Functions of Leadership: Leadership Qualities

Functions of Leadership: Leadership Qualities

    To start the discussion, there is need to develop a working knowledge of what a leader is, and the qualities acclaimed amongst leaders. A leader is one visionary person who knows the way and leads others through the way (Bennis, 2003 p.79). A leader needs to have a vision or a set of goals and objectives that guides their actions in running the organization. Some requisite skills that leaders need to have and develop, according to Gordon (2007, p.77), include articulatory skills, which would help them convince others and guide them into supporting the vision. These form an important basis for the success of the organization.

In addition, a good leader should have skills in management, a good academic background and should serve as a role model that brings inspiration to the members of the organization. Another ingredient is general goodwill among the followers. This goodwill ensures that leadership is smooth because members do not have to be coerced to do their work. According to Murphy (2006, p.96), a leader should be in a position to set the pace, embrace teamwork, and keep time.

    Therefore, one can deduce that leadership plays an important role in insuring the success of any organization. Leaders do this by encouraging progress and defining the functionality of the organizations. Functions of leadership is, therefore, the focus of the subsequent part of this literature review.

 Functions of Leadership

    According to Albritton & Thomas (2000, p.117-123), leadership has more than six functions in every organization. Every one of these functions of leadership within an organizational context coincides with a function of the rules and standards that govern various interactions in the organization. To begin with, Leadership may take a visionary, gate-keeping, enforcer or connector role. Visionary leadership, for example, primarily generates information that is necessary for the organization and shows the way for the subjects to carry out duties geared to achieving the vision of the leaders. Although these functions vary from one organization to another, this literature ascertains that there are common functions that cut across different organizations.