...Successful Leadership in Business Successful Leadership in Business Liberty University Rachel Lake February 21, 2012 Abstract Successful leadership is motivational and interpersonal behavior within the organization. Effective leadership involves delegation of authority to the subordinate in an influential demeanor. In preparation of teams, managers assist by leading for the better achievement of the team. Successful leaders build and maintain a team that out performs its competitors. Survivability is one main focus of businesses today. There is no secret method or mysterious formula to become an effective leader. Trial and error is the process that determines whether a leader is a success or failure. Never stop learning and with practice your can increase your success in leadership. Introduction Successful leadership is a never ending learning and creative process of influencing others. You cannot call yourself a leader simply by achieving goals. Instead it is the long term ability to encompass all of these elements; being aware of your thoughts and actions, behaving in a way that encourages others to follow your behavior and inspiring others to improve upon their actions. “For success it is not enough to understand the industry, the technology and business models.” (Rizzatti 2005) Successful leaders have the expertise required for a position but also influence unity towards organizational goals. Any manager or leader, who strives for success, should acquire...
Words: 2068 - Pages: 9
...“Great leaders are not made but born with unique characteristics which allow them to rise to the occasion during difficult periods in history to overcome obstacles” (Great man theory of leadership). In other words, each person’s attributes are what make each person successful as opposed to external forces. House Path Goal Theory The House Path Goal Theory was developed by Robert J. House and has four different leadership behaviors. “Each leadership behavior aims to maximize worker outcomes by recognizing the impact of both environmental factors and worker characteristics in job performance” (The Path-Goal). The four leadership behaviors are achievement-oriented behavior, directive path-goal clarifying behavior, supportive leader behavior, and participative leader behavior. Achievement-oriented behavior is based on “setting goals that challenge employees” (The Path-Goal). Directive path-goal clarifying behavior is defining functions and expectations of employees so that there is not any confusion. Supportive leader behavior is “support[ing] a subordinate’s psychological well being” through “stress reduction and frustration mitigation” (The Path-Goal). Lastly, participative leader behavior is enabling subordinates to make decisions in hopes that being part of the decision-making process will lead employees to be more productive. Trait Theory of Leadership The Trait Theory of Leadership, developed by R.M. Stogdill, has identified traits that are common of successful leaders...
Words: 744 - Pages: 3
...Table of Contents 1.0 INTRODUCTION 7 2.0 WHAT IS LEADERSHIP AND CHARACTERISTICS OF AN EFFECTIVE LEADER? 7 2.1 WHAT IS LEADERSHIP? 7 3.0 LEADERS IN REVIEW: WHO IS MORE EFFECTIVE LEADER? 9 3.1 BIOGRAPHY - RICHARD BRANSON & VIJAY MALLYA 9 3.2 WHO IS THE MORE EFFECTIVE LEADER? 10 4.0 CONCLUSION 14 5.0 REFERENCE 15 1.0 INTRODUCTION The objective of this research paper is to analyse the differences between the leadership qualities of Richard Branson and Vijay Mallya and come to the conclusion as to who is more effective leader. The paper first defines the leadership and then briefly discusses the concepts associated with the leadership. It then presents two leaders with some brief biographies, characteristics and their contribution to their individual company. It would then conclude who is the more effective leader by providing with some aspects of leadership and leadership framework. 2.0 WHAT IS LEADERSHIP AND CHARACTERISTICS OF AN EFFECTIVE LEADER? 2.1 WHAT IS LEADERSHIP? Leadership is an interesting and widely discussed subject and has been described by James MacGregor Burns (1978) as “one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on Earth”. Northouse (2010) defines leadership being a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal. The leadership definition that I favour and think is more suited to the 21st century is “The process by which an agent induces a subordinate to behave in a desired manner”...
Words: 2853 - Pages: 12
...Behaviors of Effective Leaders Sandra Tallant Grand Canyon University October, 7, 2015 Behaviors of Effective Leaders Effective leaders can exhibit behaviors that are conducive to the success of their leadership. Sometimes those behaviors may be abnormal or part of a syndrome like psychopathy. Other times behaviors are considered normal according to personality ratings. Taken together these behaviors can be characteristics found in an effective leader. In addition, behaviors of an effective leader can be categorized into three themes of personality traits, personal leadership styles, and leader self-identity. While not all behaviors are conducive to effective leadership, all the above themes are vital to the development of successful leaders of the past, present and future. The shared themes were synthesized from three articles all of which discussed the effective leader. First, the Odom, Boyd, and Williams (2012) article, “Impact of Personal Growth Projects on Leadership Identity Development” whose purpose was to explain the importance of personal growth in the identity of self for potential leaders of the future. Next, “Fearless Dominance and the U.S. Presidency: Implications of Psychopathic Personality Traits for Successful and Unsuccessful Political Leadership” written by Lilienfeld, et al (2012) whose purpose was to explore psychopathic personality traits that are present in effective leaders in the business and political world. Finally, the purpose of...
