LEADERSHIP

Leaders are people who do the right thing; managers are people who do things right. Professor
Warren G. Bennis
Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants
to do it. Dwight D. Eisenhower
The word "leadership" can bring to mind a variety of images. For example:

A political leader, pursuing a passionate, personal cause.

An explorer, cutting a path through the jungle for the rest of his group to follow.

An executive, developing her company's strategy to beat the competition.

Leaders help themselves and others to do the right things. They set direction, build an inspiring
vision, and create something new. Leadership is about mapping out where you need to go to
"win" as a team or an organization; and it is dynamic, exciting, and inspiring.
Yet, while leaders set the direction, they must also use management skills to guide their people to
the right destination, in a smooth and efficient way.

FUNCTIONS OF A LEADER
The functions of a leader depend on the kind of the group, which is being led. It depends
on the structure and the goal of the group. Political, social, or religious leaders have different
functions to perform. The general of an army has to perform a different function from that of the
priest in the church.
1. THE LEADER AS AN EXECUTIVE:
The leader has a very important function of co-coordinating the activities of the group. So a
leader in his executive capacity does not carry out work or activities but assigns it to other group
members, as well as sees the proper execution of the policies.
For instance, the leader of a political party makes it a point to see that the policies of the
party are being executed. He also assigns the work of party propaganda to some persons,
secretarial work to some others while the election work to some other members. He organizes
discussions for the execution of the plan and acts as a guide during the discussion.
However, sometimes, the leader is not able to delegate responsibilities and authority and
feels necessity to be personally involved in each group activity. Such situation may prevent
members from sharing responsibilities affecting their involvement in the work of the group.
2. THE LEADER AS A PLANNER:
The leader functions in the capacity of the planner too. He decides what ways and means are
to be adopted to achieve the objective of the group.
He plans the work of the grouping such a manner that the goal of the group may be
achieved through proper steps being undertaken at the present and also in future. Thus, his
planning may be for short term.

Every group has many problems pertaining to it, social, political, religious and economic
aspects. The leaders also plan out the ways and means to fight with the enemies of the group.
Frequently, the leaders are the only persons who know in complete details the plan to be
adopted to achieve the group goal. The members are only told about some of the fragments of the
plan with which they are concerned. Often the plan is drawn in such a manner that the execution
in parts of it would ultimately lead to the attainment of the group objective.
For example, for the security of India, many a short term plans are drawn up. These plans when
integrated, will lead to the attainment of desired objective.
3. THE LEADER AS THE POLICY MAKER:
An important function of the leader of any social group is to plan out the group goals, objectives
and policies. The leaders may themselves plan the policies or objectives or they may get the
policies or objectives from other sources and then may try to establish then in the group.
4.

THE LEADER AS AN EXPERT:

Leaders are generally viewed as the sources of readily available information and skills or
expertise. The leader must, therefore, be quite a capable individual. In many informal groups,
often the person demonstrating, the greatest technical knowledge and skills becomes the leaders.
For example, during camping, the guide may play the role of a leader because of his
familiarity and knowledge about the area.
5.

THE LEADER AS AN EXTERNAL GROUP REPRESENTATIVE:

In case of large groups it is not possible for all members to directly deal with other groups.
Thus, the leader assumes the role of representative of the group in its external relations. All
communications outgoing and incoming are channeled through the leader.
Also, the groups unity is enhanced when the leader functions as the symbol of the group.
In the governing bodies of the various universities, leaders act as the representative of their
own group.
6.

CONTROLLER OF INTERNAL RELATIONSHIP:

The leader has also to function as the controller of internal inter-personal relations, among
the members of the group. He makes efforts to raise the moral standard of his group. He wishes
that the group may progress and there are established good relations among its members.
7.

THE LEADER AS PURVEYOR OF REWARD AND PUNISHMENT:

The group members perceive the leader as having power to apply rewards and also
punishments. This enables the leader to exercise control over group members. Rewards and
punishments may relate to being promoted to a higher position, giving special honors, or taking
away the responsibility assigned or lowering of the status as the case may be.
8.

THE LEADER AS AN ARBITRATOR AND MEDIATOR:

If there are certain conflicts and discussions in the group, the leader acts an arbitrator and
mediator. He acts as a judge and gives his judgment regarding the ways in which the conflict can
be resolved.
But his task is not merely that of a judge. His important function is to establish good intergroup relationships. The leader can reduce tensions in the group and establish harmony.

9.

THE LEADER AS AN EXAMPLAR:

The leader should serve as a model of behavior to the members of the group. He should by
his own example, stimulate them to do such activities with which the groups objective can be
realized. The commanding officer in the armed forces that leads his troops into the battlefield
serves as an exemplar. Sometimes the leader provides the ideology of the group. He serves as the
source of the beliefs, values and norms of the individual members.
10.

THE LEADER AS THE FATHER FIGURE:

The leader may also play the emotional role of the father figure for the individual members
of the group. The leader is the ideal object for identification, for transferring feelings, and
providing a focus for positive thinking. The members may have same feelings towards him as the
child has towards his father. This role may form the basis of power of a leader in certain
circumstances.

