Meaning Definitions Qualities Functions and Types of Leadership

Meaning Definitions Qualities Functions and Types of Leadership

Meaning Definitions Qualities Functions and Types of Leadership :-  Hello friends in this post we are provided the materials of the b.com second part its name is fundamental of Business Entrepreneurship notes and its the first chapter of this subject and in this article you learn many more knowledge of Entrepreneurship like as 

Leadership

 Explain Leadership Concept. Describe the characteristics of leadership.

Or

What do you understand by Leadership? Explain its nature and discuss its importance in modern business.

Or

What do you mean by leadership ability? Discuss the significance of leadership in entrepreneurship.

MEANING AND DEFINITIONS OF  LEADERSHIP

Leadership is the ability to guide, direct and lead people in an organisation towards the attainment of the organisational goals. Be- sides this, leadership is the ability, capacity and potentiality to persuade and influence others to follow him. Peter F. Drunker, considers ‘Leadership’ as a human characteristics which lifts a man’s vision to higher sights, raises a man’s performance to higher standards and builds man’s personality beyond its normal limitations.

Through leadership concept an entrepreneur raises morale of his employees which lead to high productivity and stability of his enterprise. Without a good leader no enterprise can function efficiently.

Leadership is a great quality and it can create and convert any- thing. It determines the failure and success of business enterprise. Terry points out:“a leader shows the way by his own example. He is not a pusher, he pulls rather than pushes.’ 

The following are important definitions of leadership

According to Alford and Beatty, “Leadership is the ability to secure desirable action front a group of followers voluntarily, without the use of coercion “

According to Barnard, “Leadership refers to the quality of the behaviour of the individual whereby they guide people on their activities in organised efforts,”

According to G.R. Terry “Leaderaship is the activity of influencing people to strive willingly for mutual objective. “

According to Ordway Toad, “Leadership is the name of that combination of qualities by the possession of which one is able to get something done by others, chiefly because through his influence they become willing to do it. ” Thus, it is clear from the above definitions that leadership is a process of influencing the behaviour, activities and efforts of an individual or a group for achieving common goals.

NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF LEADERSHIP

Following are some of the characteristics of leadership.

(1) Followers: Without followers, leadership cannot be imagined. It is only on the followers or a group that a leader can assert his authority.

(2) Working relationship between leader and followers: There must be a working relationship between the leader and his followers. It means that the leader should present himself in a place where the work is actually going on. Besides, the leader should be a dynamic person of the concerned group. It he is not so, he cannot get anything.

(3) Combination of Traits: A leader should have some leadership qualities in order to provide effective leadership.

(4) Harmony of Interests: There must be harmony of interests between leader and his followers. It is the leader who tries to reconcile the different objectives and compromise the individual interests with organisation interests.

(5) Dynamic Process: Leadership is a dynamic process. It is activated in an organisation continuously. Leader provides time to time necessary in formations, guidance and training to the subordinates.

(6) Leadership Ability is Developed and Achieved: According to Ross and Hendry, “Leadership ability is born, developed and achieved” Now the view that leaders are born and not made has no significance. Now-a-days leadership ability is developed and achieved.

(7) Leadership is a personal quality: Leadership is a personal quality and the person who possess this quality is known as leader He influence the attitude and ‘behavior of others in such a way that they accepts his directions willingly.

IMPORTANCE OF LEADERSHIP

Leadership plays a vital role in management. Success and failure of an enterprise depends to a great extent on the leadership quality. If the activities of the, workers are directed effectively, the success of business concern becomes certain.

Peter F. Drucker views that inefficient leadership is the main cause of failure of Inmost of the organisations, Without leadership a group disintegrates. destroys its team spirit and fritters away its energy. The need and itnportanco of leadership may be explained as follows:

(1) Directing group activities: The personal conduct and behaviour of a leader directs others to achieve the organisational goals. The followers cannot work hard and effectively without leadership. A leader alone can consolidate the efforts and direct them towards the goal.

(2) Source of ‘Motivation: Root of leadership is connected with the human relations and these relations can only be developed through effective leadership. Leader expose the personal qualities of the followers and motivate them to do work more efficiently.

(3) Promote the spirit of co-ordination: A leader promote the spirit of co-ordination among the workers. For the accomplishment of organisational goals, co-ordination among activities of members is essential.

(4) Better utilisation of manpower: The leader implements the plans, policies and programmers to utilise the available man- power effectively and get highest production with minimum human cost.

