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Introduction.................................................................................................. 2 Concept of Leadership ................................................................................2 What is Effective Leadership?......................................................................3 The Key Skills of Leaders.............................................................................6 The Difference between Managers & Leaders ...........................................7 Leadership Roles and Functions..................................................................9 Leadership Roles.......................................................................................... 9 Leadership Functions.................................................................................10 Primary Leadership Functions....................................................................10 Ineffective Leadership Behaviour ..............................................................10 Executive Leadership Defined................................................................11 A Typology of Leaders................................................................................ 13 Facets of Leadership Effectiveness............................................................16 The Role of the Team Leader.....................................................................18 Leader as a Change Agent.........................................................................18 Leadership in High -Tech Environment......................................................20 The Leadership Challenge.......................................................................... 21 Conclusion.................................................................................................. 24

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Lots of people can have good ideas, but thats not leadership. A real leader can turn those ideas into action, by inspiring and motivating people and getting the very best out of them. Introduction Organisations are like aircrafts. They dont run themselves, except during downfall. They need the right people to make them work, and not just any people. The effectiveness of an employee particularly individuals in leadership positions determines how the organisational machine will perform. Employees need some guidance, some suggestions about where to go and how to get there. Ethological studies also suggest that people have an actual need for leadership. The Anglo-Saxon root of the words lead, leader, and leadership is laed, which means path or road. The verb laeden means to travel. Thus a leader is one who shows fellow travellers the way by walking ahead. Leadership is the most important means of direction. To lead is to guide, direct, integrate and energize the efforts of people towards a common goal. A leader is one who influences the attitudes and behaviour of others in an organised activity. Leadership is an art and as such it must be felt, experienced and created. Recognising diversity in corporate life helps us to connect the great variety of talents that people bring to work and service of the organisation. Diversity allows each of us to contribute in a special way, to make our special talent an art of the corporate effort. The art of leadership lies in polishing and enabling those talents. Leadership deals more with ideas, beliefs and relationships. Hence, it has to do with the why of institutional and corporate life, rather than the how. It is the art of liberating people to do what is required of them, in the most effective and humane way possible, something to be learned over time. Concept of Leadership Leadership is the process by which an executive influences the work and behaviour of others in choosing and attaining specified objectives for the benefit of an organisation as well as its members. A person is said to have an influence on others when others are willing to carry out his wishes, accept his advice, guidance and direction. Leadership is thus a function of influencing the behaviour of subordinates for the attainment of group goals and personal objectives. A leader is the one who guides and directs other people and provides purpose and direction to human efforts. A
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leader, like the conductor of an orchestra, is a part of the group, yet distinct from it. He integrates, guides and inspires the members of the group towards the accomplishment of common objectives. Thus leadership is more than personal ability and skill. A good leader should be competent, but he can be a true leader only when he possesses a sense of fair play, objectivity, integrity and a sense of responsibility.

Leadership is defined as a process in which one person sets the purpose or direction for one or more other persons, and gets them to move along together with him or her and with each other in that direction with competence and full commitment. In the Encyclopedia of Social Sciences leadership has been defined as the relation between an individual and a group around some common interest and behaving in a manner directed or determined by him. It is thus the function of interaction between the leader, the subordinates and the situation in which they interact with each other i.e. a purpose of both, the traits and the situation. Leadership may be formal or informal. Formal leadership is institutional in nature while informal leadership is personal. Formal leaders are those appointed to positions within a formal organisation structure. The executive is a formal leader in the sense that he occupies a position and holds delegated authority. By using this authority, he can influence and direct subordinates. Informal leaders are those who exercise influence because of their personality and competence. What is Effective Leadership? An effective leader is one who really makes things happen in his organisation and explores new paths. He makes the job exciting as he makes sure that the entire workday has structure and meaning and the workforce understands the rationale of their work. This kind of a leader will make his shareholders and workforce rich and his customers happy with the product. He understands that organizations are more than just economic entities. Unlike any politician or social worker a leader he runs an organisation that has more realities than just economic ones. He is a fertile imagineer about the organisations future. The Key Traits of Leaders Traits are behaviours and styles that are accumulated as one gets trained to become a leader. They result either from training, habit or inherent received genetic qualities. They may be best understood as tendencies or
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repeated behaviour patterns. equanimity, decency and power.

