Leadership is seen in all walks of life and so there are many social and psychological factors that people have theorised can make a great leader. ‘Effective leadership’ is therefore difficult to define as there are so many standpoints that one could take. Taking the perspective of a social psychologist, Chemers stated that leadership is “a process of social influence through which an individual enlists and mobilises the aid of others in the attainment of a collective goal” (2001, as cited in Hogg and Vaughan, 2014) and so it would be fair to assume that a good leader can be seen through the success of the rest of the group. In light of this, effective leadership must be looked at in terms of personality, relationships with the rest of the …show more content…
According to Darwin (1871, as cited in Van Vugt, Hogan and Kaiser, 2008), humans have evolved throughout time to live in groups as it originally allowed them to cope in areas not yet urbanised enough for humans have the luxury of being solitary. By sharing their resources, they were able to protect themselves against threats like animals and bad weather conditions (Kendrick, Li & Butner, 2003). In order for this way of living to be successful there needed to be some form of social hierarchy (so that certain people would have certain roles and parts to play within the community) and by extension one member of the community would have to be an effective leader to take control. From an evolutionary point of view, effective leadership is necessary for human survival as a well-organised community has a higher chance of survival than a community with no leader or an ineffective …show more content…
More modern theories have arisen focusing on the ‘big five’ personality traits (as personality is considered to be fairly consistent in someone’s life) that can determine an effective leader – extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability and openness (I. Schermbrucker, lecture notes, PSYC101 Social Psychology, 22nd October 2016). This is a modern form of ‘transformational leadership’ which is the idea that a leader must be able to inspire and influence their followers to achieve goals that may not be in the individual’s personal interests (Burns 1978, as cited in Kuhnert and Lewis 1987). In order to do this, they would need to have an agreeable personality and the ability to use their personality to sway the individual to acting in a way that is beneficial to the community and not just for themselves. When Judge, Bono, Ilies and Gerhardt (2002) looked at data from 73 different studies, they found that these five personalities had an overall correlation of 0.58 when compared with effective leadership, with the best predictors being extraversion, openness to new experienced and contentiousness (as cited in Hogg and Vaughan
...spects of what makes up an effective leader, it is clear that there cannot be one clear- cut and dry definition of what a leader is. A leader is a make up of many different attributes and qualities. An effective Leader encompasses all of the attributes which go along with facilitating ideas and allowing an organization to grow and flourish, as well as inspiring and motivating those he or she oversees to do the same. A Leader has the ability and almost the reflex action to surface when it is time for a difficult task to be accomplished or a difficult decision to be made. Leadership may be a type of management but a manager is not always a leader. “Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible.”
“Leadership will be the most important resource an organization can possess. After all, it will be leadership that determines whether organizations successfully harness the emerging opportunities and overcome the perils that await.” Jay A.Conger – Professor, London Business School.
Many definitions exist on what leadership is. Despite the many differences in definitions, they all describe the leader as someone who influences others. Leaders transform individuals around them allowing them to work to their full potential. In order for a leader to be successful they must be knowledgeable, self- confident, and effective communicators. These characteristics will create a positive workplace environment that results in an increase in productivity. Leadership is not defined by titles or salary. Leaders must acquire their skills and continue to improve on them through learning. Good leaders provide a vision and help motivate others to make that vision happen. The leader must be effective and successful in creating a strong institution.
Our leadership in this world has changed and affected us greatly. Leadership is being about to lead an organization with many people and to have control in the right way. “ The Leader of the Future” a book by Peter F. Drucker gives us information on why and how it is to be such a great leader. We need better leaders and we need them to guide us and help us along the way. Without leadership, our world would be in such danger and we America would be going through a lot.
In order for a leader to be a leader, he/she must begin with the assumption that you are the one who matters most. As a leader you have to possess that level of confidence in yourself that you are capable of leading yourself “before you can lead others”. And when you develop this belief then you are better able to affirmatively influence “on others”. A leader needs to “believe” in himself and have the confidence that whatever you say will excite and what you do can motivate others. You must be optimistic about what you do, to have some relevance to being in existence.
