UNIT 2 LEADERSHIP

2.0 Objectives 2.1 Introduction

2.2 Importance of Leadership and its Definition 2.3 Trait Approaches to Leadership

2.4 Leadership Styles

2.4.1 Continuum of Leadership Behaviour 2.4.2 Managerial Grid Style 2.4.3 Life Style or Situational Approach to Leadership 2.4.4 Four Systems of Management Leadersip

2.5 Roles and Functions of Leadership

2.6 Leadership Skills . 2.7 Let Us Sum Up

2.8 Self-assessment Test

2.9 ,Further Readings

2.0 OBJECTIVES After going through this unit, you should be able to:

describe .the importance of leadership in the health organisations;

identify the major leadership styles; explain the situational approaches to leadership;

discuss the main functions of a leader; and

explain the leadership skills required for a hospital administrator.

2.1 INTRODUCTION The previous unit on "Motivation" discussed the importance for health administrator1 manager to have mastery over the concept and process of work motivation to fully understand employee behaviour. This present chapter on leadership is linked to the previous one in the sense that an administrator/manager requires leadership skill to empower employees and motivate them to work in an efficient manner to achieve health organisation's goal. Moreover, motivating employees and developing positive attitude towards them is one of the crucial skills that the leader needs to develop. This present unit on leadership would enable you to understand importance of leadership, leadership behaviour. The thrust of this unit would be to discuss and analyse the widely recognised styles of leadership. This is followed by an examination of roles and functions of leadership. The last part of this unit gives description of the leadership skills which are increasingly being recognised as crucially needed for today's changing and demanding health organisations. The difference between styles, roles and functions and skills which are the main parts of this unit, are that leadership styles deal with the way leaders influence followers; Roles and Functions are What leaders do, and skills are concerned with how leaders can be effective.

2.2 IMPORTANCE OF LEADERSHIP AND ITS , DEFINITION

For the health care organisations/hospitals, to achieve the goal of quality of patient care and health for all in the next millenium, the twenty-first century require a generation of

Human Resoume Management leaders. For the health organisations to endure and quality patient care to be provided, effective leadership is required. The simple reason for this is that an important part of management consists of dealing with and working through people. Further more, some one must determine, initiate, coordinate, influence, and over see work activities of other individuals.

We all must have observed that every group of people that performs near to its total capacity has some person as its head who is skilled in the art of leadership. This skill seems to be a compound of at least four major ingredients:

the ability to use power effectively and in a responsible manner,

the ability to comprehend that human beings have different motivation forces at different times and in different situations,

the ability to inspire, and

The ability to act in a manner that will develop a climate conducive to responding to and assuring motivations.

Leadership is the process of encouraging and influencing people to direct their efforts towards the achievement of some particular goal(s). It is the human factor that helps a group identify where it is going and then motivate it towards its goals. In fact, Leadership transfornis potential into reality. Leadership is the ultimate act that identifies, develops, and uses the potential that is in an organisation and its people.

The Fundamental Principles of Leadership

Since people tend to follow those who, in their view, offer them a means of satisfying their own personal goals, the more managers understand what motivates their subordinates and how these motivations operate, and the more they reflect this understanding in carrying out their managerial actions, the more effective they are likely to be as leaders.

Leadership can be formally defined as "The process of influencing the activities of an individual or a group in efforts towards the achievement of some particular goals in a given situation." Another definition defines leadership as "Interpersonal influence exercised in a situation and directed through the communication process towards the attainment of a specialised goal(s)". Besides influence, leadership has been defined in terms of group processes, personality, power, goal achievement, interaction, role differentiation etc.

People have been concerned about the nature of leadership since the beginning of history.

2.3 TRAIT APPROACHES TO LEADERSHIP Prior to 1949, studies of leadership were based largely on an attempt to identify the traits that leaders possess, starting with the "Great man" theory that leaders are born and not made, a belief dating back to the ancient Greeks and Romans researchers have tried to identify the physical, mental and personality traits of various leaders. But this "Great man" theory lost much of its acceptability with the rise of the behaviourist school of psychology.

