Leadership and Group Dynamics

Leadership

Leadership plays a crucial role in

shaping organizational behavior. It sets the
vision and goals, models behavior,
communicates effectively, engages employees,
makes decisions, resolves conflicts, manages
change, evaluates performance, influences
organizational culture, and promotes
continuous learning and development
Leadership is the art of motivating a group of
people to act toward achieving a common
goal.
Organizations refer to upper-level personnel in
their management structures as leadership.
“Management is doing things right; leadership is
doing the right things,”
“The action of leading a group of people or an
organisation.”
Leadership is the behavior of an individual… directing
the activities of a group toward a shared goal.
(Hemphill & Coons, 1957)
Leadership is the process of influencing the activities
of an organized group toward goal achievement
(Rauch & Behling, 1984)
Leadership is the ability of an individual to influence,
motivate, and enable others to contribute toward the
effectiveness and success of the organization.(House
et al., 1999)
“Leadership involves finding a parade and getting in front of
it”. - John Naisbitt
“The key to successful leadership today is influence, not
authority”. - Kenneth Blanchard
“Good leaders must first become good servants.” - Robert
Greenleaf “Leaders are more powerful role models when
they learn than when they teach.” - Rosabeth Moss Kantor
Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to
contribute to making something extraordinary happen."
 Role of Leadership
• Communication
• Building morale
• Adapting to change
• Guidance/Coaching
• Motivates employees
• Making critical decisions
• Organizational culture
• Coordination
• Motivation
• Accountability
• Inspiration
• Team work
• Mentoring
• Idea Generation
• Modeling Behavior
• Employee Engagement
• Adaptability and Change Management
• Performance Management
 Skills for Leadership
 Communication
 Delegation
 Creativity
 Conflict resolution
 Problem solving
 Empathy
 Decision-making
 Motivation
 Integrity
 Strategy
 Time management
 Active listening
 Communication skills
 Emotional intelligence
 Interpersonal communication
 Relationship building
 Adaptability
 Innovation
 Mentoring
 Positivity
 Reliability
 Responsibility
 Setting goals
 Positivity
 Recognizing potential
 Good values
 Vision
 Interpersonal skills
 Styles of Leadership

A leadership style adopted by any leader is usually a

combination of their personality, life experiences,
level of emotional intelligence, family dynamics, and
way of thinking. Thus, leaders should be able to
understand their leadership style in relation to a
combination of traits listed above and determine how
best they can be more effective.
Leadership style is the manner and approach of
providing direction, implementing plans, and
motivating people
• Democratic Leadership
• Autocratic Leadership
• Laissez-Faire Leadership
• Transformational Leadership
• Transactional Leadership
• Bureaucratic Leadership
• Servant Leadership
• Coach-style Leadership
 What is a Leadership Theory?

• A leadership theory describes how and why

certain individuals become leaders. The focus
is on the characteristics and behaviors that
people can adopt to enhance their leadership
ability.
 Theories of Leadership

Trait theory
Trait theory tries to describe the types of behavior
and personality tendencies associated with
effective leadership. This is probably the first
academic theory of leadership. Thomas Carlyle
(1841) can be considered one of the pioneers of
the trait theory, using such approach to identify
the talents, skills and physical characteristics of
men who arose to power.
Behavioral and style theory
evaluating the behavior of 'successful' leaders,
determining a behavior taxonomy and identifying
broad leadership styles. David McClelland
He said that successful leaders will tend to have a
high need for power, a low need for affiliation,
and a high level of what he called activity
inhibition (one might call it self-control).
The Managerial grid model theory
Kurt Lewin, Ronald Lipitt, and Ralph White
developed in 1939 the seminal work on the
influence of leadership styles and performance
The management of the group tasks (project
management) according to three styles:
(1) Authoritarian,
(2) Democratic and
(3) Laissez-faire.
Situational and contingency theory
The managerial grid model is also based on a behavioral
theory. The model was developed by Robert Blake
and Jane Mouton in 1964 and suggests five different
leadership styles, based on the leaders' concern for
people and their concern for goal achievement.
Functional theory
Functional leadership theory (Hackman & Walton, 1986;
McGrath, 1962) is a particularly useful theory for addressing
specific leader behaviors expected to contribute to
organizational or unit effectiveness.
Consideration includes behavior involved in fostering effective
relationships. Examples of such behavior would include
showing concern for a subordinate or acting in a supportive
manner towards others. Initiating structure involves the
actions of the leader focused specifically
Transactional and transformational theory
The transactional leader (Burns, 1978) is given power to perform
certain tasks and reward or punish for the team’s performance.
It gives the opportunity to the manager to lead the group and
the group agrees to follow his lead to accomplish a
predetermined goal in exchange for something else. Power is
given to the leader to evaluate, correct and train subordinates
when productivity is not up to the desired level and reward
effectiveness when expected outcome is reached.
The transformational leader (Burns, 2008) motivates its team to
be effective and efficient. Communication is the base for goal
achievement focusing the group on the final desired outcome
or goal attainment.
 Powerful Persuasion Strategies
Persuasion techniques are the methods and strategies used to influence or
convince others to adopt a certain belief, attitude, or behavior.
 Social proof
 Authority
 Reciprocity
 Authority
 Appeal to tradition
 Liking
 Urgency
 Emotional persuasion
 Framing
 Motivation, and Needs
 Positive and Negative Motivation
• Establish Your Credibility.
• 2. Come Well Prepared.
• 3. Understand Your Group’s Interests.
• 4. Connect on an Emotional Level.
• 5. Build Relationships of Trust and Respect.
• 6. Answer the “Why?” Question.
• 7. Ask the “If” Question.
• 8. Remember the
• 9. Embrace Carnegie’s Principle of Appeal to Higher Motives.
 Why is persuasion useful for managers

