LEADERSHIP

According to Shackleton (1995) leadership is the process in which an individual influences other group members towards the attainment of group or organizational goals.

The definition does not assume who the leader is. It might or it might not be the head of the group. Therefore Managers may or may not be leaders, and also leaders might or might not be managers.

There are many differences between management and leadership in attitudes towards goals, relations with others, conceptions of work or development.

The First difference is-a Manager should create stability, while leader should encourage change.

Another difference is in attitudes towards goals – a Manger tends to be impersonal and what a leader is more personal and passive.

 A Manager’s task is to make plans, organise and direct, however a leader should communicate, motivate and encourage other people.

In their relationships with other people, managers maintain a low level of emotional involvement, while leaders have empathy.

 The ‘Managerial grid’ was developed by Blake and Mouton in 1964.

It is based on two aspects of leadership behaviour.

(picture taken from :http://www.12manage.com/methods_blake_mouton_managerial_grid.html )

First is concern for production that is, task-oriented behaviours (clarifying roles, measuring outputs, scheduling work) and second is concern for people demonstrated by people-centred behaviour (building trust and friendly atmosphere).

This model is represented as a grid with CONCERN OF PRODUCTION as the x-axis and CONCERN OF PEOPLE as the y-axis. Each x-axis ranges 1-9.

It identifies five different styles of leadership:

-         1,1 The Impoverished Manager

-         9,1 The Authoritative Manager

-         1,9 The Social Manager

-         5,5 The Middle of the Road Manager

-         9,9 The Team Manager.

THINK ABOUT SOMEONE YOU USED TO WORK FOR AND IDENTIFY THE LEADERSHIP STYLE THEY USED

A few years ago I worked part-time in a DIY store. I was a sales-assistant and I reported to the Team Manager. On Blake and Mouton’ grid I would fit him to 9, 1 model – The Authoritative Manager. He was very competitive and critical of differing opinions, he used to make decisions and clearly identify the goals that led the company to success. Also he always considered his views as more valid than others. The greatest strength of this style was producing action when it was needed.

EXAMPLE OF A STRONG LEADER

In my opinion a good example of a strong leader is Gandhi who was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian Independence movement. What made him a good leader was definitely his strong personality and character features like commitment, honesty, responsibility, motivation, charisma and wisdom. Effective leaders also help others to understand the necessity of change and accept the common vision of what he/she seeks to accomplish.

There are many different styles of leadership and certain styles work best in different situation. Good leadership is very important within any organisation. The person who is a strong leader has an influence on other people, can easily determine and motivate them which in turn results in better performance.

REFERENCES:

-         Armstrong, M (2006) Strategic Human Resource Management.3^rd edition. London and Philadelphia. Kogan Page.

-         Mullin, L.J. (2010) Management & organisational behaviour. 9^thedition. Essex. Pearson Education Limited.

-         Wikipedia.org. [Online]. Available from:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi . Accessed January 2010

-         Memeticians.com. [Online]. Available from: http://www.memeticians.com/2008/01/nature-vs-nurture-what-makes-a.php