Examples of traits are intelligence,

Traits are differentiated from skills by the distinction that skills are necessary whereas traits are useful and indicative. Traits are characteristics and mannerisms, which tend to be associated with many leaders, but cannot be considered essential in the same way that some skills emphatically are. For example, a fine trait, for a leader, is not to need to dominate people, situations, or at meetings. By contrast, it is a trait to have presence without noise, and a tendency to be more of a listener than a talker. It is a skill to ensure that one knows how to be heard, whenever it is necessary, to make an important point. The vital traits of a leader are the: - ability to get into leadership positions - competency of good quality judgement than any relevant peer group - capacity for survival - potential to select effective subordinates - capability to inspire ordinary people to perform above par - efficiency to make a profound difference to the organisation The ability to get into leadership positions - This is best observed in cases of people who gain a reputation for always being in the right place at the right time. It is not merely an accident that they are present at the right place; they move rapidly and create more opportunities to be in the right time. The competency to arrive at good quality judgement than any relevant peer group The first manifestation of these individuals is often at school, where they rise as leaders. They are perceived as mature individuals. These same qualities can be observed when they first go out to work. Their bosses soon exploit them to carry out important tasks. They are the first to be promoted because they become known for being a safe pair of hands. It is their good judgement, which is viewed as superior. The capacity for survival Leaders survive because they manage to get everybody to realize that they have made the right judgement and that difficult decisions have to be taken. The gravest decisions to be executed usually require the thickest skin. For example making the larger investment decisions, or deciding to put the corporation up for sale, or moving into or out of major markets, are the types of decisions which cause the greatest angst to leaders and their followers. The mark of a great leader is his potential to convince the group as to understand why a particular decision taken is considered to be best in that situation. A great leader does not confront people with a decision but persuades and debates the issue, until people understand.
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The potential to select effective subordinates - Having to dismiss a friend who has become ineffective or who is manifesting characteristics, which are detrimental to the organisation, is the toughest decision a leader may have to take. This can be one of the worst forms of leadership failure if the leader does not confront these problems. To make the right decisions about people requires a special combination of intuition and experience. The great leader usually has an intuition about who could fit a particular job and when will he be ready for it. The capability to inspire ordinary people to perform above par - They normally make people perform above themselves, showing them how to be better. This skill is closely aligned with the ability of good leaders to attract followers. A prime leadership skill is getting people to follow, and the want to follow. It results form a combination of charisma, persuasiveness and sheer determination. The efficiency to make a profound difference to the organisation - This particular trait can often only be recognized post hoc, i.e. when the leader has left the organisation or department. The feedback obtained from the group helps to decide whether the particular leader brought about a transformation and created an impact within the work group.

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The Key Skills of Leaders Skills are the qualities that any individual can learn, as long as the necessary aptitude is there. They are abilities and techniques that the leaders need to have at their disposal. These are exemplified in team skills, planning ability or understanding of accounts. However characteristics are qualities and values, which define the actions and styles of high quality leaders, at all stages of their career. They are the deep-rooted qualities, such as moral fibre, courage, determination to succeed and capacity to in spire, that define grand leaders. The vital skills of leaders are as follows: Communication skills - As competence is ineffective without conscience, so are words without behaviour. A good leader leads by example, supporting his or her behaviour by verbal persuasion. Leaders must communicate needs, missions, trends, concepts, and qualityquantity linkages much faster, to more and better-educated people and groups. They must shape their message for each audience, and set an example by acknowledging differences as well as commonalties. Every leader needs multilevel listening skills. This refers to the ability that many leaders have to listen to differing messages, carrying a multitude of meanings from different types of people at every level in the organisation. This skill is also used to understand the multiple agendas from the same set of messages that are often being delivered to leaders whenever people communicate with them. Numerical skill - In addition to the verbal ability, the leader in the modern era also requires a facility with numerical skills (all businesses measure themselves and are measured by others with numbers). Likewise, most great strategic ideas need to be tested arithmetically for their impact on the market and their value on the bottom line for the business. Assess People - An ability to assess people and their skills accurately is important. One needs to be able to focus upon a persons best qualities and make people realize that one cares about them. Work effectively under pressure - A great leader has the ability to undertake highly concentrated activity at intense pressure. In the present era, with vast communication capacity and the ability to move large amounts of capital around the world almost instantaneously, both crises and opportunities arise with little warning. Relax A leader needs to know when to relax. This will be necessary both between and even during the crises. If one cannot relax enough for some time each day, he / she is not going to remain fit for the important battles and wars.

