Saturday, March 19, 2011

Leadership

D e f i n i t i o n o f L e a d e r s h i p
The meaning of a message is the change which it produces in the image. —
Kenneth Boulding in The Image: Knowledge in Life and Society
Before we get started, lets define leadership. Leadership is a process by which a person
influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that
makes it more cohesive and coherent. This definition is similar to Northouse's (2007, p3)
definition — Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of
individuals to achieve a common goal. Leaders carry out this process by applying their
leadership knowledge and skills. This is called Process Leadership (Jago, 1982).
However, we know that we have traits that can influence our actions. This is called Trait
Leadership (Jago, 1982), in that it was once common to believe that leaders were born
rather than made. These two leadership types are shown in the chart below (Northouse,
2007, p5):

F o u r F a c t o r s o f L e a d e r s h i p
There are four major factors in leadership (U.S. Army, 1983):
L e a d e r : You must have an honest understanding of who you are, what you know, and what
you can do. Also, note that it is the followers, not the leader or someone else who determines if
the leader is successful.
F o l l o w e r s : Different people require different styles of leadership.
C o m m u n i c a t i o n : You lead through two-way communication. Much of it is nonverbal.
S i t u a t i o n : All situations are different.

B a s s ' T h e o r y o f L e a d e r s h i p
Bass' theory of leadership states that there are three basic ways to explain how people
become leaders (Stogdill, 1989; Bass, 1990). The first two explain the leadership
development for a small number of people. These theories are:
o Some personality traits may lead people naturally into leadership roles. This is
the Trait Theory.
o A crisis or important event may cause a person to rise to the occasion, which
brings out extraordinary leadership qualities in an ordinary person. This is the
Great Events Theory.
o People can choose to become leaders. People can learn leadership skills. This is
the Transformational or Process Leadership Theory. It is the most widely
accepted theory today and the premise on which this guide is based.

T h e T w o M o s t I m p o r t a n t K e y s t o E f f e c t i v e L e a d e r s h i p
According to a study by the Hay Group, a global management consultancy, there are 75
key components of employee satisfaction (Lamb, McKee, 2004). They found that:
o Trust and confidence in top leadership was the single most reliable predictor of
employee satisfaction in an organization.
o Effective communication by leadership in three critical areas was the key to
winning organizational trust and confidence:
1. Helping employees understand the company's overall business strategy.
2. Helping employees understand how they contribute to achieving key
business objectives.
3. Sharing information with employees on both how the company is doing
and how an employee's own division is doing — relative to strategic
business objectives.

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