Characteristics of Leadership

Characteristics of Leadership

There are four characteristics of leadership that help us to understand the character of leadership as a concept. 1. Leadership is a process, 2. Leadership involves influence, 3. Leadership always occurs in a group context and 4. Leadership involves goal attainment. These are the four components that make up the character of the 'leadership' term and help us to define the leadership concept. All of these components of leadership have common characteristics.

1. Leadership is a process

Leadership is defined as a process, whereby individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal. Leadership is a process, not a trait of the leaders but a transactional event that takes place between leader and the led. It affects both the leader and the led in the process of interaction.

As a process, leadership entails perceiving when changes are needed and influencing and facilitating a group's efforts through non-coercive means, to set and achieve group goals. It is not a one-way event, but it is an interactive event. Thus Leadership has three inevitable components -a leader, followers, and a situation.

The relationship between leadership, followership, and the situational and organizational context within which the interactions between leaders and followers occur constitute the leadership process. It is a process which involves relationship and therefore it cannot exist in isolation. Just like the existence of a teacher is meaningless without students, the leadership has no subsistence if there is no follower(s) and a situation.

2. Leadership involves influence

Leadership is defined as the ability to influence a group towards the achievement of a vision or set of goals. To gain followers requires influence and leaders must be able to convince followers to follow his instructions. Influence is an essential condition of leadership. Without the influence, the leadership process itself cannot exist. This moves beyond the position defining the leader, to look at the ability of the leader to influence others, that is, both those who would consider themselves followers, and those outside that circle. Indirectly, it also builds in leadership character, since without maintaining integrity and trustworthiness, the capability to influence will disappear.

Leadership is influencing followers and it is concerned with the way the leader affects his or her followers.  Leaders have to influence and direct their followers or subordinates. Therefore, the main function of leadership is to induce or persuade all subordinates or followers to contribute to organized goals in accordance with their maximum capability. While discharging responsibilities, they have to be in constant interaction with' the people with the objective of involving them for collective decision making.

Leadership depends upon the individual qualities of the person and not the office that he holds. Leadership is the term that denotes the behavior or functions of the leader. The leader affects the individual in such a way they surrender themselves and follow his dictates.

3. Leadership occurs in a group context

Leadership always takes place in groups. Leadership involves influencing the group to achieve common goals. Understanding of the leadership is always in the context of the level of the followers and there with the leaders.

Leadership implies the existence of followers. Generally, it is the followers, who determine if the leader is successful by providing their support and accomplishing the needed tasks. Leadership is not about doing things themselves but motivating the followers to work towards business objectives. Here is always an unequal distribution of authority among leaders and group members and commonality of interest between the leader and his followers.

Understanding of the leadership is always in the context of the level of the followers and there with the leaders. Both leaders and followers have involved together with the leadership process. The leaders are in the task of taking initiatives and by which they link themselves with the stakeholders.

If followers do not trust or lack confidence in their leader, then they will be uninspired. To be successful the leader, the leader must know his people, must convince his followers, that he is worthy of being followed.

Understanding these basic individual differences in the followers affects the leadership style and leadership itself. The kind of personality exhibited by the followers in an organization also helps in deciding the style to be adopted. For instance, if employees in an organization prefer a high need for independence, show readiness to assume responsibility, display interest in problem-solving and decision making, then leaders permit greater freedom.

Thus the leadership of a group or organization comprises the direction, impetus, and energy that arises from the circulation of initiatives. An initiative is passed on to the followers who react, respond, and add to circulation, generating their own initiatives.

Throughout the process, there are multiplicities of leaders engaging in actions that comprise this continual circulation.

4. Leadership involves goal attainment

In business, leadership is linked to performance. Those who are viewed as effective leaders are those who increase their company’s bottom lines. These are leaders that understand what the organization wants to achieve, and know how it can be accomplished.

The leader looks into the future and creates new ways in which the organization can prosper. The leader in collaboration with others develops strategies for achieving organizational objectives.

They create networks within the organization to help their groups get work done, and are just as adept at breaking down organizational barriers to progress. The human relations movement, beginning with the Hawthorne studies in the early thirties, focused on the important role of employee motivation and group norms of organizational success. This led to the recognition of leadership effectiveness as an important determinant of organizational effectiveness. The leader appropriately and effectively assigns responsibility and authority. The leader identifies, collects, organizes, and analyses the essential information needed by the organization.

