Scholarly Entry What is the main premise of the article? In Traits and Behavior Theory of Leadership: Critique from Undistributed Middle, Jalšenjak and

Parallel Reflection Assignment

OGL 510

Parallel refers to writing from both an academic/critical scholarly perspective and a personal narrative perspective. Parallel Narratives, therefore, are those that (a) provide a reflection on the reading assigned and (b) a personal reflection on how the readings resonate with your own personal experiences.

A parallel reflection is a potential outlet for chronicling and making sense of your progression of thinking on a particular topic – in this case, leadership theories and frameworks. First, it is to give you the opportunity to share your insights, opinions, and experiences while critically engaging with and reflecting on scholarly models, theories, and research. Thus, as an academic “diary”, it is expected that your entries will showcase your insights as a critical thinker and critic of the readings. Second, based on principles from narrative research, it is theorized that you can best understand and open yourself to course material by engaging in writing the personal experiences that resonate as you read scholarly materials for class.

Your Parallel Reflections include three parts.

PART 1. Scholarly Entry (50 points)

First, your scholarly entry should demonstrate your thoughtful and critical engagement with at least one of the week’s assigned readings (i.e., the reading that is due the day your parallel blog is due). You may, of course, also draw from theories, concepts, and research we have discussed in previous weeks or other readings in addition to the readings due that day.

Second, in the spirit of encouraging engaged class discussion, consider ways in which you might offer insights that will get conversation going with your peers.

The following are some questions and guidelines that may help you as you do your reading and write your scholarly entries. You do not have to follow this formula, but it may be a useful guide for the kind and scope of scholarly insights the blog assignment requires:

1. What is the main premise of the article or chapter? (summarize in a few sentences)

2. What are your reactions (both positive, negative, and/or neutral) to the readings, including the theories, premises, methods, findings, implications, arguments, etc.?

3. What questions, confusions, and/or ideas for future research emerge as you read?

4. What is one position you would take or discussion question you would pose to get your classmates talking?

PART 2. Personal Reflection Entry (25 points)

The personal reflection is a place to voice your opinions, insights, and experiences. Thus, entries should NOT just be summaries of what you read, but rather the articles should be the subject and/or evidentiary support for the insights you gleaned by completing the reading.

You may post during any week of the course that fits best with your schedule. In order to facilitate the most engaged classroom discussion, you should consult our Canvas Discussion Board page regularly and comment on at least one other person’s post.

PART 3. Comments (25 points)

As part of your class participation, you should comment on at least one other person’s Scholarly Entry.

· What images, expressions, or points did the author of the scholarly entry make the resonated with you most? How does his/her response to the reading resonate with you most?

· What will you do with the knowledge you’ve gained from reading about the author of the scholarly entry’s perspective?

Comments to at least ONE peer

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3 SKILLS APPROACH

DESCRIPTION

Like the trait approach discussed in  Chapter 2, the skills approach takes a leader-centered perspective on leadership. However, in the skills approach we shift our thinking from focusing exclusively on traits to an emphasis on skills and abilities that can be learned and developed. Although personality and behavior certainly play a role in leadership, the skills approach emphasizes the capabilities, knowledge, and skills that are needed for effective leadership.

Researchers have studied leadership skills directly or indirectly for a number of years (see Bass, 2008, pp. 97–109). However, the impetus for research on skills was a classic article published by Katz in the  Harvard Business Review in 1955, titled “Skills of an Effective Administrator.” Katz’s article appeared at a time when researchers were trying to identify a definitive set of leadership traits. Katz’s approach was an attempt to transcend the trait problem by addressing leadership as a set of developable  skills. More recently, a revitalized interest in the skills approach has emerged. Beginning in the early 1990s, a multitude of studies have been published that contend that a leader’s effectiveness depends on the leader’s ability to solve complex organizational problems. This research has resulted in a comprehensive skill-based model of leadership that was advanced by M. Mumford and his colleagues (M. Mumford, Zaccaro, Harding, Jacobs, & Fleishman, 2000; Yammarino, 2000).

