Alexander 10.04.2014 20:36
There are points in my book where I bring up the topic of leadership. Despite the fact that the book is dedicated to the hired worker.
Remembering the organization of educational work in socialist organizations during the USSR, I come to the conclusion that at present something similar should be created at the current capitalist enterprises in Russia.
A lot of Soviet “educators” were oppressive. The ideologically based approach to communism was also depressing. But it was possible to turn at least somewhere. Later, already under capitalism, they began to create jobs for corporate psychologists at enterprises. I have not seen these times any more. Not a single enterprise where I worked in the post-Soviet period had full-time psychologists. There were situations when I had to turn to freelance psychologists - friends of friends. In the most extreme situations, he went to church to see a priest and, in what seemed like hopeless situations, he went on a pilgrimage to a monastery.
It is my firm conviction that if there is an informal leader in a group, in a team, he must be a sage. There is a saying: “A village is not worthwhile without a righteous man.” To paraphrase it in relation to enterprises, we can say that an enterprise, a company, without a righteous person cannot stand.
Only a sage can consciously support the head of an enterprise.
I welcome any initiative to create your own business. Of course, there are products whose production and sale I do not support. These products are known and there is no need to mention them here.
Everyone can easily remember themselves or their colleagues who from time to time complain to their boss: this is not so, this is not that way. Who, if not a sage, can explain to such an employee how to behave, what to do and what to refrain from doing in certain circumstances.
Where to find a righteous person for a company? — Should I invite a priest? What, the psychologist is no longer satisfied? In my opinion, neither the first nor the second option will be correct. The sage must be his own. That is, he must be an ordinary hired employee, in some department, as they used to call “non-exempt.” This could be an accountant or a mechanic, an engineer or a janitor. Yes, it doesn’t matter at all who and in what position this person works! Experience, worldly wisdom and, of course, spirituality are important.
— How did you manage to combine seemingly incompatible things: the idea of leadership and the work of an employee?
— Every person necessarily manifests himself as a leader in some way. And since this is so, there is no need to suppress your leadership qualities even as an employee. This is one of the ideas in my book. A manager can manifest himself as a leader in one case, as an administrator, and in another case, as a professional in his industry. An employee can act as a leader as a psychologist who harmonizes relationships in a small group, even if he does not have a psychological education.
- Curious. It’s good when an employee has a psychological education. How can this leadership, harmonizing relationships, manifest itself, as you say, in a person who does not have a psychological education?
—Have you ever met people whom just being around feels good? And, after all, some of them do not have a higher education at all.
- Yes. I remember. So, do you still mean the extensive life experience of the employee whom you classify as a leader?
- In general, yes. But it doesn't have much to do with age. That is, I want to say that such leadership can be learned. And I show this in my book.
— Can you tell me about this in a few words now?
- In a nutshell it will work out something like this. A person is attracted to another person by some force. To put it in terms of the heroes of the once popular film “Day Watch”: light to light, and dark to dark. I'm interested in light ones. So this light kindles in a person with his favorite thing, with his dream. You are familiar with the expression: “your eyes are burning.” That's why they burn, because there is fire, light inside. That, in fact, is the whole point.
- So, all that remains is to find a dream?
- Exactly! You've hit the nail on the head!
— And again I ask you to tell me in a few words about ways to achieve your dreams. There are probably a lot of them?
- Probably yes. I call this kind of dream, real true. That is, the dream of buying, for example, a car for personal needs, is not true in my understanding. In general, the dream is always connected with helping other people. This is the criterion for the truth of a dream. And what you love leads you to your dream. And here for me there is also a criterion of truth. When others feel good around me, doing what I love, it means that my favorite thing is true.
- Somehow too simple. It seems to me that you are not telling me something...
- Do you want to complicate things?
- No, but how do you still find your true favorite thing and true dream?
- Search. Do you think I can assign his dream to someone? I found it, checked how your dream reflects on your loved ones - it’s good for them, it’s good for you, which means this is your true dream.
“You could probably do this all your life, but never find it.” But what about those closest to us who need to be supported and provided for?
“That’s why people strive to find a job that is not related to their dreams. But dreams and favorite things are usually put off until retirement age. Gain in speed - lose in results. ...True, in retirement they spend more time on treatment than on their own dreams. However, some devote themselves to gardening, others to needlework. A dacha, a vegetable garden, potatoes and endless memories of one’s career, which are listened to out of politeness... It’s just that the desire to create, as a rule, has already atrophied by then...
- Well, how can you combine what you love and what you don’t like?
— This is perhaps the most interesting question! From time to time at work, people “wake up,” as I call it. At these moments they realize that the work for which they receive money is not their favorite. I'm not talking about all people now. Of course, someone also has a favorite job, for which they also pay money... So, the usual first desire is to immediately write a letter of resignation. And this is the worst decision. You need to look around, look at everything with new, “awakened” eyes. ...And start creating! That is, I want to say that now you need to do two things at once: the first thing is to earn your salary, and the second thing is to realize yourself as an individual. Right there at my workplace. Of course, this may take years. Even if this is so: years will pass, then, in any case, there will be no regret about a life lived aimlessly...
All creative activity of the “awakened person” begins to manifest itself as the harmonization of space through communication. At the same time, everything can come at the same time: you establish friendly relations with a colleague and he suddenly tells you your favorite thing. After all, from the outside you can see better! That's what they say. ...And in the future, your favorite business will generate income!
