[MUSIC] Welcome to this session on leadership. Successfully managing people often involves leadership. So what is a leader, and what do we mean by leadership? Well, defining leadership is more difficult than you might think. As Bass pointed out in 1981, there are almost as many definitions of leadership as there are persons who have attempted to define the concept. To give you the flavor of the way that leadership has been defined here are three examples. Here's the first one. Leadership is the process of influencing the activities of an individual or a group in efforts towards goal achievement in a given situation. That was Hercy and Blanchard in 1988. Here's another one. Leadership is a process of influence between a leader and those who are followers. That was from Hollander in 1978. Leadership is the influential increment over and above mechanical compliance with the routine directives of the organization. That was Katsankan in 1978. These definitions suggest that although there may not be a single definition of leadership that all agree to, the many definitions of leadership that exist tend to draw attention to at least three things. First of all, leaders are involved in relationships with other individuals or with groups of people. That is, there are leaders and there are followers. Secondly, leaders influence followers. And last, the influence of leaders or followers may extend beyond insuring that the followers do the things that are ordinarily expected of them. That is leaders may be responsible for developing new ideas and for implementing, developing, innovation, and change. A great deal of research has been carried out on leadership. Until the 1960's, most of this research was concerned with just two objectives. First of all, researchers tried to describe the characteristics of leaders. Secondly, they tried to identify the characteristics and the behavior of good leaders. And in doing so, they assumed that some leaders are better than others, whatever the situation they are faced with. So, what did this research reveal about the characteristics, which separate leaders from followers. A review from Statgil in 1974 suggested that compared to followers, leaders tend to, first of all be relatively intelligent, and have a greater need to dominate and have power. Next, be more self confident than others. Also have more energy and persistence, and have a greater knowledge of the task, which needed to be performed. The evidence that lead us to have a set of characteristics that sets them apart from followers has been questioned by many. And we're not in a position to draw a conclusion, which is firm about it. However, most researchers accept that it is not enough for leaders to have a particular set of characteristics. Instead, leaders must demonstrate these characteristics, in the way they behave. For example, it's not enough for a leader to be intelligent, they must behave intelligently. Second, it's mistaken to think that successful leaders have the same set of characteristics, whatever the circumstances. Rather, the things that make someone a good leader depend on the situation. To take an example, the features that make someone a good leader in the middle of a battle between troops in a war zone, are not necessarily the features that make someone a good leader in a school situated in a leafy suburb. Okay so, if there are no set features or characteristics that make leaders successful whatever the situation, are there types of behavior, ways of acting, that differentiate between leaders? A major research investigation into this question in the United States identified two types of behavior which differentiate between leaders. Okay what are these types then? Well, the first is consideration. This is concerned with the extent to which a leader shows that they trust their followers, respect their ideas, and consider their feelings. Secondly, it's about structure. Structure refers to how much a leader organizes and structures his or her role towards the attainment of goals. It also refers to the extent which the leader organizes and structures his or her followers or subordinates towards the attainment of goals. So, leaders vary in the extent to respect influence and direct the activities of the people they are leading. In other words, the two principle ways in which leaders differ is in relation to which they are considerate towards their followers, and the instinct to which they structure and influence their followers by planning, communicating, coordinating events,, praising, criticizing and similar source of activities. [MUSIC]
