The group and exchange theories of leadership are derived from social psychology. These have their roots in the exchange theory. Leaders from different kinds of relationships with various groups of subordinates. Group theories describe how leaders need to maintain their position in group dynamics.
Social exchange theory proposes that social behavior is the result of an exchange process. The purpose of this exchange is to maximize benefits and minimize costs. Social Exchange Theory is a social psychological and sociological perspective that explains social change and stability as a process of negotiated exchanges between parties. Social Exchange Theory posits that all human relationships are formed by the use of a subjective cost-benefit analysis and the comparison of alternatives.
Costs are the elements of relational life that have negative value to a person, like time, money, effort etc. and on the other hand rewards are the elements of a relationship that have positive value like sense of acceptance, support, and companionship etc. The Social Exchange perspective argues that people calculate the overall worth of a particular relationship by subtracting its costs from the rewards it provides. If worth is a positive number, it is positive relationship. On the contrary, negative number indicates a negative relationship. The worth of a relationship influences its outcome, or whether people will continue with a relationship or terminate it. Positive relationships are expected to endure, whereas negative relationships will probably terminate.
Social exchange theory can also be applied to leadership studies as reported by Hollandder and Julian (1969). They propose that the leader provides more benefits or regards than burden or costs to the followers who in exchange help him achieve the goals of the organization. There must be a positive exchange between the leader and followers in order for group goals to be accomplished. According to this group of theories, a leader provides more benefits/rewards than burdens/costs for followers.
In a group, members make contributions at a cost to themselves and receive benefits at a cost to the group or other members. The leader can give rewards to his followers in the form of appreciation or monetary increments or promotion for accomplishment of the organizational goals or tasks. These rewards have positive impact on attitudes, satisfaction and performance of the followers.
In return of these awards, followers respect the leader and give him due regard for his status and esteem and believe in his heightened influence. The leader tends to follow initiating structure when followers do not perform very well and increases his emphasis on consideration when the followers do a good job.
In this balancing act, the perception of his followers of his being an effective leader increases and this equation is mutually beneficial for both the leader and the follower. Interaction continues because members find the social exchange mutually rewarding.
Reciprocal influence theory also known as reciprocal determinism is authored by Albert Bandura and states that an individual's behavior influences and is influenced by both the social world and personal characteristics. Three factors that influence behavior are the environment, the individual, and the behavior itself. Certain leader behaviors can cause subordinate behaviors and reciprocal influence on the leader by the group.
Investment Theory of Creativity
Sternberg in the year 2006, proposed the investment and confluence theory focused on understanding creativity. According to the investment theory, creativity requires a confluence of six distinct but interrelated resources known as intellectual abilities, knowledge, styles of thinking, personality, motivation, and environment. It emphasizes that creativity is not about one thing, but about a system of things.
The style approach emphasizes that one style of leadership behaviour cannot be effective in all situations. Earlier theories treated leadership exclusively as a personality trait and behavior approach has widened the scope by including the behaviors of leaders and what they do in various situations. Explore how you can benefit from the concepts to understand your own behaviors and what are some of the leadership tools based on the style approach to leadership.
Process & Stages of Creativity
Creative ideas do not come just like that. There is a process to it. There are a number of techniques of creativity to support the generation of ideas but the widely practiced ones are brainstorming and lateral thinking. Most innovations are not so much the product of sudden insights as they are the result of a conscious process that often goes through multiple stages. The creative process can be divided into four stages of preparation, incubation, evaluation, and implementation.
McClelland's Theory of Needs is a human motivation theory which states that an individual's specific needs are acquired over time through our culture and life experiences. As per the three needs theory, these acquired needs significantly influence the behavior of an individual. The three main driving motivators are the needs for achievement, affiliation, and power.
Five Factors Model (FFM) also known as Five-Factor Personality Model is based on five broad personality traits which are extraversion, neuroticism, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness represented by acronym OCEAN, these traits are often referred to as the “Big Five”.
Charismatic leadership is a trait-based leadership theory where the leaders act as visionary driven by their convictions and motivate their followers to work towards common vision using their charm and persuasiveness. These charismatic leaders act as role models and exhibit extraordinary characteristics that inspire devotion and motivation in followers to persuade change. Leaders are able to cultivate a profound sense of trust with the group of followers.
According to the three-skill approach of Katz, the individual's leadership abilities vary depending on where leaders are in a management hierarchy. The practical implication of skills approach to leadership is that leaders can improve their capabilities in leadership skills through training and experience.
There are four major factors in leadership called Leader, Follower, Communication, and Situation. The success of the leader is dependent on how the leader is effectively able to communicate and motivate followers to perform desired tasks using the appropriate leadership style best suited for the given situation. Interdependencies and dynamics of these four factors of leadership must be considered by a leader to be effective.
Communication has as its central objective the transmission of meaning. The process of communication is successful only when the receiver understands an idea as the sender intended it. How does a message or an idea travel from one person to another? To transmit our message, we engage in a sensitive and complex process of communication, with different elements like sender, message, channels, receiver, noise, and feedback.
© 2023 TechnoFunc, All Rights Reserved