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Inspiring followers - Leaders who encourage people to strive for and make achievements beyond their imagination are also creators of immense job satisfaction for others. Common Characteristics of Leaders Leaders share certain common characteristics which permeate the whole of a leaders or an organisations culture. Integrity: is the unyielding battle for what, rather than who is right. It is the seizing of responsibility, and the willing acceptance of the accountability that comes with it. Integrity is much more than not telling a lie; it is not living a lie! Compassion: Good leadership includes searching for, and identifying people doing the right things as well as doing things right. It is not managing by exception. Managing by exception, means followers never hear from their leader except when something goes wrong. Cognizance: is the power of knowledgeable perception that enables a person to use information effectively. It is an understanding of the past, an awareness of the present, and a vision of the future. It is the ability to understand and use ever-changing, complex, and ambiguous variables in the simplest and most productive way possible. It means studying the past, and using the present to prepare for the future. Courage: The fourth characteristic of leadership is courage the courage to act upon your convictions with steadfast focus in the face of unrelenting opposition; the courage to sacrifice and risk, and not to take yourself too seriously; the courage to give, to enjoy, and to live! It is challenging adversity with grit and grace; and it is demonstrated by those who move toward success, not away from failure. Commitment: One person with commitment has more power than a multitude who have only interest. The level of commitment is the key determinant. Getting others to commit to a common mission is one of a leaders most difficult challenges. In a committed culture, you wont hear I just work here or Sorry, my time is up. Confidence: is the steadfast reliance upon the values, beliefs, and competence of oneself and others. Confidence is cultivated by using our strengths and skills to extend others and ourselves a little further each day. Confidence is being guided by the stars, not by the lights of passing ships. Confidence develops strong opinions, and leadership communications are predicated on those opinions. The Difference between Managers & Leaders Leaders dont manage and managers dont lead - This implies that the roles of leadership and management are almost contradictions of each other. Managers need to be team players. They have to get groups of people to work together to achieve and set objectives; they are
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coordinators of others. Alternatively leaders, have to satisfy their stakeholders, the people who have power to judge them or have rights over the assets they control. The leadership job is not merely a coordination role as; an act of leadership itself involves poising many peoples interests. The leaders should know how to set examples, change cultures and atmospheres to evolve the organisation into the form of the future vision. They dont manage people towards a result; they manipulate the entire set of resources people, assets, and streams of income. The ultimate responsibility for success lies in the leaders hands. At the end of the day, all managers have somebody above them to take the final decision and ultimate responsibility for some aspects of their role. It may be their finance director, technical research managers or their own line manager who gives them their instructions on strategy. Ultimately it is the real leader who, alone, bears total responsibility for the burden of all the facets of the organisations future and its results. There is also a clear distinction between a nominal leader and a strategic leader. A nominal leader is the one who is appointed to posts / jobs which calls for real leadership but does not know how to execute that leadership. Such a leader will always remain a manager. While he can organise others to get things done, he cannot fulfill the ultimate leadership role, which combines strategic vision, objective judgement and profit-creating business skills. Although nominal leaders are the managerial fabric of every organisation, they will never become strategic leaders, or movers and shakers. Leaders need to understand how to handle people. Another important difference between nominal and strategic leaders, is that the latter understand people and the former dont. Strategic leaders understand how people react to decisions and news. They see what is not obvious, when people are hurt or weighed down by personal problems. They also accept weaknesses as a part of the fabric of corporate society. Leader Interested in Change Long-term oriented Concerned about vision Deals with the whys Empower Subordinates Knows how to simplify Uses intuition Wide outlook social Manager Prefers stability Focus on Short-term Preoccupied by Rules & Regulations Instruction Deals with the hows Tends to control Enjoys Complexity Relies only on logic Preoccupied by Corporate Concerns
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concerns Leadership Roles and Functions Leadership roles are classified under three headings viz. group task roles, group building and maintenance roles, and individual roles. Any leader is expected to carry out the predetermined tasks of the group and he has his own roles to play in this respect. He is also concerned with the roles relating to group building and its maintenance. Along with the task roles and group building roles he has his own individual roles. Thus, a leader has multifarious roles to play. Leadership Roles Group Task Roles Initiator contributor Information seeker Opinion seeker Information giver Opinion giver Elaborator Coordinator Orienter Evaluator-critic Energizer Procedural technician Recorder Group Building and Maintenance Roles Encourager Harmonizer Compromiser Gatekeeper and Expeditor Standard setter Group observer and Commentator Follower Individual Roles Aggressor Blocker Recognition seeker Self confessor Play boy Dominator Help seeker Special interest Pleader

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Leadership Functions Primary Leadership Functions Executive Planner Policy maker Expert External group representative Controller of internal relations Purveyor of rewards and punishments Arbitrator and mediator Accessory Leadership Functions Exemplar Symbol of the group Substitute for individual responsibility Ideologist Father figure Scapegoat

