Leadership Theories
Leadership is an essential component of the effective management. It is rather obligatory
issue in every stable community of people. Leadership is different from management,
which involves a fairly rigid and formalized system of domination – submission. The
leader is a symbol of community and group behavior pattern.
The leader’s role in the management of the staff is determined by his/her efforts associated
with the selection of worthy candidates for membership in the working group. Leader must
direct the group energy towards organizational goals. Leadership is also reflected in the
impact on the members of the group; it encourages them to show their strong personal and
professional qualities and keeps their characters from showing weak traits. The
effectiveness of the leader is manifested in its ability to manage social conflicts.
Leadership is defined as the process of social influence in which the leader is looking for
voluntary participation in various activities to achieve organizational goals, or as a process
of influencing a group activity, which is aimed at achieving the goals (Stogdill, n.d.).
Phenomenon of leadership is rooted in the nature of man and society. It is mostly similar to
leadership in the environment of animals living collective and herding lifestyle. There is
always the cleverest, persistent and determined individual who is a managing leader of a
herd in accordance with its unwritten laws dictated by the relationship with the
environment.
Efficient functioning of complex systems depends on the notion of leadership. The work of
these systems is based on the needs for self-organization, hierarchy, and functional
capacity of their elements. The efficient ordering of the system and functioning of its
elements are achieved through vertical (management – submission) and horizontal
(correlative bonds) distribution of functions and roles. Scholars and researchers used to
analyze any system considering it as pyramidal organization. They state that leader is the
one who takes place on the top of the pyramid.
Being a manager and a leader in the organization is not the same thing. Manager relies on
hierarchical power basis working with his subordinates. Leadership as a type of
relationship management is based more on the psychological impact of the process. This
process requires a high level of interdependence of its members. In contrast, the actual
management of leadership requires followers, not subordinates. Actually ‘boss –
subordinate’ relationship is replaced by the ‘leader – follower’ relations.
Differences between a manager and a leader:
It is obviously that, in practice, there is no perfect match to these two types described
