Laissez-faire Leadership

In 1939, Kurt Lewin led a group of psychologists to identify different styles of leadership.  They named three major leadership styles: authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-faire.  Laissez-faire leadership, also known as delegative leadership is a hands-off leadership style.  This style allows followers to make decisions for themselves without the interference of the leader.  With this type of hands-off leadership, researchers have found that it leads to the lowest level of productivity because followers don’t feel like there is anything pushing them to get their work done.  Laissez-faire leadership is characterized by: very little guidance from leaders; complete freedom for followers to make decisions; leaders provide the tools and resources needed; and group members are expected to solve problems on their own.  These leaders believe that the followers excel best when they are left alone to tackle their responsibilities and problems in their own way.

When studying laissez-faire leadership, Kurt Lewin and his group of psychologists, did a study on the three different types of leadership.  During the study the children were led in arts and crafts projects.  The students in this group were the least productive of all three groups.  The children made more demands on the leader, showed little cooperation, and were unable to work by themselves. 

            Although this leadership style is not very effective for a majority of people, if the employees, or group members, are highly motivated and capable of working on their own it seems to be the best style.  While it is “hands-off”, the leaders are still open for employees to ask questions or get feedback.
                        Laissez-faire leaderships seems to be most effective for high level management.  Those in high level positions should already prove to be self starters and not need their leader to tell them what to do.  It would be effective for this specific type of person because laissez-faire leadership minimizes the leader's involvement in decision-making, allowing people to make their own decisions, although they may still be responsible for the outcome.
            Overall, I would not personally prefer to work for someone with this type of leadership because although it may work for me and others, it would not benefit the company as a whole.  Each person responds differently to different styles so if a style is best suited for let’s say 7.5% of all people are upper level managers, the other 92.5% would not respond well to these leaders.

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/laissez-faire-leadership.html
http://psychology.about.com/od/leadership/a/leadstyles.htm
http://psychology.about.com/od/leadership/f/laissez-faire-leadership.htm
http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/styles/lewin_style.htm

Leadership Styles and Apollo 13

Theory	Definition	Scene	Character	Example
Explanation	Using 10 pt. font, define the theory of collection of theories. Response should include information from the slides and/or the articles. Can include your opinion if backed up by evidence, but should not only be your opinion. Make sure to include the components of the theory if applicable. Do not provide examples here.	Describe the scene you will reference. Set up the situation to include where it occurs in the movie and the plot overall.	Describe the character and/or characters in order to give us a reference related to the situation you will reference.	Give a detailed example of the theory and tell us why this illustrates the theory. Refer to the definition and key components of the theory as much as possible. Be as specific as possible. It is okay to add your opinion if it is backed up by evidence you cite about the scene and character. Do not make the reader infer anything about the scene or character. For example, you discuss intellectual stimulation as part of transformational leadership it should be defined.
Trait Based Theories	Leaders are born with traits that makes them an admirable leader. "Leader traitscan be defined as relatively coherent and integrated patterns of personal characteristics, reflecting a range of individual differences, that foster consistent leadership effectiveness across a variety of group and organizational situations" (Zacarro,2007).	The Director of NASA is in the command center expecting the worse from the re-entry	Gene, flight commander, responds to the Director’s comment about re-entry	At the re-entry phase the Director of NASA says "I know what all of the problems are, this could be the worst disaster NASA has ever experienced", and Gene responds, "With all due respect sir, I believe this is going to be our finest hour". Being able to say this, and feel it, is not something you can teach. Gene is able to take any situation and see the best of it –take each piece and break it down while still seeing the full view.
Skills and Competencies (Use HTM Model)	This model describes core competencies a leader should portray to be successful. It includes three main areas: self, people, and business savvy. Each piece has 4 competencies that employers look for when hiring . To be a successful leader, one should try to perfect each of these competencies.	Ken is brought in to be in the simulator to try to figure out a perfect re-entry technique using least amount of power possible.	Ken was suppose to be on the space shuttle, but due to health problems he got bumped. They brought him back because of his knowledge.	Ken possesses many of the core competencies. He not only has each of the business savvy competencies, but also spirit of optimism. He is knowledgeable in every aspect of the shuttle, with the optimism to see every angle to come up with a re-entry procedure. He is then able, with interpersonal communication skills, to tell Jack, without frustration, the operating procedures, understanding the stress he’s going through.
Behavior Based Theories (Use MLQ or LPI)	The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, or MLQ , after the assessment, is a 360˚ evaluation that allows the leader to see how they measure up to ,not only their own standards, but everyone they work with. It "measures, explains and demonstrates to individuals the key factors that set truly exceptional leaders apart from marginal ones". (http://www.mindgarden.com/products/mlq.htm)	1) Men in car next to him recognize him. 2) Family is all very proud and excited for him. 3) Friends are all there for the support. 4) Co-workers respect his knowledge & character	Jim Lovell–respected by family, friends, fellow Americans, co-workers	1) Men in a car next to him stop to recognize him and salute him –shows he is known and respected by Americans. 2 and 3) His family and friends all gather around, to support each other during the rough situation… but his mother says, "Don’t worry –if they could build a washing machines to fly my Jimmy could land it". This shows they all know he can do anything. 4) Co-workers respect him, not only delegates of NASA from all around, asking him questions about the ship, but also when he’ll fly, to him being in the command center for Apollo 12. They trust his judgment, being ready to fly 2 days before launch with change of crew.