A true leader not only knows where he is going, but can also inspire others to go with him.
Once upon a time, one of the wise men said that leadership is the art of inspiring ordinary people to achieve extraordinary results. At present, this definition should be adjusted, if only because today we need to inspire extraordinary people. This is a natural process, since more and more bright personalities appear in teams, and it is they who can ensure the speed of development of an enterprise or firm, and find ways to resolve issues in a competitive environment.
However, everything is not so simple in our life. If you ask the question: “Do you want to inspire people to achieve their goals and develop leaders?”, then the majority of Russian leaders will answer unequivocally: “No!” It would seem nonsense, but everything is very understandable.
To inspire, you need to be a professional in your field, be able to set a personal example of what you voice for your team, for your team. And your vision should be voiced in such a way that it inspires people to take action, the work becomes exciting, and people should feel involved in what is happening. A resonance must be created that corresponds to the emotions and expectations of people, when in a large common task everyone sees the fulfillment of their goals.
And in Russia, a large group of leaders was formed who got to their positions by the will of fate: the notorious blat, related clans, by inheritance. These managers themselves do not see themselves as leaders and they also do not need such in the team - it is difficult to manage the latter, you need to cooperate with them. It’s easier to call yourself managers and instead of charging people with energy, arousing their interest, just tugging, suppressing, controlling, delving into the little things. And quite often the most capable specialists are forced to look for work elsewhere or try their hand at individual work.
The resulting shortage of professional leadership is the reason that this issue is not just a popular one today. To study and practice leadership skills, many trainings and relevant literature are offered, and the experiences of the most successful people are studied.
Recognized as the most outstanding business leader of the twentieth century, says: “The best inspirational leaders do not instruct their people in detail on what to do and how to do it, step by step. The best leaders are those who create ideas and describe a vision for the future that inspires people to take action.” He notes that people will do only what is their responsibility for a manager, and everything they can for an inspiring leader.
If you want to be effective, focus on solving strategic issues. Figure out what people, investments, actions are needed to ensure the achievement of your goals.
You should see the whole picture, and not waste time on details that others can do better. To get results, you need to create a team of specialists who are able to solve specific issues independently, and with trust, without petty control, more professionally than you yourself.
Welcome all ideas, no matter who they come from, support everyone, without taking away the right to make mistakes.
An inspiring leader must energize his team not only through words, but above all by example. The leader not only sees in which direction to develop, but has unshakable faith in the correctness of the chosen path and the successful achievement of the goal.
If you unlock the internal energy of team members, instill faith in them, charge them with inspiration, then people change emotionally. Activities bring satisfaction, people seeing their value become confident and strong. This contributes not only to the effective solution of professional problems, but also to the achievement of personal goals.
Ten tasks of an inspiring leader:
- Create an inspiring vision and declare a crusade.
- Make relentless innovation a religion.
- Encourage entrepreneurial creativity and experimentation.
Each of us is a leader in a certain area: at work, among friends, in the family. For many, being a leader means controlling others. Those who hold this viewpoint one day discover that the more they try to control others, the less influence they have over them. Paradox!
For some, leadership is directly related to power, but they forget that you can be a leader even if you occupy a completely ordinary position. When a man sees that something needs to be done, his ordinary position will not deter him from taking the initiative; he will simply take responsibility and do what he has to do. True leadership has nothing to do with superiority over others, high position or prestige. It is associated with the disclosure and realization of the potential of the people around us. Leadership is not the power of one, but the fruit of the joint work of many people.
Unfortunately, today many men do not want to be leaders because of their own apathy and laziness. They would be more than happy to live their lives quietly and simply, while others are responsible for them. However, society needs leaders. If you have to be a leader, will you be up to the challenge?
Every man who has five qualities, which we will tell you about in our column today, can be a leader.
1. Ability to make decisions
A good leader can think through every task from start to finish. The decision must be made during the calm before the storm, and the coming stress, fear and chaos will confirm your decision. In any situation, there is an opportunity to retreat, a kind of emergency exit, a chance to escape responsibility and choose safety and tranquility. But isn’t victory, a worthy way out of a difficult situation, the best reward? A true leader makes a decision and, having made it once, does not doubt the correctness of his choice. He knows what is right and does not suffer in the grip of indecision, but accepts the challenge with equanimity. A good leader does not panic, does not yell, and does not try to hide his helplessness by feigning frantic activity. Next to such a leader, everyone feels extremely confident; he is like a strong anchor in a storm.
How to learn to make decisions
Don't wait for a crisis situation to force you to act. Think about your goals and develop a plan for how you will respond to a crisis situation, what you are going to do in case of each specific difficulty. Don't wait until the problem grows to enormous proportions and you panic and begin to lose ground. Practice on some everyday tasks and you will see: no panic, no hesitation - you will just remember your plan and follow it.
2. Willingness to take risks
He who doesn't take risks doesn't drink champagne. High achievements come only to those who are willing to take risks. A leader who chooses only the beaten path will never achieve success. The prospect of living without risk is, of course, attractive; this safe haven of security and comfort has often lured many into the trap of apathy and routine. A weak person will always hesitate to take a risk: he is attracted by what he can get as a result, but at the same time paralyzed by the fear of failure. Remember that you can also learn a lesson from failure: without ever failing, a person will not know the limits of his capabilities, his potential, his abilities. Anyone who never has enough courage does not notice that he is taking the biggest risk possible: he risks stopping his development, becoming lazy in his soul and not noticing anything around him that would be worth his efforts.