Various researchers identified specific traits related to leadership ability; five physical traits (such as energy, appearance, and weight), four intelligence and ability traits, sixteen personality traits (such as adaptability, aggressiveness, enthusiasm, and self- confidence), six task-related characteristics (such as achievement drive, persistence, and initiative), and nine social characteristics (such as cooperativeness, interpersonal skills, and administratse ability). More recently the following key leadership traits were identified: drive (including achievement, motivation, energy, ambition, initiative, and tenacity), leadership motivation (the aspiration to lead but not to seek power as such), honesty and integrity, self confidence (including emotional stability), cognitive ability, and an understanding of the task.

But in general and practically, the study of leader's traits has not been a very fruitful approach to explaining leadership. Not all leaders possess all the traits. The trait approach gives no guidance as to how much of any trait a person should have. Most of these so-called traits are really patterns of behaviour.

Much of the recent emphasis has shifted away from traits and towards identification of leadership behaviours. As per this view, successful leadership depends upon appropriate behavicjurs, skills and actions, and not on personal traits. This agreement is very significant and practically true also since behaviours can be learned and changed, while traits are relatively fixed. Leadership behaviour, to be precise, is the way or the style the leaders actually carry out their jobs.

Leadership

2.4 LEADERSHIP STYLES Leadership styles make a difference. The total pattern of leader actions as perceived by their employees, is called Leadership Style. It represents the leader's philosophy; skills and attitudes and behaviour towards others. The styles differ on the basis of motivation, power, or orientationafowards people and tasks. Many different classifications of leadership styles have been proposed over the years.

Four important styles of leadership behaviour which are widely recognised to be highly useful and relevant for today's organisations are discussed here:

Continuum of leadership behaviour

Managerial grid style

Life-cycle or situational approach

Four systems of management leadership --

2.4.1 Continuum of Leadership Behaviour In 1958, Robert Tannenbaum and Warren H-Schmidt formulated a continuum describing the decision-making authority dimension of leadership. It has two polar ends with varying amounts of leader-subordinate decision-making authority. At one extreme the leader makes the decisions, tells his or her subordinates, and expects them to carry out that decision. At the other extreme, the leader fully shares his or her decision making power with subordinates, allowing each number of the group to cany an equal voice - one person, one vote. Between these two extremes of autocratic to laissez-faire fall a number of leadership styles, with the style selected dependent upon forces in the leader. the operating group, and the situation. As shown in Fig. 2.1, there is a relationship between the degree of authority used and the amount of fredom available to subordinates in reaching decisions. This continuum is seen as a zero-sum game; as one gains, the other loses, vise versa.

i) Autocratic: In the continuum of leader authority presented in Fig. 2.1, the autocratic end represents the manager who makes decisions and announces them to the group. The total interacting relationship and work setting have been determined by the manager and he or she provides hardly any opportunity for a subordinate to participate.

ii) Consultative: This style is characterised by description 2 and 3 in the continuum. Here the manager sells or makes the decision concerning the work activity, its purpose, how it is to be done, when and by whom, and invites questions from subordinates.

iii) Participative: This style indicates that the manager identifies purposes, problems and means by which activities should be carried out; presents a tentative decision already made, that is subject to change or presents the problem to subordinates, gets suggestions, and then makes the decision. This represents the participative style of leader decision authority wherein the area of decision making freedom for subordinates is much greater and use of authority by the manager is much smaller than with autocratic and consultative style.

This participative leadership style is a very powerful motivator enabling employees to have some measure of influence and control over work related activities.

t I 4 - ~ a e b o ~ r r r Management

Fig.Z.l: Leadership Behaviour Continuum by Tannenbaum and Schmidt

Boss Centred 4 - - Subordinate Centred Leadership c Leadership

Use of Authority by the Manager

Area of Freedom fur Subordinates

iv) Democratic: In the democratic style of leadership, the manager defines the limits of the situation and problem to be solved and asks the group to make decisions, the subordinates have a relatively large area of decision freedom.

