Leadership and Human Behavior
Leadership and Human Behavior
Introduction In today fast moving world, characterized by major changes in technologies, different industries are constantly forced to revolutionize their products and services to the point that the business world has become more competitive and unpredictable than ever. There is a great need for people who are able to cope with change. In his article of “What Leaders Really Do, John P. Kotter said that, “mre change always demands more leadership.” The question of interest to me is to know which leadership approach suit the best in coping with change. In this paper, I will first develop an understanding of the concepts underlying the term leadership. Secondly, I will examine different leadership style through analysis of some cases studies explored in class. Subsequently, I will reflect on my personal style and present my conclusion.
Definition and understanding To begin with, it is worth understanding what the term “leadership” means. There are hundreds of definitions out there related to this term, but each of them differs from one to another. The most appealing definition I found is the one from Don Clark of Big Dog Leadership. He defines leadership as a “process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent.” My interest to this definition resides in the way the author refers to some important elements of leadership such as influence, people, and objective.
Kevin Martineau of Port Hardy Baptist Church has nicely put together the common elements that many leadership definition share that I thought to be useful in my understanding of leadership concept. First, he mentions that “leadership has to involve people. Without people following, being influenced, having their needs met or being motivated, mobilized, resourced and directed there is no leadership.” Next, he adds that “leadership is taking people to a
Introduction In today fast moving world, characterized by major changes in technologies, different industries are constantly forced to revolutionize their products and services to the point that the business world has become more competitive and unpredictable than ever. There is a great need for people who are able to cope with change. In his article of “What Leaders Really Do, John P. Kotter said that, “mre change always demands more leadership.” The question of interest to me is to know which leadership approach suit the best in coping with change. In this paper, I will first develop an understanding of the concepts underlying the term leadership. Secondly, I will examine different leadership style through analysis of some cases studies explored in class. Subsequently, I will reflect on my personal style and present my conclusion.
Definition and understanding To begin with, it is worth understanding what the term “leadership” means. There are hundreds of definitions out there related to this term, but each of them differs from one to another. The most appealing definition I found is the one from Don Clark of Big Dog Leadership. He defines leadership as a “process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent.” My interest to this definition resides in the way the author refers to some important elements of leadership such as influence, people, and objective.
Kevin Martineau of Port Hardy Baptist Church has nicely put together the common elements that many leadership definition share that I thought to be useful in my understanding of leadership concept. First, he mentions that “leadership has to involve people. Without people following, being influenced, having their needs met or being motivated, mobilized, resourced and directed there is no leadership.” Next, he adds that “leadership is taking people to a
References: ▪ Clark, D. (1997). Big dog leadership. Retrieved on December 2, 2010, from www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leader.html ▪ Martineau, K. (2009). How you define leadership. Blogs. Retrieved on December 3, 2010, from http://kevinmartineau.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-would-you-define-leadership.html ▪ Bartlett, C. (1999), GE’s Two-Decade Transformation: Jack Welch’s Leadership. Case study. Boston: Harvard Business School ▪ Hill, L.; Conrad, M. (1992), Amelia Rogers at Tassani Communications (A). Case study. Boston: Harvard Business School ▪ Kotter, J. (1990), What Leaders Really Do. Article. Boston: Harvard Business Review ▪ Langowitz, N.; Corum, B. (2009), “Deborah DiSanzo at Philips Medical Systems (A).Case study. Wellesley: Babson College, Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship.