Analyzing Leadership: Concepts, Key Traits, and Development Strategies

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This essay explores the concept and practice of leadership, defining it as a process of influencing and guiding others towards achieving organizational goals. It highlights the difference between a leader and an autocrat, emphasizing the importance of inspiration and shared goals. Key characteristics of a successful leader, such as honesty, integrity, empathy, decision-making capabilities, and effective communication, are discussed. The essay also examines whether leaders are born or made, considering behavioral theories and the role of cognitive skills. Finally, it distinguishes between leadership and management, noting that while both require certain skills, leaders inspire followers while managers direct subordinates. Desklib provides access to past papers and solved assignments for students.

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Leadership assignment

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Concept and practice of leadership
According to Hoch, Bommer, Dulebohn and Wu (2018) leadership can be defined as the
process which enables an individual to develop skills of influencing, guiding and leading the
decisions and actions of other people who are either working under the individual or are peers
of the individual. In any organisation the development of effective leadership skills is of
utmost importance because the organisational goals, mission and vision achievement is
guided with the help of effective leadership skills. Thus it can be suitably said that leadership
is the process which if effectively executed helps in guiding the actions of other individuals
and development of effective goal execution.
From my personal experience I have seen that being a leader is not an easy task. In group
projects in my academic time when I was chosen as the group leader, I found the other team
members waiting for my order in every aspect of the project in order to complete the same.
From these activities I realised that there is a difference between a leader and an autocrat.
Being a leader it was my responsibility to help the team members by guiding them and also
by asking their views about the project. However giving orders only for execution purpose is
not the sole function of a leader. Thus as rightfully stated by Turnnidge and Côté (2018)
leadership is an inspiration that should be given to others which will help them to pursue the
vision same as that of the leader and develop a situation of shared effort and shared goals so
that the goal can be achieved easily and the fruits of shared success can be enjoyed.
Characteristics of a successful leader
It is highly important for an individual to develop the personality traits and characteristics in
order to become a successful leader. Some of the major important characteristics which
makes a good leader are honesty and integrity, ability to empathise with the employees,
decision making capabilities, innovative mindset, good clear and crisp communication,
commitment and passion towards work, ability to inspire, charismatic nature and emotional
attachment with other individuals. Ford and Harding (2018) stated that a successful and a
good leader is the person who knows the process of leading the individuals towards the
visions and also has clarity about the mission and vision that needs to be fulfilled.
Goldenhar, Schwatka and Johnson (2019) has rightfully stated that honesty and integrity are
the two major qualities that should be compulsorily present in a leader in order to become
successful. If the individual leader is not honest enough then the leader will not be able to

make the followers believe in the idea and also believe in the vision. Thus it is essential for
an individual to stick to the core values, honesty and integrity and always maintain humble
attitude so that the individuals who are following the leader are able to connect with the
leader and are able to independently follow them. Frankel and PGCMS (2019) further stated
that high level of confidence is also required in order to make the followers believe in the
vision and motivate them to work towards fulfilment of the same. Laureani and Antony
(2018) argued that in this regard over confidence can cause problem and may make the leader
autocrat in nature. Thus it is not desirable that the leader will always order or force the
followers to do the work against their will. Rather it is desirable that the leader will take the
decisions of the individuals into account and politely convince the followers so that they
themselves get ready to do the tasks. Sebastian et al. (2018) stated that probably the most
difficult quality of a successful leader is to inspire the followers in order to ensure that they
logically follow the person. For instance in history examples of leadership shows that
although the vision of Hitler as a leader was a negative one, however the ability of Hitler to
inspire the people had helped him to create such a large base of followers who blindly
followed him without any logic. As rightfully stated by Bell (2018) when the actions of an
individual inspires other individuals to dream more, learn more and do more work, then the
individual can be rightfully termed as a successful leader.
Commitment and passion towards work is also a very important aspect of a successful
leadership strategy. Since the followers generally tend to follow all aspects and qualities of a
leader hence high degree of commitment and passion will also help a leader to gain the
respect of the subordinates and infuse new energy in the team members, which helps them to
perform better. Furthermore Northouse (2018) added that unless and until an individual is
able to communicate easily and without any ambiguity with other individuals it will not be
possible for the individual to become a good leader. Thus it can be stated that a good
communicator can always be a good leader. For instance in case of Barrach Obama, the ex
president of USA, the communication played a very important role in motivating the people
of the nation and making them believe in the dreams of Obama which he had seen for the
country. His words had the power to motivate not only the countrymen but also his
subordinates and the other parliament members which helped him to improve the current
situation of the country and also helped him make people believe that terrorism will be
demolished from the country for the betterment of the countrymen.

