Text 8. Effective Leadership

Effective leadership requires a balance of different qualities and methods that inspire followers to achieve a common goal. Effective leadership include focusing on the goal, on the group, on the individuals and being flexible enough be able to utilize these areas of focus. Early studies concentrated on such methods of leadership as authoritarian, participative and free reign. According to research,effective leaders make use of all three methods but favour one in most situations.

A similar theory of management is called situational leadership. According to the situational leadership theory a telling leader issues instructions and ignores feedback, a selling leader works to persuade followers of the wisdom of a given decision, a participating leader develops decisions together with followers, and a delegating leader allows followers to make decisions and execute them without direct guidance. The theory suggests that an effective leader must be able to utilize each of these styles based on the needs of a particular group.

Another study of leadership by Robert Blake and Jane Mouton analyses leadership on two different scales: concern for people and concern for production.

John Adair's functional leadership model suggests that effective leaders work to meet needs in three different areas: the team, the task, and the individual.

A more recent model, transformation leadership, developed by James Burns and Bernard Bass, focuses on team members and their evolution. According to this model, effective leadership inspires followers not just to contribute to the success of the group and the task at hand but to grow individually, eventually becoming leaders themselves.

The latest 3-level leadership model, also known as 3P- Public, Private and Personal leadership was designed as a practical tool to summarise what individuals have to develop technically and physically to become leaders.

There is no consensus about the individual traits that comprise an effective leader or the most effective leadership styles. Some leadership styles might work in certain situations or with some people but will be less successful in other situations or with other groups.

Answer the questions:

1. What does effective leadership require?

2. What does effective leadership include?

3. What methods did the early studies concentrated on?

4. What does a telling leader issue?

5. How does a selling leader work?

6. What style does a participating use?

7. What does a delegating leader allow followers to do?

8. What does the situational theory suggest?

9. How should effective leaders act according to the functional leadership model?

10. What does the transformation leadership model focus on?