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Importance of leadership to an organization
Role of leadership in the society
Path goal theory of leadership limitations
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Leadership is an important aspect for an individual to develop and master. Throughout history, leadership has evolved and has been defined in many ways. For instance, Ginsberg (2008) defines leadership as “motivating a group of people to achieve a common goal” (p. 315). Similarly, Northouse (2016) looks at leadership as more of a process that influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal. Depending on the individual, the definition of leadership can vary. For this paper, leadership will be viewed as a process for leaders to use to influence their followers to achieve a goal. It is critical that an individual assess their behaviors and actions to figure out how to be an effective leader. Therefore, based on the various Northouse …show more content…
Participative leadership behavior allows the follower to share their thoughts and ideas in the decision-making process (Northouse, 2016). I did not expect this score to be above average, due to the position that I have within the field of social work. As a leader within the management side of social work, there are state and federal regulations to follow and policies of affiliated agencies that must be adhered to. Most of these policies and regulations are based on funding and other supports for the agency, therefore it is important to comply. Thus, it does not allow my level of leadership to make such decisions about which policies or regulations are put in place. However, the followers’ ideas, concerns, and issues are heard so that I can present them to the highest level of management to ensure their input is received regarding the decisions made. Overall, I am the type of leader that can shift between behavior styles when needed based on the needs of the followers. Due to the high scores that I have received, I am confident that I am an effective leader within the path-goal …show more content…
Northouse (2016) describes this skill area as another self-regulatory behavior that is focused on exploring other individuals’ thoughts and opinions before making a decision. This ties into my lowest score within the path-goal theory with participative leadership behaviors. As a Manager, I do listen to followers and get their opinion but I can be more open to including them in the beginning stages of the change, therefore, they can feel more included in the process. Creating this atmosphere will allow for the followers to feel empowered, enable trust, and create more of a unified
The real person who has made an impact on not only myself, but a great deal of people in the community over quite a few years is Ms. Barbara Neiman of Brockton Avenue Elementary School. Working in different fields over the course of her life, Ms. Neiman has had to convert to various styles of leadership. Since she has had to alter the ways in which she leads, I selected pieces from three different practices that I believe best fit her: The Path-Goal Theory, Servant Leadership, and a little bit from the Behavioral Approach.
The topic of leadership has been explored and written about by thousands of authors who are considerably more qualified than I am to write about the subject. However, I’ve always maintained that developing, evolving and articulating one’s own leadership philosophy is an essential part of a professional’s growth. Through academics and experience, I’ve concluded that leadership is a “soft” skill, more art than science, and that leadership principles can be universally applied. As a topic of discussion, leadership can be ambiguous and seldom does everyone agree on a single definition. Organizations and the people they consist of crave leadership, even if not overtly. Undeniably, strong leadership is essential to achieving
A participative leader consults with followers, obtains their ideas and opinions, and integrates their suggestions into the decisions about how the group or organization will proceed” (Northouse, 2016, p.118). As a participative leader, Vida often consults with her staff, obtains their ideas and opinions, and is open minded to their suggestions. For example letting us have flexible hours, because most of us were taking other classes, getting our ideas for recording sessions, and even choosing what snacks we wanted to have available at the
Leadership is a quality which cannot be acquired by any person from the other but it can be acquired by self-determination of a person. Leadership can best be called the personality of the very highest ability-whether in ruling, thinking, imagining, innovation, warring, or religious influencing. Leadership is practiced not so much in words a it is in attitude and in actions. Their actions leave a long lasting memory in the line of history and lead up to may events that occur today. To be a leader one will need many qualities. Leaders have a purpose and strategies to accomplish that purpose. They are driven and motivated. In the end they should be able to attain good results. These innate talents help to make up a leader that will succeed and be efficient in carrying out tasks. But, the purpose of this paper is determine what truly makes a leader successful. A successful leader should be considered more on their impact rather than their accomplishments of their organizations alone for they are not sufficient in determining the key to their success .
Leadership is an important element in the functioning of group interactions toward an organized goal. Leadership has been defined in many different ways by sociologists and social psychologists alike, numbering too many to discuss here. The most common element found in these definitions is "that leadership involves a process of influence between a leader and followers to attain group, organizational, or societal goals" (Hollander, 1985). In small group interactions, leadership is usually an assigned status, with the "followers" designating, both consciously and subconsciously, someone as a leader. This is a person who, according to the group members, is believed to have those characteristics which are most suited to accomplish the task and objectives of the group (Bales and Slater, 1955). Much of the available early research that I was able to attain focused on leadership and the concept of leadership in terms of political situations. When viewed from a political standpoint, the study of leadership pertains to the analysis of relationships between those who possess power and those who don't possess power (power will be discussed in det...
