Social Action, Behavior, and Leadership: Key Concepts
Action and Sociology
Individual action ultimately comes from ideas and beliefs that we place in our minds. When that action somehow influences our social environment, we can say that it is a social action. According to Max Weber, “Sociology is a science which seeks understanding and interpretation of social action from her, get a causal explanation of both the course of social action itself and its effects.”
Definition of Social Action
A social action is any action that has a sense tied to those who perform it, affects the behavior of others, and the action is guided by that affection. “Action” refers to human behavior in which the individual or individuals who produce it associate it with a subjective sense. Social action will relate to the conduct of others.
Weber defines sociology as a science of social action and argues that human action is social as long as the subject of the action embodies it into a subjective sense. That is, the characters in a social action are in the perception and understanding the subject of the behavior of others. For Durkheim, the social character of human action is objective because it reflects the collective ways of acting, thinking, and feeling external to the individual, exercising coercive power over his conduct.
The Forms of Social Action
Weber identifies four types of social action, as ideal models:
- Traditional (custom): This is almost negligible.
- Affective (emotional): This is of an irrational character driven mainly by emotions such as love, hate, etc.
- Rational under values: This is also pursuing a rational end and is guided by principles or moral standards.
- Actions to achieve a goal: These actions are driven by rational principles, rules, etc., in which the rational component still implies the time of the community, and corresponds with intellectual formations such as religion, ideology, or ethics.
Social action is any way of thinking, feeling, and acting as guidance is structured according to models that are collective, that is, they are shared by members of a community.
Conduct
Conduct is the mode of being of the individual and joint actions conducted to adapt to their environment. Behavior is a response to a motivation that involves psychological, physiological, and motor components. The conduct of an individual, considered in a given space and time, is called behavior.
Behavior has been studied in psychology since its inception. John B. Watson, a representative of behavioral psychology or behaviorism, posited that psychology, rather than relying on introspection, should limit its study to the observation of the individual in a given situation.
All behavior is determined by multiple factors: genetic or hereditary and environmental or situational. The first refers to the innate behavior (instinctively) that exists in the individual at birth, the second to the actual behavior that occurs before a given situation (learned).
It was long thought that much of human behavior was instinctive: the individual throughout his life carried with it a repertoire of organized responses that matched the different situations. Today we know that the instincts learned responses overlap, and that instinctive behavior is characteristic of animal species, although they may also develop patterns of behavior learned. The study of behavior is not limited to investigating the evolution of certain formative stages in the individual, such as childhood or adolescence, but is linked to their physical development from birth to death.
Behavior is regulated not only by the needs of the role but also by the expected audience. Each one is an actor with a variety of audiences: children in the house, the neighbors, office mates, the other students in the university.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
- Lower needs
- Basic physical (physiological)
- Safety and security needs
- Higher needs
- Social needs (belonging, love)
- Esteem needs (ego)
- Self-actualization needs
Herzberg’s Hygiene and Motivating Factors
- Hygiene factors: Act mainly by default; action prevails dissatisfaction.
- Motivating factors: Act mainly by excess; predominant action satisfaction.
What Leaders Do
Leaders establish goals, decide the strategies, motivate, determine the mission, build a corporate culture, get results, and use different leadership styles.
Emotional Intelligence: Fundamental Skills
- Awareness: Emotional self-awareness, self, self-confidence
- Self: Self-control, reliability, awareness, adaptability, achievement orientation, initiative
- Social Awareness: Empathy, organizational awareness, service orientation
- Social Skills: Visionary leadership, influence, developing others, communication, change catalyst, conflict management, creating links, teamwork
Types of Leadership
Coercive Leadership
This style does one of the basic tools of leadership: motivating people by showing them how their work fits into the great mission that everyone in the organization shares equally. The lack of a good vision involves a loss of clarity and commitment, and leaves people working outside their own work, wondering: “What is all this?”
Authoritative Leadership
It is far more effective leadership, dramatically improving such clarity. The leader is a visionary; they motivate people, clarifying how their work fits perfectly into the full picture that includes the organization. People who work for leaders in this style fully understand that their work matters and know why. Authoritative leadership also maximizes commitment to the objectives and the effective strategy of the organization. By framing the individual tasks within a larger vision, the authoritative leader defines the standards that operate effectively in the reality of their corporate vision. An authoritative leader effectively describes its endpoint but generally leaves much room for people to effectively find their own way. Authoritative leaders give their people the freedom to innovate, experiment, and take calculated risks.
Affiliative Leadership
If a coercive leader requires a person to “do as I say,” and asks for guidance to the person “come with me,” the affiliative leader tells the person “people come first.” This leadership style revolves around people – those who use it value the individual and their emotions over the tasks and objectives. The affiliative leader strives greatly for employees to always be happy, and the relationship between them is the most harmonious. Managed through the development of affective relationships, and then pick the desired result of this approach, mainly because it creates a strong loyalty. The affiliative style also has a very positive effect on communication. People who are comfortable with each other talk a lot. They share ideas and inspiration. The affiliative style gradually increases flexibility; friends trust each other, allowing patterns of innovation and risk-taking to develop fully.
Democratic Leadership
The leader makes decisions after group discussion enhanced by thanking followers. The opinions of its assessment criteria and standards are explicit and clear. When it comes to solving a problem, the leader offers several solutions, among which the group has to choose.
Exemplary Leadership
Requires the right combination of heart and head, between feeling and thought. These are the two wings that can fly to a leader. The interaction between the four fundamental domains of emotional intelligence: Each of the four domains of emotional intelligence (self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management) provides a core set of resonant leadership skills. Self-awareness is an essential foundation of emotionally intelligent leadership. Self-awareness (unfortunately bypassed competition in the workplace) is the foundation of other skills of emotional intelligence. Unless we recognize our own emotions, we can hardly manage them and understand them in others.
Formative Leadership
Accept reality as it is, but does not act according to its dictates. This is a leadership that elevates the group above the immediate needs and common goals – to aim higher. The strength of formative leadership is characterized by its ability to produce change processes in the group and grow beyond the needs, interests, and immediate goals of the leaders.