The Concept of Leadership

Leadership
 Challenging people to work collaboratively toward an ever-expanding vision of
excellence in the achievement of organizational and personal/professional goals and
objectives.
 Creating a threat-free environment for growth so that the creative talents and skills of
each person are used to the best advantage,
 Encouraging and building working relationships that are individually and organizationally
satisfying, unifying and strengthening in the realization of mutually determined goals
and objectives. Such relationships result in effective group problem solving.
 The process of influencing individuals or groups to achieve goals.
Characteristics of Leadership
1. Goal orientation- the leaders sees the bigger picture and understands the purpose of
life and work of the group or organization.
2. Enablement- effective leaders seek to enable others to experience life in its fullness.
3. Concern- leaders must show concern for persons. Human being are the most valuable
resource leaders have. Without people, material and financial resources are worthless.
4. Self-development- while developing others, leaders also need to develop a healthy self-
image and a positive I-can-win attitude.
Traits of leaders
 Capacity: intelligence, alertness, verbal facility, originality, judgement
 Achievement: scholarship, knowledge, accomplishment
 Responsibility: dependability, initiative, persistence, aggressiveness, self-confidence,
desire to excel
 Participation: activity, sociability, cooperation, adaptability, humor
 Status: socio-economic, popularity
 Situation: mental ability, skills, needs and interest of followers, objectives to be
achieved and task to be performed.

Leadership Patterns

1. Telling – leaders identify problems, consider options, choose one solution and tell their
followers what to do. Leaders may consider members’ views, but members do not
participate directly in decision-making. Leaders of this style may use coercion.
2. Persuading- leaders make decisions and try to persuade group members to accept
them. They point out that they have considered the organization goals and the
interests of group members. They even point out how members will benefit from
carrying out the decision.
3. Consulting- group members have opportunities to influence the decision-making from
the beginning. Leaders present problems and relevant background information.
Leaders invite the group to suggest alternative actions. Leaders select the most
promising solution.
4. Participating – leaders participate as members in the discussion and agree in advance
to carry out whatever decision the group makes.
5. Delegating- leaders define boundaries within which to solve problems or accomplish
tasks. Then turn it over to the group to work out solutions or to implement the tasks.
Factors Influencing Leadership Styles
1. Personality of leaders
2. Personality of group members
3. Nature of the task
4. Nature of the environment

Examples of styles in Leadership

1. The Authoritarian Styles

 Are strong-willed, domineering and to some extent aggressive.
 Must have their way, which for them seems the only way.
 Look upon subordinates more as functionaries than as persons, and the
best subordinates, in their estimation, follow directions without
questions.
 Ordinarily are not ready to listen to views and suggestions of others.
 Do not encourage equal relationship with underlings. As a rule, they do
not allow themselves to get close with employees.
 Have business-like and task-oriented attitudes. The job comes first.
 Generally, blames poor results on the inability of others to carry out
instructions correctly.

2. Democratic or Participative Style

 They are general as concerned with maintaining group effectiveness
as with completing the task to be done.
 They encourage members in their groups to express their ideas and
feelings because they believe that such climate leads to greater
creativity and commitment.
 If they encounter resistance or conflicts, they allow to surface and
they seek help of their groups in removing the resistance or resolving
the conflicts.
 They encourage joint decision-making as well as shared goal-setting.
 They rarely set policies without explaining reasons and proposing
them to their groups, when they can, for suggestions and criticism.
 They allow group members a good deal of freedom in their work,
once they have shown their ability to do it.
 They keep looking for better ways to do things and are open to
change when convinced that such changes seem called for and
would lead to greater effectiveness.
 They believe in the effectiveness of group work