Leadership definition<\/u><\/p>\n
Traditionally leadership has been described in the context of the leader having certain traits- physical , mental or cognitive . Some of the newer research and literature is focusing on the \u2018process \u2018 definition of leadership. There is no widely accepted definition of leadership .<\/p>\n
Northouse (2016) defines leadership as- \u201c a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal \u201c<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Leadership as a process<\/u><\/p>\n
To me this means a number of things: first that it is a 2 way exchange, between leader and follower ; secondly it is not a one time event, but rather a continuum of that exchange ; thirdly the roles of leader and follower are dynamic, allowing interchange in different situations .<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Power <\/u><\/p>\n
Traditionally , power has been considered to be synonymous with leadership, and leaders are thought to be the wielders of power ( Northouse, 2016 ). Notably though, Northouse does not mention power in his definition of leadership , and I agree with its omission. I don\u2019t think power is a valuable component of the leadership process. But having worked in organizations with assigned leaders , we all understand that it still retains its influence in hierarchical organizations or institutions .<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Influence<\/u><\/p>\n
In my opinion influence is power. Influence comes from a leader being able to understand his followers, connect with them , and earn their respect.<\/p>\n
Influence has to be differentiated from coercion .\u00a0 A good leader has \/should have the capability to influence his followers willingly towards attainment of a common goal.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Group context <\/u><\/em><\/p>\n For a leader to be effective, he has to be able to influence a group of people towards change. This influence does not necessarily have to extend to the entire group at the same time . A leader can connect with and influence individuals , and\/or a collective for the advancement towards a common goal<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Goal attainment <\/u><\/p>\n Achievement of goals , organizational or personal, is the measure of a leader\u2019s capacity to influence. Organizational goals like productivity, sales etc. are important objective measures of a leader\u2019s capacity to lead. But there are less tangible measures of a leader\u2019s ability, like well-being of followers, community contribution, individual growth and empowerment of followers, all of which are equally important.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n My question<\/u> :<\/p>\n What do you think is the role of power in the modern definition of leadership ?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Leadership definition Traditionally leadership has been described in the context of the leader having certain traits- physical , mental or cognitive . Some of the newer research and literature is focusing on the \u2018process \u2018 definition of leadership. There is no widely accepted definition of leadership . Northouse (2016) defines leadership as- \u201c a process […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":147,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ldrs500","category-learning-activities","post-preview"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9i0gL-I","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/icandothis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/icandothis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/icandothis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/icandothis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/147"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/icandothis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/icandothis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/icandothis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44\/revisions\/45"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/icandothis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/icandothis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/icandothis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}