NATIONAL SERVICE TRAINING PROGRAM

Civic Welfare Training Service

Module 04

LEADERSHIP

“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way" - by John Maxwell

Overview

Leadership is one of the highly regarded qualities of an individual to be successful in life.

Leading life positively in all aspects can influence to follow good deeds and examples. Thus, in
this module, the definition, principles, quality, virtues, and types of leadership are discussed.
Specifically, this module includes the following lessons:

Lesson 1: Definition of Leadership

Lesson 2: Principles of Leadership
Lesson 3: Virtues as Foundation of Leadership
Lesson 4: Characteristics and Qualities of a Good Leader
Lesson 5: Types of Leadership

Learning Outcomes: After learning this module, you are expected to:

1. Recall the definition of leadership;

2. Explain the principles of leadership;
3. Enumerate and discuss the qualities of a good leader;
4. Discuss virtues as the foundation of leadership; and
5. Identify and differentiate the types of leadership.

Activity:

1. Direction: Define leadership based on your perspective. (10 points).

2. Name at least 5 famous great leaders well-known worldwide, write their simple background.
(25 pts.)

Introduction
Leadership is an important aspect of managing and leading effectively. Managers or leaders must
exercise all the functions of their role to combine material and human resources to achieve
objectives. The key to doing this is the existence of a clear role and a degree of discretion or
authority to support the manager’s action (Koontz and Weinhrich, 1990). They further noted that
the essence of leadership is fellowship. In other words, it is the willingness of people to follow
him that makes a person a leader. Moreover, people tend to follow who they see as providing a
means of achieving their desires, wants, and needs.

LESSON 1: DEFINITION OF LEADERSHIP

Bass (1981) defines leadership as “influence”, which is the art of influencing people so that they
will strive willingly and enthusiastically toward the achievement of group goals. Ideally, people
should be encouraged to develop not only willing to work with zeal and confidence. Zeal is
ardor, earnestness, and intensity in the execution of work; confidence reflects the experience and
technical ability.

J. Oswad Sanders said “the true measure of leadership is influencing ---- Nothing more, nothing
less”. It is about influencing in a worthwhile cause. It is not dependent on titles or positions. It is
dependent on catching a vision and mobilizing others to join him in its fulfillment. When it
happens, leadership arises in its purest form. It happens to every organization at one point or
another, especially, when there’s no system or plan. In these times, there is no expectation of
progress. Today, many regions of the world are crying for effective and true leaders. The leader
must earn the right to leadership and make others choose to follow him.

In the review of leadership in an organization, Saleh et al. (2018) presented a wide variety of
meanings of the term leadership as defined by different authors. According to Adair, “Leadership
is the ability to persuade others to seek defined objectives enthusiastically” while Schmoker
(2001) said that "Leadership consists of the method, not magic". In Kumar (2018), Yukl (1994)
defines leadership as the process of influencing followers. For Cole (2005) & Chowdhury
(2014), leadership is a “dynamic process whereby one man influences others to contribute
voluntarily to the realization and attainment of the objectives towards the common goal”.

With varied definitions, one thing is common. It only means that leaders act to help a group
attain objectives through the maximum application of its capabilities. They do not stand behind a
group to push; they place themselves before the group as they facilitate progress and inspire the
group to accomplish organizational goals. A good example is the orchestra leader whose function
is to produce coordinated sound and tempo through the integrated effort of the musicians.

LESSON 2: PRINCIPLES OF LEADERSHIP

1. Take responsibility for your actions. A leader must take responsibility for both his actions
and those of his subordinates.

Remember:
 It is better to accept the blame rather than “pass the back”.
 Understand just where your responsibility begins and where it ends.
 Look for opportunities to help you do your job.

2. Know yourself and seek self-improvement. Apply your knowledge of human behavior in an
honest self-analysis to improve your attitude and to enhance your understanding of others.

3. Set the example. Be a model and exemplary leader. Men learn most effectively from what
they see in their leader.

4. Seek responsibility and develop a sense of responsibility among your subordinates. A

true leader does not shirk responsibility; rather, he seeks it. Likewise, he holds his subordinates
responsible for results, and not for methods and procedures.

5. Insure that the job is understood, supervised and accomplished. Proper understanding and
supervision of a task help insure the accomplishment of anything desired. For this end,
instructions must be given in a specific, positive and clear manner.

