Qualities That Are Needed to Be a Good Leader or Manager - Essay Example

? Management Management Leadership and management entail a social influence process whereby a person or group of persons get the support of others to motivate and guide them towards achieving a common objective (Scouller 2011, 210). It represents a relationship characterised by power and value between a leader and followers sharing mutual goals. Due to the great variety of the types of organizations, societies and even families or households that require leadership and management, the styles will also vary greatly depending on where they are applied. A good leader must exhibit certain qualities in order to be effective, and it is imperative to understand that flexibility is the key attribute that gives leadership a universal outlook. It, therefore, follows that a good leader must be able to impart inspiration, optimism, integrity, confidence and unity among those they lead. Of equal importance is the fact that these qualities may be inborn (although this must only be viewed as the partiality to develop competencies better than the rest) among some individuals, but must be acquired via study and training among others (Doh 2003, 243). This paper will research the extent to which such qualities can be learnt through study and training and give supporting examples. It is an agreeable argument that leadership can, and has been learnt. However, it is equally agreeable that book knowledge, or taught knowledge in the field of leadership, is very limited in terms of its effectiveness. In this sense, leadership must be viewed as a “performance activity”. The focus then needs to move away from whether leaders are made or born to what they have made of their learning. The extent of what is taught to leaders as best practice is only applicable to the two extremes of either specific or generalized audiences, and the possibility of the learner never encountering either of them cannot be understated (Kickul & Neuman 2000, 33). To be useful, what is taught must further be learned in more intuitive, applicable and personal circumstances and environments. This serves to emphasize the significance of flexibility. For example, a leader can be taught the art of being persuasive and inspirational in the way they present their ideas and communicate. On the other hand, when some attributes are perceived as dispositions, they cannot be learned. This can best be viewed in the sense that a leader cannot be taught to readily accept risk-taking or be ambitious because these are the possible products of genes, family or life. It is only through immersion into their fields that leaders can learn their way around strategic thinking and develop a capacity of conceptual thinking. Once learning leadership starts, the process never really stops, and no single study or training module can produce a leader who will effectively exhibit the same qualities under all circumstances (Kickul & Neuman 2000, 29). Therefore, leadership cannot be studied or trained as an enduring individual feature. This is made more complex because most leadership strategies require that a leader unlearns default responses, assumptions and old habits related to human nature and implement new behaviors and choices. Further, most lessons in leadership education are inclined towards conveying technique and style. Therefore, much of what is taught ends up being more of management and not leadership. In such situations, it is possible for effective learning to take place and even for the taught notions to be put into practice, but one will still fail at being an effective leader. While inspiration, intelligence, optimism, integrity and vision still remain constant as some of leadership’s essential principles and can be studies over, the ability to amalgamate principles and practice does not imply that one has learned leadership (Kickul & Neuman 2000, 32). The limiting factor is that what studies teach does not necessarily make aspiring leaders learn the prerequisites; knowing and practicing are distinguished. Contemporary leaders confuse their capacity with smartness. They do not build their foundations on gathering, sorting and structuring their information towards objectivity. A leader must possess the capacity to foresee and relate the vision to what is reality and mete that with past experiences. No training will link these aspects unless it is one that bears the feelings, listening and fitness of the learner (Doh 2003, 255). As a leader, one should never mix up the aspect of being informed with being smart. Leaderships will inevitably demand vision, which requires the ability of a leader to forecast as well as backtrack and acknowledge what led to present situations. Not much of that can be taught and learned, in a formal classroom setting. If focus not concentrated, no leadership qualities can be achieved. In this sense, leadership may be viewed synonymously as parenthood. An individual can either learn to become a better parent or just be born with the qualities to raise a newborn without the need to enhance their proficiency from others who are more competent. Certainly then, certain individuals will be more extroverted than others and, hence, find leadership positions more comfortable than others. In conclusion, leadership can be taught. However, teaching methods must be confined to meaningful experiences. It must be considered that learning leadership has numerous limitations. Feedback needs to be realistic and involve the roles of internships as the key bearings to learning (Zaccaro, Gulick & Khare, 2008, 14). Whatever individuals want to learn must bear example of what they want to be seen of them. For example, a learner must never use case studies from peers to formulate their own leadership designs. All leadership must originate from personal experiences with unique circumstances. They are never the same. A case study in a business research would never resemble one that seeks to establish qualities of the one seeking to be a solution to matters that one must be a role model. The visible aspect is that learning leadership has a finite measure but must be developed as a process to keep it relevant. Classroom learning will end, but in terms of experience, leadership needs more to demonstrate its fitness by exercising and balancing its capacity to contain its own power within its role. References Doh, JP 2003, ‘Can leadership be taught? Perspectives from management educators’, Academy of Management: Learning & Education, vol. 2, no.1, pp. 254-263. Kickul, J, & Neuman, G 2000, Emergence leadership behaviors: The function of personality and cognitive ability in determining teamwork performance and KSAs, Journal of Business and Psychology, vol. 15, no. 8, pp. 27-51. Miltenberger, RG 2004, Behavior modification principles and procedures, Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, California. Scouller, J 2011, The three levels of leadership: How to develop your leadership presence, knowhow and skill, Management Books 2000, New Jersey. Zaccaro, S J, Gulick, LM & Khare, VP 2008, Personality and leadership, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 13-29, Praeger, Connecticut. Read More