Dictionary Definition
leadership
Noun
1 the activity of leading; "his leadership
inspired the team" [syn: leading]
2 the body of people who lead a group; "the
national leadership adopted his plan" [syn: leaders]
3 the status of a leader; "they challenged his
leadership of the union"
4 the ability to lead; "he believed that
leadership can be taught"
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Quotations
Leadership means that a group, large or small, is willing to entrust authority to a person who has shown judgement, wisdom, personal appeal, and proven competence - Walt DisneyTranslations
office of leader
- Finnish: johto
characteristics of one's way of leading
- Croatian: vodstvo
- Czech: vůdcovství
- Finnish: johtajuus
- Kurdish:
- Sorani: سهرکردهیی
- ttbc Catalan: [1] lideratge m (ca), direcció (ca), mil.: comandament (ca)
- ttbc Estonian: juhtimine, eestvedamine
- ttbc German: [1] Führung f, Leitung f, mil.: Kommando
- ttbc Portuguese: liderança (2)
- ttbc Spanish: liderazgo , caudillaje
Extensive Definition
The word leadership can refer to:
- Those entities that perform one or more acts of leading.
- The ability to affect human behavior so as to accomplish a mission.
- Influencing a group of people to move towards its goal setting or goal achievement. (Stogdill 1950: 3)
Categories and types of leadership
Leadership has a formal aspect (as in most political or business leadership) or an informal one (as in most friendships). Speaking of "leadership" (the abstract term) rather than of "leading" (the action) usually it implies that the entities doing the leading have some "leadership skills" or competencies.Different Types of leadership styles:
The laissez-faire “leave it be” leadership
(Lewin, Liippit, & White, 1939) is the leadership style that
gives no continuous feedback or supervision because the employees
are highly experienced and need little supervision to obtain the
expected outcome. On the other hand, this type of style is also
associated with leaders that don’t lead at all, failing in
supervising team members, resulting in lack of control and higher
costs, bad service or failure to meet deadlines.
The bureaucratic leader (Weber, 1905) is
very structured and follows the procedures as they have been
established. This type of leadership has no space to explore new
ways to solve problems and is usually slow paced to ensure
adherence to the ladders stated by the company. Leaders ensure that
all the steps have been followed prior to sending it to the next
level of authority. Universities, hospitals, banks and government
usually require this type of leader in their organizations to
ensure quality, increase security and decrease corruption. Leaders
that try to speed up the process will experience frustration and
anxiety.
The charismatic leader (Weber, 1905) leads by
infusing energy and eagerness into their team members. This type of
leader has to be committed to the organization for the long run. If
the success of the division or project is attributed to the leader
and not the team, charismatic leaders may become a risk for the
company by deciding to resign for advanced opportunities. It takes
the company time and hard work to gain the employees' confidence
back with other type of leadership after they have committed
themselves to the magnetism of a charismatic leader.
Autocratic leadership (Lewin, Liippit, &
White, 1939) occurs when the leader has been given the power to
take decisions based solely on his person, having total authority.
This leadership style is good for employees that need close
supervision to perform certain tasks. Creative employees and team
players resent this type of leadership, since they are unable to
enhance processes or decision making, resulting in job
dissatisfaction.
The democratic leader (Lewin, Liippit, &
White, 1939) means that the leader will hear the team's ideas and
study them, but will make the final decision. Team players
contribute to the final decision thus increasing employee
satisfaction and ownership, feeling their input was considered when
the final decision was taken. When changes arises, this type of
leadership helps the team assimilate the changes better and more
rapidly than other styles, knowing they were consulted and
contributed to the decision making process, minimizing resistance
and intolerance. A shortcoming of this leadership style is that it
has difficulty when decisions are needed in a short period of time
or at the moment.
People-Oriented Leader (Fiedler, 1967) is the one
that, in order to comply with effectiveness and efficiency,
supports, trains and develops his personnel, increasing job
satisfaction and genuine interest to do a good job.
Task oriented leaders (Fiedler, 1967) are those
who focus on the job, and concentrate in the specific tasks
assigned to each employee to reach goal accomplishment. This
leadership style suffers the same motivation issues as autocratic
leadership, showing no involvement in the teams needs. It requires
close supervision and control to achieve expected results.
A servant leader (Greenleaf, 1977) is the leader
that facilitates goal accomplishment by giving its team members
what they need in order to be productive. This leader is an
instrument employees use to reach the goal rather than an
commanding voice that moves to change. This leadership style, in a
manner similar to democratic leadership, tends to achieve the
results in a slower time frame than other styles, although employee
engagement is higher.
A transaction leader (Burns, 1978) is the power
given to a certain person to perform certain tasks and reward or
punish for the team’s performance. It gives the opportunity to the
manager to lead the group and the group agrees to follow his lead
to accomplish a predetermined goal in exchange for something else.
Power is given to the leader to evaluate, correct and train
subordinates when productivity is not up to the desired level and
reward effectiveness when expected outcome is reached.
A transformation leader (Burns, 1978) is the one
who motivates its team to be effective and efficient. Communication
is the base for goal achievement focusing the group in the final
desired outcome or goal attainment. This leader is highly visible
and uses chain of command to get the job done. Transformational
leaders focus on the big picture, needing to be surrounded by
people who take care of the details. The leader is always looking
for ideas that move the organization to reach the company’s
vision.
The Environment Leader (Carmazzi, 2005) is the
one who nurtures group or organisational environment to affect the
emotional and psychological perception of an individual’s place in
that group or organisation. An understanding and application of
group psychology and dynamics is essential for this style to be
effective. The leader uses organisational culture to inspire
individuals and develop leaders at all levels. This leadership
style relies on creating an education matrix where groups
interactively learn the fundamental psychology of group dynamics
and culture from each other. The leader uses this psychology, and
complementary language, to influence direction through the members
of the inspired group to do what is required for the benefit of
all.
The situation leader (Joseph Praveen
Kumar,Hersey, Blanchard, & Johnson, 2008) is the leader that
uses different leadership styles depending on the situation and the
type of employee that is being supervised.