Words: 1342 - Pages: 6
...drives a successful business? Motivated employees, a strong business structure, strategies, and capabilities to name a few factors. But the most important factor of a successful business that puts all these together is an innovative leader. Innovative leaders motivate employees, form a strong business structure, come up with strategies and make them form into a reality or final product. I. How leadership models support innovation in organizations What makes a successful innovative leader? So far in this course we have read of a few leadership models that support innovation in organizations. In "Classical Leadership," Doyle and Smith summarize key models of leadership: traits, behavioral, situational, transactional and transformational, authority, and charisma. While there are other models, this article introduces some of the most important models of leadership. Doyle and Smith (1999) suggests some traits that good qualities and traits innovative leaders have are physical vitality and stamina, intelligence, action oriented judgment, eagerness to accept responsibility, task competence, understanding of followers and their needs, skill in dealing with people, need for achievement, able to motivate people, trustworthiness, decisiveness, self-confidence and assertiveness. All of these are great traits to have, but it doesn’t mean that all innovative leaders possess all these traits, nor is it necessary to have all these traits to be a successful innovative leader. According...
Words: 1051 - Pages: 5
...people attempt to take on the role of a leader but not many have the leadership skills needed to be a successful leader. Some have a natural talent of being leaders those are the ones you say were born to lead. Others are molded into leaders. Three motivational theories I chose to do research on are: Trait Theories Trait theories are based on the past and present characteristics of leaders. Trait theories help to examine the effectiveness of leadership skills helping to predict the success of a leader based on their known traits. Successful leaders definitely have interests, abilities, and personality traits that are different from those of the less effective leaders. Through many researches conducted in the last three decades of the 20th century, a set of core traits of successful leaders have been identified.("Trait Theory of Leadership" 2008-2012) Successful leaders show traits such as self confidence, honesty, integrity, charisma, knowledge of the business and high ambition. Being a leader does take a special skill set that not everyone posses. Leaders gain the respect of others and have that ability to influence others in doing as they communicate. A leader will set a path for his constituents and make sure that they stick to that path and successfully accomplish their mission. Countries such as the Middle East and Africa where men are the dominant leaders are examples of the trait theory. Behavioral Theories Unlike trait theories behavioral theories focuses...
Words: 1021 - Pages: 5
...Turnaround Introduction After sudden death of main business owner, the husband of Carol Baines, as well as Carol with a minimum knowledge about his business, decided to continue despite of major competition in the area with chain office supply stores. Carol’s difficulties were not over by the death of the husband as major health concern; a breast cancer also hit her within about a year. This time she had to face even more hardship with uncertainty of her life and long lasting Chemotherapy. Carol kept her focus on business and mainly the people who were working in the business. Every business and successful person faces some difficulties throughout their career and they must continue to be persistent. As Graves (2013, pg.1) states “From day one a human being must learn to be persistent to walk, ride a bike, read, do algebra and run a successful business and people usually don’t succeed the first time at any of these.” In this case Carol continued to be persistent and ensured that she did not allow her hardship to impact her business or her employees. Analysis In the life of a small business there are always some ups and downs, but when it comes to a situation when the person managing a family business suddenly passes away, most businesses close their doors as their thought process are mostly negative about business and its well-being. In Carol Baines case she decided to manage the business herself and took the immediate leadership decisions in investing...
