Thesis on "Leadership Its Importance for Today's Organization"

Thesis 5 pages (1418 words) Sources: 5 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Leadership

Edwin Locke's The Essence of Leadership: Four Keys to Leading Successfully was published in 1999. Locke is famous for his work on motivation, and applies that work to his treatise on leadership. The Essence of Leadership covers a range of ground including the nature of leadership, leadership traits, the knowledge, skills and abilities that leaders need, and vision. Vision is given the most time in the book, as Locke views vision as being one of the defining traits of a leader.

To Locke, leaders are those who are in charge. They are the actors within the organization who induce others to take action. Leaders not only have vision, but they are able to motivate subordinates, and without the use of force. The true leader can choose between several motivational techniques. These include convincing subordinates that a vision is important and attainable; challenging subordinates and rewarding subordinates. Leaders who rely of fear, coercion and force are dictators rather than leaders. Dictators, Locke argues, will ultimately fail because humans will not act against their self-interest in the long-term, which is precisely what the dictator asks them to do.

Locke also differentiates leadership and management. He explains it simple: "the key function of a leader is to establish the basic vision…the key function of the manager is to implement the vision." It is understood that there is no clear line of demarcation between leading and managing, however. In general, the degree of leadership and the degree of management are dictated by the manager/leader's level within the organization. At higher levels, leadership needs to be more important. At lowe
Continue scrolling to

download full paper
r levels, management is more important. Managers are playing an increasing role in leadership in many organizations, but every organization needs to have a definitive leader at the top of the organizational chart.

Locke presents a leadership model that further defines leadership roles from non-leadership roles. The four keys to leadership, he argues, are leadership motives and traits; knowledge, skills and ability; having vision; and implementing vision.

Among the key leadership motives and traits, Locke posits that effective leaders are full of drive; are proactive and tenacious; want to lead; are honest and have integrity; have a high degree of self-confidence; are creative; are strategically flexible; and can be charismatic. Among the knowledge, skills and abilities associated with effective leadership are knowledge of the industry; a variety of skills, especially people skills; and a high level of cognitive ability.

The last vital component to leadership is vision. A leader's primary role with respect to vision is to formulate that vision. The leader defines what the organization should strive to be. The leader is able to articulate that vision succinctly and can formulate strategy that determines how the vision will be achieved. The leader must then be able to promote commitment to that vision throughout the organization and even with external stakeholders. The leader, once a vision has been defined and articulated, but then bear responsibility for the implementation of that vision. At this stage, leadership takes on managerial task aspects. These include structuring the company and the selection, training and acculturation of personnel.

Locke outlines some of the background with respective to the study of leadership traits. This issue has proven contentious because studies have at times shown no correlation between leader traits and leader effectiveness. This is false, Locke argues, because it is the interrelatedness of traits that drives leadership effectiveness. This theory underlies much of Locke's four keys thesis -- leaders are born of the combination of the four keys rather than an individual key, much less an individual trait.

Drive is the first key motive, but this encompasses a range of traits -- tenacity, achievement and energy among them. These traits give leaders the tools they need to perform the leadership role, including long-term time orientation, the energy needed to marshal resources and the desire to enact the change in the first place.

The core traits of honesty and integrity are vital to leadership because the leader must instill confidence in the followers. This can only be done through honesty -- the followers need to know that if they are willing to make short-term sacrifices, this will result in long-term gains. That is simply not the case, Locke, argues, when the… READ MORE

Quoted Instructions for "Leadership Its Importance for Today's Organization" Assignment:

Request *****s Username: *****

Research Report: During the past several decades, there have been a large number of books and articles written about leaders and leadership that have appeared in the popular press and on the shelves at your local bookstore. I believe that lessons can be learned from the anecdotal comments coming from these popular *****s, the men and women leaders of today*****s organizations and those who have chosen to observe and write about them. Your assignment *****” By the end of the seventh week, you are expected to have read one of the popular books (see the following bibliography) or several related leadership articles and to have prepared a 5- to 7-page summary (APA format). If you choose a book, you do not need to read it the same way you read a textbook. A book can be read quickly and lightly. You can extract the essence from works of this nature without reading each word and line with *****pain-staking detail.***** You may find the essence of the author*****s work in the first chapter, sometimes it appears in the last chapter, sometimes it is spread throughout the book. I am asking that you provide a *****summary***** of the author*****s work*****”what is the author*****s major theme? What are the key ideas being presented? Your work is to be a summary and not a personal critique of the book or series of articles.