1 Manager

makes decisions & Announces

it

(1)

Autocratic

V) Laissez-Faire: This style at the far end of the continuum is called free rein, wherein subordinates are permitted to function within limits set by the manager's superior. There is no interference by the manager, who may participate in decision-making, but attempts to do so with nd mor6 influence than any other member of the group.

Interpreting Autocratic to Democratic-which is correct?

Range of Behaviour

1 Manager "Sells"

decisions.

Research and experience has shown that no single decision authority style is correct all the time. The leader needs to change and adopt the style to fit the situation. In the hospital, in the operating room, the physician or the surgeon uses the autocratic style, but while dealing with other professionals in the meeting room or in problem solving situation, the democratic style may be more appropriate.

Factors Affecting Style

1 Manager presents

ideas and invites

questions

The leader decision authority style adopted by the manager depends a great deal on factors such as:

(2) (3)

Consultative

Importance of results,

1 Manager presents tentative decisions subject to

Nature of the work, Characteristics of workers, and Personal characteristics of the manager.

(4) (5)

Participative

If there is a disaster or crisis situation emerges and the task has to be performed immediately, the health services manager needs to adopt an autocratic style of the continuum. But, if time is available with the manager and other people are equally creative and empowered, the manager needs to adopt a participative or democratic style.

t Manager presents

problems, gets suggestions

makes

Subordinates characteristics-their training, education, motivation, and experience can influence the leader authority style adopted by the manager. This factor is closely related to type of work. If subordinates are skilled professionals, as opposed to unskilled, the manager may seek opinions more readily and use a consultative or participative style. But in the case of unskilled or inexperienced employees the manager may have to make the decisions unilaterally. Moreover, personal characteristic

change I 11. . .-ion --

(6)

Democratic

(7)

Laissez- Faire

- 1 Manager defines

limits; asks group to

make

1 Manager permits

subordinates to function

within decision defined

limits

of the manager can affect the leader authority style adopted. Some individuals, by reason of their personality, previous experiences, values, and cultural background, function better under one style or another may find it difficult to change with the situation. For example in the health care organisations when a physician becomes an administrator, he may find it difficult to adjust styles because of previous training and experience because in the doctor-patient relationship the doctor has always been the primary decision maker.. But as a manager, participative approach is often more appropriate particularly when working with other professionals.

But, it must be kept in mind that no one style is appropriate at all times. Which style is more appropriate depends upon the situation which includes work environment, what is to be done, the nature of employees, and the organisational climate.

2.4.2 Managerial Grid Style One very popular approach to identifying leadership style'of practicing managers is a graphic portrayal of a two-dimensional view as developed by Blake and Mouton. They proposed a managerial grid consisting of two dikensions: concern for production and concern for people. The grid, depicted in Fig. 2.2 has 9 possible gradients or degrees associated with each dimension, on each of axis, creating 81 possible combinations of concern for production on the horizontal axis and concern for people on the vertical axis. A1 represents low concern for the dimension and A9 presents high concern.

Rather than try to direct attention to all 81 combinations, grid development practitioners tend to focus on 5 "Critical Combinations". The combinations are usually referred to by number, and when people become familiar with the grid they know what the numbers mean. Although, they are briefly described in Fig. 2.2. Let us examine each combination in more detail:

High

Low

Thoughtful attention to needs of people for satisfying relationships leads to a comfortable friendly organisation atmosphere and work

Adequate organisation performance is possible through

I balancing the necessity to get out work with maintaining morale of I people at a satisfactory level.

Exertion of minimum effort Efticiency in operations results from to get required work done is ananging conditions of work in such appropriate to sustain organisation membership

a way that human elements interfere to a minimum degree.

