Paper Sample on Leadership: A Vital Element of Society's Governance

Introduction

In a society governed by law and order in almost every aspect of social interactions, leadership is an essential element that ensures that the expected codes of conduct are adhered to. So what is leadership? Leadership may get defined as a field of practical skills application that takes into account an individual’s ability to direct and guide other individuals, groups, or organizations towards achieving set objectives and goals, either personal or collective. While some leadership skills are inherent i.e., an individual is born with the skills, and others are acquired through constant practice and holding of managerial leadership positions. There are two main approaches to the concept of leadership, where there is servant leadership and power leadership (Bush & Glover, 2014). While some leaders may be oriented towards serving the people and meeting their needs, other leaders use a powerful leadership approach where the authoritative rule is applied. A leader's capability is not, however, measured by how much they are liked by their subjects or the extent to which they are feared. A good leader is one who can associate with their subjects and can meet their fundamental necessities. Leadership is a responsibility that should, therefore, only be undertaken by people ready to meet the obligations that come with the positions of service they assume.

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Description of the Primary Characteristics of Leadership Styles

Like any other social construct, leadership also exhibits various characteristics. These primary characteristics look into the different approaches that can be used to understand leadership and assess the leaders themselves. According to Northouse text and recording, there are approximately 12 primary characteristics of leadership, which are essential in the evaluation of a leader and their individual leadership style. These characteristics include:

1.Skills
Leadership is a practical skill that encompasses an individual’s ability to direct, guide, and organize others. As a primary characteristic of leadership, expertise is the most fundamental element that any leader may possess. Whether inherent or acquired leadership skills, a leader who can understand their obligations and adequately meet the expectations of both the supporters and those opposed to the regime they lead may be considered a skillful leader. Leadership skills are improved and enhanced through experience and constant learning through advisors and other related avenues.

2.Trait
This is another primary characteristic of leadership capability. The key strengths of leadership traits revolve around; associations with subjects for better service delivery, adopting servant leadership traits where necessary, and a vision. With these leadership traits, a leader has the upper hand against those opposed to their rule. Some undesirable leadership traits may undermine a leader’s competency, such as the power rule, which often results in a dictatorship.

3.Behavioral
The behavioral leadership style is mainly dependent on the type skills i.e., inherent or acquired leadership. Natural leadership has vital strengths: an innate understanding of leadership roles, acceptable social behavior e.g., identifying with subjects, among others. Tyranny is one major criticism of the above leadership approach as it hampers potential service-oriented leadership.

4.Situational
The situational leadership theory accounts for instances where an individual without sufficient leadership experience takes up a position to fill a void. The strengths of situational leadership revolve around simplicity, short term goals, and service. Weaknesses include; lack of leadership experience, shortly termed thus no future-oriented goals.

5.Path-goal
Leadership is among the most effective leadership approaches. The leader is focused on ensuring that the organization is focused on meeting the set out objectives by the group. Such leaders may apply initiatives such as motivational techniques to ensure that the path to goal approach is adequately adhered to in the implementation phase.

Leader

1.Member exchange
Another leadership theory that allows the leaders to interact with their subjects and come up with an effective solution to the various challenges that they may be experiencing. The strengths include; facilitating teamwork and better leadership experience. The weaknesses of this leadership approach may consist of insubordination and laxity due to the development of unprofessional relationships.

2.Transformational leadership
Every leader has a particular goal and vision that they look forward to achieving in their leadership term. To achieve this, transformational leadership plays an important role. Some of the strengths affiliated to the above leadership approach include; restructuring of administration, development of new goals, and realization approaches. Weaknesses of the theory may include; introduction of incompatible leadership measures and employee rejection, which may see the transformational leadership approach fail.

3.Authentic leadership
An open and transparent method through which transparency is the basic formative approach that a leader uses in their style. Authentic leadership has its main strength: it positively impacts employees. It serves as a motivational aspect that helps employees work in unison towards the achievement of the set out organizational objectives.

4.Adaptive leadership
In certain situations, a leader has to work with the available resources at hand. Adaptive leadership has advantages such as; continuation of organizational culture, adoption of new problem-solving techniques, and learning basic operational principles of former regimes. The shortcomings of the leadership model include; the loss of a leader's vision and mission, taking up new leadership obligations that may not be in line with the leadership goals. These challenges may result in organizational underperformance.

5.Servant leadership/block model
The servant leadership model is probably one of the most common leadership models. The approach takes into account serves as the primary objective of any given leader. The strengths of the leadership model include; better service delivery and subject satisfaction, better subject leader relationships, and leadership infrastructure that facilitates better leadership approaches.

6.A power leadership model
Leadership approach where a leader holds absolute power and is responsible for the implementation of rules. Various shortcomings are attributed to the power leadership model, such as; tyranny, the establishment of a dictatorship rule, and infringement of the subjects' democratic rights.

7.Psychodynamic theories
These are leadership approaches that are based on the concepts of the psychology of leadership. The psychodynamic theories apply the critical and logical analysis of the various leadership approaches and have multiple strengths, such as; maintenance of a conscious leadership approach, service-oriented leadership, and the establishment of a rule of law that benefits all the people. The shortcomings in this leadership are limited.

Identification of Theories that Best Describe your Leadership Style

Every leader has a unique leadership style that is attributed to them. They consider me to be best oriented towards facilitating the achievement of their leadership mission of the above leadership theories, and there are specific leadership approaches that I would consider to be the best fit for my leadership style. Servant leadership theory is the most applicable leadership approach in my form. I believe that a leader is a servant. Any democratically elected leader wields the power that they hold courtesy of their subjects. As a result, any leader is a servant and is charged with the primary responsibility of meeting their obligations as elected leaders.

The path-goal leadership model is another theory that I could attribute to my leadership style. This is because a leader’s main objective is to direct and guide other individuals under their leadership on the best approach towards the realization of their set goals and objectives (Bush & Glover, 2014). The path-goal leadership theory is, therefore, a leadership approach essential in helping leaders in the service delivery through following a well-outlined leadership plan i.e., the path-goal model.

The third leadership theory that I believe to be in line with my leadership style is the skills-oriented model. Whether inherent leadership skills or acquired, every leader has a responsibility to continually enhance and further develop leadership skills. This will be essential in ensuring that leaders can equip themselves with the necessary skills to improve the service delivery capabilities within their reach.

Activity

From the list of top 200 paid CEO’s, they had various similarities in their leadership style approach. There are multiple work instances in which the theories of leadership can be applied. For example, in the path-goal leadership theory, during an organizational project, a leader can serve as a project manager to use their leadership skills to make the project a success. Similarly, the servant leadership model could be applied in situations where there is a necessity for a lead by example, situation nature. For instance, in a case of insubordination, a leader could play a lesser role to prove to the waring employees that it is not about the leadership positions that one holds but also about delivery of services to the respective dependents of the organization.

Conclusion

Leadership is an essential element of social development that requires to be undertaken most diligently. Leaders are charged with various roles and responsibilities, such as ensuring that they can meet their leadership duties and their subjects' expectations. With the above-outlined leadership theories, leaders should have the quest to enhance their leadership skills through further reading, which will help them to identify leadership styles that resonate with them. This way, they can develop leadership policies aimed at employee management and motivation aimed at increasing productivity. This can be achieved through good governance and leadership strategies.

References

Bush, T., & Glover, D. (2014). School leadership models: What do we know?. Organizational Leadership & Management, 34(5), 553-571.