Leadership

“Leadership is the quality of behavior of individuals whereby they guide people or their activities in organizing efforts” — Chester I. Barnard

“Leadership is the ability of a superior to induce subordinates to work with confidence and I zeal” — Koontz and ‘Donnell

“Leadership is the process by which an executive imaginatively directs, guides and influences the work of others in attaining specified goals.” — Theo Haimann

Leadership may be defined as a position of power held by an individual in a group, which provides him with an opportunity to exercise interpersonal influence on the group members for mobilizing and directing their efforts towards certain goals. The leader is at the Centre of group’s power structure, keeps the group together, infuses life into it, moves it towards its goals and maintains its momentum.

For example, a leader of national or international standing commands widespread influence over a large number of people while the influence of the leader of a small work group in an organization is very limited. Both are leaders in their own right and fulfill our definition of leadership.

Leadership is an influential process. The leader is in a position to shape, regulate, control and change the attitudes, behaviour and performance of his group members. The latter are supposed to comply with the former’s desires and directives and partially suspend their own judgment and discretion. There exists a particular relationship between the leader and his group members which is characterized by interpersonal and social interaction.

Nature of Leadership

(i) Leadership derives from power and is similar to, yet distinct from, management. In fact, “leadership” and “management” are different. There can be leaders of completely unorganized groups, but there can be managers only of organized groups. Thus it can be said that a manager is necessarily a leader but a leader may not be a manager.

(ii) Leadership is essential for managing. The ability to lead effectively is one of the keys to being an effective manager because she/he has to combine resources and lead a group to achieve objectives.

(iii) Leadership and motivation are closely interconnected. By understanding motivation, one can appreciate better what people want and why they act as they do. A leader can encourage or dampen workers motivation by creating a favorable or unfavorable working environment in the organization.

(iv) The essence of leadership is followership. In other words, it is the willingness of people to follow a person that makes that person a leader. Moreover, people tend to follow those whom they see as providing a means of achieving their desires, needs and wants.

(v) Leadership involves an unequal distribution of power between leaders and group members. Group members are not powerless; they can shape group activities in some ways. Still, the leader will usually have more power than the group members.

(vi) Leaders can influence the followers’ behavior in some ways. In fact, leaders can influence workers either to do ill or well for the company. The leader must be able to empower and motivate the followers to the cause.

(vii) The leader must co-exist with the subordinates or followers and must have the clear idea about their demands and ambitions. This creates loyalty and trust in subordinates for their leader.

(viii) Leadership is to be concerned about values. Followers learn ethics and values from their leaders. Leaders are the real teachers of ethics, and they can reinforce ideas. It is very important for leaders to make positive statements of ethics if they are not hypocritical.

(ix) Leading is a very demanding job for both physically and psychologically. The leader must have the strength, power, and ability to meet the bodily requirements; zeal, energy, and patience to meet the mental requirements for leading.

Types of Leader

1. Managerial Leader

A managerial leader is the least effective of the five types of leaders. They have the least influence. People only follow them because they have to. They are not in the position to serve others. Their desire is to be served by others because they are in the position. They see others as tools to use to complete the objective for the day. They prefer to make decisions. Their weakness is character development.

Here’s a brief review of characteristics:

• Character is weak.
• Desire is “to be served” rather than “to serve.”
• They have a scarcity mindset.
• Competency can range from undeveloped to highly developed.
• Focus is on managing (directing/controlling) people and processes.
• Values the position more than the people.
• Strength comes from power, control, formal authority, and personal results.

2. Relational Leader

A relational leader builds relationships in order to influence others. People want to follow them because of who they are, not what they know. They develop mutual respect with others and work well with them. Although people want to follow them, they have not developed specialized knowledge. Their weakness is not making the necessary sacrifices to develop their competency.

Here’s a brief review of characteristics:

• Character is strong.
• Desire is to serve.
• They have an abundance mindset.
• Competency is undeveloped and generalized.
• Focus is on leading (influencing/releasing) people.
• Values people more than the position.
• Strength comes from relationships and moral authority.

3. Motivational Leader

A motivational leader seeks mutual benefit for themselves, others, and the organization. People want to follow them because of who they are and what they know. They influence others from the outside. They are process focused. They are trusted and deliver results for themselves, their families, their team, their organization, their customers, their suppliers, and their community. Their weakness is not making the necessary sacrifices to reproduce other motivational leaders.

Here’s a brief review of characteristics:

• Character is strong.
• Desire is to serve.
• They have an abundance mindset.
• Competency is developed and specialized.
• Focus is on leading (influencing/releasing) people, managing the processes, and getting results.
• Values people more than the position.
• Strength comes from relationships, moral authority, and team results.

4. Inspirational Leader

An inspirational leader inspires managerial and relational leaders to become motivational leaders. Their focus is on growing themselves in order to inspire others to grow. They influence others on the inside. They are people-focused not process-focused. They focus heavily on character development. True inspirational leaders are followed because of how much they care and who they are on the inside. They are inspired by the growth of those following them.

• Character is stronger.
• Desire is to serve and develop others.
• They have an abundance mindset.
• Competency is highly developed and specialized.
• Focus is on leading (influencing/releasing) people and developing motivational leaders.
• Values people more than the position.
• Strength comes from relationships, moral authority, and the growth of others.

5. Transformational Leader

A transformational leader’s passion and purpose is to transform others. They are the most influential of the five types of leaders and are highly respected. Their reputation precedes them. They are well known for developing leaders. Their influence touches people in all industries and across multiple generations. They have influenced many leaders for many years. Their influence is continuously being transferred through many other leaders at many different times in multiple locations.

Here’s a brief review of characteristics:

• Character is strongest
• Desire is to serve and to develop others.
• They have an abundance mindset.
• Competency is highly developed and specialized.
• Focus is on leading (influencing/releasing) people and developing motivational and inspirational leaders.
• Values people more than the position.
• Strength comes from relationships, moral authority, growth of others, and the respect they have earned.

Importance of Leadership

Leadership is an important function of management which helps to maximize efficiency and to achieve organizational goals. The following points justify the importance of leadership in a concern.

1. Initiates action

Leader is a person who starts the work by communicating the policies and plans to the subordinates from where the work actually starts.

2. Motivation

A leader proves to be playing an incentive role in the concern’s working. He motivates the employees with economic and non-economic rewards and thereby gets the work from the subordinates.

3. Providing guidance

A leader has to not only supervise but also play a guiding role for the subordinates. Guidance here means instructing the subordinates the way they have to perform their work effectively and efficiently.

4. Creating confidence

Confidence is an important factor which can be achieved through expressing the work efforts to the subordinates, explaining them clearly their role and giving them guidelines to achieve the goals effectively. It is also important to hear the employees with regards to their complaints and problems.

5. Building morale

Morale denotes willing co-operation of the employees towards their work and getting them into confidence and winning their trust. A leader can be a morale booster by achieving full co-operation so that they perform with best of their abilities as they work to achieve goals.

6. Builds work environment

Management is getting things done from people. An efficient work environment helps in sound and stable growth. Therefore, human relations should be kept into mind by a leader. He should have personal contacts with employees and should listen to their problems and solve them. He should treat employees on humanitarian terms.

7. Co-ordination

Co-ordination can be achieved through reconciling personal interests with organizational goals. This synchronization can be achieved through proper and effective co-ordination which should be primary motive of a leader.