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The Leadership Experience

A Review of “The Leadership Experience”, by Daft, R.L., & Lane, P.G. (2008) 5th Edition. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. ISBN: 0324261276

Presented by Osuoha Christopher A.

MBA General Business istration, Wayland Baptist University, Texas.

Reviewer: Christopher Osuoha is currently working towards an MBA in General Business istration at Wayland Baptist University. Any correspondence or concern about this review should be directed to Christopher Osuoha, Graduate School of Business, Wayland Baptist University, 4530 Canyon Drive, Amarillo, TX 79109 or to [email protected] .

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The Leadership Experience Introduction The Leadership Experience, fifth edition is a five part, 15 chapters’ book in which Richard Daft and P.G. Lane explained the concept of leadership, provided the perspectives for leadership theory, outlined the characteristics of effective leaders, described relationship with effective followership and specified the roles and responsibilities of ethical leaders. This book was written in a simple language that makes it much comprehensible by an average reader. In this edition, Daft and Lane placed new and existing leadership theories and concepts into perspective as a reflection of the 21st century leadership practice. The authors utilized their experiences in teaching and research to develop a framework for proper conceptualization of effective leadership as a practical guide that will be of tremendous help to leaders, emerging leaders and students of leadership theory. Daft and Lane included a prompt section which they called “Turbulent Times” to draw the reader’s attention to new leadership trend, the meaning and application of leadership concepts to such trends. They also modified the previous features from the previous editions such as “consider this” which further regurgitates the philosophical perspective of the chapter, “Leader’s Bookshelf” that review related works in the chapter’s content and “Action Memo” that requires the reader’s self assessment on the concepts. This edition also has a conclusion for each chapter which comprises of discussion questions, activities and practical applications of the concepts which helps the readers to comprehend and apply the concepts to real life situations. Daft and Lane explored the evolution of leadership theory right from the pioneer works of the great-man theoretical perspectives to the most contemporary theoretical perspectives that have become the bedrock for developing leadership program such as the transformational leadership concept. The authors portrayed a wider spectrum of leadership experience reflecting trends that has redefined and modernized the way leadership is taught and practiced taken into cognizance such factors as

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The Leadership Experience

globalization, the dynamism of organizational structure and the application of virtual networking. Daft and Lane delineated this book into 5 parts which treated the following concepts – introduction to leadership, research perspectives on leadership, personal side of leadership, the leader as a relationship builder and the leader as a social architect. These concepts were exemplified with practical application to real life situations.

CONCEPTIONAL FRAMEWORK Daft and Lane utilized their experiences in teaching organizational leadership and theories coupled with researches on earlier works by leadership theorists, teachers, scholars and philosophers to explain the application of leadership concepts in organizations. The authors explained the generational and organizational differences that exist in work environment and their interconnectivity with modern dilemmas as regards to quality and effective leadership. Their basic concept hinges on globalized concept of respect and appreciation of ideas and people, dimensional relationship between the leader and the follower, individual differences, motivation and effective communication. They focused majorly on application of concepts that inspire and empower followers to build a strong leader-follower relationship that characterize successful leadership. This book treated various issues that entail ethical leadership, systematically in five sections. 1. Part One – Introduction to Leadership. In the first chapter Daft and Lane gave the definition of leadership as “influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes and outcomes that reflect their shared purpose” (Daft & Lane, 2008). They pointed out six

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The Leadership Experience

essential characteristics of leadership intention, influence, change, shared purpose, followers and personal responsibility. These factors were used as the bases for classifying leadership relationships. In the definition influence connotes multidirectional process which implies that leaders and followers impact each other non-coercively. Daft and Lane pointed out the paradigm shift in the perspective and expectation the society placed on leadership. The old paradigm portrays virtues such as control, competition, stability, uniformity, heroism and self-centeredness; while the new paradigm reflects the new perspective and redefinition of these qualities through change and crisis management, diversity, empowerment, collaborations and higher level of ethical practice. There was a very clear distinction between leadership and management in this section of the book. Management focused on accomplishment of organizational objectives and tasks accomplishment while leadership centers on building relationships, shared vision, discovering and utilizing personal strengths and qualities, realizing personal weakness and creating an enabling environment for change. The evolution and development of leadership thoughts were explained starting from heroic leadership to behavioral theories, contingency theories and the most contemporary theory- the relational theory which is the very foundation of transformational leadership concept. 2. Part Two – Research Perspective on Leadership. In this part of the book the authors classified the evolution of leadership theories into three major components: traits, behavior and relationships of leaders. Trait was the first element of the theory studied by leadership research which was defined as “distinguishing personal characteristics of a leader that are displayed through patterns in behavior”. Leadership was previewed from the perspective of one-on-one