6. Know your men and look for their welfare. A leader’s understanding and knowing his men has
some advantages. He can readily predict and control his men’s behavior. Thus, a leader can feel
the needs and desires of his men.

7. Keep your men informed. The Filipino soldier will work harder and will cooperate more
effectively if he understands why.

8. Employ your command in accordance with its capabilities. Assign objectives that are
possible of attainment. Using your units in accordance with its capabilities helps insure its
success.

9. Train your men as a team. A team fails or succeeds only if every member does his share of
the job. Teamwork is an essential cognomen of the military’s operation.

10. Make a sound and timely decision. The ability to make a rapid estimate of the situation and
arrive at a sound and timely decision is necessary in order to take advantage of opportunities as
they occur.

11. Know your job. Knowledge of your job helps you make sure of yourself, and commands the
respect of your men.

LESSON 3: VIRTUES AS FOUNDATION OF LEADERSHIP

The following virtues are considered the foundations of leadership:

1. Prudence. The habit which enables man to direct his action to human life’s goal of knowing
the right to do and applying it.

2. Justice. The habit of giving each one his due with constant and perpetual will; gives stability
which man needs to work without fear and anxiety in the search for happiness.

3. Fortitude. The habit of overcoming the difficulties and pressures of life in the pursuit of good.

4. Temperance. The habit of bringing the desires and natural inclinations of man under the
control of right reason.

5. Industry. The habit of working hard and working under pressure.

6. Loyalty. The habit of remaining true to your friends and to your principles (goals) in spite of
difficulty.

7. Responsibility. The habit of being accountable for one’s actions, duties and obligations;
readiness to answer to the consequences of our actions.

8. Cheerfulness. The habit of being optimistic, positive, always seeing the bright side of things.

9. Generosity. The habit of sharing the good that one has with other people; thinking first of the
people around him and looks for ways he can help and serve them.

10. Magnanimity. The habit of having great ideals and ambitions of doing good; being
concerned with doing great deeds of service to others devoting his life to serve his country or to
help people.

Leadership has a deep link and is basis of work because working, man contributes to the good of
others thus, improving himself as well. Application of virtues is found above all in working and
in relationships with others. Thus, industry, loyalty, generosity, prudence, justice, etc. are
exercised in and through our profession.

LESSON 4: CHARACTERISTICS AND QUALITIES OF A GOOD LEADER

Different people will have different ideas of what a great leader is like. There is no single mold
to craft a leader, but leadership comes in all shapes and sizes. While great leaders can be found in
a number of industries and walk their unique journeys to the top, there are certain traits and
characteristics these great men and women often share (Belyh, 2020).

4.1. Characteristics
1. Integrity of character. The word is synonymous to honor. It is a fine sense of ethics, justice
and righteousness with a readiness to apply it to one’s own conduct. It is the determination to
meet an obligation, however distasteful.

2. Willingness to accept responsibilities. Acceptance of responsibilities signifies a desire to

lead and this desire is strengthened by increasing interest. Some leaders had achieved success
after much effort. Their successes can be attributed to infinite patience, hard work, and a desire
for success that never recognized defeat.

Other characteristics

a. Competence to employ in superiority over an enemy at all times.

b. Making the best use of resources requires the highest type of managerial and organization
skills.
c. The ability to inspire subordinates will enable the leader to spur his men to strive for the
highest peak of performance.

4.2 Qualities of a Good Leader

Are leaders born? Yes, of course, they are… “I’ve yet to meet one that came into this world in
any other way!” was the reply of author John C. Maxwell (2002). Indeed, all people are born and
some gifted with greater natural gifts than others, but the ability to lead is really a collection of
skills and nearly all of which can be learned and improved. The process doesn’t take place
overnight because leadership is developed daily, not in a day.

According to Zulueta et al (1999), the essence of leadership is followership. This means

influencing people to work willingly and enthusiastically toward the achievement of group goals.
Willingness to work means working with zeal and confidence. Maxwell (2002) further opines
that what matters most is not whether one influences someone, but how one will use that
influence.

But does the leader get to influence people? What are the traits of a good leader that would
inspire people to follow him? Leveriza (1990) and Zulueta et al (1999) shared the same view that
a good leader should have the following traits:

1. Knowledge. This refers to the acquired knowledge of the profession not only on the job, but
also a thorough knowledge on the capabilities and limitations of the subordinates.

