Many researchers have argued whether leadership should be viewed as a “specialized role or as a shared influence” (id. at p. 3) process. Leadership as a specialized role focuses on the relationship between the leader and the follower. In contrast, the shared influenced process believes “it is more useful to study leadership as a social process or pattern of relationships” (id. at p. 4). This view of leadership also believes that any individual of the social system may exhibit leadership abilities, and there is not a clear distinction between the leader and follower. The concept of effective leadership also focuses on the behaviors used to influence individuals in an organization. This type of influence is referred to as “direct and indirect leadership” (id. at p. 5). Direct forms of leadership include communication media to influence individuals. An example of this form of leadership includes “sending memos or reports to employees, holding meetings with small groups, and participating in orientation or company picnics” (id.). In contrast, there is a variety of indirect forms of leadership. One form of indirect leadership is called cascading. Cascading occurs when the direct influence of a leader is transmitted through an organization. This influence can change the employee attitudes, beliefs, values, and behaviors. (id. at p. 6). The effectiveness of leadership also can be divided into other variables. These other variables include the characteristics of the leader, the follower, and the situation. The characteristic of a leader is categorized as behavior, integrity, and influence tactics. These characteristics are used to determine the quality of a leader within the organization. The characteristic of a follower is categorized as task commitment, satisfaction with job, and trust within leader. The characteristics of the situation include type of organizational unit, task interdependence, organizational culture, and external dependencies. These characteristics also help to define how effective the leader and follower will be within the organization.
The study of leadership is also classified into different approaches. These approaches are “the trait approach, the behavior approach, the power-influence approach, the situation approach, and the integrative approach” (id. at p. 13). The background of approach varies from each other. The trait approach is the earliest approach used to study leadership. In addition, the integrative approach has become more common for researchers. The behavior approach is categorized into two general subcategories. These categories include “how managers spend their time and the typical pattern of activities, responsibilities, and functions for managerial jobs” (id.). In addition, the behavior approach focuses on identifying effective leadership behavior. Each approach has strengths and weaknesses. A weakness of the behavior approach is that it neglects the environment in which the behaviors are demonstrated. In addition, the strength of the behavior approach is that tends to focus on the how well the leader influence the followers, and address their needs and values.
Conclusion
In conclusion, leadership is defined as “the process of influencing others to understand and agree about what needs to be done and how to do it, and the process of facilitating individual and collective efforts to accomplish shared objectives” (id. at p. 8). In addition, leadership is viewed as specialized role or as a shared influence process. The concept of effective leadership is categorized into “direct and indirect leadership” (id. at p. 5). The study of leadership is divided into different approaches. These approaches are “the trait approach, the behavior approach, the power-influence approach, the situation approach, and the integrative approach” (id. at p. 13). Each approach has strengths and weaknesses. Despite the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches, each approach has been used define, and describe the roles of leadership. Coming together is very important because at some point due to the fact that the groups consist of people with similar talents, personalities, and ideologies each group will plateau. Coming together will help keep the motivation and morale of the team up and in a positive direction. They key to this is everyone treating each other as an equal even though the positions or titles within the group are different. There needs to be some type of structure and organization present in order for the project to be completed at an optimal and efficient level.
References
Yukl, G. A. (2010).Leadership in organizations. (7th ed.).Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Jago, A. G. (1982). Leadership: Perspectives in theory and research. Management
Science, 28(3), 315-336.