(5) Develop good human relations: Relations between the leader and the followers is termed as human relations. An efficient leader develop the skill of the followers and promote self-confidence apart  from motivations. Leadership promote the co-operative attitude of workers and maintains better relation with them.

(6) Helps to implement changes: There is frequent changes in technology, economic and social structure in the present world. So, the organisation should change its operation and style. This becomes possible only with the help of effective leadership. If the changes do not take place, the organisation cannot survive.

 

“The success of any industrial enterprise depends upon the qualities of its leadership.” Explain this statement and mention the function performed by a leader.

QUALITIES OF LEADERSHIP

A leader should possess some leadership qualities in order to provide effective leadership. The qualities which are necessary for an industrial leader may be summarized as follows:

(1) Self-confidence: Leadership should be based on self-confidence. With the help of this quality, a leader can achieve the faith of his followers.

(2) Courage: Among the moral qualities, courage-not in physical sense along, but moral courage is essential. As F.M. Slim says, without courage there are no virtues, for faith, hope, charity and all the rest do not become virtue until it takes courage to exercise them. Moral Courage enables a person to stick to without faltering, a determined course of action which his judgement has indicated as the best suited to secure the desired results.

(3) Intellectual Capacity: It is an essential quality of leadership. Without intellectual capacity no leader can be successful. Besides, he should be the ‘Jack’ (if not the master) of all the activities of the undertaking.

(4) Flexibility in Thoughts: Rigidity of decision is the way of an autocrat, therefore a leader should have an attitude of flexibility. Today when conditions in all spheres changes with bewildering rapidity, flexibility of mind is vital.

(5) Strategic Expertise: The entrepreneur’s success as a leader is related to his ability to link his enterprise or project to the strategy of the business. “Without a strategy, the venture is like a ship without a rudder.” The entrepreneur must have analytical thinking and commitment of resources to action.

(6) Sense of Judgement: A leader should know the human psychology. He should understand the behaviour, need, thoughts, motives etc. of his followers, this will help him to take a strategic decision and get it recognised by his followers.

(7) Communication Skill: Whatever the information needed to workers, it should be passed through the leader, now, the leader is acting as -an effective speaker and writer. If the leader has communication skill, he will direct his followers effectively.
(8) Ability to and Inspire: The most important task of the leader is to get the best from others and this is possible only if he knows how to integrate. Knowledge of subject and technique is important, but what is more important is the knowledge of man working under the leader. Hence, he must be well versed in the task of human relations.
(9) An Instinct to take Lead and Initiative: Business is not a bed of roses. It is full of uncertainties, formalities and complexions, decisions have to be taken in business every now and then. Hence, the leader must possess creative abilities, quality of imagination, innovation and courage to face realities of life boldly and cheerfully.
(10) Sense of Responsibility: Authority and responsibility generally go together. A leader must be a true worker and not a shirker. He must be in a position to bear the burden of all his decisions upon himself. He must have the sense of responsibility.

FUNCTIONS OF LEADERSHIP

The important functions of a business leader may be briefly summarised as follows:

(1) Encouraging Others: The main function of a leader is to encourage and affirms each team member, particularly in difficult time. Without team work, he cannot be successful and the leadership may fail.
(2) To represent the Undertaking: A leader is true representative of the entire organization. He represents the undertaking and its purpose both to those working for it as well as to the outside world.
(3) Integration: Each individual does a part of a whole work. They perform the work according to their specialisation. Here, there is a need for integration. So the leader integrates the efforts of all workers,
(4) Arrangement for effective communication system:  Nothing will succeed without effective communication. An effective communication system, conveys the authority and responsibility to each individual so that he may come to know what he is to do and what not. The leader arrange an effective communication system in the organization.
(5) To act as a Friend, Philosopher and Guide of the Undertaking: It is the primary function of the leader to guide and direct the organization. He creates a smooth relationship among the workers. He performs these duties in a friendly manner,
(6) To take the Initiative: A business leader takes all initiative to lead the business activities. He himself comes in the field and takes all steps to achieve the pre-determined targets.
(7) To Guide Others: The leader has the primary duty of guiding others. Proper direction should be given by a leader. If he does not do so, the organisation will not succeed. He also issue instructions and orders whenever needed.
(8) To Interpret: It is a delicate task of the business leader to assign reason to his every command. If he gives irrational instructions and there is no backing by reason or logic, they prove to be ineffective. He instructs things in such a way that they are intelligible to all concerned and their co-operation is readily forthcoming.

 

 What is meant by Leadership? Describe the different types of Leadership. ?

