UNIT V
LEADERSHIP
Meaning of Leadership
A Leader moves others to act while at the same time coordinating with the help of demonstration. They should be harmonious enough for others to follow their requests, and they should have the basic speculation aptitudes to realize the most ideal approach to utilize the assets available to an association. In business, administration is connected to execution, and any authority definition needs to consider. In this way, while initiative isn't characteristically connected to benefit, the individuals who are seen as compelling Leaders in corporate settings are the ones who increment their organization's main concern. While there are individuals who appear to be normally invested with more administration capacities than others, anybody can figure out how to turn into a Leader by improving specific abilities. History is loaded with individuals who, while having no past initiative experience, have ventured to the front in emergencies and convinced others to follow their recommended game-plan. They had attributes and characteristics that helped them to venture into parts of authority. The terms administration and the managements will in general be utilized conversely, yet they're not the equivalent. Initiative requires characteristics that stretch out past administration obligations. The two chiefs and directors need to deal with the assets available to them, however obvious initiative requires more. For instance, chiefs might possibly be depicted as moving by individuals working under them; however a Leader must move the individuals who follow them. Another distinction among Leaders and chiefs is that Leaders accentuate development regardless of anything else.
THE MAIN LEADERSHIP STYLES:
1. Autocratic or Authoritarian Style:
It is also known as leader centered style. Under this style of leadership there is complete centralization of authority in the leader i.e. authority is centered in the leader himself. He has all the powers to make decisions. There is no two ways communication, only downward communication is used.
It is leader who ran only communicate, he cannot be a communicate. He uses coercive measures. He adopts negative method of motivation. He wants immediate obedience of his orders and instructions. Any breach on the part of subordinates invites punishment. There is no participation from the subordinates in decision making. Leader thinks that he is the only competent person. Under autocratic style no time is wasted in two way communication for seeking opinion or advice. The task gets completed on time.
Edwin. B. Flippo has divided autocratic style of leadership into following three:
(a) Hard Boiled or Strict Autocrat:
He uses negative influence and expects that his orders should be obeyed by the employees immediately. Non compliance of his orders invites punishment. His outlook is “pay for performance”. He makes all decisions and does not reveal anything to anyone.
He is quite rigid on performance. This style is useful for newly employed or the employees having no experience. But this style should not be adopted when employees by nature are hard workers, experienced and understand their responsibility fully.
(b) Benevolent Autocrat:
He uses positive influences and develops effective human relations. He is known as paternalistic leader. He showers praise on his employees if they followed his orders and invites them to get the solutions of the problems from him.
He assumes the status of a parent. He feels happy in controlling all the actions of his subordinates. He wants complete loyalty from his subordinates. He hates disloyalty and punishes disloyal employees. He takes all the decisions and does not want any interference from anyone. This style of leadership is useful only when subordinates do not want to take any responsibility and wants close supervision.
(c) Manipulative Autocrat:
He is manipulative by nature and creates a feeling in the minds of his subordinates and workers that they are participating in decision making process. Like the two other types he also makes all decisions by himself. Non compliance of his orders invites punishment.
2. Democratic or Participative Style:
This style of leadership is also known as group centered or consultative leadership. Under this style leaders consult the group and solicit their opinion and participation from the following in decision making process. Democratic leaders confer authority on the group and after their consultation decisions are taken.
Leaders under this style encourage discussion by the group members on the problem under consideration and arrive at a decision by consensus. Two way communication channels are used. Participation or involvement in decision making process is rewarded. Under this style positive motivation techniques are used.
Exchange of ideas among subordinates and with the leader is given encouragement. Human values get their due recognition. Leaders give more freedom to their subordinates and invite to share responsibility.
Subordinates are asked to exercise self control. Leaders do not delegate authority to subordinates to make decisions but their opinions are sought before arriving at a decision. Under this style subordinates feel that their opinions are honoured and they are given importance and not feel neglected. The leaders delegate responsibility according to experience and knowledge of the subordinates.
