LEADERSHIP

• Leadership is a process by which an executive can direct, guide and

influence the behavior and work of others towards accomplishment
of specific goals in a given situation. Leadership is the ability of a
manager to induce the subordinates to work with confidence and
zeal.
• Leadership is the potential to influence behaviour of others. It is also
defined as the capacity to influence a group towards the realization of
a goal. Leaders are required to develop future visions, and to motivate
the organizational members to want to achieve the visions.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcCCuhhTNXg
Characteristics of Leadership

• It is a inter-personal process in which a manager is into influencing

and guiding workers towards attainment of goals.
• It denotes a few qualities to be present in a person which includes
intelligence, maturity and personality.
• It is a group process. It involves two or more people interacting with
each other.
• A leader is involved in shaping and moulding the behaviour of the
group towards accomplishment of organizational goals.
• Leadership is situation bound. There is no best style of leadership. It
all depends upon tackling with the situations.
Importance of Leadership

• Leadership is an important function of management which helps to maximize efficiency and to achieve organizational goals. The
following points justify the importance of leadership in a concern.
• Initiates action- Leader is a person who starts the work by communicating the policies and plans to the subordinates from where
the work actually starts.
• Motivation- A leader proves to be playing an incentive role in the concern’s working. He motivates the employees with economic
and non-economic rewards and thereby gets the work from the subordinates.
• Providing guidance- A leader has to not only supervise but also play a guiding role for the subordinates. Guidance here means
instructing the subordinates the way they have to perform their work effectively and efficiently.
• Creating confidence- Confidence is an important factor which can be achieved through expressing the work efforts to the
subordinates, explaining them clearly their role and giving them guidelines to achieve the goals effectively. It is also important to
hear the employees with regards to their complaints and problems.
• Building morale- Morale denotes willing co-operation of the employees towards their work and getting them into confidence and
winning their trust. A leader can be a morale booster by achieving full co-operation so that they perform with best of their abilities
as they work to achieve goals.
• Builds work environment- Management is getting things done from people. An efficient work environment helps in sound and
stable growth. Therefore, human relations should be kept into mind by a leader. He should have personal contacts with employees
and should listen to their problems and solve them. He should treat employees on humanitarian terms.
• Co-ordination- Co-ordination can be achieved through reconciling personal interests with organizational goals. This
synchronization can be achieved through proper and effective co-ordination which should be primary motive of a leader.
Role of Leader
• Required at all levels- Leadership is a function which is important at all levels of
management. In the top level, it is important for getting co-operation in formulation of plans
and policies. In the middle and lower level, it is required for interpretation and execution of
plans and programme framed by the top management. Leadership can be exercised through
guidance and counseling of the subordinates at the time of execution of plans.
• Representative of the organization- A leader, i.e., a manager is said to be the representative
of the enterprise. He has to represent the concern at seminars, conferences, general
meetings, etc. His role is to communicate the rationale of the enterprise to outside public.
He is also representative of the own department which he leads.
• Integrates and reconciles the personal goals with organizational goals- A leader through
leadership traits helps in reconciling/ integrating the personal goals of the employees with
the organizational goals. He is trying to co-ordinate the efforts of people towards a common
purpose and thereby achieves objectives. This can be done only if he can influence and get
willing co-operation and urge to accomplish the objectives.
• He solicits support- A leader is a manager and besides that he is a person who entertains
and invites support and co-operation of subordinates. This he can do by his personality,
intelligence, maturity and experience which can provide him positive result. In this regard,
a leader has to invite suggestions and if possible implement them into plans and programs
of enterprise. This way, he can solicit full support of employees which results in
willingness to work and thereby effectiveness in running of a concern.
• As a friend, philosopher and guide- A leader must possess the three dimensional traits in
him. He can be a friend by sharing the feelings, opinions and desires with the employees.
He can be a philosopher by utilizing his intelligence and experience and thereby guiding
