ADMINISTRATIVE LEADERSHIP: AN OSCT-502 KEY FACTS ESSAY
A generally accepted definition leadership has eluded theorists and practitioners alike for scores of years. One has only to review the scope and diversity of the OCST-502 leadership resources to appreciate the dilemma confronting people whom, given the statement "Leadership is à" and then are told to complete the sentence in 25 words or less.
As might be expected of any concept that has appeared to defy definition, there is fairly widespread disagreement among the experts as to just what leadership involves. Some people contend that while leadership is of the utmost importance, and that no substitute exists for it, leadership cannot be created or promoted or taught or learned. Rather, this line of reasoning holds that leadership is an art not a science, and that a science can be learned but an art cannot.
Other people define leadership simply as getting people to work to achieve common goals of the enterprise ù giving people a reason (motivation) to work. Still other people hold that leadership is the ability to influence the behavior of others, set up goals, formulate paths to the goals, and create some social norms that will guide behavior. Another concept of leadership is that leaders induce followers to act for certain goals that represent the values and the motivation ù the wants and needs, the aspirations and expectations of both leaders and followers, and that leadership is thus inseparable from followers' needs and goals. The variations in the above concepts of leadership are distilled in the contrasting transactional and transformational models of leadership behavior.
When comparing leadership styles, the focus typically is on the effectiveness of leaders. Effectiveness, in turn, typically is the extent to which the leader's group or organization performs its tasks successfully or attains its goals (Yukl, 1994).
Transformational leadership is c...