Stegen et al. (2018) opined that it is highly essential for an individual to have rational
decision making power in order to become a good leader. Apart from having future vision
capabilities, leader should have the ability to take the right decision at the right time.
Decisions taken by leaders have a profound impact on masses. Thus the leaders should not
only take decision for the present but should also focus on developing decisions which will
help in attaining the future and long term goals. It is thus necessary that a leader should have
logical thinking ability so that the concerned person is able to make rational decisions. Any
wrong decision taken by the leader will not only effect a country or an organisation but will
also affect the overall productivity of the followers or the employees who are attached with
the concerned leader.
On evaluation of the characteristics of a leader and comparing the same with the followers it
can be seen that an individual is generally considered to be a leader when the individual
shows high degree of innovation and creativity in the approach of work and decision making
ability. For instance Steve Jobs of Apple was not only the CEO of the company but also a
successful leader because he was able to create the innovative idea of using IOS as the
personalised operating system for iPhones. Moreover the marketing strategies and the
employee welfare strategies adopted by Steve Jobs also highlights the degree of innovation
which the person had infused within the organisation which helped in making Apple the
biggest smartphone producing organisation in the world. Thus it can be rightly stated that it
the level of innovation and the ability to think innovatively which distinguishes between a
leader and a normal follower. Lastly Bolden (2016) stated that for being a successful leader
it is always required that the person is able to feel emotionally for the followers and is able to
empathise with the grievances and issues that the employees or the followers are facing.
Unfortunately as history also depicts majority of the leaders are of dictatorial in nature and
hence their leadership was not sustained for a long period of time. On the other hand,
nowadays due to work pressure and workings within cross cultural environment, the leaders
are becoming empathetic in nature. thus if a leader has the ability of understanding the
problems, needs and the issues that the employees are facing then the employees will also
cooperate with the leader in fulfilling the vision. Furthermore DuBrin (2015) stated that
leaders should also take the views and the opinions of the followers and the employees so that
the decisions which are being taken are taken as per the agreements and suggestions of the
employees. Understanding the problems of your followers and feeling their pain is the first
step to become an effective leader.

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Development of good leadership
Durkin and Gunn (2016) has rightfully stated that a good leader is made and not always born.
Thus it can be successfully said that family background, educational experience or any in
born skills are not the requirement for a good leader. Rather tricky situations and adverse
organisational issues lead to create good leaders who develop their own set of skills and
nurture their own leadership strategies. In the history of organisational success it can be seen
that majority of the successful leaders have been developed and not born. They have
developed their leadership behaviours in order to manage tricky situations and also in order to
help the companies get success in long term. Boin, Stern and Sundelius (2016) stated that as
per the Behavioural theories, people can be made into successful leaders with the help of
teaching, learning, training, development of perception and development of observational
skills. However Gopee and Galloway (2017) stated that psychologists and neuroscientists are
of the opinion that leaders are born and not made. it is necessary for an individual to have
certain in born cognitive and intellectual skills in order to be trained to become a successful
leader. As per the researches, in case of leadership positions the frontal and the prefrontal
lobes of the brain of an individual is used to the highest extent. Thus an individual who does
not possess the frontal cognitive skills like the problem solving skills, language and proper
communication skills, expressing of emotions and ability to judge logically are not able to
become good leaders even after formal training is given to them.
However Thorpe (2016) argued that in many cases it has been seen that a person who had no
signs of being a leader proved to be a good leader with the training in communication and
language, by showing the person the works of renowned leaders and also by making him
solve logical reasoning tests in order to develop the logical and critical thinking skills.
McCaffery (2018) argued in this respect that all individuals up to a certain limit can be
trained and taught to behave as desired, however absence of internal cognitive skills will
make the leadership process for short term for the individual who has been trained. In this
regard Bush, Bell and Middlewood (2019) has commented that leadership is a combination of
personal characteristics, competence level and performance of the individual, while
competence and performance can be triggered though training and development, it is not
possible to train an individual to develop personal characteristics. Thus in case of charismatic
leadership styles, participative or situational leadership styles where the leader acts as an idol
for the followers and develops emotional connection with the followers, it is impossible to
develop the leadership skills within such individual. The emotions and the empathising nature

of the individual come from within and from the in born personal characteristic of the leader
which cannot be created with external sources.
Distinction between leadership and management
Management and leadership are very close concepts. However there is a sharp distinction
between both depending upon the qualities and the characteristics of the individuals selected
for the positions. According to Renz (2016) every successful manager is required to develop
good leadership skill and every successful leader is also required to develop effective
management skills. However Gopee and Galloway (2017) pointed theoretically and
practically the major difference between a leader and a manager is that people follow a leader
and in case of manager people work under a manager. Thus when an individual is assigned
the role of managing people, it is not necessary that the individual will by default develop the
leadership skills. Bush Bell and Middlewood (2019) has rightfully stated that leaders have the
capability of creating vision that is followed by thee followers. They have the capability of
turning a vision into reality. They motivate the followers to work along with them in order for
betterment of the company as well as the betterment. The skills of a leader are to think
beyond the other individuals. On the other hand Boin Stern. and Sundelius (2016) stated that
a manager is the member of the company and is majorly employed by the company in order
to fulfil the goals and objectives attainment of the company. Thus the managerial duties are
generally formal and are subjected to the wishes of the company. The major motive of the
manger is to ensure betterment of the company and fulfilment of the company goals. Thus an
individual who is appointed in the role of a manger generally tend to make the employees
follow orders rather than taking initiatives of getting ideas from the employees or caring
about the employee welfare. However Bush Bell and Middlewood (2019) pointed that a
leader always does not have to be authorities figure. In case of leaders who have been
participative in nature and understands the emotion of the employees, they have become more
successful and the employees working for them have also been successful in their career.
From the practical point of view it is seen that in case of a leader no permanent or formal
power is given to the leader. The power which is given to leader is temporary in nature and
the power which is given to the manager is permanent in nature. Since the managers are
majorly concerned with fulfilment of the organisational vision hence the employees do not
tend to follow the managers. Unlike the mangers, Bush Bell and Middlewood (2019) stated

that in case of leaders depending personality, behaviour and beliefs the followers
independently.
Boin Stern. and Sundelius (2016) opined that there is difference between the qualities
possessed between a leader and a manager. The leader is generally people oriented in nature
and the manager is generally company oriented in nature. Moreover the task of the leader is
mission driven and on the other hand the task of the manager is task driven thus the manager
majorly focuses on the well being of the company. Further it can be stated that in case of
leaders the level of innovation is high and hence the leaders have the capability of taking high
level risks. On the other hand a manager is responsible for maintaining risk mitigation
methods and controlling of the risks. Furthermore the leaders have the responsibility of
coaching and training other individuals on the other hand the managers do not train or coach
the individuals rather the manager’s focus on development of the job roles and job
descriptions and directly give orders to the employees. Bush Bell and Middlewood (2019)
stated that it is the role of the leaders to keep the team focused on the completion of the task
and also motivate the employees.
Own experiences on leadership
While working in different groups and also in academic projects I have been assigned the role
of a leader in many cases. Although I have not received any prior training of leadership role
however I have been able to deliver the roles quiet successfully. In some of the projects I
faced the difficulty of matching my opinions with the fellow team members. on the other
hand in some cases I faced the difficulty of making the team members believe in my ideas.
Thus while depicting the role of the leader, I have come across situations which has helped
me to understand that firstly I need to develop my communications skills and in order to
make the fellow team members believe in my ideas and make the follow me, I will be
required to first develop a good rapport with them. Make them understand that the decisions
which are being taken are taken for the betterment of the team members. However when first
I was selected as a leader I made a mistake of imposing my decisions on the fellow members.
This was a mistake from my end and this made a negative impression on the fellow team
members and they did not want to follow my orders. Later I understood that it is also
necessary to be a participative leader. For being a participative leader I was required to take
views and opinions from my fellow team members in relation to the decisions about the
project.

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In the later situations when I was selected as a leader, I was able to focus on developing good
communication skills, rational decision making ability and other aspects like the development
of the empathising skills. In the next project I focused on development of empathising skills
which has helped me to understand the problems and the issues of the team members. I was
thus able to resolve the team quarrels and develop team bonding within the team members.
Further I was also able to resolve the issues like disparity in thinking capability among the
team members. At the end of the project I noticed that none of the decisions were matching
and the team members were not able to reach to a single conclusion. Thus as a leader at that
time I focused on taking the views of all the concerned members and asked them to vote for
the best alternative. While working as a leader I have also been able to develop risk taking
abilities and rational decision making ability. This has helped me to become a more matured
individual and helped me succeed in life further. Thus it can be stated that being a leader has
helped me to understand the aspects of the team members and has helped in understanding
the role of a successful leader.

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