BY – Sushmita biswas
- Styles of Leadership
- Theories of Leadership
- Importance of Leadership
- Qualities of a Leadership
Leadership is the ability to develop a vision that motivates others to move with a passion, towards a common goal. Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organisation in a way that makes it cohesive and coherent.
- “Leadership is the ability of a superior to influence the behaviour of a subordinate or group and persuade them to follow a particular course of action.” – CHESTER
- “Leadership is the art to influencing and directing people in such a way that will win their obedience, confidence, respect and loyal cooperation in achieving common objectives.” -U.S. AIR FORCE
STYLES OF LEADERSHIP
- Authoritarian or Autocratic
- Participative or Democratic
- Delegative or Free Rein
The authoritarian leader makes decisions alone as power is centralized in one person.
Decisions are enforced using rewards and the fear of punishment. It is an abusive and unprofessional style called BOSSING PEOPLE AROUND.
The participative leader include one or more employees in the decision making process. Communication flows freely; suggestions are made in both the directions. The participation encourages member commitment to the final decision.
The free-rein leader gives power to his subordinates for decision making. However the leader is still responsible for the decisions that are made. This is used when employees are able to analyse the situations. Delegative is generally not useful.
THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP
The trait approach arose from the ‘Great Man’ theory as a way of identifying the key characteristics of successful leaders. It was believed that through this theory critical leadership traits could be isolated and that people with such traits can be recruited, selected and installed into leadership positions. This theory was common in the military and is still used as a set of criteria to select candidates for commissions.
AMBITION AND ENERGY=DESIRE TO LEAD
HONESTY AND INTEGRETY=SELF-CONFIDENCE
INTELLIGENCE=JOB RELEVANT KNOWLEDGE
ADVANTAGES OF TRAIT THEORY
- It is naturally pleasing theory.
- It serves as a yardstick against which the leadership traits of an individual can be assessed.
- It gives a detailed knowledge and understanding of the leader element in the leadership process.
DISADVANTAGES of Trait Theory
- There is bound to be some subjective judgement in determining who is regarded as a ‘good’ or ‘successful’ leader.
- There is also a disagreement over which traits are the most important for a effective leader.
- These theories of leadership are based upon the belief that great leaders are made, not born.
- Rooted in behaviourism, the leadership theory focuses on the actions of leaders not on mental qualities.
- According to this theory people can learn to become leaders through teaching and observation.
- The behaviour approach says that anyone who adopts the appropriate behaviour can be a good leader.
In contingency theory of leadership, the success of the leader is a function of various contingencies in the form of subordinate, task or group of variables. The leaders who are very effective at one place and time may become unsuccessful either when transplanted to another situation or when the factors around them change.
This helps to explain how some leaders who seem for a while to have the ‘Midas touch’ suddenly appears to go off the boil and make very unsuccessful decisions.
IMPORTANCE OF LEADERSHIP
Leadership is an important factor for making an organisation successful. Leadership is an important function of management which helps to maximise efficiency and to achieve organisational goals.
Leadership helps an organisation in the following ways:
- Inspires employees : The proper way to do a job, a leader helps their employees to give their best to organisation.
- Secures cooperation : He influences the behaviour of employees in such a way that they readily work for organisation objectives and has a sense of collectivism.
- Creates confidence: Confidence is an important factor which can be achieved through expressing the work efforts to the subordinates.
- It is important to hear the employees with regards to their complaints and problems.
It is important to hear the employees with regards to their complaints and problems.
- Provides good working Climate: A leader provides a healthy work climate where individuals can work towards their objectives happily. He provides imagination, foresight, enthusiasm and initiative to employees and forces them to have an identity of interest, outlook and action.
QUALITIES OF LEADERSHIP
Leadership includes many qualities
- Mind setup
- Friendly behaviour
- Managerial skill
- Another trait is social skills
- Passion or attitude
- Leaders also demonstrate commitment
- Intregrity and creativity
- Confidence and hard working ability
- Independent thinking
- A leader may be of various types but a true and competent leader is one that encompasses all the aforesaid qualities.
- It is essential for a great leader to be dynamic and constantly evolving so that he/she may lead the team in the most appropriate and beneficial manner.
- Having a wide knowledge a diverse background will not only help make well informed decisions but also increase the level of compassion.
- The perfect leader is the one who has a blend of all the characteristics and can call upon his attributes to meet the necessary situation at hand.
- com Books
- 10th and 12th Commercial studies Books