Leadership Concepts Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Leadership Concepts - Term Paper Example Leadership is a concept that receives much talk globally, and has generated a sequence of literature particularly in the field of management (Bass and Stogdill, 1990). There is no uniformity or rather a common definition of leadership. The paper concludes with a list of several recommendations aimed at improving the current leadership skills. Leadership Concepts Excellent leaders have always been associated with a continuous process of learning and not as a result of birth. If one has the desire and the will to become a leader, then an effective leader can come out of the person in question. According to Kidder (1995), it takes not only training to become a good team leader, but it also takes education, experience and a long period of self-dedicated time to study leadership as a skill. For the workforce or juniors to be inspired, an effective leadership has to be, has to know, and has to do a number of things. These things are not achieved while resting on a laurel, instead, they are achieved via continued learning and dedicated study so as to improve the current and already acquired skills as well as learn new skills. This paper aims at looking at the key concepts of leadership; the influence of power on the followers, and evaluate the effectiveness of both transformational and transactional leadership in an organization. Many have defined leadership in various ways. According to Goleman (2000), leadership is a process where a person influences an assembly of other persons with the aim of achieving a common goal. Another definition, put forward by Dwight Eisenhower, â€Å"Leadership is the ability to decide what is to be done, and then getting others to do it† (Larson, 1968). Another definition of leadership comes from Cleeton and Mason (1934), that â€Å"Leadership indicates the ability to influence men and secure results through emotional appeals rather than through the exercise of authority.† The key concept as of these definitions is the abil ity of the person to organize their followers and point them towards achieving a common goal. The difference depends on a number of aspects and the nature of the subjects. For instance, a corporative executive may seek opinion democratically from the subordinates and develop a stratagem to arrive at a common goal. Key Concepts of Leadership In many organizations, numerous personnel are promoted to higher ranks as a result of their hard work. According to Goleman (2000), this is the first mistake companies make. As this paper reports, leadership is a quality that is associated with a number of key concepts. i. Humbleness – arrogance always come to practice during insecure moments, acting as a cover-up. There is no employee who will ever want to see a leader who is remote and haranguing. Instead, they would enjoy working with a leader who is humble and treats them with respect. ii. A good leader will always recognize and appreciate their juniors in the wake of a good performanc e. This has a huge impact on the motivation of the employees, which later yields productive results. iii. One should be a servant. Direct all the efforts towards work and ensure that the juniors have no obstacles that hinder their performance and that they are in possession of all the required tools to accomplish their tasks. iv. A good leader should be visionary in that they can help the juniors to see a better future and excite them on how to get to it. v. Confronting – many classify the word confrontation as a dirty word, but still, one can be confronted positively so as to get others on the right track in a rather gentle way. Confrontation can also be useful in identifying and eliminating from the team ineffective members and those with