The concept of leadership has always brought complexity and challenges to researchers, and the objective to classify, sort, and analyze the variety of leadership aspects. This means that there will always be a large number of credible frameworks of leadership from which to choose, especially due to the fact that approaches to the concept can differ exponentially. A comprehensive look on leadership implies the combination of the majority of approaches to the subject with the aim of conducting a deep and meaningful analysis of an individual’s leadership traits as well as to identify personality characteristics that contribute to one’s ability to lead a group of people.
There are two opposite looks on the development of leadership qualities in a person. On the one hand, it is said that leaders are born and therefore experiences do not have any impact on the shaping of leadership qualities. On the other hand, it is said that leaders are made, which suggests that the life lessons and experiences one has shape the qualities that ultimately transform into leadership. Nevertheless, regardless of the perception of how leadership is shaped, leaders play a crucial role in motivating, inspiring, and guiding their followers towards the established goals.
In this assignment, the comprehensive leadership approach will be applied in the context of ministry. Essential leadership practices in ministry include offering clear direction to followers, cultivating the culture, develop the support and faith in others, and transferring the beliefs one has. The following aspects will be included: a leadership interview with a ministry community leader, the assessment of personal leadership, the exploration of leader motives and influence tactics, the analysis of personality dimensions, creativity and leadership, the implications of leaders’ personality types, and several other components necessary for exploring leadership in a comprehensive way.
Leadership Interview
For the purpose of the study, Pr. Theophilus, a leader in the ministry community, was interviewed about his perceptions and ideas of leadership. According to him, leadership is a set of skills that develop with experience – the more time one spends on developing the skill, the more it will improve. In particular, the interviewee mentioned that him starting young ministry enhanced his leadership skills exponentially.
This experience resulted in him becoming a Senior Pastor, which consequently helped him learn a lot about how to be a leader. Over time, his views on leadership changed because of new experiences as well as life lessons, especially because the skills he needed for a ministry organization were different. For instance, pastors were only concerned with spiritual affairs while a ministry organization implied dealing with the people of God.
In reflecting upon his leadership, Pr. Theophilus always analyzed his behaviors in different situations within the Ministry because thinking about them helped him improve leadership skills. When it comes to advice given to people at early stages of their ministry careers, the interviewee mentioned that when practicing his leadership, he turned to God as his main inspiration and studied his Word to become better as a person and as a leader.
Overall, the interview with Pr. Theophilus showed that leadership is applicable to any setting and that being a pastor implies much more than leading a prayer. The interactions with other members of a ministry organization, the coaching sessions with couples, and personal exploration were all experiences that improved the pastor’s leadership skills, which suggests that not many leaders are born. Rather, the way in which one approaches his or her experiences can significantly influence the development of leadership skills.
Assessment of Personal Leadership
The five sources of power inventory explain the abilities of leaders to the change the attitudes, opinions, beliefs, and behaviors of their followers. Nevertheless, followers can also make changes in the attitudes of their leaders. The extent to which either party can influence another is associated with the amount of power. Expert power refers to one’s ability to impact other people on the basis of knowledge, expertise, and skills.
Referent power is associated with the level to which one can influence others based on interpersonal relationships (The Center for Leadership Studies, 2016). Legitimate power is the ability of a person to impact others due to authority while reward power is described as the level of control over desired resources or outcomes. Lastly, coercive power is associated with fear, the suppression of free will, as well as punishment.
Based on the personal tendencies, there are different levels of power exhibited on the individual level. First, the expert power is high, which means that there is enough knowledge from which power can be exerted. Second, the referent power is on an average level, which is a good score; however, it means that there are instances in which the existing among of power is not enough for making people do what is desired from them. Third, the legitimate power has high scores, which points to the sufficient level of authority necessary for influencing the decisions and actions of others. Fourth, the reward power is on an average level, suggesting that there is enough power to impact others with the help of rewards.
Lastly, the coercive power is on the same level as the last score, thus pointing to the fact that there will be cases in which sanctions or threats may not work for persuading someone to act in a particular way.
Leader Motives
Based on the mentioned sources of power inventory, a hypothesis regarding leader motives can be made. Leadership motives refer to the range of reasons that encourage a person to achieve specific objectives. The power motive, drive and achievement motivation, strong work ethic, and tenacity are all leader motives applicable to most cases of individuals exhibiting strong leadership qualities. Power motive is the desire to have control over other people or resources. Based on the scores in the sources of power inventory, it can be concluded that there is a medium to average power motive since there are high indicators for both expert and legitimate power while the moderate scores were associated with referent, reward, and coercive power.
Drive and achievement motivation is associated with the joy of leaders to reach a certain objective. Leaders driven by achievement usually think about how they can do their job better and how their career can progress. Based on the sources of power inventory completed for the purpose of the study, the drive and achievement motivation reaches high levels due to the intellectual and authoritative advantages of a leader.
