LEADERSHIP

Leadership

Leadership

Introduction

The definitions of the leadership role vary widely. Some definitions of leadership are based on leader characteristics, some on leader behaviours, still others on outcomes or end results. The general agreement exists that someone is needed to serve as the agent for guiding and encouraging people to work together. Leadership has often been described as the art, skill or process of influencing people to work towards the achievement of group, or larger organizational goals. But there are also many factors that are often outside a leader's direct control, no matter how astute, insightful, and influential the leader may be, e.g. Labour markets, environmental factors, and policies (Ivancevich 2002). Great leaders are people who make good decisions based on fact not what they want. They choose what the people want not what will just benefit them. Leaders are people who don't care what other people think but they lead by example. This report discusses the importance of leadership in respect with organizational behaviour. For better understanding it will also cover the limitation of leadership, along with the examples and theories being identified.

Discussion

Warren Bennis, (2009) who has devoted decades to researching leadership issues, concludes that virtually all leaders of effective groups share four characteristics in common: (Bennis 2009:89)

They provide direction and meaning to the people they are leading. This means they remind people what is important and why hat they are doing makes an important difference.

They generate trust

They favour action and risk taking. That is, they are proactive and willing to risk failing in order to succeed.

Leaders are source of hope. In both tangible and symbolic ways they reinforce the notion that success will be attained.

There are three important variables with which every leader must deal: the people who are being led, the task that the people are performing, and the environment in which the people and the task exist. Because of these three variables are different in every situation, in order to meet the need of the group or organization, the leader has to invent a leadership style that suits the situation.

The standard model, especially command and control, would not work. They have to make decisions without limiting the creativities of the other participants. Devising and maintaining a trusty atmosphere, people will only follow those whom they believe are credible and worthy of their trust. Some inspire followers. It has been found that leadership and motivation are bound up with each other, thinks of them as two sides of the same coin (Marquis 2003).

Giving an example of a CEO of a small manufacturing company, he does not have big staff. So he is expected to personally know all his employees. Adoption of transformational leadership by such an employer will make functioning of his company more efficient. The motto of a small manufacturing company is definitely to expand. Here the CEO can influence his employees and motivate them to work to use their potential to the maximum. The charismatic personality of such a leader will bind together his employees and inspire them to ...