Bibliography

Adair, Effective Leadership

Autry, Love and Profit: The Art of Caring Leadership

Badaracco and Ellsworth, Leadership and the Quest

Bass and Avolio, Improving Organizational Effectiveness through Transformational Ownership

Bass, Leadership and Performance Beyond Expectations

Bellingham and Cohen, Leadership: Myths and Realities

Bennis and Nanus, Leaders

Bennis, Leaders on Leadership

Bennis, On Becoming a Leader

Bennis, Why Leaders Can*****t Lead

Block, Stewardship

Block, The Empowered Manager

Bracey, Managing from the Heart

Bryman, Charisma and Leadership in Organizations

Burns, Leadership

Byham and Cox, Zapp: The Lightning of Empowerment

Chaleff, The Courageous Follower

Cheaney and Cotter, Real People, Real Work: Parables on Leadership in the 90s

Clark and Clark, Measures of Leadership

Clark, Clark, and Campbell, Impact of Leadership

Cohen and Bradford, Influence without Authority

Cohen, The Art of the Leader

Collins, Women Leading

Conger, Charismatic Leadership

Conger, Learning to Lead

Covey, Principle-Centered Leadership

Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Cribbin, Leadership: Strategies of Organizational Effectiveness

Crosby, Mung, The Art of Becoming an Executive

Daft and Lengel, Fusion Leadership

Daft and Lengel, The Fourth Cell: Leadership Excellence

DePree, Leading Without Power

DePree, Leadership Is an Art

DePree, Leadership Jazz

Fiedler and Garcia, New Approaches to Effective Leadership for Integrity

Gardner, On Leadership

Gilmore, Making a Leadership Change

Gitlow, Being the Boss: The Importance of Leadership and Power

Glasser, The Control Theory Manager

Greenleaf, Servant Leadership

Haas, The Leader Within

Heider, The Tao of Leadership: Lao Tzu*****s Tao Te Ching in Action

Herman, The Tao of Work: On Leading and Following

Joiner, Leadership for Change

Kelley, The Power of Followership

Kets de Vries, Prisoners of Leadership

Koestenbaum, Leadership: The Inner Side of Greatness

Kotter, Leading Change

Kotter, The Leadership Factor

Kouzes and Posner, Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It; Why People Demand It

Kouzes and Posner, The Leadership Challenge

Leavitt, Corporate Pathfinders

Lee, The Power Principle

Levinson and Rosenthal, CEO: Corporate Leadership

Locke, The Essence of Leadership

Loden, Feminine Ownership

Luecke, Scuttle Your Ships Before Advancing: Lessons from History on Leadership and Change for Today*****s Managers

Maccoby, The Leader

Manz, The Leadership Wisdom of Jesus

Manz and Sims, Super Leadership

Marcinko, Leadership Secrets of the Rogue Warrior

McLean and Weitzel, Magic, Myth, or Method?

