Strategic Leadership: Interpersonal

CompetenciesDr. Sudeshna Bhattacharya

For Qualification

How the session will run

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Aim of the Session

How have notions of

leadership changed?

Salience of these personal

characteristics, how have

they changed through time?

Theories of

interpersonal

leadershipContingency theory, Cross

cultural theory,

Entrepreneurial leadership

What are the personal

characteristics relevant

for strategic

leadership?Empathy, Authenticity,

Awareness of differences

Activity

Take a few minutes to think..

• Who is the first leader that comes to your mind?

• What is the most defining characteristic of this leader?

There has been a shift in how we understand

leadership as type of work has evolved.

If you think back to the early 20th century it was the heyday of the industrial revolution and work involved manual work in a lot of cases. There was abundant semi skilled or skilled jobs which were routinised in nature. Here the concept of leadership is more about the ability of an individual to influence and control – also the conceptions of leadership was mostly based on political leadership which involved moving the masses.

However organisations went through change and there is more and more the emergence of knowledge workers and here the style of leadership has to be that of being able to manage individual’s or groups so that they feel they can work effectively and contribute to the organisation.

Modern work

The shifts

Trait approaches

1930’s 40’s

Behavioural

approaches

1950’s

Power influence

processSituation approaches

Putting it all together

Leader traits

and skills

Performance

outcomes

Follower

attitudes and

behaviour

Leader

behaviour

Influence

processes

Situational

variables

Contingency Theory of Leadership: Leader need to adapt style

Leadership

Style

Main Characteristic Underlying Emotional

Intelligence Characteristics

Coercive Demands immediate compliance, has overall negative impact on climate in

organization, works good in time of crisis or in case of problems with

workers

Drive to achieve, initiative and self

control

Authoritative Mobilizes people toward vision, works especially good, if new vision or new

direction is required

Self-confidence, empathy, change

catalyst

Affiliative Concentrates on harmony and builds emotional bonds, works good, when

people face difficult circumstances

Empathy, communication, building

relationships

Democratic Forges consensus through participation and works successfully, if there is a

need to built buy-in or in consensus, or to get input from valuable team

members

Team leadership, communication

skills, collaboration

Pacesetting Style sets high standards for performance, works effectively with motivated

and competent people, knowing, how to get quick results from them

Conscientious-ness, drive to

achieve, initiative

Coaching Develop people for future, works especially good if there is a need to help

others improving performance or setting long term strengths

Developing others, self-awareness,

empathy

Goleman’s contingency theory, 2000

Problems with Contingency Theory

1. Weak research designs

2. Correlation research designs!

3. They do not provide sufficient guidance to help managers/leaders

• Understanding leadership requirements

• Understanding available options

Basically TOO CONFUSING

The Issue of National Culture

Hofstede’s

dimensions

of Culture

Individualism

Collectivism

Power

Distance

Uncertainty

Avoidance

Long Term Vs

Short Term

Masculinity/

Femininity

Think point

Is nationally culturally equally distributed within society?

- What factors might shape it?

So what personal characteristics are useful for

Leadership?

Empathy is ‘the ability to understand why a person is in need in the first place and how it might feel to have that

particular need’ and this dimension sets it apart from other people skills such as collaboration or teamwork. There are

two main types of empathy – affective and cognitive. Whereas affective empathy is emotional and often spontaneous –

cognitive empathy is conscious and rational with the capacity to understand the other person’s mental state.

Authentic leaders are portrayed as possessing self-knowledge and a personal point of view, which reflects clarity about

their values and convictions. They are also portrayed as identifying strongly with their leadership role, expressing

themselves by enacting that role, and acting on the basis of their values and convictions.

Authenticity

Empathy

Next Session..

•Consider the issue of

authenticity further.