Key Features Of Effective Leadership Essay

INTRODUCTION

Leadership may be defined as the influence that leaders have upon their employees. In other words, leadership may be defined as the, “the ability of an individual to influence, motivate and enable others to contribute towards the effectiveness and success of the organisation of which they are members” (Gerstner & Day, 1997). Leaders are the people who innovate, motivate, develop and inspire the members to ensure the good working of the organisation and to further the goal of the organisation. There are a few certain characteristics and traits that make up a good and effective leader. Here, we are going to discuss four key features that I believe will make an effective leader.

MOTIVATION

Motivation can be defined as “the extent to which a persistent effort is directed towards a goal” (Campbell, Dunnette, Lawler and Weick). Motivation can be described as one of the key features of a leader because an effective leader should be motivated himself, so that he can motivate people working for him to get the job or a shared goal done. Without a motivated leader, the organisation cannot perform their tasks well. A good leader should be motivated to achieve the need of power, affiliation and achievement. David McClelland in his “Theory of Needs” (1961) states that motivation is something that is not hierarchical, but it is some individual

There are two types of power Position and Personal power. Leaders who need personal powers can be undesirable because they want to have direct control over others. Leaders with this type of needs can be unsuccessful as his/her employees will not like them taking control over them. Leaders with position or institutional power they tend to organize the effort of his employees to further the goal of the organisation. Leader with position power has the higher chance of becoming