LEADERSHIP TO PRACTICE

Leadership To Practice



Leadership To Practice

Introduction

Leadership is defined as "The office or capacity of a leader.However a practical definition is leadership being much more than a position, but rather a state of mind and character(Owen Gazzard 2004 pp.89-109).

An individual can be the CEO of a Corporation, and still not be a leader. Followership can also be defined in several ways, the technical definition, defined as "The capacitiy or willingness to follow a leader. Continuous change also demands a lot from individuals as leaders, and has become a continuous learning process. It is because of this that contemporary leadership competencies connected to creativeness, innovation, renewal and self management are useful(Legge, Wilson, Butler, Wright, McBride, Attewell, 1996, pp.17-168).

Leadership

Leadership is defined in a dictionary as: the position or function of a leader; the ability to lead; or an act or instance of leading. In a business environment real leadership is the act of pulling your employees forward to a desired level of performance(Owen Gazzard 2004 pp.89-109).

(Bloisi Cook Hunsaker 2003 pp. 390-400)agree that a distinction can be made between a leader who gets people to achieve specific goals and a leader who gets people to achieve specific goals and develops a self actualisation belief system or culture. Both are exercising leadership. However, he elaborates that one is dealing with "transactions" and the other is "transforming" the character of the organisation. Thus, transactional leadership is when leaders determine what subordinates need to do to achieve objectives, classify the requirements to achieve the objectives and help subordinates become confident they can reach their objectives. On the other hand transformational leadership works on the vision for the organisational as a whole and prepares the employees of the organisation to meet the challenges of the future and deal with all of them(Bass 1990 pp.112-119)

Further, the key to understanding real leadership lies in understanding that your employees have different personalities and attitudes; each one has different job responsibilities; each one has a different view of what is important in the operations of the organisation(Lord, Hall, 2005, pp.591-615). Therefore, a leader has to cater to all types of employees and use different styles of leadership to bind them together and achieve the objectives of the organisation. Further, there are many ways in which a leader can lead. However, certain common elements such as a vision of purpose, gaining organisational commitment to this vision of purpose and providing the wherewithall to carry it out, are some of the common elements a leader has to have, irrespective of his style of leadership. Thus, even though leadership styles are not given much importance, especially where there are successful leaders, the style adopted by a leader is an integral part to being a successful leader in the long run(Bloisi Cook Hunsaker 2003 pp. 390-400).

Leadership theories

A review of the leadership literature reveals an evolving series of 'schools of thought' from “Great Man” and “Trait” theories to “Transformational” leadership (see table). Whilst early theories tend to focus upon the characteristics and behaviours of successful ...