Leadership

Leadership is an influence process directed at shaping the behaviour of others. When they lead managers seek to make (influence) their subordinates to willingly follow a certain course of action or follow the manager's ideas and propositions.

Management and leadership although similar in some aspects are quite different. Whereas managers are able to make subordinates obey by use of formal authority and power, leaders do not always rely on such power of the official position with because a leader need not be a person with formal authority. More than managers, leaders are called upon to use their human skills to get group members to follow. Unlike a manager a leader needs to identify himself with the group he is leading and he also needs their approval.

Although leadership just like management is contingent upon the situation, there are some inborn traits that are useful in setting leaders apart from non leaders. These include energy, stamina, intelligence, self confidence, tact and sociability.

To fulfil others' expectations of them, leaders must confront numerous challenges, the two main ones being multiple constituents and unpopular decisions. Multiple constituent’s means that a leader must attempt to deal with several different people and groups at the same time in a way that is relatively acceptable to each of them.

The leader must balance the variety of interests among those whom he/she is striving to lead. Leaders also have to make decisions that are unpopular. The mark of a good leader is the ability to recognize that such unpopular decisions must be made, when they must be made and the perseverance to see them through. E.g. retrenchment