What is Leadership and what are the qualities of a Leader?

What is Leadership?
For the success of any organization it is very important that some individuals take on the role of leaders. Leadership is a behavioral process that is performed by some individuals who steer and guide the efforts of other individuals. Thus we see that leadership involves guiding the efforts of other individuals and involves directing the actions, efforts and affairs of others. A leader is responsible for determining the realistic performance and then providing the workers with the resources required to perform their tasks. A leader also communicates to the workers what are the expectation of the organization of them and also provides a reward structure to encourage them. Leader delegates the authority whenever require and also remove the barriers and blocks in effective performance of others.

What are the qualities of a Leader?
For some time the identification of potential leaders was based on the concept that there was an identifiable set of trades that every good leader possesses. This approach has now been modified. While there are no set of absolute trades, it is reasonable to assume that individuals who possess the ability to lead others toward the achievement of organizational goals may benefit from certain attributes that help them in performing their leadership roles.

A partial list of helpful (although not absolutely required) attributes of a leader might include the willingness of the leader to assume responsibility for achievement, the ability to be perceptive and empathetic, the ability to be objective, the ability to place a proper priority on duties and activities, and the ability to communicate effectively with others.

What is the need of a Leader?
One may question the need for leadership once an organizational has attained a state of maturity and why a mature organization can not work without a leader. The need for leadership is present in all organization due to many reasons.

(i) Certain imbalances develop in growing organization which need changes both of the organizational level and at the unit level. With the extension of the organization control over the environment, new function are added and new complexity of structure are created for these new functions. In order to maintain the health of the internal organization during these transitory phases a leader is require.

(ii) Gaps in formal organizational structure: The formal organization is generally incomplete and imperfect. Its voids are generally filled by informal organization and organization fictions. As a consequence the “real” organization widely differs from the “formal organization”. Leadership is needed to compensate for the weakness inherent in the formal designs.

(iii) The internal dynamic of the organization: With growing organizations certain imbalances develop which necessitate changes both at the level of the organization as a whole and at the unit level. With the extension of organization’s control over the environment, new functions are added new complexities of structure are created to provide for these new functional needs. The health of internal organization is to be maintained during these transitory phases and it is the leader who can sustain the organization.