Deck 5: Distributed Approaches to Leadership

Question 1

The distributed approach to leadership asks the following question:

A) How can formal leaders act to maximize effectiveness?
B) Under what conditions can formal leaders minimize their roles, yet enhance effectiveness?
C) How can formal leaders act to effectively change organizations?
D) How can formal leaders act to minimize effectiveness under various conditions?

Answer 1

Under what conditions can formal leaders minimize their roles, yet enhance effectiveness?

Question 2

__________ theory points out that the answer to leadership issues is not always more, but less, and sets out propositions for empirical conditions when distributed leadership seems to function well.

A) Substitutes for leadership
B) Superleadership
C) Self-leadership
D) Team leadership

Answer 2

Substitutes for leadership

Question 3

__________ occurs when formal leaders actively develop subordinates, allow participation and seek opportunities for delegation.

A) Substitutes for leadership
B) Superleadership
C) Self-leadership
D) Shared leadership

Answer 3

Superleadership

Question 4

The influence of informal leaders is based on all of the following, except:

A) Expertise
B) Position
C) Knowledge
D) Referent power

Question 5

Informal leadership is important to an organization in which of the following situations?

A) When formal leadership is weak
B) During the start of new initiatives
C) To limit the corrosive effects of formal leaders
D) All of the above

Question 6

__________ theory draws from political perspectives emphasizing the nature of representation mechanisms.

A) Informal leadership
B) Followership
C) Self-leadership
D) Network leadership

Question 7

Followership theory identifies the types of followers based on their level of involvement, which includes all of the following, except:

A) Participant
B) Activist
C) Advocate
D) Diehard

Question 8

Under followership theory the __________ may take time to consolidate support for or opposition to a formal leader depending on the issue.

A) Participant
B) Activist
C) Advocate
D) Diehard

Question 9

The combined leadership style in superleadership includes all of the following individual styles, except:

A) Developing (supportive)
B) Participative (inclusive)
C) Delegating (empowering)
D) Inspirational (motivating)

Question 10

Considering the superleadership causal chain, strategies for success include all of the following except:

A) Give fewer orders
B) Avoid punishment
C) Natural rewards
D) Foster Creativity

Question 11

Given the importance of flattened and fast moving organizations today, superleadership emphasizes that the major function of an effective leader is:

A) Participation
B) Development
C) Production efficiency
D) Motivation

Question 12

Which of the following styles of leadership are implied by the substitutes for leadership approach?

A) A delegated and combined style
B) A directive and supportive style
C) A laissez fair and external style
D) A participative and supportive style

Question 13

The ideal conditions for substitutes for leadership include all of the following except:

A) Clearly identified incentives
B) Predictable workflow
C) Professional orientation of subordinates
D) Feedback provided by the work

Question 14

Some of the additional factors identified in substitutes theory include neutralizers, enhancers and supplements. Which of the following is considered an enhancer?

A) High need for autonomy
B) Distance from the leader
C) Cohesiveness of the work group
D) Training and education

Question 15

The major problem with the substitutes for leadership approach is that:

A) More leadership is not always better
B) It provides a laundry list of situational classes of a disparate nature
C) It does not provide a clear direction for those redesigning work systems
D) It does not bring insights on when and how leadership functions.

Question 16

The self-leadership style is a combined style that includes all of the following except:

A) Self-efficacy
B) Self-directive
C) Self-achievement
D) Self-inspirational

Question 17

Self-leadership is a universal style that emphasizes behavioral-focused strategies, natural rewards and constructive thought patterns. Which of the following would be an example of natural rewards?

A) Focus on the positive aspects of work
B) Self-goal setting
C) Positive self-talk
D) Improving belief systems

Question 18

Self-leadership is a valuable companion to the __________ theory of leadership because it points out the virtues of certain competencies and the strategies to achieve them.

