Topic 7 Leadership and Trust

Topic 7 - Forum Question

1. Explain the meaning of leadership and describe one (1) type of contemporary leadership style
postulated by leadership scholars?

MEANING OF LEADERSHIP

Leadership is The process of inspiring others to work hard to accomplish important tasks.

Leadership is “a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a

common goal” (Northouse, 2010, p. 3)

DESCRIBE ONE CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP STYLE POSTULATED BY LEADERSHIP SCHOLARS

According to the contemporary leadership style, leaders can be more effective when they have an
ability to recognise the mysterious environment and complexity of the work and are able to react in
the changing environment. Major contemporary leadership styles are transformational,
transactional and inspirational leadership.

DO OLD SCHOLARS AGREE WITH THE NEW APPROACH ?

Many scholars and practitioners have criticised the new approach to leadership, But one major
criticism is against transformational leadership that “It is a double edged word”,(Colonel Mark .A
Homig), which means it can be very difficult to adapt and apply in  the real sense, and the leaders
may dominate their followers to a high extent and their influence may exploit the interests of
followers. For example, Kim Jong-un (king of North Korea) is a unethical leaders but his followers
blindly obey his decisions.