Functions & Roles of Leadership

Leadership means many things to many people. This is due to the changing environment of leaders in different roles in different functions in different settings starting from leadership of the family to the top positions in multinational organizations. However, the essentials of leadership are the same to all leaders in all positions. Nevertheless, due to the variation in the skills required, roles played, functions performed, issues tackled, and the relationships promoted, different leaders have different perceptions of leadership. As such, several attributes have been made both for the success and failure of leadership in the form of properties and processes or traits and styles of leaders. Further, even these attributes cannot provide a totally satisfactory guidance for the success of leadership. Hence, theoreticians and practitioners of leadership have gone to the extent of developing the ‘contingency approach’, which emphasizes that there is ‘No single best way.’ The functions, roles, variables, power, influence, success, and effectiveness of leaders, leadership theories, and leadership in general discussed by different writers, researchers, and practitioners are discussed in the following passages.

Functions of Leadership

Many theorists of leadership have classified the several functions of a leader and attached to him many roles. Often an overlapping can be seen among the different classifications.

In order to understand the process of leadership, it is necessary to analyze the functions and responsibilities of leadership. These functions require different emphases in different situations according to the nature of the groups. A leader’s position in the same group may also change over a period of time. It is possible, however, to list a range of general functions which are served by the leader. A useful summary is provided by Krech¹ who has identified fourteen functions.

1. The leader, as an executive, is a top coordinator of group activities and an overseer of the execution of policies.
2. The leader, as a planner, decides the ways and means by which the group achieves its both short-term and long-term ends through proper action and proper planning.
3. The leader, as a policy-maker, establishes the group goals and policies.
4. The leader, as an expert, is a source of information and skills.
5. The leader, as a representative, is the official spokesperson for the group, the representative of the group and the channel for both outgoing and incoming communications.
6. The leader, as a controller of internal relations,; determines specific aspects of the group structure.
7. The leader, as purveyor of rewards and punishment, exercises controls over the group members by the power vested in him to give rewards and impose punishments.
8. The leader, as arbitrator and mediator, controls interpersonal conflict within the group.
9. The leader, as an exemplar, is a role model for members of the group, setting an example of what is expected.
10. The leader, as a symbol of the group, enhances the group unit by providing some kind of cognitive focus and establishing the group as a distinct entity.
11. The leader, as a substitute for individual responsibility, relieves the individual member of the group from the necessity of and responsibility for personal decisions.
12. The leader, as an ideologist, serves as the source of beliefs, values, and standards of behaviour for individual members of the group.
13. The leader, as a father figure, serves as focus for the positive emotional feelings of individual members and the object for identification and transference.
14. The leader, as a scapegoat, serves as a target for aggression and hostility of the group, accepting blame in the case of failure.

Herbert G. Hicks² refers to the following as the common leadership activities:

1. Arbitrating: Often, members disagree on the best decision for an organizational matter. An effective leader often will resolve such disagreement by arbitrating on making the decision on the course of action to be taken.
2. Suggesting: Suggestions are often employed by an adroit leader for a long-term. Suggestion is likely to be a powerful tool in the manager’s kit.
3. Fixing objectives: A manager often personally fixes the objectives for his organization. He must see to it that the organization has always specific and suitable objectives before it.
4. Catalyzing: In organizations some force is required to start or accelerate their movement. A leader is expected to be a catalyser and provide such a force.
5. Providing security: In organizations the personal security of followers is very important. A true leader can provide a large measure of security by maintaining a positive and optimistic attitude towards them even in the face of adversities.
6. Representing: A leader is usually treated as the representative of his organization.
7. Inspiring: In organization many persons work more productively in organizations when their leader makes them feel that the work they do is worthwhile and important.
8. Praising: Managers can help to satisfy the needs of their assistants and fellow employees by sincerely praising them for the work they do.

Stogdill³ says, “Leadership is consistent with problems of human performance and interactions.” He⁴ suggested that it is the function of the leader to maintain group structure and goal direction and to reconcile conflicting demands arising outside the group.

Roles of Leadership

Henry Mintzberg⁵ offers a number of interesting insights into the nature of managerial roles. He concludes that managers play ten different roles, which fall into three basic categories: interpersonal, informational, and decisional.

(I) Interpersonal Roles: There are three interpersonal roles inherent in the manager’s job. They are roles of figurehead, leader, and liaison, which involve dealing with other people.

