ORGANIZATIONS LEADERSHIP AND DEVELOPMENT

Organizations Leadership and Development



Organizations Leadership and Development

Introduction

When you think of leadership, the ideas of power, authority, and influence may come to mind. You may think of the actions of effective leaders in accomplishing important goals. You may think of actual people who have been recognized for their leadership capabilities. Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th president of the United States, defined leadership as “the ability to decide what is to be done, and then to get others to want to do it.” Leadership can be defined as the ability of an individual to influence the thoughts, attitudes, and behavior of others. It is the process by which others are motivated to contribute to the success of the groups of which they are members (Bennis, 1990). Leaders set a direction for their followers and help them to focus their energies on achieving their goals. Theorists have developed many different theories about leadership, and although none of the theories completely explains everything about leadership, each has received some scientific support (Spears, 1998).

In the early 1970s, interest in leadership traits reemerged. For example, people who are good at monitoring their own actions (called high self-monitors) are more responsive to situational cues and may alter their behaviors to meet circumstances. In contrast, low self-monitors are more likely to act consistently across all situations, making their personal characteristics more salient and visible. In addition, individual traits dispositions may be less visible and important predictors of leadership effectiveness in highly constraining “strong” situations. Individual dispositions are more likely to predict leadership in “weaker” situations. Strong situations are cases that are highly formalized and governed by well-established role expectations, norms, rules, policies, and procedures—such as the military. In these cases, there is less opportunity for individual traits to have an effect. Traits are more predictive of a leader's behavior in select situations. Thus, an individual who is disposed toward aggressiveness is more likely to behave in an aggressive manner in situations in which others disagree with or threaten the individual. In other words, the tendency to be aggressive becomes significant only under aggression-arousing conditions. In other situations, individuals with an aggressive disposition are not likely to behave more aggressively than others.

Achievement-motivated individuals set challenging goals, assume personal responsibility for goal accomplishment, are highly persistent in the pursuit of goals, take calculated risks to achieve goals, and actively collect and use information for feedback. High-achievement motivated individuals also engage in a high degree of self-regulatory behavior. However, in management positions at middle or higher levels, managerial effectiveness often depends on the extent to which managers delegate effectively and motivate and coordinate others. High-achievement motivated managers are strongly inclined to be personally involved in performing the work of their organization and are reluctant to delegate authority and responsibility. Thus, achievement motivation has been found to be positively related to the effectiveness of leaders of small task-oriented groups and leaders of relatively small entrepreneurial firms, but negatively related to the effectiveness of middle-and high-level managers in large organizations or ...