Cooperation of subordinates are sought that lead to creativity. This increases the productivity too. This is a very effective style where the subordinates are talented and qualified. It develops a sense of confidence among subordinates and they derive job satisfaction by working under participative leader. It improves quality of decision as it is taken after due consideration to valued opinions of the talented subordinates.
This style of leadership is not free from demerits. It takes more time to arrive at a decision. It is less effective if participation from the subordinates is for name sake. Consulting others while making decisions go against the capability of the leader to take decisions. Leader has to waste lot of time in pursuing subordinates. If employees refuse to work as a team with other members of the group renders the style of leadership ineffective.
3. Laissez-faire or Free Rein Style:
Under this style of leadership there is virtual absence of direct leadership. It is, therefore, known “as no leadership at all.” There is complete delegation of authority to subordinates so that they can make decisions by themselves. There is free flow of communication.
Subordinates have to exercise self control. They also have to direct their activities. It is people oriented style of leadership in true sense of the term. Leader gives free hand to his followers or subordinates. Absence of leadership may have positive and sometimes negative effects.
Free rein leadership may be effective if members of the group are highly committed. The negative aspect creates blemishes on the leader himself because of his incompetency in leading his people. It casts aspersions on the leader. However, this style of leadership provides chance for competent members of the group to fulfill and attain self actualization needs.
It gives chance to take initiative to the member. It gives chance for open discussion and creativity to all. It has free work environment. Members feel insecure and develop frustration for lack of specific decision making authority.
This style of leadership suffers a setback when some member of the group refuses to cooperate. It cannot take proper decision. It may lead to chaos and confusion. This style may work effectively when the subordinates are highly competent, able to exercise self control and can have the capacity to take decisions.
4. Bureaucratic Style:
Under this leadership the behaviour of leader is determined by rules, regulations and procedure. These rules and regulations are followed by the leader and the subordinates both. No one can escape. Hence, the management and administration has become a routine matter. This is apathetic to the employees because they know that they cannot do anything in this regard. It is the rules that determine their minimum performance. Rules allow work without participation and without committed to work. A lot of paper work is involved. Rules lead to red tapism. This style of leadership centres round the rules.
5. Manipulative Style:
As the name suggests the leader manipulates the employees to attain his objectives. Manipulative leader is quite selfish and exploits the aspirations of the employees for his gains. He knows very well the needs and desires of the employees but he does very little to fulfil them. He views these needs and desires as a tool to fulfill his aims. Employees do not trust such leader. He has to face the resentment of the employees at times.
6. Paternalistic Style:
The paternalistic style of leadership maintains that the fatherly attitude is the right one for better relationship between the manager and the employees. All are working together like a family. According to this style of leadership more benefits are to be provided to make the employees happy and extract maximum output from them. It believes in the concept that the happy employees work better and harder.
7. Expert Leadership Style:
The expert leadership style emerged as a result of complex structure of modern organizations. The leadership is based on the ability, knowledge and competence of the leader. He handles the situation skillfully with his talent. The employees feel relieved as they are working under a person who is expert and can handle the situation ably without any problem. But the expert may fail to handle the situation which does not belong to the area of his expertise.
Types of communication
Verbal communication
Do you know that communication and productivity are interlinked? Every successful organization instills a culture of effective verbal communication.
Verbal communication helps deliver messages quickly. It helps employees receive clear directions and rewards good performance with prompt appreciation. All this boosts the morale and, hence, the productivity of employees.
Remember the attendant at your bank branch who gives clear instructions, and is calm, patient, and supportive. That’s because she possesses excellent verbal communication skills.
You can improve your verbal communication skills by developing active listening skills and confident body language.
Nonverbal communication
Have you ever watched a Kathakali performance? This classical Indian dance form portrays mythological stories. The performance embodies three types of characters: the virtuous, those with grey shades, and those who are evil. These characteristics are expressed through postures, gestures, and facial expressions.
