Rajasthan Board RBSE Class 12 Business Studies Notes Chapter 5 Leadership
In management world, leadership holds a vital role. The success or failure of an organisation to some extent, depends on the quality of leadership.
Leadership is the process and the art influencing the behaviour, attitudes, activities of people to work willingly and enthusiastically towards the accomplishment of group goals.
Definitions of Leadership
- According to Chester I. Barnard, “Leadership is the quality of behaviour of individu-als whereby they guide people or their activities in organising efforts.”
- According to George R. Terry, “Leadership is the ability to influence others to will-ingly contribute for mutual objective.”
- According to Theo Haimann, “Leadership is the process by which an executive imagi-natively directs, guides and influences the work of others in attaining specified goals.”
Characteristics of Leadership
- Leadership is a personal quality of a person. It is the behavioural quality and ability to influence others towards accomplishing a goal.
- Leadership presupposes existence of followers. There can’t be a leader without followers.
- Leadership is the art of influencing and inspiring people to work towards an objective.
- Leadership is the ability of influencing behaviour of people to work willingly to achieve some common goals.
- Leadership involves interpersonal relations between the leader and his group members.
- In leadership, the followers are influenced by the conduct of their leaders only. There-fore, a leader has to be a role model for them.
- Leadership is a dynamic art. No particular style of leadership is effective in all situations.
- Leadership can be formal and informal.
- One of the major characteristics of leadership is that all the managers are not leaders.
Qualities of a Leader/Leadership Qualities
1. According to Henry Fayol, a leader should have following qualities :
- Health and physique
- Competence and mental balance
- Moral values
- Knowledge
- Managerial abilities
2. According to Ordway Terd, a leader should possess the following qualities :
- Physical and neuro energy
- Sense of purpose about goals and direction
- Enthusiasm
- Technical mastery
- Integrity
- Leadership
- Technical skills
- Friendliness and affection
- Decisiveness
- Intelligence
- Faith
- Maternity
3. According to Chester I. Barnard, a leader should have the following qualities :
- Decisiveness
- Responsibility
- Politeness
- Intellectual capacity
- Ability and endurance
- Social sense
- Impressive personality
4. Stogdill has identified the following qualities of a leader :
- Physical and structural qualities
- Intelligence
- Self confidence
- Willpower
- Initiative
- Courage
- Zest and enthusiasm
- Originality and alertness
- Socialising
5. C. L. Urwick has found the following qualities in a leader :
- Coin-age
- Willpower
- Flexibility of mind
- Knowledge
- Strong character
6. George R. Terry and Franklin have suggested the following qualities for a leader :
- Energy and strength
- Emotional stability
- Knowledge of human relations
- Personal motivation
- Communication skills
- Decision-making skills
- Teaching ability
- Social skills
- Technical competence
7. General description of qualities of a successful leader is given below :
- Sound health
- Sharp intelligence
- Self confidence and willpower
- Ability and tolerance
- Sound character
- Capacity of taking stable decisions
- Teaching and technical ability
- Ability to motivate/inspire
- Foresightedness and vision
- Human approach and capacity to build human relations
- Sense of responsibility
- Team spirit
- Sociable, tactful and having sense of humour.
Glossary
- Leadership : Leadership means the quality of a person to persuade others, to seek the defined goals by guiding them,
- Leader : Leader is the one who has the basic leadership qualities and can influence others.
- Foresightedness : It is the quality of a leader by which he can analyse the future out-comes and possibilities.
- Sound Character: The character, behaviour, actions of a leader are always a source of inspiration to others. Sound character includes good behaviour, sound health, etc.
- Sociable : It means a feeling of cooperation, team spirit and harmony with other people.
- Important Definitions of Leadership
- According to Chester I Barnard, “Leadership is the quality of behaviour of individuals whereby they guide people on their activities in organising efforts.”
- According to Weihrich and Koontz, “Leadership is the art or process of influencing people so that they will strive willingly and enthusiastically towards the achievement of group goals.”
- According to George R. Terry, “Leadership is the ability to influence others to willingly contribute for mutual objectives.”
- 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.”