Leadership

This unit will discuss leadership. Leadership is the art of motivating and influencing
subordinates to perform their duties ‘willingly’ and effectively to achieve the set
organizational goals. It is important that the followers ‘willingly’ follow their leader.
A true leader motivates the followers to follow and induces a belief in them that
they will gain by the policies of the leader. Dictatorship under which the subordinates
have to perform, would not be considered as true leadership.
7.1 OBJECTIVES
After going through this unit, you will be able to:
 Define leadership
 Discuss the different traits of a leader
 Describe the various leadership styles
7.2 MEANING AND IMPORTANCE
Leadership can be defined as the art of influencing and inspiring subordinates to
perform their duties willingly, competently and enthusiastically in order to achieve
the desired organizational goals. A dictatorship under which the subordinates have
to perform, would not be considered as leadership. A true leader motivates others
to follow and induces a belief that the followers will gain by the policies of the
leader.
Generally speaking, leaders are known to possess energy, intelligence, selfconfidence,
patience, maturity and a charismatic appearance and attitude. Whether
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these characteristics are inherited or learned is still a subject of debate. Which
ones of these characteristics are important and necessary for leadership is not
explainable. Many of these traits are also exhibited by followers and it is not
explained as to why followers could not become leaders.
Leaders are also judged by their behaviour as leaders irrespective of the
characteristics. If a manager has high consideration for the welfare of his subordinates
and his policies, procedures and work assignments are all acceptable to the
subordinates then such manager would be considered as a good leader.
Contingency theories of leadership propose that leadership can also be a
function of the situation, so that the effectiveness of the leader’s behaviour is
contingent upon the demands imposed by the given situation. This approach defines
leadership in terms of the leader’s ability to handle a given situation and is based
upon his skill in that particular area.
It is also possible to become a leader, if you know what the followers want
and you have the resources or the know-how to satisfy these needs and wants,
irrespective of the traits of the leader himself. This approach is known as the pathgoal
theory. The leader sets up clear path and clear guidelines through which the
subordinates can achieve both personal as well as work related goals and assists
them in achieving these goals. The job of the leader becomes even easier when the
subordinates are sufficiently mature, where the maturity of the subordinates can be
defined as their ability and willingness to take responsibility for direction their own
behaviour in relation to a given task.Traits of a Leader
A leader has certain inherent qualities and traits which assist him in playing a directing
role and wielding commanding influence over others.
According to Prof.Authur G. Jago, some of the traits of a leader are: energy,
drive, presentable appearance, a sense of cooperativeness, enthusiasm, initiative,
intelligence, judgment, self-confidence, sociability, tact and diplomacy, moral courage
and integrity, will power, flexibility, emotional stability and knowledge of human
relations.
These traits are not universal in nature, nor do all the leaders have all these
traits. Neither do all these traits work all the time. While some of these characteristics
differentiate successful managers and leaders from unsuccessful ones, it is the
behaviour of the leaders, either as a result of these characteristics or otherwise,
which is more tangible and obvious and less abstract in nature. The leadership
behaviour is directly related to the morale of an individual employee. These are
some of the indicators which, to some degree, reflect the effectiveness of leadership
behaviour.
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7.3 LEADERSHIP STYLES
The leadership styles can be classified according to the philosophy of the leaders.
What the leader does determines how well he leads. A style of leadership is a
‘relatively enduring set of behaviours which is a characteristic of the individuals,
regardless of the situation.’ Some of the more significant leadership styles are
discussed as follows: