Unit-4
What is Leadership
Leadership is a process by which an executive can direct, guide and influence the behavior and work of others
towards accomplishment of specific goals in a given situation. Leadership is the ability of a manager to induce
the subordinates to work with confidence and zeal.
Leadership is the potential to influence behaviour of others. It is also defined as the capacity to influence a
group towards the realization of a goal. Leaders are required to develop future visions, and to motivate the
organizational members to want to achieve the visions.
According to Keith Davis, “Leadership is the ability to persuade others to seek defined objectives
enthusiastically. It is the human factor which binds a group together and motivates it towards goals.”
Characteristics of Leadership
1. It is a inter-personal process in which a manager is into influencing and guiding workers towards
attainment of goals.
2. It denotes a few qualities to be present in a person which includes intelligence, maturity and
personality.
3. It is a group process. It involves two or more people interacting with each other.
4. A leader is involved in shaping and moulding the behaviour of the group towards accomplishment
of organizational goals.
5. Leadership is situation bound. There is no best style of leadership. It all depends upon tackling with
the situations.
Leadership styles
The leadership style varies with the kind of people the leader interacts and deals with.
A perfect/standard leadership style is one which assists a leader in getting the best out of the people who
follow him.
Some of the important leadership styles are as follows:
1. Autocratic leadership style: In this style of leadership, a leader has complete command and hold
over their employees/team. The team cannot put forward their views even if they are best for the
team’s or organizational interests. They cannot criticize or question the leader’s way of getting
things done.
The leader himself/herself gets the things done. The advantage of this style is that it leads to speedy
decision-making and greater productivity under leader’s supervision. Drawbacks of this leadership
style are that it leads to greater employee absenteeism and turnover.
This leadership style works only when the leader is the best in performing or when the job is
monotonous, unskilled and routine in nature or where the project is short-term and risky.
What is Leadership
Leadership is a process by which an executive can direct, guide and influence the behavior and work of others
towards accomplishment of specific goals in a given situation. Leadership is the ability of a manager to induce
the subordinates to work with confidence and zeal.
Leadership is the potential to influence behaviour of others. It is also defined as the capacity to influence a
group towards the realization of a goal. Leaders are required to develop future visions, and to motivate the
organizational members to want to achieve the visions.
According to Keith Davis, “Leadership is the ability to persuade others to seek defined objectives
enthusiastically. It is the human factor which binds a group together and motivates it towards goals.”
Characteristics of Leadership
1. It is a inter-personal process in which a manager is into influencing and guiding workers towards
attainment of goals.
2. It denotes a few qualities to be present in a person which includes intelligence, maturity and
personality.
3. It is a group process. It involves two or more people interacting with each other.
4. A leader is involved in shaping and moulding the behaviour of the group towards accomplishment
of organizational goals.
5. Leadership is situation bound. There is no best style of leadership. It all depends upon tackling with
the situations.
Leadership styles
The leadership style varies with the kind of people the leader interacts and deals with.
A perfect/standard leadership style is one which assists a leader in getting the best out of the people who
follow him.
Some of the important leadership styles are as follows:
1. Autocratic leadership style: In this style of leadership, a leader has complete command and hold
over their employees/team. The team cannot put forward their views even if they are best for the
team’s or organizational interests. They cannot criticize or question the leader’s way of getting
things done.
The leader himself/herself gets the things done. The advantage of this style is that it leads to speedy
decision-making and greater productivity under leader’s supervision. Drawbacks of this leadership
style are that it leads to greater employee absenteeism and turnover.
This leadership style works only when the leader is the best in performing or when the job is
monotonous, unskilled and routine in nature or where the project is short-term and risky.
