Leadership is a concept that many people have written shout, but few have defined leadership. However, we shall adopt Cole's (1993) and Fullmers (1972).
According to Cole, leadership is a "dynamic process at work in a group whereby one individual over a particular organisation context influences the other group members to commit, themselves freely to the achievement of group tasks of goais". Cole (1973).
In other words of Fullmer (1972). Aleadership is the ability to influence people so that they will willingly to achieve the goals of the leader of the group he represent, here leadership is seen as a two-way process of influence between a leader and his followers with the primary aim of attaining mutual goals
Leadership can equally be defined as any behaviour that moves the group towards the attainment of its goals. It is not material whether this is behaviour that emanated from one person, two or three people or whether it is evenly spread through the group.
Leadership, therefore, refers to that social exchange in which the leader and follower gives and receives benefits while, the leadership relationship is still being maintained by this exchange. As we can see that leadership process does not involve just a person, but it is easier to see if embodied in an individual called the leader. This is because a leader is usually more active in the group and his actions command attention as lhe is the one that makes things happen. He is often the most influential member of the group. In social exchange term, the leader is expected to live up to the commitments and obligations of the group.
Cowly (1982) made a distinction between "leadership: and "headship". He said that an organizational leader who depends entirely on the authority of a legitimized office is relying on headship and not leadership
CHARACTERISTICS OF LEADERS
(1) Leaders are generally intelligent: Leaders score higher than the average of other group member on test or relevant knowledge. intelligence
(2) Leaders are generally sociable measures of social participation co-operation and popularity showed then be higher than average.
(3) They are also highly motivated: Leaders are persistently and possessed of a high degree of initiative.
(4) A leader is more friendly and accessible to his followers, a leader who is not accessible can not accommodate new ideas from his frontier and not command respect.
(5) Emotionally stable: A Leader must be emotionally stabile and capable of exercising self control. Those natural "shock absorbers" needed to absorb pressure, stress uncertainty of future occurrence.
FUNCTIONS OF LEADERS
Nation building is primarily concerned with institution The building of a nation is first and foremost the building of the people that make up the nation which in effect boils down to the building of the individuals themselves, which is the virtue of the leadership followership process. The role or functions of leaders vary according to the different needs of society. Here, we intend to examine some of the roles expected from our leaders in the course of nation building. Odetunde and Adewoye (1997) identified some roles of leaders in nation building.
(1) Goal setting and goal accomplishment: A leader must be able to set goals for himself which must be achievable within the time limit he is in office. He can achieve this by assessing the future needs of the country and the people and to make provision for his goals by planning and working in broad outlines, the things that need to be done and the methods for doing them to accomplish purpose set for the organisation.
(2) Motivation of the followers: The leader must be able to motivate and inspire members to be dedicated and to contribute meaningfully to the development of the society. A leader can thus motivate his followers by being considerate and exhibiting good leadership behaviour by helping his subordinate and looking out for their welfare. He must operate an open door policy. by explaining his actions and by being friendly and available.
(3) Honesty: A leader must not only be honest, he must be seen to be transparently honest. A dishonest leader has no moral justification preaching honesty to his followers. The saying "do as I say and not I as I do" is not acceptable in the role of nation building.
(4) An agent of control and discipline: Discipline is one of the most important virtues of a leader. A leader must discipline himself before he can instill discipline and a sense of responsibility in his followers. He should try to implement or change the behaviour of others by guiding them to obey the rule and to maintain acceptable performance standard.
(5) Conflict management: Conflict is inherent in every social group. Conflict should not be seen as endemic to the system, rather as a manifestation of an ailment which should be "diagnosed and cured" to make the effective functioning of the entire group. Emphasis should placed on selecting and training good leaders who will ensure that disputes are settled amicably to make for the required unity of purpose in the organisation,
(6) Periodic evaluation of programmes: Another important role of the leader is to evaluate on continuous basis achievements or goals. Programmes which are successful in meting the goals for which they a designed should be intensified while unsuccessful ones are modified or discarded.
FOLLOWERSHIP:
Leadership and followership go hand in hand A reference to one logically implies the other. The only perceived difference is on how much the bulk of followers accept the leader. To lead effectively requires that others follow of ther own free will. Leadership and followership are in harmony with each other, in many situation, every individual has qualities of both leadership and followership.
FUNCTIONS OF FOLLOWERS
(1) Guidance of leader: Followers should realize that they are equally leaders in various other ways as such they should be offered positive advice and guidance to their leaders. They should also be objective in their assessment of the achievement of the leader.
(2) Support for the leader: The followers should support the leaders in the various developmental programmes, Lack of support for such programmes will have negative implications on the people's future.
(3) Loyalty: Loyal followers show support and are committed to their leaders, especially in time of crisis. However, loyalty and trust are two sides of the same coin. The leader must be trustworthy before he can demand loyalty.
CHARACTERISTICS OF FOLLOWERS
(1) Followers should have it in mind that they are potential leaders in one area or the other and should emulate all the good qualities of a good leader.
(2) The success of any leader and the group depends to a large extent on the type of support and co-operation the leaders enjoy from the followers. The follower should be able to give the leader moral support at all times and identify with him as a partner in progress
(3) Submission to the influence: Control and direction of a leader is essential in group process. The follower should be submissive to the leader. He should obey all the rules and regulations of the organisation and rally round the leader all the time.
(4) Followers should be honest and tolerant of a leader's shortcomings. Leaders are mortals and can make mistakes. The followers should be objective in their assessment of the achievements and shortcomings of the leader. They should not drag down or pull down the leader through hatred and gossip.
TYPES OF LEADERS
Many types of leadership are suggested in terms of origin. functions or other criteria. No classification really is satisfactory. We present here a list of more or less distinguishable types of leadership drawn from many sources.
The distinction which should be considered as very tentative, are largely in terms of the kind of relationship existing between the leader and his group. Lewin, Lippit and White (1939) trained boys club leaders to play three different types of leadership roles which they called autocratic, democratic and laissez-faire.
(1) Autocratic leader: Give orders, discouraged communication between the boys and was non objective in his criticism and praise of the boy's work.
(2) Democratic leader: Helped the boys plan made suggestion and listened to their suggestions, was concerned with their welfare and participated in the life of the group
The leaders were well trained so that apart from the above the performances were similar. They moves from club to club every six weeks changing their style with each move. The behaviour patterns within the groups under different leaders were carefully recorded and conclusions drawn about the types of behaving found under different styles of leadership
(3) Laissez-faire leader: Opted out altogether and bid not give orders of suggestions unless he was specifically asked.
- (i) The charismatic leader: This type of leader says that followers make attributions of heroic or extra-ordinary leadership abilities when they observe certain behaviours studies on charismatic leadership have been directed at identifying those behaviours that differentiate charismatic leaders from their more charismatic counterparts Some examples of individuals frequently cited as being charismatic leaders include Franklin, John F. Kennedy, Mary Kay (founder of Mary Kay Cosmetic) Ross Perot, Steven Jobs (Co-founder of Apple Computer), Jesus, Muhammed, the pop etc.
- (ii) Symbolic leader A leader with prestige but little power For example European Kings and Queen have such symbolic value, people like Italy or the Soviet Union.
- (iii) Administrative leader, Here the executive leadership stems from the ability to manage or get things done. This type of leader is found in all societies and functions chiefly in business, government and politics. He is necessary in social groupings of any sort. He is the man who gets people to work together to achieve the group purposes. The executive leader may be democratic or authoritarian in his method.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comment