confession – of their faults, sins.
5. Sacred science – what the group teaches is true and is not to be questioned.
6. Loading the language – sums things up to stop critical thinking (labels, stereotype).
7. Doctrine over person – any experience must be denied or reinterpreted to fit the
ideology of the group.
8. Dispensing of existence – the right to exist if you follow the groups ideology. If you
don’t join the group or leave the group, you’ll lose all credibility and you’re no
existing for them.
Honest-Humility (integrity)
§ Part of the HEXACO (HH + OCEAN)
§ High H-H people – other traits score higher on selfish behavior.
§ Low H-H people – manipulative, materialistic and high self-importance.
Dark triad traits
1. Machiavellianism – sly, deceptive, distrusting, manipulative and exploiting others.
2. Narcissism – superiority, charming at first, constant need for attention and admiration
3. Psychopathy – impulsivity, lack of empathy and guilt, fail to learn from punishments.
What can organizations do if they detected a dark trait leader?
1. Space for accountability (spread power) and complaining (able to criticize the leader).
2. Ethical work environment – moral reasoning is highly affected by the environment.
3. Promote carefully and reverse the promotion if it was the wrong decision.
A-S-A framework (Attraction à Selection à Attrition)
§ Generic approach (usually)
o Attraction – people apply when they think the company fits their personality.
o Selection – company hires people they fit them.
o Attrition – if there isn’t a smoothly collaboration, the relationship will end.
§ Dark side of leadership
o Attraction through status, power, salary.
§ What to do? Emphasize ethics, social responsibility in job offers.