what is leadership about

8/14/2019 What is Leadership About

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WHAT IS LEADERSHIP ALL ABOUT?

Definition of Leadership

What is leadership all about? This can be the proverbial $64,000 question.

In order to know what leadership is all about, one has to first accept a

definition of the term leadership. Defining the term leadership can be a

hazardous task and many schools of thought and as many authors have

offered their very own meaning of the term leadership. If one accepts the

notion that one is not born a leader but that acquiring the status of a leaderis a process, then a plausible definition of leadership is the process of

influencing an organized group toward accomplishing its goals.

Although the ability to influence is a hallmark attribute of a leader,

leadership displayed will need the agreement of followers towards

achieving the outcome desired. Thus, another acceptable definition as

expounded by Richard L. Daft is leadership being an influence relationship

among leaders and followers who want substantive changes that will lead

to outcomes that both want.

Leadership Art or Science

What then is leadership really about? Is leadership a science or an art? One

school of thought accepts the notion that leadership appears to be an art of

getting others to do something that the leader is convinced should be done.

On the other hand, the science of leadership is reflected in the many

research studies undertaken. These research studies provide a great deal of

knowledge and facts that describes the leadership process and how one is

able to use leadership skills to achieve the goals of the organization.


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Leadership a process, not a position

Current thinking has most definitions of leadership being a process, not a

position. Therefore, if leadership involves the intentional influence exerted

by the leaders over the organized groups of followers towards

accomplishing their goals, the consequential argument that will follow will

be whether leadership is a specialized role or a shared influence process?

Daft suggests that leadership is a people activity and is distinct from

administrative paperwork or planning activities. There is the leader and

there are the followers and both show intent and are actively involved in

the pursuit of change with each person taking responsibilities to achieve

the desired goals.

In his writings on leadership, Gary Yukl summarized two views on the

influencing process of leadership. One is that there are role specializations

for every person in the group, with the person taking on the specialized

leadership role recognised as the leader. The other view is that the

leadership influencing process occurs naturally within the organised group

and is shared among its members. Thus, any member can exhibit leadership

at any time in undertaking roles and functions that influence the group at

the particular point in time.

Therefore, it can be viewed that leadership is actually is shared

responsibility with everyone being a leader or follower depending on the

task or role undertaken at any given time and who exercises influence. Thus,

leadership qualities and capabilities are not the sole domain of managers

and supervisors as employees can also exhibit leadership in the manner

they carry out their daily functions and as they interact with their fellow

workers.

Leadership and Manager

Thus, what then is the difference between a manager and a leader? A

person can be a leader and yet may not be a good manager and conversely,


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a good manager is not necessarily a good leader. Bennis and Nanus (1985,

p.21) suggested that managers are people who do things right and leaders

are people who do the right things. Therefore, managers are linked to

tasks such as administer, maintain and control, whilst leaders are said to

innovate, develop and inspire. Such a notion will result in two personalitytypes where one is not necessarily better or worse compared to the other.

However, it is possible for a person to exhibit both personality types and be

a manager and leader at the same time. So, just as leadership can be

defined as a process, one can view managing and leading as two distinct

processes that can be not mutually exclusive and can be effectively

integrated in a person who displays both leadership and managerial

qualities.

Leadership Theories

The concept of leadership has been researched extensively and over time

theories have evolved with various approaches still being researched. Two

main theories dwell on the trait approach and the behavioral approach

with the latter also considering the notion of individualized leadership, the

relationship between the leader and follower.

The trait approachis one the earliest approaches studied, concentrating onthe attributes of leaders. The assumption is that leaders are endowed with

certain leadership traits and innate abilities that are not found in others.

The traits generally researched are physical characteristics, ability and

personality. However, they do not guarantee success as a leader.

Nevertheless, it is found that certain traits will make a leader more

effective in certain situations.

Thus, a leader, immaterial of the level of success of a particular endeavour,

needs to have optimism, self-confidence and drive to face the challenges

ahead in seeing through the changes or goals to be achieved. Whilst it may

not be so obvious or needful in certain communities or organization,

leaders that have positive attitudes such as honesty and integrity that align


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themselves to the perception of the followers requiring such attitudes will

be effective leaders.

The next approach studied is the behavioral approach with focus on the

leadership styles. The behaviour of leaders towards their followers candetermine the effectiveness of leadership and it is generally found that

leadership styles are consistent with the personalities of the leaders. The

autocratic leader leaves no doubt who is in charge and would centralize

authority, deriving power from leadership position, coercion and control of

rewards. On the other hand, the participative leaders involve the followers

in decision making via consultative or democratic means.

Whilst both invites and encourages participation, the consultative leader

requires a high level of involvement from the followers but leaves no doubtthat the leader makes the final decision whereas the democratic leader

would delegate and confer authority to followers and relies mainly on their

expertise and knowledge to complete a task.

However, leaders need to understand the challenges and be able to offer

solutions to solve them from their own experiences if they are to gain a

higher level of respect from each of their followers. Such respect from

followers or influence on them will depend on how the leaders behave

towards the followers and the response from the followers. This gives riseto the notion ofindividualized leadership where the leadership behavior of

the leader in developing a very special relationship and interaction with

each follower is key to effective leadership.

Leadership and Situation

The results of effective leadership are dependent not only on the leader

and followers but also on situation as the third variable. Situational factorscan constrain or facilitate a leaders effectiveness and the leader can

change such factors to enhance leadership effectiveness. Thus, analyzing

the interactional framework that links the leader to the follower and

situation is important in determining effective leadership.


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The many contingency theories attempt to describe this interactional

framework and the need for a good fit between the leadership styles and

the conditions in the situation. Effective leadership displayed in one

situation may not bring the same result in another situation. The situation

variable and the manner in which to cope with it is perhaps the mostdifficult to ascertain in this framework as it can refer to a host of variables

like task, structure, and environment. The 3 key situational elements

generally accepted are the leader-follower relations (referring to the group

atmosphere and the relationship between the leader and followers), the

task structure (referring to whether the tasks performed by the group are

interesting and enjoyable as well as being well-defined with clear explicit

goals) and position power (referring to the extent the leader has authority

over the followers). There are other situational contingencies such as

personal characteristics of group members and the work environment thatcan affect the outcome of effective leadership.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there is no simple answer to the question on what leadership

is all about. It is many things to many people and how it is defined depends

on the perspective of each individual. Nevertheless, an important attribute

of leadership is the ability to influence others to undertake the work orchanges necessary to achieve desired goals.

In understanding leadership, one also has to understand the leader and his

leadership styles, the followers and their followership styles and the

situations they are in. Therefore, leadership is often the result of the

complex set of interactions amongst the leader, the follower and the

situation.

References:

a) Richard L. Daft, The leadership Experience 4th Edition, Thomson South-Western


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b) Gary Yukl, Leadership in Organisation 4th Edition,Prentice-Hall International,Inc.

c) Richad L. Hughes, Robert C. Ginnet, Gordon J. Curphy, Leadership Enhancingthe Lessons of Experience 6th Edition, Mcgraw-Hill

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