How to learn to take risks
Fear of risky ventures is a common thing. You can't take big risks if you haven't taken small risks. Therefore, find for yourself in everyday life the opportunity to take risks for minor reasons. It could be as simple as a conversation with a stranger. Think about what scares you: for example, having to speak in public - and do it. If you overcome yourself every day, you will develop the ability to overcome your own fear and understand that it is still worth taking risks. Eventually you will learn to take big risks when your position as a leader requires it.
3. Willingness to share rewards with subordinates
A good leader, highly confident in his own abilities, humbly admits that no success is his own achievement, no matter how great his role. He is deeply grateful to all those whose efforts achieved this great result. A leader understands human nature: all people want recognition, they want to be appreciated. When an organization or just a group of people achieves success, a true leader shows his gratitude to his subordinates. When people see a leader being humble and sharing success with them, they are even more willing to follow him.
How to learn to share success with subordinates
Sharing success is easy. Often, a public thank you or a simple “Thank you” card is enough for a person to understand that he is appreciated. When you thank or praise someone, try to be as specific as possible. This way the person will understand that you are well aware of what exactly he is doing; will feel that they are interested in him.
4. Willingness to take the blame
This is exactly the parameter by which you can distinguish a good leader from a bad one. A true leader is ready for two opposing scenarios at the same time. He is ready to share success with his subordinates and at the same time knows how to behave if things end in failure. If a leader starts looking for someone to blame for a general failure and abdicates all responsibility for it, people will lose trust in him. A true leader takes responsibility for all the consequences of decisions made, including bad ones. Even if the failure is the subordinate's fault, a true leader will think that he did something wrong. He may have given unclear instructions or placed the person in the wrong position. Once the leader has taken responsibility, he begins to take steps to correct the situation.
How to learn to take blame
When you take responsibility for failure, you must be sincere. Admitting your own failure should grow from your confidence that it is you who are primarily responsible for the matter. If you admitted guilt just for show, it will be like a boy, not like a man. Don't pretend to be a martyr or seek approval for taking responsibility. In addition, there is no need to publicly flaunt this responsibility and then in an informal setting tell your subordinates that you took the blame on yourself to save their skins. It will look fake and undermine your credibility.
5. A true leader has strong nerves that help him survive storms and disappointments and start every day with a clean slate, without focusing on his successes and without being depressed by defeats.
Even the strongest leaders in history have had moments of stunning success and brutal defeat. A true leader focuses on what he can change and what he can influence, and the past is not one of those things. If you fail, you will learn from it and then immediately stop worrying - and failure will benefit you. Constantly tormenting over what has already passed will not help you. Moreover, the people who follow you will lose faith in you.
Celebrate victories with your employees and move on. If a leader is fixated on past achievements, this indicates that he is not setting new goals for himself. As we are taught, it is often the arrogance of leaders that causes their decline.
How to stop focusing on the past
Read biographies of great people. As you learn more about the lives of great leaders, you will realize that even they experienced moments of profound failure. You will understand that just one failure does not mean that you are incapable of leading. And the example of famous rulers will show you that a good leader can achieve a lot.
One of the first to put forward this thesis was the American scientist and business consultant Jim Collins in his book “From Good to Great. Why some companies make breakthroughs and others don't" (Mann, Ivanov and Ferber, 2010). Based on the results of his six-year study, he argued that the most valuable qualities for a leader are modesty and great determination.
Later, Dusya Vera of the University of Ontario and independent researcher from Texas Antonio Rodriguez-Lopez, based on an extensive literature review and interviews with many managers, identified 13 characteristic traits of a “humble” leader:
- Open to new ways of making decisions
- Wants to learn from others
- Recognizes his limits and his mistakes and wants to correct them
- Takes a pragmatic approach to failure
- Asks for advice
- Helps others develop
- Sincerely wants to serve the cause
- Respects others
- Shares praise and rewards with colleagues
- Calm about success
- Not narcissistic and does not accept flattery
- Doesn't suffer from complacency
- Economical
Strengths of Humble Leaders
Vera and Rodriguez-Lopez argue that humble leaders give a company a competitive advantage because they are able to recognize opportunities, recognize and respond to external threats. Companies run by humble leaders tend to encourage employees to learn, provide better customer service, and adapt effectively to change.
Rob Nielsen and his colleagues at Seattle University believe that a humble leadership style promotes solidarity among subordinates with the leader, greater trust in the leader, increased employee motivation, and greater willingness to sacrifice. According to Collins, another reason humble leaders are successful in the long term is that they place a high value on grooming their successor to ensure the company's future success. In addition, with them the company usually does not face public scandals related to fraud and the like.
Examples? The authors of the book “Leadership Virtues: Challenges for Global Managers” (1) Armenio Rego and Miguel Pina e Cunha tell the story of Anne Mulcahy, who worked for Xerox for many years, even without thinking about taking a leadership position in it. However, she was appointed CEO at a time when the company was almost bankrupt, led it out of a severe crisis and successfully managed a multi-billion dollar business for 8 years. Knowing that she lacked expertise in some financial matters, she did not hesitate to learn from her employees. Anne always avoided publicity, rarely gave interviews, and did not care about fame. And she made sure to prepare a worthy successor for herself - Ursula Burns (2).
And this is just one example. Sam Walton (Wal-Mart), Herb Kelleher (Southwest Airlines), Ingvar Kamprad (IKEA), Mary Kay Ash (Mary Kay Inc.) are just some of the big names on the list of “humble” leaders featured in the book.