Bibliography:
Arnold, S. B. (2001). Leader traits and
leadership competencies necessary during organizational change.
Tennessee.
Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership. New York: Harper
and Row Publishers Inc.
Fiedler, F. E. (1967). A thery of leadership
effectiveness. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Greenleaf, R. K. (1977). Servant Leadership: A
Journey Into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness. New
Jersey: Paulist Press.
Hersey, P., Blanchard, K., & Johnson, D.
(2008). Management of Organizational Behavior: Leading Human
Resources . Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
House, R. J., & Podsakoff, P. M. (1994).
Leadership effectiveness: past perspectives and future directions
for research. In J. Greenberg, Organizational behavior: The state
of the science (pp. 45-82). Hillsdale, NJ, England: Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2002). The
Leadership Challenge. San Francisco, Ca: John Wiley and Sons.
Krulak, C. C. (1998). The Fourteen Basic Traits
of Effective Leadership. About Campus , 8-12.
Lewin, K., Liippit, R., & White, R. (1939).
Patterns of aggressive behavior in experimentally created social
climates. Journal of Social Psychology , 271-301.
Maxwell, J. (2002). Leadership 101. Nashville,
TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Meyers, S. (2007). Leadership Styles. Trustees ,
11.
Weber, M. (1905). The Protestant Ethic and the
Spirit of Capitalism: and Other Writings . New York: Penguin
Group.
Zaccaro, S. J. (2007). Trait-based perspective.
American Psychology , 62 (1), 7-16.
Leadership associated with positions of authority
According to Thomas Carlyle, leadership emerges when an entity as "leader" contrives to receive deference from other entities who become "followers". The process of getting deference can become competitive in that the emerging "leader" draws "followers" from the factions of the prior or alternative "leaders".Representative democracy
In representative democracies the people retain sovereignty (popular sovereignty) but delegate day-to-day administration and leadership to elected officials. In the United States, for example, the Constitution provides an example of recycling authority. In the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the American Founders rejected the idea of a monarch, but they still proposed leadership by people in positions of authority, with the authority split into three powers: in this case the legislative, the executive, and the judiciary. Under the American theory, the authority of the leadership derives from the power of the voters as conveyed through the electoral college. Many individuals share authority, including the many legislators in the Senate and the House of Representatives. http://www.constitution.org/dfc/dfc_0917.htmLeadership cycles
If a group or an organization wants or expects identifiable leadership, it will require processes for appointing/acquiring and replacing leaders.Traditional closed groups rely on bloodlines or seniority to select leaders
and/or leadership candidates: monarchies, tribal chiefdoms, oligarchies and aristocratic societies rely
on (and often define their institutions by) such
methods.
Competence or perceived competence provides a
possible basis for selecting leadership elites from a broader pool of
potential talent. Political lobbying may prove necessary in
electoral
systems, but immediately demonstrated skill and character
may secure leadership in smaller groups such as gangs.
Many organizations and groups aim to identify,
grow, foster and promote what they see as leadership potential or
ability - especially among younger members of society. See for
example the Scouting movement.
For a specific environment, see leadership
development.
The issues of succession
planning or of legitimation become
important at times when leadership (particularly individual
leadership) might or must change due to term-expiry, accident or
senescence.
Titles emphasizing authority
At certain stages in their development, the hierarchies of social ranks implied different degrees or ranks of leadership in society. Thus a knight led fewer men in general than did a duke; a baronet might in theory control less land than an earl. See peerage for a systematization of this hierarchy, and order of precedence for links to various systems.In the course of the 18th and 20th centuries,
several political operators took non-traditional paths to become
dominant in their societies. They or their systems often expressed
a belief in strong individual leadership, but existing titles and
labels ("King", "Emperor", "President" and so on) often seemed
inappropriate, insufficient or downright inaccurate in some
circumstances. The formal or informal titles or descriptions they
or their flunkies employe express and foster a general veneration
for leadership of the inspired and autocratic variety. The definite
article when used as part of the title (in languages which use
definite articles) emphasizes the existence of a sole "true"
leader.
Symbolism of leadership
Various symbolic attributes — often varying
according to the cultural milieu — mark out authority-figures and
help make them seem special and revered or feared. For examples and
discussion, see symbols
of leadership.
Leadership among primates
Richard Wrangham and Dale Peterson, in Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence present evidence that only humans and chimpanzees, among all the animals living on earth, share a similar tendency for a cluster of behaviors: violence, territoriality, and competition for uniting behind the one chief male of the land. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/demonicmales.htm This position is contentious. Many animals beyond apes are territorial, compete, exhibit violence, and have a social structure controlled by a dominant male (lions, wolves, etc.), suggesting Wrangham and Peterson's evidence is not empirical.By comparison, bonobos, the second-closest
species-relatives of man, do not unite behind the chief male of the
land. The bonobos show deference to an alpha or top-ranking female
that, with the support of her coalition of other females, can prove
as strong as the strongest male in the land. Thus, if leadership
amounts to getting the greatest number of followers, then among the
bonobos, a female almost always exerts the strongest and most
effective leadership. However, not all scientists agree on the
allegedly "peaceful" nature of the bonobo or its reputation as a
"hippie chimp".http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/07/30/070730fa_fact_parker
Some have argued that, since the bonobo pattern
inverts the dominant pattern among chimpanzees and men with regard
to whether a female can get more followers than a male, humans and
chimpanzees both likely inherited gender-bias against women from
the ancestors of the chimpanzees; gender-bias features as a genetic condition of men. And the bias against women
having leadership as a position of authority occurs in most
cultures in the world.
As of 2002, Sweden had the highest percentage of women in the
legislature: but only 43%. And the United States, Andorra, Israel,
Sierra Leone, and Ireland tied for 57th place with less than 15% of
the legislature women.http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm
Admittedly, those percentages significantly outclass the occurrence
of female chimpanzees becoming alpha of the
community by getting the most followers, but similar trends exist
in manifesting a general gender-bias across cultures against
females gaining leadership as a position of authority over
followers.
