Leadership Experience Essay Sample

Definition – Leadership Leadership has a lot of different definitions, because of the theories and studies. Most of the definitions will depend on the author or the leader. ‘Leader is the person who creates the most effective change in group performance. ’(Cattell,1951) ‘The leader is on who succeeds in getting others to follow him’. (Cowley, 1928) According to 1920’s definition of leadership, ‘leadership is the ability to impress the will of the leader on those led and induce obedience, respect, loyalty and cooperation ‘(Moore 1927), The definitions share much in common, they each consider the different aspects of leadership.

Leadership is a group phenomenon and there can be no leader without followers, Leadership is a goal directed position and it plays an active role within an organization therefore leaders use their influence to guide others towards achieving a certain goal. In some cases, the hierarchy is formal and well defined, leaders are usually at the top other cases in can be informal. Definition – Management There is a debate between leadership and managers because they influence, motivate and direct people.

Although the two are correspondently a like; there are some differences between them, Bass (1985:xiii) states ‘Management is not only leadership, nor is leadership only management; however those appointed to a position of responsibility as managers need to appreciate what leadership is expected of them. ’ ‘The process of optimising human, material, and financial contribution for the achievement of organisational goals ‘. Pearce and Robinson, 1989) Management if often related to people and the organisation. Managers are usually responsible for helping the organisation achieve its objectives and for creating and implementing their plans ‘ the process of planning, organising, leading and controlling the efforts of organisations members and of using all organisational resources to achieve stated organisational goals. ’ (Mescon, Albert and Khedouri, 1985 ) Leadership -Path Goal Theory

Path-Goal theory of leadership developed in the early 1970’s (House,1971) According to path-goal theory , the leader increases personal payoffs to subordinates for achieving work goals and paves the way by ‘clarifying the path, removing or reducing road blocks and pitfalls, and enhancing personal satisfaction along the way ‘. (Gill 2006:48) . The statement basically states that the role of the leader is a path goal setting is to eliminate road blocks that the employee might face that would affect job, this helps us understand leadership as it shows different ways in which leaders can motivate their employees.

Path Goal theory is concerned with explaining the relationship between the behaviour of the leader and the attitudes and expectations of the subordinates. Overall empirical evidence is supported, but there is a call for the theory to be refined with the “… addition of new moderating variables (Evans1996: Schriesheim & Neider, 1996; Wofford & Liska, 1993) Interestingly the role of the leader in the path goal theory is that of an obstacle remover, which is the same role as a team leader.

The theory has been questioned because what happens in situations which goals are constantly changing and leaders are not able to task direct. This can affect the leadership of the organisation and if the leader has flaws then whole method stands a chance of failing. Leadership -Transformation Theory Transformational leaders makes a significant different to how the work force is motivated and how the people can be helped.

Not only do they leaders achieve performance beyond expectations ‘…they stimulate followers to transcend their own immediate self- interest for the greater good of the group, organization and society. ’ (Gill 2006:52) In transformational leadership the emphasis is ‘people of vision, who are creative, innovative, and capable of getting others to share their dreams while playing down self-interest; and who are able to corporate with others in reshaping the strategies and tactics of the organisation ‘,(Mckenna 2001:383) .

Transformational theory helps us understand leadership by suggesting that leaders are not only there to motivate employees they do more, there able transform how they view themselves through the transformation process and after that they are able to transform the staff that are willing, in order to create a better organization. The theory also states that theory is about leadership that create an environment that creates positive change in the follower, where they take care of each other’s interests and act on the interests of the group together.