BMA5533: Leadership and Change in Organizations

1
BMA5533 Leadership and Change in Organizations

• Fall, 2007
• Instructor Lee Bolman

2
Tonights agenda

• Introductions
• How can we learn about leadership?
• Contracting syllabus

3
Leadership Dialogue
4
Issues in the dialogue

• What is leadership?
• Authority?
• Power?
• Credibility?
• How does the leader-constituent relationship
  work?
• Leader leads, others follow?
• Leader seeks to please, respond to constituent
  expectations?
• Whats the test of leadership?
• High rating from followers?
• Progress on important and difficult problems?
• Take people where they need to go even if they
  dont want to go there?

5
Issues in the dialogue

• How do you learn to lead?
• Read, listen to experts?
• Observe leaders in action?
• Trial and error?
• Dance floor and balcony
• Content (what) ?? Process (how)
• See the here-and-now, make sense of it, and
  respond in real time?
• Trust and risk
• Who can we trust?
• How much risk are we willing to take?

6
Are Managers Clueless?
7
Why clueless?

• ?
• ?(nu) woman
• ? (zi) child
• ?(hao) good

8
More cluelessness ahead? Predictions for 2010

• Intense competition for individuals capable of
  leading business organizations (growing
  leadership gap?)
• Environment of extreme cognitive complexity
  requiring extraordinary strategic thinking skills
  and ability to make high-quality decisions
  quickly in face of competitive pressure and
  uncertainty
• Emphasis on leadership as opposed to technical
  skills
• Communication and talent development skills key
  elements of leadership
• An increased priority on executive teambuilding
  only teams of executives will be capable of
  creating and implementing winning strategies
  given the level of complexity
• Source Barrett, A. and Beeson, J., Developing
  Business Leaders for 2010. The Conference Board,
  New York, 2002.

9
Conceptual perspectives

• Bolman Deal, The Wizard and the Warrior
• Leaders need courage in face of conflict
• They need imagination and faith in face of
  confusion and despair
• Heifetz Linsky, Leadership on the Line
• Leadership ? a dangerous enterprise
• How do you get people to face and learn from
  adaptive challenges when they would rather not
• Kouzes Posner, The Leadership Challenge
• Practices of leaders at their best

10
Contracting Syllabus

• Syllabus is contract binding instructor and
  students
• Contracting process is your opportunity to shape
  the agreement
• Web site www.leebolman.com/bma533.htm

11
Contracting Process

• Read syllabus
• Meet in groups. Discuss
• What makes sense or looks good?
• Whats not clear?
• What would you like to change?
• Have a rationale how will the change promote
  learning?

12
Next Week

• Team Formation
• In-class process designed to balance skills and
  interests