An alternative explanation suggests that those
individuals best suited to lead the a group will somehow rise to
the occasion and that followers (for some reason) will accept them
as leaders or as proto-leaders. In this scenario, the traits of the
leaders (such as gender, aggressiveness, etc.) will depend on the
requirements of a given situation, and ongoing leadership may
become extrapolated from a series of such situations.
In cultural
anthropology, much speculation on the origins of human
leadership relates to the perceived increasing need for dispute
resolution in increasingly densely-populated and increasingly
complex societies.
The image of swarms of lemmings which follow the first
lemming off a cliff appears frequently in characterizing followers.
The animal kingdom also provides the actual model of the bellwether function in a mob
of sheep. And human
society also offers many examples of emulation. The fashion industry, for example,
depends on it. Fashion marketers design clothing for celebrities,
then offer less expensive variations/imitations for those who
emulate the celebrities.
Unintentional leadership can also occur from more
pro-active forms followership. For example, in organizations which
punish both leadership inaction and mistakes, and in which a
predicament has no good solution, a common tendency involves
declaring oneself a follower of someone else — metaphorically
passing the
buck.
Another example of followership without
intentional leadership comes with the market leadership of a
pioneering company, or the price
leadership of a monopolist. Other companies
will emulate a successful strategy, product, or price, but
originators may certainly not desire this — in fact they often do
all they can legally do to prevent such direct competition.
The term "leadership" sometimes applies
(confusingly) to a winning position in a race. One can speak of a
front-runner in a sprint or of the "leader" in an election or poll
as in a position of leadership. But such "leadership" does not
involve any influence processes, and the "leader" will have
followers who may not willingly choose to function as followers.
Once again: one can make an important distinction between "in the
lead" and the process of leadership. Once again, leadership implies
a relationship
of power -
the power to guide
others.
Scope of leadership
One can govern oneself, or one can govern the whole earth. In between, we may find leaders who operate primarily within:Intertwined with such categories, and overlapping
them, we find for example religious leaders potentially with their
own internal hierarchies, work-place leaders corporate
officer|executives, corporate officer|officers,senior
management,senior/upper managers,middle management|middle managers,
staff-managers, line-managers,team leader|team-leaders,supervisors
and leaders of voluntary associations.
Some anthropological ideas envisage a widespread
but by no means universal pattern of progression in the
organization of society in ever-larger groups,with the needs and
practices of leadership changing accordingly. Thus simple dispute
resolution may become legalistic dispensation of justice before
developing into proactive legislature/legislative activity. Some
leadership careers parallel this sort of progression: today's
school-board chairperson may become tomorrow's city councilor, then
take in say a mayor dom before graduating to nation-wide politics.
Compare the "cursus
honorum" in ancient Rome.
Leadership in organizations
Leadership in formal organizations
An organization that is established as an instrument or means for achieving defined objectives has been referred to as a formal organization. Its design specifies how goals are subdivided and reflected in subdivisions of the organization. Divisions, departments, sections, positions, jobs, and tasks make up this work structure. Thus, the formal organization is expected to behave impersonally in regard to relationships with clients or with its members. According to Weber's definition, entry and subsequent advancement is by merit or seniority. Each employee receives a salary and enjoys a degree of tenure that safeguards him from the arbitrary influence of superiors or of powerful clients. The higher his position in the hierarchy, the greater his presumed expertise in adjudicating problems that may arise in the course of the work carried out at lower levels of the organization. It is this bureaucratic structure that forms the basis for the appointment of heads or chiefs of administrative subdivisions in the organization and endows them with the authority attached to their position.Leadership in informal organizations
In contrast to the appointed head or chief of an administrative unit, a leader emerges within the context of the informal organization that underlies the formal structure. The informal organization expresses the personal objectives and goals of the individual membership. Their objectives and goals may or may not coincide with those of the formal organization. The informal organization represents an extension of the social structures that generally characterize human life — the spontaneous emergence of groups and organizations as ends in themselves.In prehistoric times, man was preoccupied with
his personal security, maintenance, protection, and survival. Now
man spends a major portion of his waking hours working for
organizations. His need to identify with a community that provides
security, protection, maintenance, and a feeling of belonging
continues unchanged from prehistoric times. This need is met by the
informal organization and its emergent, or unofficial,
leaders.
Leaders emerge from within the structure of the
informal organization. Their personal qualities, the demands of the
situation, or a combination of these and other factors attract followers who
accept their leadership within one or several overlay structures.
Instead of the authority of position held by an appointed head or
chief, the emergent leader wields influence or power. Influence is
the ability of a person to gain co-operation from others by means
of persuasion or control over rewards. Power is a stronger form of
influence because it reflects a person's ability to enforce action
through the control of a means of punishment.
Leader in organizations
An individual who is appointed to a managerial position has the right to command and enforce obedience by virtue of the authority of his position. However, he must possess adequate personal attributes to match his authority, because authority is only potentially available to him. In the absence of sufficient personal competence, a manager may be confronted by an emergent leader who can challenge his role in the organization and reduce it to that of a figurehead. However, only authority of position has the backing of formal sanctions. It follows that whoever wields personal influence and power can legitimize this only by gaining a formal position in the hierarchy, with commensurate authority. Leadership can be defined as one's ability to get others to willingly follow. Every organization needs leaders at every level.Orthogonality and leadership
Those who praise leadership may encounter problems in implementing consistent leadership structures. For example, a pyramidal structure in which authority consistently emanates from the summit can stifle initiative and leave no path for grooming future leaders in the ranks of subordinate levels. Similarly, a belief in universal direct democracy may become unwieldy, and a system consisting of nothing but representative leaders may well become stymied in committees.Thus many leadership systems promote different
rules for different levels of leadership. Hereditary autocrats meet
in the United Nations on equal representative terms with elected
governments in a collegial leadership. Or individual local
democracies may assign some of their powers to temporary dictators in emergencies, as in
ancient Rome. Hierarchies intermingle with equality of opportunity
at different levels.