Low Concern for Production High

Fig. 22: The Managerial Grid

i) The 1,l Managerial Style is often referred to as Impoverished Management.. In this style, the manager tends to put people in jobs and then leave them alone. He or she does not check upon their work (no concern for production) or try to interact with them by offering praise and encouraging them to keep up the good work (no concern for people).

Leadership

ii) The 9,l Managerial Style is often referred to as Task Management. This manager has a high concern for production and a low concern for people: He or she plans the work and pushes to get it out, similar to the autocratic style, little interest is shown for people, if they can not fulfil the task they are replaced by others who can.

Human Resource Management iii) The 1,9 Managerial Style is called as Country Club Management because of high emphasis given to concern for people's feelings, comfort, and needs. The manager is basically interested in obtaining loyality from the subordinates and tries to motivate them to do their work without putting pressure on them.

iv) The 5 3 Managerial Style is often referred to as Middle-of-the-road Management. The manager assumes that there is an inherent conflict between the concerns for production and people. Therefore, he or she tries to compromise and balance the two dimensions.

v) The 9,9 managerial style is referred to as Team Management. It is regarded by many as the best and the ideal style, as the one that both managers in particular and the organisation in general should employ. This style focuses on people's higher level needs, involves subordinates in decision making and assumes that the goals of the people and the goals of the organisation are in harmony. As a result the 9,9 manager believes that maximum concern for both dimensions will result in the greatest overall efficiency.

Which one of these basic styles is best? The answer will depend on the needs of the subordinates, the manager, and the organisation. Activity 1

Interview a representative sample of managers in an organisation and try to find' out their preference for various managerial styles.

2.4.3 Life Style or Situational Approach to Leadership One of the most widely practiced leadership models is Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard's situational leadership theory. This very popular approach to management style training and development has been used as a major training device at such Fortune 500 companies as Bank of America, IBM, Mobile Oil, a d Xerox and it has also been widely accepted in all the military services.

Situational leadership, an extension of the managerial grid approach is a contingency theory based on an interplay among:

the amount of guidance and direction (task behaviour) a leader gives, the amount of socio-emotional support (relationship behaviour) a leader provides, and The readiness levels that follower's exhibit in performing a specific task, function or objective. This concept was developed to help people attempting leadership, regardless of their role, to be more effective in their daily interactions with others. It provides leadership with some understanding of the relationship between an effective style of leadership and the level of readiness of their followers. Successful leadership is achieved by selecting the right leadership style, which Hersey and Blanchard argue is contingent on the level of the followers maturity.

It must be noted here that situational leadership is a model, not a theory. Its concepts, procedures, actions, and outcomes are based upon tested methodologies that are practical and easy to apply.

Leader shares ideas/problems and mutually makes decisions with followers r- Turn over responsibility for decisions

implementation over to followers

and explains dechiom provide opportunity for dialogue md

decisiins and provides specific instructions and closely

Pig. 2.3: Situational Leadership Style

High Moderate Low

Basic Concepts of Situational Leadership According to this model, there is no best way to influence people, which leadership style a person should use with individuals or groups depends on the readiness level of the people the leader is attempting to influence. Fig. 2.3 summarises the situational leadership approach which identifies the following styles:

M1 Unable and unwilling

or Insecure

M4 Able and wllling

or Confident

i) Task Style: The leader organises and defines roles for members of the work-group; the Jeader explains the tasks that members are to do and when, where, and how they are to do them.

ii) Relationship Style: The leader has close, personal relationships with'the members of the group, and there is a two-way communication along with psychological and emotional support.

M3 Able but unwilling

or Insecure

iii) Maturity Level: The level of maturity is defined by three criteria:

M2 Uaable but willing

or Confident

8 Degree of achievement motivation

8 Willingness to take on responsibility

8 Amount of education andlor experience

According to Hersey and Blanchard, it has two components; Job maturity and psychological maturity. The first encompasses one's knowledge and skills and the individuals high on this have the knowledge, ability, and experience to perform their job tasks without direction from others. Psychological maturity relates to the willingness or motivation to do something. Individuals high in psychological maturity don't need much external encouragement; they are already intrinsically motivated.

