Functions Of leadership: Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography

Albritton, R. L., and Thomas, W. S. (2000). Developing Leadership Skills: A Sourcebook for Company Managers. Englewood, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, p.117-123.

            Albritton and Thomas have a good book that aims at helping company managers to develop skills necessary for improved leadership styles. The book discusses appropriate models that managers can relate with and use to assess their leadership. The importance of this book to the literature review on functions of leadership lies in the models the book has outlined.

Bellman, G. (2001).Getting Things Done When You Are Not in Charge. 2d ed. San  Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, p.389.

            This book addresses important issues in the course of leadership. It targets both people who are in leadership position and those who are not. The advice and techniques advocated for in the book can help people who feel that they have no authority over their subjects. It especially emphasizes on the use of delegation and enlisting of key people to support leadership course.  It also discusses motivating people and keeping them focused on the organization’s goals.

Geoffrey has over forty years experience in management and six books since 1986. The book therefore blends both theory and practice. The book brings new insight into the research and is neither too broad nor too narrow.

Bennis, W. (2003). On Becoming a Leader. Rev. ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus, p.220-26.

            This excellent book discusses good leadership qualities. Some of these qualities are integrity, vision, curiosity and a daring nature. It goes even further to discuss strategies of becoming a leader. Bennis is a renown scholar and manager having been a lecturer and president of State University of New York. He is as well known for his 27 books, majority of them being in the subject of leadership. The book is a powerful resource that will be beneficial in this project.

Bendik, P. (2001). What Makes a Leader. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press, p.59-77.

In this book, Bendik discusses profiles that would make one a successful leader. The style follows and gives solid examples of leadership profiles of successful leaders across dofferent fields. Bendik contributes to the literature review by discussing various forms of power leaders can use.

Caroselli, M. (2000). Leadership Skills for Managers. New York: McGraw-Hill, p.78-85.

            This book discusses various roles of leadership. Some of these are being a connector, giving a vision, enforcer and a distributor of power. For this literature review, this book is relevant in its discussion of how to create team spirit, which is a key function of leadership. Caroselli is an authority in leadership and currently has over 60 published books in her repertoire.

DePree, M. (2007). Leadership is an Art. East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University Press, p.83-87.

            This book focuses on the art of leadership, especially the use of diversity in organizations and appropriate involvement of all members of the organization. As such, one of his contributions is that leaders should carry out a SWOT analysis on each individual member of the organization. Max DePree is a recognized businessperson and writer, and is in Junior Achievement's Business Hall of Fame U.S. He has written other books.

             Gordon, T. (2007). Leader Effectiveness Training, L.E.T.: The No-Lose Way to Release the Productive Potential of People. New York: Wyden Books, p.77.

            This book shows leaders how to tap the potential in the members of the organization. It places emphasis on leaders to empower members to solve their own problems and make logical decisions. A critical idea learnt through this book is that leaders should be articulate and in a position to convince others to support their visions. Gordon is an authority and is known for the Gordon model of effective relationships.

Harrell, K. (2003). The Attitude of Leadership: Taking the Lead and Keeping It. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, p.213-17.

In this book, Keith Harrel shows profiles of successful leaders from across the world. He focuses on their attitude and goes on to discuss the function of a leader as a link between the management and the other members. Harrel has a lot of practical knowledge to pass to readers and is an author of seven books.

Kouzes, J. and Posner, B. (2008). The Leadership Challenge. 4th ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, p.49-57.

            This is a book that concerns itself with nurturing skills and anilities in leaders. It is a popular book having sold in millions world wide and won awards. It is currently in its fourth edition. The popularity of the book over 20 years since its first publication attests to its value.

Murphy, E. (2006). Leadership IQ: A Personal Development Process Based on a Scientific Study of a New Generation of Leaders. New York: John Wiley & Sons, p96.      

The book shows how leaders can advance on their leadership by identifying leadership patterns of outstanding leaders. The book demonstrates this through case studies. Its main contribution in this review is that leaders should be pace setters.

Sheldon, B. (2001). Leaders in Business Organizations: Styles and Strategies for Success. Chicago: American Library Association, p.191-96.

            The focus of this book is various aspects of leadership, such as trust building, effective communication, time management and power distribution. The book offers many insights on leadership and is therefore important for this review.          

Winston, M. (2001). Leadership Dynamics: Theory and Practice. New York: Haworth Press, p.69-99.

            This book tackles a diversity of theories and practices of leadership. It explains the usefulness of these theories in development of effective leadership in organizations. Its focus even goes further to discuss leadership qualities in informal organizations.

 Riggs, D. E. (2008). Leadership: What the Leaders Expect. Phoenix, Ariz.: Oryx Press, p.173-78.

            This book is a documentation of interviews on needs and expectations in different organizations leaders have.  

Pearce, T. (2003). Leading Out Loud: Inspiring Change Through Authentic Communication. Rev. ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, p.255-67.

            Pearce discusses various techniques of effective leadership. His book explores methods of speechmaking as used to inspire people to support the leader’s vision. The leader’s mind should always be fashioned around the organization. As a vital book in this review, the book emphasizes that leaders should always consider the weaknesses and strengths of each employee. This knowledge is necessary in delegation of power. It corroborates DePree (2007) as in the discussion.

           Mech, T. (2008). Leadership and Organizational Success. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, p.148-53.

            Mech Terrence critically scrutinizes the role of leadership in organizations that are successful. The book shows that quality leadership is essential in promoting organization’s aims, goals, goals and objectives. The approach of the book is a compilation of essays on leadership. The book is useful in this review because it gives insights on leadership. For instance, leadership is a common denominator in all groupings in the society.