AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP: ROLE OF POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY IN LEADERSHIP – Chapter 01

Authenticity has been explored throughout history, from Greek philosophers to the work of Shakespeare (“To thy own self be true.” –Polonius, Hamlet). Authentic leadership has been explored sporadically as part of modern management science, but found its highest levels of acceptance since Bill George’s 2003 book, Authentic Leadership.

Authentic leaders put legitimacy, ethics and positive psychological capacities first. Authentic leadership emphasizes how a leader can gain legitimacy and build trust through developing honest relationship with followers. Authentic leadership is defined in the following way:

This approach to leadership focuses on the ethical dimensions of the relationship between follower and leader and describes those behaviours that result in a trusting relationship. Authentic leaders have a positive outlook on life and are truthful and open in their interactions with others. They build trust with their subordinates and generate enthusiasm for project which enables effective individual and team performance.

Many researchers and practitioners have advocated for organizations to embrace the concept of authentic leadership because it can lead to stronger relationships and a commitment to the vision of the organization. The authentic leadership approach advocates for ethical standards rather than a focus on profit.

Components of Authentic leadership

The research on authentic leadership suggests that there are four major components, which are:-

An authentic leader shows self-awareness through reflecting on their own strengths, weakness and values. An authentic leader truly knows themselves and values their gifts and recognizes their limitations. When authentic leaders demonstrate relational transparency, they openly share their own thoughts and beliefs yet do not overly display their emotions to followers; they maintain a good balance.

Moreover, authentic leaders are balanced in their approach because they solicit opinions from subordinates and welcome opposing viewpoints and consider the value of these viewpoints in a fair manner. Authentic leaders also display a strong moral code that they demonstrate in their relationships and decision-making; this ethical foundation resistant to external forces.

1. Authentic leaders are characterized by a high level of self-awareness…->

Faking ethical constraints is a sign of inauthenticity and authentic leaders need to be both truthful and ethical. Moreover, it is difficult to be self-aware, transparent, and balanced in processing information without the moral maturity associated with a positive personal value system. Authentic leaders show self-awareness through ensuring that their internal values reflect their behaviours and this process of self-regulation enables authentic leaders to withstand external pressure and influence.

2. Authentic leaders admit mistakes and share their successes…->

It is important to distinguish relational transparency from impression management. Authentic leaders do not engage in impression management strategies yet persist in aligning their core values with their intentions and behaviours within the firm. When a leader displays relational transparency they share both their strengths and weaknesses with others. They display authenticity through admitting when they make mistakes and sharing their successes with their subordinates.

3. Authentic leadership is connected with sharing feelings and motives…->

In displaying relational transparency, authentic leaders share their feelings and motives. Authentic leaders are connected with their values and morals and share these values openly with others. When authentic leaders show relational transparency, they communicate openly and are real in their relationships with others.

Without sharing sensitive information, authentic leaders are open and honest in a genuine way and choose to share appropriate information. This aspect of authentic leadership demonstrates high self-awareness because authentic leaders understand what drives them to do well and allows them to build strong and authentic relationships with their followers.

4. Authentic leaders have an internalized moral perspective…->

This internalized moral perspective results in ethical decision-making and behaviour. Moreover, authentic leaders balance information before making a decision and they based these decisions on their core set of values.

Authentic Leadership Programs

It also appears that organizations can implement authentic leadership programs to enable managers to become more authentic. The concept of authentic leadership is based on a mixture of individual differences and skills so is a multi-dimensional concept. These types of training and development programs can focus on allowing managers to become more self-aware so they are in tune with their values.

An Authentic Leadership Dossier describes the four key components of authentic leadership with a particular focus on development of self-awareness in order for managers to:

The dossier also suggests that organizations can develop authentic leadership interventions that allow managers to become more self-aware.

Significance of Authentic Leadership

This type of genuine leadership style promotes open communication within a team and has wide-reaching benefits within a department. Employee morale is increased when team members feel that their concerns can be voiced and addressed. And productivity is increased when team members work together under a strong leader. Authentic leadership also promotes a healthy company culture and in effect creates a positive brand voice in the marketplace.

Characteristics Of Authentic Leaders

In order to be a successful leader and encourage increased employee performance, an authentic leader must possess several characteristics, including:

Developing Authentic Leadership

An authentic leader must commit to ongoing development. The following are steps we can take to become a more authentic leader:

***To be continued in Chapter 02 (Transactional vs Authentic Leadership, Unearthing Our Authentic Leadership, Authentic Leadership and Emotional Intelligence)

Link to Chapter 02:

AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP: ROLE OF POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY IN LEADERSHIP – Chapter 02

Content Curated By: Dr Shoury Kuttappa

DECISION MAKING: COGNITIVE BEHAVIORS INVOLVED – (CHAPTER 02)

***Continued from Chapter 01 (Covered previously: Decision Making, its styles, different Cognitive Biases)

Link to Chapter 01:

https://shouryoryx.wordpress.com/2022/02/08/decision-making-cognitive-behaviours-involved-chapter-01%ef%bf%bc

Common Patterns in Decision Making

The upside of understanding various patterns in decision-making is that they lead us to think about how the mind preforms its many complex functions in countless situations and how our awareness of time, space, and the various narrative and cognitive frameworks can help decode the factors that shape our decisions.

Here is a graphic presentation of what author Venkatesh Rao puts forward in his book. The graphic shows “Information Location” across the x-axis going from Internal to External and “Visibility of Mental Models” on the y-axis going from Low to High.

The distinctions among the four classes of basic decision patterns (above) are not arbitrary. They are based on the distribution and visibility of situational information. Information originates either in the decision-maker’s head or in the environment, and we either consciously recognize or are oblivious to the influence it has on our behaviour. 

The ethical principles of decision making vary considerably. Some common choices of principles and the methods which seem to match them include:

Path dependency

Path dependence is when the decisions presented to people are dependent on previous decisions or experiences made in the past. Path Dependence exists when the conditions for decision making is not based on current conditions, but rather has been formed by a sequence of past actions each leading to a distinct outcome. A common example is in Performance Management Systems.

Decision making in groups

Decision making in groups is sometimes examined separately as process and outcome. Process refers to the group interactions. Some relevant ideas include coalitions among participants as well as influence, consensus and persuasion. In addition to the different processes involved in making decisions, group decision support systems (GDSS- protocol a group uses to choose among scenario planning alternatives) may have different decision rules, like:

Other less desirable group decision rules (group think) are:

Plurality and dictatorship are less desirable as decision rules because they do not require the involvement of the broader group to determine a choice. Thus, they do not engender commitment to the course of action chosen. An absence of commitment from individuals in the group can be problematic during the implementation phase of a decision.

Decision making in one’s personal life

Some of the decision making techniques that we use in everyday life include:

Decision making in healthcare

In the health care field, the steps of making a decision are explained by the SHARE model:

Decision making in business and management

Ideally, business and management systems may be set up to allow decision making at the lowest possible level. There is literature available on many models, some of which include:

Data-based business decision making may include the following cycle:

Caveat: There are no perfect decision making rules. Depending on how the rules are implemented in practice and the situation, all of these can lead to situations where either no decision is made or to situations where decisions made are inconsistent with one another over time.

Content Curated By: Dr Shoury Kuttappa.