Exam 13: Leadership

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions. Sources of Leader Power (Scenario) Rachel is confused. As the new department manager, she had hoped that everyone would acknowledge her authority and respect her decisions. However, she has noticed that some of her employees seem to have nearly as much power as she does. For example, everyone seems to go to Helen whenever they have a question about the computer system. Helen helped with the design and implementation of the system, and employees find that she can usually correct problems faster than the system support staff. Then there is a sales representative named Joe who has a remarkable amount of charm and charisma. He is liked and admired by everyone, and seems to have a power based simply upon ''being himself.'' Then there is Jill, her secretary, who also seems to have a lot of power. All employees have to record timecards, and it is Jill's responsibility to turn in the timecards every week. Occasionally, Rachel has seen Jill override the time clock to record an employee in earlier than they actually arrived or out later than they actually left. When Rachel questioned her about it, Jill just laughed and said it had been a common practice for years. Since the company did not pay overtime, she was merely adjusting the time cards to informally compensate those who put in extra time. Although Rachel was skeptical about this practice, Jill insisted that it was all right because the timecards always averaged out. As Rachel considered these and other events in her department, she began to wonder if she had any power at all! -Jill possesses __________ power.

The leader-member exchange (LMX) theory states that employees in the in-group will have _______________.

Trust is the belief in the integrity, character, and ability of a leader.

Effective leaders do not need in-depth knowledge about the company, industry, and technical matters.

Vanessa is the only person who fully understands the new computer network in the office area. Whenever someone has questions, they ask her. Vanessa has __________ power.

One of the priorities for a team leader is to manage the team's external boundary. This means that __________.

Followers with in-group status according to the LMX theory, engage in more helping or "citizenship" behaviours at work.

The leader-member exchange theory (LMX) states that leaders create in-groups and out-groups and those in the in-group will have higher job satisfaction.

Elements of transactional leadership are associated with effective leadership practices, regardless of country or culture.

Highly effective leadership is learned and is not influenced by personality characteristics.

Leaders are necessary for organizations regardless of the follower characteristics.

__________ leadership is the ability to create and articulate a realistic, credible, and attractive vision of the future that improves upon the present situation.

Organizations use empowerment in situations where downsizing has left managers with large spans of control.

Hersey and Blanchard's situational leadership theory focuses on the readiness of the follower.

According to the University of Iowa studies, a leader who tends to centralize authority, impose work methods, and make unilateral decisions has a(n) _____ leadership style.

Fiedler has identified three contingency dimensions that define the key situational factors for determining leadership effectiveness. They are:

According to the Ohio State Studies, a leader who is high in __________ is characterized by mutual trust and respect for group members' ideas and feelings.

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions. Hersey and Blanchard's Situational Leadership Theory(Scenario) Eric is trying to find the right leadership approach to use on his diverse group of employees. The workers vary widely in age, experience, and enthusiasm. Some employees need a lot of direction, while others do not. Yesterday, Eric accidentally upset one of the older and more experienced workers, Hazel, by trying to offer too much help. Hazel is a very capable and willing employee, and after 20 years with the company, she probably knew the job a lot better than Eric did. But he was only trying to be helpful, and he was also trying to compensate for the day before when he had not offered enough help to another worker, Joe. As a new employee, Joe had very little experience and needed a lot of specific information about his work duties. Other employees were more like Hank, who was able to do his job and liked to share in decision making. In his interactions with Hank, Eric focused more on communication and facilitation. After some consideration, Eric has chosen to apply Hersey and Blanchard's situational leadership theory. -According to Hersey and Blanchard, which leadership style should work best with Hank?

According to Fiedler's research, relationship-oriented leaders seemed to perform better in very unfavourable situations.

There is overwhelming evidence supporting the superiority of transactional leadership over transformational leadership.