2. Bearing. This is dignity in appearance and behavior to earn respect.

3. Courage. Ability to accept or meet challenges with calmness and fearfulness.

4. Endurance. Mental and physical stamina to withstand pain and hardships and continue
rigorously in pursuing the goals and objectives of the organizations.
5. Enthusiasm. This is higher degree of interest and sensitivity in responding to the needs of the
organizations.

6. Integrity. A good moral character and impeccable integrity.

7. Decisiveness. The ability to decide promptly and correctly at the proper time and express them
clearly.

8. Dependability. The ability to demonstrate a higher degree of initiative in the performance of

his duty even with or without supervision.

9. Initiative. The ability to start or originate an idea, suggestion, proposal or concept leading to
the action when others are absent or passive.

10. Judgment. The power of the mind to weigh various factors and arrive at the sound decision.

11. Justice. The ability to render judgment to conform to the principles of reason, to stated laws,
policies and rules and to generally accepted standards of right and wrong; impartially in
rendering punishment and giving credit where credit is due.

12. Loyalty. The sincerity and faithfulness to the ideals of the organization where he belongs.

13. Tact. The ability to deal with others without giving offense.

14. Unselfishness. The avoidance of providing for one’s own comfort or advantage at the
expense of others.

15. Force. The ability to demonstrate efficacious power within the bounds of law to compel
obedience among his subordinates.

16. Humility. The state of being reasonably modest and not proud, assuming, arrogant and
boastful.

17. Humor. The mental disposition to appreciate amusing incidents of everyday life in comical
way.

18. Sympathy. The ability to understand and share the feelings of another, especially in time of
sorrow or adversity.

19. Empathy. The ability to be someone else’s shoes, intellectual and emotional identification of
feeling, thought and attitudes with subordinates affected by pain or misfortune.

20. Wit. The kin perception and appropriate expression of amusing words and ideas which
awaken amusement and pleasure.
LESSON 5: TYPES OF LEADERSHIP
For a leader to be effective among his followers is to consciously explore one’s personal mastery
of different approaches and adapt to various approaches based on the situation for effectiveness
as a leader (Kumar, 2018).

1. The Transformational Leadership

The goal of transformational leadership is to “transform people or organizations in a

literal sense – to change them in mind and heart; enlarge vision, insight, and understanding;
clarity of purposes; make behavior congruent with beliefs, principles, or values; and bring about
changes that are permanent, self-perpetuating; and momentum building” (Stephen Covey, 1992).

Transformational leadership focuses on the “top line” and is principle-centered, thus

it:
• Builds on man’s need for meaning
• Is preoccupied with purposes and values, moral and ethics
• Transcends daily affairs
• Is oriented toward meeting long-term goals without compromising human values and principles
Separates causes and symptoms and works at prevention
• Values profit as the basis of growth
• Is proactive, catalytic and patient
• Focuses more on missions and strategies for achieving them
• Make full use of human resources
• Identifies and develops new talents
• Recognizes and rewards significant contribution
• Designs and redesigns job to make them meaningful and challenging
• Releases human potentials
• Models love
• Lead out in new directions
• Aligns internal structures and systems to reinforce over-aching values and goals

2. The Transactional Leadership (Bass)

It is determining what employees need to do to achieve their own organizational objective. It is

an approach which needs extra efforts like giving rewards, recognitions, guidance, supervision
and instructions in leading people to achieve successfully the goals. Also known as a task-
oriented kind of leadership.

3. The Principle-Centered Leadership

Stephen Covey (1990), identifies the following characteristics of the principle centered leaders:

• They are continually learning. Constantly educated by their experiences. Read, seek learning,
take classes, listen to others, and learn through both their eyes and their eyes. Continually expand
their competence and ability to do things. They develop new skills, new interests. Make and keep
promises or commitments and increase their personal worth.

• They are service oriented. Leader see life as a mission not as a career. “Yoke” up every
morning. Believe that the effort to become principle centered without a load to carry simply will
not succeed. Have a sense of responsibility, of service and of contribution.

• They radiate positive energy. Principle-centered leaders are cheerful, pleasant, and happy.
Attitude is optimistic, positive, and upbeat enthusiastic. Have an energy field or an aura. Attract
and magnify smaller energy field. Tend to either neutralize or sidestep the negative energy.