In this chapter, our discussion of the skills approach is divided into two parts. First, we discuss the general ideas set forth by Katz regarding three basic administrative skills: technical, human, and conceptual. Second, we discuss the recent work of Mumford and colleagues that has resulted in a skills-based model of organizational leadership.

Three-Skill Approach

Based on field research in administration and his own firsthand observations of executives in the workplace, Katz (1955, p. 34) suggested that effective administration (i.e., leadership) depends on three basic personal skills: technical, human, and conceptual. Katz argued that these skills are quite different from traits or qualities of leaders.  Skills are what leaders  can accomplish, whereas  traits are who leaders  are (i.e., their innate characteristics). Leadership skills are defined in this chapter as the ability to use one’s knowledge and competencies to accomplish a set of goals or objectives. This chapter shows that these leadership skills can be acquired and leaders can be trained to develop them.

Technical Skills

Technical skills are knowledge about and proficiency in a specific type of work or activity. They include competencies in a specialized area, analytical ability, and the ability to use appropriate tools and techniques (Katz, 1955). For example, in a computer software company, technical skills might include knowing software language and programming, the company’s software products, and how to make these products function for clients. Similarly, in an accounting firm, technical skills might include understanding and having the ability to apply generally accepted accounting principles to a client’s audit. In both of these examples, technical skills involve a hands-on activity with a basic product or process within an organization. Technical skills play an essential role in producing the actual products a company is designed to produce.

As illustrated in  Figure 3.1, technical skills are most important at lower and middle levels of management and less important in upper management. For leaders at the highest level, such as CEOs, presidents, and senior officers, technical competencies are not as essential. Individuals at the top level depend on skilled followers to handle technical issues of the physical operation.

Human Skills

Human skills are knowledge about and ability to work with  people. They are quite different from technical skills, which have to do with working with  things (Katz, 1955). Human skills are “people skills.” They are the abilities that help a leader to work effectively with followers, peers, and superiors to accomplish the organization’s goals. Human skills allow a leader to assist group members in working cooperatively as a group to achieve common goals. For Katz, it means being aware of one’s own perspective on issues and, at the same time, being aware of the perspective of others. Leaders with human skills adapt their own ideas to those of others. Furthermore, they create an atmosphere of trust where followers can feel comfortable and secure and where they can feel encouraged to become involved in the planning of things that will affect them. Being a leader with human skills means being sensitive to the needs and motivations of others and considering others’ needs in one’s decision making. In short, human skills are the capacity to get along with others as you go about your work.

Description

Figure 3.1 Management Skills Necessary at Various Levels of an Organization

Source: Adapted from “Skills of an Effective Administrator,” by R. L. Katz, 1955,  Harvard Business Review, 33(1), pp. 33–42.

Figure 3.1 shows that human skills are important in all three levels of management. Although managers at lower levels may communicate with a far greater number of followers, human skills are equally important at middle and upper levels.

Conceptual Skills

Broadly speaking, conceptual skills are the ability to work with ideas and concepts. Whereas technical skills deal with  things and human skills deal with  people, conceptual skills involve the ability to work with  ideas. A leader with conceptual skills is comfortable talking about the ideas that shape an organization and the intricacies involved. They are good at putting the organization’s goals into words and can understand and express the economic principles that affect the organization. A leader with conceptual skills works easily with abstractions and hypothetical notions.

Conceptual skills are central to creating a vision and strategic plan for an organization. For example, it would take conceptual skills for a CEO in a struggling manufacturing company to articulate a vision for a line of new products that would steer the company into profitability. Similarly, it would take conceptual skills for the director of a nonprofit health organization to create a strategic plan to compete successfully with for-profit health organizations in a market with scarce resources. The point of these examples is that conceptual skills have to do with the mental work of shaping the meaning of organizational or policy issues—understanding what an organization stands for and where it is or should be going.

