What Makes A Good Leader?. In this assignment I intend to explore some of the aspects related to effective leadership within an organisation.

University Degree Business and Administrative studies

What Makes A Good Leader?

Damien Kelly

Student Number – 08751536

BAHHRD2

Organisational Behaviour - Michele Kehoe

In this assignment I intend to explore some of the aspects related to effective leadership within an organisation. It could be argued that good leadership, in the times we are in, is essential for an organisation to remain competitive and indeed essential for its survival. When we think of leaders it conjures up images of famous political leaders like Barack Obama, Winston Churchill and social leaders like Ghandi, Martin Luther King and indeed, notorious leaders like Hitler and Stalin from the 1930’s. This assignment will also examine some of the main concepts and theories put forward as to what exactly leadership is. A common word we will see associated with leadership is influence. Leadership is essentially the influence exerted over people through effective communication in order to reach specified attainable goals. Tannenbaum et al. (1961) define Leadership as “an interpersonal influence that is exercised in a situation and directed through the communication process towards the attainment of a specified goal.” Many theories and concepts abound which will now be examined in detail throughout this paper.

The earliest studies carried out in order to establish written theories and work in the area of leadership include that of the Trait Theories. Essentially this theory focused on the actual behaviours and characteristics of a subject to determine if these traits conformed to the theory that leaders were born not made. Morley et al in Principles of Organisational Behaviour (p346) describe this as “ the assumption that it is possible to identify a unifying set of characteristics that make all great leaders great”. There was great interest in this area of leadership in the mid 20th Century and it gave rise to detailed knowledge and understanding of the leader element in the leadership process. The core traits established from this study included intelligence, dominance, self-confidence, energy, activity and task-relevant knowledge. A critical evaluation would suggest there are over sixty characteristics one can find within this theory and thus it begs the question; what is the most important one for effective leadership? Essentially some of these traits whilst inbred need to develop through life. If one were to look for an effective leader who personifies these traits if would be Mark Zuckerberg (facebook founder) whose drive, determination, charisma and unnerving motivation has spawned one the most successful and profitable companies of the 21st century. Zuckerberg had the drive that exemplifies leadership in dealing with an offer of over 1Billion for his company when it is became established. He turned it down.. It was concluded that although the trait theories did go some way to establish what made an effective leader through personal characteristics, it didn’t delve deep enough into the behaviour which could be found in an organisational setting. One characteristic that was evident through all the studies was that of intelligence, although that one does seem somewhat obvious. In more recent times the thinking on this subject has moved away from the thought that leaders are born and not made. Morley et al describe this as “enormous range of traits potentially affecting leadership is potentially affecting leadership ability is problematic and there is difficulty associated with measuring their existence” Ultimately, it seems, from a psychological point, that there is no convincing link between any characteristic and leadership. Although a resurgence of interest is forming in relation to the emotional intelligence of the leader.

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Behavioural Theories of leadership is a significant move in another direction than that of trait theories. It is an important step to further establish the specific behaviours that exist in leaders compared to non-leaders. Essentially behavioural theories suggested that leaders could be moulded by identifying the specific behaviours rather than the traits required and to teach potential leaders to exhibit these behaviours. A closer look at some of the studies conducted, including the Ohio State University leadership Study, which was an important milestone in leadership research, suggested that there were two critical characteristics possessed of which either could be higher or lower which were dependent on each other. In order to assess the subordinates perceptions of their leaders, Behavioural Scientists developed a questionnaire which was conducted in both a military and industrial setting. These characteristics are consideration and initiation structure. Leaders high in initiating structure style and high in consideration style were generally more likely to achieve superior performance among their followers. Pictured below is the Four Leadership Styles established as part of the Ohio State University Leadership Studies

Ohio State University Leadership Study. Four Leadership Styles.

Another established theory in relation to leadership is the Contingency Theory which examines the relationship between the leader and the actual situation the leader finds them in. Fiedler introduced a number of studies in the 1970’s regarding the leadership of teams and workgroups in what was known as the emergence of situational leadership models through his LPC models. It was deemed an important theory in realising that the behaviours displayed by the leader will depend on the situational factors. It also had its short-comings in that Fiedlers assumptions about the inflexibility of leader behaviour are unrealistic. An important theory in which will be examined more closely is the Path Goal Theory of Leadership. Developed by martin Evans and Robert House, it essentially suggests that the leader who knows what the desired outcome is must depict a clear path whilst displaying particular behaviours that will lead him to the goal of a satisfactory outcome, thus displaying different behaviours dependent on the situation.

The path goal theory of leadership specifies four kind of leader behaviour: directive, supportive, participative and achievement orientated. Leaders must change their behaviour based the environment they find them in be that in a work group or team or a formal setting and also taking in to account the nature of the subordinates through taking stock of their experience and indeed their ability. There are numerous examples of effective leaders, be that in a business, economic or political settings, whom we can draw upon to illustrate this theory. If one was to look at Enda Kenny his leadership and personal qualities have been questioned. In summer of 2010, having taken a dip in the opinion polls on the back of the worst government this country has seen, his leadership of his party was uncertain. A political coup was launched. A different leadership style was required by Kenny to survive having found himself in a situation where he had to prove he had the backbone. He did. He rounded on his detractors and called in his loyal supporters. He proved he had the mettle by demoting those who went against him and fired home a passionate speech to persuade those in his party. This was surprising as it was suggested the sheepish uncharismatic Kenny would not survive. Essentially, Kenny had to display different behaviours in the situation he found himself in to find his desired goal.

There is no doubt about it. We are in changing times. The internet is proving to be such a powerful force for communication, an unrivalled source of information and more recently a commanding catalyst for change in international relations. It can be argued that effective leadership will be paramount moving forward in ever increasing social media dominance. It has the ability to influence people on a mass scale and to engage people in debate and for a generation the preferred form of communication. The most notable of late being the emergence of social movements online being a contributing factor to the political upheaval in North African countries. This is where a challenge lies for leaders. For an organisation they are going to be heavily marketing on the internet and recruitment will also be online.

Where is the future of leadership? Ultimately it will be situational leadership. Leaders will have to adapt and change due to globalisation. A good example of this is the successful businessman Denis O’Brien who has to change his leadership style depending on his location. Where is the leadership in Libya one could ask? A situation has developed which reeks of incompetent leadership from those in government and not listening to the message coming from the people, or perhaps ignoring it. Effective leadership figure is Alex Ferguson who has had the arduous task of steering one of the most successful clubs in the world for over 20 years. Closer to home one can look to the utter failure personified in leadership of Brian Cowen and his government. In times where the public were demanding communication it was not forthcoming in relation to Anglo-Irish Bank, the IMF and the bank guarantees to name but a few. This is a time for leaders, as uncertainty abounds.