Leadership, Governance & Ethics

DBM 631

Chapter 1
Key Concepts in Leadership

Unit Content
1) Definition of Key terms
2) A Brief History of Leadership
3) What is power & Sources of power

Definition of Terms:

a) Leadership:

Leadership is a process by which an executive can direct, guide and influence the behavior and
work of others towards accomplishment of specific goals in a given situation.
Leadership is the ability of a manager to induce the subordinates to work with confidence and
zeal. It is the potential to influence the behaviour of others.

It is also defined as the capacity to influence a group towards the realization of a goal. Leaders
are required to develop future visions, and to motivate the organizational members to want to
achieve the visions.
It is the art of achieving progress through the involvement and actions of others.

According to Keith Davis, “Leadership is the ability to persuade others to seek defined
objectives enthusiastically. It is the human factor which binds a group together and motivates
it towards goals.”

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Leadership: an Art or a Science:

It is considered as a science because it has an organized body of knowledge which contains

certain universal truth. It is called an art because managing requires certain skills which are
personal possessions of managers. Science provides the knowledge & art deals with the
application of knowledge and skills.

Great Leaders however once they master the scientific aspects of the leadership, they focus on
the art of the leadership. Successful great leaders apply the ‘ART’ skills of adaptability,
motivation, coaching, focus, collaboration, decision-making, communications, and personal
development to both themselves and the people they lead.

People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision. —John Maxwell

b) Governance:

It is the way that organizations or institutions are managed at the highest level, and the systems
for doing this.

This is the act or process of overseeing the control and direction of something or a process in
an institution e.g. a country or an organization.
Governance is the way rules, norms and actions are structured, sustained, regulated and held
accountable in an institution. It is the way / the system by which an organization or an
institution is controlled.

c) Ethics:

These are the moral principles that govern a person's behaviour or how one conducts himself or
executes an activity.
Ethics is defined as a moral philosophy or code of morals practiced by a person or group of
people. E.g. in an organization, ethics is the code of conduct set by a business that set the
standards that govern the conduct of a person in the institution, especially a member of a
particular profession.

Modern Leaders & Historical Leaders

Modern leaders are as currently referred to as the 21st Century Leaders who are focused on
taking the organization to the next level. They are more strategic in their approach.
They are focused and possess the following skills:

Good listeners, Tech savvy, their key focus is the people they lead, treating people well and
acknowledging they are the assets of the organization, building inclusive and diverse teams,

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lead by example etc. don't only tell people what to do, but they also listen, collaborate, and
encourage growth among their team members.
They are resilient, and have the ability to bounce back intellectually, physically and
emotionally.
They are optimistic, and very Innovative and challenging, courageous and communicate openly.
Modern leaders always mobilize their employees and they all move together as a team.

Historical Leaders on the other hand focus more on the traditional leadership where they feel
that the leader has the final say in the management of the team. They demand respect and are
more laid back when it comes to handling the strategic issues of the business. Their leadership
style commands following for fear of disobeying.

Power:

Leadership entails possessing some power over people.

Power means capacity to influence others which is critical for a leader in an institution.

French & Raven listed several sources of powers as follows:

 Legitimate Power -derived from the position one holds e.g. managerial.
 Reward Power- derived from the control of resources e.g. promotion, recommendation.
 Coercive Power- ability to force people to act against their wishes.
 Charismatic or Personal Power -derived from ones’ personality.
 Expert power – derived from possession of expert knowledge which other don’t have no
access to.
 Referent Power-derived from association with powerful people.

How a leader might use power different powers in the organization:

To have a healthy organizational culture a leader should act with his subordinate based on the
type of the work. According to French and Ravens they traced the background of six bases of
power approach:

Informational power/influence consists of an agent that could influence others by his logic and
clear information.

The coercive power, which consists of using the threat of punishment at your subordinates to
change. In contrary, the reward power, which consists of rewarding your employees by
increasing their salary or by giving some privileges for their compliance.

The legitimate power, Weber (1947) or position power, which consists of achieving a goal by
only being a supervisor who has authority over his employees.

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Expert power, which consists of having things done based on the leader's expertise who knows
better how things should be in certain circumstances.

Referent power, Sheriff (1936) Newcom (1958) and Merton (1957), which consists of achieving
the target that evaluates the influencing agent behavior and beliefs. Where a leader could use
the referent power to reduce the pressure out of the workers, or informational power to explain
and have a rational dialogue with his followers.

In the same way a leader can use reward power to influence workers on the other hand in some
situations a leader should act with coercive power.

Functions of a Leader:

1. Initiates action - Leader is a person who starts the work by communicating the policies
and plans to the subordinates from where the work actually starts.
2. Motivation- A leader proves to be playing an incentive role in the concern’s working.
He motivates the employees with economic and non-economic rewards and thereby gets
the work from the subordinates.
3. Providing guidance- A leader has to not only supervise but also play a guiding role for
the subordinates. Guidance here means instructing the subordinates the way they have
to perform their work effectively and efficiently.
4. Creating confidence- Confidence is an important factor which can be achieved through
expressing the work efforts to the subordinates, explaining them clearly their role and
giving them guidelines to achieve the goals effectively. It is also important to hear the
employees with regards to their complaints and problems.
5. Building morale- Morale denotes willing co-operation of the employees towards their
work and getting them into confidence and winning their trust. A leader can be a morale
booster by achieving full co-operation so that they perform with best of their abilities
as they work to achieve goals.
6. Builds work environment- Management is getting things done from people. An efficient
work environment helps in sound and stable growth. Therefore, human relations should
be kept into mind by a leader. He should have personal contacts with employees and
should listen to their problems and solve them. He should treat employees on
humanitarian terms.
7. Co-ordination- Co-ordination can be achieved through reconciling personal interests
with organizational goals. This synchronization can be achieved through proper and
effective co-ordination which should be primary motive of a leader.

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