In addition, solid scores in other power sources support the motivation of a leader. Strong work ethic as a power motive refers to the belief of leaders in the dignity of their work. Tenacity refers to the determination of a person to reach an objective despite the limitations and barriers that appear in one’s way. Both strong work ethic and tenacity are on moderate to high levels if to link them to the sources of power inventory.
Influence Tactics
Influence tactics represent tools that leaders used for having an impact on their followers. These tactics can be either hard or soft depending on the amount of freedom another person has in terms of resisting the influence from a leader. There are eleven types of impact that including pressure, assertiveness, coalition, exchange, legitimating, ingratiating, personal appeals, rational persuasion, consultation, and inspirational appeals. Influence is at the core of leadership as there is a need to impact other people and convince them to reach specific objectives (Hall & Barrett, 2007).
If to connect influence tactics to the sources of power inventory, the high scores can be linked to specific tactics. For instance, moderate levels of coercive power are associated with moderate levels of pressure, which means that a person can use threats or intimidation to impact other people but does not do it on a regular basis. Moderate reward power is linked to the moderate influence of exchange, thus pointing to the fact that a person can make promises that others will receive tangible benefits if they comply with their requests. Average levels of referent power can be linked to the influence tactic of ingratiating – persuading people to do something through getting them in a good mood and establish a good connection.
High scores on the total expert and legitimate power can be associated with high levels of certain influence tactics that leaders have. For instance, expert power is directly linked to rational persuasion. Through the use of knowledge, factual evidence, and logical arguments a leader can impact other people and persuade them to do something. Since this type of leadership is based on the level of knowledge a person has for persuading a target audience, the aspect of rationality is especially important for making people do something.
Legitimate power, which is grounded on a person’s position within an organization, can be linked to personal appeals as a vehicle of influence. Overall, it can be concluded that the influence mechanisms people have over others are directly related to their sources of power and approaches to leading people.
Creativity and Leadership
Creativity plays an important role in how a leader approaches his or her leadership and the goals one wants to achieve. Leaders who use their creative side to achieve their goals can usually re-frame their problems in order to find an appropriate solution; they are collaborators in their nature, which means that they encourage followers to act as a team to strengthen the organizational spirit and accomplish the objectives established for the future. In addition, creative leaders want to make a difference in life, especially when it comes to positively influencing others.
Based on the five sources of power inventory of an individual, the creative force is on a moderate level, which means that there are enough skills and capabilities to approach organizational situations with inspiration and creative vision. For instance, the high scores on the total expert power scale suggest that the knowledge of a person supports his or her creative freedom. The more knowledge a person has in terms of exerting leadership, the greater extent of creativity can be achieved.
The high levels of legitimate power do not contribute to the enhanced creativity within leadership, which is a challenge. One’s position on a social hierarchy does not contribute to creativity to any extent.
The average scores in referent, reward, and coercive power all suggest that the existing levels of authoritative power can contribute to the enhancement of creative leadership; however, practice and experience are needed in order to develop creative capabilities for enhancing their leadership. This means that creativity is not a quality that is directly connected with a person’s sources of power and that appropriate practices on the part of leaders are needed for developing them to the extent needed for positively influencing the environment in which a leader operates and guides his or her team.
Personality Dimensions
Big Five personality dimensions are associated with traits that people have. They include openness, extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and neuroticism (Cherry, 2018). Each of them represents a range of qualities between two extremes. For instance, when talking about extraversion, it represents a range of personality dimensions ranging from the highest level of introversion and the highest level of extraversion. This is explained by the fact that in reality, people have qualities located somewhere in the spectrum of the mentioned qualities.
In regards to openness, people with a high level of this trait are creative and are open to trying new things. On a low level, people usually are unwelcoming of change and do not enjoy new things. If connected to the bases of power inventory, the high and average levels of reward and referent power point to the openness of an individual. Therefore, there is a moderate level of openness, suggesting that a person can be creative and welcoming of change in some situations and opposed to new things in others.
In terms of the conscientiousness dimension, individuals on a high range tend to spend their time on preparations and finish important tasks as soon as possible. Those on a low scale make a mess and rarely think about schedules and structures. According to the bases of power inventory, a person is on a higher range of consciousness dimension. For instance, high scores of expert and legitimate power as well as the moderate scores of reward and coercive power point to the increased attention to structure.
Extraversion is a dimension that explains people’s tendencies to be social, talkative, and assertive. Extreme extroverts usually enjoy being at the center of attention and enjoy meeting new people. Extreme introverts prefer being alone and find it difficult and exhausting to socialize and start conversations. Based on the sources of power inventory, the levels of extroversion are moderate in an individual. This can be explained by the high levels of legitimate power and average scores in referent, reward, and coercive power scores. Agreeableness is another personality dimension to be assessed in relation to the sources of power inventory.