Support-structures for leadership
Charisma and personality alone can work miracles, yet most leaders operate within a structure of supporters and executive agents who carry out and monitor the expressed or filtered-down will of the leader. This undercutting of the importance of leadership may serve as a reminder of the existence of the follower: compare followership. A more or less formal bureaucracy (in the Weberian sense) can throw up a colorless nonentity as an entirely effective leader: this phenomenon may occur (for example) in a politburo environment. Bureaucratic organizations can also raise incompetent people to levels of leadership (see Peter Principle).In modern dynamic environments formal
bureaucratic organizations have started to become less common
because of their inability to deal with fast-changing
circumstances. Most modern business organizations (and some
government departments) encourage what they see as "leadership
skills" and reward identified potential leaders with
promotions.
In a potential down-side to this sort of
development, a big-picture grand-vision leader may foster another
sort of hierarchy: a
fetish of leadership amongst subordinate sub-leaders, encouraged to
seize resources for their own sub-empires and to apply to the
supreme leader only for ultimate arbitration.
Some leaders build coalitions and alliances:
political parties abound with this type of leader. Still others
depend on rapport with the masses: they labor on the shop-floor or
stand in the front-line of battle, leading by example.
Determining what makes "effective leadership"
Leadership maintains its effectiveness sometimes by natural succession according to established rules, and sometimes by the imposition of brute force.The simplest way to measure the effectiveness of
leadership involves evaluating the size of the following that the
leader can muster. By this standard, Adolf Hitler
became a very effective leader for a period — even if through
delusional promises and coercive techniques. However, this approach
may measure power rather than leadership. To measure leadership
more specifically, one may assess the extent of influence on the
followers, that is, the amount of leading. Within an organizational
context this means financially valuing productivity. Effective
leaders generate higher productivity, lower costs, and more
opportunities than ineffective leaders. Effective leaders create
results, attain goal, realize vision, and other objectives more
quickly and at a higher level of quality than ineffective
leaders.
James MacGregor Burns introduced a normative
element: an effective Burnsian leader will unite followers in a
shared vision
that will improve an organization and society at large. Burns calls
leadership that delivers "true" value, integrity, and trust
transformational leadership. He distinguishes such leadership
from "mere" transactional
leadership that builds power
by doing whatever will get more followers.
http://fecolumnists.expressindia.com/full_column.php?content_id=35970
But problems arise in quantifying the transformational quality of leadership -
evaluation of that quality seems more difficult to quantify than
merely counting the followers that the straw man of transactional
leadership James MacGregor Burns has set as a primary standard for
effectiveness. Thus transformational leadership requires an
evaluation of quality, independent of the
market demand that exhibits in the number of followers.
Current
assessments of transformational and transactional leadership
commonly make use of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire
(MLQ), developed by Bass and Avolio in 1990 and revised in 1995. It
measures five dimensions of transformational leadership:
- idealized influence - attributions
- idealized influence - behaviors
- inspirational motivation
- individualized consideration
- intellectual stimulation
- contingent reward
- management by exception (active)
- management by exception (passive)
The
functional leadership model conceives leadership as a set of
behaviors that helps a group perform a task, reach their goal, or
perform their function. In this model, effective leaders encourage
functional behaviors and discourage dysfunctional ones.
In the path-goal
model of leadership, developed jointly by Martin Evans and
Robert
House and based on the "Expectancy Theory of Motivation", a
leader has the function of clearing the path toward the goal(s) of
the group, by meeting the needs of subordinates.
Some commentators use the metaphor of an orchestral conductor
to describe the quality of the leadership process. An effective
leader resembles an orchestra conductor in some ways. He/she has to
somehow get a group of potentially diverse and talented people -
many of whom have strong personalities
- to work together toward a common output. Will the conductor
harness and blend all the gifts his or her players possess? Will
the players accept the degree of creative expression they have?
Will the audience enjoy the sound they make? The conductor may have
a clear determining influence on all of these questions.
Suggested qualities of leadership
Studies of leadership have suggested qualities that people often associate with leadership. They include:- Technical/specific skill at some task at hand
- Charismatic inspiration - attractiveness to others and the ability to leverage this esteem to motivate others
- Preoccupation with a role - a dedication that consumes much of leaders' life - service to a cause
- A clear sense of purpose (or mission) - clear goals - focus - commitment
- Results-orientation - directing every action towards a mission - prioritizing activities to spend time where results most accrue
- Cooperation - work well with others
- Optimism - very few pessimists become leaders
- Rejection of determinism - belief in one's ability to "make a difference"
- Ability to encourage and nurture those that report to them - delegate in such a way as people will grow
- Role models - leaders may adopt a persona that encapsulates their mission and lead by example
- Self-knowledge (in non-bureaucratic structures)
- Self-awareness - the ability to "lead" (as it were) one's own self prior to leading other selves similarly
- Awareness of environment - the ability to understand the environment they lead in and how they affect and are affected by it
- With regards to people and to projects, the ability to choose winners - recognizing that, unlike with skills, one cannot (in general) teach attitude. ''Note that "picking winners" ("choosing winners") carries implications of gamblers' luck as well as of the capacity to take risks, but "true" leaders, like gamblers but unlike "false" leaders, base their decisions on realistic insight (and usually on many other factors partially derived from "real" wisdom).
- Empathy - Understanding what others say, rather than listening to how'' they say things - this could partly sum this quality up as "walking in someone else's shoes" (to use a common cliché).
- Integrity - the integration of outward actions and inner values.
- Sense of Humour - Men work better when they're happy.
In 2008 Burman and Evans published a 'charter'
for leaders:
- Leading by example in accordance with the company’s core values.
- Building the trust and confidence of the people with which they work.
- Continually seeking improvement in their methods and effectiveness.
- Keeping people informed.
- Being accountable for their actions and holding others accountable for theirs.
- Involving people, seeking their views, listening actively to what they have to say and representing these views honestly.
- Being clear on what is expected, and providing feedback on progress.
- Showing tolerance of people’s differences and dealing with their issues fairly.
- Acknowledging and recognizing people for their contributions and performance.
- Weighing alternatives, considering both short and long-term effects and then being resolute in the decisions they make.
