Promoting Positive Change Through Effective Leadership

The term leadership invokes a deeper meaning than the simple Merriam-Webster dictionary definition as “the office or position of a leader” (Merriam-Webster, 2015). Candidates seeking management positions are frequently asked about their leadership styles during interviews. It is a derivative of the “what is the purpose of my leadership” question asked by William George discussed in his article, “Note on why leaders lose their way” (2004, p.2). My leadership style is best illustrated by the following quote by Rear Admiral Grace Hopper (US Navy, retired): “you manage things, you lead people. We went overboard on management and forgot about leadership” (Schieber, 1987).

According to dictionary.com leadership is defined as, the position or function of a leader, a person who guides or directs a group: Its synonyms include guidance, influence, control, direction and supervision. These are all qualifications that are needed to be an effective leader. All characteristics are not necessarily needed at the same time and do no need to be used for each subordinate. This paper will identify my personal leadership philosophy along with theories to support my leadership style.

Leaders are not merely those who control others, but act as visionaries who help employees to plan, lead, control, and organize their activities. As states by (Hood, Leddy, & Pepper, 2006), “leadership is a complex term with multiple definitions but is normally defined as a process of influencing others or guiding or directing others to attain mutually agreed upon goals” (as cited by Agnes, 2005). There are several recognized leadership styles such as bureaucratic — where the leader rigidly follows rules, policies, and regulation; or participative — where the leader allows the staff to participate in decision making and seek the

The definition of "leadership" as defined in Wikipedia means "the ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and enable others."

What Leadership Means Leadership is 'the behaviour of an individual when he is directing the activities of a group towards a shared goal'. (Hemphill and Coons, 1957, p.7) A leader is interpreted as someone who sets direction in an effort and influences people to follow that direction. How they set that direction and influence people depends on a variety of factors.

Leadership is a term that cannot be defined or simplified with a standard definition (Bethel, 2011). The term’s complexity is a phenomenon, as it carries a different meaning for each person. During the

Leadership is about being proactive and having the initiative to implement strategies, being able to manage change, building relationships with employees and being able to influence employees in a way that meets the organization’s needs (Clawson, 2012). Leadership is about being able to persuade employees to acclimate to the company’s vision by motivating them and encouraging them to embrace change when needed. It is about building relationships and bonds with employees while guiding them so that they are able to meet their potential. It is about making them feel responsible so that they feel like they are important members of the team. Leadership is about leading people it is not about dictating orders and responsibilities to others. It is about installing a sense of importance

Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task”...

Classical organisational theorist defined leadership in terms of achieving a group’s objectives R.C Davies (1942) referred to leadership as “the principle dynamic forces that motivates and coordinates the organisation in the accomplishment of its objectives.” Similarly, Urwick (1953) stated that the leader is “the personification of common purpose not only to all who work under taking, but to everyone outside it.” K. Davies (1962) defined leadership as “the human factor which binds a group together and motivates it towards goals.” Cattell (1951) took the extreme position that leadership is whatever or whoever contributes to the group’s performance. To measure each members Leadership, Cattell noted, removed him or her from the group, one at a time, and observe what happens to the group’s performance. Calder (1977) and Pfeffer (1977) “stated that leadership is mainly influence and is even attributed to participants after the fact.

Leadership can be defined as the ability to lead a group of people successfully in an organization. Hall, et al (2008) have mentioned that an effective leader has to be visionary, motivating and responsible in order to successfully run a business organization. In business the two key leadership styles, which are widely used in today’s corporate world are autocratic leadership and democratic leadership (Johnson, n.d.). Autocratic leadership may be explained as “a leadership style where the manager sets objectives, allocates tasks and insists on obedience” (Hall, et al 2008 p.g 401). Conversely, democratic leadership encourages “participation in decision making” (Hall, et al 2008 p.g 402). Whilst many people would consider autocratic

Leadership is a process of influencing activities of a particular group of people with the aim of attaining certain stipulated goals. In defining leadership there is need to consider a particular group, the common goals and the duties that are allocated to specific members of the group depending on their abilities (Fiedler 1976). Leadership therefore cannot successfully occur unless members of the group are given different considerations in terms of personality, traits and responsibilities. In considering leadership, it is important to look at the leader, the group or organization they are leading, the members as individuals and the situation; these are

There are certain essential elements that constitute the definition of leadership. It may refer to the totality of an organization’s top direction-giving functionaries, or the actions applied in providing direction that enables the organization or team to move forward towards a goal. In reality, there are very diverse definitions of leadership depending on

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

Leadership is an approach for a leader to guide, motivate, supervise, manage, and influence others in different situation to reach a goal. According to the Pettinger (2007), the leadership can be explained in several situations. First, the leaders have the responsible to provide vision and direction to the followers. Second, the leaders shall energise and motivate the followers. Third, the leaders shall set and enforce absolute standards of behaviour, attitude, presentation and performance.

Taking a deep further look at the definition, we can consider Leadership as ‘the process of influencing an organized group’, engaging them to maximize group effectiveness, ‘towards the accomplishment of a goal’. (Hughes, Ginnet & Curphy 2015, p. 5)