The leadership

Introduction

Leadership is a basic and universal human condition, a relationship that involves everyone throughout their entire existence. Initially they are the parents who, by exercising good or bad orientation in the life of each child, promote them and put limits on each family, as well as teachers, as well as in companies, such as churches, in the army, the sport, politics, etc…

The leader must convince and move. It is not enough for the leader to know the proper way to proceed. It also must be able to act. The great leader needs both the vision and the ability to get the right thing.

All the really powerful bosses I have met had great intelligence, discipline, industry and tireless and deep-rooted self-confidence. It was driven by a dream that allowed them to drag others along. They all looked beyond the horizon, and some saw more clearly than others.

These phrases by Richard M. Nixon contain a great deal of experience. The experience of a politician who led the most powerful nation on earth and who suffered firsthand all the internal and external problems of a government that made history with the blackest chapters in the underground world of palatial intrigue and this is in a area in which democracy is preached.

Therefore, these sentences and the research, which despite its brevity, is focused towards the so-called leadership, in a very concrete way, to continue the study of this social phenomenon that we are currently experiencing.

OBJECTIVES

Identify the importance of leadership for individuals and society and develop the most suitable qualities of character and aptitudes to successfully carry out this function. Participate with our colleagues that Leadership is a basic and universal human condition, therefore it transcends the scope of interpersonal relationships. Learn to locate the Leader within Human Relations and Social Groups. Know the various methods of approaching Leadership. Explain what characterizes a Charismatic Leader and how he exercises his leadership.

It is an interaction between the members of a group, in which the leaders are agents of change, people whose acts affect the rest of the components to a greater degree than the acts of the latter affect the leaders. Leadership exists when a member of a group modifies the motivation or competence of other group members.

Leadership involves the use of influence, being an agent of change, being able to affect the behavior and performance of group members, and meeting individual, group, or organizational goals. The effectiveness of leaders is usually measured by meeting these objectives.

In general, the definition of leadership is the attempt to use non-dominant types of influence to motivate individuals to achieve some objective.

Leadership, as such, is difficult and complex and implies the ability to persuade others to enthusiastically carry out certain purposes, that is, the relationship of influence between two or more people who are interdependent for the achievement of group objectives.

In a broader sense, it implies a particular influencing relationship between components of a group, in which the leader provides members with valuable resources to achieve common ends.

Leadership is a process where the individual orders, guides, influences and supervises the thoughts, feelings, actions or behaviors of others.

In leadership we will point out:

It is an action on people, in which feelings, interests, aspirations, values, attitudes and all kinds of human reactions stand out. In leadership you get others to do, therefore you must have the ability to understand why the people act and know how to handle them skillfully achieving the necessary motivation or motivations Leadership involves the role of authority, responsibility, respect and other values

Various methods of approaching a definition of the concept of leadership.

There are various methods of approaching a definition of the concept of leadership, some of these are as follows:

The "great man" theory, according to which the leader was born as such, and was not made afterwards. This theory serves as the basis for the monarchy, in which a king is born.

Trait theory, which states that the leader has characteristic traits that differentiate him from others. Such traits can be physiological (height, height, timbre of voice, strength, etc.), intellectual (Intelligence, liveliness of spirit) or psychological (emotional stability, empathy, ability to perceive, etc.).

The situational approach, according to which a specific leader corresponds to each specific situation. This is the individual capable of leading the group towards a common goal and obtaining the consent of others at a certain point in the group's history.

The functional approach, according to which the leader is the one that adequately performs a necessary function for the survival of the group. In this case, it is a specific behavior oriented towards a specific purpose.

The empirical approach considers the leader to be the person chosen by the members of the group as leader. It is a sociometric choice, in which the leader reveals herself as the central character of the group.

The institutional or sociological approach is based on the status occupied by the leader in relation to the other positions within the group. The leader is the one who has the possibility that an order of his, with a specific content, be executed by a given group of people.

The cognitive approach, according to which the leader is appointed for his expert qualities and for the fame of his knowledge and experience in a domain that interests the group. The leader is invested with a charismatic prestige and embodies the collective self.

The naturalistic approach affirms that the leader usually has a strong personality, expresses himself easily and with great conviction. The influence that it exerts on the group comes from its facility to commit itself and to be implied.

The multiplicity of approaches, both psychological and empirical, prevents the elaboration of a unitary notion of leadership. And it is undoubtedly for this reason that researchers have devoted more to studying the behaviors of leaders than their individual traits or the situations in which they live.

