LEADERSHIP

A process of using communication to influence the behavior and attitudes of others to meet an organizations goals. Designated leader is appointed or elected to a leadership position. Emergent leader is an informal leader exerting influence toward achievement of the organizations goal. Major style of designated leader: democratic, laissez-faire, and autocratic.

Xhosa International Inc.

9/23/2008

Contents
Contents...............................................................................................................................2 Leadership............................................................................................................................2 Leadership Defined............................................................................................................3 Leadership Type................................................................................................................3 Leadership Style................................................................................................................4 Contingency approach to Leadership................................................................................4 Effectiveness of Leadership...............................................................................................5 Conclusion.........................................................................................................................5

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Leadership

The world today needs leaders who face problems, leaders capable of sitting down and talking, despite differences (President Hugo Chavez, 2008)1

Leadership Defined
The ability to lead within an organization, at all levels to achieve the organizations goals, is of increasing interest within the public and private sector, as the fast-pace changes in technology and economic conditions become more and more apparent. Organizations, public and private, need Leadership! However, what exactly is leadership? 2 Hackman and Johnson (1991) define leadership as a process of using communication to influence the behavior and attitudes of others to meet an organizations goals. Over the years, the theory of leadership has evolved through three major theoretical stages: 3(i) trait, (ii) behavioural style, and (iii) situational. The trait theory is limited to the personal trait of a leader and generally has poor predictive value. Behavioural style theory differentiates between the leadership styles of: (i) Authoritarian, (ii) Democratic, and Laissez-faire within an organization. Lastly, situational theorist is of the view that there is no single best leadership style, but rather different situations require different styles.

Leadership Type
Before we look at the behavioural style of leadership, let us consider the type of leaders that exist in an organization. A leader by definition performs the functions as define in leadership. There are two type of leaders (i) designated leader and (ii) emergent leader. A designated leader is someone that has been appointed or elected to a leadership position (e.g., Brigadier, Commander, et al.). They exercise formal leadership by influencing relevant others to pursue the organizations goals and objectives voluntarily. An emergent leader is someone who becomes an informal leader by exerting influence toward achievement of the organizations goal but who does not hold the formal position or role of leader. It would be more beneficial to an organization should their leader be designated, this type of leadership brings stability to the groups activities. On the other hand, emergent leaders, who can be any member in the organization, can also help the group meet its goals. 4French and Raven (1981) in their study of how leaders, designated and emergent, gain their ability to influence others, identified five types of leadership power:

Reward power is the ability to give followers what they want and need. Punishment (legitimate) power is the ability to withhold from followers what they want and need. Coercion is a form of punishment power that attempts to force compliance with hostile tactics. Referent power is power based on others admirations and respect. Charisma is an extreme form of referent power that inspires strong loyalty and devotion from others.
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Expert power occurs when the other members value a persons knowledge or expertise.

Power in it self is a neutral tool. It becomes good or bad only through responsible or irresponsible application.

Leadership Style
How many times have we witnessed individuals pushing their way to leadership position, only, to give up the position after they realize the difficulties associated with leadership or incur the ire of the followers? Then what constitutes a good leader? Is leadership something that people are born with? Can we learn to be a leader? To understand the current theoretical approaches to leadership we must focus on the communication behavior of individuals. 5Leaders must provide consistent support, respect, and encouragement in order to foster productivity and psychological growth in their followers. Extensive research has examined three major style of designated leader: democratic, laissez-faire, and autocratic. Democratic leaders encourage members to participate in group decisions, even in major ones:We have a problem with the Villa project, does any one have a solution? democratic leadership styles can be of dual nature; 6persuasive or consultative:
Persuasive is where the leader has already made a decision, but takes the time to persuade others

that it is a good idea. A good example is where bptt made some 250 workers redundant and then persuades the Union that that is the right way to go.
Consultative is where a leader consults others about their views before making a decision. The

decision will take into account the views of the relevant stakeholders. For the example, the views of the Engineering Corp about the safety of a bridge may be considered. Laissez-faire leaders, the typical Trinidadian, take almost no initiative for structuring a discussion; they are nonleaders whose typical response is: I dont care; do whatever you want, i fine with that. This can lead to workplace incivility, which by extension leads to employee-generated lawsuits, and low productivity. Autocratic leaders maintain strict control over their immediate reports, and hold the traditional view of a leader or manager where power is in the hands of one authority whose word is law. Such style of leadership would not likely to be accepted in our present working environment, where little or no decision takes place with subordinates not even executives at high level, except in very rare circumstances.

Contingency approach to Leadership

As leaders, we perform a variety of duties so as to meets the objectives of our organisation. To achieve this we need to adopt our behavioural style to become a leadership match (Fiedler 1976). P. Hersey and K.H. Blanchard agues that a leaders strategy should not only take into account the contingencies, but also the maturity of those being led. Leaders can do a 1-2-1 with their direct report, 7by making this commitment to your subordinates, you are demonstrating that you are going to invest some of your time

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in them at regular intervals, and shows your staff that you are on their side, that you care about their selfdevelopment. It improves their motivation and their performance. It actually helps to tap into the ideas of people with knowledge and experience,

Effectiveness of Leadership
The effectiveness of a leader depend on her/his communicative competencies. Leaders must be flexible, drawing from their repertoire of competencies, as they exercise interpersonal influence to accomplish organisations goals. 8Barge & Hirokawa (1989) developed The Communication Competency Model of Group Leadership that assumes that leaders help a group achieve its goals through communication skills (competencies). Effective leaders are able to clearly and appropriately communicate ideas to their followers without dominating the conversation, has a clear grasp of the task and skilled at facilitating discussion.

Conclusion
As i conclude, ask yourselves these question; what type of leader am I? What is my leadership style? Can i adapt my leadership style to the ever-changing technological, economical and political conditions brought about by globalisation? Am i effective as a leader?

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