1. “The Virtues of Leadership: Contemporary Challenges for Global Managers” (Oxford University Press, 2012)
2. Anne Mulcahy stepped down as CEO in 2009, remaining as chairman of the board.
INTRODUCTION
1. Leadership Fundamentals
1.2. Approaches to the Study of Leadership
2. The theory of leadership qualities. Advantages and disadvantages.
2.1. The concept and essence of the theory of leadership qualities.
2.2. Analysis of the theory. Advantages and disadvantages of leadership theory.
CONCLUSION
LIST OF SOURCES USED
ANNEX 1Leadership Theories
APPENDIX 2 Qualities most often found in leaders
APPENDIX 3 Features of approaches to the study of leadership phenomena.
Introduction
The topic of leadership has recently become increasingly popular, especially in the business environment, which is primarily due to the requirements of objective reality and the increased need for “strong personalities.” Today, the labor market in Russia is becoming more stable and understandable. Gone are the fertile times for “headhunters,” when it was possible to find a highly qualified specialist in an unknown company and lure him away with twice the salary. Therefore, now, in order to both retain and attract employees, the manager needs reliable leadership tools.
Leader - a person who creates an image of an attractive future and brings it to the consciousness of his followers. True leaders are not those who hold high positions or have power, but those who control the hearts and minds of people. Therefore, a leader needs to create force fields around himself, magnets that attract talent, and not just employees trying to take jobs: He is able to change, first of all, his own life, forcing circumstances to work for himself, and not against him.
Leadership is a life position, not a momentary whim. That is why the leader should be a little ahead of everyone else. To effectively perform a leadership role requires special skills and qualities, called in modern business lexicon competencies.
Successful leaders are distinguished by a creative approach to the assigned work, understanding of themselves, their own moods and emotions, as well as the ability to regulate and direct them in the desired direction. They also understand the emotional state of others and are able to establish and maintain relationships with a wide range of people. Another special quality sets leaders apart from the general environment - strong motivation, an unbending desire to achieve their goal.
Effective leadership and effective management (management) are not the same thing. Management in the context of business management, it is the habitual manner of behavior of a leader in relation to subordinates in order to influence them and encourage them to achieve the goals of the organization.
Leadership - is the art of managing people, the ability to influence individuals and groups of people to motivate them to work towards achieving goals, i.e. the ability to form and clarify your ideas and dreams so that they motivate others to act. Therefore the leader. in modern management theory, he is seen not as a "boss" or "commander", but rather as a person who "creates a world in which others want to live." This approach implies competent management of relationships and interactions within an economic organization or social system in order to advance towards the set goal.
There are many means by which you can influence and lead others. Leadership theory attempts to identify and predict which leadership characteristics are most effective for management and why. Scientists have used three approaches to determine the significant factors of effective leadership: the personality approach, the behavioral approach, and the situational approach.
Chapter 1. Leadership Fundamentals
1.1 Nature and definition of leadership
Organizations that achieve success differ from their counterparts mainly in that they have more dynamic and efficient management . In modern Russian, under the leadership, from the point of view of the owner,This means either an individual (manager) or a group (managerial staff), or a process, i.e. a way of managing an organization with individual characteristics.
Synonyms for the words management and leader are the wordsleadership and leader.
Leadership issues have been of interest to people since ancient times. However, the systematic, focused and widespread study of leadership began only from the time of F. Taylor. A lot of research has been done. However, there is still no complete agreement on what leadership is or how it should be done. be studied.
The nature of leadership can be better understood if it is compared to management itself. Being a manager and being a leader of an organization are not the same thing. Manager in its influence on the work of subordinates and building relationships with them, it primarily uses and relies on official the basis of power and the sources that feed it. Leadership as a specific type of management relationship is based more on the process of social influence, or rather, interactions In the organisation. This process is much more complex, requiring a high level of interdependence among its participants. Unlike management itself, leadership presupposes the presence in the organization followers, and not subordinates.
Respectively boss relationship-subordinate", characteristic of the traditional view of management are replaced by relationships.
So, if we take the director of a plant as an example, his position is that of a manager. the position opens the way for him to leadership. The process of influencing people from a position held in an organization is called formal leadership. However, in his influence on people, the director cannot rely only on his position. This becomes clearly evident when it turns out that one of his deputies, who has less formal power, enjoys great success in managing stressful and conflict situations or in making decisions.
problems vital for the enterprise. This deputy enjoys the support, trust, respect, and perhaps even love of employees for his competence, prudence and good attitude towards people.
Being a manager does not automatically mean being considered a leader in the organization, since leadership is largely characterized by an informal basis. You can hold the first position in an organization, but not be a leader in it. In the above example, the deputy in the organization would rather be considered a leader than his immediate superior - the plant director.
The process of influencing through abilities and skills or other resources needed by people is called informal leadership. The informal nature of the leadership position is largely due to the use of the personal basis of power and the sources that feed it. The ideal for leadership is to use an effective combination of both bases of power.
In the course of studying the problem of leadership, scientists have proposed many different definitions of this concept. According to J. Terry, leadership is the influence on groups of people, encouraging them to achieve a common goal. R. Tanneibaum, I. Weschler and F. Massarik defined leadership as interpersonal interaction, manifested in a certain situation through the communication process and aimed at achieving a specific goal or goals. G. Kunz and S. O'Donnell believe that leadership is associated with influencing people in pursuit of a common goal.