Actual leaders must be visionaries. They must have a proper vision and perception of the relations of the present and future, and must articulate the possibilities of the people. The leaders role is conspicuously identified by the position he occupies, which may provide a high degree of coordination and efficiency. The bureaucratic content of the group management in the Indian business, on the contrary, has brought with it some sort of ready-made leadership. Such a philosophy assigns each individual his functions, the area of his authority, and the standards of proficiency. Any member or group leader is harnessed to ensure the exact performance essential to keep the system under control. Ineffective Leadership Behaviour An obvious first characteristic that a leader should possess is ruthless honesty with himself. This is a rare quality in most failing leaders (and even in some successful ones). The following are the most visible signals of failure in a leader: - if one cannot see where the short or long-term profitability will come from - if an individual feels under pressure after the first three months in his job (it is normal to feel that way during the first three months) - when one feels that the subordinate (s) can certainly do the job better - when one feels continuously tired and depressed - when one thinks more about past triumphs than future achievements - when one wishes that nobody sitting in the board room should realize that he/she doesnt have a clue what to do next.

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Executive Leadership Defined Executive leadership is an ability to influence the actions of others. This influence must be one that includes the ability to recruit and to retain loyal followers who are effective in the attainment of the companys goals. A leaders sources of influence stem initially from his power base. That is, once he is hired and made manager in charge, he is given a certain amount of power. And his staff people will respond to his wishes merely because he has that power. Though in the long run, his influence upon the staff personnel will depend on his ability to persuade them, either by reasoning power or the power of his personality. Of course, to be an effective leader in business, one has to have a fundamental grasp of key management areas, such as finance, marketing, and administration. Beyond that, creativity and common sense judgment certainly are essential. When executive leadership is proposed along these lines, leadership improvement can be approached with optimism. It presumes that leadership, as a personal skill, can be acquired and improved. Leadership, which is defined by ones behaviour what to do and how to do it can be learned by an aspiring executive. All it takes is a little inspiration mixed in with a little perspiration. Situational Leadership According to Situational Leadership, there is no one best way to influence people. Which leadership style a person should use with individuals or groups depends on the maturity level of the people the leader is attempting to influence, as illustrated in the following figure.
Style of Leader

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High Relations hip and Low Task S3

S2

High Task and High Relations hip

Relationship Behaviour

(HIGH)

S4

S1

(LOW)
TASK BEHAVIOUR
Mature

(LOW)

Low Relations hip and Low Task

High Task and Low Relations hip

(HIGH)
HIGH MODERATE LOW
Immature

M4

M3

M2

M1

Maturity of Follower (s)

