leadership

leadership

Definition of Leadership： A process in which a leader and followers interact in a way that enables the leader to influence the

actions of followers in a non-coercive way, towards the achievement of certain aims or objectives

The Nature of Leadership

-Leadership is both a process and a property .Leadership can be seen as a two-way-process, in where influence is used to direct and coordinate

the activities of a group towards its objectives.

And can be seen as the certain attributes or characteristics that enable people to exert influence

over them.

-leader’s influence is non-coercive, followers must consent to be influenced

-followers anticipate leader will bring about satisfaction of both sets of needs. (both leader and

followers get some of their needs satisfied.)

-Leaders are people whom others accept as leaders

Two approaches to the study of leadership

Descriptive approach to leadership

-Theories that describe leadership in terms of either what a person is or his or her distinctive style of behaviour

-focus on whether a leader is a special type of person and whether there is a most appropriate style

of behaviour for a leader to adopt

Functional approach to leadership

-theories that explain leadership in terms of the functions performed by the leader with respect to

the followers.

-address the question what functions a person needs to perform in order to be considered as a

leader by others.

-leadership is from the perspective of social exchange theory 领导和员工相互影响 -leaders are able to be leaders if they provide something that followers want and, in return,

followers provide something that the leader wants.

-Two models 1. Action-centred leadership (John Adair)

-the effective leadership consists of meeting three sets of interrelated needs, which give rise to

three functions that a leader must perform:

.the task-related function: meetthe group’s needs to complete its task

.the team-related function: meet the group’s needs to hold as a cohesive unit

.the individual-related orientated function: ensure the individuals’ needs -these three needs affect each other

-One of these three functions requires the leader to serve the interests of the group as a whole.

-the three skills required to balance these three functions: aware the group’s process, spot which

area needs attention, bring about changes

2. The vertical dyad linkage (VDL) model (Danseran)

-view leader-member relations dyadically, in which a group consists of a set of vertical dyadic linkages, which the leader as one person in a particular dyad and another group member as the

other one.

-illustrates two distinct sun-groups of subordinates, which has a different relationship with leader:

.in-group members: those on whom the leader relies to go beyond the minimum level of

performance required.

Initiative required to undertake the group’s task, self-starters, have a more open relationship with

leader

.out-group members: people who give only a basic level performance

When have done the necessary, they won’t do more, more distinct form leader

-in-group members obtain different benefits from out-group members and incur different costs. In

return, leader obtains different benefits from each sub-group and incurs different costs to rap these

benefits. -leader should identify those two sub-group members and follow this up with different, then ach

makes its respective contribution to the group task

Leadership and Management

-Manager: a person formally appointed to a role in the organisational hierarchy, associated with

which is the formal authority（with prescribed limits）to direct the actions of subordinates. Among other things the role is concerned with some combination of planning, organizing, direction and

controlling the activities of human resources towards the achievement of set organisational

objectives. -leader: someone who occupies a role which involves conforming to a set of behavioral norms and

expectations emanating from followers, in return for which they confer on the leader a degree of

power that (with prescribed limits）allows the leader to influence their actions. -headship: the formalauthority over subordinates granted as part of a manager’s position

-leadership is conferred from below, headship is form above.

-Leadership is one of the characteristics of a good manager, managers are not necessarily leaders,

but occupy positions of leadership.

-Leadership and management as two complementary activities.

-Leadership and management overlap and may be difficult to distinguish.

Significance of leadership to organizations

-it is less obtrusive and a more effective means of control than simply directing people’s efforts and monitoring compliance.