Activity 2 Interview several people asking them to describe situations where someone's attempt to influence them was successful or unsuccessful.

Leadership

Human Resource Management Situational leadership model uses r NO leadership dimensions i.e. relationship and task and by considering each as either high or low combines them into four specific leadership styles: Authoritative or telling; consultative or selling; participative or supportive; and delegating. They are described as follows:

a) Authoritative or Telling Style: This is a high task, low relationship style and is effective when followers are at a very low level of maturity. The leader defines roles and tells other what, how, when and where to do various tasks. It emphasises authoritative or directive behaviour.

b) Consultative o r Selling Style: This is a high task, high relationship style and is effective when followers are on the low side of maturity. Sere the leader provides both directive and supportive bbhaviour.

c) Participative o r Supportive Style: This is a low task, high relationship style and is effective when followers are on the low side of maturity. Here the leader and follower share in decision-making, with the main role of the leader being facilitative and communicating.

d) Delegating Style: This is a low-task, low-relationship style and is effective when followels are at a very high level of maturity. The leader provides little direction or support.

The final component in Hersey and Blanchard's theory is defining four stages of maturity:

MI: People are both unable and unwilling to take responsibility to do something. They are neither competent nor confident, so they need clear and specific directions.

M2: People are unable but willing to do the necessary job tasks. They are motivated but currently lack the appropriate skills. The high task behaviour compensates for the followers lack of ability, and the high relationship behaviour tries to get the followers psychologically to "buy into" the leaders desires.

e M3: People are able but unwilling to do what the leader wants. This stage creates motivational problems that are best solved by a supportive, non-directive, participative style. M4: People are both able and willing to do what is asked to them and so the leader at this stage does not have to do much.

The Fig. 2.3 integrates the various components into the situational leadership models. As followers reach high leveb of maturity, the leader responds by not only continuing to decrease control over activities, but also by continuing to decrease relationship behaviour as well.

You might have noticed that the high similarity between Hersey and Blanchard's four leadership styles and the four extreme "corners" in the managerial grid.

2.4.4 Four Systems of Management Leadership Rensis Likert proposed four basic systems, or styles, of organisational leadership that evolved from the many years of research by the Michigan group. Table 2.1 summarises these four styles, called Systems of Management Leadership.

The manager who operates under system 1, approach is very authoritarian and actually mes to exploit the subordinates. In system 2, the manager takes a paternalistic approach while still being autocratic. Behaving as a benevolent autocrat the leader. maintains strict control over the subordinates .and never delegates authority to work group members, but he or she "pats them on the head" and "does it for their best interests". In system 3, me p a g e r uses a consultative approach; that is, though, the leader consults the subordinam and receives participative input from work group members, but helshe still mhntains the right to make final decisions. Finally, in system 4, the manager uses a democratic style; this manager gives some directions to work group members but provides far total participation and takes decisions by consensus and majority.

Table 2.1: Linker's Four Systems of Management Leadership

To have an empirical research back up to support which style is more effective, Likert and his colleagues asked thousands of managers to describe on an expanded version of the format shown in Table 2.1, the highest and lowest producing departments with which they had experience. Quite consistently, the high-producing units were described according to systems 3 and 4, and the low-producing units fell under systems 1 and 2. This led Likert to conclude that the best way for all organisations to manage employees is to move towards system 4.

Leadership Styles in Today's Perspective Tanenbaum's continuum of leadership behaviour, Blake and Mouton's managerial grid, Hersey and Blanchard's life cycle, and Likert's four systems represent the established approaches to leadership style. They have been practically applied and tested for a number of years and are still relevant in the perspective sense of what leaders should do, more so in today's demanding and emerging organisations.

