Anytime chapter 1 is titled anything with Theories in it, you know this book is gonna be good.

Sun Tzu, Plato, and Dan Rooney are named as philosophers of leadership. I mean…… not wrong.

Leadership is a prolific area of study with several theories, many reaching back decades.

Common elements of oft-quoted leadership definitions:

• “A process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal” –Norhouse 2012
• “Interpersonal influence exercised by a person or persons, through the process of communication, towards the attainment of an organization’s goals” –Russell 2005
• “The ability to influence people to willingly follow one’s guidance or adhere to one’s decisions” –Rue and Byars 2009
• “An influence relationship aimed at moving organizations or groups of people toward an imagined future that depends upon alignment of values and establishment of mutual purposes.” –this text

Power: French and Raven (1959) describes five sources of leadership power, plus a sixth added later.

• Reward power: The power to grant benefits to subordinates (the famous carrot)
  • Financial bonuses, etc.
  • Especially effective on employees who are extrinsically motivated
• Coercive power: The power to distribute punishment
  • The threat of punishment is common in sport, for the players as well as coaches and administrative personnel
• Legitimate power: The power granted by societal norms, such as a job title or org chart that shows that one person has authority over another
• Referent power: AKA charisma, this is based on personal qualities and characteristics exhibited by the leader. The subordinate receives satisfaction by avoiding the discomfort of the boss’s displeasure
  • This is probably the power I wish I had but I’m pretty sure I don’t
• Expert power: The power that is derived from having great knowledge or skill. This power materializes when a subordinate is in a position of need, and the leader has desirable information.
  • May be a formal or entirely informal relationship.
  • A doctor has this power over their patients.
• Informational power: The leader explaining how a job or task should be done differently. This is fueled in part by the referent or reward power but also by the logic employed to reinforce the need for a different way to do something.
  • In Moneyball, Billy Beane asked his scouts to use new sources of information such as OBP instead of the Five Tools

It is vital to note that different sources of power can exist simultaneously in a single individual. An athletic director can have multiple sources of power at once:

1. Ability to reward coaches with contract renewals
2. Able to punish malfeasance and incompetence with early termination
3. The authority and expectations of their title
4. Having charisma
5. Expertise in coaching and administration
6. Attending conferences and getting information on how to be a more effective AD

The effective leader uses these sources of power dynamically as the need changes for different leadership styles. Very key.

When considering what leadership style to employ, consider these factors:

• The Leader
• The Subordinates
• The Situation

The leadership style must be adapted to the target group. An executive leads their executive staff differently than their interns. The position of the group itself also dictates differences in leadership style.

Paths to Leadership:

• Appointment
  • Appointment suggests a relationship, responsibility, and shared values
• Election
  • Leader has appealed to the electorate, which is still a relationship that is formed
• Emergence
  • Spontaneous and nebulous in new or informal organizations
• Charisma
  • This type of leadership depends on personality, not knowledge, experience or skill
  • This is the most dangerous type of leadership to wield

LEADERSHIP THEORIES:

• Great Man Theory
  • The idea that a few are born to lead
• Trait Theory
  • Five factors that prepare one to lead (modern list):
    • Intelligence
    • Self-confidence
    • Determination
    • Integrity
    • Sociability
• THE Ohio State Studies (kek)
  • Two dimensions of measuring leadership:
    • Initiating structure
      • Developing goals, outlining tasks, setting expectations
    • Consideration
      • Leader-subordinate relationships and fellowship
• UMichigan Studies
  • Leadership behaviors can be more employee-oriented or product-oriented
• Likert’s System of Management
  1. Exploitative authoritative (no trust in subordinates, driven by threats and coercion)
  2. Benevolent authoritative (low trust, but uses rewards to achieve motivation)
  3. Consultative (enhanced trust in subordinates and calls on them to provide input, group is motivated by ability to be involved in decision making, has agency)
  4. Participative team (The leader has high trust in subordinates, motivation comes from shared achievement)
• Situational Theory: Leadership styles are dependent on the environment in which a leader needs to act.
  • Essential key: there are two dimensions that coexist to change the leader’s behavior: supportive behavior and directive behavior.
    • Supportive: showing socio-emotional concern for subordinates
    • Directive: the need to delegate tasks and watch over subordinates
  • If the workforce is more mature and responsible, need fewer of both types of gestures
    • An immature, insecure or inexperienced workforce needs more supportive and directive behaviors
• Lewin, Lippitt and White studies:
  • Leadership behavior studied in boys’ hobby clubs. Three types were found:
    • Authoritarian: dictator-style, the leader is separate and distributes all praise and criticism.
      • Led to enhanced aggression and domination.
    • Democratic: Leader facilitated group’s activities with input from group.
      • Led to development of collective planning and individual decision-making
    • Laissez-faire: Lack of adult participation with little praise or criticism from leader.
      • Less productive, but productivity continued without leadership input.
• Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid
  • Rate 1-9 on concern for people
  • Rate 1-9 on concern for production
  • Team management (9.9) feels possible only with the right people in place
  • See picture

Four approaches to leadership that match up with Path-Goal Leadership Theory:

• Directive Leadership: Clear expectations and goals
• Supportive Leadership: Showing concern for well-being of subordinates
• Participative Leadership: Leaders who consult with subordinates
• Achievement-Oriented Leadership: set high expectations to motivate subordinates

Path-Goal Theory of Leadership:

Leaders will change the path to attain a goal based on the motivation of their subordinates. Something is wrong with this page, I’m not sure what went wrong but you get the idea.

Ok well that was fun but kind of unsettling there at the end. But we have a lot of great theories now!