Leadership
Leadership, is it an art or a science? Perhaps leadership is best described as a conglomeration of knowledge, experience, and personal attributes that can be used to influence others (Bethel, 2011). While some people obviously possess characteristics commonly associated with strong leaders, not all is lost. Leadership is ever evolving and many aspects of effective leadership can be gained through experience and education. Leadership is a complex product that is a fundamental part of organizational triumph.
Leader/Follower Relationships Even when an individual is not in a role of management or leadership, which does not limit the effect of power and influence on the personal development of followers. Understanding power through a followership role can improve one’s perception of this essential part of success. Consequently, one may actually learn ways to be an effective manager through interactions with direct managers. The approach of other leaders also has a profound influence on sensitivity and application of leadership concepts.
Leadership is not possible without the interaction and presence of followers (Bethel, 2011). Therefore, followership is a necessary part of leadership. Involvement of followers aids in the determination and development of leadership roles. Active followers facilitate healthy leadership roles and enhance the group experience. Just as followership effects leadership, situational details also effect leadership. Effective
What comes to mind when you hear the word leader? Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy? According to Webster's Dictionary, a leader is "one who leads." After participating in the Leadership Program, I have learned that a leader is hard to summarize.
In followership there needs to be a leader that inspires and bonds followers together as a unit moving in one direction. Today’s leader has to be more than someone that was placed in a position of authority, a person with a title and a higher salary level. A real leader is found when the behaviors and attitudes of their
Leadership, which is defined as “…The action of leading a group of people or an organization” is used in many different ways. Most people think being a leader is mostly about being the boss, having people work under you and just becoming successful, but it boils down to more than that. Leaders are those individuals that actually utilize their many abilities in leadership and administration to help make a better change for themselves, the people around them and the goal that needs to be achieved. Leadership is not an expertise that can essentially be grabbed from a book or article based on leadership but instead it is one of those initiative abilities that are increased through experience and understanding those real life situations.
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According to Webster’s Dictionary, leadership is the power or ability to lead other people, the act or instance of leading. I believe that Leadership is an art, the art to get others to follow and accomplish a common goal or task in a harmonic manner. A leader can be shown in all kinds of shapes and forms. To be a great leader many people believe it consists of modeling the way, inspiring a shared vision, enabling others to act, and encouraging the heart. Over the course of me learning how to become a better leader and being in leadership roles, I’ve learned that all these are very necessary to be a great leader.
Effective followership is an essential component of effective leadership in that, without good followers, the leader’s work is difficult and cumbersome. The role of the follower is many times understated. As illustrated by Kelley (1998), “effective followers are thinkers; energetic and assertive, self-starters, independent problem solvers, and carry out their tasks with these characteristics (p. 143). Effective followers also are characterized by their ability to perform tasks with little supervision, their intelligence, and ability to think for themselves. We are all followers, even those who consider themselves leaders; so to encourage this effectiveness in others; we must be role models for those under us, so that they may also be effective at following. Chaleff (2009) observed that “all important social accomplishments require complex
Followers help leaders manifest their vision. Successful followers (supporters or team members) come in a wide variety of personal characteristics. There are people who may be good followers who do not make good leaders or even want to be leaders, but there are no good leaders who are not good followers. A good leader was once a follower. Without followers there is no leadership in any organization. Leaders can develop effective followers as followers develop effective leaders. The performance of followers and leaders of an organization are variables that depend on one another. Both roles are proactive together they can
The current context of work, leadership, and followership is positioned in progressively multifaceted, uncertain, and dynamic business backgrounds with multiple realities founded upon various values, priorities, and requirements. The actual encounters demanded by globalization, amplified competition, far-reaching sociocultural and technological growths, and the acceleration of changes that are conveying new intricacies for organizations (Küpers, 2007).
The contents and assignment in this course has helped me understand the various theories of leadership and how different leadership styles can have a negative or positive effect on followers and organizations. The leadership theories helped me understand the concept of leadership better because it educates me on the different leadership options that are available. Leadership and followership is not based on specific characteristics. Leaders must draw from things and approaches to find the right style. A follower’s attitude determines the way a leader leads. According to Johnson (2011) “Being a good follower means ensuring your boss is supported, but only if he is making optimum decisions”.
Management in my mind and as the book reinforces the definition to be, to plan, to organize, to staff for the process, and to control the process to the end. These are consider the primary functions of the management role (p.8).
Leadership has become overly romanticized by popular culture, leaving little research and attention to followership (Meindl). This focus on leadership has left a deficit in the development of
Leadership is defined in Webster’s Dictionary as the “action of leading a group of people or an organization.” Leadership is also the ability to set trends, inspire, motivate, and sway others to produce desired results. There are different styles and ways of performing leadership and a good leader has the ability to take ordinary people, put them all together, and hopefully yield successful results. For organizations to have sustained results from their performance there must be a good balance of business insight, technical and interpersonal skills, and good team dynamics. A leader must know how to use all these areas as well as trust and communicate with their people in
The importance placed on the follower’s opinions and capabilities acknowledges the value of his or her contribution by leadership. It motivates people to do their best and achieve the necessary goal(s). This empowerment by leadership therefore promotes a beneficial message between leaders and followers allowing for future communication when difficult circumstances might arise.
Over the years, a great deal of time, and research has been dedicate to the study of leadership. Even with extensive data on the topic, many still disagree on what leadership really means. Hence, leadership is a word that has many different meanings and different researched theories associated with it. On a basic level, leadership involves having and establishing a clear vision, sharing that vision with followers, respecting followers, and leading an organization with excellence while ensuring that everyone is part of the team. Leadership is also a method by which a leader uses his or her influence towards getting a group of followers to take ownership or buy into a vision.
Leadership is about the interaction between the leader, the followers and the situation (Hughes, Ginnett and Curphy (2015, p. 15-26). If a given situation changes, the interaction between the leaders and followers can change dramatically. The leaders who understand well this interaction have a huge advantage because leaders are able to: