Applicability of the Kouzes and Posner leadership model

Kouzes Posner

Kouzes-Posner Model: The usefulness of their Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI)

The Kouzes-Posner Model of Leadership is an attempt by the researchers James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner to quantify leadership according to a reliable survey instrument. To create their exam, later named the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) they decided to ask 'ordinary' people in enterprises, rather than industry leaders, thirty-eight open-ended questions about what these individuals considered stellar leadership experiences. The questions included: "Who initiated the project? How were you prepared for this experience? What special techniques and strategies did you use to get other people involved in the project? What did you learn about leadership from this experience?" ("About LPI -- the methodology," 2002, LPI Online).

The author's definition of 'ordinary' people included middle and senior level managers in private and public sector organizations. They later widened their range of interviewees to community leaders, student leaders, church leaders, government leaders, and hundreds of others in non-managerial positions ("About LPI -- the methodology," 2002, LPI Online). The surveys were open-ended, in other words, the batteries of questions were not merely laundry lists of leadership qualities, and the interviews sometimes took up to "two hours of reflection and expression" ("About LPI -- the methodology," 2002, LPI Online). To obtain a wider range of data than was possible through such an intensive method, they distributed a shorter, two-page form that was completed by another group of 80 managers, and assistant researchers conducted an additional 42 in-depth interviews ("About LPI -- the methodology," 2002, LPI Online).

This data collection method seems to combine both breadth and depth and includes a refreshing sample of leadership examples outside of the world of private, corporate enterprise as well as upper level management. The conclusions drawn from this combination of anecdotal and quantitative data, according to the Kouzes and Posner showed that leadership can be boiled down to what they call "The Five Practices: Challenging the process, inspiring a shared vision, enabling others to act, modeling the way, encouraging the heart ("About LPI -- the methodology," 2002, LPI Online). Given the extensive amount of data collected by the authors, these conclusions seem, at best, to be somewhat generic and hardly counterintuitive. While it is difficult to disagree with any of these principles, on the other hand, the additional value or insight gleaned seems fairly minimal.

For example, regarding "challenging the process," Kouzes and Posner note that persistent people take risks and look for opportunities because they are determined to achieve their goals, even in the face of adversity, hardly an earth-shattering notion (Kouzes & Posner 2007: 169). They also stress the need for a vision, or a common mission, urging leaders to "envision the future by imagining exciting and ennobling possibilities" and enlist others to collaborate on achieving that vision -- in short, use vision combined with team-work (Kouzes & Posner 2007: 26). "Enabling others to act is not just a practice or technique. it's a key step in a psychological process that affects individuals' intrinsic needs for self-determination" -- in short, treat employees as if their input is valued, and don't micromanage (Kouzes & Posner 2007: 265). You must model or "personify" the shared values, and not simply deploy a do as I say, not as I do approach and reward employees for meeting small goals along the way, not just the final goal (Kouzes & Posner 2007: 76). "Recognize contributions by showing appreciation for individual excellence," to encourage the heart -- celebrate individuals as well as the collective (Kouzes & Posner 2007: 26). Again, while difficult to disagree with, the newness of the paradigm seems less than awe-inspiring; unless you 'buy' that their methodological approach was particularly useful in creating a new assessment tool.

But there also seems to be a lack of a real match between Kouzes and Posner's own extensive process of data accumulation, and their product, that of the nature of the Leadership Personality Inventory (LPI) itself, which they recommend to all organizations that use their leadership model. The LPI is a quantitative survey, without the additional benefit of interviews and anecdotes that helps flesh out a picture of what type of leadership strategy is being deployed, the type of qualitative research undertaken by Kouzes and Posner at the beginning of their research, upon which the model is based.

This is not to say that the book or the model is entirely without value. Their book contains some valuable examples of managers who took great personal initiative when leading, and these examples should be heeded by upper level management -- rather than simply hand down dictates, channeling the creativity and drive of employees with leadership qualities is essential.