principles of leadership management
Introduction
In the era of global problems, which varied between financial, environmental, religious, social and political problems, interest in the concept of leadership increased and studies and researches dealing with this concept abounded. The concept of leadership is closely related to all walks of life. In this brief book, author Keith Grint attempts to provide satisfactory answers to many questions related to this concept; Among those questions: What is leadership? How does one become a leader? Do we really need leadership? Is a person born a leader? Or is it an acquired trait? Grint sheds light on the way leadership has developed through the ages and times, and highlights the first ideas about it in the writings of Plato, Sun Tzu, Machiavelli, and others. Moreover, the author examines how economic, social and political forces can undermine leadership styles, and discusses the concept of management, its history, future, and its impact on all aspects of society.
The difference between a leader and a manager
Manager: is the person who has been entrusted with the task of supervising a unit or work group and is required to perform the administrative functions, which are: (planning, organizing, leading, and motivating)
Leader: It is one of the administrative functions of the manager, and the manager cannot perform these functions without having the ingredients for successful leadership
The difference between formal and informal leadership
1- The official leader: is the one who, in addition to his ability to influence the workers, combines the powers of an official position that gives him the authority to make decisions.
2- Informal leader :- He is the one who has the ability to influence the employees’ SAOC without qualifying him for an official position, so he may be an ordinary individual within the working team
leadership theories
First, the trait theory
Scientists and writers interested in this theory believed that leadership is a talent available to people who have a set of traits or personal qualities if they are available in an individual who becomes an effective and successful leader. Self, vitality, willingness to endure, boldness, insight, decisiveness, ability to interact with others,...
Trait theories have been criticized and favored by many
1- The presence of a large number of features that are difficult to enumerate
2- The variance and relative importance of each feature from time to time
3- Traits do not accurately predict who will succeed in leadership
4- The difficulty of measuring specific characteristics and the inability to determine the appropriate ability from each
Trait
5- The lack of comprehensiveness of the theories because they overlooked many variables related to the effectiveness of leadership
behavioral theories
As a result of the failure of trait theories to provide a clear and acceptable explanation for leadership effectiveness, writers and researchers have shifted the attention of writers and researchers to the study of leadership behavior. Supporters of these theories assume that a leader’s activities, actions, and behaviors at work constitute a general style or pattern of leadership, which determines his effectiveness, not his traits. Also, among the conclusions of Hawthorne experiments was the presence of Relationship between the style of supervision
This shift is considered important because it involves the belief that leadership behavior can be learned and modified. Therefore, researchers sought to identify behavior patterns that enable leaders to influence others.
Sources
1- Book Principles of Management, Prof. Dr. Hussein Harem, University of Petra
2- The book Principles of Management by Dr. Ibrahim Sammour