Words: 1267 - Pages: 6
... Team Leadership One of manager’s main characteristics of successfully managing people is achieving the ability to join individuals with various personalities together and forming him and her in to a team of hardworking individuals. As a part of the company’s new strategic plan management is adding a new department to enter a particular market segment. To successful manage the new market division and efficiently accomplish organizational goals, a successful leader must develop a leadership approach for each team member based on the theories of leadership and each member’s individual personalities. As a new manager, this paper will consist of a strategic plan that will lead the team in meeting organizational goals and expectations successfully as a team as well as evaluating each team member, including management. The paper will also assess the position in regard to urgency and culture, and determine the leadership approaches, based on the team, and the situation as well as highlight the principle applied from various leadership theories. Evaluating Personality Traits The first step in the plan is to analyzing each team member’s, including myself, on the 16-Type Personality test. The 16 personality types described with Myers-Brigg Type Indicator (MBTI). Extroversion verses Introversion, Sensing verses Intuition, Thinking verses Feeling, and Perceiving verses Judging (Cherry, 2013). The test will assist me as a manager in developing a leadership...
Words: 1428 - Pages: 6
...| The Importance Of Leadership | Theory & Concepts | | The definition of leadership and a look into the classical leadership theories and concepts. | | Toni James | 10/29/2012 | | Contents Introduction p.2 Defining Leadership p.2, 3 Introducing Theory and Concepts p.3 Traits Theory p.3, 4 Behaviour Theories p.5, 6 Contingency theory p.5 Transactional and Transformational Theory p.5, 6 Conclusion p.6, 7 Reference List p.8, 9 Bibliography p.9 Appendix 1 p.10 Introduction The following report will focus on defining leadership, research and comparison into leadership theories and concepts. It will look at appropriate leadership concepts that can be applied to Paragon Software in order to help grow market share. Defining Leadership Leadership is viewed in a number of different ways and there are many interpretations of its meaning. Leadership may be exercised as an attribute of position, or because of personal knowledge or wisdom. Leadership may be based on a function of personality, or it can be seen as a behavioural category. It may also be viewed in terms of a leader’s ability to achieve effective performance from others. (Mullins, 2009) Stogdill (1974, p.259) concluded that there are almost as many definitions of leadership as there are persons who have attempted to define the concept. (Stogdill, 1974) There lie two fundamental difficulties in defining leadership. Firstly, leadership is open to subjective interpretation...
Words: 1787 - Pages: 8
...What are the best qualities to look for in the leader of a business team? There are many qualities that could make someone a great team leader. However, not all great leaders have the same good qualities, and all good qualities are not found in every leader because everyone has their own strong and weak points. What is important is to figure out your own values and working styles, then look for a leader with whom your personal traits and qualities can complement each other. Doing so will likely develop a strong foundation for growth and success. Three of the most important traits that I would personally look for in a strong leader would be integrity, self confidence, and intelligence. One of the most important traits to seek in a strong leader and entrepreneur is integrity. For a person to have integrity, it means that they will act with honesty and reliability. They also demonstrate take responsibility for their actions and not try to sugar-coat things or cover them up. Being able to trust in a leader is incredibly important because that means that people following the leader or working with him or her can trust that what is said is what will be done. That in turn means no deceptions and no unfortunate surprises. A leader with integrity will likely also demonstrate good ethics, another key trait for developing a successful enterprise. An entrepreneur creates a business and sets an example that reflects who they are as a person. Acting with integrity will create an environment...
Words: 1296 - Pages: 6
...nothing elusive about leadership. Although great leaders may be rare as great runners great partners or great actors, everyone has leadership potential just as everyone has some ability at running painting and acting. (The management bible leadership is about knowing what the next step is (John Adair). Ref: Neil Flamaga & Jaruis Finger (2004): The management bible cape town Zebra Press. Leadership is not an exclusive club for those who are born with it. Employees generally follows their leaders. They are therefore much likely to comply with laws and guidelines when leaders show high commitment to compliance. Leaders must set a good example and clearly communicate their expectations. Compliance with regulations much more likely when leaders develop and carry out programs that emphasize the goals of regulation such as diversity and safety. Various programme should be carefully developed and communicated to increase employees knowledge and motivation (Stewart & Brown, 2009). The Black ants filled out aimlessly without a leader. (French Proverb) a lot leadership has a lot to should in the direction of the human efforts towards organisational goal achievement. Successful implementation of these directional efforts determine the satisfactory or unsatisfactory performance with the Organization Directing Function is the managerial competency in running the organization. The environment’s roles in the optimum performance of a leader cannot be overemphasized. If the environment is...
