Throughout the entire course of this class, I have been asked to fill out different self-assessments related to whatever topic or approach to leadership Peter Northouse (2013) was discussing in his book Leadership Theory and Practice. Each one of these self-assessments were intended to help me in discovering who I was as a person and a leader. Some of the leadership self-assessments included the Least Preferred Coworker Measure from the Contingency Theory chapter, the Leader-Member Exchange Questionnaire from the Leader-Member Exchange Theory chapter, and the Servant Leadership Questionnaire from the chapter that discussed Servant Leadership. Many of these questionnaires I found to be very effective in helping me discover more about my personality traits and leadership style.
There are many different types of leadership styles that are tailored to a firm's goals and resources and the leader must be able to determine which is best. Leadership can make or break an operation as is sets the operational structure and the amount of power each individual has. No matter what a manager must be able to effectively lead a team. They need to be able to motivate individuals and keep them on task so they may reach their goal within a timely manner. Without leadership an operation can fall to pieces if employees lack direction, are unaware of the goal, or lack the passion to execute their task properly.
Leaders are most effective when they are able to attain cooperation among all the members and make them feel the purpose of doing their tasks. It is important for them to research on the characteristics of high performance teams so that they also have it as their standards in leading their people. Some of the important activities that a leader should be good at are persuading, communicating, and motivating people (Tracy, n.d.).
Leadership is something that can be taught (Northouse, 2015. There are some valuable theories, which will be discussed later in this paper, how a leader can develop into having a strong influence in any daily aspect of their lives. Also later in this paper it will be discussed the various styles of leaders that can affect the behaviors of the actions of each leader. Each leader can learn these attributes or some of them just have the natural capability of being a leader.
So, first and foremost quality of a leader is not only to see at high things but also make the people see and strive for the same thing. For this purpose, they have to monitor even minor things by making people feel valued and inspired. A good
Philip (2008) has listed 7 common traits in the characteristic of leadership. The characteristics are empathy, consistency, honesty, direction, communication, flexibility and conviction.
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.
In corporate America the term used to describe a person in a position of power is “Manager”. A leader can be a manager, but a manager is not necessarily a leader. Leaders motivate, challenge, and influence others to achieve goals. Great leaders have the necessary skills and attributes which allow them to connect with the team and organization. Being a leader is not the same as managing an organization. Leader’s posses the interpersonal skills needed to influence others to achieve a goal willingly. Leading is a major part of a manager’s job. Leaders do not need to be a manager to lead people, but managers must know how to lead as well as manage.
"Leadership is the ability to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute to the effectiveness and success of the organizations of which they are members" (Zhao & Seibert 2006). Leaders convey a future booming vision of the organization and assist employees revolve that idea into reality. Good leaders deem in opеn, honеst communication and carе about thе wеlfarе of еmployееs. For high-quality leaders employees and public in that matter are more important than things, goals, and visions. Such lеadеrs dеfinе both long-tеrm and short-tеrm tasks and how thеy rеlatе to achiеving organizational goals thus guiding еmployееs to succеss.
Chapter sixteen discusses various leadership theories which can implemented by leaders to achieve success. The choice of leadership theory differs from leader to leader as they possess different vision and way of managing. A theory isn 't always perfect in itself, it is the endless effort of the leaders which makes the theory a perfect one. Two approaches of leadership that I prefer are Situational Leadership Theory and Servant Leadership Theory. Among many theories I prefer these two because I tend to practice those principles most of the time and I assume these are theories that I truly tend to continue in a long run.
Leadership is a facet of management. It is just one of the many assets a successful manager must possess. The main aim of a manager is to maximize the output of the organization through administrative implementation. To achieve this managers must undertake the four functions of management: planning, organization, leading and controlling. In some cases leadership is just one important component of the leading function. Predpall (1994) said, "Leaders must let vision, strategies, goals, and values be the guide-post for action and behavior rather than attempting to control others". In some circumstances, leadership is not required. For example, self-motivated groups may not require a single leader and may find leaders dominating. The fact that a leader is not always required proves that leadership is just an asset and is not essential.
Organizations depend on the management and leadership skills of individuals in order to be successful. Leaders do not have to be managers but are equally important. Leaders are individuals who possess traits, behavior and abilities to influence others to accomplish tasks and other needed objectives for the company. Leadership is defined as “the ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organization. . . .” (House et al., 1999, pg. 184).
Having effective leadership in an organization directly impacts the employees and business. A leader is a person who can bring a group of people together in an effective manner to complete a specific task and or goal. I feel that good leadership is that backbone of an organization. In my professional life I have worked with a variety of mangers that were very different in there approach in management. With the different styles of leading a group or individual it can at times be effective and others not received well. A good leader is one who can accomplish the goals and respect those he or she is leading. In this paper I will further discuss the different styles of leaderships that can be found within organizations.
A manager is an individual who usually oversees a firm or companies actions on a daily basis. A manager has to have qualities of a leader to be selected for this position because in general the manager’s job has a huge weight on the company he is managing and can be a main cause for their major downfall or great success. There have been many influential and important leaders throughout history that have made the world a better place to live in, such as, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr, and Steve Jobs, these men have mad the world a better place by taking a stand and having very strong leadership skills. It does not matter what your managing or what kind of manager you are it is crucial to have
In the textbook Leadership is defined as ‘the process of influencing an organized group toward accomplishing its goals’ (Hughes, Ginnet & Curphy 2015, p. 5). Leadership involves leader, followers, and situation.