Force and coercion in leadership are often replaced by motivation and inspiration. As a result of the leadership approach, influence is based on people's acceptance of the leader's demands without overt or direct expression of power. A leader's ability to influence people gives him
The basis of leadership is a specific type of management relationship or leadership type. This is a leader-follower relationship. Historically, the leadership type of relationship arose a little earlier than the “boss-subordinate” relationship? appeared and took shape during the first industrial revolution. Starting from childhood, following a leader is perceived quite naturally by us. Are these also the parents in the family? are these the teachers at school? These are also the heroes with whom young people want to associate themselves. The presence of the image of a leader in the individual microcosm of people is as old as the person himself. The majority recognizes the fact that leadership is identified with the presence of relationships associated with the human psyche between the leader and his followers.
The early stage of leadership management relationships is characterized by the fact that someone one occupies a central position in the community, and se the rest are located, as it were, on the periphery. Governance is exercised through a centralized authority that dominates the entire community.
With this type of leadership, the follower spends his energy for the benefit of the group/organization headed by the leader, without actually having any personal rights. This type of leadership relationship is called the “master” relationship.-- slave". The leader's power in this case is absolute and can extend to decisions about the life and death of members of the led community. Usually, changing the leader's chosen course of action is no longer within the control of the followers.
The effectiveness of an organization based on this early type of leadership relationship is manifested in its ability to quickly, in a short time, carry out quite difficult tasks in the least favorable conditions. This is achieved by uniting everyone around one leader. However this
at the same time it is also a weakness of this type of relationship. Firstly, this is due to the fact that the implementation of any organizational changes depends on the presence of the leader’s corresponding desires. Secondly, Having achieved the goal, the leader often tries to maintain his power by artificially complicating the situation, which is not always in the interests of other members of the organization. Third, the departure or removal of a leader upsets the organizational situation indefinitely, which in turn leads to a corresponding decrease in effectiveness.
This type of leadership relationship still exists in business and is the most common there. The greatest correspondence of this type of leadership to the external environment is observed in family, trading and farming businesses.
In general, leadership relationships are distinguished by the fact that followers recognize leadership as an integral part of the group/organization only when it has proven its competence and value. A leader derives his power from followers because they recognize him as a leader. To maintain his position, the leader must provide them with the opportunity to satisfy their needs that cannot be achieved otherwise. In response, they satisfy the leader's need to dominate and rise above them, and also provide him with the necessary support in achieving organizational goals.
Failures befall leaders for various reasons, but success comes to leaders largely when they have fairly similar abilities and skills. A study of the work experience of many practicing leaders shows that to be successful they need to have the ability to create an image of the future state of the organization and communicating it to followers. Another characteristic of a successful leader is that hegives followers the corresponding rights and powers to
implementation of the goal expressed in the vision, can admit their weaknesses and attract the necessary resources, including human resources, to eliminate them. A leader becomes attractive to followers due to the ability to see what will ultimately be achieved as a result of his and the followers' efforts. However, this is not any goal or any future state of the organization. To a large extent this is what the followers want (ineffective leadership) or can (effective leadership) have. Additionally, a vision becomes attractive if it is larger or better than the existing reality, i.e. to a certain extent, idealization of the future state is allowed. The vision captures the imagination of followers and motivates them to commit themselves to realizing it to the extent that they share the leader's vision. A vision that inspires followers and makes them believe in the success of the cause.
In communicating the vision to followers in a way that inspires enthusiasm and commitment, a leader can be helped by the use of effective communication. In modern conditions, people can be motivated to action by the fact of their direct conscious participation (through property or process) in decisions and their creative implementation, which involves vesting them with appropriate rights and powers. This means that a leader must have the ability and skill divide your Power with your followers, making them part of the common cause, and not blind executors. In modern conditions, effective leadership is not an iron or firm hand, but a high sensitivity to the needs of followers, which is manifested in the development of employees, in including them in group work, in helping them achieve personal goals.
1.2 Approaches to the Study of Leadership
It is known that to date, more than ten thousand different types of research on leadership issues have been conducted. Using two variables or two dimensions(dynamics of behavior and level of situationality), we can distinguish the main groups of leadership.
Behavioral dynamics reflect how a leader is viewed: in statics (analysis of leadership qualities) or in dynamics (analysis of patterns of leadership behavior). In the first case leadership is conceptualized primarily in terms of relatively permanent and sustainable qualities of an individual's character, i.e. It is believed that a leader has certain innate traits that he needs in order to be effective. In contrast, the behavioral approach is based on inferences drawn from researchers' observed patterns of leadership behavior, i.e. the actions of the leader, and not the qualities he inherited.
The second dimension is related to the level or degree to which situationality is adopted as the basis of analysis within a particular approach to the study of leadership. At one pole there are approaches that lead to the idea of universality, at the other - situationality is recognized as critical, decisive for effective leadership.
The combination of two variables ultimately results in four types of approaches to the study of leadership in organizations. First type includes approaches based on the analysis of leadership qualities (leadership theories, theory (<Х» и теория «У» Дугласа МакГрегора), необходимых эффективному лидеру в любом организационном контексте.
Second type considers leadership as a set of patterns of behavior inherent in the leader also in any organizational environment
Third type involves the study of leadership qualities, but depending on the specific situation (concepts of situational leadership: Tannenbaum - Schmidt, Fiedler, Hersey - Blanchard, House Mitchell, Stinson - Johnson, Vroom - Yetton - Yago).