As shown in  Figure 3.1, conceptual skills are most important at the top management levels. In fact, when upper-level managers do not have strong conceptual skills, they can jeopardize the whole organization. Conceptual skills are also important in middle management; as we move down to lower management levels, conceptual skills become less important.

Summary of the Three-Skill Approach

To summarize, the three-skill approach includes technical, human, and conceptual skills. It is important for leaders to have all three skills; depending on where they are in the management structure, however, some skills are more important than others.

Katz’s work in the mid-1950s set the stage for conceptualizing leadership in terms of skills, but it was not until the mid-1990s that an empirically based skills approach received recognition in leadership research. In the  next section, the comprehensive skill-based model of leadership is presented.

Skills Model

Beginning in the early 1990s, a group of researchers, with funding from the U.S. Army and Department of Defense, set out to test and develop a comprehensive theory of leadership based on problem-solving skills in organizations. The studies were conducted over a number of years using a sample of more than 1,800 Army officers, representing six grade levels, from second lieutenant to colonel. The project used a variety of new measures and tools to assess the skills of these officers, their experiences, and the situations in which they worked.

The researchers’ main goal was to explain the underlying elements of effective performance. They addressed questions such as these: What accounts for why some leaders are good problem solvers and others are not? What specific skills do high-performing leaders exhibit? How do leaders’ individual characteristics, career experiences, and environmental influences affect their job performance? As a whole, researchers wanted to identify the leadership factors that create exemplary job performance in an actual organization.

Based on the extensive findings from the project, M. Mumford and colleagues formulated a skill-based model of leadership ( Figure 3.2). The model is characterized as a  capability model because it examines the relationship between a leader’s knowledge and skills (i.e., capabilities) and the leader’s performance (M. Mumford, Zaccaro, Harding, et al., 2000, p. 12). Leadership capabilities can be developed over time through education and experience. Unlike the “great man” approach (discussed in  Chapter 2 of this text), which implies that leadership is reserved for only the gifted few, the skills approach suggests that many people have the potential for leadership. If people are capable of learning from their experiences, they can acquire leadership skills. The skills approach can also be distinguished from the leadership approaches, discussed in subsequent chapters, that focus on behavioral patterns of leaders (e.g., the style approach, leader–member exchange theory, and transformational leadership). Rather than emphasizing  what leaders do, the skills approach frames leadership as  the capabilities ( knowledge and skills)  that make effective leadership possible (M. Mumford, Zaccaro, Harding, et al., 2000, p. 12).

Description

Figure 3.2 Influence of Leader Characteristics on Leader Performance

Source: Adapted from “Leadership Skills for a Changing World: Solving Complex Social Problems,” by M. D. Mumford, S. J. Zaccaro, F. D. Harding, T. O. Jacobs, and E. A. Fleishman,  The Leadership Quarterly, 11(1), p. 23. Copyright 2000 by Elsevier.

The skill-based model of M. Mumford’s group has five components: competencies, individual attributes, career experiences, environmental influences, and leadership outcomes (performance and problem solving) ( Figure 3.2).

Individual Attributes

The leftmost box in  Figure 3.2 identifies four individual attributes that have an impact on leadership skills and knowledge: general cognitive ability, crystallized cognitive ability, motivation, and personality. These attributes play important roles in the skills model. Complex problem solving is a very difficult process and becomes more difficult as people move up in an organization. These attributes support people as they apply their leadership competencies.

General Cognitive Ability.

General cognitive ability can be thought of as a person’s intelligence. It includes perceptual processing, information processing, general reasoning skills, creative and divergent thinking capacities, and memory skills. General cognitive ability is linked to biology, not to experience.

General cognitive ability is sometimes described as fluid intelligence, a type of intelligence that usually grows and expands up through early adulthood and then declines with age. In the skills model, intelligence is described as having a positive impact on the leader’s acquisition of complex problem-solving skills and the leader’s knowledge.

Crystallized Cognitive Ability.

