Read the text and do the tasks
How Do Leaders Lead?
1. Leadership is the process by which a leader, by persuasion or example, induces followers to pursue their objectives for the group. In other words, it is «a process (act) of influencing the activities of an organized group in its efforts toward goal setting and goal achievement» (Stogdill, 1950, p. 3), or a «specialized form of social interaction in which cooperating individuals are permitted to influence and motivate others to promote the attainment of group and individual goals» (Forsyth, 1999, p. 343).
2. From each of these perspectives, leadership involves a «process of influence whereby the leader has an impact on others by inducing them to behave in a certain way» (Bryman, 1996, p. 276). These definitions have in common their emphasis on the view that leadership is linked to the ability to shape the behavior of those within one's group, organization, or society.
3. Furthermore, leadership involves more than being able to obtain changes in behavior that flow from coercion linked to the possession of power or enticement linked to the ability to reward («command and control» models of motivation, see Tyler & Blader, 2000). Leadership involves the possession of qualities that lead others to want to follow the leader's directives, either because they feel obligated to do so, or because they desire to do so. In other words, leadership is a characteristic that is voluntarily conferred upon a person by others and involves the ability of a person to engage the active and willing cooperation of followers. Leadership is, therefore, a process of influence that «depends more on persuasion than on coercion» (Hollander, 1978, pp. 1-2).
4. Of course, the ability to motivate group members, while clearly a key function of leadership, is not all that leadership involves. Leadership is also linked to the ability to set goals for the group («vision»); goals whose attainment facilitates the continued success of the group. In addition, leadership involves being able to structure the organization so that it can effectively attain those goals («implementation»). Further, the numerous theories of leadership that have developed since the earliest history of organized societies articulate a wide variety of other criteria of leadership, making any simple definition of leadership incomplete (Bass, 1981).
(David M. Messick : The Psychology of Leadership / David M. Messick , Roderick M. Kramer. London : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 2005. – P. 163).
Determine the main idea of the text.
According to the text there is no unified definition of leadership due to multiple criteria a leader should correspond with.
The main task of the text is to show the readers that leadership involves persuasion people rather than coercion.
On the whole it can be said that people trust and obey their leader because his aim is to take care of them.
The text is devoted to revealing a leader’s features necessary for motivation his group to successful attainment of goals set by him.
