Leadership and Charisma

Leadership has been defined by various authors and some definitions are: “leadership is influence-nothing more, nothing less. ”(John C. Maxwell), “leadership is a function of knowing yourself, having a vision that is well communicated, building trust among colleagues, and taking effective action to realize your own leadership potential. ” leadership is a function of knowing yourself, having a vision that is well communicated, building trust among colleagues, and taking effective action to realize your own leadership potential. ”(Warren Bennis).
What then is influence? In order to be an influential leader such person must initiate changes that others perceive and follow. Influence is defined as “a force one person (the agent) exerts on someone else (the target) to induce a change in the target, including changes in behaviors, opinions, attitudes, goals, needs and values” and “the ability to affect the behavior of others in a particular direction. ” To influence, a leader uses strategies or tactics, actual behaviors designed to change another person’s attitudes, beliefs, values or action.
The types of Influence Tactics: The specific number of tactics that exist could not be reached what we know does that influential tactics exist and they have variable effectiveness. The following are the influential tactics include: Tactic1: Pressure Which are the behaviors that include scaring, threatening and browbeating others with the view to convincing them to agree with a proposal or follow a request. Tactic 2: Assertiveness Leaders tend to have a firm and strength of their purpose. This is just because they know what they want and they have a clear vision and they pursue the goal to achieve it assertively.

They believe in taking an opposition to all challenges. He or she possess the skill to call for and get the support of the team or the group he or she is leading, this is a vital assets in getting the goals set behavior includes repeatedly making requests, setting timelines for project completion or expressing anger toward individuals who do not meet expectations. The level of effectiveness is low. Tactic 3: Exchange Which are behaviors that tend to prevail upon others that the request is a particular thing that they should abide with given their condition or position and the effectiveness level of this tactic is moderate?
Tactic 4: Coalition is the next on the list and this behavior seek the help of other people to prevail upon them so that they can do something or it uses the assistance of others as a basis for them to agree and the level of effectiveness of this tactic is low Tactic 5: Personal appeals Refer to all behaviors that seek other people’s compliance to their demands by requesting a “special favor for them “or influence them by depending on interpersonal relationships with the view to influencing their behavioural patterns. It has a moderate level of effectiveness.
Tactic 6: Consultation Are behavioral patterns that seek the other people’s participation and involvement in the decision making process or in the organization, or implementation of a particular strategy or policy or any form of changes. It has a very high effectiveness rate. Tactic 7: Inspirational appeals is a situation in which behaviour forms an emotional proposal and request and this evokes enthusiasm by way of appealing to other people’s ideas and values and it does this by boosting their confidence. It has high level of effectiveness. Tactic 8: Rational persuasion
Behavior makes use of logical and sensible arguments as well as factual proof in order to persuade others that a particular proposal or request is viable and that it is likely to result in task objectives. Tactic 9: Ingratiating Formed from the world ingratitude. It refers to a behavior that seeks to get others in a good state of mind or to think favorably of them or have a good view of them before asking them to do something. It has a moderate level of effectiveness. Behavior seeks the approval/acceptance of those in higher positions within the organization prior to making a request of someone.
In similar situation to an organizational cycle, tactics are dynamic and different ones can apply to different situations . In a new industry for instance, the emphases first is attracting workforce with the use of persuasion tactics . With further development of the organization, the next priority is to build team and exchange ideas and this requires more of the involvement tactics. Next after this is how the work will be divided among the workers and this uses the negotiation tactics. Routine jobs follow with production.
While the tactics a leader may use to influence others is in theory unlimited, Cohen (2000) has identified eight fundamental tactics that a leader may use in any situation to influence those he or she is attempting to lead, regardless of the leader’s style. When To Use One Tactic over Another and How Does an Influence Tactic Work? There is a time and place for all of the influence tactics. If a leader has one tactic that he or she relies on almost all the time, it is almost certain to develop into a pattern or behavior, in other words a style.
This negates the very purpose of the tactics. The leader’s selection of a particular tactic in a situation will depend on: Leaders tend to use different tactics and to have somewhat different objectives depending on the direction of the influence. For instance, this typically can be seen when a leader attempts to influence someone above them or below them. • the person’s personality or individuals being led • the frame and state of mind of the person or persons led • the leader’s own current frame of mind • the leader’s objectives
• the relative power that exist between the leader and those led • the essentiality of time in the action the leader wants taken • the type of commitment required to complete the desired action • rules, laws, or authority of the leader in the situation In conclusion, different leadership changes call for different leadership behaviors and the behavioural pattern are regarded as the leadership style or the leadership tactics. The best leader is the one who is flexible enough and can use his potential to explore different tactics as different situations arise.
It is the duty of a success-driven leader to determine which influence tactics work best for a particular situation, individual or group. If the desired and expected results aren’t gotten, perhaps the wrong tactic is being employed. Effective leadership and influence has available a wide array of tactics. Too often potential leaders use the same tactic repeatedly, getting few results because the tactic was applied wrongly. If ideas are to be accepted toward a given change, leaders must learn the art of influence
References Andras, Peter, George, Erdos (2001). Management, Leadership and Charisma.Behavioural Ecology Group Seminar. Retrieved July 19, 2008. From www. staff. ncl. ac. uk Andras, Peter, George, Erdos (2001). Management, Leadership and Charisma. Behavioural Ecology Group Seminar. Retrieved July 19, 2008. From www. staff. ncl. ac. u Fritz, S. , Brown, W. , Lunde, J. and Banset, E. (1999). Interpersonal skills for leadership (2nd ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Hughes, R. , Ginnett, R. and Curphy, G. (1995). Power, influence and influence tactics. In The Leader’s Companion. , J. Thomas Wren. New York, NY: The Free Press. Kipnis, D. (1976). The powerholders. Chicago: University of Chicago Press