Morrison, The New Leaders

Nanus, The Leader*****s Edge

Nanus, Visionary Leadership

Pfeffer, Managing with Power

Phillips, Lincoln on Leadership

Portnoy, Leadership: What Every Leader Should Know about People

Rehfield, The Alchemy of a Leader

Robert, The Essence of Leadership: Strategy, Innovation, and Decisiveness

Roberts, Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun

Sayles, The Working Leader

Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership

Schwartzkopf, It Doesn*****t Take a Hero

Shelton, Beyond Counterfeit Leadership

Sims and Lorenzi, The New Leadership Paradigm

Snyder and Graves, Vision, Values, and Courage: Leadership for Quality Management

Spears, Reflections on Leadership

Tichy and Cohen, The Leadership Engine

Tichy and Devanna, The Transformational Leader

Vaill, Management as a Performing Art

Vaill, Spirited Leading and Learning

Vroom and Jago, The New Leadership

Wheatley, Leadership and the New Science

Zaleznik, The Managerial Mystique

How to Reference "Leadership Its Importance for Today's Organization" Thesis in a Bibliography

Leadership Its Importance for Today's Organization.” A1-TermPaper.com, 2009, https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/leadership-edwin-locke-essence/513345. Accessed 1 Jul 2024.

Leadership Its Importance for Today's Organization (2009). Retrieved from https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/leadership-edwin-locke-essence/513345
A1-TermPaper.com. (2009). Leadership Its Importance for Today's Organization. [online] Available at: https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/leadership-edwin-locke-essence/513345 [Accessed 1 Jul, 2024].
”Leadership Its Importance for Today's Organization” 2009. A1-TermPaper.com. https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/leadership-edwin-locke-essence/513345.
”Leadership Its Importance for Today's Organization” A1-TermPaper.com, Last modified 2024. https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/leadership-edwin-locke-essence/513345.
[1] ”Leadership Its Importance for Today's Organization”, A1-TermPaper.com, 2009. [Online]. Available: https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/leadership-edwin-locke-essence/513345. [Accessed: 1-Jul-2024].
1. Leadership Its Importance for Today's Organization [Internet]. A1-TermPaper.com. 2009 [cited 1 July 2024]. Available from: https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/leadership-edwin-locke-essence/513345
1. Leadership Its Importance for Today's Organization. A1-TermPaper.com. https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/leadership-edwin-locke-essence/513345. Published 2009. Accessed July 1, 2024.

Related Thesis Papers:

Leadership in Organizations Organizational Leadership Thoughts Capstone Project

Paper Icon

Leadership in Organizations

Organizational Leadership

Thoughts on Leadership (Opening statement)

Management verses Leadership

What is management?

Similarities

Differences

The overlap ion management and leadership

What do leaders do?

Comparing personal… read more

Capstone Project 40 pages (12322 words) Sources: 25 Topic: Leadership / Mentoring


Importance of Leadership for Today's Organization Term Paper

Paper Icon

Leadership

Importance of leadership for today's organization

The purpose of this report is to identify the functions of leadership in modern organizations in a comprehensive fashion in order to determine… read more

Term Paper 6 pages (1601 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Leadership / Mentoring


Leadership: Its Different Dimensions and Applications Term Paper

Paper Icon

Leadership: Its Different Dimensions and Applications in the Contemporary Organization

Leadership, as applied in the contemporary organization, has evolved both as a function and as a concept. As a function… read more

Term Paper 6 pages (1613 words) Sources: 3 Topic: Leadership / Mentoring


Leadership Characteristics of Administrators Term Paper

Paper Icon

Leadership Characteristics of Administrators

To define leadership, we first have to understand that leadership is relative i.e. everyone has a different approach to define what is good leadership. There are… read more

Term Paper 30 pages (9690 words) Sources: 20 Style: APA Topic: Leadership / Mentoring


Leadership Has Become a Prominent Research Paper

Paper Icon

Leadership has become a prominent topic of research in recent years. One of the main reasons for this is that leadership is a major factor in the performance of employees… read more

Research Paper 8 pages (2476 words) Sources: 8 Topic: Leadership / Mentoring


Mon, Jul 1, 2024

If you don't see the paper you need, we will write it for you!

Established in 1995
900,000 Orders Finished
100% Guaranteed Work
300 Words Per Page
Simple Ordering
100% Private & Secure

We can write a new, 100% unique paper!

Search Papers

Navigation

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!