The preceding figure portrays the relationship between task-relevant maturity and the appropriate leadership styles to be used as followers move from immaturity to maturity. As indicated, the readers should keep in mind that the figure represents two different phenomena. The appropriate leadership style (style of leader) for given levels of follower maturity is portrayed by the prescriptive curve going through the four leadership quadrants. This bell-shaped curve is called a prescriptive curve because it shows the appropriate leadership style directly above the corresponding level of maturity. Each of the four leadership styles telling, selling, participating, and delegating identified in the above figure is a combination of task and relationship behaviour. Task behaviour is the extent to which a leader provides direction for people : telling them what to do, when to do it, where to do it, and how to do it. It means setting goals for them and defining their roles.
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Relationship behaviour is the extent to which a leader engages in two-way communication with people : providing support, encouragement, psychological strokes, and facilitating behaviours. It means actively listening to people and supporting their efforts. The maturity of followers is a question of degree. As can be seen in the figure, some bench marks of maturity are provided for determining appropriate leadership style by dividing the maturity continuum below the leadership model into four levels : low (M1), low to moderate (M2), moderate to high (M3), and high (M4). Managerial Grid Styles One very popular approach to identifying leadership styles of practicing managers is Robert R. Blake and Jane S. Moutons Managerial Grid. It shows that the two dimensions of grid are Concern for People along the vertical axis and Concern for Production along the horizontal axis. The Five basic styles identified in the grid represent varying combinations of Concern for People and Production: Team Leadership (9,9) : Production is achieved by the integration of task and human relationship requirements. The leaders major responsibility is to attain effective production and high morale through the participation and involvement of people in a team approach. Practical Leadership (5,5): The aim is to maintain a balance between high productivity and good human relations. The leader strives to find the middle ground so as to have reasonable production with good morale. Task-Oriented Leadership (9,1): Good relations are incidental to high production. The leader emphasizes production goals by focusing on the planning, direction and controlling of all activities. Relationship-Oriented Leadership (1,9): Production is incidental to good human relations. The leader focuses on the development of harmonious group relations so that work organisation is pleasant. Impoverished Leadership (1,1): Minimum influence is exerted in interaction with others. Little concern for production or people is expressed. Most activities performed are routine. A Manager should aim to move towards Team Leadership, which is ideal for excellence in management, as a dominant style. A Typology of Leaders Charismatic This style is most successful when a particular business requires spending a few years to take important decisions and decisive action. Charismatic leaders persuade people fast to agree to their strategies and are the most skilled at convincing people that they can outperform their selfperception.
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Superior Intelligence Superior intelligence is most successful in businesses where there are large numbers of highly qualified or bright people, where they find it easier to accept a superior intelligence leader. They tend to develop an exaggerated respect for brainpower as they have invested so much of their lives in achieving qualifications in contrast to the emotional intelligence, which is more important for leaders than plain IQ. Autocratic The autocratic style is most successful in a crisis, when an organisation has to change rapidly, whether growing or turning itself from decline to growth. It can also be useful during periods of highly competitive battle for market share, when new products are battling it out in the market place. Shepherd The shepherd style is most akin, in its behaviour patterns, to the shepherd who tends his flock. This type of leader treats his or her employees, customers and other stakeholders with care and solicitude. He /she tends to push rather than pull and allows people time to come alongside the leaders point of view. The shepherd tends to be a gentle but strong soul, who usually understands people very well and attracts much love and devotion from the staff and personnel in general. They are usually spoken of in terms such as strong but gentle and dependable. Army General This style follows the classical army analogy. The army general type of leader, like his army counterpart, tries to set great examples but expects his people to follow his commands unquestioningly. They assume obedience and followership. They exude an air of having a total grasp of the situation and exhibit supreme confidence that their solutions and explanations are right, appropriate and need not be questioned. Their command style does not come from a need to order people, or an inability to listen to others, but from self-confidence in their right to lead and ability to do so. In the same way that many lower ranks in the armed forces accept their positions unquestioningly (especially after suitable training), so also do the subordinates of this style of leader. Usually the general is a decent sort, who has a good sense of community and social values of a conservative nature.

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Princely leader The princely leader is seen as a natural aristocrat. He / she appears to have been born to lead and emanates a natural style of leadership, with an easy sense of knowing the right thing to do and when. This type of leader is attractive, radiating a sense of dignity and a natural right to be the leader. This serves to facilitate a preference to be carefully selective about whom he or she talks to, meets or takes data from. This can be useful, in terms of managing his or her time, but can lead to problems with subordinates or business associates who find the style annoying or who are easily intimidated. The princely leader is most successful in long-established businesses that have powerful brands and dependable market share. They are most vulnerable when under attack, because they find it hard to respond with alacrity. Natures native The natures native leader is one who always looks comfortable in the leading position. A typical leader with this style would be UKs Prime Minister, Tony Blair or US President John Kennedy. They look as if leadership is what they were born to do. People who work for these natures native leaders cannot possibly imagine having them as their subordinate. They are envied for the naturalness of their gifts and qualities of leadership, but are rarely resented they dont excite that type of shallow response in people who work with and for them. Natures natives are effective under most circumstances. However, they excel in large-scale, multinational or global organizations, because their style transcends local or national, culturally narrow behaviour and enables them to fit into most nationalities and cultures.

