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management of attention
: a compelling cause or vision, to give focus 
(b) The 
management of meaning
: the ability to communicate 
(c) The 
management of trust
: being consistent and honest 
(d) The 
management of self
: being aware of personal weaknesses and strengths 
Other tasks of the leader that Bennis sees as important are: 
(a) 
Constantly reminding people why their work is important 
(b) 
Creating an atmosphere of trust 
(c) 
Encouraging curiosity and risk taking in the organisation culture 
(d) 
Fostering an atmosphere of 'hope' which can be particularly helpful when things go wrong 
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PART D: LEADING AND MANAGING INDIVIDUALS AND TEAMS 
 
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Bennis believes that leadership in the modern age is a 
shared task
, with power spread around rather 
than centralised. It could be that the most important role of modern leaders is deciding who will be in 
their teams. 
5.3.4 Heifetz: dispersed leadership 
This approach recognises the importance of social relations, the need for a leader to be accepted and 
the fact that nobody will be an ideal leader in every circumstance. Also referred to as 'informal' or 
'emergent', it proposes that individuals at all organisational levels can exert a 'leadership influence'. 
Heifetz (1994) distinguishes between the exercise of 'leadership' and the exercise of 'authority'. This 
separates leadership from the formal organisational hierarchy and traditional positions of 'power'. The 
leader can only be identified by examining relationships with the 'followers' in the group – they could 
quite easily be someone who 'emerges', rather than someone who has been predefined as the leader 
from the outset. 
This approach is more sociological and political in its basis than traditional management thinking, 
drawing as it does upon the prevailing organisational culture and context. A leader's individual qualities 
are less important than the leadership process, and the relationships created and sustained within it. 
5.3.5 An appraisal of contingency theory 
Contingency theory usefully makes people aware of the factors affecting the choice of leadership style. 
However, Schein has pointed out that: 
(a) 
Key variables such as task structure, power and relationships are difficult to measure in practice. 
(b) 
Contingency theories do not always take into account the need for the leader to have technical 
competence relevant to the task. 
Perhaps the major difficulty for any leader seeking to apply contingency theory, however, is actually to 
modify their behaviour as the situation changes. 
PER performance objective PO5 requires you to contribute to the effective leadership and management 
of an organisation – managing yourself, others and resources effectively. The material covered in this 
chapter will help you achieve this.