Current Concepts in Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Current Concepts in Leadership - Essay ExampleThe conundrum is how leaders whether good or bad can get others to follow them, in many cases even die and sacrifice what they hold virtually beloved - their lives - in order not to let the leader down. Leadership therefore is the sum total of several personal qualities that a leader has, and it is the almost completed combination of these qualities that spell Leadership.Gardner (1989) listed down the following qualities of almost every leader physical vitality and stamina, intelligence and action-oriented judgment, eagerness to accept responsibility, task competence, perceptiveness of followers and their needs, skill in dealing with tribe, need for achievement, capacity to motivate people, courage and resolution, trustworthiness, decisiveness, self-confidence, assertiveness, and adaptability or flexibility. Think of every leader through history and most of them possess these qualities in spades.Leadership and management are often c onfused because they have similarities but, in reality, mean two different things. The most basic parity is that both leaders and managers have most of the qualities listed above. Nevertheless, not all leaders are managers, and neither are all managers, leaders.There are difference in a few key areas, such as the way they get others to do things (leaders inspire people on the basis of what they are (their personality and charisma), piece managers get others to do things based on their position of aut... In the traditional definitions of management, leadership is seen as just one aspect of management, the others being planning, organizing, and controlling or directing. So while the leader is followed willingly, at dates even blindly, managers rule over their subordinates within the organization.Most companies are founded by leaders but it is managers who chip in them grow, although in many cases, such as the Marriott or Microsoft or Apple Computers, the leaders are able to work e ffectively as managers or they make good managers to run the company and to put order into it. The best combination, of course, is having a manager who is also a leader, or being a leader with managerial qualities. Bennis (1998) best summed up the difference between leadership and management when he said that managers are people who do things right, while leaders are people who do the right thing. Being a leader-manager is therefore a skill worth developing.Leadership Theories and ExamplesThe human race has been grappling with the issue of leadership since time immemorial elections, conquest, great battles, and the rise and fall of civilizations have been all determined by the presence, absence, or disappearance of leadership. This explains why leadership theories have multiplied standardised mushrooms over the last several years, especially with the growth of business corporations. We are so obsessed with what leadership can accomplish (power, wealth, success, and everything else that go with these) that we search for its secrets and its sources so we can either recognize or develop it in ourselves.Among these theories, we can give five that can be better understood with examples in a management setting. These theories have several similarities, and we can group them