• They believe in other people. They do not overreact to negative behaviors, criticism or human
weakness. Realize that behaviors and potentials are two different things. Feel grateful for their
blessings. Don’t carry grudges. Refuse to label other people, to stereotype, categorize and
prejudge. Create a climate for growth and opportunity.

• They live balanced lives. Intellectually active, having many interests. Have a healthy sense of
humor. Open in their communications, simple, direct and non-manipulative. Live sensibly in the
present. Genuinely happy and see success on the fair side of failure.

• They see life as an adventure. They savor life and see old faces freshly. Like courageous
explorers. Their security lies in their initiatives. Completely present when they listen. Basically,
unflappable and capable of adopting virtually to anything that comes along.

• They are synergistic. As change catalyst, they improve every situation they get into • in team
endeavors, they build on their strength. In negotiating and communicating with others in
seemingly adversarial situations. Focus on other person’s interest and concerns rather than fight
over positions. Together, they arrive at synergistic solutions.

• They exercise for self-renewal. Regularly exercise the four dimensions of human personality:
physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. They participate in some kind of balanced, moderate,
regular program aerobic exercise. Exercise their minds through reading, creative problem-
solving, writing and visualizing. Emotionally, they can make effort to be patient. Spiritually, they
focus on prayer, scripture study, mediation and fasting. Aside from the types of leadership
mentioned above, there are more as enumerated by Kumar (2018) as follows:

• Autocratic leadership. Autocratic leaders are strong-willed, domineering and to some extent
aggressive. Usually, don’t listen to views and suggestions of others if they offer different
opinions. The followers of autocratic leaders have a low level of job satisfaction because they
assert absolute power and influence (Kerfoot, 2013 and Afshinpour, 2014).

• Democratic leadership. In this style decision making is decentralized, the leader includes his
followers in the decision-making process of planning and execution. The leader is concerned
with maintaining group effectiveness and encourages members to express their ideas for task
accomplishment.
• Laissez-Faire Leadership. These leaders practice the art of delegation, in which the leaders
are hands –off and allow group members to take a decision. There is not much interference
between leaders and followers, they usually avoid responsibility, don’t have feedback
mechanism and delay the decision making (Bass & Riggio, 2006 &Samad.et.al, 2015).

• Servant Leadership. A servant leader focuses on the needs of others, especially team
members, before they consider him as part of themselves. By leading the team members to
higher engagement, more trust and stronger relationships is built.

• Positive leadership. Jay R. Tombaugh, (2005) argue that two important traits that leaders can
and should develop are optimism (positivity) and emotional intelligence. So, they are able to
bring out the creative power of positivity from the members.

• Strategic leadership. The strategic leader needs to influence others to enhance their
performance towards the success of long-term organizational goals by managing change,
handling ambiguity and providing right direction to the group by aligning workgroups to
implement change.

• Spiritual leadership. Yukl (2011) looks at how leaders enhance the meaning of spirituality in
their day to day work involving the followers. Spiritual leadership is a blending of natural and
spiritual qualities utilized for influencing God’s people to accomplish God’s purposes.

• Authentic and ethical leadership. Ethical leaders seek to build mutual trust, respect and social
justice among the followers and find solutions to conflicts among the stakeholders. They do not
play favorites or don’t foster distrust. Values and integrity are the key for ethical leaders (Yukl
2011).

References
NSTP-CWTS Handbook (2008 Fourth Edition) Leadership. Chapter 4, pages 46-50
Belyh, A. 2020. Characteristics of Leadership and Leadership Qualities and Traits.
https://www.cleverism.com/leadership-qualities-traits-and-characteristics/
Kumar, S.R. 2018. Literature Review on Leadership, Leadership Style and Leadership
Development. IMPACT: International Journal of Research in Business Management. ISSN: (P):
2347-4572; ISSn €: 2321-886X. Vol.6, Issue 6, Jun 2018, 13-24
Saleh, R.M.M., Nusari, M., Ameen, A. and Alrajawy, I. (2018). Leadership in an Organization:
A
Concept Review. International Journal of Management and Human Science (IJMHS), Volume 2,
Issue 4, Pages 52-59, 2018, eISSN: 2590-3748. http://www.ijmhs.org/index.aspx