TYPES OF LEADERSHIP

Leadership cannot characteristics of the followers play a vital role in the exercise of leadership. The behaviour of a leader depends on the maturity level of the followers, When the maturity level of the followers is low, then leader has to tell them what, when, where and how the given task is to be completed. On the other hand, if the leader has high level maturity followers, he can adopt assigning behaviour and the work is done with complete freedom, the types of leaders are classified on the basis of behaviour of leaders as follows:
(1) Democratic Leadership: In the democratic leadership, a leader acts according to the wishes of the followers. He acts as a representative of his followers to management. In this type of leadership, attitude of leader is friendly, supportive and trust worthy,
Economic rewards are given to followers and even they are permitted self-appraisal on the basis of mutually set goals. There is a free two way communication. The leader frames the policy or procedure according to the opinion of the majority of his follower.’ He is always interested in protecting the interests of his followers. The leader ig a friend ofhi8 follower3 and ho is helpful to them.
(2) Autocratic Leadership: In such type of leadership’ leader wants his followers to carry Out his decisions and orders without any questioning. He frames the objectives of the organisation and defines standards and methods of work performance. He believes in strict supervision and threats,  Autocratic leader thinks that his followers do not have much ability to do a job ‘effectively. So, he does not delegate any authority to his followers. If any follower fails to complete his job as per the requirements, he will be penalised and the punishment may be in the form of company action or dismissal.
(3) Laissez-faire Leadership: In this type of leadership, the followers are permitted to do their jobs howsoever they want to do. The liberal leader would not exercise any influence over his followers. Wide scope and opportunities are available for free discussion which aims at performing the job effectively. This type of leader thinks that freedom in doing work increase the efficiency of the workers.
(4) Intellectual Leadership: In this type of leadership, a leader wins the confidence of his followers by his intelligence, self confidence and behaviour.  He gives advice on the matter in which he is expert. He may be a specialist in sales, personnel management, finance management and the like. He gets results through others by using his superior knowledge.
(5) Persuasive Leadership: In the persuasive leadership, a leader influences his followers with his personality and persuades them to join him in doing a work. The leader gets things done by others through speaking nice words. The whole gang responds to the words of the leader.
(6) Institutional Leadership: In the institutional leadership, a leader exercises his power over his followers because of his position held in the organisational hierarchy The leader control the activitieg of his followers in order to achieve the objectives,
(7) Creative Leader: Creative leader is one who encourages his follower  to suggest new ideas, thoughts or ways, Sometimes, the leader himself puts forward new ideas, Ile controls his followers like Other leader Bund motivates them to achieve the specific goals,

 

 Discus the characteristics of leadership und briefly describes its main theories,

THEORIES AND PRINCIPLES OF LEADERSHIP  Leadership is the process of influencing the behaviour and activities of an individual or group for achieving common goals. The existence of leader is very essential to direct, inspire and guiding the activities of a group. Now the question arises that how leaders are developed. Various theories and approaches of leadership may be explained as follows:

(1) The Traitist Theory of Leadership: Trait means quality. According to this theory, leadership behaviour is influenced by certain qualities of a person. This theory is supported by Ordway Tead, Chester I. Bernard, Erwin H. Schell and so many authors. They conduct studies to identify the qualities of past and present leaders in term of their education, experience, character, family back-ground etc. This theory holds the view that a leader must possess specific traits of mind, intelligence and moral qualities. The successful leader possess these basic qualities and these are inherited rather than acquired. Out of this approach came the popular belief that ‘leaders are born and not made.’

Successful leader has the following qualities:

(i) Good personality; (ii) Ability to take quick decision; (iii) Courage to face competitors; (iv) Intelligence; (v) Different thinking; (vi) Reliability; (vii) Physical Fitness; (viii) Judgement power; (ix) Knowledge of goals and capacity to direct; (x) Techno cal knowledge; (xi) Ability to inspire etc.

But now the situation is different. These qualities can also be developed through training, education and experience. This theory has been criticized on the following grounds:
(i) There is no universal lists of traits of successful leaders. Different authors have different lists of traits.
(ii) There are no definite tests for the measurement of these traits. It is not clear how high score a person must achieve to achieve an effective trait.
(iii) It fails to take into account influence of other factors on leadership.
(iv) This theory does not offer any guidance for developing these qualities,
(v) Various studies prove that the trait theory cannot used good for all situations.
(2) The Situational Theory: The central idea of this theory is that the situation, the group the problem and the environment will affect the type of leadership. As per the situation theory, a leader is strongly affected by the situation in which he works. Situation helps the person to develop their leadership qualities and emerge as leader. These are the circumstances of a group which produce leader. A leader may be good for group at one level and under one set of circumstances and he may not prove to be so in other circumstances. This theory does not believe that leaders are born but asserts that leaders are made. Thus it gives emphasis on the executive training and development programmers for the development of future leaders. This theory is criticized on the ground that it gives much emphasis on situation aspect and over-looks the qualities needed in a successful leader.

