Leadership

Leadership is a process where an individual inspires people to accomplish identified goals.

   Definitions

The concept ‘leadership’ is defined by various scholars as follows:

‘Leadership is a process wherein one member influences behaviors of other members of the group towards the achievement of common goals’. – Hollander

‘Leadership is a process whereby a leader directs actions of his followers for the attainment of certain objectives’. - Hemphill

‘Leadership is the capability of an individual to influence behavior of others, more than his behavior is influenced by the others.’ – Lapiere

‘Leadership is the art of mobilizing others to strive for the accomplishment of common aims’. – Cohen

‘Leadership is the ability of a superior to affect the behavior of the subordinates and to persuade them to move on a specific course of action’. – Barnard

   Meaning

Leadership is the ability to influence the behaviors of others towards the attainment of goals. Leadership can also be viewed as a process wherein the leader helps the followers to achieve common aims in terms of the following:

1. The leader plans strategies for the followers to achieve shared goals.
2. The leader helps the followers to execute the planned strategies.
3. The leader gives a vision and a direction to the followers.
4. The leader controls the actions of the follower to keep them on the right track.
5. The leader organizes the activities of the followers.
6. The leader helps the followers to build the required capacity.
7. The leader offers the best ideology to the followers.
8. The leader serves as a mediator for the followers.
9. The leader serves as a representative of the followers.

Examples:

The examples of leaders involved in the leadership of their followers are as follows:

1. A political leader elected by the public.
2. Team captain of a game.
3. Head of an organization or an institution.
4. A student nominated by the classmates as their class-representative
5. An ideological leader followed by people having a strong faith in his ideology.
6. A religious leader followed by the followers of the same religion, e.g. a religious preacher
7. Renowned public figures known for their social contributions, who influenced others and thus, is viewed as an ideal by many people, e.g. Nelson Mandela, Abraham Lincoln, Mao Zedong, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa and so on.

All of the above leaders influence the behavior of their followers in different ways. Most leaders may directly involve themselves to shape the actions of their followers. For instance, a group of people with a leader which purposefully works for the attainment of some common goals. An example can be an educational institution where the head of the institution acts to guide the other employees of the institution and to put them on right track for the achievement of the goals of that educational institution. Another example can be a team of players where the captain acts as a leader who guides the players to win the game (which is a common goal of the team). 

However, as it can be seen in the above examples, that not all leaders are directly involved with their followers to guide their behaviour. It means that some leader may act as an ideal or a source of inspiration for their followers. For instance, if someone has contributed to society in some way or have brought some positive changes in some sector of the society. Such a person is viewed as a leader by many people. Such a leader, as a source of inspiration, also influences the behaviour of his followers in certain ways.