Theory and Practice Group 2

Authentic Leadership represents one of the newest areas of leadership research. It focus on whether leadership is genuine and REAL Different than other theories, authentic leadership is still in the formative phase of development. As a result, authentic leadership needs to be considered tentatively. It is likely to change as new research is conducted and publish in regards to this theory. Recently Society has been energized and has high demand of authentic leadership.

People demand for Trustworthy leaders make Authentic Leadership a Public Interest.
It was identified earlier in transformational leadership research but never fully articulated.

 One

should note that among leadership scholars, there is no single accepted definition of authentic leadership.

Multiple

definitions (Point of Views and Emphasis)

Viewpoints to Consider Intrapersonal Developmental Intrapersonal

 Intrapersonal:

focus on the leader and what happens within the leader:

Self-knowledge Self-regulation Self-concept

 Developmental prospective Nurtured in a leader Not a fixed trait It

{Avolio and Associates 2003}

is suggested that authentic leadership is composed of four distinct but related components:

Self-Awareness Internalized Mutual Perspective Balance processing Relational Transparency

 Stresses

that authentic leadership is rational created by leaders and followers together.

Leaders Efforts

Response of Followers

 Practical

Approach Approach

Theoretical

Practical Approach: Two main practical approaches generated through research

Robert Terrys Authentic Leadership Approach

(1993) Bill Georges Authentic Leadership Approach (2005)

 Robert

Terrys Authentic Leadership Approach (1993)

Practice Oriented It utilizes a formula or guide for how to do

leadership.
Action Centered Strive for What is RIGHT
Two Questions are to be asked: What is really, really going on? What are WE going to do about it?

(2) Steps
Locate the problem in the diagnostic Wheel Strategically select and appropriate response to the problem.

The authentic actions wheel provides a strong structure that allows leaders to categorize concerns in to six major areas.

 Bill

Georges Authentic Leadership Approach (2005)

Focuses on the characteristics of the authentic

leaders Describes essential qualities of the authentic leadership and how individuals can develop these qualities if they want to become authentic leaders.

Authentic leaders have a desire to serve others; they know themselves and feel free to lead from their core values.

Five Practical Basic Characteristics

Understand their purpose Strong Values Establish trusting relationships Demonstrate Self-Discipline

and act on their values Passionate about their mission

Real Sense of Purpose Passionate interest in work Understand values and behave toward others based on these values Strong Relationships Connect with others Transparency and access to establish trust , loyalty and commitment Self-Discipline and Consistent Compassion and Heat are key factors in authentic leadership.

These five components provide a guideline for what to do to become an authentic leader.

Theoretical Approach
Initial stages of development Emerging social science literature Peoples interest in Authenticity of Leaders (First Article

Appearing in 2003) Summit at the University of Nebraska generated Leadership Qualities (2005) and Authentic leadership Theory and Process {Origins, Effects and development}

Why Interest in Authenticity of our leaders and leadership?

National Events Economic downfall and fraud Unethical and ineffective leaders Researchers felt the need to expand on the meaning of authentic transformational leadership.

Factors that Influence Authentic Leadership

Positive Psychological Capacities Moral Reasoning Critical Life Events

Moral Reasoning is another factor that can influence authentic leadership. It is the capacity to make ethical decision about issues of right of wrong and good or bad. Critical Life Events are major events that shape peoples lives, they can be positive events, life receiving unexpected promotions, having a child or reading an important book or they can be negative events such as cancer or a negative evaluation.

Although in its early stage of development, the authentic leadership approach has several strengths.

It fulfills an expressed need for trustworthy leadership in society. During the past 20 years, failures in public and private leadership have created distrust in people. Authentic leadership helps to fill a void and provides an answer to people who are searching for good and sound leadership in an uncertain world.
Authentic leadership provides broad guidelines for individuals who want to become authentic leaders. Both the practical and theoretical approaches clearly point to what leaders should do to become authentic leaders. Similarly, the social science literature emphasizes that it is important for leaders to have self-awareness, an internalized moral perspective, balanced processing, and relational transparency to be authentic. Taken together, these approaches provide a map for becoming an authentic leader. Similar to transformational and servant leadership, authentic leadership has an explicit moral dimension. Underlying both the practical and theoretical approaches is the idea that authenticity requires leaders to do what is right and good for their followers and society. Authentic leaders understand their own values; place followers needs above their own, and work with followers to align their interests in order to create a greater common good. Authentic leadership emphasizes that authentic values and behaviors can be developed in leaders over time. Authentic leadership is not an attribute that only some people exhibit: Everyone can develop authenticity and learn to be more authentic. For example, leaders can learn to become more aware and transparent, or they can learn to be more relational and other-directed. Leaders can also develop moral reasoning capacities. Furthermore, Luthans and Avolio (2003) contended that leaders could learn to develop positive psychological capacities such as confidence, hope, optimism, and could use these to create a positive organizational climate. They contended that there are many ways that leaders can learn to become authentic leaders over a lifetime. Finally, authentic leadership can be measured using the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ). The ALQ is a validated, theory-based instrument comprising 16 items that measure four factors of authentic leadership (Avolio et al., 2009 Walllumbwa et al., 2008). As research moves forward in refining authentic leadership theory, it is valuable to have an established instrument of this theory-based and can be used to measure authentic leadership in future research.

The concepts and ideas presented in the practical approaches to Authentic Leadership, George (2003), and Terry (1993) have not been tested for their validity. The moral component of the Authentic Leadership is not completely explained because the way moral values like justice and community influence Authentic Leadership is not clear. The role of positive psychological capacities in Authentic Leadership needs further clarification. Some researchers argue that the inclusion of positive psychological capacities in Authentic Leadership broadens the assemble of authentic leadership too much, and makes it difficult to measure. It is not clear how Authentic Leadership results in positive organizational outcomes. There are still questions whether Authentic Leadership approach is effective, in what contexts it is effective, and whether Authentic Leadership results in productive outcomes.

Bettys leadership was authentic because she was genuine, dependable, transparent, and responsive to peoples needs and values. At her first press conference, Betty spoke out in support of abortion rights, women in politics, and the Equal Rights Amendment. She had the internalized moral perspective component of the authentic leadership style because she didnt let outside pressures to influence her moral standards and values. At that time less than half of American women were employed outside the home and womens earnings were only 38% of their male counterparts (Spraggins, 2005). Betty had the resilience factor of authentic leadership because she recovered from breast cancer, and alcoholism, and prescription drug addiction. She bounced back from these challenging negative events in her life and became a stronger person. Another authentic leadership factor present in Bettys life was critical life events. Even though some events in her life were negative, she told her life stories and experiences to the media because she wanted to inspire other people who were in the same situation as her. She became more authentic and understood her role. She said: Not my power, but the power of the position, a power which could be used to help. (Ford, 1978,p.194) Moral reasoning factor of authentic leadership enables leaders like Betty to promote justice and achieve what is right for the community. Betty helped to establish the nonprofit Betty Ford Center in 1982 in Rancho Mirage. There are male and females but the treatment is gender specific. She was the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991, and the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1999 because of her activism in the area of alcoholism and drug abuse recovery. Self-awareness is a component of authentic leadership. Betty always understood herself, including her strengths and weaknesses, and the impact of her actions in other people. Transparency is another component of the authentic leadership. Betty was open and honest when she had personal problems. She had the courage to go public with her breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. Also, she spoke about her dependency on alcohol and pain killers and how she hoped the treatment would be a solution for her addiction problems as well as for the other people undergoing treatment in the center.