(3) The followers Theory: According to this theory, only followers decide whether a person is a leader or not. Followers take a decision analysing the qualities of the person who helps to have their needs fulfilled. If a leader is successful in leading his group, satisfying them and motivating them, he will be assumed to be good leader. So there is a need for forming a group and fulfilling some needs of such group. This theory cannot be applied without a group of followers. The needs of the group are the crucial and guiding factor in determining the leader. Under this theory, if followers accept a person as their leader, he becomes a leader irrespective of his qualities and behaviour.

(4) Modern Theory or System Theory: This theory lays stress on a person’s act rather than his traits or behaviour. A leader coordinates the efforts of his followers. The process of co-ordination stimulates the people to achieve the goal in a particular situation. This theory takes into consideration all the factors such as situation, followers, traits, environment goals, characteristics and needs, role behaviour of the leader and co-ordination efforts etc. This theory is also termed as composite theory of leadership.

Explain Leadership. What are its different styles?

Leadership style denotes the manner in which the leader behaves while using his power and influence in relation to the group and the task situation. Leadership style describes how a leader has relationship with his group. The success of a business unit depends upon the leadership style followed by the leaders. Some of the leadership styles are as follows:

 (1) Motivational Style: This is the most common and important style of leadership. A leader use motivational style to influence the willingness of people to work. A man is technically,. mentally and physically fit to perform the work but he may not be willing to work. Motivation creates a willingness on the part of workers to do the work in a better way. On the basis of motivation, leadership style may be of two types:

(i) Positive Motivation Style: When a leader provides various types of financial and non-financial incentives to the followers to motivate them, it is termed as positive motivation style. Motivated employees have a feeling of total involvement in the performance of organisation task. They work whole-heartedly for the realisation of organisational goals.

(ii) Negative Motivation Style: Negative motivation is based on force of fear. If the worker fails to complete the work, they may be threatened with demotion, dismissed, lay-off, pay-cut etc. The negative motivation gives maximum benefit in the short-run but in the long-run there are no such benefits available to the organisation. Negative motivation results in disloyalty to the group as well as to organisation.

(2) Power Style: On the basis of power, following styles of leadership are in practice:

(i) Autocratic Leadership: Under this style of leadership, all decision making power is centralised in the leader and subordinates are not allowed to take part in the decision making process. The leader dominates and drives his gang through coercion, command and the instilling of fear in his followers. Such leaders love power and love to use it in promoting their own ends. They never like to delegate their power for the fear that they may lose their authority in this way. They do not care to know the feelings of them and do not respect their personality. They take credit to accomplishments and blaims his followers for failure. This type of leadership is not liked by the followers and mars their motivation, morale and productivity.

(ii) Democratic Leadership: Such leadership allows the active participation of the subordinates in the process of decision making. Such leaders behave friendly to their subordinates and helps the group in coming to a decision. In general, employee oriented leadership style, giving due importance to the needs, motives and feelings of the employees, has a positive and satisfying impact on their behaviour towards work. Such group is very adaptive and responsive. They welcome any change in work, situations and conditions etc. Generally most of the leaders follow this style.

(iii) The Free-rein Style: Under this style, a ladder gives complete freedom to his followers. The entire decision making authority is entrusted to them. There is least intervention by the leader and so the group operates entirely on its own. This style helps followers to develop independent personality. This type of leadership can work in organisation where followers are highly competent and duty-conscious and can do better without a leader. The leader acts as a ,liaison officer between the employees and the outside world. He brings the information which is needed to the employees. The information is utilised by the employees to do their job.

(3) Supervisory Style: Leadership may be of following two types on the basis of supervisory style:

(i) Employee Oriented Style: Under this style, leaders give importance to his followers. They listen their problems and help to solve them. They recognise their requirements and social prestige. They treat workers as a human being and maintain human relations with them. This style increases the morale of the workers and motivate them to work efficiently.

(ii) Production Oriented Style: Under this style, importance is given to the production instead of workers. The leader emphasis to raise production by improving the techniques of production and by taking more work from the workers. Raising production is the main objective of the industrial leader. This style does not adopt human attitude towards workers.


 

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