Leadership and Management Quiz

What is "power to"?

• A relationship in which one person has power over another person

• A traditional relationship in the sense that dominance and coercion are used time and again before other alternatives are sought.

• The capacity, ability and willingness to act

• The practice of creating an alliance between those with apparent formal power, and those with less or no formal power

Why is social-connectedness important to a leader?

• It reduces the need for coercive power

• Research suggests that highly connected people are also high performing people

• A lack of social-connectedness correlates with poorer psychological wellbeing and cognitive ability

• It is the desired outcome of three core political behaviours: Networking, Reciprocity and Coalition Building

What practices best define informal backstage leadership?

• Political awareness, power to, political savvy

• Networking, reciprocity, coalition building

• Loyalty, honesty, getting recognition for achievements

• Thinking and acting differently from the norm, a breadth of social connections and knowledge, collaborative generosity

Which of these best explains Fiedler's Contingency Leadership model?

• It has 4 styles (directing, coaching, supporting, delegating) determined by 4 variables (development level or degree of maturity)

• It has 7 styles (from autocratic to participative) determined by 3 variables (boss, subordinate and situation)

• It has 2 styles (task or relationship-oriented) determined by 3 variables (leader-member relationship, task structure, and position power)

• It has 4 styles (directive, supportive, participative, achievement-orientated) determined by 6 variables (Authoritarianism, Locus of Control, Ability, Task Structure, Formal Authority, Work Group)

Which of these are variables to consider in the Path-Goal model?

• Extent employees defer to others.

• The size of the organization is considered and the time needed for participation.

• Extent employees believe they control goal achievement (internal) or it is controlled by others (external).

• Extent of employees' ability to perform tasks and achieve goals.

What was the goal of contingency theories of leadership?

• To illustrate how effective leadership styles vary greatly from place to place.

• To "fit together" the components of all the pre-existing theories, including the capability and motivation of followers, the personality traits, behaviours and experience of leaders, and the task, structure and environment of the situation.

• To illustrate how messy and fragmented management and leadership was in practice

• To illustrate how effective leaders need multicultural backgrounds and experiences.

Why is it important for leaders to enable a broader social-connectedness between employees in the workplace?

• People with friends at work tend to be happier and more productive

• Psychological wellbeing is at risk, as is cognitive performance, if people can't socialise at work

• People with broad organisational knowledge that people like collaborating with seem to add the most value

• The act of socialising with other people on a regular basis is increasingly being seen as necessary for maintaining and increasing the information highways within the brain. It helps people think better.

Collaborative overload suggests that the highest value-adding people in the organisation are also the most:

• Disengaged

• Ironic

• Likely to be promoted to leadership positions

• Giving

According to Fred Luthans, which of these behaviours would successful managers excel at?

• Building political coalitions

• Inspiring loyalty, hard work and enthusiasm in those they lead

• Developing good working relationships with people in positional power

• Learning the written and unwritten rules of the organisational culture and where the power actually lies

How might you gain in legitimate power?

• Using punishment and withholding rewards

• Increasing my management experience and building political relationships

• Gaining access to vital information and knowledge and control over its distribution

• Appealing to people's values and aspirations