Leadership Lessons from Theory Joseph B Berger College

Leadership Lessons from Theory Joseph B. Berger College of Education UMass Amherst jbberger@educ. umass. edu

Leadership Charismatic Traits Inclusive Styles Ubuntu Contingency Islamic Confucian LMX Ethical Servant 7 Habits Situational Managerial Power Adaptive Gendered Path-Goal Informal Participative Organizational Learning Authentic Team Transformational

Leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and followers who seek transformative change that build upon mutual values and shared achievements. (adapted from Rost, 1988)

Theory • Describes, Predicts or Explains • Simplifies Complex Phenomena • Provides a Common Language or Frame of Reference • Knowledge-based Guide for Action • Legitimizes Expertise and Authority • Useful for Leadership Development • Serves as a Conceptual Tool

Leadership Framework • Values • Achievements • Relationships • Changes

Leadership Dimension Associated Theories Achievements • Traits • Styles • Situational • Contingency • Path-Goal • Managerial Relationships • LMX • Team • Inclusive • Feminist • Ubuntu Values • Ethical • Authentic • Servant • Confucian • Islamic Changes • Transformational • Adaptive Organizational Learning

Achievement-oriented Leadership • Emphasizes the importance of achieving goals through: • Individual leadership capacities • Situational leadership behaviors • Contextual conditions

Individual • Focus on Individual Leaders • Identifies Effective Abilities, Traits, Characteristics, and Skills • Can be Used to Identify Potential Leaders

Behavioral • Leaders Can Be Developed • Emphasizes Behavior Rather Than Characteristics/Personality • Recognizes the Need to Balance: • Productivity, Task, and Goals • Relationships and People • Balance of Challenge and Support

Behavior Styles Laissez Faire Concern for People High Team Middle-of-the Road Impoverished Low Authority-Compliance Concern for Production High

Path-Goal Model

Relationship-oriented Leadership • Recognizes the importance of relationships among leaders and followers that are: • Transactional • Diverse and inclusive

Transactional Leadership • Relationships are based on roles and responsibilities • Every relationship has the potential to be special and valuable • Focuses on developing teams (none of us can succeed alone)

Inclusive Leadership • Leadership comes in many forms • Effective leadership embraces diversity • Encourages inclusiveness • Emphasizes empowerment

Values-oriented Leadership • Leaders embody values and embed their values in the goals of the organization • Those values must fit with the culture of the organization • Leaders are most effective when they are ethical and authentic

Ethics • Focus on “doing the right thing” • Ethics can be defined in terms of conduct (how should we behave? ), duty (what are our obligations? ) and virtue (what are our values? ) • Leaders can use both an ethic of care & an ethic of justice

Change-oriented Leadership • Emphasizes the need to create enduring change (Transformation) • Change must be beneficial for shared purposes and goals • Leaders provide vision for change

Transformational Leadership • Successful leaders focus on organizational learning as a process (not an event) • Transformation requires positive developmental growth for individuals, organizations, and systems • Transformation is enduring, sustainable, purposeful change that helps the organization realize new possibilities

Tools for Change • Useful tools include: • Theory of Change • SWOT Analysis • Force-field Analysis • Strategic Planning • SMART Goals

Guiding Questions • What are the ultimate goals of this program or initiative? • How will you define success? • What are the underlying values? • What are your funders, partners and program participants expecting?

Guiding Questions • What indicator(s) will we use to measure success? • How much change is needed on these indicators in order for us to feel that we have successfully achieved the outcome? • How long will it take to reach our threshold of change on the indicator(s)?

Guiding Questions • Given what you know today, what will be different in the long term as a result of successfully reaching your goal? • What are the necessary and sufficient preconditions for success? • What conditions (structures, power bases, relationships) will enable or constrain my ability to motivate and influence others?

Guiding Questions • Who do I need to include in the process? • Who might normally be excluded from the process? • How can I ensure equity and fairness in the process?

Pathway Map Target Indicator Action Steps Baseline Indicator

Guiding Questions • For each of the outcomes on our map that we think we may have some influence over, what type of action steps are needed? • What are the assumptions, resources, challenges, and ethical considerations that will impact our ability to implement action steps and achieve our goals? • Who should be involved? In what ways?

Resources • Aycan, Z. (2002). Leadership and teamwork in developing countries: Challenges and opportunities. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, 7(2), 1. • Batliwala, S. (2010). Feminist leadership for social transformation: Clearing the conceptual cloud. New Delhi: Creating Resources for Empowerment in Action. • Berger, J. B. (2013). Leadership: A Concise Conceptual Overview. Massachusetts Community College Leadership Academy. Boston. • Bush, T. (2007). Educational leadership and management: theory, policy and practice. South African Journal of Education, 27(3), 391 -406.

Resources • leader: The application of servant leadership theory in the international context. Journal of International Business and Cultural Studies, 1(7), 1 -12. • Northouse, P. G. (2015). Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage: Thousand Oaks. • Rost, J. C. (1993). The Nature of Leadership. Ch. 5 (pp. 97 -128). Leadership for the twenty-first century. Greenwood Publishing Group; Westport, CT. • Shah, S. (2006). Educational leadership: an Islamic perspective. British Educational Research Journal, 32(3), 363 -385.