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Facets of Leadership Effectiveness Whether in business, industry, government, or academia, leaders achieve results with and through others. Whether called management, supervision, or administration, the underlying process is to establish direction and the coordination in accomplishing results. In everyday settings the exercise of leadership may generate a range of emotional responses like enthusiasm, apathy, anger, commitment etc. These varied emotions merely tell us that leadership is demonstrated in many different ways. The exercise of effective leadership is a poorly understood process; however, it can be described by identifying six elements, or aspects of leadership. The first three elements, initiative, inquiry, and advocacy, reveal how a leader shapes his or her influences, on outer events. The other three, conflict solving, decision-making, and critique, are concerned with how the leader utilizes the resources of others with and through whom results are accomplished. Initiative: A leader exercises initiative whenever he or she concentrates effort on a specific activity - to start something, to stop something, or to shift the direction or character of a current activity. When leadership is exercised in a vigorous way and others pick up the spirit of it and join in, much can be accomplished. If a leader exerts vigorous effort but others ignore it, then the obvious conclusion is that the initiative is ineffective. Inquiry: The leader needs to have a full and comprehensive grasp of the situations for which he/she is responsible. This involves the element of inquiry: thorough learning about the background and current status of problems, procedures, projects, and so on, and about the facts regarding the people involved in them. Without sound knowledge of situations in all these relevant aspects, it is clear that the exercise of leadership will be less effective than it might have been. Advocacy: Several people who are together in a working relationship are likely to have different points of view on how to approach or deal with various issues. Advocacy conveys the idea that the leader expresses his
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or her convictions and stimulates others to do likewise. All the members of the group let each other know where they stand, what they think, and how they feel about issues facing them. Conflict Solving: Whenever an issue is complex and there is no selfevident solution, various participants are likely to have different perspectives on what to do. Such conditions often lead to conflict. The approach of finding reasons/causes of conflict permits conflict solving by getting to the roots of disagreement or controversy and reaching based on understanding and agreement. The advantages are numerous, and yet it is noteworthy that this approach to conflict solving is rare. The main advantage comes from eliminating the source of tensions. In the absence of tensions, people can continue to deal with one another in an open way without withholding, ridiculing, manipulating, or being defensive. Decision Making: The act most commonly associated with leadership involves making decisions. Decision making, however, can be no stronger than the initiative behind it, the inquiry on which it is based, the advocated positions which have been deliberated, and the resolution of disagreements and controversies through insight. Critique: Critique means learning about how things have been done and how they or similar activities might be undertaken in a sounder manner in the future. When past experience proves sound, it becomes possible to get quicker results, to improve quality, to innovate to do whatever is basic to success better than it has been done previously. Critique frequently is confused with criticism, but the two are not the same. Criticism implies evaluation and judgments of good or bad, relative to personal worth. Critique involves learning from experience what is sound and what is unsound. Criticism is person- centered, while critique is work-centered. In the latter case people are studying how to increase their effectiveness.

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The Role of the Team Leader The team leader has a unique and crucial role in the development of the group. Team members invariably watch their leaders management style and evaluate his or her ability to promote openness, co-operation and team debate. Without effort, personal integrity and trust, a team cannot be developed. The team leader must be aware of the needs of the group and have sufficient understanding of the concept of team building to steer the group through a series of developmental states. An open approach is vital. All issues affecting the group must be talked through, feedback given and received and time spent clarifying expectations. The team leader must demonstrate the high level of openness that is an essential characteristic of the team approach and be watchful towards team members, identifying their individual needs and enabling each to be developed and strengthened as the work of the team continues. It is important to ensure that the following guidelines are followed : All team members are clear about the objectives of the team Individual skills are identified and roles clarified The team is structured appropriately for the needs of the task The team reflects on its work methods and sets targets for improvement The team develops a self-discipline that uses time and resources well The team has sufficient opportunities to meet and work through any problems The team supports members and develops close relationships The team has open relationships and is prepared to confront difficulties and blockages to effectiveness

Leader as a Change Agent There is a distinct link between leadership and change, especially change, that is imposed and can be seen as unwanted but necessary change. We can think of change as being confronted with different circumstances requiring different responses and behaviours on our part, which need to become ingrained ways of how we conduct ourselves. Dealing effectively with change is essentially about being able to alter previous behaviour and develop different behavioural practices that are adequate for changed circumstances. This requires learning, which presupposes the development of different ways of observing and taking action. A leader should be flexible and adaptable in being able to foresee and deal with change in order to stay competitive. The notion of the learning
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organisation was popularized a number of years ago, and what is required now are leaders and who are flexible and adaptable learners. Organisations have been likened to living systems. Just as living systems need to adapt to changes in the environment in order to survive, so do people and the groups they are part of. Biologically it has been shown that adapting is about learning, about not remaining trapped in habitual ways of being and responding. The demands nowadays are for business leaders to be willing to become different observers of what is required; it is through observing differently that creative and innovative responses are generated. Leaders are also, required to do more than that. Their way of being, their ways of observing and acting, also need to be influential in shifting others as learners. To be able to move others out of their traditional ways of observing and learning without alienating them, so that the collective wisdom that resides with many organisational employees becomes an invaluable resource in dealing with the change process. Ways to detect whether a leader can be a change agent How clearly is there an articulated vision? Is there buy in to the vision and does it address the primary concerns of employees? How acutely are the leaders listening to others, and if they arent what are they missing? How do the moods of leaders affect the workplace? How do the leaders rate as learners? And To what extent do their conversational actions generate new insights, productive actions and positive results from others?

