Leadership: The Power of Belief - Essay Example

Leadership The Power Of Belief Leadership is a quality that arises from the experiences of life. Person’s beliefs, his experiences,his conditions, his thoughts, his relations and his transformation play a major role in building a personality. Human being is a complex mixture of his mental, physical, emotional and spiritual aspects. As there are different types of characters, there are different types of leaders. The truth is, leaders are not leaders right from the birth, but their life and their beliefs make them the leader. Leadership theories are the theories which study different aspects of the leadership and come up with the ideas of what makes a successful leader. Some theories like Contingency theory focuses more on the different situations that affect the leadership while theories like ‘situational theory’ focuses more on the behavior pattern of a leader in a particular situation. However, even though theories help us to understand the behavior and thinking patterns of a leader in his private and public life, it cannot confine the leader in a particular set of behavior patterns. Leaders are leaders because of their boldness, their power and their belief. These are the characters of spirit and not jut mind or body. Leaders are those who go beyond their minds and their bodies and function from their heart. The qualities of decision making, motivating people, understanding their needs and being flexible are very important for being a successful leader. At the same time, the behavior pattern and thinking pattern of a leader is also are very important. History is an evidence that leaders, whether they are political or corporate, have different characters from people who are not leaders. They are dynamic, accept change gracefully, stick to their belief and take risks. They are fighters and do not hesitate to put their life in danger when fighting for the truth. Leadership theories help us to understand the way the leaders function. Some of the leadership theories that have studied the leadership qualities are as follows: Contingency theory( Contingency theory) : According to the contingency theory, the success of the leader depends not only on his or her abilities to lead, but also on different external situations and factors. These factors are beyond the control of the leader. The external factors could be the behavior of the people who follow him, his style of leadership, his capabilities and situations that arises. So contingency theory says that the success of the leader depends on the situations that he faces during the leadership. Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Theory (Situational Theory) : Situational theory focuses more on the ability of the leader rather than the external factors. Situational theory says that if a leader knows how to be flexible and change himself according to the changes in the external factors, then he can be a successful leader. A leader should change his behavior and the leadership style according to the changes and the needs of the followers. According to the situational theory, how the leader caters to the needs of the followers, how he develop the relationship and how he makes use of the resources available to him matters a lot. Situational theory and contingency theory are same in a way that they do accept the importance of external factors in the success of the leadership. However, while contingency theory involves other factors such as situations and the conditions that the leader goes through, situational theory says that leader can cope with any factors as long as he is ready to change himself according to the need. Contingency theory says that there are certain things that are beyond the control of the leader while situational theory says that leader’s behavior is what matters the most. Hersey and Blanchards Situational leadership describes that there are different ways a leader can behave with his followers to persuade them to agree with his belief and make them cooperate him. The leadership style has to be such that it should change according to the nature and the beliefs of the followers. This leader who knows how to motivate different people in different ways is a mature leader. A good leader understands that everyone is different and so have different ways of doing things. He touches the right chord of the followers and hence is successful in making them follow him. Path goal theory of leadership(Path-Goal Theory of Leadership): The path goal theory of leadership shows how a leader is a person who understands the goal an d knows the path clearly. The theory says that the leader is a person who shows the path to the followers who were previously unaware of it. Not only that, but he also lets the followers know and believe that it is possible to achieve the goal and motivates them to follow his path. By showing the followers how to reach the goal, he makes them strong enough to act towards the goal. People usually know what they want. However, when they face obstacles or resistance, they give up and do not dare to rise and walk towards their goal. Leaders are those people who awaken the spirit of the people, removes the obstacles, work in group and is always there to support the followers whenever they need a moral strength. A leader is not the one who only talks. Leader is the one who walks on the path first and by doing so gains the trust of the people. He then asks the followers to follow him towards the common goal. Through his actions he motivates the followers. Vroom and Yettons contingency approach (Vroom and Yettons Normative Model ): This approach says that there are different ways a leader takes the decision. He has different ways and means to find the solution to different problems. He either takes the help of people around him or takes the decision himself. The decisions that are taken with the help of group discussions are the best decisions. From the above leadership qualities, there is one leader who comes to our mind, who has successfully displayed all the qualities that are described in the above given theories. The name of the leader is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was an Indian leader who successfully fought the British rule in India and made them to leave the country. The weapon that he used was non-violence. Gandhi was a simple man, who wanted to be a successful lawyer and settle down with his wife and family. In his childhood, he was involved in acts like lying, stealing money and going against the moral practice of the family (Hatt p9). However, there were some qualities in him that made him a leader that he became. He always stuck to what he believed and never gave to the suggestions by others. He was threatened that if he goes to England, he will be made outcaste from his community( Hatt p11). However, he was firm in his decision and did not budge. When in South Africa, he found that the Indians living there were suffering from injustice and unfair rules from government because of their color and ethnic background. This disturbed him and he asked them to come together and fight for justice rather than fighting in different groups. He use to take group meetings and conduct group sessions to motivate them against the injustice (Hatt 14). Gandhi believed that nonviolence was the only means to fight the British as he realized that war can make them to change only from outside. But to change the British from inside and make them feel the suffering of the Indians from the heart, he has to accept the revolutionary way called the ‘satyagraha’,. So he adopted satyagraha as a means of fight and convinced everyone to follow it even when it meant risking life and imprisonment (Richard and Gandhi p19). Millions and millions of Indians followed him, trusted him and finally India was free in 1947. This was the power of the leadership of Gandhi and nothing else. Gandhi was a true leader. References: Contingency theory , Retrieved from June 14, 2009 Hatt , Christine. Mahatma Gandhi Evans Brothers, 2001 Hersey and Blanchards Situational Leadershi, Retrieved from June 14, 2009 Johnson, Richard & Gandhi. Gandhis experiments with truth: essential writings by and about Mahatma Gandhi Lexington Books, 2005 Path-Goal Theory of Leadership , Retrieved from June 14, 2009 Situational Leadership Retrieved from June 14, 2009 Vroom and Yettons Normative Model Retrieved from June 14, 2009 Read More