Leadership concepts and applications

Business

Leadership

The biggest difference between managers and leaders is the way in which they motivate the people who work or follow them. Leaders have management jobs, but they realize that they cannot buy loyalty, especially to get people to follow them down a difficult path, and so they act as leaders too. In real general terms, the difference is: leadership is setting a new direction or vision for a group that they follow and management controls or directs people and resources in a group according to principles or values that have already been established ahead of time (What is the Difference Between Management and Leadership, 2012).

Leadership style refers to the techniques used to direct a group of people. In addition, leadership style refers to the technique and theories used to resolve problems and make decisions. In contrast, leadership traits portray the characteristics and personality traits that are familiar among leaders or those in a position of authority. Characteristically, leadership traits include physical, emotional, social and intellectual characteristics. Managers exercise control over their workers, just as world leaders wield control over a country. Leadership styles run the range from autocratic, in which leaders have absolute control, to a more participative style, in which leaders support participation and criticism from workers. Other leadership styles can comprise a bureaucratic leadership style, which necessitates all team members to hold fast to strict rules and measures, and a laissez-faire style, which leaves team members to their own devices when carrying out work (What Is the Difference Between Leadership Style & Leadership Traits, 2012).

2. Jack Welch is probably the ultimate manifestation of the charismatic chief executive. What is not really understood at all though is how Jack Welch is able to wield so much influence and power over the most far-flung, complex organization in all of American business. He does it through sheer force of personality, coupled with an unbridled passion for winning the game of business and a keen attention to details many chieftains would simply overlook. He does it because he encourages near-brutal candor in the meetings he holds to guide the company through each work year. And he does it because, above all else, he's a fierce believer in the power of his people.

Welch's profound grasp on General Electric comes from knowing the company and those who work for it like no other. He has created something unique at a big company: informality. Making the company informal means violating the chain of command, communicating across layers, paying people as if they worked not for a big company but for a demanding entrepreneur where nearly everyone knows the boss (How Jack Welch Runs GE, 1998).

3. For a person to be a successful leader it is significant to have some basic characteristics. It helps that an effective leader be persuasive to help aid change. A good leader can take information, put it into a plan that makes the change look suitable and then induce the workers that the upcoming change is good for the company. Being a persuasive and charismatic leader can help to make change easier for all workers. For change to profit the organization, all of the likely outcomes must be examined. A good leader takes the time to ask as many questions as possible, and run the change thoughts through every possible worst and best case situation. One of the questions that a leader will experience throughout change is whether the consequences of the change were taken into consideration. By looking at every possible angle, the leader can give the outcomes of the test studies (the Five Top Qualities Needed for an Effective Leader to Facilitate Change in an Organization, 2012).

Where there is change there will be questions. Workers may question the skill of the manager, and there may be questions about how the change will affect the outlook of the company. A good leader can calm many of those problems by remaining positive throughout the change process. When the leader stands behind the change idea and offers nothing but positive words about it, that confidence helps to bring together workers around the change as well. Change can cause many workers to become worried. A leader that shuts himself up in his office while change is being put into practice is sending the wrong message to the whole organization. Communication before, during and after the change course is vital to making sure that change causes as little commotion as possible (the Five Top Qualities Needed for an Effective Leader to Facilitate Change in an Organization, 2012).

To go along with confidence, a good leader needs to stick to the rules of change and see it through as intended. Some change may necessitate letting workers go, or making changes to job roles that some workers do not like. But if the leader has the confidence that the changes are for the good of the company, and then he must continue to be unwavering in his or her execution of those changes (the Five Top Qualities Needed for an Effective Leader to Facilitate Change in an Organization, 2012). In order for a person to be a successful leader they must possess some, if not all, of these qualities. The best way to develop these in a person in to lead by example. A good way to do this is by coaching and mentoring so that one can show another how it is supposed to be done.