First, the manager is often asked to serve as a figurehead-taking visitors to dinners, attending ribbon-cutting ceremonies, and the like. These activities are typically more ceremonial and symbolic than substantive.

The manager is also asked to serve as a leader—hiring, training, and motivating employees. A manager who formally or informally shows his subordinates how to do things and how to perform under pressure is leading them. Finally, the manager has a liaison role to play, which often involves serving as a coordinator or link between people, groups, or organizations.

(ii) Informational roles: The three informational roles of the manager identified by Mintzberg flow naturally from the interpersonal roles: the roles of monitor, disseminator, and spokesperson, which involve the processing of information. The process of carrying out these roles places the manager at a strategic point to gather and disseminate information. As monitor, the manager actively seeks information that may be of value to the organization. He questions his subordinates and is receptive to unsolicited information. As disseminator of information, he transmits relevant information to others in the workplace. When the roles of monitor and disseminator are viewed together, the manager emerges as a vital link in the organization’s chain of communication. The third informational role as spokesperson focuses on external communication. The spokesperson formally relays information to people outside the unit or outside the organization.

(iii) Decisional roles: Mintzberg identifies four decisional roles: entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator, and negotiator. All of them primarily relate to making decisions. First, the manager has the role of entrepreneur, the voluntary initiator of change. His second role as disturbance handler is initiated not by him but by other individuals or groups. The manager responds to his role as a disturbance handler by handling such problems as strikes, copyright infringements, and energy shortages, etc. In his third decisional role as resource allocator, the manager decides how resources are to be distributed and with whom he or she should work most closely. A fourth decisional role is that of negotiator. In this role, the manager enters into negotiations with other groups or organizations as a representative of the company.

Apple White⁶ (1965) had summarized much of the research on leadership roles and functions, the question of why people attempt to lead, leadership under stress conditions, the relationship of communication to leadership, the problem of leader assessment, and the concept of leadership styles.

For citing this article, use:

1. Haranath, G. (2012). A comparative study of leadership styles in select public and private sector organisations.

Reference:

1. Krech, D., Crutchfield, R.S. and Ballachey, E.L., Individual in Society, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1962, pp.26-34.
2. Herbert G. Hicks and C. Roy Gullet, The Management of Organizations, 3rd edition, McGraw-Hill Series in Management, New York, pp.447-449.
3. Stogdill, R.M and Coons, A.E. (eds) “Leader Behaviour its Perception and Measurement,” Columbus, Bureau of Business Research, Ohio State University, 1957.
4. Stogdill, R.M., Individual Behaviour and Group Achievement, Oxford University Press, New York, 1959. 34 Henry Mintzberg, The Nature of managerial Work, Harper and Row, New York, 1973; J. Kenneth Graham, Jr., and William L. Mihal, “The CMD Managerial Job Analysis Inventory,” Rochester Institute of Technology, Center for Management Development, Rochester, New York, 1987, pp.2-6.
5. Apple White, Phillip B., OrganisationalBehaviour, Engle Wood Cliffs, Prentice-Hall, New Jersey, 1965 (Chapter 6).
6. Koontz, H. and Weihrich, H., Management, 9th Edition, McGraw-Hill Company, Yew York, 1989, p.438.
7. Douglas McGregor., The Human Side of Enterprise, McGraw-Hill International Book Company, New York, 1960, p.182.
8. Douglas McGregor, The Human Side of enterprise, McGraw Hill Book Company, New York, 1960.
9. Szilagyi and Wallace, “Organisational Behaviour and Performance,” Richard D. Irwin, Inc. Homewood, Illinois, 1968. p.333.
10. V.S.P. Rao and P.S. Narayana, Organisation Theory and Behaviour, Vikas Publishing House, New Delhi, 1986, p.656.
11. S.P. Robbins, OrganisationalBehaviour, Prentice Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, 1979, p.263.
12. Henry Mintzberg, The Nature of managerial work, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1980.
13. John R.P. French and Betram Raven, “The Basis of Social Power,” in studies in Social Power. D. Cart Wright, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 1959, pp.150-167.
14. Davis Kipnis, Stuart M. Schmidt, Chris Swaffin-Smith, and Ian Wilkinson, “Pattern of Managerial Influence: Shotgun Managers, Tacicians, and By Standards,” Organisational Dynamics, Winter 1984, pp.58-67.
15. Chester I Barnard, The Functions ofthe Executive, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1946, pp. 168-169.