Introduction
HR professionals need to know about leadership for four reasons: they have to
exercise leadership in persuading others to do things; they are, or should be
concerned with the development of leaders in the organizations; at a senior level
they have to lead their own functions; and they are involved in leading change.
The meaning of leadership
To lead people is to inspire, influence and guide. Leadership can be described as the
ability to persuade others willingly to behave differently. It is the process of getting
people to do their best to achieve a desired result. It involves developing and
communicating a vision for the future, motivating people and securing their
engagement.
Leadership is the process of influencing the behaviour of other to achieve results.
What leaders do
The most convincing analysis of what leaders do was produced by Adair (1973). He
explained that the three essential roles of leaders are to:
Define the task: They make it quite clear what the group is expected to do.
Achieve the task: That is why the group exists. Leaders ensure that the group’s
purpose is fulfilled.
Maintain effective relationships: the maintain effective relationship between
themselves and the members of the group, and between the people within the group.
These relationships are effective if they contribute to achieving the task.
The demands of leaders are best expressed in the following three areas of needs.
Task needs
Individual needs
Group maintenance needs
Leadership styles
This is an approach managers use in exercising leadership when they are relating to
their team members. It is sometimes called management style. There are many styles
of leadership and no one style is necessarily better than the other in any situation.
Types of leaders
To understand the process of leadership it is useful not only to analyze the styles that
leaders can adopt but also to classify the different types of leaders that apply those
styles.
Charismatic leaders
Visionary leaders
Transformations leaders
Transactional leaders
Authentic leaders
Qualities of a good leader
Authority vs power
Sources of power
Leadership theories