Full Range Leadership

The ability to use the full range of leadership behaviors is what separates ineffective from
effective leaders
Transactional behaviors include laissez-faire (hands-off leadership), management-by-exception
(putting out the fires) and contingent rewards (lets make a deal). Transactional
Leadership, also known as managerial leadership, focuses on the role of
supervision, organization, and group performance; transactional leadership is a
style of leadership in which the leader promotes compliance of his/her followers
through both rewards and punishments. Unlike Transformational leadership, leaders
using the transactional approach are not looking to change the future, they are
looking to merely keep things the same. Leaders using transactional leadership as a
model pay attention to followers' work in order to find faults and deviations. This
type of leadership is effective in crisis and emergency situations, as well as for
projects that need to be carried out in a specific way.

Transformational behaviors include individualized consideration (compassionate leadership),

intellectual stimulation (thinking outside of the box), inspirational motivation (exciting the
masses/sharing the vision), and idealized influence (walking the walk). Research conducted in
Nebraska shows that leaders able to practice these four behaviors tend to gain extra effort from
employees, experience higher employee satisfaction and higher productivity and greater
organizational effectiveness. Transformational leadership is a style of leadership
where the leader is charged with identifying the needed change, creating a vision to
guide the change through inspiration, and executing the change in tandem with
committed members of the group.[1] It also serves to enhance the motivation,
morale, and job performance of followers through a variety of mechanisms; these
include connecting the follower's sense of identity and self to the project and the
collective identity of the organization; being a role model for followers in order to
inspire them and raise their interest in the project; challenging followers to take
greater ownership for their work, and understanding the strengths and weaknesses
of followers, allowing the leader to align followers with tasks that enhance their
performance.

Full Range Leadership Model

Transactional Leadership
Laissez-Faire (Hands-off leadership)

Absence of leadership

Avoiding taking a stand on issues

Doesnt emphasize results

Refraining from intervening when issues arise

Unaware of employee performance

That leader doesnt even care if we do or if we dont.

Management-By-Exception (Putting out the fires)

Taking corrective actions

Setting standards, but waiting for problems to arise before doing anything

Stressing what people are doing wrong

Enforcing rules, disliking challenges to the status quo

Only hearing from the leader when something is wrong

Uh oh, here he/she comes again!

Contingent Rewards (Lets make a deal!)

Applying constructive transactions

Making clear expectations of outcomes and rewards

Exchanging reward and recognition for accomplishments

Actively monitoring employees progress and providing supportive feedback

If you do as we agreed, youll get the reward.

Transformational Leadership
Individualized Consideration (Compassionate leader)

Empathizing with individual needs

Making interpersonal connections with employees

Genuinely caring and showing this compassion in actions

Encouraging continuous development and growth of employees

Sending the message, I care about you and am looking out for your best interest

Intellectual Stimulation (Thinking outside of the box)

Encouraging the imagination of employees

Challenging the old ways of doing things

Looking for better ways to do things

Encouraging followers not to think like him/her

Willing to take risks for potential gains

Sending the message, If we change our assumptions, then ...

Inspirational Motivation (Exciting the masses/Sharing the vision)

Inspiring others to perform

Clarifying where the organization will be in the future

Creating a strong sense of purpose among employees

Aligning individual and organizational needs

Helping followers achieve more than even they thought was possible

Sending the message, If we focus on what this organization stands for we can achieve
whatever we desire!

Idealized Influence (Actions speak louder than words)

Demonstrating an inclusive vision

Walking the walk

Exhibiting great commitment and persistence in pursuing objectives

Expressing confidence in the vision of the organization

Developing trust and confidence among employees

Symbolizing the goals and mission of the organization

Sending the message, I believe that this is truly the right thing to do

The chart above illustrates the full range of leadership behaviors. Laissez-faire (LF) is the most
inactive and generally least effective of the leader behaviors. Research shows that leaders using
this style of leadership are rarely viewed as effective on the job. Management-by-exception
(MBE) is more effective than laissez-faire, but is generally ineffective leadership.
Management-by-exception behavior often is related to high employee turnover and absenteeism,
poor satisfaction and poor perception of organizational effectiveness. Contingent rewards (CR)
can be an effective style of leadership. However, leaders will not get more than they bargain for
when practicing this style of leadership.
It is only with the remaining four behaviors that leaders are able to motivate followers to perform
above expectations and transcend their own self-interest for the sake of the organization. The
four individualized consideration (IC), intellectual stimulation (IS), inspirational motivation
(IM), and idealized influence (II) all have resulted in extra effort from workers, higher
productivity, higher morale and satisfaction, higher organizational effectiveness, lower turnover,
lower absenteeism and greater organizational adaptability to changes in the environment.
Based on these findings, leaders are generally most effective when they regularly use each of the
four transformational behaviors (individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation,
inspirational motivation and idealized influence) to build on contingent rewards.