The approach of listing leadership qualities,
often termed "trait theory
of leadership", assumes certain traits or characteristics will tend
to lead to effective leadership. Although trait theory has an
intuitive appeal, difficulties may arise in proving its tenets, and
opponents frequently challenge this approach. The "strongest"
versions of trait theory see these "leadership characteristics" as
innate, and accordingly labels some people as "born leaders" due to
their psychological makeup. On this reading of the theory, leadership
development involves identifying and measuring leadership
qualities, screening potential leaders from non-leaders, then
training those with potential.
David
McClelland saw leadership skills, not so much as a set of
traits, but as a pattern of motives. He claimed that successful
leaders will tend to have a high need for power, a low need for
affiliation, and a high level of what he called activity inhibition
(one might call it self-control).
Situational leadership theory offers an alternative approach.
It proceeds from the assumption that different situations call for
different characteristics. According to this group of theories, no
single optimal psychographic profile of a leader exists. The
situational leadership model of Hersey and Blanchard, for example,
suggest four leadership-styles and four levels of
follower-development. For effectiveness, the model posits that the
leadership-style must match the appropriate level of
followership-development. In this model, leadership behavior
becomes a function not only of the characteristics of the leader,
but of the characteristics of followers as well. Other situational
leadership models introduce a variety of situational variables.
These determinants include:
- the nature of the task (structured or routine)
- organizational policies, climate, and culture
- the preferences of the leader's superiors
- the expectations of peers
- the reciprocal responses of followers
The contingency model of Vroom and Yetton uses
other situational variables, including:
- the nature of the problem
- the requirements for accuracy
- the acceptance of an initiative
- time-constraints
- cost constraints
However one determines leadership behavior, one
can categorize it into various leadership styles. Many ways of
doing this exist. For example, the Managerial
Grid Model, a behavioral leadership-model, suggests five
different leadership styles, based on leaders' strength of concern
for people and their concern for goal achievement.
Kurt Lewin,
Ronald Lipitt, and R. K. White identified three leadership styles:
authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-faire, based on the amount
of influence and power exercised by the leader.
The Fiedler
contingency model bases the leader’s effectiveness on what
Fred
Fiedler called situational contingency. This results from the
interaction of leadership style and situational favorableness
(later called "situational control").
Leadership "styles" (per House and Podsakoff)
In 1994 House and Podsakoff attempted to summarize the behaviors and approaches of "outstanding leaders" that they obtained from some more modern theories and research findings. These leadership behaviors and approaches do not constitute specific styles, but cumulatively they probably characterize the most effective style of today's leaders/managers. The listed leadership "styles" cover:- Vision. Outstanding leaders articulate an ideological vision congruent with the deeply-held values of followers, a vision that describes a better future to which the followers have an alleged moral right.
- Passion and self-sacrifice. Leaders display a passion for, and have a strong conviction of, what they regard as the moral correctness of their vision. They engage in outstanding or extraordinary behavior and make extraordinary self-sacrifices in the interest of their vision and mission.
- Confidence, determination, and persistence. Outstanding leaders display a high degree of faith in themselves and in the attainment of the vision they articulate. Theoretically, such leaders need to have a very high degree of self-confidence and moral conviction because their mission usually challenges the status quo and, therefore, may offend those who have a stake in preserving the established order.
- Image-building. House and Podsakoff regard outstanding leaders as self-conscious about their own image. They recognize the desirability of followers perceiving them as competent, credible, and trustworthy.
- Role-modeling. Leader-image-building sets the stage for effective role-modeling because followers identify with the values of role models whom they perceived in positive terms.
- External representation. Outstanding leaders act as spokespersons for their respective organizations and symbolically represent those organizations to external constituencies.
- Expectations of and confidence in followers. Outstanding leaders communicate expectations of high performance from their followers and strong confidence in their followers’ ability to meet such expectations.
- Selective motive-arousal. Outstanding leaders selectively arouse those motives of followers that the outstanding leaders see as of special relevance to the successful accomplishment of the vision and mission.
- Frame alignment. To persuade followers to accept and implement change, outstanding leaders engage in "frame alignment". This refers to the linkage of individual and leader interpretive orientations such that some set of followers’ interests, values, and beliefs, as well as the leader’s activities, goals, and ideology, becomes congruent and complementary.
- Inspirational communication. Outstanding leaders often, but not always, communicate their message in an inspirational manner using vivid stories, slogans, symbols, and ceremonies.
Even though these ten leadership behaviors and
approaches do not really equate to specific styles, evidence has
started to accumulate that a leader’s style can make a difference. Style becomes the
key to the formulation and implementation of strategy and plays an
important role in work-group members’ activity
and in team citizenship. Little doubt
exists that the way (style) in which leaders influence work-group
members can make a difference in their own and their people’s
performance.
(Adopted from: Robert House and Philip M.
Podsakoff, "Leadership Effectiveness: Past Perspectives and Future
Directions for Research" in Greenberg, Jerald ed.),pp. 45-82
Organizational Behavior: The State of the Science, Hillsdale, NJ,
England: Erlbaum Associates, Inc, 1994. x, 312 pp.}} .)
Leadership and vision
Many definitions of leadership involve an element of Goal management|vision — except in cases of involuntary leadership and often in cases of traditional leadership. A vision provides direction to the influence process. A leader or group of leaders can have one or more visions of the future to aid them to move a group successfully towards this goal. A vision, for effectiveness, should allegedly:- appear as a simple, yet vibrant, image in the mind of the leader
- describe a future state, credible and preferable to the present state
- act as a bridge between the current state and a future optimum state
- appear desirable enough to energize followers
- succeed in speaking to followers at an emotional or spiritual level (logical appeals by themselves seldom muster a following)
For leadership to occur, according to this
theory, some people "leaders" must communicate the vision to others
"followers" in such a way that the followers adopt the vision as
their own. Leaders must not just see the vision themselves, they
must have the ability to get others to see it also. Numerous
techniques aid in this process, including: narratives, metaphors,
symbolic actions, leading by example,incentives, and
penalty|penalties.
Stacey (1992) has suggested that the emphasis on
vision puts an unrealistic burden on the leader. Such emphasis
appears to perpetuate the myth that an organization must depend on
a single, uncommonly talented individual to decide what to do.
