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Introduction Leadership has been an intriguing and important part of human interactions for as long as people have lived and worked together in groups. Bass (1990) assert that leadership is a ?universal phenomenon? and that ?the study of leadership is an ancient art? (p.5).
Leadership is one of the most widely talked about subjects and at the same time one of the most elusive and puzzling. Although the concept of leadership is as old as human history, interest in leadership increased during the early part of the twentieth century. Various theories of leadership has emerged and contributed much to the development of leadership concept. It is a difficult concept to fully appreciate and understand. Burns (1978) suggests …show more content…
He thus defines leadership as ?a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal?. A more collective concept of leadership arises out of a review by Yuki (2002), ?Most definitions of leadership reflect the assumption that it involves a social influence process whereby intentional influence is exerted by one person (or group) over other people (or groups) to structure the activities and relationships in a group or organization. In short, leadership is a complex phenomenon that touches on many other important personal, social and organizational processes. It depends on a process of influence, whereby people are inspired to work towards group goals, not through coercion, but through personal motivation. Leadership is like the Abominable Snowman, whose footprints are everywhere but he is nowhere to be seen.? (Bennis and Nanus, 1985).
Concept of Followership Horsfall (2001) stated that the vast majority of people are both followers and leaders in life. No matter the titles people have or salary people make, most people will spend their time answering to someone as a follower instead of giving directions as a leader. So, …show more content…
Interaction Between Leaders and Followers Leaders inspire and create vision; they can even be well equipped with traits and skills, but they will always be limited by this fact - followers give permission to let leaders lead (De Pree, 2008). A permissive act of trust must occur in followers to allow leaders to lead. The follower is a relational role and this social process in leadership must be taken into account . If being a follower implies a relationship to a leader, then the difficulty to properly define who is a follower is directly tied to the difficulty to properly define who or what is a leader. Stogdill (1974) pointed out there are almost as many different definitions of leadership as there are people who have tried to define it. Considering followers are connected to leadership through a relational role, it is no wonder that a definition for follower is difficult to construct. Ultimately, followership is similar to leadership; it can take on various forms based on what qualities or characteristics researchers emphasize in their study of followers (Bass & Stogdill, 1990).
Patterson, K. and Winston, B (2002) commented and emphasized that the
Introduction Leadership has been an intriguing and important part of human interactions for as long as people have lived and worked together in groups. Bass (1990) assert that leadership is a ?universal phenomenon? and that ?the study of leadership is an ancient art? (p.5).
Leadership is one of the most widely talked about subjects and at the same time one of the most elusive and puzzling. Although the concept of leadership is as old as human history, interest in leadership increased during the early part of the twentieth century. Various theories of leadership has emerged and contributed much to the development of leadership concept. It is a difficult concept to fully appreciate and understand. Burns (1978) suggests …show more content…
He thus defines leadership as ?a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal?. A more collective concept of leadership arises out of a review by Yuki (2002), ?Most definitions of leadership reflect the assumption that it involves a social influence process whereby intentional influence is exerted by one person (or group) over other people (or groups) to structure the activities and relationships in a group or organization. In short, leadership is a complex phenomenon that touches on many other important personal, social and organizational processes. It depends on a process of influence, whereby people are inspired to work towards group goals, not through coercion, but through personal motivation. Leadership is like the Abominable Snowman, whose footprints are everywhere but he is nowhere to be seen.? (Bennis and Nanus, 1985).
Concept of Followership Horsfall (2001) stated that the vast majority of people are both followers and leaders in life. No matter the titles people have or salary people make, most people will spend their time answering to someone as a follower instead of giving directions as a leader. So, …show more content…
Interaction Between Leaders and Followers Leaders inspire and create vision; they can even be well equipped with traits and skills, but they will always be limited by this fact - followers give permission to let leaders lead (De Pree, 2008). A permissive act of trust must occur in followers to allow leaders to lead. The follower is a relational role and this social process in leadership must be taken into account . If being a follower implies a relationship to a leader, then the difficulty to properly define who is a follower is directly tied to the difficulty to properly define who or what is a leader. Stogdill (1974) pointed out there are almost as many different definitions of leadership as there are people who have tried to define it. Considering followers are connected to leadership through a relational role, it is no wonder that a definition for follower is difficult to construct. Ultimately, followership is similar to leadership; it can take on various forms based on what qualities or characteristics researchers emphasize in their study of followers (Bass & Stogdill, 1990).
Patterson, K. and Winston, B (2002) commented and emphasized that the