Hemphill was one of the forerunners of this new approach. Exercising leadership, he writes, is worrying about establishing an interrelational structure that leads to the solution of a common problem.

Halpin affirms that the term leadership usually summons in our spirit a value judgment on the person who exercises it. Thus, when we think of leadership, an authoritarian or democratic leader, good or bad, effective or ineffective, inevitably comes to mind. We are inclined, then, to evaluate people more than describing what they have done within the group.

THE GOALS IN LEADERSHIP

The main objective is to guide the thinking of each of the followers and the group in general. The goals must establish the spirit of the group that promotes its members, not only to fulfill their duties, but to do it beyond what is expected.

Disraeli, a 9th century English statesman, said: "Success is the result of tireless attention to purpose." Muhammad in the Quran states: "If one does not know where he is going, any path is good."

The world is not improvised, it is planning, it requires determining objectives and goals to be achieved to achieve success.

LEADERSHIP STYLES

Although there is no “right” way to lead, it is possible to identify the most common styles of leadership and how it affects the way groups work under different circumstances.

Most leaders tend to be either duty-oriented (authoritarian) or people-oriented (democratic).

The duty-oriented leader exercises more direct control over the group. The vision leaders determine the presentation of the topic. They will carry out the analysis of the procedure and will show how the group will proceed to reach a decision. They are likely to review the specific tasks for each team member and suggest the roles they want them to play.

The democratic or people-oriented leader can propose subject matrices, suggest the procedure, and offer tasks and positions for individuals. But in every facet of the debate, the people-oriented leader encourages group participation to determine what will actually take place. Everyone feels free to offer suggestions to modify the leader's proposals. What the group does over time will be determined by itself. These leaders tend to listen, encourage, facilitate, clarify, and support. In the final analysis, however, it is the group that decides.

Each style has advantages and disadvantages:

More work is done under the command of a mission-oriented leader than a people-driven leader. Motivation and originality are greater under the command of a people-oriented leader. Mission-oriented leadership can create discontent among people and result in less individual creativity. More cordiality is demonstrated in groups with a focus on people. The least amount of work is done when there is no leadership.

Situation Leadership.

So which style should be preferred? Research by Fred Fiedler (1967) suggests that whether a particular Leadership style is successful depends on the situation:

How good are the leader's interpersonal relationships with the group? How clearly are the group's duties and objectives defined, and to what extent does the group accept that the leader has genuine authority to lead?

Some situations will be favorable for the leader in all dimensions: when the leader has good interpersonal relationships with the group, the goal is clear and the group accepts the leader's authority.

Some situations will not be favorable for the leader in all dimensions: when the leader has bad interpersonal relationships with the group, the objective is not clear and when the group stops accepting the leader's authority. So of course there are situations that are partly favorable and partly not for the leader in the different dimensions, so it's not about which style is always better; it is a question of what kind of circumstances are present.

Fiedler proposes that mission leaders are more effective in favorable or extremely unfavorable situations. In positive situations, where the leader has good interpersonal relationships, a goal and group acceptance, the leader can focus entirely on the mission. In very negative situations, there are very few things the leader can do to improve members' perceptions, so he can spend all his time on the job. So people-oriented leadership is likely to be more effective in those moderately good, or bad, situations in which the leader has more to gain by improving interpersonal relationships, clarifying the goal, and developing credibility with the group..

Are leaders likely to be equally adept at mission-oriented and people-oriented styles? Although it is possible, many people demonstrate more skill in one, or the other style. Thus, in many groups, even those with a designated leader, it takes more than one person to fill all leadership positions within the group.

TRAITS OF LEADERSHIP

Among the outstanding features of leadership or important leaders are:

Impulse Desire for achievement: ambition, dynamism, tenacity, initiative. Honesty and Integrity Reliability: security openness Motivation Desire to influence others to achieve goals Self-confidence Confidence in own abilities Cognitive ability Intelligence; ease to integrate and interpret a great one. amount of information. creativity originality flexibility flexibility to adapt to the needs of the followers and. Change the requirements of each situation. Expertise Knowledge of group activities and relevant technical issues.

How to develop leadership.

Leaders can apply a simple four-stage model to ensure group participation and increase productivity.

Defined purposes. Power of participation. Proposal by consensus. Directed process.

This PPPP model includes the key functions of leadership: setting clear and defined goals and objectives, involving staff, seeking consensus on important issues, and paying attention to both tasks (the job) and relationships (the group).