Theory	Definition	Scene	Character	Example
Leader/Member Exchange (LMX)	Leaders and followers develop a relationship based on social exchanges. There are typically 3 phases that go into this relationship: 1) Stranger –follower does not trust leader, but do what they say for the benefits; 2) Acquaintance -they begin to trust each other; 3) Partnership –both focused on good of the group, high quality relationship.	Jack Swigertjoins the mission due to the pilot possibly coming down with measles. He has never worked with the other 2 men before.	Jack & Jim have never worked together before –although know each other. Jim is very experienced and the head of the Apollo 13 mission.	When Jack joins the crew 2 days before the launch, they go straight into simulations (stranger). He fails the first time, but Jim has faith in him and tells them to run it again. He asks Jack what went wrong, creating conversation instead of insulting/degrading him. In phase 2, they trust each others moves, especially after Jack captures the limb. In phase 3, they have a great partnership, working together to get the command powered down and limb powered up, also when flying into re-entry.
Path/Goal Theory	This theory is about how the leader motivates the follower to accomplish a goal. They maintain a directive path, while clarifying the goals. The leader is relationship and task oriented, while their main focus is using these techniques to accomplish the goal.	Gene is in the control room with the command center trying to figure out a way to get Apollo 13 home safely.	Gene –Flight Director. He brought everyone in command into a meeting to discuss the next step to get the astronauts home	Gene sets a meeting with everyone in command to get the shuttle home safely. He is only concerned with taking necessary steps, and making sure they are the right ones. He clarifies what the suggestions are, and considers new ideas to determine what the best way is. He is supportive of everyone’s ideas, clarifies the goal, and uses his relationships with everyone in command to get the right answers.
Situational Leadership	Situational Leadership requires a leader that is able to change their style depending on the moment. It "proponents emphasize that to be a successful leader, the manager should not only use the management style that comes naturally but also use the styles that fit the situation at the moment" (Institute of Management and Administration, 2009).	While Jim is on the mission Marilyn is able to calm down family and friends, deal with reporters & NASA, dealing with each person suitable to the situation.	Marilyn, Jim’s wife –calms their son about problems with the mission, breaks the news to Jim’s Mom, and deals with NASA & reporters	Marilyn and Jim’s youngest son, Jeffery, is asking what is going on and Marilyn is able to calm him down, while keeping her composure. During the launch, Fred’s wife is not sure how Marilyn is able to stay so calm under such a stressful situation, but it is something that Marilyn has been through, so she is able to stay calm. After the announcement that there have been difficulties, reporters want to stake something on her lawn, but she will not allow it because they didn’t care when everything was ok, only now that a problem arose
Transformational Leadership	Transformational leadership is seen as a collective process. There is a transformation between the leader and follower(s) that is seen as bigger than "us". It includes four main factors: idealized influence charisma, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration.	The entire process from training 6 months prior to launch, to after they get home after the stressful mission.	Jim, Fred, and Jack are to go on a mission to collect rocks from the moon. Problems arise, but Jim stays strong to keep the others going.	There are 4 key factors that make Jim a transformational leader: 1) Idealized influence –even though they have many problems Jim is charismatic in the way he influences them into doing what needs to be done to get home safely. 2) Inspirational –he inspires them to do what they think they cant 3) Intellectual –Jim has faith in the men he is with to trust them to use their knowledge and skills to make decisions. 4) Individualized –each person Jim comes in contact with talks to them like their own person, ex: talking health with the flight Dr. vs. talking to the flight director

Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk

The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk is an annual event in over 10 major cities across the United States.  You walk 60 miles in 3-days with thousands of other people.  Two years ago I walked in this event, and I can definitely say it was transformational.  From the beginning their trainers and volunteers help you in taking the steps to be apart of something that is greater than yourself.

