Leadership Case

As I proceeded through these eight weeks of studies in Organization Behavior and Leadership, I was introduced to the meaning of Leadership. Leadership - what is it? How does one learn the concept? Before I could answer those questions, I needed to find out the meaning or definition of leadership. I found that leadership has many different types of meanings. It is in each and every one of us in some form or fashion whether we know it or not. However, most people believe that you are born with the characteristic in order to become a successful or great leader. On the contrary; yes good leaders are born with the characteristics skills, however, I believe that you can also learn the skills of leadership. By learning the skills you can be just as successful if not greater than the ones who were born with them.

Leadership as I said has many meanings such as "being a process of guiding individuals, groups, and entire organizations in establishing goals and sustain action to support goals." (Shockley-Zalabak, 2013) It can also mean a function of personal and professional qualities, the conception of a vision, as well as structure and satisfying a sense of collection and carrying it out. Or it can mean "a concept of multi-dimensional facts inclusive of skill, ability, inherent qualities, behaviors and relationships." (Northouse, 2007) As express by Yuki "the definition of leadership is arbitrary and very subjective. Some definitions are more useful than others, but there is no "correct" definition." (Yuki, 1989).

The best way to understand the difficulties of leadership roles is to first look at how leadership has been defined. As indicated in our text (R. Hughes, 2012, p. 4), leadership is defined in many different ways:

 The process by which an agent induces a subordinate to behave in a desired manner.

 Directing and coordinating the work of group members.

 An interpersonal relation in which others comply because they want to not because they have to.

 The process of influencing an organized group toward accomplishing its goals

 Actions that focus resources to create desirable opportunities.

 Creating conditions for a team to be effective.

 Getting results through others (the ends of leadership), and the ability to build cohesive, goal-oriented teams (the means of leadership). Good leaders are those who build teams to get results across a variety of situations.

 A complex form of social problem solving.

Leadership is a science, an art, is rational and emotional all role up in one great big bowl. Leadership includes actions and influences based on reason and logic as well as those based on inspiration and passion. (R. Hughes, 2012, p. 6)

So how can you point out a great leader? Who are they? Well, just look around you, they are all around us. They consist of moms, dads, teachers, soldiers, bankers, politicians, managers, CEO's, and just your average person confronted with a situation that needs a leader to step up and take charge as in the case of the Virginia Tech shooting incident described in our textbook. (R. Hughes, 2012, p. 475)

If you have the desire and willpower, anyone can become an effective leader. The most important development is experience, experience, experience. The more experience you have, the better leader you can become. Leadership is a relationship between leaders and followers. By growing the relationship required you gain appreciation for the personal values of those who would be willing to give their energy and talents to accomplishing shared objectives. As George S. Patton states, "Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results." This is the best advice a leader can give his followers. They will not only respect their leader but they will earn respect from that leader.

You will find these types of people fall in the LMX Theory as well as the Transformational Leadership Model; for they are both a supervisor-subordinate relationship. They both develop different qualities. Highlights of the LMX Theory consist of concentration and talks about specific relationships between the leader and each subordinate, focuses the attention to the significance of communication in leadership, and it is very much valid and practical in its approach. However it fails to explain how exchanges are created and it is not consistent with all followers. It give special treatment to some but not others. In a Transformational Leadership Model, the features are in all departments of an organization, business, etc. However, in order to bring change within these types of establishments, one must use one or all of the four factors within a transformational leadership. They consist of Inspirations Motivation, Intellectual Stimulation, Idealized Influence, and Individualized Consideration. (MSGwebsite) The downfall to this theory