Understanding Leadership - The Concept, Interpretations and Myths

The Idea

A lot of research works were, and are still is being carried out on leadership. But due to the vastness in this, a complete research on Leadership has not yet been possible. The ideas are intentionally broken into smaller components, so that a publishable research can be conducted on this (Avery, 2004). And once different aspects of leadership is attained from these researches, the problem on the "lack of a proper agreement" on what leadership is all about comes in. Also, the ideas behind the concept of leadership have been changing drastically over time because, the current scenario is completely different from the olden days, where, leadership mostly meant, "having a heap of followers behind". Avery (2004) says "Understanding leadership is challenging because of the lack of agreement as to what leadership is, and the tendency for the researchers to focus on the narrow aspects of the field."

The meaning of the word "Leadership"

According to Philip Heymann (2000), there is a substantial confusion regarding the meaning of the word leadership, and it mainly comes in four different meanings. Firstly, it can be a formal position with a tangible set of goals and as an example, he shows his position as Faculty Chair of the Project on Justice in Times of Transition. Another one can be a sort of appreciation for success in accomplishing societal, organizational, or personal goals. And as an example for this, he cites great political leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and business titans like Jack Welch of General Electric, who just strived a lot to reach their goals. Third type of leadership involves a set of Characteristics, usually the charismatic one, where the vision is commonly held by individuals who serve as role models in setting and accomplishing important goals (Philip Heymann, 2000). And finally, the problem on how to evaluate the outcome becomes a hitch even for the scholars because it becomes a very tricky task to evaluate the leadership, by giving emphasis on how the resources of the group are being used, or on advances in personal, group, and global welfare (Philip Heymann, 2000).

Different Interpretations

The very broadness in the theory of leadership makes it highly muddled, with different interpretation, usually leading to a difficulty in the research (Avery, 2004). This vagueness can be due to different reasons. Most of the people believe that leadership is a solid entity. But, that is not the case. There has been a radical change in the leadership methodology in the last few years. Hitler's leadership style is a good example. Hitler was a person who was always determined in commanding personally, and his Leadership Principles said that, the ultimate authority always rested with him (Geoffrey Megargee, 2003). He made himself as the supreme power. According to Geoffrey, in Hitler's leadership theory, the superiors were to give orders and the subordinates had to follow them precisely. He even took over the position of the commander-in-chief of the army, which gave him direct control. Geoffrey says, "After the war, the picture emerged of Hitler as a megalomaniac who refused to listen to his military experts and who, as a consequence, lost the war for Germany." He never trusted most of his generals, and this obviously created a negative impact. Hitler always used to ignore comprehensive efforts and usually rejected information that did not fit with his ideas.Never his leadership style was appreciated by the people all over the world. But today, the scenario has completely changed. The leader-team member relation has become more stronger. The "lead" has become more understanding. And this is because people have started understanding the meaning of leadership according to the diverse situations. Today the leader concentrates more on the vision. He lets his associates know what exactly their aim should be and how to achieve it, along with achieving the personal profit. Each and every person is made to understand what their goals are. A proper leader is the one who can scrutinize the weakness of the team, and then find a proper solution to tackle that without affecting the team's tone.

Myths

Another problem with understanding leadership is the fact that "leadership is full of myths". Some people think that leaders are those people who have certain supreme powers (Avery, 2004). A leadership skill is comprised of different traits, which includes the mission, values, commitment, motivation and consensus building and the lack of these reduces a leader's quality (Greg, 2001). But the fact that, leaders are "naturally born" still exists. According to Greg, there is only a very little evidence on the fact that naturally born leaders exist. The Five-time NBA Most valuable player Michael Jordan is a good example. During his school days, he didn't have what it took to even make his high school basketball team. In 1978, he was thrown out of the school basketball team. He had to join a club to find out what exactly was wrong with his game, and even there, he had to wait on tables in exchange for a spot. But he did have the drive and determination to eventually develop his skills to legendary levels of performance .In 1984 he became the co - captain of U.S. Olympic basketball team, and with his intense leadership tactic, they won the Gold medal during that Olympics. According to Wesley Ford, "There is a personal and organizational cost of believing that leaders are born." People loose their self confidence, if they feel that they are not born with leadership qualities, and thus they wont be able to excel in what they do. And this leads to the complete failure in the team management. Wesley adds, "Some of us may be born with more natural abilities than others, but we are all born. The reality is that leaders are developed. This is accomplished using a number of resources; self-development, mentoring, and coaching."

Leadership Vs Cultural values

Another problem with understanding the concept of leadership is that, the perception is held within a culture (Avery 2004). Certain cultures have their own leadership vision statements. People have their own leadership ideas. For example, if we take the case of any company, a manager or a team leader is considered as the leader. In most of the countries, people select their leaders, by voting system. But there are countries, where still people are ruled by kings. Saudi Arabia is a monarchy ruled country where the king is chosen from and by members of the Al Saud family. They don't have any written constitution, legislature, or political parties. The king rules, in accordance with Islamic law, by decree. He appoints and heads a council of ministers, whose decisions are the result of a majority vote but always subject to the ultimate sanction of the king (www.tiscali.co.uk).

Leaders or Heros?

The idea of heroic leaders still exists. Avery (2004) says, "It is evident that the lone heroic leader cannot continue to exist in today's complex, dynamic organizations, no matter how talented and gifted". Microsoft Corporation, is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Microsoft had revenues of US$51.12 billion for the fiscal year ending June 2007, and employs more than 78,000 people in 105 countries and regions, headed by one of the richest people in the world, Bill Gates (www.microsoft.com). A lot of hard word by 'n' number of people has resulted in this huge success of Microsoft. Bill Gates couldn't have this without the complete participation of those people. But still lots of people think, its just Bill Gates that Microsoft is all about! Here he is the "Hero". So, its necessary for people to understand that, leadership is usually a distributed phenomenon, and everybody has a duty to be covered and if done properly, the company's success rate boosts up.

A lot of researches have been carried out their study in "Understanding Leadership". But till now, none of them research have been successful in covering the whole aspect of leadership. Thus people are still unaware of the "Complete ideology of leadership". Understanding leadership has become a necessity of the time and a proper research focus should be carried out in this field. So, I feel, "Understanding leadership is challenging because of a lack of agreement as to what leadership is and tendency of researchers to focus on narrow aspects of the fields."