 Influence behavior
 Negotiate effectively
 Motivate employees
 Build relationships
 Influence decision-making
 Manage conflict
 Group Dynamics
• Groups are important for organisational life. Managers spend
substantial time in managing groups and teams so that groups
contribute to organisational and group goals. How effectively a
manager plans, organises, staffs, leads and controls depends upon
how effectively he manages the groups. A group means “two or
more people who interact with one another, are psychologically
aware of one another, perceive themselves to be members of the
group, and work towards a common goal.”
• Group dynamics studies the nature, formation and reasons for
forming the groups. It studies how groups affect the behaviour and
attitude of members and the organisation. It is a process by which
people interact with each other. If groups are effectively managed,
they contribute a lot to organisational goals.
• Group dynamics deals with the attitudes and
behavioral patterns of a group. It can be used
as a means for problem-solving, teamwork,
and to become more innovative and productive
as an organization. The concept of group
dynamics will also provide you with the
strengths, success factors and measures along
with other professional tools.
 Types of Group Dynamics

Formal & Informal groups

Task groups
Interest
Forming
Organized groups
Coaching
Primary and secondary groups
Reference groups
Problem-solving teams
Self-directed and self-managed teams
 Dynamics of Group Formation

Organizational experts and practitioners have

observed that new groups go through a number
of stages before they achieve maximum
performance. Each stage presents the members
with different challenges that must be
overcome before they can move on to the next
stage. These stages have been identified as
forming, storming, norming, performing, and
adjourning.
 Forming
• Little Agreement
• Unclear Purpose
• Guidance & Direction
The first get together of the members is set during this stage.
Initially, all of them are, are considering questions like, “What
am I here for?”, “Who else is here?” and “Who am I
comfortable with?” which is very common in every single
case. Thus it is important for members to get involved with
each other, starting with introducing themselves to each other.
The team leader here must have a clear and strong leadership
to ensure that the group members feel the clarity and comfort
required to evolve for the next stage.
 Storming

• Conflict
• Increased clarity of Purpose
• Power Struggles
During the storming stage, members are initiating to voice
their individual differences, join them with others who
share the same beliefs, and thus jockey for position in the
group. Here, it is highly required for members to be highly
involved with each other, this might include voicing their
concerns in order to feel represented and understood. The
team leader should help members to voice their views, and
to achieve validity about their purpose and priorities.
 Norming
• Agreement & Consensus
• Clear Roles and Responsibility
• Facilitation
• This is the stage, where the members are beginning to
share a common commitment to the purpose of the group,
including to the organization's overall goals and how each
of the goals can be achieved. Here, the team leader must
focus on continuing to clarify the roles of each and every
member, and a clear and workable structure and process
for the group member to achieve their goals.
 Performing
• Clear Vision and Purpose
• Focus on Goal Achievement
• Delegation
• This is the stage, where the team is working
effectively and efficiently toward achieving
organizations and individual goals. Here the style of
leadership becomes more indirect as team members
take on stronger participation and involvement in the
group process.
 Adjourning

• Task Completion
• Good feeling about Achievement
• Recognition
 Functions of group dynamics

Task functions
Initiating
Information seeking
Information giving
Clarifying ideas
Bringing closure
Consensus testing
Maintenance Behaviour
Motivating
Increasing group cohesion
Harmonizing
Compromise
Gate-keeping
Standard-setting
Self-interest Behaviour
Dominating and controlling
Blocking
Manipulating
Belittling
 Decision making in Group Dynamics

Group members discuss, decide, and

delegate. Team members discuss, decide, and do the
work. The overall effectiveness of group decision-making
depends on many factors.
Group decision making has the advantage of drawing from
the experiences and perspectives of a larger number of
individuals. More ideas might be generated by a group
than by an individual working alone. Hence, a group may
have the potential to be more creative and lead to more
effective decisions. In fact, groups may sometimes
achieve results beyond what they could have done as
individuals.
Effective decision making is crucial in various
aspects of life, whether in personal,
professional, or social contexts. Decision
making within a group setting adds
complexity, as it involves navigating the
dynamics and interactions among its members.
This document aims to explore the concepts of
decision making, group dynamics, and their
interrelationship.
 The Relationship Between Decision
Making and Group Dynamics
Decision Making
Communication and Collaboration
Influence and Power Dynamics
Conflict Resolution
Decision Acceptance and Commitment
Optimal Size of a Group for Decision Making
Efficiency and Coordination
Decision Complexity
Participation and Engagement