Fourth The type represents a number of new approaches that again study leadership qualities, but in connection with a specific situation (the cause-and-effect approach, or “attributional theory”, the concepts of the transformative leader and the charismatic leader).
Features of approaches to the study of leadership are presented in Table 3
Chapter 2. Advantages and disadvantages of the theory of leadership qualities.
2.1 The concept and essence of the theory of leadership qualities.
The theory of leadership traits was created on the basis of identifying the qualities inherent in ideal leaders - heroes. The essence of this theory is to explain the phenomenon of leadership by outstanding personality traits. As one of the prominent representatives of trait theory, E. Bogardus, writes, “superior intellectual gifts give an individual an outstanding position, which sooner or later leads to leadership.” Leadership theoryqualities or structural theorysets itself the task of identifying the universal personality structure of an effective leader, defining its characteristic traits or characteristics.
Many researchers have tried to determine the set of characteristics that make a person a leader.
These researchers and characteristics are presented in Table. 1
At the same time, in accordance with the level of development of production at the stage under consideration, they placed either physical strength or intellect in first place. Thus, studies of Russian leaders have identified ten main characteristics characteristic of a modern leader:
· ability to form a management team;
· strategic vision for business development;
· ability to manage strategic changes in business development;
· ability to make decisions under conditions of uncertainty;
· factor of self-discipline and organization;
· the ability to delegate authority and control the achievement of the necessary results;
· ability to establish constructive relationships within the team;
· ability to establish and maintain constructive relationships with external parties;
· detailed knowledge of business processes and production specifics of your enterprise or industry;
· the ability to negotiate and convince oneself of the correctness of one’s position.
· In general, there are four groups of leadership qualities: physiological, psychological, intellectual and personal. These qualities and their characteristics are presented in table. 2
In general, the structural approach encountered a number of intractable problems:
· identifying the optimal set of characteristics turned out to be impossible;
· the approach completely ignored the group context in which leadership is exercised;
· the approach could not reveal the cause-and-effect relationship between leadership and individual personal characteristics (whether certain traits characterize the leader or whether successful leadership forms specific traits);
· in the context of this approach, individual traits appear as static formations devoid of development;
· the low correlation of personality traits with behavioral manifestations of leadership, strictly speaking, does not allow us to consider these characteristics as reliable predictors.
The phenomenon of leadership occupies a special place in political psychology due to its brightness and entertaining nature. If for political science the main problem is power, then for political psychology it is the specific expression of this power in the “human factor” of politics. This particular expression has two forms. On the one hand, power in the political-psychological dimension is the ability of the ruling subject (“the top”) to force oneself to obey, that is, some potency of a leader, political institution or regime. On the other hand, power is the readiness of the “lower classes” to obey the “highest”. This is how two sides of the same coin arise: the ability of the “tops” and the readiness of the “bottoms”. What the “specific weight” of each of these components is depends on many circumstances in each particular case.
The phenomenon of leadership the most studied problem of political psychology. It is here that the bulk of research, concepts and attempts at theoretical generalization have been accumulated. When studying this section of political psychology, the most productive is a constant reference to the history of the problem, an in-depth historical excursion into previously conducted research. In research into the phenomenon of leadership, there is still no “final diagnosis” that would allow us to briefly summarize and generalize the achievements, discarding obviously incorrect concepts.
The phenomenon of leadership is the most rewarding topic for political psychologists. Engaging in it ensures the interest of the general public and demand
the politicians themselves. That is, at the same time, it brings a rare combination of fame and money. All of the above explains the increased attention that is being paid to this problem. Taking this into account, let us consider the accumulated scientific data as broadly as possible. Note that each subsequent approach did not cross out the previous ones, but built on top of them. This is how a voluminous, multidimensional understanding of the phenomenon of leadership has emerged.
Let us skip, due to pure descriptiveness and lack of serious analysis, the background to the study of the phenomenon of leadership. Attempts to examine it politically and psychologically are the property of the entire written history of mankind. However, until the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, the main approaches to the problem were purely descriptive. Analysis became a property of the 20th century. Various theories have closely tried to explain the nature of leadership and identify the factors influencing this phenomenon. In general terms, several groups of such theories can be distinguished.
"Hero" and "Trait Theories". The theories of this group are among the most ancient. Let us briefly mention only some of their origins. As is known, a significant part of political and psychological traits and characteristics are determined by sociocultural circumstances. Thus, the ancient Egyptians attributed to their emperor “powerful expression” in his mouth, “understanding in his heart,” but “his tongue is the tomb of justice.” Homer's Iliad revealed the four qualities of leaders necessary, according to the ancient Greeks: justice (Agamemnon), wisdom (Nestor), cunning (Odysseus) and valor (Achilles). Lists of these or similar qualities are found in a variety of cultures: True, leaders’ behavioral models and “sets” of leadership “traits” have changed more than once over time. Nevertheless, the images of heroes were, are and always will be. In any case, for now there are still supporters of the understanding of history as the creation of “heroes”, great people. This means that the lists of “heroic” traits will also multiply.
