Overview of Leadership in Organizations

Written by Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Authenticity Consulting, LLC. Copyright 1997-2008.
Adapted from the Field Guide to Leadership and Supervision.

Many people today are seeking to understand -- and many people are writing about -- the concept and practices of leadership. There are a great many reasons for the popularity of the topic, including that organizations are faced with changes like never before. The concept of leadership is relevant to any aspect of ensuring effectiveness in organizations and in managing change. This topic in the Library helps you to fully understand the concept and practices of leadership.

There has been an explosion of literature about leadership lately. Leading is a very human activity -- we're all human -- so there are many people who consider themselves experts on leadership. Unfortunately, many people make strong assertions about leadership without ever really understanding a great deal about leadership. Understanding the concept of leadership requires more than reading a few articles or fantasizing about what great leaders should be.

NOTE: Some people use the term "leadership" (the capability to lead) to refer to executive management (a role in an organization). If you're seeking information about executive management, see Chief Executive Role and/or Boards of Directors.

NOTE: There are two closely related topics in the library, including Basic Overview of Supervision and Management (Introduction).

Sections of This Topic Include:

Suggested Previous Readings

Gaining Broad Perspective on Leadership

- - - One Definition of Leadership
- - - Leadership Theories
- - - Leadership Styles
- - - Emerging Trends in Leadership

Is Leading Different than Managing? (pros and cons of this debate)

- - - Views That There is a Difference
- - - View That Separating "Leading" and "Managing" Can Be Destructive

How Do Leaders Lead?

Is a Challenge to Suggest Which Skills to Use
Suggested Competencies for Effective Leadership in Organizations
- - - Leading Yourself
- - - Core Competencies for Leading Others
- - - Leading People -- Other Individuals
- - - Leading People -- In Groups
- - - Leading People -- Organization-Wide

General Advice About Traits and Characteristics That Leaders Should Have

General Resources

- - - Basic Guide to Management and Supervision (html version)

---

Suggested Previous Readings

The reader might benefit from first reading the library topics Introduction to Organizations and Introduction to Management. These two library topics explain the broad context within which leading occurs in organizations and management.

Note that the library topic Leadership Development includes guidance for establishing a training plan to develop skills in leadership. However, before seeking to develop this training plan, the reader should first review the contents of the current topic "Overview of Leadership in Organizations".

Before you proceed to understand more about leadership, you might read about:
Overview of Leadership in Organizations -- Leadership Cube
Guidelines to Understanding Literature About Leadership

---

Gaining Broad Perspective on Leadership

What is Leadership?

Many people believe that leadership is simply being the first, biggest or most powerful. Leadership in organizations has a different and more meaningful definition. Very simply put, a leader is interpreted as someone who sets direction in an effort and influences people to follow that direction. How they set that direction and influence people depends on a variety of factors that we'll consider later on below. To really comprehend the "territory" of leadership, you should briefly scan some of the major theories, notice various styles of leadership and review some of the suggested traits and characteristics that leaders should have. The rest of this library should help you in this regard.

Theories About Leadership

There are also numerous theories about leadership, or about carrying out the role of leader, e.g., servant leader, democratic leader, principle-centered leader, group-man theory, great-man theory, traits theory, visionary leader, total leader, situational leader, etc. The following article provides brief overview of key theories. See
Leadership Theories

Leadership Styles

Leaders carry out their roles in a wide variety of styles, e.g., autocratic, democratic, participatory, laissez-faire (hands off), etc. Often, the leadership style depends on the situation, including the life cycle of the organization. The following document provide brief overview of key styles, including autocratic, laissez-faire and democratic style.
Leadership Styles

Emerging Trends in Leadership

New Paradigm in Management (including in Leadership)
WoT's Hot and WoT's Not: Leadership in the Next Millennium
Leader to Leader: Fall 1996

---

Is Leading Different than Managing? (Pros and Cons)

Traditional views of management associate it with four major functions: planning, organizing, leading and controlling/coordinating. However, many educators, practitioners and writers disagree with this traditional view.

