Tasks & Roles of Leadership

Let us now look into other functions and activities of leaders. To a large extent, the functions and activities of leaders are contingent upon the situation in which leaders work and they are found to vary with a number of factors.

Leadership is quite important for an organization and they act as agents who cope with change and bring about change for the betterment of the organization. Leadership is a highly complex and elusive trait. Leadership is one of the most effective tools of management and organizational effectiveness depends on the quality of leadership. There major factors that define leadership are influence/ support, voluntary effort & goal achievement. Some of the common activities and functions are mentioned below:

1. Define Vision & Mission

Leadership is the process of influencing and supporting others to work enthusiastically towards achieving organizational objectives. A leader helps the team or team member identify its goals and then motivates and assists in achieving the stated goals.

Leaders establish vision and mission and set the direction for the organization, communicate the vision to the people in the organization and synchronize them with the organizational vision and mission, thereby inspire the people to translate the goals, vision, and mission into reality.

Interestingly, Peter F Drucker feels that it is neither charisma nor personality traits nor qualities which guarantee effective leadership. He feels, what distinguishes effective leadership is, thinking through the organization's mission, defining it, and establishing it, clearly and visibly. The leader sets the goals, priorities, and sets and maintains the standards.

It requires vision, courage, understanding, determination, decisiveness, sense of timing, capacity to act, ability to inspire, etc. Leadership is the ultimate act that brings success and innovation and explores the capabilities and potential of the organization and its people. Inspire a shared vision and establish standards that help the organization or group achieve its next stage of development. Exert influence outside the group in order to set the right context for the group or organization

2. Team Leadership

A team is a collection of people, often drawn from diverse but related groups, assigned to perform a well-defined function for an organization or a project; team members always share some responsibility towards the realization of the goals. Thus leaders always need to ensure their members train as a team. This also means an equal opportunity for all.

A leader acts as a surrogate for the individual responsibilities of his or her subordinates. A leader takes care of the team members by making adequate provisions to satisfy their personal and professional needs and interests so that members work for facilitating the sustainability of the group. A leader serves as a model for others to emulate and functions as an ideologist. As a father figure, a leader serves to fulfill an emotional role for the members of the group.

He tries to maintain the high morale of the group members for better performance. The most important function of a leader is to work towards unity and cohesiveness of the group and to see that members have a pleasant satisfying experience. Suggesting often permits the subordinates to retain dignity and a sense of participation. A leader defines and supplies objectives that will allow members to work together.

In fact, we can say that in every group every member bears some relation to the others, and all of them influence and affect each other. When an individual behaves in ways that others in the group/ organization believe will help them achieve desired goals, that individual is seen as a leader and is perceived to possess certain attributes. The leader facilitates the development of cohesiveness and cooperation among people at work.

Leaders not only are required to encourage, upgrade, and promote deserving workers but also to disapprove, transfer, and fire poor workers. A leader provides; a ready target for the aggressions of the members of the group. Foster unity, collaboration and ownership, and recognize individual and team contributions. Exercise power effectively and empower others to act

3. Administrative Functions

Leadership is equated with management. Leadership handles, people, institutions, and works for achieving the targeted goals as management. Many of the functions of leadership are similar to the functions of management.

As mentioned earlier, in addition to above the common functions and activities, a leader also carries many of the managerial functions like planning, executing, policymaking, coordinating, and controlling. All the managerial functions are applicable and a majority of them are carried out by formal leaders. Goal setting: A leader contributes significantly to establishing the goals and objectives of the organization. Executing: As a manager, a leader not only contributes to planning but also takes responsibility for executing the plan Expertise:  A  leader is supposed to be an expert in the principal activities of the organization.

A leader also performs the functions as an executive, planner, decision-maker, expert, referee, and peacemaker. A leader is expected to set goals (sometimes the goals are set by the management), organize the structures and design programs to accomplish the goal, make policies and give guidance and directions to the subordinates. Procure, manage, and allocate resources and monitor progress, solve problems, and maintain discipline.

Represent the organization at different forums. A leader as a representative serves as a symbol of the organization and speaks for the organization, clarifies the organization's position, and hence compels outsiders to think of the whole organization in terms of their impression of the leader. In essence, he/she represents the organization.