In the 20th century, well-known representatives of the “heroic” theory (T. Carlyle, E. Jennings, J. Dowd, etc.) tried to study the qualities that are “hereditary” and “help to attract the masses.” Then, following the “heroic” theory, the “trait theory” tried to answer the question of what properties a leader should have as a special subject of activity. Its supporters (L. Bernard, W. Bingham, O. Ted, S. Kilbourne, etc.) believed that certain psychological qualities and properties (“traits”) make a person a leader. They considered the leader through the prism of a number of factors. Firstly, such factors included his “abilities” - mental, verbal, etc. Secondly, “achievements” - education and physical development. Thirdly, “responsibility” dependence, initiative, perseverance, desire, etc. Fourth, “participation” activity, cooperation, etc. Fifthly, “status” socio-economic status, popularity . Sixth, “situational traits” of personality were considered important.
Disappointment with the structural theory led to the promotion of the concept of a “leader without traits.” Despite its shortcomings, the structural approach invariably arouses the interest of practical management. Even non-ideal tests, built on the achievements of the structural approach, make it possible to carry out professional selection of leaders. The testing is primarily aimed at identifying five characteristics that have consistently demonstrated a high positive correlation with successful leadership:
· intelligence;
· dominance;
· self confidence;
· high activation (energy) level;
· professional knowledge and skills relevant to the task being performed.
The authors tried to overcome the shortcomings of the structural approachbehavioral leadership theories.This approach considers leadership in the context of the external behavior demonstrated by the leader and attempts to find some stable set of behavioral characteristics that ensure the success of the leader.
The structural approach implies the presence of “ready-made”, static traits of a leader, i.e. a leader must be born. The behavioral approach views leadership not as a given set of personality traits and abilities, but as a form of behavior that can be mastered and that can and should be taught.
2.2Advantages and disadvantages of the theory of leadership qualities.
Trait theory has a number of shortcomings.
First, the list of potentially important leadership qualities turned out to be almost endless. For this reason, it became impossible to create the “only true” image of a leader.
Secondly, for various reasons, such as the failure to find ways to measure many leadership qualities, as well as due to the failure to recognize possible differences depending on the organization or situation, it has not been possible to establish a close connection between the considered qualities and leadership and help in practical identification the last one.
Summarizing what has been said, we can conclude that the approach that studies leadership qualities is undoubtedly interesting, but, unfortunately, has not yet helped practice much.
Extensive case studies have been conducted to test trait theory. They largely refuted this theory, because. it turned out that upon detailed analysis, the individual qualities of a leader almost exactly coincide with the full set of psychological and
social characteristics of personality in general. In addition, in some areas of activity, primarily in the field of entrepreneurship, high intellectual and moral qualities are more of an obstacle to taking a leading position than a condition for success. Over the course of many years, and often throughout their lives, many outstanding abilities of people turn out to be unclaimed and do not find application.Indeed, many famous leaders and leaders have shown and continue to show certain original and strong qualities. However, history also knows other examples: when political leaders are mediocre, dull, not brilliant, gray personalities. It is not without reason that the German writer Lion Feuchtwanger (1884-1958) once noted that “power fills even an empty person with content.” Consequently, not only certain personality traits are important, but also the circumstances corresponding to them.
All this does not mean a complete rejection of the trait theory. It is obvious that in order to occupy a leading position in conditions of political competition, certain psychological and social qualities are really needed. However, their selection varies significantly. Depending on historical eras and characteristics of specific states of the world. Even today, the personal qualities that give a chance for political success differ significantly, for example, in Sweden, Afghanistan, Korea, Ethiopia, etc. In addition, in many, mainly undemocratic states, political leaders often become mediocre, gray individuals who do not have a strong personality.
From the point of view of the situational approach, leadership qualities are relative. One person can show the traits of a leader at a rally, another in everyday political and organizational work, a third in interpersonal communication, etc. In general, leaders are distinguished mainly by their willingness to take responsibility for solving a particular problem, as well as their competence.
The paradox of the “refuted” theory is as follows. Our analysis of publications on leadership reveals a contradictory picture of the attitude of researchers towards the legitimacy of further use of the theory of leadership traits. The overwhelming majority of researchers, either explicitly or implicitly, subscribe to the opinion that the theory of leadership traits has become obsolete. And simultaneously with this recognition (and despite it), in subsequent parts of their works they necessarily call certain specific psychological characteristics as “true leadership” traits, thereby actually, and not in words, sharing the ideology of the leadership theory we are analyzing. Thus, the theory of leadership traits in modern psychological science “lives and wins” despite the recognition of its empirical and conceptual inconsistency.
Since leadership researchers have not the slightest reason to count on a massive neurotic fragmentation of consciousness, the reason must rather be sought in the degree of reliability of the empirics that supposedly refutes the theory of leadership traits. Carrying out a search in this direction, another paradox is revealed: almost a hundred years of scientific development of the topic of leadership have not led to the construction of a holistic understanding of the essence of leadership as a social phenomenon, shared by at least the majority of scientists.
Until now, “leadership is like that abominable snowman, whose footprints are everywhere, but he himself is nowhere to be seen.” And this automatically means that the inconsistency of empirical data on leadership traits can be predetermined not by the falsity of the original theoretical premise, but simply by the fact that different researchers, under the general slogan “leadership,” study outwardly similar, but psychologically different social phenomena.
Conclusion.
The first of the four theories, the “leader trait theory,” explains the phenomenon of leadership by outstanding personality traits. According to this theory, any person cannot be a leader.True leaders are not those who hold high positions or have power, but those who control the hearts and minds of people. To effectively perform a leadership role requires special skills and qualities, called in modern business lexiconcompetencies. The study of mental, or intellectual, qualities and their connection with leadership has been carried out by many scientists, and, in general, their results coincide in that the level of these qualities is higher in leaders than in non-leaders.
