| Posted by |
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 lyricsmike
|
| Project Status |
: |
Closet |
| Budget |
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Less than $100 |
| Posting Date |
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Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:41:01 |
| Expires |
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Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:41:01 () |
| Awarded |
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No |
| Project Description: |
Leadership as a concept has fascinated man for
centuries, but of it was only in recent years that theories of
leadership emerged (Cole, G. A., 1990:213). Leadership is the
art or process of influencing people so that they will strive
willingly and enthusiastically towards the achievement of
group goal (Onah, 2003). However, any one who is in a
position to guide the actions, works and thoughts of other
people towards the achievement of a particular goal is
regarded as a leader.
In order to be able to exert the necessary influence and
instill the needed values in the followership, leader must
possess some special qualities-in this regard, Robert . House
(Kossen 1001) observes that leaders tend to have more energy
than most people, and they are a little smarter, but not
outright geniuses because geniuses do not communicate well
with lesser minds. They have a high level of social skill that is,
communication, problem solving, and the ability to clarify and
negotiate.
2
There are some basic qualities in leadership, which any
analyst of leadership must take into consideration. They are:
a) Initiative; that is the aptitude for initiating or
beginning action, the ability to get the group
moving.
b) The leader himself must have the ability to
communicate effectively with his sub-ordinates.
c) Dependability in exercising responsibilities.
d) Ability to use power effectively and in a responsible
manner
e) Ability to inspire followers to apply their full
capacities towards the attainment of a set target.
f) High integrity; that is ,the quality that makes people
trust him which may include honesty and
consistency.
Together, these variables occupy a position of leadership
and, the art of leadership is to find the best balance between
them in the light of the total situation.
3
Thus, in many cases the sub-ordinate sometime hinders
the qualities of leadership. The followers influence the leader
and can affect the situation as well as the goal.
For instance, in Nigeria, people blame leaders for failure
to achieve goals without sparing a thought for the role of their
followers and the circumstance under which the leader
operate. This is common in the political environment.
According to Okoli (1998:265), followers are sometimes too
immature, ignorant or exhibit carefree attitude to appreciate or
understand their leaders and therefore, fail to meet their own
side of the obligation.
In spite of the role of followers and the situation in
achieving organizational goals, the leader occupies a unique
position in the group because the followers look up to him for
direction. Hence the leader is expected to have the ability to
comprehend that human beings have differing motivation or
motivating forces at varying time and in different situation
they must have the ability to inspire, persuade and influence,
using different method and also act in a way that will develop
a climate for responding to an arousing motivation. |
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