Sociology of Leadership

The definition of "leadership" as defined in Wikipedia means "the ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and enable others."

External factors, internal factors, and relationships all play a huge role in leadership. Society creates a stereotypical idea of what leadership should look like. Berger (2014) considered a conceptual framework that provides three major categories of major approaches to leadership, and how these approaches lead to a better clarification of leadership and its entities. These categories include: achievement, relationships, and values. The achievement category consists of 3 sub-categories (individual, behavioral, and contingent) that all focus on ways in which leaders are defined by their ability to achieve goals. They focus on a particular individual as a

Leadership is a term that cannot be defined or simplified with a standard definition (Bethel, 2011). The term’s complexity is a phenomenon, as it carries a different meaning for each person. During the

The idea of leadership has been around for centuries. Ever since the beginning there has always been a sense of who is on top and who is not. On a similar note, a leader is somebody who people follow or somebody who guides or directs others.

Leadership comes in different forms and in different aspects of life from private business to government entities (Wren, 1995, p. 5). The models of leadership used are dependent upon the individual attributes of the leaders, for example traits, values, self-identity, skills, and competencies (Yukl, 2013, p. 136). A close look at select leadership models and how they compare and contrast with each other provides insight into the types of leadership that might be employed within organizations as they face various leadership issues and challenges.

What is leadership? Leadership by definition is the ability of an individual or organization to guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. Without leadership many would just follow one another's actions like blind sheep. Many of the powerful shifts in American history were started by men and women who made the decision to guide and instruct one another rather than being a follower.

Individual definitions of leadership are often referred to as implicit leadership theories (ILT; Forsyth & Nye, 2008). ILTs are ethnocentric beliefs about traits, behaviors, and characteristics associated with leadership that are influenced by experience, culture, and individual biases. One’s beliefs about the traits a leader possesses influences who emerges as a leader and also how others perceive the leader. Although ILTs are individualistic, there are often common themes among individuals’ ILTs. For example, in a series of studies Offermann, Kennedy, and Wirtz (1994) identified eight dimensions of ILTs that were “Sensitivity, Dedication, Tyranny, Charisma, Attractiveness, Masculinity, Intelligence, and Strength” (p. 54). In a series of follow-up study Epitropaki and Martin (2009) identified six dimensions similar to Offermann et al. (1994). Changes to the dimensions were the removal of Strength and Attractiveness, and changing Charisma to Dynamism (Epitropaki & Martin, 2009).

There are many definitions of leadership. Chemers (1997) describes it as: "A process of social influence in which one person can enlist the support of others in the accomplishment of a common task or aim"

Leadership is, and always has been, a vital aspect of social and economic constructs. It is essential to the survival of societies, industries, organizations, and virtually any group of individuals that come together for a common purpose. However, leadership is difficult to define in a single, definitive sense. As such, theories of leadership, what constitutes a great leader, and how leaders are made have evolved constantly throughout history, and still continue to change today in hopes of improving upon our understanding of leadership, its importance, and how it can be most effective in modern organizational cultures.

According to Daft (2008, p.20) leadership typically reflects the larger society, and theories have evolved as norms, attitudes, and understandings in the larger world of change. Throughout the centuries leaders have adapted in response to these changes. Northouse (2007, p3) defines leadership as a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal. A person’s ability to

Taking a deep further look at the definition, we can consider Leadership as ‘the process of influencing an organized group’, engaging them to maximize group effectiveness, ‘towards the accomplishment of a goal’. (Hughes, Ginnet & Curphy 2015, p. 5)

Leadership is a difficult word to define and according to the Miriam-Webster Dictionary leadership is the “office or position of a leader” (Miriam-Webster, 2010). This definition is definitely not one that I would ascribe to when discussing leadership. My definition of leadership is “the ability someone has to motivate and empower others to achieve a goal.” Some may add to this definition, others may discard it altogether and have a completely different definition. In the end, leadership takes on many different forms depending on who is doing the defining and we end up asking ourselves, what is leadership and why do we care?

There is no consensus that has been reached regarding this controversy, but many theories are centered on it. Chronologically, popular leadership theories include the great man theory, trait theory, behavioral theories, role theory, participative leadership, situational leadership, contingency theories, transactional leadership, and transformational leadership. Each of these theories presents a unique perspective of what comprises leadership. The main focus of this research paper is, however, the trait theory (Bass & Stogdill, 1990).

In a group or team, there is always someone who needs to manage and direct a team on where to move forward and what the set goals are. This week, the focuses were on leadership styles, skills, theories, nonverbal communication, contributions, types of conflict, and leaders as servants. During the week, we had watched two videos of two different interactions between groups of people. Each displayed different interactions communications of our focus on leadership this week. We had discussed for each video the leadership theories and styles in each video, what leadership strategies can be identified and what could have been helpful in the strategies for each videos, including the team and the constructive and destructive conflicts of each meeting. These conflicts can result in different concepts and how you can increase cohesion within the team. With the analysis of each video, we can conclude what leadership styles were used and the conflicts that arise.

For the purpose of this report, we have decided to look at the assumption that leadership is based on the different types of relationships between people, rather than the skills and abilities of just one person.