Assignment on Leadership

Assignment on Leadership

Leadership is defined as, the process of influencing others to facilitate the attainment of organizationally relevant goals. The leader can influence the behavior of others (e.g., subordinates, peers, superiors). Situations where influence plays no role are outside the domain of leadership. A major purpose of leadership is to achieve relevant goals. Attempts to influence individuals or groups can be based on many factors, including personality, behavior, or power.

According to Cambridge Dictionary: Leadership is the set of characteristics that make a good leader. Leadership Vs Power:

To understand leadership it is necessary to understand power. Power is the ability to affect behavior of other people. Power is the ability of a leader to influence its subordinates.

In organizational settings, there are usually five kinds of power: Legitimate Power Reward Power, Coercive Power, Referent Power and Expert Power.Legitimate power:Legitimate Power is Power is usually granted through a organizational hierarchy: it is the power defined by the organization to be accorded to people occupying a particular position. Also called "Positional power," it is the power of an individual because of the relative position and duties of the holder of the position within an organization. Legitimate power is formal authority delegated to the holder of the position. It is usually accompanied by various attributes of power such as uniforms, offices etc.

Referent power:Referent power is the power or ability of individuals to attract others and build loyalty. It is based on the charisma and interpersonal skills of the power holder. A person may be admired because of specific personal trait, and this admiration creates the opportunity for interpersonal influence. Here the person under power desires to identify with these personal qualities, and gains satisfaction from being an accepted follower. Nationalism and patriotism count towards an intangible sort of referent power. For example, soldiers fight in wars to defend the honor of the country. This is the second least obvious power, but the most effective. Advertisers have long used the referent power of sports figures for products endorsements, for example. Referent power is unstable alone, and is not enough for a leader who wants longevity and respect. When combined with other sources of power, however, it can help you achieve great success.

Expert power:Expert power is an individual's power deriving from the skills or expertise of the person and the organization's needs for those skills and expertise. Unlike the others, this type of power is usually highly specific and limited to the particular area in which the expert is trained and qualified. When you have knowledge and skills that enable you to understand a situation, suggest solutions, use solid judgment, and generally outperform others, people will have reason to listen to you. When you demonstrate expertise, people tend to trust you and respect what you say. As a subject matter expert, your ideas will have more value, and others will look to you for leadership in that area.

Reward power:Reward power depends on the ability of the power wielder to confer valued material rewards; it refers to the degree to which the individual can give others a reward of some kind such as benefits, time off, desired gifts, promotions or increases in pay or responsibility. This power is obvious but also ineffective if abused. People who abuse reward power can become pushy or be reprimanded for being too forthcoming or 'moving things too quickly'. If others expect that you'll reward them for doing what you want, there's a high probability that they'll do it. The problem with this basis of power is that you may not have as much control over rewards as you need. Supervisors probably don't have complete control over salary increases, and managers often can't control promotions all by themselves. And even a CEO needs permission from the board of directors for some actions. So when you use up available rewards, or the rewards don't have enough perceived value to others, your power weakens.

Coercive power:Coercive power is the application of negative influences. It includes the ability to demote or to withhold other rewards. The desire for valued rewards or the fear of having them withheld that ensures the obedience of those under power. Coercive power tends to be the most obvious but least effective form of power as it builds resentment and resistance from the people who experience it. Threats and punishment are common tools of coercion. Implying or threatening that someone will be fired, demoted, denied privileges, or given undesirable assignments these are examples of using coercive power. Extensive use of coercive power is rarely appropriate in an organizational setting, and relying on these forms of power alone will result in a very cold, impoverished style of leadership.

Leadership Traits:Leadership Traits Definition: The integratedcharacteristicsa personpossessesto make them unique.

Personality Traits can help us see if people are built to be a good leader or not. The most common traits in aleader are; intelligence, values, self-confidence and appearance.

This is where the Great Man theory comes from, a simple look into what the most successful leaders have in common regarding their personalities and traits. However, only a weak relationship between personality traits and the success of the leader was found. This is also proved with the 5 level theory by Jim Collins, as that shows a completely different type of person to the stereotypical leader we look at. The main reason why traits dont say much is the amount of different situations which organizations are in. Different situations, culture and environments need different personalities to deal with them in the most effective, and efficient way.

Below are lists of traits;

Charisma: Charismatic leaders are able to influence followers by articulating a compelling vision for the future, arousing commitment to organizational objectives and inspiring commitment and a sense of self-efficacy among followers.

Intelligence: Intelligence is regarded as the most important trait in psychology. It has been identified as one of the most critical traits that must be possessed by all leaders. Creativity: Creativity has been proposed as an important component of effective leadership; has a significant relationship between creativity and leader effectiveness

Interpersonal skills: Interpersonal skills include a broad range of skills associated with understanding of human behavior and the dynamics of groups. Interpersonal skills were found to be significantly associated with leader effectiveness. Decision making: Decision skills were also found to be one of the factors most strongly connected with leader effectiveness. Technical knowledge: Technical knowledge includes methods, processes, and equipment for conducting the specialized activities of the managers organizational unit. It has been proved to be positively interrelated with leader effectiveness. Capacity: problem-solving capabilities, making judgments and working hard

Achievements: accomplishments such as academic record, knowledge and sports

Responsibility: dependability, reliability, self-drive, perseverance, aggressiveness and self-confidence

Participation and involvement: highly developed social interaction, popularity, swift adaptation to changing situations, and easier cooperation compared to non-leaders

Managerial Grid: Popular framework for thinking about a leader's 'task versus person' orientation was developed by Robert Blake and Jane Mouton in the early 1960s. Called the Managerial Grid, or Leadership Grid, it plots the degree of task-centeredness versus person-centeredness and identifies five combinations as distinct leadership styles.