Leadership is a process whereby individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal (Northouse, 2013, p. 5).
Path-goal theory deals with the leader's style to motivate followers, to accomplish set goals (Northouse, 2010). The path-goal theory is simply the implication that a leader works with an individual to establish a goal. The leader does this by individual motivation to achieve the proposed goal, while working through obstacles that may hinder achieving that goal (Whitener, 2007). The basic assumption of path-goal theory is that the following motivates subordinates: the capability to perform the work, their efforts will result in a certain outcome, and the payoff will be worthwhile (Whitener, 2007). The path-goal theory is a pragmatic approach that the leader uses to motivate the followers to achieve the set goals.
Halal and Brown (1981) write that participative management may not only increase productivity and decrease operating costs associated with low morale, it may enhance flexibility through lowering the decision making process to the operational level. This is because the operational level is where the actual work is completed. The manager or supervisor does not always have the best picture of how a process is completed, and they can get lost in the details. The operational level knows the details, thus to work together collaboratively is key. According to Mooney (n.d.) the participative leader empowers others. This is someone who is willing to share the spotlight by giving their employees the opportunity to make major decisions. They are also there to support these workers when they make mistakes and need help in solving problems. This leader invests much of their own success by placing it in the hands of those they
Northouse described a number of leadership approaches and theories. He began by pointing out there are as many definitions of leadership as there are people to define leadership. As a result, he developed his definition by first outlining the components of leadership. The features listed by Northouse were that leadership is seen as a process, involves influencing other people, takes place in the context of a group, and is based on the attainment of a mutual goal. He then defined leadership as “a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal”. On another note, leadership is simply defined as the influencing process of leaders and followers to achieve organizational objectives through change (Lussier & Achua, 2010).
Leadership has been defined in different ways, a definitaion of leadership that would be most commonly accepted would be “the ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organization…”(House et al., 1999, p. 184 as cited in Yukl, 2013, p. 19). After a comprehensive review of different leadership literature, Stogdill (1974, p. 259, as cited in Yukl, 2013, p. 18) concluded that “There are almost as many definitions of leadership as there are persons who have attempted to define the concept." Leadership can be viewed from two different angles one is shared influence process and other as a specialized role. Researcher who view leadership as a specialized role consider attributes as a factor in selecting a designated leader. On the contrast, theorist who emphasises on influence process considers “Leadership” as a social process or a pattern of relationship.
Leadership is the ability to inspire confidence, support and trust among the people who need to achieve organizational goals. (Chan & Maubourgne 1992) It invariably requires using power to influence the thoughts and actions of other people in order to create new approaches and imagine new areas to explore. This definition has emphasized on influencing people to achieve set goals. In other words, we can say, the objective of leadership is achieving goals, meanwhile, the application is influencing other people to motivate the energy and stimulate the potential towards the goals.
Throughout my life, I have been fortunate to have many opportunities to take on leadership roles, and to use these roles to influence others in very positive ways. After taking the leadership quizzes or survey, I was able to determine that my personal leadership style is Participative. Participative style is the leadership style where a leader gives team the opportunity to wholly take part in
Leadership is complex to define In the past century, more than 10,000 articles have been published about leadership. Through the decades, the complex definition of leadership has intrigued the masses. In the book The Extraordinary Leader, the authors Zenger and Folkman write that there has been no way to define the different constituencies of the leader (Folkman, 2009). According to J.M. Burns, “Leadership is one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on earth.” Leadership is a p...
The case study and readings in this class have painted a clear picture of the various ways one can be a leader, the catalyst that has inspired the least likely to lead to action and the many different capacities in which one is a leader. From the parent whose child is the victim of abuse to the CEO of a major corporation, leadership can spring forth and blaze trails never imagined by others. I learned that on my journey to executive leadership, I can begin leading in my current capacity as an analyst. I do not need to wait to be given the “thumbs up” to lead, as I can be a leader in many ways everyday. Leadership is not about magnificent speaking or major endeavors, “it is about coping with change” (Kotter, p.31, 2003). We all are subject to situation dealing with change daily, it is all about how we cope with it and how others interpret and accept our coping skills.
Many people associate leadership with a specific job title or form of power within an organization. However, through personal experience, I have concluded that leadership can come in many forms and position as well as from multiple sources of roles and job titles both with and without power. Based on the definition of leadership, anyone can be considered a leader as long as they have the ability to influence people to achieve a particular result or goal which benefits the organization or group as a whole. Individuals with a secure sense of self and understanding, acceptance of diversity within an organization tend to be the strongest leaders that not only make others want to follow, but they also encourage other leaders to gravitate to their