LEADERSHIP

LEADERSHIP DEFINED Hodge and Johnson defines “leadership as the

ability to shape the attitudes and behavior of others, whether formal or informal situations.”

Koontz and O’Donnell says leadership is “ the art or process of influencing people so that they will strive willingly and enthusiastically towards the achievement of group goals.”

In the words of Chester Barnard, “leadership is the quality of behaviour of individuals whereby they guide people or their activities in organising efforts.”

CHARACTERISTICS OF AN EFFECTIVE LEADER

Develop responsibility &initiative among his subordinates

Motivate the employees

Make decisions for the organization and implement them.

Make use of their authority for the good of the organization

Be capable of handling the strong group of people in the organization

Be aggressive and ambitious and should deal very pleasantly with the subordinates

Challenge the processes by taking risks, exploring and experimenting new ways

Evolve and inspire a shared vision

Provide collaborative efforts for others to act

LEADERSHIP FUNCTIONS

Goal setter: A leader establishes organizational goals and objectives

participates the subordinates in this process. Sets goals for the group and for the whole organisation.

  Planner: A leader makes decisions concerning the

ways and means with which the organizational goals can be achieved.

He lays down the clear cut plan and policies to be followed by the members to achieve the organisational objectives.

Executes: A leader has to inspire the members to take appropriate activities to realize the objectives.

He evaluates the consequences of different options and chooses the best.

  Team Work: Leader has to foster and develop team

work within organisations to achieve goals and objectives.

A leader should create appropriate working environment, so that all can contribute towards the growth and development of the organisation.

All the employees should be taken into confidence while taking decisions.

A leader should follow the principle of equity.

Team Representative: In an organisation a leaders stands as a link between the management and members of his team.

The leader has to communicate the grievances and difficulties of the team members to the management.

Counselling: When the team members face problems in professional or personal life, a leader should guide and advice them.

The leader should provide technical and emotional support to the employees.

Obtaining Group Effectiveness: The leader should administer reward and

punishment to the members to increase group effectiveness.

The members who perform extraordinary well

should be rewarded for their efforts. Leader should delegate authority and obtain active

participation from the subordinates to enhance group effectiveness.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT

Management and leadership are closely related.

Management is the process of planning, organising, coordinating, directing and controlling the activities of the organisation.

Leadership is the process of influencing the behaviour of the followers to achieve the objectives of the org.

Management deals with various managerial functions. But leadership is one of the aspects of directing the employee behaviour

Management makes policies to guide the functioning of the organization and leadership initiates activities for the accomplishment of its goals.

Management is done for completely organized groups

Leadership can be practiced in completely unorganized groups

Leadership is the process of influencing the behaviour of others irrespective of nature of goals

Leadership is concerned with influencing the behaviour of the employees to achieve the organizational objectives

Management is concerned with the promotion of the welfare of the entire organization but leadership influences the performance of the individuals.

Leaders have followers but managers do not have followers.

Leaders have emotional appeal but managers need not necessarily have emotional appeal and charisma.

THE LEADERSHIP STYLES

Autocratic or authoritarian leader: Autocratic leader is one who centralizes the decision making power in himself and gives orders to the employees and also insists that they should be obeyed.

He decides policies for the group without consultation.

Take steps as per the policies determined.

An autocratic leader does not delegate authority and does everything by oneself.

The employees are not communicated about the purpose of an order issued by him.

The subordinates are not informed about the future plans.

He expects his employees to obey him blindly and without questioning.

Strict autocrat: Strict autocrat is one who relies on negative influence and gives order which must be obeyed by the subordinates without question.

Penalty and criticism is imposed on the employees who do not obey the orders and directives.

Benevolent autocrat: Benevolent autocrat is one who uses a positive motivation style.

Rewards are given to the subordinates to motivate them to perform well and to obey the orders.

This model is good in getting higher productivity and developing good human relationships.

Advantages

Some employees get satisfied as the work under centralized authority situation and strict discipline

As decisions are taken by a single person

Facilitates quick decision making

Disadvantages Because of strictness and negative motivational

style, the employees dislike it

Lack of motivation, low morale, frustration and insecurity affects the organizational efficiency.

There is no scope for individuality and initiative

Future leaders in the organization do not develop.

This style is unpopular and is resisted by the employees

Participative or democratic leader Democratic leaders are those who take decisions in

consultation with their subordinates.

They emphasize on consultation with and participation of their subordinates and encourages initiative from them.

They seeks advice and opinions of subordinates on matters which affects job and employee performance.

Democratic leaders give the final authority to the group. The leaders function as collectors of opinions and take vote for decision making.

They delegate full authority to the subordinates.

ADVANTAGES OF PARTICIPATIVE LEADERSHIP It increases the acceptance of management’s ideas

It reduces resistance to change

Employees feel motivated and moral will be very high.

The decisions are implemented wholeheartedly

Employee’s productivity is increased

It reduces the number of grievances of employees

Better decisions as subordinates are involved

Good relationship between the leader and the followers

Limitations

Lower level of employees may not understand the complex nature of organization and hence their participation cannot be effective.

LAISSEZ FAIRE OR FREE-REIN STYLE:

Leader entrusts the decision making authority to his subordinates.

Laissez faire leaders do not direct or make any contribution to the overall effort of subordinates.

They avoid using power and delegate it completely to the subordinates

Subordinates establish the goals and workout plans to attain those goals.

This style of leadership can be adopted if only the subordinates have a sincere desire to discharge their responsibilities

The employees should be highly competent and duty conscious

They must be motivated to do the job even without any direction of the manger.

SITUATIONAL THEORY

According to the situational theory of leadership, leadership is affected by a situation from which the leaders emerges and in which they work.

The situation, the group, the problem, and its environment affect the style of leadership.

Under this approach lot of importance is given for the interaction between the leader and members of the group.

People follow the person who is capable of fulfilling their desires.

Situational theory upholds the view that there is no single best style of leadership which is universally applicable to all situations

The leader has to change his style of leadership from situation to situation.

If the leaders adopt the same style under all situations, they may not be successful

CHOOSING A LEADERSHIP STYLE

Forces in the Manager: It refers to the manger’s level of confidence in his subordinates

Forces in the subordinates: This refers to the readiness of the subordinates to assume responsibility of making decisions

Forces in the situation: It includes the group objective, complexities of the problem and type of organization.