Exercise 1 APA 6th Edition

Name and Surname: ___________________________________ Date: ____/____/____

Point out the errors in the manuscript and indicate where they are found: 1. Error: ____________________________________________________________ Location: ______________________ 2. Error: ____________________________________________________________ Location: ______________________ 3. Error: ____________________________________________________________ Location: ______________________ 4. Error: ____________________________________________________________ Location: ______________________ 5. Error: ____________________________________________________________ Location: ______________________ 6. Error: ____________________________________________________________ Location: ______________________ 7. Error: ____________________________________________________________ Location: ______________________ 8. Error: ____________________________________________________________ Location: ______________________ 9. Error: ____________________________________________________________ Location: ______________________ 10. Error: ____________________________________________________________ Location: ______________________

Leadership, Myth or reality? Fernando A. DAlessio For the last twenty five years the most controversial and analyzed topic in business schools has been leadership. One of the key issues is to define which indicator to use to be able to say that a person is a leader or that he or she may have the traits that would turn him or her into a leader. The act of leadership is such an old topic as humanity itself. Therefore, in this high competitive and globalized economy, the need of leaders is extremely important. Drucker (1954), in his seminal book The Practice of Management once wrote, Leadership is of major importance () Nonetheless, leadership cannot be created or promoted. It cannot be taught or learned (p. 158). If Drucker said so, we shall take it under consideration and think about his powerful statement. Bennis and Nanus (1997) indicated there are a series of myths around leadership: (a) leadership is a capability; (b) leaders are born, not made; (c) leaders are charismatic; (d) leadership only exists at top management levels; (e) the leader supervises, leads, influences; and (f) the only task a leader has is to increase value on shareholders (p. 2). Are all these assumptions myth or reality? Burns (1978) stated an excellent definition of leadership that is frequently used
leadership is the reciprocal process used by people with certain motives and values to mobilize various economic, political, etc. resources, in a context of competence and conflict to achieve goals independently or mutually embraced by leaders and followers (Burns, 1978, p. 425). The major contributions of Burns are the notions he denominated as transformational and transactional leadership. Transformational leadership raises both the leader and his followers to higher levels of motivation and morality; both features of authentic leadership. Transactional leadership is leadership in which the leader exchanges values with his or her followers and acts in order to earn the votes of his or her followers.

Bass (1985) identified nine dimensions of leadership behaviors: five in transformational leadership and four in transactional leadership. These five dimensions 1

involve various personal characteristics. They evidence the transformational leader is the true leader. Regarding transactional leadership, the behaviors materialized are aimed at monitoring and controlling employees through rational or economic means (Bass & Avolio, 1993). Table 1 summarizes these dimensions or leadership behaviors. Table 1 Leadership behaviors
Transformational Idealized influence attributes Idealized influences behavior Inspirational motivation Intellectual stimulation Individualized consideration Transactional Contingent reward Management by - exception - active Passive avoidant Management by exception - passive Laissez-faire

Organizations usually operate transactionally. Business schools teach how to deal in this way when talking about incentives and disincentives, hierarchy and promotions (contingent reward), following manuals, procedures, and organizational charts (managementby- exception), or, finally let the waters calm down (laissez-faire). Although both behaviors may be present in the managerial action, with much emphasis in transactional behavior, and provided management has an eminent short-term character, how can we measure leadership? There are several tools that may help us such as the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire MLQ (Avolio & Bass, 2004). And, once again, the eternal question: are leaders born or made? They are born and they are made, because there is always the genetic factor plus a lot of work to enhance an individuals attributes. But opportunity is a paramount and it should be taken with conviction. Certainly, the human being is the most complex black box that psychologists, anthropologists, physicians, administrators, and other professionals have tried to understand with little success. The difficult interactions of the six facets that outline each of the five domains of the personality are, in part, responsible for this fact. Costa and McCrae (1992) in

their NEO PI-R personality inventory, proposed their five domains: neuroticism, extraversion, openness to new experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness. Personality domains and their facets are present in the managerial activity. The fact that some managers have greater values in certain facets than in others indicates they are related to leadership behaviors. In-depth research at CENTRUM Catlica during the last four years has attempted to correlate the three leadership behaviors with the five domains of personality on different demographic variables such as sex, age, working experience, profession, and university of origin, among others, with a population of MBA students. Likewise, the measurement of two human characteristics that are critical for managers and for leaders have been introduced: critical thinking and emotional intelligence. Watson and Glaser (1980), professors at Columbia University, developed the Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal WGCTA as a tool to measure the abilities to determine a final critical thinking score based on: inference, recognition of assumptions, deduction, interpretation and evaluation of arguments, which are critical aspects of a leader and a good manager. Emotional intelligence is also a crucial attribute in a leader because a leader needs to perceive, understand and manage emotions to facilitate thought. These are the four components of the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test MSCEIT (Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso, 2002). These four branches are generated by eight areas, combined in two types of emotional intelligence: experiential and strategic. This research proposal is presented as a systemic vision in Graph 1.

Graph 1. A Systemic Vision In summary, much has been written and offered about leadership, a crucial human attribute. Leadership is critical in this competitive global economy where organizations that count on with real leaders can become leading corporations. Nevertheless, it seems that little or nothing has been achieved up to now, not only in Peru but worldwide. Given its relevance, the subject has not yet received all the attention it deserves. Researchers and managers from developed countries think they are the only capable of pursuing these studies. The advances at CENTRUM have no precedent. They can be replicated in every type of organization worldwide. Very interesting results have been found in this experiment that indicates leadership is a necessary and unquestionable global reality, unfortunately, not easily read.

REFERENCES Avolio, B. J., & Bass, B. M. (2004). Multifactor leadership questionnaire. Manual and sampler test (Third Edition). Redwood City, CA: Mind Garden. Bennis, W., & Nanus, B. (1997). Leaders: The strategies for taking charge. New York: Harper & Row. Bass, B. M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations. New York: The Free Press. Bass, B.M., & Avolio, B.J. (1993). Transformational leadership and organizational culture. Public Administration Quarterly, 17(1), 112-120. Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership. New York: Harper & Row. Drucker, P. (1954). The practice of management. New York: Harper & Row. Mayer, J. D., Salovey, P., & Caruso, D. R. (2002). Mayer-Salovey-Caruso emotional intelligence test (MSCEIT). User's manual. North Tonawanda, NY: Multi-Health Systems. Watson, G., & Glaser, E. M. (1980). Watson-Glaser critical thinking appraisal. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.