Crystallized cognitive ability is intellectual ability that is learned or acquired over time. It is the store of knowledge we acquire through experience. We learn and increase our capacities over a lifetime, increasing our leadership potential (e.g., problem-solving skills, conceptual ability, and social judgment skills). In normally functioning adults, this type of cognitive ability grows continuously and typically does not fall off in adulthood. It includes being able to comprehend complex information and learn new skills and information, as well as being able to communicate to others in oral and written forms (Connelly et al., 2000, p. 71). Stated another way, crystallized cognitive ability is  acquired intelligence: the ideas and mental abilities people learn through experience. Because it stays fairly stable over time, this type of intelligence is not diminished as people get older (Rose & Gordon, 2015).

Motivation.

Motivation is listed as the third attribute in the model. While Kerns (2015) identified three categories of motivations (self-interest, career considerations, and higher purposes) that propel leaders, the skills model takes a different approach, instead suggesting there are three aspects of motivation— willingness, dominance, and  social good—that are essential to developing leadership skills (M. Mumford, Zaccaro, Harding, et al., 2000, p. 22).

First, leaders must be  willing to tackle complex organizational problems. This first step is critical. For leadership to occur, a person must want to lead. Second, leaders must be willing to express  dominance—to exert their influence, as we discussed in  Chapter 2. In influencing others, the leader must take on the responsibility of dominance because the influence component of leadership is inextricably bound to dominance. Third, leaders must be committed to the  social good of the organization.  Social good is a broad term that can refer to a host of outcomes. However, in the skills model it refers to the leader’s willingness to take on the responsibility of trying to advance the overall human good and value of the organization. Taken together, these three aspects of motivation (willingness, dominance, and social good) prepare people to become leaders.

Personality.

Personality is the fourth individual attribute in the skills model. Placed where it is in the model, this attribute reminds us that our personality has an impact on the development of our leadership skills. For example, openness, tolerance for ambiguity, and curiosity may affect a leader’s motivation to try to solve some organizational problems. Or, in conflict situations, traits such as confidence and adaptability may be beneficial to a leader’s performance. The skills model hypothesizes that any personality characteristic that helps people to cope with complex organizational situations probably is related to leader performance (M. Mumford, Zaccaro, Harding, et al., 2000).

Competencies

As can be observed in  Figure 3.2, problem-solving skills, social judgment skills, and knowledge are at the heart of the skills model. These three competencies are the key factors that account for effective performance (M. Mumford et al., 2012).

Problem-Solving Skills.

What are problem-solving skills? According to M. Mumford, Zaccaro, Harding, and colleagues (2000), problem-solving skills are a leader’s creative ability to solve new and unusual, ill-defined organizational problems. The skills include being able to define significant problems, gather problem information, formulate new understandings about the problem, and generate prototype plans for problem solutions. M. Mumford, Todd, Higgs, and McIntosh (2017, p. 28) identified nine key problem-solving skills leaders employ to address problems:

1. Problem definition, the ability to define noteworthy issues or significant problems affecting the organization

2. Cause/goal analysis, the ability to analyze the causes and goals relevant to addressing problems

3. Constraint analysis, the ability to identify the constraints, or limiting factors, influencing any problem solution

4. Planning, the ability to formulate plans, mental simulations, and actions arising from cause/goal and constraint analysis

5. Forecasting, the ability to anticipate the implications of executing the plans

6. Creative thinking, the ability to develop alternative approaches and new ideas for addressing potential pitfalls of a plan identified in forecasting

7. Idea evaluation, the ability to evaluate these alternative approaches’ viability in executing the plan

8. Wisdom, the ability to evaluate the appropriateness of these alternative approaches within the context, or setting, in which the leader acts

9. Sensemaking/visioning, the ability to articulate a vision that will help followers understand, make sense of, and act on the problem

Figure 3.3 shows the relationship between these different skills as a developing process, where employment of one skill can lead to development of the next.

Description

Figure 3.3 Hypothetical Relationships Between Problem-Solving Skills

Source: Reprinted from “Cognitive Skills and Leadership Performance: The Nine Critical Skills,” by M. D. Mumford, E. M. Todd, C. Higgs, and T. McIntosh,  The Leadership Quarterly, 28(1), p. 28. Copyright 2017 by Elsevier.