Views that Leading is Different Than Managing

The following articles offer views different from the traditional view that leading is a major function of management.
Management Styles (says they're different and compares different traits)
Leadership (includes good overview of styles, and differences of manager and leader)

View That Separating "Leading" from "Managing" Can Be Destructive

Another view is that to be a very effective member of an organization (whether executive, middle manager, or entry-level worker), you need skills in the functions of planning, organizing, leading and coordinating activities -- the key is you need to be able to emphasize different skills at different times.

Yes, leading is different than planning, organizing and coordinating because leading is focused on influencing people, while the other functions are focused on "resources" in addition to people. But that difference is not enough to claim that "leading is different than managing" any more than one can claim that "planning is different than managing" or "organizing is different than managing".

The assertion that "leading is different than managing" -- and the ways that these assertions are made -- can cultivate the view that the activities of planning, organizing and coordinating are somehow less important than leading. The assertion can also convince others that they are grand and gifted leaders who can ignore the mere activities of planning, organizing and coordinating -- they can leave these lesser activities to others with less important things to do in the organization. This view can leave carnage in organizations. Read:
Founder's Syndrome -- How Organizations Suffer -- and Can Recover
Backlash Against the "New Paradigm"? (we have unrealistic expectations on today's organizations?)

---

How Do Leaders Lead?

The Challenge of Suggesting Which Methods to Use

The particular competencies (knowledge, skills and abilities) that a person needs in order to lead at a particular time in an organization depend on a variety of factors, including:
1) Whether that person is leading one other individual, a group or a large organization;
2) The extent of leadership skills that person already has;
3) That person's basic nature and values (competencies should be chosen that are in accordance with that nature and those values)
4) Whether the group or organization is for-profit or nonprofit, new or long-established, and large or small;
5) The particular culture (or values and associated behaviors) of whomever is being led.

Suggested Competencies Required for Leading in Organizations

The above considerations can make it very challenging when trying to determine what competencies someone should have in order to be a better leader. Perhaps that's why leadership training programs in institutions typically assert a set of standard competencies, for example, decision making, problem solving, managing power and influence, and building trust. The following lists of competencies was derived by examining a variety of leadership development programs.
Suggested Competencies for Effective Leadership in Organizations
- - - How to Use the Following List
- - - Leading Yourself
- - - Core Competencies to Lead Others
- - - Leading People -- Other Individuals
- - - Leading People -- In Groups
- - - Leading People -- Organization-Wide

---

General Advice (Tips, etc.)

Leading is Human Activity -- Everyone's Human -- Everyone's Got Advice About Leading

There are numerous -- often contradictory -- views on the traits and characteristics that leaders should have. The concept of leadership is like a big "elephant" and each person standing around the elephant has their own unique view -- and each person feels very strongly about their own view. Descriptions of leadership include concepts such as the "New Paradigm", "New Millennium". Descriptions can sound very passionate, even evangelical! It can be difficult to grasp consistent messages from articles about leadership. Many writers use different terms for the same concepts. Some interchange use of roles in the organization (executive managers) with competencies in leading (leadership).

Guidelines to Reading Literature About Leadership

Therefore, before you begin reading the following articles, it might help you to glean some guidelines about understanding articles about leadership. See
Guidelines to Understanding Literature About Leadership

Numerous Views About What Traits and Characteristics Leaders Should Have

To really get a good grasp on the "territory" of leadership, it's important to have a broad view of leadership. Therefore, if you haven't yet read Gaining Broad Perspective on Leadership, then considering doing so before reading any of the following articles.

---

---

For the Category of Leadership:

Related Library Topics

Recommended Books

For Leading Yourself, See
Personal Development -- Related Books

For Leading Other Individuals, See
Supervision -- Related Books

For Leading Teams, See
Facilitation and Teams -- Related Books

For Leading Organizations, See
Organizational Development -- Recommended Books

For Management, See
Management -- Recommended Books

---

Basics and General Information

The following books are recommended because of their highly practical nature and often because they include a wide range of information about this Library topic. To get more information about each book, just hover your cursor over the image of the book. A "bubble" of information will be displayed. You can click on the title of the book in that bubble to get more information, too.

---