Everyone Deserves a Lifetime is their major slogan that really describes what everyone that participates is fighting for... A chance at a full lifetime for everyone.

Every walker has to raise $2,400 - net profits, in each major city, are to help those in that city as well as research to find a cure

Everyone walks for a reason - that is what unites us all.. the reason to end the fight.

For 2 nights you sleep in tents and wake up early the next morning and start again

Closing Ceremonies

 Pictures cannot even begin to describe the transformation that happens during this event.  It is something that everyone should experience at least once in your life.  At the end you leave inspired to do more and be more, that you have accomplished something you never thought you could.  And you finished with the help and support of everyone around you... because Everyone Deserves A Lifetime.

Aunt Marcia... You are missed

Transformational Leadership in Action

I chose this video because it does a great job of showing all the inspirational moments of Remember The Titans, which if you remember, is one of the MacGregor's four I's.  The coach does a great job of inspiring the men to basically become something greater than themselves by overcoming the racial issues. 

James MacGregor Burns

James MacGregor Burns was born August 3, 1918.  From 1943-1946, Burns served as combat historian in the Pacific Theater.  He was awarded the Bronze Star and four Battle Stars.  Burns received a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award for his biographies about President Roosevelt in 1956 as well as 1970.  In 1978, he wrote Leadership, which is about a new kind of leadership.  Before this book people wrote about transactional leadership, but Burns took this idea of something more happening between the leader and followers to create something great, greater than them.  This is what we know as transformational leadership.  In 1991, Burns served as co-chair of the Salzburg Leadership Seminar in Salzburg, Austria.  In 2001, his most recent book was published, The Three Roosevelts: Patrician Leaders Who Transformed America.*

 In real life, the most practical advice for leaders is not to treat pawns like pawns, 

nor princes like princes, but all persons like persons.

~James MacGregor Burns

*Information from http://www.s9.com/Biography/Burns-James-MacGregor

Private Practice

 Private Practice is a spin-off of Grey's Anatomy with an office full of doctors with different specialties.  Charlotte & Violet are just 2 of about 8 doctors in the practice, but those that I can relate to these two theories easiest.

Charlotte - Path Goal Theory
  Charlotte is very path goal oriented.  Her and Cooper are getting married and she is taking  the necessary steps to get there.  THey have had a few relationship setbacks, but she is wearing the ring (a big step in the process) and taking the steps to the wedding.  Also, in her job she has the goal in mind and she might give a motivational speech to her team, but in the end the goal is met.

 Violet - LMX
  Violet is a therapist in the practice.  She is very relationship oriented.  Whenever there is a problem she always tries to get everyone's buy-in in the situation before she decides anything about it.  As a therapist she helps to make her patients understand  by going through the process together, not forcing them to talk through it without any emotional attachment for it to be easier.

Contingency or Situational?

Fiedler's Contingency Theory is the first insight into leaders being more behavioral instead of trait based.  One of the things that caught my attention is the leader-situation match mismatch.  Where he talked about stressful situations and the leaders needing to be more task-oriented and sometimes in times of needing to be less demanding where the relationship oriented leader would work better.  Fiedler says you need to change the situation not the leader - match the leader with the correct work environment for their style.

In contrast to that, Blanchard says that the leader should use what style works best for them, or the style that best fits the situation.  Personally, I think this is the best type of leadership, but if a leader cannot adjust their style to the situation then they need to make sure they are in a job where their leadership style is used to its full potential.

I have two examples, one of each of these theories to better understand them.  I worked at a hotel for a year and a half and my GM definitely used the Contingency Theory whereas my AGM followed more closely with Situational Leadership.  While working at the hotel, the sprinklers in a guest room went off without any cause.  It ruined everything in the room, flooding it as well as the two rooms below it.  My GM was so concerned with the things in the room and making sure insurance was aware of it, and filling out the proper paperwork that he did not bother to try to speak to the guests to see if they were ok, or to calm them down.  He was definitely task-oriented, but he was like this for all situations. 