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Leadership in High -Tech Environment Technical professionals are highly specialized and managing them according to traditional principles may meet with only minimal success. Technical professionals want autonomy: They are frequently achievement-orientated people who seek motivation from their work. Technical professionals desire for autonomy usually means that they want a large role in setting goals and making decisions. Many would prefer to manage themselves. Technical professionals need a sense of achievement: They often find the greatest challenge in tasks that require high levels of skill and effort; they want to do difficult jobs well and make significant accomplishments. Support and recognition from management and colleagues also generates commitment, along with their organisations and their professions acceptance and recognition of the results they achieve. Technical professionals fear burnout: Burnout happens when the professional loses a sense of accomplishment from work, is emotionally exhausted, and feels powerless to influence change. A fear of obsolescence often accompanies this. When skills are underutilized, apathy, burnout, or alienation may result. Technical professionals are loyal to their profession first: Loyalty to the company often is second. College graduates in entry-level marketing positions, for example, are more apt to align career objectives with the company promotion path than are entering engineers or accountants. Technical professionals resist participating in company missions: With their tendency to pursue professional goals first and their need for control over their work, technical professionals are more resistant than are most occupational groups to committing to mandate organisation goals. Technical professionals need collegial support, stimulation, and sharing: The potential for competition is high among bright, ambitious people with strong egos. It can cause insecurity for some. That insecurity can reduce risk taking and, in time, take a toll on innovation. Collegial support is important to these professionals, many of whom seek an environment that uses the energy derived from different knowledge and experience base. Technical leaders must manage a productive balance between teamwork and individual creativity.

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The Leadership Challenge Special knowledge, strategies, and tactics would be a substantial challenge to leadership candidates with high levels of interpersonal skill and aptitude. The challenge is even greater for most technical leaders, who often come to management positions because of their technical competence, not their inter-personal abilities. Many such leaders assume their responsibilities without adequate role models. And while superior technical ability can influence short-term managerial success, interpersonal effectiveness is necessary for a technical leaders long-term achievement. In general, technical leaders who come from technological backgrounds have abilities, personalities, and interests that are oriented more toward things than people. They can manage the technical aspects of the job but are not adept at managing the people involved in it. But the fast-paced, competitive world of technology requires balanced leaders who are responsive to the needs of technical professionals and to the organisations strategic objectives. Most technical professionals have aptitudes that do not focus on interpersonal skills; their education leaves little room, if any, for courses in behaviour science. In addition, the organisation hires them on the basis of technical competence, and most of them work for someone whose orientation is similar heavily technical, and light on people skills. The training functions in technology-orientated organisations must know how to compensate for that lack. Successful leaders : Coach for peak performance Run organisational interference Orchestrate the professional development of their subordinates Expand individual productivity through team work Facilitate self-management Technical professionals are more self-directed than most occupational groups, so classic management prescriptions with the manager as a controller of work are likely to be demotivating. Coach for peak performance: The most effective technical leaders are coaches; they listen, ask questions, facilitate, integrate, and provide administrative support. They develop ideas rather than demonstrate power by withholding it. They encourage self-management rather than promote dependency.

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Coaching strategies and their accompanying skills are most notable in three critical leadership situations: Aligning individual and organisational goals: The most effective technical leaders are sensitive to blending individual and organisational goals through a balanced leadership approach that relies heavily on coaching. They are able to use technology to serve market needs while remaining sensitive to the needs of the technical professional.

Making performance analysis: Successful technical leaders bring their critical and logical thinking to the analysis of performance problems missed deadlines and cost overruns, for example. They are good at determining whether a performance discrepancy is due to a skill deficiency (rarely the case) or to inappropriate performance consequences (usually the case). Managing Change: Change is a way of life in the technical organisation; the leader is often the one who determines whether people resist or welcome it. Many technical professionals welcome change, challenge, and variety. But further investigation usually turns up a leader who coaches them through change by making certain that they know the reasons for it. An effective coach also involves technical professionals extensively in the implementation of change. Run organisational interference Successful leaders teach subordinates how to take advantage of organisational opportunities, such as engaging in a high-visibility project that might resolve a major quality issue. They are also quick to remove organisational obstructions from the path to innovation. They do so by the following means: Providing resources to support creative endeavours Preventing the organisational bureaucracy from interfering with the technical professionals work Taking steps to gain management support for a professionals idea or proposal. Orchestrate professional development Enriching the job is an important strategy for motivating the technical professional. Variety, an emphasis on performance over process, and challenge must be integral parts of the work. The most effective technical leaders address three critical components of professional development: They provide: the business perspective. Technical professionals often generate ideas, become absorbed in following them, and wander off the organisations strategic path. The leader must focus that energy by
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providing a vision of where the organisation is today and where it is heading. They build: and encourage champions. Taking ownership of an innovative idea and running with it is a powerful professional development experience. The leaders responsibility is to nurture and protect the fragile growth of ideas that might otherwise be trampled by the bureaucracy or uprooted by someone uneasy with the unfamiliar. They facilitate: career development. Although career development is primarily the technical professionals responsibility, effective leaders take a proactive role in encouraging it. Expand individual productivity through teamwork Encouraging innovation requires shifts in fundamental management techniques; the most important of which may be the use of teamwork. Science and technology are becoming too complex for most technical professionals to be able to make meaningful contributions on their own. More and more basic inventions, minor and major breakthroughs, and creative inspirations come from group collaborations.

