LEADERSHIP

Leadership

Abstract

Human nature is the trickiest thing. It is difficult to understand the nature of a human being and what is even more difficult is managing behavior of human beings. For smooth and lucrative operation of business, it is so vital for an organization to manage behavior of its personnel. In this paper, I analyze theories, characteristics and different traits of Leadership.

Leadership

Introduction

“A leader is a man who makes decisions. Sometimes they turn out right and sometimes then turn out wrong; but either way, he makes them”.

Leader's vision is not a dream its reality for him that he needs to be done. Team construction and mobilization is headed by an effective leader. A leader through leadership role shows the right and correct path to his or her subordinates. A leader is able to bring any change in an organization/institution (Hrivnak, et al. 2009). His qualities can be described in a summarized way in the form of the following chart:

Management versus leadership

People generally assume that a manager, by default, is a leader. In reality, a leader and a manager can be distinguished clearly. The leader has followers, and the manager is a follower. There is a thin line of difference between leadership and management. Many scholars and practitioners have made an attempt clearly describe the difference between these two fields. This thing can best be described by focusing on what are the elements of these two fields that compliment and supporting each other instead of seeking the differences between these two (Miller, 2007).

Leadership theories

A number of scholars and researchers have conducted many researches and contributed many theories like Fiedler's contingency, trait theory, goal-path, managerial-grid, etc. These theories are based on traits and behaviors of leaders.

Approach

Universal

Contingency

Trait

Trait theory

Fiedler

Behavior

Ohio & Michigan

Goal-Path

By analyzing these theories, the characteristics of leadership can understand. Trait theorists argue that leadership characteristics are by birth while universal is a symbol of referring that these traits are fixed for every situation. Likewise, if a leader is effective in one situation then he will be effective in every situation, and vice versa (Miller, 2007).

However, trait and contingency theories say that if a leader is effective in one situation, it is not necessary that he will be effective in other situation. Situation is another important factor that determines roles of Leadership.

On contrast, Behavioral theories emphasize that characteristics of leadership depend upon the behavior of leader rather on traits. Behavior and universal theories say that if ...