Leading Human Resources: An Analysis (part 14)

Environmental Variables

The environment in an organization consists of the leader, that leader's follower(s), supervisor(s), associates, organization, job demands, and other variables such as time. This list is not all-inclusive, but it contains some of the interacting components that tend to be important to a leader. As illustrated in Figure 1, the environment a leader faces may have some other situational variables that are unique to it, as well as an external environment that has an impact on it.

Figure 1 

Interacting Components of an Organizational Setting

Except for job demands, each of these environmental variables can be viewed as having two major components---style and exceptions. Thus, our list of variables is expanded to include the following:

Style Defined

The style of leaders is the consistent behavior patterns that they use when they are working with and through other people, as perceived by those people. These patterns emerge as leaders are seen to respond in the same fashion under similar conditions; they develop habits of action that become somewhat predictable to those who work with them. (Some writers, myself included, use the terms style and personality interchangeably. In a later post, I will distinguish between those two terms.)

Expectations Defined

Expectations are the perceptions of appropriate behavior for one's own role or position or one's perception of the roles of others within the organization. In other words, the expectations of individuals define for them what they should do under various circumstances in their particular job and how they think others---their supervisors, peers, and followers---should behave in relation to their positions. To say that a person has shared expectations with another person means that each of the individuals involved perceives accurately and accepts a personal role and the role of the other. If expectations are to be compatible, it is important to share common goals and objectives. Although two individuals may have differing styles because their roles require different styles of behavior, it is imperative for an organization's effectiveness that they perceive and accept the institution's goals and objectives as their own.

The task of diagnosing a leader environment is very complex when we realize that the leader is the pivotal point around which all of the other environmental variables interact, as shown in figure 1. In a sense, all these variables are communicating role expectations to the leader.

*SOURCE: MANAGEMENT OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR: LEADING HUMAN RESOURCES 8TH ED., 2001, PAUL HERSEY, KENNETH H. BLANCHARD, DEWEY E. JOHNSON, PGS. 144-146*

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