LEADERSHIP

Koontz and O’Donnell define leadership as “the art or process of influencing people So that they will
strive willingly towards the achievement of group goals” (Koontz et.al., 1984, p. 661).

“Leadership is the process of defining current situations and articulating goals for the future; making the
decisions necessary to resolve the situation or achieve the goals; and gaining the commitment from
those who have to implement these decisions” (Brache, 1983, p. 120).

Leadership is “the process of influencing the activities of an organized group toward goal achievement”
(Rauch & Behling, 1984, p. 46)

IMPORTANCE OF LEADERSHIP

 Driving force to group efforts

 Aid to authority
 Better utilization of manpower
 Basis for co-operation

ELEMENTS OF LEADERSHIP

 Ability to use power effectively and in a responsible manner

 Ability to comprehend the temperament of human beings
 Ability to inspire
 Ability to act in a manner that will develop a climate conductive to and arousing motivations

LEADERSHIP QUALITIES

1. Physical Qualities includes :

(a) Sound health

(b) Vitality and endurance.

2. Psychological Qualities includes:

(a) Personal magnetism

(b) Enthusiasm

(c) Co-operation

(d) Ability to inspire

(e) Forcefulness
(f) Tact and skillful

3. Intellectual Traits includes:

(a) A high degree of intelligence

(b) An open mind

(c) A capacity for sound judgment

(d) An ability to teach

(e) A scientific approach.

4. Qualities of Character includes:

(a) Integrity

(b) Self-discipline

(c) Fair play

(d) Willingness to accept responsibility

(e) Willingness to work hard

(f) Humanism.

APPROACHES OF LEADERSHIP

 Personal trait Approach

This approach says that, all of us possess certain abilities and share responsibilities. Such qualities are
considered as God given and hence leaders are born.

 Situational/Contingency approach ( Fielder’s Model)

This is a view that leadership qualities are determined by the situation in which he/she operates. It is not
individual’s characteristics

 Group Approach

A leader is one who comes attuned to the feelings and actions of people whom he is supposed to lead.
Thus, the leader is one who comes closest to living up to the norms and standards of his group.
  Path goal theory

It suggests that, the main functions of the leader are to clarify and set goals with subordinates and then
find the best path for achieving the goals and remove obstacles.

TYPES OF LEADERSHIP

Kurt Lewin and his associates conducted studies at Iowa State University that concentrated on
leadership styles (Lewin, Lippett & White, 1939). They identified the following two basic leadership
styles in their studies:

− Autocratic leadership style

The autocratic leader makes the decisions, tells employees what to do and closely supervises and
controls workers.

Advantages

 More group productivity while leader watches

 Group makes quicker decisions
 Often does the task themselves as it is quicker
 Pushes the group.

Disadvantages

 More group hostility

 More dependence on leader
 More apathy in group
 Slower execution of decisions

− Democratic leadership style

The democratic leader encourages participation in decisions, works with employees to determine what
to do and does not closely supervise employees.

Advantages
• More individual responsibility
• More friendliness
• Better implementation
• More personal growth
• More motivation
• Greater ultimate production

Disadvantages

 Slower decision making

 Less initial production
 Leader can be unsure and makes everything a matter for group discussion.
-Free rein or Laissez faire

The Laissez Fare leader performs a minimum of leadership functions and lets the group sort out their
own roles and tackle their own work in their own way without his participation. The Laissez-Fare
technique is usually appropriate when a team is of highly motivated and skilled people, who have
produced excellent work in the past.

Advantages

 No work for the leader

 Frustration may force others into leadership roles
 Allows the visionary worker the opportunity to do what they want, free from interference
 Empowers the group

Disadvantages

 Less group satisfaction

 Less group productivity
 Poorer quality of work

Autocratic Democratic Laissez Faire

Area of freedom to subordinates

Area controlled by Authority

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

The different scales in the spectrum describe the following:

1. Leader makes decision and announces it

2. Making the subordinate to accept the decision
3. Leader presents his idea and initiates discussion
4. Presents tentative decision subject to change
5. Present the problems, gets opinion and makes decision
6. Leader allows the group to make decision within limits
7. Leader allows the group to make decision within and beyond limits
MANAGERIAL/LEADERSHIP GRID
Blake and Mouton developed a two-dimensional leadership theory called "The Leadership Grid" that
builds on the work of the Ohio State and the Michigan studies (Blake & Mouton, 1985). Researchers
rated leaders on a scale of one to nine, according to the following two criteria: concern for people and
concern for results. The scores for these criteria were plotted on a grid with an axis for each criteria. The
two-dimensional leadership model and five major leadership styles are reflected in following figure:

The leadership styles in the Managerial/Leadership Grid are described by Blake and McGanse (1991) as
follows:

• The impoverished leader (1, 1) has low concern for both production and people;

• The authority-compliance leader (9, 1) has a high concern for production and a low concern for
people;

• The country-club leader (1, 9) has a high concern for people and a low concern for production;

• The middle-of-the-road leader (5, 5) has balanced, medium concern for both production and people;
• The team leader (9, 9) has a high concern for both production and people. This leader strives for
maximum performance and employee satisfaction.

According to Blake and McGanse (1991), the team leadership style is generally the most appropriate
for use in all situations.

“All Managers are leaders but all leaders do not necessarily to be managers” –
justify the statement

“Leadership and managership are two synonymous terms” is an incorrect statement. Leadership doesn’t
require any managerial position to act as a leader. On the other hand, a manager can be a true manager
only if he has got the traits of leader in him. By virtue of his position, manager has to provide leadership
to his group. A manager has to perform all five functions to achieve goals, i.e., Planning, Organizing,
Staffing, Directing, and Controlling. Leadership is a part of these functions. Leadership as a general term
is not related to managership. A person can be a leader by virtue of qualities in him. For example: leader
of a club, class, welfare association, social organization, etc. Therefore, it is true to say that, “All
managers are leaders, but all leaders are not managers.”

Syeda Sarah Alif

BBA, MBA-CU

sarahalif@gmail.com