Facilitate self-management The technical professionals need for autonomy, achievement, professional growth, and challenge finds its fullest satisfaction when the structure of the job and the relationship with the manager promote and support self-management for the employee. Sharing information: Information enhances a sense of empowerment. Professionals who receive as much information as possible about a project have much higher motivational levels. Delegating responsibility: The delegation of meaningful tasks and responsibilities is enriching and empowering. Technical leaders who seek opportunities to delegate and who skill fully communicate and transfer responsibilities maintain motivated project teams. Encouraging upward communication: Endorsing and reinforcing two way communication plays a major role in facilitating self-management. This builds trust and an increased sense of ownership in projects and organisational objectives. Dealing with Problem Members A great deal has been written about problem members of a group. There are an infinite number of these, but the most common are the overly vocal member and the silent member. Give time, the group may in its own way
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silence the vocal member. following:

If not, the leaders can incorporate the

Avoid eye contact with him or her, thus decreasing the opportunity for admission to discussion Deliberately call on other members of the group; Say, Mr. Shah, weve heard a great deal from you lets hear some other viewpoints. If all else fails, the leader can take the vocal member aside at a break and suggest privately that others have contributions to make, which he or she is inhibiting. To encourage a silent member, it is helpful to know the reasons for the silence. Does he or she feel too inexperienced? The leader can suggest, Lets hear from someone else who has a fresh viewpoint. Does the silent member feel above it all? One solution is to say, Mr. Mehta has had a great deal of experience in this. Could you give us some of your views, ____? Or maybe the silent member just doesnt feel like participating at the moment. He or she should be left alone for a while.

Conclusion There is a need to look into training within technology-ridden organisations to develop technical leaders who can address the special needs of professionals. Such training will enable organisations to realize the highest degrees of innovation, teamwork, and sustained commitment among technical professionals. It will also enable to develop the individuals with the successful qualities of a leader. A leader has to be natural. An artificial presence can prevent the leader from being natural, balanced, and rounded. Leaders need each of those qualities, because if they have to waste energy constraining their natural selves then the necessary freedom to be creative and intuitive will be destroyed. The leader needs to be relatively objective in judgements. Although great leaders do not need to be perfect, they need to know how to take the organisation to ever-greater heights of achievement.
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The leader needs to be strategic, visionary, attractive, and fun to work for. Above all, the leader needs to be creative, because creativity is the vital catalyst for the creation of wealth, excitement and fun. Creativity is one of those special attributes that give meaning to life. Todays organisation needs liberating leadership, enabling those in managerial roles to harness the skills and talents of everyone in their particular section. As liberating leaders, they create situations where continuous improvement can occur. They demonstrate, by their own behaviour, how people can be liberated to maximize their skills. They recognize the need for continuing change and urge everyone to meet the challenges that brings, supporting and encouraging them to reach their full potential. In a liberating environment, managers no longer have to take command and control of everything, with a responsibility for all decision-making. Instead, they must become facilitators, coaches, enablers and supporters, encouraging those closest to the tasks to take their own decisions. Liberating leadership should be promoted at all levels of an organisation. It represents a radically new form of leadership that rejects position, status and hierarchy. In short, liberating leadership is Democracy at Work. A leader listens to the ideas, needs, aspirations, and wishes of the followers and then within the context of his own well-developed system of beliefs, responds to these in an appropriate fashion. The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The true leader enables his followers to realise their full potential, both personal and corporate. He is responsible, for identifying, developing and nurturing future leadership. Effective leaders encourage contrary opinions, which to them is an important source of vitality. Leaders owe a clear statement of values to the organisation. These values should be well understood, be agreed to and shape out corporate and individual behaviour. Good leaders owe their followers certain maturity and corporate rationality. Maturity is expressed in a sense of self-worth and belonging, a sense of expectancy and responsibility, a sense of accountability and equality. Effective leaders owe their people space, in the sense of freedom. Finally, the most important of all, leaders are responsible for effectiveness. They are responsible for doing the right thing and must deal with it personally; realising effectiveness comes through enabling people to reach their potential - both, personal and corporate potential.

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