Attention to all four parts of the model produces the leadership that the entire group needs. Leadership with defined purposes allows for common goals.

The power to participate leads to the high degree of interaction and involvement that all group members need. Consensus participation helps preserve self-esteem and foster open communications. Participation and consensus also serve to build mutual trust and achieve high respect for differences between group members, while being the primary tool for constructive conflict resolution. The application of the four parts of the model will guarantee the existence of power within the group to make decisions. Leadership with clear and defined purposes and the direction of the process are the surest means for the leader to pay attention to both the process and the content.

The following table presents the most important needs that the groups must satisfy in each of the stages of the PPPP model, including the tasks that must be performed by the group leader. This model provides many needs for each of the group members to take part in the leadership of their organizations and for the leader to play an important role in making this happen.

THE FUNCTIONS OF LEADERSHIP

There are three functions in which the leader must be an expert:

Lead work teams Prepare others at work Advise

1. Lead work teams

Leading teams requires planning an agenda, offering everyone an equal opportunity to participate, asking appropriate questions, dealing with cultural diversity, summarizing the debate and crystallizing consensus.

Planning the agenda. An agenda is the profile of the topics that need to be covered in a working meeting. It must be delivered in advance for members to prepare for the work meeting, this generally includes the issues to be discussed and to be resolved in a conflict or discussion.

Offer everyone the opportunity to participate. The leader must assume that all group members have something they can contribute to. As a consequence you may have to keep some members in check and you will have to invite those who are reluctant to debate. Achieving balance is a test of leadership.

Ask appropriate questions. One of the most effective leadership tools is the ability to question appropriately. This skill requires knowing what type of questions to ask and at what time. The two most effective types of questions are those that request supporting information and those that are completely open and give members complete freedom of response. Know when to ask questions as importantly. Questions should be asked to focus, probe and deal with interpersonal problems.

Dealing with cultural diversity. It is important for a leader to recognize and accept differences within the group. Before a group with significant cultural differences can function effectively, it is important that all members recognize such differences and are willing to try to function despite them.

Summarize and crystallize the consensus. During the discussion individuals can draw many conclusions that relate to the items on the agenda. Some will be compatible, others will be contradictory. It is the responsibility of the leader to point out the intermediate conclusions by summarizing what has been said and highlighting the areas of agreement and disagreement before seeking consensus.

2. Prepare others for work

Coaching is the daily process of helping others to recognize opportunities to hone their performance. A good trainer watches what people do, shows you the problems or inefficiencies of your methods, offers suggestions for improvement, and helps you use them effectively.

An effective preparer is an expert in the art and an acute observer. No one can be helped effectively if they do not understand the correct and most efficient way to represent a particular behavior. An effective leader analyzes and provides specific suggestions for improvement. Some people are good observers, but don't really know what the job needs to improve. An efficient coach creates a supportive environment in solving a problem. An effective coach helps people hone their performance by creating a positive environment for problem solving.

3. Advise

Counseling is the discussion of an emotional problem with another person in order to solve it and help the other better with it. People experience a variety of problems that affect their lives in a general way and in particular their performance at work, so it is necessary to demonstrate our leadership through counseling. Effective counselors maintain intimacy, listen in a caring and caring way to the feelings and circumstances of others, and help them determine what to do, including seeking professional help.

Effective counselors ensure trust. Under almost no circumstances are effective counselors telling anyone else about other people's personal problems. Effective counselors are good at listening to others. Good counseling starts with a careful ear. Effective counselors help colleagues find help. Sometimes the best thing a good leader can do is to suggest that people can benefit from professional help with their particular problems.

TECHNIQUES TO EXERCISE LEADERSHIP

Shaping the Vision: Simple is better, as delegation depends on one of a shared understanding of the goal. Educate: To form an organization that supports leadership toward achieving goals. Give and Obtain feedback. Know how to delegate authority: Combine centralized control, with decentralized execution. Not relying entirely on formulas: Leaders must learn to trust their instincts and develop their hunches.

WHO IS THE LEADER

A person who occupies a management position at some level of the hierarchy of a formal organization is considered a leader, playing a key role, since it implies a process of influence between a leader and his followers, according to Brown (1988), what really Characterizing leaders is that they can influence others more than they are influenced.

Leaders make themselves through personal effort and the desire to improve. To lead a person has to show that she has skill and empathy. Empathy is the quality of putting yourself in the other person's place. Expertise is the fruit of skill and hard work. Most leaders first achieve mastery in one functional area and then advance to the generalist level. A requirement to be a good leader is to see leadership with responsibility.