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The Leadership Experience

relationship which may be operational, collaborative, horizontal, vertical-oriented, influential relationship with a subordinate; or advisory, guiding and ive role to the subordinates. It was assumed that a leader can be involved in different specific relationships. This formed the platform for development of contingency leadership theories which maintained that leadership style, traits, methods and characteristic are contingent upon specified situation that may be facing a leader. Two leadership behaviors were identified- task behavior and relationship behavior which explain the way a leader can behave under certain situations. These are exemplified by the leader leading by example to help subordinates identify and learn behavior that will facilitate successful accomplishment of tasks and management rewards. However, situational variables were pointed out that tend to undermine leadership style, makes leadership style unnecessary and prevent the leader from displaying some behaviors. 3. Part Three - The Personal Side of Leadership. Part three comprises of 3 chapters – chapter 4, 5 and 6. Chapter 4 focuses on leadership attributes which includes leaders attitude, behaviors, values and personality type. While chapters 5 and 6 explored the mind and heart of a leader emphasizing the significance of morality, ethics, respect, emotional intelligence and care as an integral part of leadership. Daft and Lane indentified that the differences that exist between the leaders and the followers influences the leader-follower interactions, attitudes, values and personality affects the ability of an individual to lead effectively. Also they authors classified individual’s behavior attribute that determines the way they behave into two – internal and external. Is internal where individual places responsibility of what happens to them from within and external where responsibility is placed on external factors.

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However, Daft and Lane identified five general personality dimensions which describe the way individuals approach issues. They include – extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience and emotional stability. They pointed out that effective leadership implies knowing who you are and the values you represent and possessing the capacity to act on your values. Daft and Lane pinpointed the interconnect that exists between leadership and followership. They explained that leadership and followership are the basic role that share common similarities and allow for movement in, through and out depending on various situations. 4. Part 4 – The Leader as a Relationship Builder This part consists of five chapters – chapter 8 through to chapter 12. Chapter 8 focuses on methods of motivation and empowerments leaders can apply on followers. Chapter 9 described the methods effective methods communicating organizational vision, mission, objectives and ideas across the group. Chapter 10 and 11 explained the role of individuals within a group, team, the value and approach of creating teams, and the impact of diversity within a group. Chapter 12 described the ideas of ethical and influential leadership. Daft and Lane noted that inspiring motivation and empowerment is a very essential tool of effective leadership. Leaders must make followers feel valued and as a part of the group to stay focus on course of action. Daft and Lane applied four types of reinforcement which was in-line with Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs – they include negative, positive, punishment and extinction. The underlying principle is that when leaders empower followers they practical demonstrate their confidence in their subordinates ability to execute the task by themselves. Daft and Lane explained that communication is a systematic process by which values, goals, ideas and objectives are transmitted between multiple people. mechanism is essential to evaluate the effectiveness of the process.

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The authors explained that teams and sub-groups are growing part of organizational culture which has flourished as a result of rapidly advancement in technology and learning. However they presented diversity as a basic part of a team, encouraging organizational leaders to appreciate diversity and tap into the individual strengths and values to maximize effectiveness. The maintained that the acceptance of diversity will guarantee true transformational leadership which can develop followers into leaders, enable organization to meet psychological needs of the followers and encourage follower to serve in the best interest of the group. 5. Part 5 – The Leader as a Social Architect This is the concluding part of this book. Emphasis is placed on leader and his functions. Daft and Lane explained that the most important function of the leader is to articulate and communicate visions that will motivate and boost follower moral towards accomplishment of organizational objective and as a guide into the future. The leader crafts vision which helps a group to establish a mission to define who they are. Under this context the leader serves as an architect and a guild to motivate the followers to accomplish the groups objective.

Recommendations Daft and Lane provided a broad base functional framework for definition of leadership and followership with real examples. Based on this I make the following recommendations; 1. That this book will be beneficial to individuals wishing to receive thorough knowledge of the dynamism of effective leadership especially undergraduates and graduate students. 2. Considering the broad spectrum covered by this book I suggest that leaders in the beginning and middle of their

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careers should explore the situational analysis made by the authors. 3. For personal growth and development managers and leaders in various organizations should benefit from the theoretical concept of effective leadership treated in this book 4. This book should also serve as a valid source of research references.

Critique The only major criticism about this book is that it lacked prescriptive guidance for individuals who may benefit from strategic areas of the book to confront some real practical situations.