Another way to consider all this could be to read "Biology of Belief" Bruce Lipton and consider how his ideas (e.g. - 'it's the environment') might illuminate notions of leadership - contingency, environment, personal prior experinces, capacity for learning and change, etc.
These are all involved at some point inthe cycle of human exchange and will influence each person to create their own unique 'leadership' process. While it might be called a 'style' etc it is more easily perceived externally as an on-going process of interaction.
So when we observe a 'leader' are we seeing the 'whole' or (more reasonably) a snapshot moment/application drawn from an extensive and diverse array of options.
Thinking of this - helps me to consider more equitably, some less than 'perfect' decisions I perceive being made by managers I observe.
Regards
Dr ELyssebeth Leigh
----- Original Message -----
From: Jack Ring <
jring@AMUG.ORG>
Date: Monday, February 12, 2007 9:25 pm
Subject: Re: [Norton AntiSpam] Contingency Theory: Re: Leadership Claims
To:
MG-ED-DV@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
> Maybe your problem is not about finding a small set of variables
> but is about finding a way to navigate a large enough set of
> variables and teaching that way to those who would understand.
>
> Leadership may lie over in the quadrant known as "generative" in
> which case it is not the variety and quantity of variables that are
> important but the outcomes when they interact.
>
> Regarding the smallest set of variables, consider three kinds of
> leadership (behavior) motivations:
> Maximize Me (Greed -- quid pro quo --- Charisma)
> Maximize You (Service to others, encouraging but admonishing)
> Mediate the Situation (seek the proverbial win-win-win)
>
> cheers,
> Jack Ring
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Romie Littrell
> To:
MG-ED-DV@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
> Sent: Friday, January 19, 2007 10:03 AM
> Subject: [Norton AntiSpam] Contingency Theory: Re: Leadership Claims
>
>
> I've been engaged in a research project since 1997 studying
> preferred leader behaviour across various categories of cultures
> and within organisations in China, and I am becoming increasingly
> convinced that preferred and effective leader behaviour is for the
> most part highly influenced by contingencies, e.g., personalities,
> culture, gender, ethnicity, the situation, etc. I believe Fielder
> had the correct name for a theory of leadership, though some of the
> details may be problematic. Another issue is are the relevant
> contingent variables constant across various situations, cultures,
> organisational sizes (kind of a self-contradictory and circular
> question)?
>
> My problem as a researcher in leadership is finding a small
> enough set of contingent variables to be useful and understandable
> but not overwhelming in number.
>
> The GLOBE study proposes charismatic leadership as general, but
> then break it down into several aspects of charisma. And the GLOBE
> Australia & New Zealand article, from my point of view, calls the
> generality of effectiveness of charismatic leadership into question.
>
> Rgds,
> Romie Littrell
>
>
>
> Jack Ring <
jring@AMUG.ORG> wrote:
> Whew!
>
> You might try
>
>
http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml;jsessionid=WRS30DW3452PQAKRGWCB5VQBKE0YOISW?id=R0110B
> If you accept that leadership starts with you (oneself) then,
> explicitly, the behavior can be applied broadly throughout an
> organization, the behavior will improve the leader's effectiveness
> (as viewed by those he/she serves), and/or that the behavior will
> improve organizational functioning.
>
> Then all you have to do is designate which of the umpteen
> theories describe such behavior. Of course, one must be aware of
> the duality of the situation, e.g., Was Jim Jones a leader when he
> took his followers to Guyana? Did he improve organizational
> functioning?
>
> Perhaps it is necessary to situate leadership in order to judge
> its outcomes. Freedom may be the key situation factor, and
> 'freedom to ----' as contrasted to 'freedom from ---.'
>
> cheers,
> Jack Ring
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Larry Pate
> To:
MG-ED-DV@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
> Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2007 8:57 PM
> Subject: Re: Leadership Claims
>
>
> Let me try this differently.
>
> Years ago, Chet Schriesheim wrote a scathing review in ASQ of
> Fiedler's "Leader Match." At the end of the review, Chet suggested
> that a sticker should be affixed to the cover of every copy of
> Fiedler's book saying something like, "Warning: Use of 'Leader
> Match' Could Be Hazardous to Your Leadership Effectiveness." It
> was by no means the first attack on Fiedler, but it cleverly drove
> home the point that the theory did not live up to its claims.
> Implicit in most leadership theories are claims that the theory can
> be applied broadly throughout an organization (i.e., that the value
> of the theory is not limited by factors such as number of
> subordinates or number of organizational levels), that the use of
> the theory will improve the leader's effectiveness, and/or that the
> use of the theory will improve organizational functioning. But how
> many times have those implicit claims been made explicit?
>
> I realize that there is evidence for each of these claims in
> the published literature. For example, in an ASQ article, John
> Kimberly and Warren Nielsen proposed a "diffusion" model of change,
> wherein interventions conducted with a group of 160 supervisors
> were hypothesized to have an impact on the behaviors of 2600 hourly
> workers. They reasoned that if they were effective in changing the
> supervisors' behaviors (1st order change), then evidence of that
> change should be found in the work conducted by the supervisors'
> subordinates (2nd order change). There are, of course, many other
> examples I could give that support such claims.
>
> What I'm looking for are references that explicitly state (1)
> that a particular leadership theory can be broadly applied, (2)
> that the use of the theory will improve the effectiveness of the
> individual user, and/or (3) that the use of the theory will improve
> organizational performance. I'm not looking for rocks to look
> under; we already have over 7,500 sources in the 1990 edition of
> Bass and Stogdill's Handbook of Leadership. The more recent review
> that Alan Filley and I published in 2002 puts the number of
> leadership writings at 15,000, and I'm confident that new ones are
> being added every week. However, I am finding that very few of
> these sources explicitly state the claims mentioned above, and I'm
> hoping that some of you can identify any sources I've missed.