For Homans the leader of a group is the individual with the highest authority, understood as the ability of a person to influence large numbers of group members on a regular basis. Obtaining authority, prestige, esteem and submission from others, and in turn the leader must deliver valuable resources that the followers have not been able to obtain and that will serve to achieve the common objective.

The leader's influence therefore depends on two factors: His competence perceived by the followers to achieve the group goals and his initial conformity to the group norms.

Leaders use the term power, which implies characteristics of coercion and control, in addition to the influence that indicates greater persuasion, depending on the situation or circumstances and the followers involved.

WHAT THE LEADER DOES

According to studies, a leader develops two dimensions of his behavior: Consideration and Initiation of structure.

Consideration: Refers to the degree to which the leader is interested in the well-being and satisfaction of the followers.

Whose behaviors stand out: leader support, friendship, accessibility, communication and representation of the interests of subordinates. Example: The leader is approachable and friendly.

Structure initiation: This refers to the degree to which the leader explains and defines their own role and allows followers to find out what is expected of them.

Focusing on: clarifying roles, setting goals or standards of execution, planning, coordination, problem solving, and maintaining control. Example: The leader organizes the work to be done, convinces group members to follow standardized rules and procedures.

These dimensions are considered independently, although a leader can be described as the combination of both, since they would be classified as sensitive to the points of view of the other members of the group. We could indicate that leaders who develop under these dimensions tend to get better performance and higher satisfaction from their subordinates. Although there are leaders who emphasize only one of these dimensions or none of them.

Conditions that favor certain people to become leaders

It is important to realize the possible margin of chance that can occur in the appearance of certain leaders. In group formation studies, it may happen that a certain person accidentally makes one or two wise suggestions and is therefore suddenly in the position of the leader. Chance can influence a lot if it is a stroke of luck that suddenly places the person in a position that protects them from subsequent errors.

Another favorable condition for the appearance of a leader begins when the members are engaged in competing with each other for the time of participation. From this initial competition it turns out that some are more fortunate to achieve and monopolize participation than others. More time is given to speaking to those who at first impression appear to be offering solutions to the group's problems.

It can also be given that the high respect of the rest of the group to a certain person may be enough to be designated leader of the group.

When a person is chosen or selected to be the leader of the group, this may be due to their competence in meeting the demands of the tasks facing the group, but it can also contribute to their ability to organize the talents of others, to reconcile opposing factions, to symbolize and translate the values of the group, to recognize and support the capabilities of others, to represent the group in its foreign affairs, etc.

LEADER'S OBLIGATIONS:

Availability: The leader must always be with his people. By definition leaders do not act in isolation, nor do they command in the literal sense of the word; leadership almost always involves cooperation and collaboration, activities that can only occur in an enabling context.

Communication: The leader is the best person to make the information flow in all directions. Leaders must be accessible and diligently seek contact with colleagues and subordinates.

Instruction: To teach, the leader must know and know. Know yourself, your subjects, your people and their needs. You must teach how to correct defects. Leaders must be motivators, educators, role models, spokespersons, confessors, and animators.

LEADER'S PROFILE

Ability to discover the weak and strong points of oneself and others. Ability to set goals and achieve them. Ability to give credit to others for their personal contributions. Ability to accept personal responsibility. Ability to find and use adequate resources to Carry out a task Ability to assess the degree of success and failure Ability to turn every situation into a useful experience Ability to understand the use of power Ability to accept a position of power without reluctance or zeal Ability to have a driving force towards personal fulfillment without being selfish or greedy. Ability to look at the present in a realistic way and dream and plan for future accomplishments. Ability to maintain a balance between the physical, spiritual and emotional aspects of life.Ability to think about projects and goals that create a better life for all concerned. Ability to understand that how to handle a situation is much more important than factual information to achieve good results. Constant desire to know and understand more about everything. Ability to distinguish truth, good intentions and harsh reality. Ability to understand that one's goals and desires are often more complex than those that are being addressed.Ability to understand that one's goals and desires are often more complex than those that are being addressed.Ability to understand that one's goals and desires are often more complex than those that are being addressed.