Stacey claims that this fosters a culture of dependency and
conformity in which followers take no pro-active incentives and do
not think independently.
Kanungo's charismatic leadership model describes
the role of the vision in three stages that are continuously
ongoing, overlapping one another. Assessing the status quo,
formulation and articulation of the vision, and implementation of
the vision.
Leadership's relation with management
Some commentators link leadership closely with the idea of management. Some regard the two as synonymous, and others consider management a subset of leadership. If one accepts this premise, one can view leadership as:- centralized or decentralized
- broad or focused
- decision-oriented or morale-centred
- intrinsic or derived from some authority
Any of the bipolar labels traditionally ascribed
to management style could also apply to leadership style. Hersey
and Blanchard use this approach: they claim that management merely
consists of leadership applied to business situations; or in other
words: management forms a sub-set of the broader process of
leadership. They put it this way: "Leadership occurs any time one
attempts to influence the behavior of an individual or group,
regardless of the reason.Management is a kind of leadership in
which the achievement of organizational goals is paramount."
However, a clear distinction between management
and leadership may nevertheless prove useful. This would allow for
a reciprocal relationship between leadership and management,
implying that an effective manager should possess leadership
skills, and an effective leader should demonstrate management
skills. One clear distinction could provide the following
definition:
- Management involves power by position.
- Leadership involves power by influence.
Abraham Zaleznik (1977),for example, delineated
differences between leadership and management. He saw leaders as
inspiring visionaries, concerned about substance; while managers he
views as planners who have concerns with process.Warren Bennis
(1989) further explicated a dichotomy between managers and leaders.
He drew twelve distinctions between the two groups:
- Managers administer, leaders innovate
- Managers ask how and when, leaders ask what and why
- Managers focus on systems, leaders focus on people
- Managers do things right, leaders do the right things
- Managers maintain, leaders develop
- Managers rely on control, leaders inspire trust
- Managers have a short-term perspective, leaders have a longer-term perspective
- Managers accept the status-quo, leaders challenge the status-quo
- Managers have an eye on the bottom line, leaders have an eye on the horizon
- Managers imitate, leaders originate
- Managers emulate the classic good soldier, leaders are their own person
- Managers copy, leaders show originality
Paul Birch (1999) also sees a distinction between
leadership and management. He observed that, as a broad
generalization, managers concerned themselves with tasks while
leaders concerned themselves with people. Birch does not suggest
that leaders do not focus on "the task." Indeed, the things that
characterise a great leader include the fact that they achieve.
Effective leaders create and sustain competitive advantage through
the attainment of cost leadership, revenue leadership, time
leadership, and market value leadership. Managers typically follow
and realize a leader's vision. The difference lies in the leader
realising that the achievement of the task comes about through the
goodwill and support of others (influence), while the manager may
not.
This goodwill and support originates in the
leader seeing people as people, not as another resource for
deployment in support of "the task". The manager often has the role
of organizing resources to get something done. People form one of
these resources, and many of the worst managers treat people as
just another interchangeable item. A leader has the role of causing
others to follow a path he/she has laid out or a vision he/she has
articulated in order to achieve a task. Often, people see the task
as subordinate to the vision. For instance, an organization might
have the overall task of generating profit, but a good leader may
see profit as a by-product that flows from whatever aspect of their
vision differentiates their company from the competition.
Leadership does not only manifest itself as
purely a business phenomenon. Many people can think of an inspiring
leader they have encountered who has nothing whatever to do with
business: a politician, an officer in the armed forces, a Scout or
Guide leader, a teacher, etc. Similarly, management does not occur
only as a purely business phenomenon. Again, we can think of
examples of people that we have met who fill the management niche
in non-business organisationsNon-business organizations should find
it easier to articulate a non-money-driven inspiring vision that
will support true leadership. However, often this does not
occur.
Differences in the mix of leadership and
management can define various management styles. Some management
styles tend to de-emphasize leadership. Included in this group one
could include participatory management, democratic management, and
collaborative management styles. Other management styles, such as
authoritarian management, micro-management, and top-down
management, depend more on a leader to provide direction. Note,
however, that just because an organisation has no single leader
giving it direction, does not mean it necessarily has weak
leadership. In many cases group leadership (multiple leaders) can
prove effective. Having a single leader (as in dictatorship) allows
for quick and decisive decision-making when needed as well as when
not needed. Group decision-making sometimes earns the derisive
label "committee-itis" because of the longer times required to make
decisions, but group leadership can bring more expertise,
experience, and perspectives through a democratic process.
Patricia Pitcher (1994) has challenged the
bifurcation into leaders and managers. She used a factor analysis
(in marketing)factor analysis technique on data collected over 8
years, and concluded that three types of leaders exist, each with
very different psychological profiles:'Artists' imaginative,
inspiring, visionary, entrepreneurial, intuitive, daring, and
emotional Craftsmen: well-balanced, steady, reasonable, sensible,
predictable, and trustworthy Technocrats: cerebral,
detail-oriented, fastidious, uncompromising, and hard-headed She
speculates that no one profile offers a preferred leadership style.
She claims that if we want to build, we should find an "artist
leader" if we want to solidify our position, we should find a
"craftsman leader" and if we have an ugly job that needs to get
done like downsizing.we should find a "technocratic leader".Pitcher
also observed that a balanced leader exhibiting all three sets of
traits occurs extremely rarely: she found none in her study.
Bruce Lynn postulates a differentiation between
'Leadership' and ‘Management’ based on perspectives to risk.
Specifically,"A Leader optimises upside opportunity; a Manager
minimises downside risk." He argues that successful executives need
to apply both disciplines in a balance appropriate to the
enterprise and its context. Leadership without Management yields
steps forward, but as many if not more steps backwards. Management
without Leadership avoids any step backwards, but doesn’t move
forward.