To clarify how these problem-solving skills work in conjunction with one another, consider the following hypothetical situation. Imagine that you are the director of human resources for a medium-sized company and you have been informed by the president that you must develop a plan to reduce the company’s health care costs. In deciding what you will do, you demonstrate problem-solving skills in the following ways. First, you identify the full ramifications for employees of changing their health insurance coverage (problem definition; forecasting). What is the impact going to be (cause/goal analysis)? Second, you gather information about how benefits can be scaled back (constraint analysis). What other companies have attempted a similar change, and what were their results (forecasting)? Third, you find a way to teach and inform the employees about the needed change (planning; creative thinking). How can you frame the change in such a way that it is clearly understood (planning; creative thinking; wisdom)? Fourth, you create possible scenarios for how the changes will be instituted (forecasting; idea evaluation). How will the plan be described? Fifth, you look closely at the solution itself (idea evaluation). How will implementing this change affect the company’s mission and your own career (sensemaking; visioning)? Last, are there issues in the organization (e.g., union rules) that may affect the implementation of these changes (constraint analysis; forecasting)?

Problem-solving skills also demand that leaders understand their own leadership capacities as they apply possible solutions to the unique problems in their organization (M. Mumford, Zaccaro, Connelly, & Marks, 2000).

Being able to construct solutions plays a special role in problem solving. In considering solutions to organizational problems, skilled leaders need to attend to the time frame for constructing and implementing a solution, short-term and long-term goals, career goals and organizational goals, and external issues, all of which could influence the solution (M. Mumford, Zaccaro, Harding, et al., 2000, p. 15).

The process of dealing with novel, ill-defined organizational problems is complex and demanding for leaders. In many ways, it is like a puzzle to be solved. For leaders to solve such puzzles, the skill-based model suggests that problem-solving skills are essential.

Social Judgment and Social Skills.

In addition to problem-solving skills, effective leadership performance requires social judgment skills ( Figure 3.2). Social judgment skills are the capacity to understand people and social systems (Zaccaro, Mumford, Connelly, Marks, & Gilbert, 2000, p. 46). They enable leaders to  work with others to solve problems and to marshal support to implement change within an organization. Social judgment skills are the people skills that are necessary to solve unique organizational problems.

Conceptually, social judgment skills are like Katz’s (1955) early work on the role of human skills in management. In contrast to Katz’s work, Mumford and colleagues have delineated social judgment skills into the following: perspective taking, social perceptiveness, behavioral flexibility, and social performance.

Perspective taking means understanding the attitudes that  others have toward a particular problem or solution. It is empathy applied to problem solving. Perspective taking means being sensitive to other people’s perspectives and goals—being able to understand their point of view on different issues. Included in perspective taking is knowing how different constituencies in an organization view a problem and possible solutions (Gasiorek & Ebesu Hubbard, 2017). According to Zaccaro, Gilbert, Thor, and Mumford (1991), perspective-taking skills can be likened to  social intelligence.These skills are concerned with knowledge about people, the social fabric of organizations, and the interrelatedness of each of them.

Social perceptiveness is insight and awareness into how others in the organization function. What is important to others? What motivates them? What problems do they face, and how do they react to change? Social perceptiveness means understanding the unique needs, goals, and demands of different organizational constituencies (Zaccaro et al., 1991). A leader with social perceptiveness has a keen sense of how followers will respond to any proposed change in the organization. In a sense, you could say it allows the leader to know the pulse of followers on any issue at any time.

In addition to understanding others accurately, social judgment skills involve reacting to others with flexibility.  Behavioral flexibility is the capacity to change and adapt one’s behavior in light of understanding others’ perspectives in the organization. Being flexible means one is not locked into a singular approach to a problem. One is not dogmatic but rather maintains an openness and willingness to change. As the circumstances of a situation change, a flexible leader changes to meet the new demands.

Social performance i

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