Role of Management to Develop quality of Leadership

Leadership behavior is defined as behavior on the part of one individual which influences the behavior of other individuals. Therefore, leadership behavior is assumed to be one important element of manage­ment of human resource. The management system should look lo the following elements for developing leadership qualities among the persons involved in the process.

(i) Leadership is a group role. No one is a leader walking down the street by himself. He is able to exert leadership only through effective participation in groups.

(ii) Leadership, other things being equal depends upon the frequency of interaction. If a person usually shuts himself behind the office door and docs not have time to interact frequently with the staff, he probably will not exert much leadership in it.

(iii) Status position docs not necessary give leadership : Successful leadership is a function of both formal authority and’ earned esteem. The fact that a supervisor holds a formal position does not assure his effective­ness as a leader.

(iv) Leadership in any organization is widespread and diffused: The role of a status leader is not just leading a group but also coordinating and focusing as well as helping the group use the leadership that exists within i(. If a person hopes to exert leadership for everybody, he is doomed to frustration and failure, because there are many different people within any organization or group who exert leadership for other people.

(v) The feeling that people hold about a person is a factor in whether they will use his behavior as leadership. A person’s behavior within a group must be such that people can accept him as a person of worth if they are going to give his contributions adequate consideration.

Apparently, if a person hopes that his contributions will be used as leadership by the group, he will:

1. Exert initiative:

If he goes into a situation and sits back and waits for people to come to him, people won’t interact with him as frequently as they do with the person who exerts initiative. It’s this willingness to take the steps needed to be taken that increases the possibility of exerting leadership.

2. Give evidence of a desire to cooperate. The armed services did a study of supply sergeants and found that the supply sergeant who was willing to cooperate with the men in his group was the most effective supply sergeant.

3. Communicate his feelings and his thoughts. Probably no kind of person is more disturbing to most people than “the great stone face” who sits like a sphinx and lets others wonder what he is thinking.

4. Empathize with those he hopes to lead. He is able to put himself in the other person’s shoes to see how it feels there.

5. Be creative or original: He comes up with an answer. The extent to which a person is able to advance ideas that will be helpful to a group in sowing a problem determines the extent to which his leadership is used.

6. Be of service: Some people think a leader dominates the group to get them to do what he wants. Leadership research indicates that a person will be used more frequently when he has something that is of service to a group.

7. Be knowlgeable about the area of group concern. Such knowledge will increase the probability that successful leadership attempts will turn out to be rewarding to group members, and thus, contribute to the esteem which group members have for the individual. This increases the prob­ability that the next attempted leadership will be accepted by the group.

8. Attempt to be perceived by followers both as considerate and “in­itiating of structure”. For the supervisor who wishes to be effective, the expression of concern or even meeting the personal needs of fellow workers is important hut not sufficient by itself. It is also necessary lo be willing and able to initiate structure into group interaction. This is the “getting out the work” dimension of leadership behavior. It appears that these factors are independent of each other but both are important contributors to leadership effectiveness.

9. Work to be perceived by teachers as putting great emphasis on both telling and listening or asking for information raising questions, and reflect­ing. This was verified in a study by Blumberg and Amidon (1965). When working with supervisors, teachers are likely to evaluate the interaction in a favorable way if the supervisor is both willing to tell and listen with a positive concern or if the supervisor is just reflecting with concern and interest. But, if the supervisor is perceived as just telling and criticizing or as relatively passive, then the teacher is likely to perceive the situation as relatively less productive.