Leadership by a group
In contrast to individual leadership, some organizations have adopted group leadership. In this situation, more than one person provides direction to the group as a whole. Some organizations have taken this approach in hopes of increasing creativity, reducing costs, or downsizing. Others may see the traditional leadership of a boss as costing too much in team performance. In some situations, the maintenance of the boss becomes too expensive - either by draining the resources of the group as a whole, or by impeding the creativity within the team, even unintentionally.A common example of group leadership involves
cross-functional
teams. A team of people with diverse skills and from all parts
of an organization assembles to lead a project. A team structure
can involve sharing power equally on all issues, but more commonly
uses rotating leadership. The team member(s) best able to handle
any given phase of the project become(s) the temporary leader(s).
According to Ogbonnia (2007), "effective leadership is the ability
to successfully integrate and maximize available resources within
the internal and external environment for the attainment of
organizational or societal goals". Ogbonnia defines an effective
leader "as an individual with the capacity to consistently succeed
in a given conditions and be recognized as meeting the expectations
of the organization or society."
Orpheus orchestra
For example, the Orpheus orchestra has performed for over thirty years without a conductor -- that is, without a sole leader. As a team of over 25 members, it has drawn discriminating audiences, and has produced over 60 recordings for Deutsche Grammophon in successful competition with other world-class orchestras.http://www.orpheusnyc.comRather than an autocratic or charismatic conductor deciding
the overall conception of a work and then dictating how each
individual is to perform the individual tasks, the Orpheus team generally selects a different
"core group" for each piece of music. The core group provides
leadership in working out the details of the piece, and presents
their ideas to the whole team. Members of the whole team then
participate in refining the final conception, rehearsal, and
product, including checking from various places in the auditorium
how the sound balances
and verifying the quality of the final recording.
At times the entire Orpheus team may follow a single leader,
but whom the team follows rotates from task to task, depending on
the capabilities of its members.
The orchestra has developed seminars and training
sessions for adapting the Orpheus Process to business.http://www.orpheusnyc.com/about/process.htm
Historical views on leadership
Sanskrit literature identifies ten types of leaders. Defining characteristics of the ten types of leaders are explained with examples from history and mythology.Aristocratic
thinkers have postulated that leadership depends on one's blue
blood or genes: monarchy takes an extreme view
of the same idea, and may prop up its assertions against the claims
of mere aristocrats by invoking divine sanction: see the divine
right of kings. Contrariwise, more democratically-inclined
theorists have pointed to examples of meritocratic leaders, such
as the Napoleonic
marshals profiting from careers open to talent.
In the autocratic/paternalistic strain of
thought, traditionalists recall the role of leadership of the Roman
pater
familias. Feminist thinking,
on the other hand, may damn such models as patriarchal and posit against
them emotionally-attuned, responsive, and consensual empathetic guidance and matriarchies.
Comparable to the Roman tradition, the views of
Confucianism
on "right living" relate very much to the ideal of the (male)
scholar-leader and his benevolent rule, buttressed by a tradition
of filial piety.
In On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in
History, Thomas
Carlyle demonstrated the concept of leadership associated with
a position of authority. In praising
Oliver
Cromwell's use of power
to bring King Charles
I to trial and eventual beheading,
he wrote the following: "Let us remark, meanwhile, how
indispensable everywhere a King is, in all movements of men. It is
strikingly shown, in this very War, what becomes of men when they
cannot find a Chief Man, and their enemies can."
Within the context of Islam, views on the
nature, scope and inheritance of leadership have played a major
role in shaping sects and their history. See caliphate.
In the 19th century, the elaboration of anarchist thought called the
whole concept of leadership into question. (Note that the Oxford
English Dictionary traces the word "leadership" in English only
as far back as the 19th century.) One response to this denial of
élitism came
with Leninism, which
demanded an élite group of disciplined cadres
to act as the vanguard
of a socialist revolution, bringing into existence the
dictatorship of the proletariat.
Other historical views of leadership have
addressed the seeming contrasts between secular and religious
leadership. The doctrines of Caesaro-papism
have recurred and had their detractors over several centuries.
Christian thinking on leadership has often emphasized stewardship of
divinely-provided resources - human and material - and their
deployment in accordance with a Divine plan. Compare servant
leadership.
Alternatives to leadership
Within groups, alternatives to the cult of leadership include using decision-making structures such as co-operative ventures, collegiality, consensus, anarchism and applied democracy. One can downplay the ubiquitous idea of leadership by using structures such as information clearing houses or stressing functions such as administration. Note the different implications and connotations of the two phrases "coalition of the willing" and "US-led coalition". The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, which practices a form of distributed leadership, provides a textbook example of alternative leadership.See also
- Aikido
- John Adair (Leadership Guru)
- Max Weber's Charismatic authority
- Chieftain
- Coaching
- Crowd psychology
- Antonio Gramsci's theory of Cultural hegemony
- Dale Carnegie
- Dependability
- Determination
- Discipline
- Excellence
- Fairness
- Focus
- Foresight
- Forgiveness
- Fortitude
- Fiedler contingency model
- Followership
- Functional leadership model
- Hero
- Islamic leadership
- Ideal leadership Model
- Justice
- Lance Secretan
- Leader (Scouting)
- Leader-Member Exchange Theory (LMX)
- Leadership Character Model
- Leadership development
- Managerial grid model
- Minister
- Morality
- Nicomachean Ethics
- Parent
- Perseverance
- Potential
- Purposefulness
- Priest
- Professional development
- Path-goal model
- Respectfulness
- Responsibility
- Restraint
- Self-awareness
- Self-discipline
- Self-reliance
- sensitivity
- Servant leadership
- Situational leadership theory
- Social skills
- Three theological virtues
- Trait theory
- Transformational leadership
- Trustworthiness
- Truthfulness
- Toxic Leadership
- Youth leadership
References
General references
- Argyris, C. (1976) Increasing Leadership Effectiveness, Wiley, New York, 1976 (even though published in 1976, this still remains a "standard" reference text)
- Bass, B.M. & Avolio, B.J. (1995). MLQ Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire for Research: Permission Set. Redwood City, CA: Mindgarden.
- Bennis, W. (1989) On Becoming a Leader, Addison Wesley, New York, 1989
- Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership, New York, NY: Harper Torchbooks.