There is accumulating evidence that a leader's style can make a difference. For example, recent studies have concluded that the leader's style is the key to the formulation and implementation of strategy and also plays an important role in work group members creativity. In other words, there is little doubt that the way (style) leaders influence work group members can make a difference in their own and their people's performance.

This immense concern and impact of the styles of leadership have given way to importance of the roles and functions of leadership and skills required for effective leaders. Now in the following sections, in this Unit, you will appreciate and learn what (Roles and Functions) and how (Skills) of leadership.

2.5 ROLES AND FUNCTIONS OF LEADERSHIP Now we turn to the roles acd functions of leaders by answering the question, "What do effective leaders do on a day-to-day basis?-ere are many tasks that the leader must perform. The many functions listed out, with behavioural descriptions, in Table 2.2 can be conceptually collapsed in to the four managerial functions shown as follows:

Leadership

29

Human Resource Management i) Communication: Leaders are effective and successful not only because of what they do but also because of how their acts are interpreted. They need to be able to tell, show, write and listen so that they can convey to others what they are doing and want to be done. The leader of an organisation spends about 60 to 90 per cent of the working day on communication. This also includes exchanging routine information and processing paper work. The leaders need versatility in role behaviour in order to deal with people in terms of their individual expectations. Different roles call for different communications behaviour.

ii) Traditional Management: This role consists of performing functions like planning, decision-making, and controlling. Its observed role behaviours include setting goals and objectives, defining tasks needed to accomplish goals, scheduling employees, assigning tasks, producing routine instructions, defining problems, handling day-to- day operational crises that usually emerge in hospital kind of organisations, deciding what to do, developing new procedures, inspecting work, walking around inspecting and supervising the work, monitoring performance data, and doing preventive maintenance.

iii) Human Resource Management: This function contains the most behavioural categories, motivatinglreinforcing, disciplining, staffing, training and development and most importantly building effective t ea l s for goal achievement. The observed behaviours of this activity includes allocating formal rewards, asking for input, conveying appreciation, giving credit where due, listening to suggestions, giving positive feedback, developing job descriptions, reviewing applications, orienting employees, arranging for training, clarifying roles, coaching, etc. And under this category the most important function is developing team work which requires special attention and discussion.

Developing Team Work: One of the most important functions of leadership is to deve!op team work. This is most likely to develop when the leader builds a supportive environment for it. Supportive measures taken by the leader help the group to take the first necessary steps towards team work and these steps become the basic trust, and compatibility. Studies have shown that greater the trust and compatibility in a team, the greater their effectiveness tends to be; so leader will seek to develop an organisational climate that build's these conditions. There are three key factors in the development of team work: the leader, the subordinates, and the environment as shown in Fig. 2.4 below. They are interdependent. For example if the leader cannot get along with the subordinates, the group members do not like the leader or the environment is not conducive to effective team work, over all group efficiency suffers.

LEADER

ENVIRONMENT , /- \ SUBORDINATES - I 4 ,-

Fig. 2.4: Team-work Determinants

iv) Networking: This activity consists of socialisinglpoliticking and interacting with outsiders. The observed behaviours associated with this activity include non work related interactions, informal joking around; dealing with consumers, clients, suppliers. attending external meetings, and doingfattending community service events.

What do Effective Leaders Do? Comprehensive studies have been conducted to understand what d~ effective real managers and leaders do, and it was found that communication and human resource management functions, described above, made by far the largest relative contribution to the leader's effectiveness, and that the traditional management activities, and especially the networking activities, made by far the least relative contribution (Luthans, et al, 1985). Luthans and his associates explained that if effectiveness is defined as the perceived quantity and quality of the performance of a manager's unit and his or her work group member's satisfaction and commitment, then the biggest relative contribution to le~dership effectiveness comes from the human oriented activities communication and human resource management.