“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others” (Welch). Leadership is inspiring others to learn more, do more, and become more. Ineffective fail to possess certain characteristics which effective leaders do. Willingness to help others, selflessness, and strictness; these are the qualities of a both good and effective leader. Without these qualities, leadership would fail and being a leader would mean nothing.
From corporations to nonprofits and higher education institutions, leaders – the cornerstone and foundation of organizations – are ultimately responsible for its success. Nonetheless, leadership, often described as complex, can mean different things to different people. Given no standard approach to leadership exists, scholars focus on the process of leadership as opposed to the definition (Northouse, 2013). As a process, leadership is not simply possessing formal authority, traits, or attributes. Quite the reverse, leadership is primarily a relationship – engagement and interactive exchange – between leaders and followers (Morrill, 2007; Northouse, 2013). Effective leadership, commonly regarded as both a learned skill and innate ability, is
Leaders posses a variety of personality traits, but there are only a few traits that define a great leader.
Many Scholars characterize the core qualities and skills necessary for an effective leader. Useem defines leadership as “Creating a vision and translating that vision into actions”. Historically, an effective leader was assumed to be exceptionally knowledgeable, authoritative, and dominate. Those leaders applied the command and control method to lead an organization. With the passage of time, this definition has been changed. The modern definition of an effective leader is honest, courageous, trustworthy, inspirational, and result-oriented. Today’s leaders create shared values and vision, and empower others to achieve their targets.
Personality as well as intelligence tells people a lot about an individual. Certain characteristics of one’s personality such as impression and reputation in a social environment may or may not be a good way to gain acknowledgement. In becoming a leader, work ethics must be strong, precise, and others must be able to feel one’s presence. The three abilities that successful leaders have are; the ability to get along with others and build teams, the ability to make sound and timely decisions and the ability to get things done. The mass amounts of leaders only possess one or two of these abilities and a smaller percentage having all three. According to the Five Factor Model (FFM), it is important for leaders to possess dependability, adjustments and surgency. (Hughes, Ginnett and Curphy, page 235)
According Carpenter, Bauer, Erdogan, (2009), “an effective leader was defined as someone with the ability to influence and motivate others not only to perform work tasks but also to support the organization’s values and meet the organization’s goals” (p.70).
Various research has been done to define the parameter leading to effective leadership. Three most dominant parameter has been as follows.
Leadership is one of the most important facets in organizations. In most cases, leaders act with respect to organizational culture as well as the codes of conduct that determine the manner in which leaders relate with subordinates. Leadership entails the use of effective communication skills to get activities done in the workplace and to ensure that employees shelve their individual interests for the sake of their organizations’ shared targets. It is the role of leaders to ensure that consumers attain high quality products and services by making certain that members of their firms’ workforce are fully motivated to work effectively and utilize resources in an efficient manner (Bass, 22). With the increasingly sophisticated nature of the corporate world, leadership should not be based solely on the desire to control and coordinate affairs within the workplace, but leaders should also exhibit positive examples and continually monitor the changing trends in corporate governance to initiate the most relevant guidelines. Competitiveness can only be attained when leaders are in a position to set the right standards in their firms and coordinate affairs appropriately by understanding consumer and employee needs.
A society with the absence of leadership will lead to chaos. Recently, the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died and this has caused his followers to be in disarray. Currently in Palestine the followers are trying to ameliorate life and figure who will replace Arafat. For when there is an absence of leadership it causes followers to panic. The panic of the people leads to the confusion of their everyday life. Leadership implies that a person must posses certain qualities. There are many traits that must be shown to be a good leader. If a leader is noncommittal and callow then a society will fail. However when trying to restore order in a society one person may try to accomplish it by themselves but this rarely works. When working alone or in a small group, three things can happen and lead to more disarray. These things are isolation, too much authority, and control.
What does it take to be an effective leader? This is something that has been asked many times over the course of human history. Some might say that having a strong personality and a commanding presence is needed in order to be a strong leader. Others might say that someone who stays on top of everything and keeps order is more effective as a leader. Everyone has their own opinion on this subject and in many regards, they are not wrong. Good quality leadership is something that is hard to possess and is not something everyone can do. Leadership is something that has been studied and analyzed many times, and from these studies, many theories have emerged from them. Each of these theories of leadership has their own benefits and can be useful