THE QUALITIES OF A LEADER

RESPONSIBILITY.- Responding for the acts that he or others that imply the group executes HONESTY.- Keeping due behavior in the actions or words that he executes CREATIVITY.- Developing his ability to create to achieve the proposed goals PERSONALITY.- Owner of a personal and original character therefore stands out before the other MOTIVATOR.- Exercise or provoke and encourage action as required SOCIABLE.- Easy to deal with and open to others FAIR.- Giving everyone what corresponds to them with fairness and impartiality PRACTICAL. - Knowing how to take advantage of the procedures OBJECTIVE.- Considering the purpose and intention of the proposed OWNER OF CHARISM.- Spiritual gift or prestige that he enjoys in an exceptional way CREDIBILITY.- Possessor of the credible INITIATIVE.- Spontaneously propose ideas and thoughts in order to achieve success TENACITY.- Resistant to the adversities that arise to reach the goal TOLERANCE.- Keeping respect and consideration for the ways of thinking, acting and feeling of others, even if they are different from THEIR CONFIDENCE.- Gaining with security and firmness are granted rights that will be well used CHARACTER.- Self-confidence, personality, dedication, integrity CAPACITY.- Attitude, skill, expertise COURAGE.- Decision, Courage, COMPASSION.- Justice, love, mercy, empathy.CONFIDENCE.- Gaining with security and firmness are granted rights that will be well used CHARACTER.- Self-confidence, personality, dedication, integrity CAPACITY.- Attitude, dexterity, skill COURAGE.- Decision, Courage COMPASSION.- Justice, love, mercy, empathy.CONFIDENCE.- Gaining with security and firmness are granted rights that will be well used CHARACTER.- Self-confidence, personality, dedication, integrity CAPACITY.- Attitude, dexterity, skill COURAGE.- Decision, Courage COMPASSION.- Justice, love, mercy, empathy.

Charismatic leadership

Charisma is an attribution that followers make based on certain behaviors of the leader, establishing an emotional relationship between the leader and followers, in addition to the ability to transmit emotions in a non-verbal way. For a leader to be considered charismatic, he must produce great effects on his followers and reach levels of performance much higher than expected even in adverse circumstances. Charismatic domination is a process of communication of an emotional nature.

The main actions of the leader that produce the charisma attribution by his subordinates are:

Discrepancy with what is established and the desire to change it Proposal for an alternative that delights and convinces followers The use of unconventional and innovative means to achieve this change Being able to take high personal risks and harm their own interests in order to achieve their goals.

The charismatic leader is capable of transforming the organization or social entity of which he is a part through four stages:

The charismatic leader is able to perceive the deficiencies in the existing situation, feel the need for change and formulate a new vision. Vision is understood as a new image of the future of the organization formulated by the leader.The charismatic leader must be able to convey to the members of the organization the organization the importance of his vision and to instill in his followers the need for change in the In this sense, it is necessary for the charismatic leader to be a good communicator. The charismatic leader must be able to inspire in the members of his organization a great faith and foolish trust in him, as in the vision he holds. This can be done in several ways: by taking personal risks,showing that he does not do things looking for personal benefit, demonstrating a total dedication to the accusation and showing that he is the one who knows the most in matters related to vision. Finally, once the previous stages are covered, the charismatic leader achieves that his vision is assumed by the members of the organization and, through his personal example and the strong identification produced, he achieves that the followers acquire great confidence in themselves and ultimately, that the initial vision is fulfilled.It achieves that the followers acquire a great confidence in themselves and ultimately, that the initial vision is fulfilled.It achieves that the followers acquire a great confidence in themselves and ultimately, that the initial vision is fulfilled.

Charismatic leadership is made up of four factors:

Charisma: is the most important factor, and is defined by the leader's ability to evoke a vision and to gain the trust of his followers. Inspiration: is the leader's ability to communicate his vision. Intellectual stimulation: is the leader's ability to encourage team members to embroider problems in a different way than ever before, to think in an innovative and creative way. Individualized consideration: is the ability of the leader to pay personal attention to all members of his team, letting them see that their individual contribution is important.

CONCLUSIONS

By analyzing the issue, we have been able to conclude that leadership is universal, it has existed since the beginning of humanity and today it has become the key point of every organization, institution, system, communities and nations.

Leadership is important for all human beings, because we must be oriented and guided in the search for objectives to achieve goals set in the vision.

The definition of leadership is broad and applicable to almost all situations of human interaction

We take leadership as a social function, rather than as a personality trait.

Every human being is a potential leader and as he develops his abilities, he will be able to perform that function properly.

In our opinion, we must point out that there are still many points to be clarified regarding the charismatic leadership, since the studies carried out have not reached their fullness.