MN5009QA Leadership and

Leading

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 MN5009QA: Leadership and
Leading

Lecture 3:
Leadership as Skills and Abilities

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 Session’s Agenda
• Student Active Learning (Last Week Review – LWR)
• How to reference: using Lunenburg article Leadership
versus Management
• Three Skill Approach
• Skills Model of Leadership
• Skills questionnaire: self-analysis & critique
• Assessment: Harvard referencing and writing skill
 
• Student Active Learning (Independent study)
• Essential Reading

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 Learning Outcome
At the end of this session, you should be able to:
•Discuss the main features of skills approach/perspective on
leadership
•Discuss the main skills needed by a leader using the three-skill
model by Katz (1955)
•Link leadership skills with the different levels of management
•Discuss Mumford et al., (2000) skills model and its five main
components
•Undertake self-appraisal by completing skills questionnaire
  •Prepare for module assessments by improving referencing and
academic writing skill

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 Student Active Learning
Having read Trait Based Perspectives on Leadership
(Zaccaro) pg 6-9, now answer the following
questions:
•Why was trait theory rejected in the 1940s/1950s?
•Who challenged this rejection in 1980s? And Why?
•How did Zaccaro define leader traits?
•What did he say successful and effective leadership
means?
  •What is his third argument about the leader’s situation
(Role of Situation)?

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 Leadership: Skills
Approach/Perspective

• Leader-centred
• Competency-based perspective
• Progression from trait theory
• Learn to be a leader – not simply born a leader
• Acquire different skills – thus introducing the idea that
anyone can learn to lead

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 Leadership: Skills
Approach/Perspective

• What a leader can accomplish is what is important not

traits or personality characteristics (Katz, 1955).
• Leadership requires skill
• Skill is “ability either to perform some specific
behavioural task or the ability to perform some specific
cognitive process that is functionally related to some
particular task” (Peterson & Van Fleet, 2004 p.1298)

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 Three-Skill Approach (Katz, 1955)

• Technical skill:
Ability to undertake
specialized task
• Conceptual skill:
Having a holistic view of
the organisation or a
systemic viewpoint
• Human skill:
Concerned with people

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Source: Northouse, P. (2013) Leadership: Theory and Practice [6th Ed]. Sage: London
 Three-Skill Approach (Katz, 1955)

Question:
Do all leaders need/use
equal amounts of each of
these skills or varying
degrees dependent on
their management level?

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Source: Northouse, P. (2013) Leadership: Theory and Practice [6th Ed]. Sage: London
 Management Skills at various
levels of an organisation

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Source: Northouse, P. (2013) Leadership: Theory and Practice [6th Ed]. Sage: London
 Activity: Pros & Cons of Three-
Skill Approach
This was developed in the 1950’s – how is it still useful today ?
What do you think are the limitations of the model for modern
business?
Develop a pros and cons list for Katz’s (1955) model
Pros Cons

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 Skills Model (Mumford, Zaccaro, Harding,
Jacobs and Fleishman, 2000)

• Skills-based model of leader performance (Mumford et al.,

2000) does not discount the important of traits.
• Skills seen as a function of the interaction between traits and
experience
• Developed capabilities (i.e. knowledge and skills) impacts
leader performance than traits

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 Skills Model: Five Components

5 Components as proposed by Mumford et al. (2000) are:

• Competencies
• Individual attributes
• Leadership outcomes
• Career experiences
• Environmental influences

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 A “capability” model
Examines leaders knowledge/skill = performance

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Source: Northouse, P. (2013) Leadership: Theory and Practice [6th Ed]. Sage: London
 Through job experience/training –
leaders can become more effective leaders

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Source: Northouse, P. (2013) Leadership: Theory and Practice [6th Ed]. Sage: London
 Activity
• Imagine you are training your leadership team
• What would you do to improve your leaders’ individual
attributes and competencies?
• What activity/game could you think of to develop a skill e.g.
problem solving?
Individual Attributes Competencies
General cognitive ability Problem-solving skills
Crystallized cognitive ability Social judgement skills
Motivation Knowledge
Personality
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 Activity: Pros & Cons of Mumford
et al (2000) Skills Model

What do you think are the pros and cons of the Mumford et al,
(2000) model?
How might new working conditions (i.e., post Covid-19) impact
this model?
Pros Cons

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 Skills questionnaire: Self-
analysis & Critique
Complete skills inventory questionnaire at end of 3rd
chapter of Northouse (provided)

•What were your scores and what did they tell you – about your
skill levels?
•How does the Skills Inventory relate to Skills theory?
•What are the main criticisms of self-perception questionnaires?

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 Discussion
• How does the Three-Skill Approach (Katz , 1955) and the
Skills Model (Mumford, et al, 2000) compare / contrast?
• How has the 2000 model been developed from Katz (1955)
work?
Discuss:
Skills Approach suggests effective leadership is an acquisition of
competency-based skills (knowledge/ability) that anyone can
learn/develop.
Can we hold the expectation that all individuals will equally
acquire the skill?

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 References

• Katz, R.L. (1955) Skills of an effective administrator,

Harvard Business Review, Vol. 33 No. 1, pp. 33-42.
• Mumford, M.D., Zaccaro, S.J., Connelly, M.S. and
Marks, M.A. (2000) Leadership skills: Conclusions and
future directions. The Leadership Quarterly, 11(1),
pp.155-170.
• Peterson, T.O. and Van Fleet, D.D. (2004) The
ongoing legacy of RL Katz: An updated typology of
management skills. Management decision. Vol. 42 No.
10, pp. 1297-1308

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Seminar

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 Case Analysis: Group Work

Skills Case Study: Andy’s Cafe

In groups of 4-5, read and answer questions below:

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 Your Assessments: Harvard
Referencing
• Why do we use referencing?
• See reference list at end of Lunenburg’s article on how
different sources are referenced.
• Note how references are listed (i.e. alphabetically)
• List is only a list of sources which have been used in the
text - this means you should do matching exercise

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 Your Assessments: Improving
your writing style

• Read 1st 3 paragraphs of Lunenburg’s article (Leadership

Vs Management)
• Highlight signpost words/phrases e.g.
There is continuing controversy...Often it is assumed...not all
leaders manage...Some scholars argue...Zaleznik argues
that ...whereas... Furthermore... More
recently...Specifically...For Kotter, the leadership..... In
contrast.. In emphasizing...Table 1 provides..
• You are encouraged to use this writing style in your own
work

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 Student Active Learning
(Independent study)
Read Traits and Skills Theories as the Nexus between
Leadership and Expertise: Reality or Fallacy? By: Marie-Line
Germain
1)What did Kirkpatrick and Locke assert?
2)Where is the “nexus” (i.e. link) between leadership and
expertise? Is this clear or blurred?
3)Which traits does the author link to expertise?
4)Which 5 characteristics of a charismatic leader did Conger
and Kanungo identify?
5)What does the author say about Mumford’s Skills Model –
how can expertise be linked to traits?
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 Next week...

Read: Read Chapter 4 Northouse’ Style Approach’.

Action:
Complete your Trait Questionnaire (Northouse)
Complete your Skill Questionnaire (Northouse)
Reflect:
1)How does leadership theory change between the Trait,
Skills and Style approaches?
2)Consider answers to your questionnaires – how do they
help your leadership development
Week 4 - Leadership as Styles and Behaviours

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