Table 2.2: Leadership Activities and Behavioural Descriptors

I c) Scheduling employees. time-tabla 1 c) Interviewing applicants I

1) Planninglcoordinating a) Setting goals and objectives b) Defining tasks needed to accomplish

goals

I d) Assigning tasks and providing routine 1 d) Hiring I

2) Staffing a) Developing job descriptions for position

openings b) Reviewing applications

( f ) Organising the work I I

e) Coordinating activities of each work group member to keep work running smooth1 y.

e) "Filling in" where needed

3) TraininglDeveloping 4) Decision MakingIProblem Solving a) Orienting employees, arranging for

training seminars, etc. b) Clarifying roles, duties, job descriptions

d) Helping work group members with I d) Weighing the trade-offs; cost benefit personal development plans analyses

a) Defining problems b) Choosing between two or more alternatives

or strategies C) Coaching, mentoring, walking work

group members through task

I / e) Actually deciding what to do I

C) Handling day-to-day operational crises as they arise

I I f ) Developing new procedures to increase I 5) Processing Paper work

d) doutine financial reporting and bookkeeping

e) General desk work

efficiency

6) Exchanging Routine Information a) Processing mail b) Reading reports, in-box C) Writing reports, memos, letters. etc

I C) Conveying results of meetings I

a) Answering routine procedural questions b) Receiving and disseminating requested

information

d) Giving or receiving routine information over the phone

I e) Staff meetings of an informational nature I 7) MontoringJControlling Performance 1 8) Motivatinglreinforcing

a) Inspecting work b) Walking around and checking things

out, touring

g) Increasing job challenge h) Delegating responsibility and authority

a) Allocating formal organisational rewards b) Asking for input, participation

-

c) Monitoring performance data (e.g. computer printouts, production, financial reports)

d) Preventive maintenance

i) Letting work group members determine how to do their own work

c) Conveying apprecition, compliments d) Giving credit Where due e) Listening to suggestions f ) Giving positive performance feedback

a) Enforcing rules and policies I a) Public relations 9) ~ i s c i ~ l i d n g h n i s h i n ~

b) Demotion, firing, layoff ( b) Customen

j) Sticking up for the group to managers and others, backing a work group member

10) Interacting with Outsiders

I e) Community-service activities C) Any formal organisational reprimand or

notice c) Contacts with suppliers d) External meetings

Haman Resource Management

Human oriented leadership skills may be of considerable value in meeting the challenges of global competition, and of providing the quality of health care services. The last section in this unit now focusses on these leadership skills.

11) Developing Team Work a) Create an environment in which

team work can happen. b) Creating trust, cooperation and

compiitibility with the subordinates d) Define tasks and motivate the team

members towards goal attainment.

2.6 LEADERSHIP SKILLS

12) Socialisin~oliticking a) Nonwork related chitchat (e.g. family

or personal matters) b) Informal "joking around" c) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ d i ~ ~ external meetings/

conferences/seminars d) Attending community service events.

As the above section indicates, there is now recognition in both leadership theory and practice of the importance of skills, how leaders behave and perform effectively the various functions. Both styles and roleslfunctions are closely related to skillsand can be used as a point of departure for the discussion of skills. The results of various research studies have combined into the following four categories of effective leadership skills:

i) . Participative and Human Relations: These includes supportive interpersonal communication and team building.

ii) Competitiveness and Control: which include being assertive and gaining power and influence.

iii) Innovativeness and Enterpreneurship: includes creative problem solving. iv) Maintaining Order and Rationality: includes managing self, stress, conflicts, and

time; and doing rational decision making. These skills categorised into the four groups are interrelated and over lapping. Effective leaders do not perform one skill or one set of skills independent of others. In fact, effective leaders are multiskilled.

With this background two models are developed to identify skills as personal and ilrterpersonal leadership skills. These are summarised in Fig. 2.4. and 2.5.

