Case Study

The term leadership has many different definitions and an effective leader is also perceived in different ways. Some common core concepts of leaderships are that it “involves a process of intentional influence that is exerted by one person over other people to guide or facilitate activities in a group or organization” (Yukl, 2006). A leader can influence individuals to do things to accomplish a common goal. A leader is defined as a “person or thing that leads” or “a guiding or directing head”. Some effective qualities found in an effective leader is that they have exemplary character, think analytically, are enthusiastic about their work, function in an orderly manner, remain calm in situations, and are committed to the main purpose and to excellence (White, B., 2014). Leaders are able to influence other individuals which result in a commitment by the followers. A leader can inspire followers to sacrifice their own interest for a higher cause. This influence could be for the purpose of the group as a whole or it can be for the purpose of the leaders. Leadership can be a specialized role or it can be a shared influence. There is direct and indirect leadership. While a direct leader transmits information to an individual, the cascading effect that it has is seen as indirect leadership (Yukl, 2006).

What are the qualities needed for an individual to be considered an effective leader? One of the most common ways to measure the effectiveness of a leader’s leadership abilities is if the task for the goals were attained. Are the attitudes of the followers positive and is the leader’s contribution to the project perceived as a positive influence for the whole. An example would be the willingness of individuals to perform t...

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... are three types of leader’s behaviors that can define an effective or ineffective leader. Leaders can be task-oriented, Relations-oriented or participative. Based on this information she is a task-oriented individual. She will spend time planning work but does not give direction on how she wants the work accomplished. She is not a people person. She prefers to work alone and does not have people skills. At one time she needed someone to travel to Memphis for an overnight trip for some recruiting project and she asked me to go. I informed her that I would not be able to attend because I already had plans for the weekend that I could not get out of. She seemed agitated that I could not go. I later suggest that my co-worker, who is also a female, go instead of me and she said no that a male needed to go because the recruitment was in a rougher part of the city.