Page 203 - Effective group discussion theory and practice by Adams, Katherine H. Brilhart, John K. Galanes, Gloria J

186 Chapter 7

Recap: A Quick Review

eadership is one of the most studied processes in the social sciences. Several
Ltheories have been developed to explain the secrets of effective leadership.
1. Traits approaches to leadership try to identify personality characteristics of leaders
(e.g., self-confidence, creativity). However, these approaches have not found a
universal set of traits that guarantees leadership in all situations.
2. Styles approaches try to discover those patterns of behaviors that leaders exhibit
in groups (e.g., democratic, autocratic, and laissez-faire). However, one style for all
situations is not related to effective leadership.
3. The functions approach zeros in on critical task and socioemotional functions that
any group member must perform if a group is to reach its goal. However, it does not
adequately consider group contingencies.
4. Contingency approaches assume that different group contingencies require
different leader behaviors or that a group’s situation will change over time, requiring
adjustment on the leader’s part.
5. The communicative competency model focuses specifically on the task and
relationship skills leaders in all kinds of groups need to perform well.

The Relationship Between Leaders and Followers
All contemporary approaches to leadership assume an interdependent relationship
between the communication behavior of the leader and the behavior, skills, prefer-
ences, and expectations of the members. Although we discuss leaders and members
separately, we do so only for convenience; leader-member behaviors form an interde-
pendent unit. Whether a leader’s behaviors are effective depends in large part on both
the perceptions and behaviors of the other members.
Most people in our culture want their leaders to perform structuring behaviors
and to be considerate as well. Just look at the lessons surrounding the controversy
over Uber’s former CEO Travis Kalanick’s poor leadership and the accolades given to
Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk for his response to employee safety. Both cases provide real-
life case studies of what to do and not do as a leader. Members expect leaders to be
enthusiastic and organized, to encourage participation from all members, and to sug-
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gest procedures for the group. Subordinates like their leaders’ communication style
to be affirming (relaxed, friendly, and attentive) and low in verbal aggressiveness
(attacks on others’ self-concepts). 85
We discussed earlier the challenges females face in emerging as leaders of groups
and organizations. Gender bias guides how female leadership behavior is perceived
and treated.
Several studies suggest that women enact leadership differently than men, perhaps
because members perceive different behavior as appropriate for men and women. For
example, women who used a dominant approach to leadership were less influential than
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women who used a considerate approach, especially with men. Facebook CEO Sheryl
Sandberg’s “Ban Bossy” campaign, discussed earlier, is a proactive way to combat such
perceptions. Owen’s finding that women seem to distance themselves from the label of

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