Summarizing the above, we can say that the essence of the “leader trait theory” is that individuals with special personality traits become leaders.. However, subsequent studies have shown that the correlation between these qualities and leadership is quite small. So, if the average intellectual level of followers is low, then being too smart for a leader means facing many problems. This, apparently, was due to the fact that the success of a leader largely depends on his abilities and ability to solve problems and make the right decisions.
Personal business qualities are largely in the nature of skills and abilities acquired and developed by the leader in performing his functions. Their importance for success increases across the levels of the organizational hierarchy. However, their precise measurement is difficult. It has not yet been proven that these qualities are determinative of effective leadership. For example, the business qualities that make someone a leader in a commercial bank are unlikely to be useful for leadership in a research laboratory or theater.
In general, it was not possible to discover common traits among leaders, or even to understand which qualities are more important. The theory of leadership traits, like the concept of personality traits, has led to progress in describing the phenomenon of leadership. This approach still exists today, but now the focus is not on personal qualities, but on job-related skills.
So, there is still no consensus on what qualities a leader should have. Models of leadership traits say nothing about the importance of any one of them. When approaching leadership only from the point of view of trait theory, many aspects of this process remain unaccounted for, for example, the leader-follower relationship, the environmental conditions in which leadership is exercised, etc. Although there is no doubt that a leader must have several basic traits (for example, competence, honesty, etc.) that can inspire the trust of followers, because the degree of his support from the masses depends on this.
In all likelihood, the traits of a leader should be considered not in isolation from the social context, but in connection with it, and not statically, but dynamically. It should be remembered that the performance of leadership functions develops the necessary qualities for this, that is, in an individual who plays the role of a leader for a long time, the traits required for this are formed and consolidated (a sense of responsibility, self-confidence, etc.). What was a social role becomes part of his “I”.
To clarify and concretize the theory of leadership traits, we postulated a system of mutually agreed upon concepts: social group, crisis group consolidation, hierarchization, role diversity, social dominance, dominance-subordination, leadership-followership, management-execution, leadership, leader, follower.
In our understanding, social dominance is the most important group mechanism for overcoming extreme situations. Historically, three types of leadership have been formed, distinguished by the basis on which the interaction between group members occurs: leadership based on power interactions (dominance), leadership based on common goals (leadership) and leadership based on agreement (management).
Accordingly, true leadership should be interpreted as primacy in stimulating, planning and organizing the activity of a group, based on the unity of significant goals among all its members. Leadership is based on the mutually beneficial use of the individual characteristics of group members, and therefore, in the perception of all group members, the roles of leader and follower are correlated as equally necessary and significant for the effective achievement of a group goal.
List of sources used.
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ANNEX 1
Table 1. Theories of leadership qualities
|
The essence of the theory |
Leadership skills |
|
|
1. Ralph Stogdill |
Identified the main five qualities inherent in a leader |
intelligence and intelligence; dominance or dominance over others; self-confidence; activity. |
|
2. Ordway Teed |
Leaders must have clearly identifiable traits |
endurance, understanding of the purpose of the organization and the direction of its activities; enthusiasm. friendliness and affection. |
|
3. Edwin Ghiselli |
The most important characteristics of a leader are divided into three groups: professional skills; personal characteristics; motivating factors. |
|
|
4. Harry Yukl |
He identified the main seven qualities that must be inherent in a leader |
creativity; ability to persuade; diplomacy; tact; rhetorical abilities; |
APPENDIX 2
Table 2. Qualities most often found in leaders
|
Qualities group |
Characteristics of qualities |
|
Physiological qualities |
Pleasant appearance (face, height, figure) and voice, good health, high performance, energy, personability. |
|
Psychological qualities |
Personality type: extrovert, introvert.Temperament: phlegmatic, sanguine, choleric. Power, ambition, aggressiveness, superiority, poise, independence, courage, creativity, creativity, self-affirmation, perseverance, courage. |
|
Intellectual qualities |
High level of intelligence: intelligence, logic, memory, encyclopedic knowledge, breadth of outlook, originality, quick thinking, education, prudence, conceptuality, sense of humor |
|
Personal qualities |
Business qualities: organization, discipline, reliability, flexibility, initiative, responsibility, risk-taking. Personal qualities: benevolence, tactfulness, compassion, honesty, decency, vigilance, attentiveness, sociability, adaptability. |
APPENDIX 3
Table 3. Features of approaches to studying the phenomenon of leadership.
|
An approach |
Main representatives |
Description |
|
Personality theory |
A. Fayolle, M. Follet, O. Teed |
An approach that explored the distinctive characteristics of real leaders. It was assumed that a leader was a person who possessed these traits. This approach emerged in the 1940s and continues to evolve to this day. Below we will look at the main theories of leadership traits |
|
Behavioral approach |
K. Levin, D. McGregor, R. Likert, R. Blake, J. Mouton |
An approach being developed within the school of behavioral sciences. Within this school, it was argued that a leader differs from other people in the style of his own behavior. The research was aimed at determining the style of leadership behavior |
|
Situational leadership theories |
R. Stogdill, A. Bevelas, F. Fiedler, W. Vroom, P. Yeaton, A. Jago, R. House, G. Mitchell |
An approach that argued that leadership is a complex phenomenon dependent on numerous situational factors |
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