Developing Managing Stress and

Time

Solving Pmblems

Fig. 2.4: Model of Personal Leadership Skills

In the end, we must discuss the very important managerial skills required for leader, as they move in the hierarchy in the organisations. I Managerial Skills 1 It is generally agreed that there are at least three areas of skill necessary for carrying on the various functions of management, technical, human and conceptual (see Fig. 2.6). Though they are interrelated in practice, they can be considered separately. a) Technical Skill: Ability to use knowledge, methods, techniques and equipment necessary 1

for the performance of specific tasks acquired from experience education, and training. I Examples are the skills learned by medical doctors and pharmacists. This skill is the distinguishing feature of job performance at the operating level; but as employees are I I promoted to leadership responsibilities, their technical skills become proportionately i less important as shown in Fig. 2.6. They increasingly depend on the technical skills of their subordinates and in many cases never practice some of the technical skills that ' 1 they ,*pervise. -.

Exercising influence Empowering others

Communicating

Managing conflict

Identifying causes Selecting appropriate strategies Resolving confrontations

Diagnosing poor performance Creating a motivating environment Rewarding accomplishment

Fig. 2.5: Model of Personal Leadership Skills 1

b) Human Skills: This is the ability to interact and work effectively with people and to build team work. This skill which includes an understanding of motivation and an application of effective leadership is very important for middle level managers who must lead others. Without a solid understanding of such behavioural areas as interpersonal communication, motivation, counselling and directing, rniddle level managers would be ineffective in leading their subordinates.

c) Conceptual Skills: This skill becomes increasingly important in higher managerial jobs. This skill is the ability to understand the complexities of the overall organisations and covers many activities, from formulating organisational objectives, policies and procedures, to developing techniques for handling office work flow. The appropriate mix of these skills varies as an individual advices in management from supervisory to top management positions as illustrated in Fig. 2.6. The leaders place in the hierarchy determines the degree of managerial skill he or she must have. As leaders prove their effectiveness and begin moving up the higher levels in organisation need to learn and use more human and conceptual skills to be effective less technical skill tend to be needed as one advances from lower to higher levels in the organisation. It needs to be noted that while the amount of technical and conceptual skills needed at these different levels of management varies, the common denominator that appears to be crucial at all levels in human skill.

All the styles and roles and functions discussed are very relevant and effective in our health care organisations. How our health care managers and administrators apply these skills and techniques can make a difference in the challenges that lie in the health organisations.

2.7 LET US SUM UP This unit is concerned with leadership styles (the way leaders influence followers/ subordinates); functions of leadership (what leaderstmanagers do in their day-to-day jobs; and leadership skills how leadership styles were the main focus which includes Tannenbaum's leadership continuum; Blake and Monton's managerial grid; Hersey and Blanchard's situational leadership model; and Likert's four systems. Each of these

Leadership

33

Human Skill

0 1 Lower Supervisw level Middle Management Top Management

Management Level Fig. 2.6: Managerial Skills needed at different Hierarchical Levels

styles have implications for the practice of leadership. The shift in attention from styles to.roles and functions reflects a more empirical emphasis on what leaders really do.

The last part of the unit is concerned with leadership skills, how leaders behave and perform effectively the personal and interpersonal skills. Models are especially comprehensive and useful. Managerial skills for leadership emphasise the importance of human skill at all levels from learner to top management.

2.8 SELF ASSESSMENT TEST 1) Identify the importance of leadership for health care organisations. 2) How do Hersey and Blanchard define maturity? Is this variable included in other

models of leadership.

3) How does perspective leadership behaviour differ from, 1aissez:faire leadership behaviour?

4) What are some of the needed leadership skills fcr leaders to be effective? 5) What are the three types of managerial skills every leader must have? Explain.

2.9 FURTHER READINGS H0dgetts;R.M. and Cascio, D.M. (1983), Modem Health Care Administration,

Academic Press, INC. New York. Luthans, F. (1989), Organisational Behaviour, 5th ed., Mc Graw-Hill Series in

Management. e - -

Rakich, J.S., et al. (1985), Managing Health Services Organisations, 21?d ed., W.B. Sounders Company.