contemporary issues in leadership taylor 02 - economist.com

1 contemporary issues in leadership by Robert L. taylor and William E. Rosenbach (Editors). Westview Press 2006. 290 pages Focus Take-Aways leadership & Mgt. Great leaders often are naturals who like what they do and, therefore, excel at it. Strategy Sales & Marketing Leaders help people join forces to bring about positive results. Finance People follow leaders who make them feel signi cant, share their beliefs and Human Resources generate excitement. IT, Production & Logistics Career Development To be a leader, be con dent, use your power in "pro-social" ways and learn to see the future impact of your actions. Small Business Economics & Politics To think like an entrepreneur, listen to people who work directly with customers.

2 Industries Leaders relate to their followers as a group or individually. Regions Concepts & Trends Hierarchical structures are better for reaching technical goals, but a circular organizational structure is best for solving more complex problems. Corporate leaders still succumb to hubris, which is a sort of narcissism. The growing academic study of leadership stems from increasing interest in the military, industry and politics. As seen in The Wizard of Oz, everyone has feelings, intellect and potential courage. Rating (10 is best). Overall Applicability Innovation Style 8 8 6 6. To purchase abstracts, personal subscriptions or corporate solutions, visit our Web site at or call us at our of ce (954-359-4070) or Switzerland of ce (+41-41-367-5151).

3 GetAbstract is an Internet-based knowledge rating service and publisher of book abstracts. getAbstract maintains complete editorial responsibility for all parts of this abstract. The respective copyrights of authors and publishers are acknowledged. All rights reserved. No part of this abstract may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, or otherwise, without prior written permission of getAbstract Ltd (Switzerland). This summary is restricted to the personal use of Jessica Harbour Relevance What You Will Learn In this Abstract, you will learn: 1) What makes someone an exceptional leader; 2) How leadership differs from management; and 3) Why it is important to be a good follower.

4 Recommendation This collection of essays from 21 contributors is inspiring reading for those who want to build their leadership talents or improve their companies. It is designed for good leaders, or for people who aspire to that rank and are open to being taught. Interestingly, the book also addresses how people can become better followers. Unlike many other books within this topic range, this anthology makes a distinction between leadership , which it sees as direction setting, and management, which it sees as somewhat more procedural. The essays are interesting, wide-ranging and practical. getAbstract nds that the 21 voices here have a uni ed mission: to explain why some people are better than others at getting attention, accomplishing speci c tasks and providing their followers with a sense of meaning.

5 Abstract The leadership Puzzle Great leaders leadership is all about getting people to work together to make things happen that might are made by great not otherwise occur or to prevent things from happening that would ordinarily take place.. groups and by organizations that Students of leadership initially tended to concentrate on the leader as a Great Person.. create the social However, subsequent scienti c studies nd that leaders are not exceptionally brilliant, architecture splendid speakers or highly energetic. Instead, leaders know how to forge relationships of respect and accomplish tasks. In fact, analysts nd that leaders' ability to accomplish tasks is and dignity.

6 Even more important than their interpersonal skills. Transformational and Transactional leadership Experts focus on two types of leadership : transactional and transformational.. Transactional leaders forge a trade-off with their followers. Transactional leaders enable their followers to act in their own self-interest, as long as the leaders achieve their goals. Transactional leadership is commonly associated with effective management. Character is at the heart of Followers closely identify with a transformational leader's beliefs. That shared sense of transformational purpose motivates followers to act and to achieve the leader's mission.

7 Transformational leadership drives leaders encourage their followers to forget self-interest and to move toward ful lling transformational greater ideals. This builds the followers' self-esteem. Transformational leaders shape leadership behavior, their organizational cultures to re ect the values they share with their followers. The and enables followers' role is to turn intangible values into concrete action, focus on particular goals, such leaders coordinate individual efforts and unify the members of the group. to construct transformational organizational leadership Personalities cultures. Academic studies achieve varied results when they try to isolate the characteristics of effective leaders.

8 In work done in 1948 that is still well-regarded, scholar Ralph Stogdill proposed that leaders have ve clusters of characteristics that make them good at leading. The ve are: capacity (intelligence, judgment); achievement (knowledge, contemporary issues in leadership Copyright 2006 getAbstract 2 of 5. scholarship); responsibility (dependability, aggressiveness, self control, desire to excel);. participation (activity, sociability, cooperation, adaptability) and status (position, Although effective popularity). In 1990, subsequent research identi ed ve more factors that leaders have managers must in common: they are reliable, agreeable, extroverted, emotionally stable and open to new practice good experiences.

9 Current theory proposes that anyone can become a leader to some degree leadership and effective leaders if he or she can: must possess managerial skills, Be con dent about taking action, and controlling his or her life. leadership is not Use power in pro-social ways that extend beyond personal gain or narcissism. management or some part or Develop personal vision by seeing the future impact of today's actions. principle of it.. Leaders must have vision, a future view of events. Good leaders have the ability to convey their visions and make the future unfold as they hope it will. This generally begins with writing a vision statement, a process that often goes badly.

10 Commonly, vision statements are confusing. They tend to cite goals that are really associated with strategies and objectives, not vision. To craft an effective vision statement, write a brief, memorable declaration. Then share your vision; make it more tangible by telling stories leadership is and using metaphors. a relationship between those who aspire to lead Good leaders consistently align their actions with their verbal messages. They see their and those who followers in a positive light, and care about their well being. Strong leaders provide the choose to follow. proper support to help their followers accept new challenges.