the employees as and when time requires. He can be a guide by supervising and
communicating the employees the plans and policies of top management and secure their
co-operation to achieve the goals of a concern. At times he can also play the role of a
counselor by counseling and a problem-solving approach. He can listen to the problems of
the employees and try to solve them.
Qualities of leader
• leader has got multidimensional traits in him which makes him appealing and
effective in behavior. The following are the requisites to be present in a good
leader:
• Physical appearance- A leader must have a pleasing appearance. Physique and
health are very important for a good leader.
• Vision and foresight- A leader cannot maintain influence unless he exhibits
that he is forward looking. He has to visualize situations and thereby has to
frame logical programmes.
• Intelligence- A leader should be intelligent enough to examine problems and
difficult situations. He should be analytical who weighs pros and cons and then
summarizes the situation. Therefore, a positive bent of mind and mature
outlook is very important.
• Communicative skills- A leader must be able to communicate the policies and
procedures clearly, precisely and effectively. This can be helpful in persuasion
and stimulation.
• Objective- A leader has to be having a fair outlook which is free from bias and
which does not reflects his willingness towards a particular individual. He
should develop his own opinion and should base his judgement on facts and
logic.
• Knowledge of work- A leader should be very precisely knowing the nature of
work of his subordinates because it is then he can win the trust and
confidence of his subordinates.
• Sense of responsibility- Responsibility and accountability towards an individual’s work is very
important to bring a sense of influence. A leader must have a sense of responsibility towards
organizational goals because only then he can get maximum of capabilities exploited in a real sense.
For this, he has to motivate himself and arouse and urge to give best of his abilities. Only then he can
motivate the subordinates to the best.
• Self-confidence and will-power- Confidence in himself is important to earn the confidence of the
subordinates. He should be trustworthy and should handle the situations with full will power.
• Humanist-This trait to be present in a leader is essential because he deals with human beings and is
in personal contact with them. He has to handle the personal problems of his subordinates with
great care and attention. Therefore, treating the human beings on humanitarian grounds is essential
for building a congenial environment.
• Empathy- It is an old adage “Stepping into the shoes of others”. This is very important because fair
judgement and objectivity comes only then. A leader should understand the problems and
complaints of employees and should also have a complete view of the needs and aspirations of the
employees. This helps in improving human relations and personal contacts with the employees
Situational theory
• As per this theory there is no perfect style of leadership. Leader
should opt the style according to the situation.
Styles of Leadership
• Autocratic leadership style: In this style of leadership, a leader has
complete command and hold over their employees/team. The team
cannot put forward their views even if they are best for the team’s or
organizational interests. They cannot criticize or question the leader’s
way of getting things done. The leader himself gets the things done.
The advantage of this style is that it leads to speedy decision-making
and greater productivity under leader’s supervision. Drawbacks of this
leadership style are that it leads to greater employee absenteeism
and turnover. This leadership style works only when the leader is the
best in performing or when the job is monotonous, unskilled and
routine in nature or where the project is short-term and risky.
• Democratic/Participative leadership style: The leaders invite and
encourage the team members to play an important role in decision-
making process, though the ultimate decision-making power rests
with the leader. The leader guides the employees on what to perform
and how to perform, while the employees communicate to the leader
their experience and the suggestions if any. The advantages of this
leadership style are that it leads to satisfied, motivated and more
skilled employees. It leads to an optimistic work environment and also
encourages creativity. This leadership style has the only drawback that
it is time-consuming.
• Bureaucratic leadership: Here the leaders strictly adhere to the
organizational rules and policies. Also, they make sure that the
employees/team also strictly follows the rules and procedures.
Promotions take place on the basis of employees’ ability to adhere to
organizational rules. This leadership style gradually develops over
time. This leadership style is more suitable when safe work conditions
and quality are required. But this leadership style discourages
creativity and does not make employees self-contented.
Emotional Intelligence for Leaders

