Management Skill Builder
Being a Good Leader
The terms management and leadership are frequently used interchangeably. That’s a misnomer. The two aren’t the same but they are related. Although you don’t need to hold a management position to be a leader, you’re unlikely to be an effective manager if you can’t be an effective leader.
Skill Basics
Simply put, leadership style can be categorized as task- or people-oriented. Neither one is right for all situations. Although a number of situational variables influence the choice of an effective leadership style, four variables seem most relevant:79
Task structure. Structured tasks have procedures and rules that minimize ambiguity. The more structured a job is, the less need there is for a leader to provide task structure.
Level of stress. Situations differ in terms of time and performance stress. High-stress situations favor leaders with experience. Low stress favors a leader’s intelligence.
Level of group support. Members of close-knit and supportive groups help each other out. They can provide both task support and relationship support. Supportive groups make fewer demands on a leader.
Follower characteristics. Personal characteristics of followers—such as experience, ability, and motivation—influence which leadership style will be most effective. Employees with extensive experience, strong abilities, and high motivation don’t require much task behavior. They will be more effective with a people-oriented style. Conversely, employees with little experience, marginal abilities, and low motivation will perform better when leaders exhibit task-oriented behavior.
Practicing the Skill
Read through this scenario and follow the directions at the end of it:
You recently graduated from college with your degree in business administration. You’ve spent the past two summers working at Connecticut Mutual Insurance (CMI), filling in as an intern on a number of different jobs while employees took their vacations. You have received and accepted an offer to join CMI full-time as supervisor of the policy renewal department.
CMI is a large insurance company. In the headquarters office alone, where you’ll be working, there are more than 1,500 employees. The company believes strongly in the personal development of its employees. This belief translates into a philosophy, emanating from the top executive offices, of trust and respect for all CMI employees. The company is also regularly atop most lists of “best companies to work for,” largely due to its progressive work/life programs and strong commitment to minimizing layoffs.
In your new job, you’ll direct the activities of 18 policy-renewal clerks. Their jobs require little training and are highly routine. A clerk’s responsibility is to ensure that renewal notices are sent on current policies, to tabulate any changes in premiums, to advise the sales division if a policy is to be canceled as a result of nonresponse to renewal notices, and to answer questions and solve problems related to renewals.
The people in your work group range in age from 19 to 62, with a median age of 25. For the most part, they are high school graduates with little prior working experience. They earn between $2,350 and $3,200 a month. You will be replacing a long-time CMI employee, Jan Allison. Jan is retiring after 37 years with CMI, the past 14 spent as a policy-renewal supervisor. Because you spent a few weeks in Jan’s group last summer, you’re familiar with Jan’s style and are acquainted with most of the department members. But people don’t know you very well and are suspicious of the fact that you’re fresh out of college and have little experience in the department. The reality is that you got this job because management wanted someone with a college degree to oversee the department. Your most vocal critic is Lillian Lantz. Lillian is well into her 50s, has been a policy-renewal clerk for over a dozen years, and—as the “grand old lady” of the department—carries a lot of weight with group members. You know that it’ll be very hard to lead this department without Lillian’s support.
Using your knowledge of leadership concepts, which leadership style would you choose? And why?
Experiential Exercise
We’ve spent the entire chapter talking about leadership. You should have a fairly good handle on what leading and leadership is all about by now. But, we want to “throw” one more thing at you.
In your assigned group, you are to discuss the following:
Is leadership a quality, an attribute, an attitude, or a job title? Come up with an answer and why you chose what you did. You could choose more than one of these, but explain your rationale for each. Also, explain why you didn’t choose the others. Finally, be prepared to present your conclusion(s) to the class orally and written in an Executive Summary–type format.