LEADERSHIP
Leadership is an integral part of management and plays a vital role in managerial operations. It provides direction, guidance, and confidence to the employees and helps in the attainment of goals in much easier way. In business and industrial organizations, managers play the role of leader and acquire leadership of subordinates, their efforts towards the achievement of organizational goals and activate the individuals of an organization to make them work. Leadership influences behavior of the individuals. It has an ability to attract others and potential to make them follow the instructions. Individuals can be induced to contribute their optimum towards the attainment of organizational goals through effective leadership. Leadership acquires dominance and the followers accept the directives and control of a leader. Leadership provides direction and vision for future to an organization.
DEFINITION
Leadership is the art of influencing and inspiring subordinates to perform their duties willingly, competently and enthusiastically for achievement of groups objectives.
According to Wendell French, "Leadership is the process of influencing the behavior of others in the direction of a goal or set of goals or, more broadly, toward a vision of the future”,
According to Keith Davis, “Leadership is the process of encouraging and helping others to work enthusiastically towards objectives”.
According to Koontz and O'Donnell, "Leadership is the art or process of influencing people so that they will strive willingly towards the achievement of group goals".
According to Peter Drucker, "Leadership means the lifting of man's visions to higher sights, the raising of man's performance to higher standard, the building of man's personality beyond its normal limitations".
According to Grey and Starke, "Leadership is both a process and a property. As a process, it is used for non-coercive influence lo shape up the goals of a group or organization, to motivate behavior toward the achievement of those goals and to help define group or organizational culture. As a property, leadership is the set multi characteristics attributed to those who are perceived to be leaders".
Thus, leaders are people who are able to influence the behavior of others without recourse to threats or other forms of force towards the individuals. Leaders are the people who are accepted by the other individuals, as a superior person to them.
FEATURES OF LEADERSHIP
The features of leadership are as follows:
Leadership is the process of influencing behavior of individuals of an organization.
Leadership uses non-coercive methods to direct and coordinate the activities of the individuals of an organization.
Leadership directs the individuals to attain the tasks assigned to them by following the instructions of their leaders.
A leader possesses qualities to influence others.
Leadership gives the individuals, a vision for future.
Leadership is a group activity. Leader influences his followers and followers also exercise influence over his leader.
Leadership is meant for a given situation, given group for a pre-determined period of lime.
Leadership is continuous process of influencing behavior. It encourages liveliness in the group.
Importance of Leadership
The following points can judge the importance of leadership:
A leader should act as a friend of the people whom he is leading.
A leader must have the capacity to recognize the potentials of the individuals and transform them into realities.
A leader should have the confidence of the individuals of the organization.
A leader must be able to unite the people as a team and build up team spirit.
A leader should be able to maintain discipline among his group and develop a sense of responsibility.
A leader must be able to build up a high morale among the individuals of the organization.
A leader should motivate his people to achieve goals.
A leader should try to raise the morale of the individuals and should maintain ethical standards among the individuals.
A leader should act as a link between the work groups and the forces outside the organization.
Difference between Leadership and Management
Leading and managing go together but some differences exist between the two. The following are the differences between the leadership and the management:
Management takes rational and logical decisions while leadership takes decision on expectations of the followers. Leadership has an emotional appeal while management acts on rationality.
The management establishes relationship through a lawful authority while leadership establishes relationship through power.
Managers have formal authority but the leaders have no such authority.
All leaders are not managers and all managers are leaders.
Management is a process of planning, organizing, directing and controlling the activities of others to attain the organizational objectives. Leadership on the other hand, is a process of influencing the behavior of the people to attain their assigned tasks. A successful manager must possess both the managerial and leadership qualities.