A) Self-leadership
B) Informal leadership
C) Substitutes
D) Trait

Question 19

Under the self-managed team concept which of the following are mutually determined and executed:

A) Direction and support
B) Participation and achievement
C) Inspiration and internal connectedness
D) All of the above

Question 20

Formally managed and self-managed teams fall along a spectrum. On the spectrum of full self-management, the self-managed team does all of the following except:

A) Team selects its members
B) Team sets its goals
C) Leadership is rotated or assigned by the team
D) All of the above

Question 21

Certain conditions must be present for self-managed teams to be effective. They include all of the following except:

A) A common purpose and approach
B) Appropriate number of members
C) A strong team leader
D) Complementary skills

Question 22

Effective network leaders have all of the following with the exception of:

A) Resources to contribute
B) A sense of community
C) A service mentality
D) A focus on return on investment

Question 23

According to the network leadership theory casual chain, leader disposition is considered a __________.

A) Range of leader style
B) Intervening variable
C) Moderating variable
D) Performance goal

Question 24

__________ look(s) at the characteristics that all workers can practice so that they can be less dependent on formal leaders or superiors, and be more capable in situations with extensive distributed leadership.

A) Informal leadership
B) Self-leadership
C) Substitutes for leadership
D) Self-managed teams

Question 25

__________ focuses on concrete strategies for reducing formal leaders' roles to enhance the distribution of responsibility to followers.

A) Substitutes for leadership
B) Informal leadership
C) Followership theory
D) All of the above

Question 26

Distributed leadership emphasizes sharing of functions through empowerment mechanisms such as participation and delegation.

Question 27

Formal leadership theories fail to fully acknowledge the importance of others in the leadership process: informal leaders, followers, teams, and networks.

Question 28

Informal leaders are those who lack formal positions, but who influence others whether they support the formal leaders or not.

Question 29

In terms of performance goals, informal leaders tend to focus on the interests and needs of lower-level employees or constituents.

Question 30

In followership theory activists are the ones who are exceptionally committed to ideological positions or select issues and are willing to fight enthusiastically for the success of their position even if it jeopardizes their own job.

Question 31

Proponents of followership theory emphasize the moral obligation of leaders to respect followers as a separate source of authority, wisdom, and expertise.

Question 32

Superleadership examines what leaders need to do to prepare and support followers to be successful when they are empowered. It has similarities to Hersey and Blanchard's situational leadership theory, which advocated four styles based on the subvariables of subordinate maturity.

Question 33

Because superleadership recommends a single style assuming that ideal conditions exist, it is not considered a universal theory.

Question 34

Substitutes for leadership imply that when empowerment is successfully implemented, it enhances internal accountability, a sense of ownership, professional affiliation, and buy-in with group goals.

Question 35

According to substitutes for leadership, a combined style is implied when less leadership is needed; allowing subordinates relative leeway in decision making and freedom from daily monitoring and short-term review.

Question 36

The central insight of self-leadership theory is that the attitudes, beliefs, self-designed behavioral patterns, and motivational preferences of individuals make a critical difference in both accomplishment and personal satisfaction in work.

Question 37

In self-leadership theory, strategies for success include mutual accountability.

Question 38

In the self-managed team concept, the single combined style of team leadership distributes the standard functions of leadership among the group or allows the group to assign leadership functions based on member talents and availability.

Question 39

Self-managed teams strive for role formalization in order to take advantage of its potential virtues such as enhancing work uniformity, consistency of expectations, and complex accountability requirements.

Question 40

Network leaders are judged by their success in building resources for their organization through cooperative problem solving.

Question 41

Describe the distributed approach to leadership.

Question 42

Discuss the characteristics of the informal leader.

Question 43

Describe the difference between informal leaders and followers as described in followership theory.

Question 44

Discuss the similarities between superleadership and Hersey and Blanchard's situational leadership theory.

Question 45

Discuss the contribution of substitutes for leadership theory to the study of leadership.

Question 46

Explain the three strategies for success included in self-leadership theory.

Question 47

Describe the difference between formally managed and self-managed teams.

Question 48

Describe the potential merits of network leadership.