Leadership Concepts Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Leadership Concepts - Term Paper Example Leadership is a concept that receives much talk globally, and has generated a sequence of literature particularly in the field of management (Bass and Stogdill, 1990). There is no uniformity or rather a common definition of leadership. The paper concludes with a list of several recommendations aimed at improving the current leadership skills. Leadership Concepts Excellent leaders have always been associated with a continuous process of learning and not as a result of birth. If one has the desire and the will to become a leader, then an effective leader can come out of the person in question. According to Kidder (1995), it takes not only training to become a good team leader, but it also takes education, experience and a long period of self-dedicated time to study leadership as a skill. For the workforce or juniors to be inspired, an effective leadership has to be, has to know, and has to do a number of things. These things are not achieved while resting on a laurel, instead, they are achieved via continued learning and dedicated study so as to improve the current and already acquired skills as well as learn new skills. This paper aims at looking at the key concepts of leadership; the influence of power on the followers, and evaluate the effectiveness of both transformational and transactional leadership in an organization. Many have defined leadership in various ways. According to Goleman (2000), leadership is a process where a person influences an assembly of other persons with the aim of achieving a common goal. Another definition, put forward by Dwight Eisenhower, â€Å"Leadership is the ability to decide what is to be done, and then getting others to do it† (Larson, 1968). Another definition of leadership comes from Cleeton and Mason (1934), that â€Å"Leadership indicates the ability to influence men and secure results through emotional appeals rather than through the exercise of authority.† The key concept as of these definitions is the abil ity of the person to organize their followers and point them towards achieving a common goal. The difference depends on a number of aspects and the nature of the subjects. For instance, a corporative executive may seek opinion democratically from the subordinates and develop a stratagem to arrive at a common goal. Key Concepts of Leadership In many organizations, numerous personnel are promoted to higher ranks as a result of their hard work. According to Goleman (2000), this is the first mistake companies make. As this paper reports, leadership is a quality that is associated with a number of key concepts. i. Humbleness – arrogance always come to practice during insecure moments, acting as a cover-up. There is no employee who will ever want to see a leader who is remote and haranguing. Instead, they would enjoy working with a leader who is humble and treats them with respect. ii. A good leader will always recognize and appreciate their juniors in the wake of a good performanc e. This has a huge impact on the motivation of the employees, which later yields productive results. iii. One should be a servant. Direct all the efforts towards work and ensure that the juniors have no obstacles that hinder their performance and that they are in possession of all the required tools to accomplish their tasks. iv. A good leader should be visionary in that they can help the juniors to see a better future and excite them on how to get to it. v. Confronting – many classify the word confrontation as a dirty word, but still, one can be confronted positively so as to get others on the right track in a rather gentle way. Confrontation can also be useful in identifying and eliminating from the team ineffective members and those with

Current Event Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Current Event - Essay Example But to characterize this crisis as a tribal conflict would be simplistic in the extreme. To the contrary, the Darfur crisis is caused by political, economic and social marginalization that, unless properly addressed by both national policies, will wreak havoc upon the region for some time into the future. To fully understand the root causes of the present crisis, it is necessary to gain a complete appreciation of the Darfur region in its proper geographic and historical contexts. Geographically speaking, the western portion of Sudan known as Darfur is in area about 493,180 square kilometers, about 20% of the nation's total territory of 2,505, 813 square kilometers and is subdivided into three wilayats or states known as Gharb (West) Darfur, Janub (South) Darfur, and Shamal (North) Darfur. These states suffer from the lack of perennial watercourses and as a result, their population is scarce and tends to cluster around permanent wells. Western Darfur is a plain that has the greatest water supply. The drainage from the volcanic massif, the Jabal Marrah, washes onto the plain, allowing for a somewhat larger settled population. This area also has a significant portion of the so-called qoz sands. Here, although livestock raising is the major economic activity, significant crop cultivation also takes place. In contrast, North and South Darfur are semi-deserts that have little water from the wadis or the wells that dry up in the winter. The soils in these areas support vegetation for grazing (Geography). The entire region has few natural resources. About six million people inhabit Darfur, drawn from about eighty different tribes and ethnic groups. From a subsistence perspective, these ethnic groups fit into two categories. First, there are the livestock herders who are for the most part, Arabic speakers. The second group is composed of the farmers, who are bilingual and are considered Africans. The ethnic groups in Darfur include the Fur, Bani Halba, Tanhor, Borty, Habaniya, Zaghawa, Zayadia, Rizaigat, Masaleet, Taaishya, Maidoub, Bargo, Dajs, Bani Hussain, Tama, Mahria, Mohameed, Salamat, Messairia, Eraighat, Etafab, Fallata, Ghimir, Bani Mansour, Ab-Darag, Selaihab, Mima, Turgom, Marareet and other African and Arabian tribes. The language spoken is Arabic and the religion for both Arabs and Africans is Sunni Muslims (Darfur Conflict). Historically, the inception of modern day Darfur came with the Fur dominated Keira dynasty that arose in the seventeenth century. This sultanate, which was established by Sulayman Solongdungo (1650- 1680), managed its expansion throughout the region through a combination of peaceful and coercive incorporation of territorial and tribal groups (Young). In 1787, Sultan Mohammed Tayrab extended the sultanate to the Nile when he conquered the Funj province of Korodofan (Young, 2). The rulers of the Keira dynasty then continued to encourage a pattern of immigration into the region to provide for increased manpower needs. Whole groups were brought into the area through means such as land grants and high sultanate positions (Young, 2). Eventually, this process of assimilation and incorporation settled the basic pattern of ethnic grouping into specific regions that still stand to the present day. The tribal distribution that emerged can be categorized by livelihood and ecology. The sedentary farmers, which include