Leaders and the Leadership Process
Leaders and the Leadership Process
Discuss the four “concepts of leadership” you believe are the strongest.
The strongest concepts of leadership are power, influence, and securing compliance. The concept of leadership as the art of inducing compliance is of the ability of impressing the will of the leader to those led and inducing respect, loyalty, cooperation, and obedience. The other concept of leadership is as an exercise of influence. Different authors suggest leadership as interpersonal influence and as the activity of influencing others to cooperate towards a goal that they find desirable (Pierce, J & Newstrom, J 2002). It is the process of influencing the activities of organized people towards goal achievement. The exercise of influence is an interactive view of the relationship between the followers and leaders.
The third concept of leadership is as a form of persuasion. Leadership is a reflection of the movement of others through strong conviction or reasons. It is persuasion of people by inspiration and conviction instead of implied threat of coercion. Leadership involves deciding what needs to be done and then getting others to want to do it. The forth strongest concept of leadership is the power relationship. This concept focuses on the role that the power plays. Power can be regarded as a form of influence relationship. Power relation can be covert, overt, or unrecognized, and its source may also vary.
How do you perceive the “emerging roles” of leadership?
Past readings suggest that leaders provide meaning through framing for others. Different authors suggest that, during the 21st century, leaders may have a new role. The concept of super leadership is the type of leader who represent transformation from the follow me leader to a leader who engage in leading people to lead themselves; thus, attaining self leadership (Pierce, J & Newstrom, J 2002). A new role of a leader tends to emerge with the emergence of a learning organization. In a learning organization, the role of a leader is to teach, design, and steward. With the emergence of the new role of the leader, it brings about the need for having a new set of leadership skills and also tools of leadership.
The emerging role of new leaders will include the responsibility of gaining follower recognition and the orchestrator of group activity while still serving as the cheerleader and the coach. This is because most of the organizations today are being over managed and also under led. Therefore, the role of the managers needs to be changed to that of a leader. Most of the roles that different people get involved in like teachers, cheerleaders, and servants are changing with time to leaders during the twenty first century.
Discuss the impact the “confusion in the study of leadership” has on our consideration of leadership characteristics
Confusion is the study of the results of leadership from the providing abstraction with reality and assigning character quality to that person who brings control in the situation. People have failed to see the process of leadership as the interplay of forces and an integrative activity. When integrative activities of leaders become habitual, people tend to call these traits provided they understand that they are activities, people even try to develop them because these habits are useful in different situations. The element of confusion in leadership study is the failure of distinguishing it as a process from the leader as being a person who occupies the central role in the process.
Explain what is meant by “whither the “situational approach” and what a true leader would draw from this.
The driving force of situational approach was to recognize that then leader’s qualities were differently valued, reacted to, and elicited as a function of different group setting and their demands. In order for a leader to be successful, they need to first consider the specific requirements that are imposed by the nature of group that is to be led. From this approach, leaders from the follower’s point of view are elements in a situation and a person who shapes it, as well (Pierce, J & Newstrom, J 2002). From this approach, leaders should learn to communicate to the group members by word and actions and also implying demands that are reacted to in return. When a leader is exercising influence, they are supposed to set the stage and then create expectations about what they should do and what they will do.
Leaders should know that their effectiveness in the group depends on the group’s structural properties and situation, including the perception of the leader and those people who are being led. The willingness of the group members to be influenced by the leader usually depends on the characteristics of the leader. A leader should set the relationship of the group, and this can affect the outcome. In order to avoid absenteeism, antagonism, and tension, leaders should always make sure that they provide goal orientations.
Discuss briefly the concepts of organization justice and leader-member exchange and the implications it has overall for the leader.
One of the features of the role of leaders is legitimacy. How the leader attains it and how he sustains it. In organization, leaders are supposed to show justice. Understanding how the role of a leader is legitimized is possible by viewing it as an exchange of rewards that operate to signalize the acceptance of his influence and position. In the leader member exchange, the leader who fulfills expectations and achieves the goal of the group usually provide rewards to other people that are reciprocated inform of esteem, status, and heightened influence. Leadership involves a two way influence relationship. The recipients of influence assertion can respond to it by asserting influence through making demands on the leader. In leader member exchange the potential of a person to be influential normally arise out of the positive disposition that other people hold towards him.
Explain the relevance of “trust” in a leadership-relationship scenario.
Trust is that relationship that is established between the trustee and the trustor. It takes two to trust between institutions and people. Trust is an extremely essential element in leadership. It is necessary for the members of the group to have trust on their leaders. Trust tends to make the world go round. The first role of a leader is to inspire trust. Leaders should start by framing trust in organization; thus it becomes like the other goal that the leader should focus on (Pierce, J & Newstrom, J 2002). In leader relationship, they should persuade others to trust them so that they can be able to operate from a clear set of principles and values. When leaders are trustworthy, there will be good collaboration and the tools of influence. Trust in leadership involves two roles where the leader who seeks to be trusted should be able to trust.
Reference
Pierce, J & Newstrom, J (2002). Leaders & The leadership process McGraw Hill
Is this your assignment or some part of it?
We can do it for you! Click to Order!
