Are Leaders Born or Made?

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ARE LEADERS BORN OR MADE? DISCUSS THESE CONTENTIONS DRAWING FROM THE DIFFERENT STREAMS OF LITERATURE ON LEADERSHIP AND LEADERSHIP EFFECTIVENESS. INTRODUCTION: Are leaders born or made? This question continues to dominate the study of leadership today. Evidently, despite the lots of research work in this area, there is no conclusive evidence either way. Getting the answers to the question is very important for any organization so as to get an insight on how to develop and get great leaders who will make a difference in the organization. Leadership has been given a large number of definitions including: • Van Fleet defines leadership as an influence process directed at shaping the behaviors of others. • David Swartz defines leadership as an art of inspiring subordinates to perform their duties willingly, competently and enthusiastically. • Leadership is a social influence process in which the leaders seek voluntary participation of subordinates in an effort to attain organization goals. In making conclusions on the definitions, the most common characteristics of leadership are that, leadership is a process, leadership is about influencing, inspiring and motivating people, leaders wants other people to follow them and leadership is about attaining a given objectives. Although the main focus on leadership study is in the context of business world, leadership applies in all aspects of human life. We have leaders in families, classes, institutions, churches, groups, public e.t.c. The common objectives in them all is influencing people and to do what is desired by them and managing people for growth. Although leaders and managers are not different people, and in most cases we have the same persons performing the same task, it is very important to distinguish between leadership and managers. Some of the differences between leadership and management include: •

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