However, my AGM was much more understanding of the situation and not only cared for the guest, but also reassured the staff that we were doing the right things and that he greatly appreciated our help.  A month later there was another situation where he needed to be more task oriented because a transformer blew and there was no power to the building for several hours.  In this situation he took the steps necessary to contact the fire department, for the person trapped in the elevator, as well as SDG&E about the transformer.  After all of that was taken care of he proceeded to care for the guests, building relationships with them, and empathizing with them and the staff.

While the contingency theory makes sense for some people I don't think that a leader who is "well rounded" will succeed very far with only being able to be relationship oriented or task-oriented. A leader needs to be able to be flexible to the needs of their employees, employers, guests, etc.

To agree or disagree?

I have been reading other classmates blogs and found one of each that I agreed with in some light and another that I disagree with.  The one I agree with seems to have similar views on the traits and behaviors associated with being a great leader.  One thing that we have in common is part of our stories - she believes that leaders are not condescending and are ambitious and care deeply for their employees.  The blog that I tend to have some different views  about sees leaders as those who watch over their employees, not lead them, as I see it.  Even though I agree or disagree with these two blogs it definitely does not mean that either of them are wrong.  I think that everyones leadership style is right and they all teach me a lot.  By reading others' styles I learn different angles to look at leadership, for example, looking over your employees instead of leading them.  This was a new aspect that I had never heard before, but it makes sense!

Caregiver, Lover, Sage, Jester

When reading about my four primary archetypes I definitely felt that the first three are right on, depending on the situation.  Each of them had at least one sentence that describes exactly how I am.  As the Caregiver it says,  "in most of your relationships, you act like a caring parent who creates nurturing environments where people can heal or grow".  This is exactly true!

As the Lover, it says, "you like and live all sorts of variations on the love story".  Every time I hear a love story, either through music, movies, or books I love it.  No matter how its told, a love story will always be my favorite story.  "You would prefer always to be passionately in love with someone who returns your affections, but you alsofall in love with cherished activities, the vocation that is your calling, children, pets, beautiful surroundings, and material possessions."  This is also true, I love planning events, I love my dog, I love going to Lake Tahoe, and other beautiful places, and enjoying the scenery and everything it has to offer. 

The sage is my most prominent archetype when I am planning events or working. The best excerpt from this writing is, "as a leader, you are (or could be) excellent at dispassionate analysis, planning, evaluation, and making well planned decisions. When others are panicking, you can detach, see the big picture, or take the long view and know what to do. You have a calming influence, and under your leadership events move forward at a measured, sane pace, so that you know that the right thing is being done in the right way." 


Although the Jester was one of my top four I do not feel like that matched with anything right now in my life.  Sometimes I may have a "playful" outlook, but I feel that the Jester sounds more like people are not aware of their surroundings and don't know when it is proper to make jokes and have fun.
 

What Archetype Am I?

When I was first reviewing the 12 PMAI Archetype's I thought that I was most likely to be Caregiver and Lover.  My initial feelings on this are because, as you can see in my blog post and some of my quotes, that I love love.  I love caring for people, figuring out their problems, loving others, and enjoying life and nature.  When looking at just the images of the archetypes I thought I related most to lover and orphan.  Lover, because of the obvious heart, but orphan because of the tear.  This shows strong emotions, which I can relate to. 

On the other side, I do not see myself as being "destroyer".  This word seems repulsive to me, but also it shows no emotion or relationship.  It is all about cutting your losses and getting on with it.  I agree that this does need to happen, but there are better ways to handle situations that how it is described here.

**It is better to have loved and lost, 

than to never have loved at all**

Humans are ambitious and rational and proud. And we don’t fall in line with people who don’t respect us and who we don’t believe have our best interests at heart. We are willing to follow leaders, but only to the extent that we believe they call on our best, not our worst.

~Rachel Maddow

Is Trait Based Leadership Theory a Good Thing?

There is always the argument that “leaders are born”.  Depending on the person this may be true.  If leaders truly are born then it is a good thing because they will have less to develop than those who do not naturally have what it takes to be a great leader.  On the other hand, some of the most successful leaders, for example Alexander the Great, have extraordinary mentors, Aristotle, which teach them what they were not born with.  Also, trait based leadership suggests that there is no room for people to develop into leaders, you either have the traits or you do not.  There is no room for those that don’t.  While this is a well researched theory I think that it leaves too many great leaders out of the picture; those who weren't born with leadership traits.

The leader always sets the trail for others to follow

People ask the difference 

between a leader and a boss. . . 

The leader works in the open, 

and the boss in covert. 

The leader leads, and 

the boss drives.

~Theodore Roosevelt