Meaning and Definitions
Leadership is the process of influencing the behaviour of other people towards the accomplishment of goals in a given situation. Leadership involves securing willing co operation of subordinates while influencing their behaviour. It is the ability of management to induce subordinates to work towards group goals with confidence and zeal.Managers should be competent leaders who can influence their subordinates to do a particular work. To lead is to guide, direct and encourage the efforts of the people to achieve a common objective. A leader is one who influences the behaviour of others in an organised activity. Leadership is the ability to induce subordinates to work with confidence. An effective leader achieves maximum co-operation from the group members.
According to Chester Barnard, "Leadership is the quality of the behaviour of individuals whereby they guide the people or their activities".
According to Koontz and O'Donnel, "Leadership is the ability of a manager to induce subordinates to work with confidence and zeal"
Need / Importance of leadership
1. Securing co-operation of members of organisation: An effective leader can secure co-operation from the workers in the fulfillment of objectives. Leaders persuade the employees to work enthusiastically and with confidence. The leader initiates action.
2. Guidance and motivation: The leader guides, directs and motivates the people working under him for fulfilling the organisational objectives. Leadership creates an urge among people to work hard and achieve higher performance. A good leader is a source of inspiration to employees.
3. Creating confidence: A leader creates confidence in the subordinates which will encourage them to work harder. He convinces each subordinate that the successful operation of the firm is of great importance. The leader creates confidence among his followers because of his insight, understanding and ability to handle situations. He also provides psychological support to his followers.
4. Improving productivity: Efficiency of performance in an organisation depends on motivation, confidence and co-operation of employees. Through effective leadership all these elements are provided to the employees and they inturn contribute their maximum effort towards achieving the organisational goals. A good leader builds employees morale, which inturn, ensures high productivity and stability in the organisation.
5. Improves job satisfaction: Leadership ensures that managers adopt behavioural patterns which are acceptable to subordinates. Job satisfaction of employees depends on the behaviour of managers towards subordinates. Effective leadership guides the subordinates, supports them and encourages them to take initiatives.
6. Co-ordination: A successful leader can co-ordinate the acts of his workers. He directs them, what to do, when to do and how to do.
7. Maintaining discipline: An effective leader maintains discipline in the organisation. Discipline is observing rules and regulations that are necessary to the attainment of an objective.EUERTES-6+ Blyam
8. Representing the enterprise: A good leader always represents the enterprise. Leadership quality enables him to act as a spokesman of the group and of the firm to which he belongs.
Functions of a Leader
The functions of a leader depend on the kind of the group which he leads. The following are the important functions of a leader:
1. Group formation: The main task of a leader is to form a group and inspire people to become its members.
2. Goal fixation: A leader is expected to lay out goals and policies and influence the subordinates to attain the objectives with willingness and confidence.
3. Planning of activities: The leader has to decide the ways and means to be adopted to achieve the objectives of the group. He has also to plan out policies and programmes to achieve the organisational objectives.
4. Organisation of activities: A good leader decides organisational activities among the employees in a systematic manner. By fixing the authority responsibility relationship among the personnel, chance of conflict is reduced.
5.Co-ordination: The leader, as an executive has a very important function of coordinating the activities of the groups. He has to co-ordinate the interest of the individual members of the group with that of the organisation.
6. Representation of group: A leader has to take the initiative in all matters of interest to the group. He should generate new ideas and his decision should reflect original thinking. A leader is a representative of his group.
7. Motivating members: The basic job of a leader is to inspire, direct and guide his group and motivate subordinates to do their best. A leader motivates his employees offering economic and non economic rewards.
8. Morale boosting: The leader shapes, modifies and regulates the thinking and attitudes of his group. He develops good human relations and facilitates interactions between the members of the group. He also makes efforts to raise the morale of the group.
9. Facilitating change: It is through effective leadership that the workers are convinced about the need for change. Dynamic leadership is the cornerstone of organisational change.
10. Exercising control over group members: The group members believe that the leader has power to reward and punish them. This enables the leader to exercise control over the group members.
11. Resolving conflicts: Leaders play an important role in resolving the conflicts arising in the group by explaining them the common goals to be achieved. He acts as a judge and gives his judgement to resolve the conflicts.
Qualities of a good leader
Leadership is a process of influence. Its aim is to influence the followers towards common goals. The person who influences the behaviour of followers is called a leader. To provide effective leadership, a leader must possess the following qualities:
1. Self confidence: A good leader must have full confidence in himself. This is highly essential to win the confidence of others and to face problems. Self confidence is required to motivate the subordinates.
2. Intelligence: It is the mental ability to think scientifically and analyse the problems correctly. A good leader should be able to interpret clearly the problems faced by the group. He should form opinion and judgement on the basis of facts.
3. Communication skills: The leader should be a good and effective speaker and writer. Then only he would be able to persuade, stimulate, direct and motivate the subordinates. It is the duty of the leader to communicate the goals and procedures of the organisation precisely, clearly and effectively to his subordinates.
4. Listening skills: A leader can be well informed only if he listens to others problems. Leaders have to create a culture where people are free to tell any information. A good leader must have good listening skill.
5. Vision and foresight: A leader should have good vision and foresight to foresee events. He should have ability to predict the future.
6. Ability to inspire people: A good leader should have the ability to inspire people to accomplish the objective of the organisation.
In addition to the above qualities, a leader should also possess the following
physical qualities:
1. Empathy: The ability of a person to look at things from others point of view is known as empathy. A leader should be able to empathise and see things from the perspective of others. A leader should accomplish task through others. So their needs and aspirations must be considered.
2. Moral qualities: The leader should posses moral qualities like honesty, integrity. sincerity, commitment, faith etc.
3. Accepting Responsibility: The leader should accept responsibilities without any hesitation.
4. Sociability: The leader should show keen interest in his subordinates. He should meet them often and discuss their problems and difficulties with them. He should be friendly and helpful to his subordinates.
5. Adaptability: A good leader must accommodate view points of others and absorb new ideas. He must be open minded, flexible and ready to modify his decisions, if necessary.
A good leader must be a friend, philosopher, guide and at the same time a representative of the followers. The success of leadership depends on the qualities of the leader, the attitude of the followers and the situation.