The leader makes timely decisions that are in the best interest of the organization by analyzing all available information, distilling key points, and drawing relevant conclusions. The nature of the task performed in an organization plays a greater role in determining the leadership style. If the nature of the task to be performed in an organization is quite critical and the time is too short in taking decisions, autocratic styles may be used by leaders, whereas in handling the simple tasks with no pressures of time, the leader might adopt a participative style.

The structure of the organization may determine the kind of leadership to be adopted. For instance, some organizations may put a heavy emphasis on the leader’s abilities to work effectively with people. At other times, the social, economic, and political pressures that an organization faces prompt certain styles of leadership to be followed.

Leadership can be summarized as the catalyst that transforms organizational potential into reality. The concept of leadership in itself covers all interpersonal relationships that influence the working of the organization towards achieving its business objectives and growth.

Related Links

Creation Date Sunday, 30 August 2020 Hits 6647

You May Also Like

  • Principles of Communication

    Principles of Communication

    Certain generally accepted truths or principles of communication are important to consider when communicating with others. These principles hold true for all people in every culture. By understanding these principles, you will experience greater communication effectiveness. An effective communication system is one that achieved its objectives. Communication is effective where there are no barriers to communication.

  • Theories of Team Development

    Theories of Team Development

    The development of teams is an ongoing process because the composition of the team may keep on changing. The new members may join and the old members may leave the team. The team members pass through several stages for the development of the team and there has been a lot of research to identify these stages. In this article, we discuss the common theories of team development.

  • Modern Approaches to Management

    Modern Approaches to Management

    The modern approaches to management look at organizational management in the current context. They take a holistic approach and look at organizations as a collection of interrelated parts influenced by both internal dynamics and also the larger external environment. These modern management theories have played a significant role in the evolution of management studies.

  • Scientific Management Style

    Scientific Management Style

    Frederick Winslow Taylor started the “Scientific Management Movement”, and attempted to study the work process scientifically. Scientific management, also called Taylorism, was a theory of management that analyzed and synthesized workflows. It is a system for increasing the efficiency of manpower to its maximum potential and streamlining production to improve efficiency. This article explores this theory in more detail.

  • Theory Z of Management

    Theory Z of Management

    Theory Z also called the "Japanese Management" style is a leadership theory of human motivation focused on organizational behavior, communication, and development. It assumes that employees want to enter into long term partnerships with their employers and peers. Offering stable jobs with an associated focus on the well-being of employees results in increased employee loyalty to the company.

  • Team Leadership Theory

    Team Leadership Theory

    Team leadership theory is a recent leadership theory that does not discriminate between the leader and the other team members. The approach considers contributions from each team member to be critical for organizational success. This approach focused on the overall team effectiveness and team problems are diagnosed and action is taken to remediate weakness. This approach provides for taking corrective action when the leader deems necessary.

  • Assess Your Career Values

    Assess Your Career Values

    The best career choices are ones that match your values. Each person has several values that are important to him. These values are highly personal and knowing them provides a clearer sense of what's most important to you in your life and career. Career values are the beliefs you consider important from a work standpoint. Values help you understand what you want from a job? Explore a few examples of work values that can influence career path and job satisfaction.

  • Qualities of Leadership

    Qualities of Leadership

    The ten most important qualities that define a good leader are self-awareness, interpersonal and communication skills, ethical values, organizational consciousness, self-confidence, adaptability and flexibility, imagination and creativity, focus & result-orientation, continuous self-development and accountability and ownership for his actions. These ten qualities of leadership every good leader should possess to a certain extent and must continually strive to develop them.

  • Concept of Management

    Concept of Management

    The concept of management refers to the process of planning, organizing, staffing, directing, coordinating, and controlling to achieve organizational goals. It is the management of human, physical, financial, and other valuable resources of the organization in an effective and efficient manner to achieve business objectives.

  • Concept of Innovation

    Concept of Innovation

    In today's innovation-driven economy, understanding how to generate great ideas has become an urgent managerial priority. Managers need to encourage and champion ideas and need to help their organizations incorporate diverse perspectives, which spur creative insights and facilitate creative collaboration by harnessing new technologies. Innovation is the embodiment, combination, and/or synthesis of knowledge in original, relevant, valued new products, processes, or services.

Explore Our Free Training Articles or
Sign Up to Start With Our eLearning Courses

Subscribe to Our Newsletter


© 2023 TechnoFunc, All Rights Reserved