What leadership means? What are its important characteristics? Why is their need of leadership also discussing its importance?
Meaning and Definition of Leadership
Simply stated, leadership is the process of influencing the behaviour of others towards the attainment of desired goal or purpose in given circumstances. Leadership is a tool to get the desired work done through employees or subordinates. Leadership is majorly explained on the basis of influence relationships and motivational considerations. One method of solving the problem of motivation is the effort to provide inspiring and effective leadership to the employees. The success of a manager is largely decided by the fact as to how much effective he is as a leader. Leadership is the ability to make people act the way the manager or leader wants. It is the process of influencing others to become what they are capable of becoming in the view of the leader. Leadership, in essence is carrying the people with the leader by their consent.
Different scholars have defined leadership in the following ways:
Rober Tannenbaum
Leadership is interpersonal influence, exercised in situations and directed, through the communication process, towards the attainment of goals.
George Terry
Leadership is the leadership in which one person or the leader influences others to work together willingly on related tasks to attain that which the leader desires.
Theo Haimann
Leadership can be defined as the process by which an executive imaginatively directs, guides and influences the work of others on choosing and attaining specified goals by medicating between the individual and the organisation in such a manner that both will obtain maximum satisfaction.
E.B. Reuter
Leadership is an ability to persuade or direct men without use of the prestige or power of formal office or external circumstances.
Weihrich and Koontz
Leadership is defined as influence that is the art or process of influencing people so that they will strive willingly and enthusiastically inward the achievement of group goals.
Peter Drucker
Leadership is lifting of a man's vision to higher sights, the raising of a man's performance to a higher standard and the building of a man's personality beyond its normal limitation.
Characteristics Or Features of Leadership (Nature)
The important characteristics of leadership, which indicate its nature, may be described as follows:
1. Leadership is an influence process stimulating group members.
2. It is a relational concept in which two sides are included, influencing agent and the persons influenced. The first side is called leader the second side is called followers.
3. Leadership is a complex relationship which exists between the leader, the followers, the organisation, the social values and the economic and political condition. Each of these ingredients or factors has its own peculiarities which are the cause of the complexity of this relationship.
4. Leadership required aptitude and basic attitudes with regard to behaviour pattern, tolerance, human psychology and achievement.
5. Leadership depends on the properties of the situation and the persons to be led. In other words, these two factors especially affect the effectiveness of leadership. Generally, it is the function of the leader, the followers and other situational variables.
6. The leader's role and the degree of its acceptance by the group members, condition the leadership. In other words right person's right role proves him to be a good leader.
7. Th core of leadership is to motivate the employees by integrating their individual goals with those of the organisation.
8. A leader leads he does not push. It means that a leader takes his followers and their achievements to such a height where they do not believe to reach. When a leader leads, he serve also , i.e., he fully cars for the satisfaction of his followers.
9. Leadership appears to be more of an emotional than an intellectual or rational process, because its direct concern is with men whose both emotional and rational powers are to be stimulated or incited. Such powers can be had by means of dedication not only by use of knowledge. Leadership is a rational to the extent that is is goal directed.
10. Persons capable of exercising effective leadership in organisations are in critically short supply in relation to their tremendous demand.
11. Leadership is part of management, but not all for it.
12. Leadership is a nebulous, not fully clear accept even after so research done in this field. In other words, still there is no simple answer to the riddle.