The Managerial Grid is based on two behavioral dimensions:1. Concern for Production - This is the degree to which a leader emphasizes concrete objectives, organizational efficiency and high productivity when deciding how best to accomplish a task. Manager who is task-oriented and focuses on getting results or accomplishing the mission manager who avoids conflicts and strives for friendly relations with subordinates (X-axis of grid)2. Concern for People - This is the degree to which a leader considers the needs of team members, their interests, and areas of personal development when deciding how best to accomplish a task .(Y-axis of grid)

Leadership style:

A leadership style is a leader's style of providing direction, implementing plans, and motivating people. It is the result of the philosophy, personality, and experience of the leader. Psychologist Kurt Lewin developed his framework in the 1930s, and it provided the foundation of many of the approaches that followed afterwards. He argued that there are three major styles of leadership:

Identified three different styles of leadership:1. Autocratic leadership: centralized authority, low participation (works where input would not change decision or employee motivation, excessive styles lead to revolution). Autocratic leadersmake decisions without consulting their team members, even if their input would be useful. This can be appropriate when you need to make decisions quickly, when there's no need for team input, and when team agreement isn't necessary for a successful outcome. However, this style can be demoralizing, and it can lead to high levels of absenteeism and staff turnover 2. Democratic leadership: involvement, feedback (appreciated by people, most effective style but problematic when there are a range of opinions). Democratic leadersmake the final decisions, but they include team members in the decision-making process. They encourage creativity, and people are often highly engaged in projects and decisions. As a result, team members tend to have high job satisfaction and high productivity. This is not always an effective style to use, though, when you need to make a quick decision3. Laissez-Faire leadership: hands-off management (works when people are motivated and there is no requirement for central coordination). Laissez-faireleaders give their team members a lot of freedom in how they do their work, and how they set their deadlines. They providesupportwith resources and advice if needed, but otherwise they don't get involved. This autonomy can lead to high job satisfaction, but it can be damaging if team members don't manage their time well, or if they don't have the knowledge, skills, or self motivation to do their work effectively. (Laissez-faire leadership can also occur when managers don't have control over their work and their people.)Beside this, different types of leaderships are as following: 1. Narcissistic leadership: Narcissistic leadership is a leadership style in which the leader is only interested in him/her. Their priority is themselves - at the expense of their people/group members. This leader exhibits the characteristics of a narcissist: arrogance, dominance and hostility. It is a common leadership style. The narcissism may range from anywhere between healthy and destructive. To critics, "narcissistic leadership (preferably destructive) is driven by unyielding arrogance, self-absorption, and a personal egotistic need for power and admiration." 2. Toxic leadership: A toxic leader is someone who has responsibility over a group of people or an organization, and who abuses the leaderfollower relationship by leaving the group or organization in a worse-off condition than when he/she joined it.

3. Task-oriented leadership: Task-oriented leadership is a style in which the leader is focused on the tasks that need to be performed in order to meet a certain production goal. Task-oriented leaders are generally more concerned with producing a step-by-step solution for given problem or goal, strictly making sure these deadlines are met, results and reaching target outcomes. Task-oriented leaders are typically less concerned with the idea of catering to group members, and more concerned with acquiring a certain solution to meet a production goal. For this reason, they typically are able to make sure that deadlines are met, yet their group members' well-being may suffer.4. Relationship-oriented leadership: Relationship-oriented leadership is a contrasting style in which the leader is more focused on the relationships amongst the group and is generally more concerned with the overall well-being and satisfaction of group members. Relationship-oriented leaders emphasize communication within the group, show trust and confidence in group members, and shows appreciation for work done. Relationship-oriented leaders are focused on developing the team and the relationships in it. The positives to having this kind of environment are that team members are more motivated and have support; however, the emphasis on relations as opposed to getting a job done might make productivity suffer.

Perspective of leadership:

Leader must have followers

It is working relationship between leader and followers

Purpose is to achieve some common goal or goals

A leader influences his followers willingly not by force

Leadership is exercised in a given situation

Leadership is a power relationship

It is a continuous process

Conclusion: This assignment began with a review of leadership Meaning, Leadership VS power, Leadership traits, Managerial grid, Leadership style and Perspective of leadership. This literature revealed that effective leadership in an organization is critical. Initial examinations of leaders reported the differences between leaders and followers. These attempts to isolate specific individual traits led to the conclusion that no single characteristic can distinguish leaders from non-leaders. Subsequent leadership studies differentiated effective from non-effective leaders. The comparison of effective and non-effective leaders led to the identification of two dimensions, initiating structures and consideration, and revealed that effective leaders were high performers in both. The situation approach to leadership supports the contention that effective leaders are able to address both the tasks and human aspects of their organizations.PAGE 1