A511.5.3.RB – Remote Transformational Leadership

February 13, 2016

Richard Martinez

MSLD 511

            In the past most of the studies on transformational leadership has been centered on the face-to-face leadership. This where the leader is always present with the followers. In this new day and age of advancement leaders are now being tasked more and more with leading followers in remote location where the leader cannot be present with the followers. New technologies like email, phone conferencing, and video conferencing have allowed the leader to lead their teams from remote locations. The focus of this scholarly paper is remote leadership. Leadership interactions that are characterized by electronically-mediated communication between geographically and physically isolated leaders and followers are what the term “remote leadership” means (Kelloway, et al, 2002). This is also being conducted in two studies

             In the first study the hypotheses is first, can recipients perceive and accurately identify leadership styles communicated by email. Second, is receiving an email with a positive leadership message as opposed to a negative message perceived to be associated with positive outcomes? The researchers suggest that both laissez-faire and management-by-exception styles may be especially relevant to remote leadership environment. In the second study the researchers hypothesized that individuals exposed to email messages containing a charismatic or intellectually stimulating message would express higher levels of task motivation, and demonstrate higher levels of performance on a laboratory task than individuals who received email instructions that did not contain these aspects of transformational leadership (Kelloway, et al, 2002).

            For study 1 to answer the two questions being examined in the hypotheses the vignette approach is used. They had to develop three vignettes that reflect an email representing transformational leadership, management-by-exception, and laissez-faire. This study used 132 undergraduate students from one Canadian university voluntary and anonymously participated in the main experiment. No prior classes in organizational behavior were given to the students prior to the study. The procedure consisted of the students reading the hypothetical situation containing the email from Jeff, and Mark’s reply before completing the questionnaires containing scales. It was administered in class and distributed so no student sitting next to each other had the same vignettes. 42 read the management-by-exception, 43 read the laissez-faire, and 45 read the transformational leadership vignette. In the second study the experiment involved using a group problem solving exercise similar to the well-known NASA exercise. This required the participants to read a short scenario describing a survival situation. Their task is to rank in order a list of supplies in terms of importance with 1 being the most important and 12 the least important. Each participant completed this task separately. After completing they were then given a copy of the email containing either a charismatic, intellectually stimulating, or a transformational message. The participants completed the survival task individually then as part of a group. They were assigned to a group according to which message they received. Finally they needed to complete a brief post-task questionnaire.

            The results in study 1 did demonstrate that individuals did distinguish between different leadership styles within emails. They were also consistent with the researcher anticipations that emails encompassing transformational leadership messages were associated with greater interpersonal justice and satisfaction compared to messages based on the management-by-exception or laissez-faire styles. In the subsequent study the results illustrate that in the manipulation check the participants correctly identified the projected characteristics of the remote leader. The results also confirmed what they hypothesized about performance on a problem solving task would be better when groups were presented with an email from a remote leader that contained specific intellectual stimulating or charismatic leadership characteristics. However the results did not support an effect of a charismatic leadership message on an individual motivation and further research in this area is needed.

            This research does have great value in fully understanding the differences between remote leadership and face to face leadership. The findings suggested that remote transformational leadership can still have the same encouraging effects as face to face interaction. The study also shows that emails can express the same leadership message as in face to face communication does. This questions the suggestion that leader-follower distance creates a negative effect on performance and followers perspective on their leaders. Next is to replicate these findings in the field setting and they show considerable promise for the effectiveness of remote transformational leadership (Kelloway, et al, 2002).   

A511.4.3.RB – Leadership Traits

February 5, 2016

Richard Martinez

MSLD 511

                Motivation literally is the aspiration to do things and get things done. Managers use motivation to get their employees to work and complete the goals that are set for them. I feel that it’s very important for the manager to be fully motivated in order to get his or her team motivated. If a manager lacks even a slight amount of motivation their team will see this and may soon lack the equivalent amount of motivation or even more. A key component of managerial motivation is setting and accomplishing goals. Leadership trait centers on the leader’s values and beliefs as well as their necessity for achievement and acceptance. Leadership traits also focuses on mental, physical, and emotional attributes as well. According to Yukl (2103) there are eight specific traits that are related to leadership effectiveness. These traits include; high energy level and stress tolerance; internal locus of control orientation; emotional maturity; personal integrity; socialized power motivation; moderately high achievement orientation; moderately high self-confidence; and moderately low need for affiliation. Leadership effectiveness is crucial to focusing on and applying leadership traits as well as concentrating on significant areas that will have the maximum influence that turns your vision and goals into reality.

                When I sit back and asses my own leadership skills, traits, and competencies I find that mine are slightly different than what’s shown in Yukl’s text. Most of my skills, traits and competencies were learned while I was in the U.S. Army for 28 years. They have been instilled in me from an early age and are now a major part of who I am today. I apply them in almost everything that I do in everyday life and in my leadership style at work. It begins with a set of traits and values with the acronym LDRSHIP. Each letter focuses on a specific trait or value. L = Loyalty, D = Duty, R = Respect, S = Selfless Service, H = Honor, I = Integrity, P = Personal Courage. This is the basis of my leadership skills and greatly helps with my leadership effectiveness. There are many other traits, skills, and competencies that I use that help me in my overall leadership abilities. Another area is my leadership attributes that are a person’s fundamental qualities and characteristics and are characterized as mental, physical, and emotional. These attributes are learned and can be changed and a successful leader will always work to improve them. Mental attributes include Will, Initiative, Self-Discipline, Judgement, Self-Confidence, Intelligence, and Cultural Awareness. The physical attributes include Health Fitness, Physical Fitness, and Professional bearing. Emotional attributes include Self-Control, Balance, and Stability.  

                Because I have been able to not only apply these skills, traits, competencies and attributes to my leadership but to my personal life as well has greatly help me to incorporate leadership in almost everything that I do. I have been able to create a leadership style that to me is a process of influence and is always progressing and has sustainability on key things that work but is adaptable to new situations. We are in an ever changing world and we are presented with new challenges every day. We also need to be able to adapt to each person in our charge or deal with, not everyone is the same.