The Leadership Role

Paper Summary:

The paper examines the perspectives on leadership offered by Goleman in "What Makes a Leader?" and Prentice in "Understanding Leadership". The paper relates that these two articles can be seen as complementing one another more than being in conflict, although Goleman is more interested in identifying and training future leaders while Prentice offers a more direct analysis of what makes a leader more effective. The paper points out, however, that identifying who has these leadership qualities and how well they will be able to use them may not be as easy as these writers make it seem.

Outline:
Prentice (2004)
Goleman (2004)
Analysis

From the Paper:

"Prentice (2004) describes leadership in terms of being able to read people and to understand them. The author denies such leade4rship qualities as charisma and ses most leaders as other than able to gain loyalty and support through the force of their personalities. Instead, he sees leadership as an achievement more than an abilty, as understanding what his or her subordinates want and how they can find what they want through the goals set for them as part of the job. Having said this, though, the author also recognizes that knowing how to achieve this and how to learn what is needed in order to get the best out of workers is a difficult task. Crude forms of leadership rely on certain types of rewards, and while this may be effective, it is not as effective in the long term and cannot be translated into success for all tasks and all personnel."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Goleman, D. (2004, January). What makes a leader? Harvard Business Review, 82-91.
• Hellriegel, D., J.W. Slocum, and R.W. Woodman (1992). Organizational Behavior. New York: West Publishing.
• Prentice, W.C.H. (2004, January). Understanding leadership. Harvard Business Review, 102-109.

More papers on The Leadership Role:

• Book Review # 96829 : "The Leadership Challenge"--A Review"
• Analytical Essay # 62557 : "Right from the Start: Taking Charge in a New Leadership Role"
• Book Review # 107969 : "The Leadership Challenge"

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