Skills approach to leadership northouse

[Document title]

Module 2 - Home

Leadership Skills and The Tribe

Modular Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this module, the student will be able to satisfy the following outcomes:

•Case ◦Synthesize the three key leadership skills in the three-skill approach with the accompanying leadership levels.

•SLP ◦Explain the tribal leadership stage of an example scenario through the lens of the skills model.

•Discussion ◦Apply the Three-Skill Approach to leadership to tribal leadership.

◦Compare the Three-Skill Approach to the Skills Model through the lens of tribal leadership.

Module Overview

As we begin the second module, we will take a break from leadership traits and personality, turning our focus to leadership skills. We will become familiar with the three-skill approach, as well as the skills model, and we will continue our exploration of tribal leadership with our new knowledge of skill-based leadership.

This module is rich with comparison opportunities, and it is designed to allow maximum opportunities for application-based learning and peer interaction.

Module 2 - Background

Leadership Skills and The Tribe

The Skills Approach to Leadership

As we discussed in Module 1, leadership theory has progressed over the past century. By 1955, leadership theorists were trying to put together a set of traits that would further the leader-focused trait theory (including the personality trait-based OCEAN model from Module 1). As this was going on, Katz (1955) published his article in the Harvard Business Review called “Skills of an Effective Administrator,” which turned leadership theory upside down.

While the prior theories were heavily focused on innate traits (including personality), Katz was focused on a developable set of skills that could prove that leaders are made, not born.

Over the following four decades, a “comprehensive skill-based model of leadership” was developed by the top researchers in the field of leadership (Northouse, 2018, p. 39). Katz’ groundbreaking article can be accessed in the Trident Online Library.

Katz, R. L. (1955). Skills of an effective administrator. Harvard Business Review, 33(1), 33-42.

Please take the opportunity to locate and read it before you move on to this week’s assignments.

The Three-Skill Approach

Katz’ work yielded what is referred to as the three-skill approach to leadership. This approach focuses on three specific types of skills that are needed by leaders at different levels. Those three types include: technical skills, human skills, and conceptual skills.

Beyond those three categories, Katz classified three levels of leadership, including top management, middle management, and supervisory management. The key to the three-skill approach is that each leadership level requires a certain mix of the three types of skills.

The chart below shows the correct “mix” for each level of leader, based on the Katz model.

As the chart clearly shows, few conceptual skills are needed from a middle manager than from a top manager, and fewer still are needed from supervisory managers. On the human side, all three levels require a highly-skilled leader. On the technical side, top managers need the least. Middle and supervisory managers, on the other hand, need the most.

The Skills Model

Building on the work of Katz (1955), Mumford, Zaccaro, Harding, Jacobs, and Fleishman (2000) proposed “that effective leadership behavior fundamentally depends upon the leader's ability to solve the kinds of complex social problems that arise in organizations” (p. 11). The model the authors proposed in this article, which should be accessed in the Trident Library for this module, is known as the skills model of leadership. Please see the reference for the article below:

Mumford, M. D., Zaccaro, S. J., Harding, F. D., Jacobs, T. O., and Fleishman, E. A. (2000). Leadership skills for a changing world: Solving complex social problems. The Leadership Quarterly, 11(1), 11-35.

As Northouse (2018) summarizes, the skills model works as follows:

The skills model frames leadership by describing five components of leader performance. At the heart of the model are three competencies: problem-solving skills; social judgment skills; and knowledge. These three competencies are the central determinants of effective problem solving and performance, although individual attributes, career experiences, and environmental influences all have an impact on leader competencies. Through job experience and training, leaders can become better problem solvers and more effective leaders (p. 53).

The five components of leadership performance are detailed and explained in the figure and description below:

Individual Attributes. From the figure above, you can see how leadership theory through the ages is woven into skills-based leadership. On the left (first box), you can see individual attributes. This category is closer to trait-based leadership. Attributes like cognitive ability and motivation are more focused on innate (or “born with it”) characteristics.

Competencies. As we move to the second (dark blue) box, we can see the competencies we discussed above and learned about in the Mumford, et al (2000) article. These are skills that can be taught (as opposed to traits from birth).

Career Experiences. It is clear from the figure that the first two boxes (individual attributes and competencies) are both influenced by career experiences. For example, you might be born with a strong dose of motivation. But career experiences (the types of leaders you have, the types of work you do) can impact your motivation level, as well. On the skill side, your knowledge can be derived from and influenced by your career experiences just as your individual attributes can. According to Northouse (2018), “leaders can be helped by challenging job assignments, mentoring, appropriate training, and hands-on experience in solving new and unusual problems” (p. 52). On the flip side, the lack of challenging assignments and the other examples mentioned can negatively impact a leader’s growth.

Leadership Outcomes. Finally, we explore the third box—leadership outcomes. This helps us visualize how the sum of individual attributes and competencies can lead to specific leadership outcomes such as effective problem solving and performance.

Environmental Influences. Beyond the three boxes and the tie-in between the first two boxes and career experiences, we find environmental influences. These are influences that have nothing to do with traits or competencies, but that clearly still impact leadership outcomes.