Making the Team: A Guide for Managers

Leadership Behavior: Routes to Influence

Leadership is the ability to influence people in such a way as to achieve desired objectives. The objectives might be those as defined by the leader (e.g., a manager-led team) or those defined by the team (e.g., a self-managed or self-designing team). The ability to influence others is a form of power. There are many types of influence: Some involve coercive tactics; others rely on cooperative tactics.

Much of what we argue in this section is based upon empirical psychological research (i.e., not case studies or casual observation). Each of the principles we derive here has been replicated and is, therefore, known to be a robust phenomenon. Some leaders may find it peculiar that we draw upon psychology ...