- Crawford, C. J. (2005). Corporate rise the X principles of extreme personal leadership. Santa Clara, CA: XCEO. ISBN 0-976-90190-0 9780976901907
- APA
- Greiner, K. (2002). The inaugural speech. ERIC Accession Number ED468083 http://www.eric.ed.gov/.
- Heifetz, R. (1994). Leadership without easy answers. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-51858-6
- House, R. J. (2004) Culture, Leadership, and Organizations: The GLOBE Study of 62 Societies, SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks, 2004 http://www.sagepub.com/booksProdDesc.nav?prodId=Book226013.
- Kouzes, J. M. and Posner, B. Z. (2002). The leadership challenge. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
- Laubach, R. (2005) Leadership is Influence
- Machiavelli, Niccolo (1530) The Prince
- Maxwell, J. C. & Dornan, J. (2003) Becoming a Person of Influence
- McGovern, George S., Donald C. Simmons, Jr. and Daniel Gaken (2008) Leadership and Service: An Introduction, Kendall/Hunt Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7575-5109-3.
- Nanus, Burt (1995) The visionary leadership
- Ogbonnia, SKC. (2007). Political Parties and Effective Leadership: A contingency Approach
- Pitcher, P. (1994 French) Artists, Craftsmen, and Technocrats: The dreams realities and illusions of leadership, Stoddart Publishing, Toronto, 2nd English edition, 1997. ISBN 0-7737-5854-2
- Renesch, John (1994) Leadership in a New Era: Visionary Approaches to the Biggest Crisis of Our Time, San Francisco, New Leaders Press (paperback 2002, New York, Paraview Publishing
- Renesch, John (2001) "Conscious Leadership: Taking Responsibility for Our Better Future," LOHAS Weekly Newsletter, March 1, 2001 http://lohas.datajoe.com/app/ecom/pub_article_details.php?id=67115
- Roberts, W. (1987) Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun
- Stacey, R. (1992) Managing Chaos, Kogan-Page, London, 1992
- Stogdill, R.M. (1950) 'Leadership, membership and organization', Psychological Bulletin, 47: 1-14
- Terry, G. (1960) The Principles of Management, Richard Irwin Inc, Homewood Ill, pg 5.
- Torbert, W. (2004) Action Inquiry: the Secret of Timely and Transforming Leadership, San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
- Warneka, P and Warneka, T. (2007). The Way of Leading People: Unlocking Your Integral Leadership Skills with the Tao Te Ching. Asogomi Publications Intl. Cleveland, Ohio. website
- Warneka, T. (2006). Leading People the Black Belt Way: Conquering the Five Core Problems Facing Leaders Today. Asogomi Publications Intl. Cleveland, Ohio. website
- Warneka, T. (2008). Black Belt Leader, Peaceful Leader: An Introduction to Catholic Servant Leadership. website
- Zaleznik, A. (1977) "Managers and Leaders: Is there a difference?", Harvard Business Review, May-June, 1977
External links
leadership in Danish: Førerskab
leadership in German: Führung
leadership in Spanish: Liderazgo
leadership in French: Leadership
leadership in Croatian: Vodstvo
(ekonomija)
leadership in Indonesian: Kepemimpinan
leadership in Italian: Leadership
leadership in Hebrew: מנהיגות
leadership in Limburgan: Leider
leadership in Hungarian: Vezetéselmélet
leadership in Dutch: Leiderschap
leadership in Japanese: リーダーシップ
leadership in Norwegian Nynorsk: Leiar
leadership in Polish: Lider (psychologia)
leadership in Portuguese: Liderança
leadership in Russian: Лидер
leadership in Simple English: Leader
leadership in Serbian: Вођа
leadership in Swedish: Ledare (yrkesroll)
leadership in Thai: ภาวะผู้นำ
leadership in Turkish: Liderlik
leadership in Ukrainian: Лідер
leadership in Yiddish: פירערשאפט
leadership in Contenese: 阿頭
leadership in Chinese: 领袖
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
acme,
administration,
aedileship, archbishopric, archiepiscopacy,
archiepiscopate,
aristocracy,
ascendancy, authority, authorization, be-all and
end-all, bishopric,
blue ribbon, captainship, chairmanship, championship, chancellery, chancellorate, chancellorship, charisma, charm, chiefery, chiefry, chieftaincy, chieftainry, chieftainship, clout, command, consequence, consulate, consulship, control, convenership, credit, custody, deanery, dictatorship, dictature, direction, directorate, directorship, dominance, domination, dominion, effect, effectiveness, eminence, emirate, enchantment, episcopacy, esteem, favor, first place, first prize,
force, foremanship, generalship, good feeling,
governorship,
guardianship,
guidance, headship, hegemony, height, hierarchy, highest, hold, imperium, importance, incidental power,
influence, influentiality, initiative, insinuation, intendancy, jurisdiction, kingship, leverage, lordship, magistracy, magistrateship, magistrature, magnetism, management, managership, masterdom, mastership, mastery, maximum, mayoralty, mayorship, metropolitanate,
metropolitanship,
moment, most, ne plus ultra, new high,
nobility, operation, overseership, palms, papacy, paramountcy, pashadom, pashalic, patriarchate, patriarchy, personality, persuasion, pontificality, pontificate, popedom, popehood, popeship, potency, power, predominance, prefectship, prefecture, premiership, preponderance, presidency, presidentship, pressure, prestige, primacy, prime-ministership,
prime-ministry, princedom, princeship, principality, proconsulate, proconsulship, proctorship, protectorate, protectorship, provostry, provostship, purchase, record, rectorate, rectorship, regency, regentship, regulation, reign, repute, rule, ruling class, running, say, seigniory, seneschalship, seneschalsy, sheikhdom, sheriffalty, sheriffcy, sheriffdom, shrievalty, sovereignty, stewardship, suasion, subtle influence,
suggestion, superintendence,
superintendency,
supervision,
supervisorship,
supremacy, suzerainship, suzerainty, sway, top spot, tribunate, upper hand,
vizierate, viziership, weight, whip hand, zenith