• it is important for a leader to be highly sensitized to the emotional

aspects of his/her transactions with people. Emotional Intelligence is
basically the ability to recognize and understand one’s own feelings
and emotions as well as those of others and use that information to
manage emotions and relationships. The 4 important aspects of EI as
proposed by Daniel Goleman are:
• Self Awareness
• Self Management
• Social Awareness
• Relationship Management or Social Skills
• A leader tends to have a huge influence on the thoughts and motivation of people.
He/she has the capacity to enthuse optimism and confidence in the followers and
lead them to constructive endeavors which is called resonance and on the other
hand they can negatively influence them to destruct, e.g of such leaders being Hitler
and d Osama Bin Laden which is opposite to resonance called desonance.
• Leaders are closely observed in terms of their body language, facial expressions etc.
So, it is important for a leader to consider the non-verbal form of expressions as
well, which may positively or negatively influence followers. Therefore, if a leader is
talking about ethics in business with a slightly unconvinced and bemused look on
his face, the followers make a note of it and the message is not received by them. A
leader has to act as a role model too, supporting his statements, ideologies and
values with appropriate actions.
• As a leader one also has to be aware of one’s own capabilities and
weaknesses, it is difficult to accept guidance from a leader who is not
self aware. As managers, leaders have to empathize as well with the
situations, emotions, aspirations and motivations of the subordinates.
A decreasing performance of a team member might be because of a
number of reasons, a disruptive worker might be facing motivation
issues and a subordinate who uses abusive language with others
might be lacking confidence in his own abilities. A leader needs to
discern facts and try and reach to deeper levels and understand
things beyond obvious.
• A subordinate working closely with the manager would expect the manager to understand
his situation and priorities. And not surprisingly, whether manger does so or not, affects
his level of commitment and performance at work. A leader has to suitably know and
understand when he/she needs to be directive and when he needs to delegate. He/she
needs to be aware, when the team members are acting as one unit and when there are
differences.
• While conducting reviews and development dialogues, the feedback has to be delivered in
a manner which is acceptable. The leader needs to be sensitive to the insecurities and
apprehensions of the subordinates which sometimes might be expressed and sometimes
kept undisclosed. At the senior level it is all the more important as the senior executives
find it hard to clearly outline their anxieties and differences and the leader has to
anticipate some of them.
• So, to be able to attract and retain talented subordinates and keep them motivated, a
leader needs to brush up on his people skills and emotional intelligence
Leadership and motivation
• Harmonize and match the subordinate needs with the organizational needs. As a
leader, the executive must ensure that the business has the same morals and
ethics that he seeks in his employees. He should make sure that his subordinates
are encouraged and trained in a manner that meets the needs of the business.
• Appreciation and rewards are key motivators that influence a person to achieve
a desired goal. Rewarding good/ exceptional behavior with a small token of
appreciation, certificate or letter can be a great motivator. If a certificate is
awarded to a person, it should mention the particular act or the quality for
which the individual is being rewarded.
• Being a role model is also a key motivator that influences people in reaching
their goals. A leader should set a good example to ensure his people to grow
and achieve their goals effectively.
• Encouraging individuals to get involved in planning and important issues resolution procedure not only
motivates them, but also teaches the intricacies of these key decision-making factors. Moreover, it will
help everyone to get better understanding of their role in the organization. The communication will be
unambiguous and will certainly attract acknowledgement and appreciation from the leader.
• Developing moral and team spirit certainly has a key impact on the well-being of an organization. The
metal or emotional state of a person constitutes his or her moral fabric. A leader’s actions and decisions
affect the morale of his subordinates. Hence, he should always be aware of his decisions and activities.
Team spirit is the soul of the organization. The leader should always make sure his subordinates enjoy
performing their duties as a team and make themselves a part of the organization’s plans.
• A leader should step into the shoes of the subordinates and view things from subordinate’s angle. He
should empathize with them during difficult times. Empathizing with their personal problems makes
them stronger-mentally and emotionally.
• A meaningful and challenging job accomplished inculcates a sense of achievement among employees.
The executive must make their employees feel they are performing an important work that is necessary
for the organization’s well-being and success. This motivational aspect drives them to fulfill goals.