The Nature of Leadership Leadership can be defined as the method in which one influences a group of individuals for a common goal. There have many great leaders in the world but these leaders are not born leaders. One must have willpower and the desire to become an effective leader. These leaders become dependent upon based upon their abilities and their success. A leader is looked upon for guidance and the inspiration to know what the right thing to do is. The theoretical foundations of the research of leadership are firmly supported. To better understand the foundations and understand the focus of leadership, it is essential to have knowledge of the history of leadership, the meaning and concept of leadership, types of leaders and leadership styles, and issues in leadership such as issues with culture and gender. According to Antonakis (2004), “leadership researchers have struggled for most of the last century to put together an integrated, theoretically cohesive view of the nature of leadership, invariably leading to disappointment in those who studied it” (p.4). An overview of the history of leadership is necessary to understand the concept of leadership because it also provides a framework for other areas of leadership. In any conventional group, individuals fill different role and one of those roles must the leader which is essential for the group to achieve it purposes. Concept of Leadership Leadership is a process by which an individual influences others to accomplish a mutual objective and most scholars can agree that leadership can be defined as the nature of the influencing process. Leaders carry out this process by applying their leadership attributes, such as beliefs, values, ethics, character, knowledge, and ski... ... middle of paper ... ...tion correctly. They must be psychologically mature to be able to make decisions that may involve stress. Leaders must also have enthusiasm to capture attention of their followers. In the workplace, when managers have energy and are active, it makes employees more enthusiastic as well. Leaders must also possess self-assurance and some would assume that confidence the most important key. Dao (2008) states that, “Self-confidence is the fundamental basis from which leadership grows. Trying to teach leadership without first building confidence is like building a house on a foundation of sand. It may have a nice coat of paint, but it is ultimately shaky at best.” A good leader must have that self-assurance to make decisions and lead others without being afraid. Confidence not only allows a leader to make tough decisions but to also lead a group of people with authority.
Leadership is a process whereby individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal (Northouse, 2013, p. 5).
Leadership has been defined in different ways, a definitaion of leadership that would be most commonly accepted would be “the ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organization…”(House et al., 1999, p. 184 as cited in Yukl, 2013, p. 19). After a comprehensive review of different leadership literature, Stogdill (1974, p. 259, as cited in Yukl, 2013, p. 18) concluded that “There are almost as many definitions of leadership as there are persons who have attempted to define the concept." Leadership can be viewed from two different angles one is shared influence process and other as a specialized role. Researcher who view leadership as a specialized role consider attributes as a factor in selecting a designated leader. On the contrast, theorist who emphasises on influence process considers “Leadership” as a social process or a pattern of relationship.
A leader can be defined as a person who influences a group of people, organization, etc. in to achieving a set out or common goal. The aim of this paper is to identify the different approaches to leadership, but there is no single definition of leadership, as it can mean many different things to many people depending of their profession, environment and leadership style (Mielach, 2012).
Leadership is the ability of a person to influence people toward the attainment of a particular goal. Leadership is a people activity, not like administrative paper shuffling or problem solving. It is a dynamic force and involves the use of power. Out of the forces of leadership come four powerful characteristics: supportive, directive, participative, and achievement-oriented leadership. Although these types of characteristics are not considered ingrained personality traits, they reflect types of behavior every leader is able to adopt depending on the situation.
“Leaders come in every size, shape, and disposition-short, tall, neat, sloppy, young, old, male, and female” (Bennis, 2009, p. 33). Unlike Johnson (2011), Bennis (2009) proposes additional components to leadership. First, there must be a vision. A leader has to have a well-defined direction and purpose. They must understand not only the direction they will take, but also the steps to achieve the stated objectives. The vision must be articulat...
What is leadership: it is a process where by an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal (Northouse,
Leadership can be defined as the act of convincing people to willingly carryout defined objectives, it can also be defined as the ability to influence the course of action of people.
Leadership is “the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of a vision or set of goals” (book).
The practices of a leader can have wide spread implications. They can impact individual stakeholders and the organization as a whole. Clark (2013) states that “you must be the role model you want others to grow into” (para. 9). A strong leader leads by example, is ethical, and earns the trust and respect of their followers. They are also conscientious of the impact they have on the world around them. They practice impeccable communication and learn to inspire others with a positive vision for the future. Clark (2014) describes leadership as the methods of influencing others to accomplish objectives in a collective manner in the direction of the organization's vision.
I believe having confidence is an essential leadership quality to have. It provides for assured decision making and allows others to be confident too. Believing in yourself foremost sets a strong foundation to be an excellent leader. Norman Vincent Peale once said, “Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy”. This in particular sticks out to me due to the fact that it is so applicable to my life. It helps me realize how having confidence and faith in yourself are keys to being a great leader.
Leadership is simply the ability to inspire others to pursue the strategic goals and objectives of the organization, to such an extent that is becomes a mutually shared effort and vision. Hence leadership can be defined as the art of influencing others to enhance the performance and productivity of the individual in the accomplishment of organizational tasks and objectives (Mielach, 2012). This implies that leadership is an ability to step outside the comfort-zone for initiating a revolutionary change process within the organization. Meanwhile, Peter Drucker defined leadership as the art of having followers (Riggio, 2009). Thus leaders are c...
Leadership is the ability to inspire confidence, support and trust among the people who need to achieve organizational goals. (Chan & Maubourgne 1992) It invariably requires using power to influence the thoughts and actions of other people in order to create new approaches and imagine new areas to explore. This definition has emphasized on influencing people to achieve set goals. In other words, we can say, the objective of leadership is achieving goals, meanwhile, the application is influencing other people to motivate the energy and stimulate the potential towards the goals.
In recent years, leadership studies has grown into a thriving academic department full of insightful research and theories about what makes an effective leader. While leadership is in part due to personality and experience, having a research-based platform allows for more effective leadership and for people to have insight into how the leadership process works. Despite the importance of academic leadership, effective leaders cannot exist without a balanced combination of both personal experience and academic knowledge. The two aspects of leadership go hand-in-hand to create leaders who are able to motivate their followers, unify their organizations, and positively influence those around them. The Encyclopedia of Leadership serves as a useful resource for all who wish to learn about effective leadership and what factors can help increase a leader’s effectiveness.
Self-confidence is one of the most important qualities that determine a good leader. Self-confidence is the belief in oneself and of one’s powers and abilities. It is the attitude that people possess that allows them to have positive views and to trust their own abilities. Self-confidence is an extremely important attribute to have. Leadership is all about having the confidence to make decisions. If they are afraid to make and commit to their decisions, all of the communication and authority they have will make no difference. They need to guts to motivate others, and if they waver even slightly, their followers will start to doubt them. An example of leaders having self-confidence is the students at school who organized their own clubs. They have the courage to pitch new ideas, and are not afraid to talk to other students about it. Teachers are natural born leaders. Everyday, they have to face hundreds of students to lead them onto the correct path through learning. Without self-confidence, they will not be able to do their job.
Leadership refers to the processes of mutual influence that occur between the members of a group and their leader (s) and contribute to their performance, motivation and satisfaction.