GUIDING NOTES

SUBJECT

PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT

PARTICIPANTS NOTES UNIT TWO Sub- section 5 (Leadership)

Leadership Leadership is defined as influencing i.e. the art or process of influencing people to strive willing and enthusiastically towards to achievement of a goal. This therefore means that leaders help a group to attain objectives through maximum application of their opportunities. Leaders do not stand behind the group to push and prod. They place themselves before the group to facilitate progress and to inspire the group to accomplish organisation goals. Ingredients of leadership Leaders envision the future; they inspire organization members and chart the course of organizations. This means that leaders provide vision for their organizations. For that matter therefore, ingredients of leadership include: (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) Ability to use power effectively and responsibly Ability to comprehend that human beings have different motivation forces at different times and different situations Ability to inspire Ability to act in a manner that will develop a climate conducive and responding and arouse motivation. The first ingredient is to know how to use power and authority in order to get things done. The second ingredient is the fundamental understanding of people in all situations, and practices what motivates them at different times, levels etc.

The third ingredient is the rare ability to inspire followers to apply their full capabilities to a project. This ingredient will enhance people in selfish support to a chosen champion. The fundamental principle of leadership is that people tend to follow those who in their view offer them a means of satisfying their own personal goals. The more a leader understands what motivates the subordinates and how he reflects this understanding in carrying out his leadership role the more effective he/she will be. Leadership thus involves a persuading leader who can successfully influence subordinates willingly to accept directives from him/her. It also involves a leader having more power than the followers, which power acts as the source of authority to the leader to direct others. Not only directing but being able to influence. An effective leader is the one who is able to exert influence over subordinates successfully towards achievement of organization goals. Contribution of leadership quality and style in wining people commitment The near future will call on certain qualities more than others. A balance of task and consideration leadership will continue to be required by those you lead. These are probably universal needs, though the strength of the needs will depend on the experience and independence of the follower. The successful leaders will be those who identify their most critical leadership tasks and keep these constantly at the center of their

attention and priorities. They will develop mechanisms for gathering intelligence about significant events, risks and ideas and for filtering the masses of data coming at them. They will always put their followers at heart and consider them as important people, and always to try and create trust in them that they are leading them to the desired destiny. By doing this leaders can influence positively, and can win followers commitment. Possible ways of achieving positive influence Leaders who will achieve positive influence will have to continuously look at the following menu for their guidance: Knowledge of the group Good communication Visionary Team builders Knowledge of their tasks Sensitive to differences in group to be led People oriented Change agents Entrepreneurial thinking Goal setting Creative Strong hearted etc

Leadership style These fall broadly into two extremes Task oriented leadership style Employee oriented leadership style Task oriented leadership style: These leaders are more concerned with getting the job done, than with the development and growth of subordinates. They supervise subordinates closely to ensure that the task is completed efficiently to their satisfaction. They have more concern for the tasks and targets than the people who perform these tasks. Employee oriented leaders: These leaders motivate rather than control subordinates. They encourage group members to participate in decisions that affect them and form friendly, trusting and respectful relationship with the group members. Members perform their tasks with encouragement from leaders rather than with directive. A variety of leadership studies have been undertaken in an attempt to understand and describe all the important functions of leadership. After all the above studies one will ask as to which is the best style that leaders should use. The answer is of course they style, which receive maximum results. However, there is no best style in all circumstances. The best style depends on the leader the follower and the situation. In some circumstances, the democratic style is recommended as the best, however various researchers have suggested that before a leader

decides which style he should examine the specific circumstance of the situation. This is where the situation approach to leadership makes sense. Factor influencing choice of leadership style Forces of values in the leaders Values in the subordinates and Forces in the situation

The traits and behavioural approach to leadership approach concluded that there is no trait common to effective leaders and no style is effective in all situations. Various researchers have identified a number of factors that influence a leaders effectiveness and these include; i) ii) iii) iv) v) vi) A leaders personality Past experience and behaviour Subordinates characteristics, expectations and behaviour Requirements of the task Organizational culture and policies The only continuum theory recognizes that any style of leadership is appropriate depending on the leaders, the follower and the situation.