Words: 3263 - Pages: 14
...Abstract Leadership is an important function in small business. Leadership and management represent two completely different business concepts. Leadership is commonly defined as establishing a clear vision, communicating the vision with others and resolving the conflicts between various individuals who are responsible for completing the company’s vision. Management is the organization and coordination of various economic resources in a business. Leadership can have a significant impact on an organization’s performance. 1. Discuss the role of leadership and how it can impact organizational performance. • Setting the Tone Small business owners usually set the leadership tone for their organization. Owners accomplish this by developing a mission or set of values by which they operate their company. This creates a minimum level of acceptance for employee behavior. Business owners often create company policies or guidelines from the company's mission or values. Policies and guidelines also give business owners the ability to remove under-performing employees from the company. • Types Three types of leadership are common in business: authoritarian, democratic and laissez-faire. Each type of leadership impacts organizational performance differently. Authoritarian leadership is commanding and sets clear expectations for employees in the organizational. Democratic leadership encourages feedback and input from managers or employees regarding organizational performance. Laissez-faire...
Words: 1168 - Pages: 5
...3.) CHARACTERISTICS, TRAITS, AND BEHAVIORS OF EFFECTIVE LEADERS Characteristics and Traits of Effective Leaders Understanding leadership requires an understanding of leaders as individuals. This section will highlight findings about the personal characteristics and behaviors of effective managerial leaders. An assessment of the characteristics and behaviors of leaders translates into the idea that these same positive attributes of a leader will facilitate his or her effectiveness in comparable settings, such as customer service departments in different companies. Possessing certain characteristics and traits does not in itself guarantee success. Yet effective leaders differ from others in certain respects. Studying leadership traits is also important because a person who is perceived to embody certain traits is more likely to be accepted as a leader. Here we present a sampling of factors relevant to many work settings. 1. Drive and passion. Leaders are noted for the effort they invest in their work and the passion they have for work and work associates. Carol Bartz, the CEO of Yahoo, observes, “If you’re not excited, how can you get others excited? People will know. It’s like how kids and dogs can sense when people don’t like them.” 2. Power motive. Successful leaders exhibit power motivation, a strong desire to control others and resources and get them to do things on your behalf. A leader with strong power need enjoys exercising power and using...
Words: 1531 - Pages: 7
...What is entrepreneurship? Introduction Entrepreneurship is also known as helping to create healthy and profitable competition in the market, but what is the entrepreneurship? There is no standard answer. The purpose of this article is to defining the entrepreneurship by integrating the existing theory. At first, reviewing the origin of entrepreneurship, nothing generated without reason, critically analyzing the origin will promote to understand the meaning of entrepreneurship. Secondly, defining entrepreneurship by combine the different theory and taking examples to support definition. The origin of entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship was developed from “entrepreneur”, with the development of economic, how to operate a firm and how to do better than a chief executive officer was consider in 16th century, economists made attempt to study in depth about chief executive officer and come up with “entrepreneur”. Although at that time, this word “entrepreneur” was not existent, economists still realized this phenomenon and tried to describe it. As a factor in microeconomics, entrepreneur, was study by several scholars and until the 1723, this word was represented by Cantillon (Muljadi Paul, 2000, p.5). The economic development promote to establish a company, therefore, the word “entrepreneur” was born. Cantillon (1755) indicated that entrepreneur is a risk taker and profit taker, they try their best to make profit by grabbing the opportunity. Cantillon was a pioneer of study entrepreneur...
Words: 3805 - Pages: 16
...Term Paper on Leadership and Management Leadership and management in Small business Outline In the 21st century era, small and large, private and public businesses are all aiming towards economic growth. However, this growth has slowed following emergence of unprincipled leaders whose main aim has been satisfaction of individual needs as opposed to their employees and customers. With such unethical practices, it is obvious that a strong impact has been witnessed in economic growth, which boils down to declining capital investments and unemployment for small businesses. Emergence of economic uncertainty can be traced back to WorldCom and e-business sector failure (Luthans, Luthans, Hodgetts, & Luthans 2001). Before the famous 9/11 attack, United States economy was already declining following increased unemployment and reduced consumer spending. This condition was further worsened by the 9/11 attack that resulted in increased uncertainty in economic change (Shaw & Shapiro 2002). These changes have challenged the need for leadership and management at all levels of business focusing on ensuring nothing but absolute success. For leadership and management to achieve these roles, there is need for redefinition from the commonly held perspective. Management and leadership are two terms that are commonly and differently used in small businesses and importantly in rejuvenating a dwindling economy. To some people, these terms are seen as synonyms and hence used frequently...
Words: 5432 - Pages: 22