Nonverbal communication delivers a message without the use of words. Nonverbal cues through body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice are given and interpreted in this form of communication.
A shrug of the shoulders could indicate indifference while waving of hands could be enough to say goodbye and a simple nod may show acceptance.
Written communication
Written communication is one of the most trusted types of communication. Emails, business letters, project proposals, blogs, books, brochures, and websites are examples of written communication.
This type of communication can be edited, revised, and changed to optimize quality. It can also be kept as a record or proof for further reference.
Visual communication
Visual communication is a graphic representation of ideas. Visuals are created with the help of art, drawings, sketches, charts, graphs, infographics, or videos.
Remember the superhit Amul advertising campaign? One of the longest-running creative campaigns, it is an excellent example of visual communication. The Amul Girl is much-loved and the tagline ‘Utterly Butterly Delicious’ is an all-time hit. Over the years, Amul ads have commented on social issues, politics, global affairs, films, sports, and other topics with ease.
Formal communication
A business meeting, a legal document, a real estate agreement, and an appointment letter are all examples of formal communication.
Formal communication is done through defined channels backed by certain organizational procedures.
Formal language and the use of jargon are hallmarks of this type of communication. The communication usually follows a predefined format or structure.
These are some advantages of formal communication:
a) It streamlines processes.
b) It increases work efficiency.
c) It creates documented records.
d) It reaches the target audience in time.
Process
The communication process follows the steps given below:
1. Sender: The sender generates the message and conveys it to the receiver. He is the one who starts the communication.
2. Message: It is the information that is generated by the sender and is then intended to be communicated further.
3. Encoding: The message generated by the sender is encoded symbolically in the form of words, pictures, gestures, etc. before it is being conveyed.
4. Media: It is the manner in which the encoded message is transmitted. The message may be transmitted orally or in writing. The medium of communication includes telephone, internet, post, fax, e-mail, etc. The choice of medium is decided by the sender.
5. Decoding: It is the process of converting the symbols encoded by the sender.
6. Receiver: The person who is last in the chain of communication process is the receiver.
7. Feedback: Once the receiver confirms to the sender that he has received the message and understood it, the process of communication is complete.
Barriers to Effective Communication
The barriers prevent effective communication due to which misunderstandings may be created. Therefore, it is essential for a manager to identify such barriers and take appropriate measures to overcome them. The barriers to communication are as follows:
1. Semantic Barriers: It is the problems and obstructions in the process of encoding and decoding of a message into words. Normally, such barriers result due to use of wrong words, faulty translations, different interpretations etc.
2. Psychological Barriers: The state of mind of both sender and receiver of communication reflects in effective communication. Emotional or psychological factors also act as barriers to communication.
3. Organizational Barriers: The factors related to organizational structure, rules and regulations, authority relationships, etc. may sometimes act as barriers to effective communication. Rigid rules and regulations and cumbersome procedures may also become a hurdle to communication.
4. Personal Barriers: The personal factors of both sender and receiver may act as a barrier to effective communication. Personal factors like difference in judgement, social values, inferiority complex, bias, attitude, inability to communicate etc. widen the psychological distance between the communicator and the communicate.
5. Premature Evaluation: Some people have the tendency to form an opinion before listening to the entire message. This is premature evaluation and it acts as a barrier to effective communication.
6. Inadequate attention: Inadequate attention to the message makes communication less effective and the message is likely to be misunderstood.
7. Resistance to change: It is a general tendency of human beings to stick to old and customary patterns of life. When new ideas are being communicated to introduce a change, it is likely to be overlooked or even opposed. This resistance to change creates an important obstacle to effective communication.
8. Other barriers: There may be many other barriers such as unclarified assumptions, lack of ability to communicate, mirage of too much knowledge or closed minds, communication overload, shortage of time etc. which cause distortion or obstruction in the free flow of communication and thus makes it ineffective.
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