Chapter Recap

• Scholars generally agree on four leadership perspectives—the traits view, the style view, the situational view, and the functional view—to help clarify how leadership works in small groups.

• In addition to establishing a communication climate, productive leaders help prevent groupthink and deal with substantive and affective conflict in a group.

• Two of the most common approaches used for solving problems in groups are structured problem solving and group brainstorming.

• Groups commonly rely on three methods for decision making: decision by authority, decision by majority, and decision by consensus.

• To get the most out of group meetings, leaders must take responsibility for planning, conducting, and following up on/evaluating meetings.

1. Leading Hollywood

   Question

   Watch a film featuring strong leaders, such as Selma, Lincoln, The Imitation Game, The Help, or The Devil Wears Prada. How did the leaders in the film embody one or more of the views of leadership? Give specific examples. Did they adapt their styles to certain situations or people? How successful were their leadership styles? How do you think their leadership styles could be improved?

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   1. Watch a film featuring strong leaders, such as Selma, Lincoln, The Imitation Game, The Help, or The Devil Wears Prada. How did the leaders in the film embody one or more of the views of leadership? Give specific examples. Did they adapt their styles to certain situations or people? How successful were their leadership styles? How do you think their leadership styles could be improved?

2. Practicing Problem Solving

   Question

   Working with a small group of classmates, choose a campus problem—such as student parking, food services, or student health services—and apply the structured problem-solving approach to identify a potential solution. Share your solution with the rest of the class, and then analyze how well the group worked together using the structured problem-solving approach and what you would do differently in the future.

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   2. Working with a small group of classmates, choose a campus problem—such as student parking, food services, or student health services—and apply the structured problem-solving approach to identify a potential solution. Share your solution with the rest of the class, and then analyze how well the group worked together using the structured problem-solving approach and what you would do differently in the future.