TYPES OF LEADERSHIP
Following are the main types of leadership:
Autocratic or Authoritarian
In this type of leadership, there is a complete centralization of authority in the leader, i.e., authority is centered in the leader himself. He has all the powers to make decisions. He uses coercive measures and adopts, negative method of motivation. He wants immediate obedience of his orders and instructions. Any negligence on the part of subordinates results in punishment. There is no participation from the subordinates in decision-making. A leader thinks that he is the only competent person in the organization. According to Edwin B. Filippo, there are following three types of leaders in autocratic:
Hard Boiled or Strict Autocrat: Leader, under such type uses negative influence and expects that the employees should obey his orders immediately. Non-compliance of his orders results in punishment. He makes all decisions and does not disclose anything to anyone. He is quite rigid on performance.
Benevolent Autocrat: Benevolent autocrat leader uses positive influences and develops effective human relations. He is known as paternalistic leader. He praises his employees if they follow his orders and invites them to get the solutions of the problems from him. He feels happy in controlling all the actions of his subordinates.
Manipulative Autocrat: Leader, under such type is manipulative in nature. He creates a feeling in the minds of his subordinates and workers that they are participating in decision-making processes. But he makes all decisions by himself. Non-compliance of his orders also results jn punishment.
Democratic or Participative
Democratic or Participative leadership is also known as group centered or consultative leadership. In this type of leadership, leaders consult their groups and consider their opinion in the decision-making process. Leaders encourage discussion among the group members on the problem under consideration and arrive at a decision depending on their consent. Participation or involvement of the employees in the decision-making process is also rewarded. Exchange of ideas among subordinates and with the leader is given encouragement. Leaders give more freedom to their group members, who feel that, their opinions arc honored and they are given importance. It develops a sense of confidence among subordinates and they derive job satisfaction. It improves quality of decision as it is taken after due consideration of valued opinions of the talented group members.
The demerit of this type of leadership is that it takes more time to arrive at a decision, as a lot of time is wasted while taking the views from the employee. It is, therefore, very time consuming.
Laissez-faire or Free Rein
In this type of leadership, there is virtual absence of direct leadership. It is, therefore, known as "no leadership at all". There is complete delegation of authority to subordinates so that they can make decisions by themselves. Absence of leadership may have both positive and negative effects. Free rein leadership may be effective if members of the group are highly committed to their work. The negative aspect shows that the leader is not competent enough to lead his group effectively. Members may feel insecure and develop frustration for lack of decision-making authority.
Bureaucratic
This type of leadership emphasizes the rules and regulations of an organization. The behavior of a leader is determined by the rules, regulations and procedure to be followed under his leadership. The leader and the subordinates both follow these rules and regulations. Therefore, there is no difference between the management and the administration in this type of leadership. The employees, themselves cannot do anything in this regard. It is the rules that determine their performance.
Manipulative
This type of leadership manipulates the employees to attain their assigned tasks. A manipulative leader is quite selfish and exploits the aspirations of the employees for his gains. He knows very well the needs and desires of the employees but he does very little to fulfill them. Due to such attitude, he has to face the hatred of the employees at times.
Paternalistic
The paternalistic leadership believes in the concept that the happy employees work better and harder. It maintains that the fatherly altitude is the right one for better relationship between the manager and the employees. Everyone within the organization should work together like a family.
Expert Leadership
The expert leadership emerged as a result of complex structure of modern organizations. This type of leadership is based on the ability, knowledge and competence of the leaders. He handles the situation skillfully with his talent. The employees feel relieved as they are working under a person who is expert and can handle the situation without any problem.
In modern organizations, human resources vary in terms of skill, knowledge and competences. They differ in quality, determination and their attitude towards the organization. They exhibit different behaviors as they differ in attitude and outlook also. The leader must understand their behavior and accordingly can make use of the various types leaderships. The manager should assess the situation and adopt that type of leadership, which suits that situation. He should remember that leadership is situational. If situation changes, the use of leadership among its various types also changes. A successful leader is the one who assesses the situation, studies the psychology of the subordinates and adopts the most useful type of leadership to lead the people at work to accomplish the organizational goals.
