Leading

• There are times in spite of great difficulties, jobs are needed to be done, projects are needed to be finished on time, and services are needed to be provided. Employees in the production lines tend to be irritated by delays in the arrival of necessary production materials and supplies. Workers complain when difficult jobs assigned to their units.
• When calamities strike, employees of public works agencies need more than wages to complete assigned tasks as quickly as possible. These and other difficulties found in the workplaces sufficient reasons for poor productivity. The situations cited require managers with effective leadership.
• Effective leadership tends to neutralize such difficulties. Good working conditions, however, cannot overcome the disadvantages of bad leadership. These are proven by many cases which occurred in the past and even in modern times.
• Engineer managers, in whatever management level they happen to be, are not exempted from the problem of effective leadership. If this is really so, then they must be concerned with the management function of leading.
• HOW LEADERS INFLUENCE OTHERS

  Engineer manager are expected to maintain effective work forces. To be able to do so, they are required to perform leadership roles. Leaders are said to be able to influence others because of the power they possess. Power refers to the ability of a leader to exert effort on another.
• Bases of Power

  (1) Legitimate Power

  (2) Reward Power

  (3) Coercive Power

  (4) Referent Power

  (5) The expert power
• Legitimate Power. A person who occupies a higher position has legitimate power over persons in lower positions within the organization.
• Reward Power. When a person has the ability to give reward to anybody who follows orders or requests, he is said to have reward power. Rewards may be classified into two forms: material and psychic.
• Coercive Power. When a person compels another to comply with orders through threats or punishment, he is said to possess coercive power.
• Referent Power. When a person can get compliance from another because the latter would be identified with the former, that person is said to have a referent power.
• The expert power exercised by environment science was enough to force governments throughout the world to pass legislations favorable to environmental protection.
• THE NATURE OF LEADERSHIP

  Leadership may be referred to as “the process of influencing and supporting others to work enthusiastically toward achieving objectives.” Leadership is expected of any manager in charge of any unit or division.

  One cannot expect a unit or division to achieve objectives in the absence of effective leadership. Even if a leader is present, but if he/she is not functioning properly, no unit or division objectives can be expected to be achieved.
• Traits of Effective Leader

  There are certain leadership traits identified by researchers and which may be useful in developing effective

  leaders. These traits are as follows:

  (1) Personal Drive

  (2) The Desire to Lead

  (3)Personal Integrity

  (4) Self-Confidence

  (5) Analytical Ability

  (6) Knowledge of the Company, Industry or Technology

  (7) Charisma

  (8) Creativity

  (9) Flexibility
• (1) Personal Drive. Persons with drive are those identified as willing to accept responsibility, possess vigor, initiative, persistence, and health.
• (2) The Desire to Lead. There are some persons who have all the qualifications for leadership, yet they could not become leaders because they lack one special requirement: the desire to lead.
• (3) Personal Integrity. A person who is well-regarded by others as one who has integrity possesses one trait of a leader.
• (4) Self-Confidence. The activities of leaders require moves that will produce the needed outputs.
• (5) Analytical Ability. Leaders are, oftentimes, faced with difficulties that prevent the completion of assigned

  tasks.
• (6) Knowledge of the Company, Industry or Technology. A leader who is well-informed about this company,

  the industry where the company belongs, and the technology utilized by the industry, will be in a better

  position to provide directions to this unit.
• (7) Charisma. When a person has sufficient personal magnetism that leads people to follow his directives, this

  person is said to have charisma.
• (8) Creativity. Ronnie Millevo defines creativity as “the ability to combine existing data, experience, and

  preconditions from various sources in such a way that the results will be subjectively regarded as new,

  valuable, and innovative, and as a direct solution to an identified problem situation.”
• (9) Flexibility. People differ in the way they do their work. One will adapt a different method from another

  person’s method.
• Leadership Skill

  Leaders need to have various skills to be effective. They are: 1.) Technical skills, 2.) Human skills, and 3.) Conceptual skills. These skills are used in the varying degrees at different management levels
• Leadership Skills and Their Use at Various Management Levels

  
• Technical Skills. These are skills a leader must possess to enable him to understand and make decisions on about work processes, activities and technology.
• Human Skills. These skills refer to the ability of a leader to deal with people, both inside and outside the organization.
• Conceptual Skills. These skills refer to “the ability to think in abstract terms, to see how parts fit together to form the whole.”
• BEHAVIORAL APPROACHES TO LEADERSHIP STYLES

  Those in positions of leadership exhibit a pattern of behavior that is unique and different from other patterns.

  This total pattern of behavior is called leadership style.

  (1) Positive Leadership

  (2) Negative Leadership
• Positive Leadership

  When the leader’s approach emphasizes rewards, the style used is

  positive leadership.
• Negative Leadership

  When punishment is emphasized by the leader, the style is said to be negative leadership.
• Ways Leaders Uses Power

  Leadership styles also vary according to how power is used. They are as follows: (1) autocratic, (2) participative, and (3) free-rein.

  1.) Autocratic Leaders

  2.) Participative Leaders

  3.) Free-Rein Leaders
• Autocratic Leaders. Leaders who make decisions themselves, without consulting subordinates are called autocratic leaders.
• Participative Leaders. When a leader openly invites his subordinates to participate or share in decisions, policy-making and operation methods, he is said to be a participative leader.
• Free-Rein Leaders. Leaders who set objectives and allow employees or subordinates relatives freedom to do whatever it takes to accomplish these objectives, are called free-rein leaders.
• Leaders Orientation Toward Tasks and People

  Leaders may be classified according to how they review tasks and people. Consequently, a leader may either

  be: (1) employee oriented or (2) task oriented.

  1.) Employee Orientation

  2.) Task Orientation
• Employee Orientation. A leader is said to be employee oriented when he considers employees as human beings of “intrinsic importance and with individual and personal need” to satisfy.
• Task Orientation. A leader is said to be task-oriented if he places stress on production and the technical aspects of the job and the employees are viewed as the means of getting the work done.
• CONTINGENCY APPROACHES TO LEADERSHIP STYLE

  The contingency approach is “an effort to determine through research which managerial practices and

  techniques are approaches in specific situations.” The various contingency approaches are as follows:

  1.) Fiedler’s Contingency Model

  2.) Hersey and Blanchard Situational Leadership Model

  3.) Path-Goal Model of Leadership

  4.) Vroom’s Decision-Making Model
• (1) Fiedler’s Contingency Model

  According to Fred Friedler, “leadership is effective when the leader’s style is appropriate to situation.”
• (2) Hersey and Blanchard Situational Leadership Model

  The situational leadership model developed by Hersey and Blanchard suggests that that important factor affecting the selection of a leader’s style is the development (or maturity) level of subordinate.

  Style 1: Directing

  Style 2: Coaching

  Style 3: Supporting

  Style 4: Delegating