>
> Larry Pate
> Redondo Beach, California
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Management Education and Development Discussion
> [mailto:
MG-ED-DV@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of Amanda Martin
> Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2007 2:45 PM
> To:
MG-ED-DV@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
> Subject: Re: Leadership Claims
>
>
> Hi Larry
>
> Have you tried the work of Bruce Avolio and Jay Conger -
> they both do specific work - here are some other references from
> paper's I've delivered
>
> Anand V, Glick W H and Manz C C (2002) Thriving on the
> knowledge of outsiders: Tapping organizational social capital,
> Academy of Management Executive, February Vol 16, No 1, p 87
> Argyris, C (1994) On organizational learning, Blackwell
> Publishers Ltd United Kingdom
> Ashkenas R, Ulrich D, Jick T, Kerr S (2002) The
> boundaryless organization Jossey-Bass Inc, San Francisco USA
> Avolio B J (1999) Full leadership development, Sage
> Publications, London UK
> Cohen D and Prusak L (2001) In good company: how social
> capital makes organizations work Harvard Business School Press,
> Boston USA
> Collins J (2001) Good to great Random House Limited Australia
> Conger J A, Spreitzer G M, Lawler E E Eds (1999) Leader's
> change handbook, Jossey-Bass Inc, San Francisco USA
> Dubrin A J (1998) Leadership research findings practice and
> skills Eisler R (1995) From domination to partnership: the
> hidden subtext for organisation change, Training and Development,
> 49 (2), 32-39
> El Ansari W, Phillips C J and Hammick M (2001).
> Collaboration and partnerships: developing the evidence base.
> Health and Social Care in the Community, 9 (4), 215-227
> Ghoshal S and Bartlett C A (1998) The individualised
> corporation William Heinemann, United Kingdom
> Heifetz R A and Linsky M (2002) Leadership on the line:
> staying alive through the dangers of leading Harvard Business
> School Press, Boston Massachusetts USA
> Huxham C and Vangen S (2000) Leadership in the shaping and
> implementation of collaboration agendas: how things happen in a
> (not quite) joined-up world, Academy of Management Journal, Vol 43
> No 6 1159-1175
> Kaser P A W and Miles R E (2001) Knowledge activists: the
> cultivation of motivation and trust, properties of knowledge
> sharing relationships Academy of Management Proceedings ODC:D1
> Lawrence T B, Hardy C and Phillips N (2002) Institutional
> effects of interorganizational collaboration: the emergence of
> proto-institutions, Academy of
> Lewin R and Regine B (1999) The soul at work, Orion
> Business, United Kingdom
> Limerick D, Cunnington B and Crowther F (1998) Managing the
> new organisation, Business and Professional Publishing, Warriewood
> NSW Australia
> Parry K (1996) Transformational leadership, Pearson
> Professional (Australia) Pty Ltd, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
> Pascale R T, Millemann M, and Gioja L (2000) Surfing the
> edge of chaos, Texere Publishing Limited, London
> Pfeffer, J (2001) Business and the spirit: management
> practices that sustain values, Research Paper Series, Stanford
> University Graduate School of Business
> Schein E H (1992) 2nd Edition Organizational culture and
> leadership, Jossey-Bass Inc USA
> Weick, K E (1995) Sensemaking in organisations Sage
> Publications Inc California USA
> Wheatley M J (1994) Leadership and the new science, Berrett-
> Koehler Publishers Inc, San Francisco, USA
> Yukl, G (1998) 4th Edition Leadership in organizations
> Prentice-Hall Inc, New Jersey USA
> Zaccaro S J and Klimoski, R J (2001) The nature of
> organizational leadership Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA USA
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----
>
> From: Management Education and Development Discussion
> [mailto:
MG-ED-DV@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of Larry Pate
> Sent: Thursday, 18 January 2007 9:09 AM
> To:
MG-ED-DV@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
> Subject: Re: Leadership Claims
>
> Thanks, Tara. But I'm not looking for another overview of
> leadership theory. We already have several good ones, such as the
> Bass & Stogdill Handbook. I'm looking for evidence that the
> implicit claims inherent to several theories of leadership have
> been explicitly stated -- that the theory can be applied anywhere
> in the organization, that such application will the user's
> performance, and/or that widespread use of the theory will improve
> organizational performance. If you can suggest references that
> address these issues, then I would love to see them. Thanks.
>
> Larry Pate
> Redondo Beach, California
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Management Education and Development Discussion
> [mailto:
MG-ED-DV@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of
tgcoste@ADELPHIA.NET
> Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2007 11:58 AM
> To:
MG-ED-DV@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
> Subject: Re: Leadership Claims
> Larry,
>
> A good overview of leadership theory can be found in:
> Nahavandi, A. (2003). The art and science of leadership.
> Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
> Tara
>
> Tara Grey Coste, Ph.D.
> Leadership and Organizational Studies Program
> Lewiston-Auburn College, University of Southern Maine
> 51 Westminster St.
> Lewiston, ME 04240
>
tcoste@usm.maine.edu (e-mail)
> 207/753-6596 (phone)
> 207/753-6555 (fax)
>
>
>
> "International business is the general case; local business is
> the special case." - Peter J. Buckley
> Romie F. Littrell, BA, MBA,PhD, FIAIR, An fánaí fiáin
> AUT Business School N.Z.,
romie.littrell@aut.ac.nz
>
http://www.romielittrellpubs.homestead.com/
>
http://www.crossculturalcentre.homestead.com/
> Facilitator, Leadership & Management in Sub-Sahara Africa
> Conferences
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
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