High levels of this dimension mean that a person cares about others and is greatly interested in those who surround him or her. Low levels of agreeableness mean that an individual does not take any interest in other people and rarely care about their problems. If to connect this dimension to the sources of power inventory, it can be suggested that the levels of agreeableness on a moderate level: the average scores on referent, reward, and coercive scales mean that a person can manipulate others to get what they want. However, high scores in expert and legitimate power point to the high levels of the agreeableness dimension.
Lastly, it is important to mention neuroticism, which is a dimension characterized by a variety of negative emotions such as moodiness, sadness, stressfulness, anxiety, and many others (Warner, 2016). Individuals experiencing extreme levels of neuroticism are described as those under a lot of stress and continuous worry. Those with low levels of neuroticism are comfortable emotionally and thus can deal well with stress. The sources of power suggest that neuroticism can be on moderate to low levels due to the average scores in referent, coercive, and reward power.
Personality Type and Leadership Implications
The personality test developed by Myers-Briggs was intended to use the complex approach toward the psychological theory easier and applicable to everyday life. The theory proposed by Car Jung proposed the use of random behavioral variations to make conclusions about people’s types of personality. It uses four preferences, such as Extraversion – Introversion, Sensing – Intuition, Thinking – Feeling, and Judgment – Perception.
The first category determines whether a person’s judgment is focused on the outer or the inner world. The second is associated with seeing from which perspective a person usually absorbs information. The third category is linked to the kind of judgment one needs for making a decision about something. The fourth category is the most complex and deals with either the outer perspective – judging or the perceptive attitude – perception.
The results of the personality test were the following: Extravert (44%), Intuitive (19%), Feeling (31%) and Judging (50%). The final score results in the ENFJ personality type, which is considered among the rarest types. An individual of this type is considered engaging, charismatic, charming, and talkative, which makes it possible for them to become significant role players in their social life. Due to their positive relationships with people and subsequent social intelligence, the people of this personality type are able to create large friend networks, have many acquaintances, and social connections. In addition to being socially interactive, the ENFJ personality type is associated with high levels of orientation on goals.
The description of the ENFJ style suggests that people that have these results can become successful leaders. The goal orientation combined with extensive social skills makes it easier for individuals of the ENFJ style attract other people who will see them as inspirational and motivational figures. Also, such people build social connections not only to develop a large circle of friends but also for personal benefit – they may be useful as business partners or supporters in the future. This means that the potential of an ENFJ in terms of becoming a leader is vast and he or she will definitely use the existing social connections to inspire other people in joining him or her on a journey to new accomplishments.
Key Values and Their Implications
As the scores about a personality type revealed some information about leadership implications, it is also important to consider an individual’s key values and determine what they mean for a person in general. Due to the high prevalence of such qualities and intuition as well as compassion, the core value of an ENFJ person is bringing people together with a sense of unity and purpose. The leadership implications associated with this personality type inevitably lead to a person valuing close relationships with people and getting something positive out of them.
Therefore, an individual with the ENFJ personality type strives to surround himself or herself with people who share similar values and vision as well as those who will make the life better and more fruitful. A leader who wants to benefit other people is highly likely to attract them as followers and those who will share his or her values to reach organizational goals. However, it should be mentioned that a person with the ENFJ personality type can only become a successful leader in the case of showing genuine interest and support for other people.
Leadership Application
Covenantal management is a type of leadership associated with the teachings and the philosophy of the Old Testament, which implied the sense of a shared community. Within such a leadership structure, a group of people has moral obligations and responsibilities. Specific characteristics of covenant organizations include the following:
- Mutual objectives that are general and open-ended in their nature;
- Long-Term nature of leadership;
- A sign of respect for the integrity of human beings to preserve their uniqueness, personhood, and identity (Caldwell & Hasan, 2016).
Applying covenant leadership in a church organization means following several principles. First, a leader should serve others by communicating their importance to an organization. A covenant leader values his or her followers and treats them with dignity and respect. Second, a leader should become an example for his or her followers: professing positive values through exemplifying them and being accountable for them. Third, a covenant leader acts in the role of a constant teacher to ensure that his or her followers succeed in who they are trying to become in the environment of a religious organization. Fourth, leaders within a covenant pursue truth and want to improve themselves and positively influence followers with their knowledge.
Lastly, covenant leaders usually empower their followers by being committed to their success and showing the understanding of their needs. Overall, covenant leadership is an approach that can significantly benefit church organizations, although, it does not include the comprehensive aspect of leadership inherent to the transformational type.
Chronic Problems
A church organization (in the case of Pr. Theophilus – Pentecostal Church) is a complex environment in which people collaborate on the basis of their religious beliefs. As in any organization, there can be several chronic problems ranging from the lack of vision to the absence of necessary inventory to reach the established goals. In a church setting, leaders may encounter such an issue as the lack of a clear vision, strategic mission, and the absence of a statement of values.
This can occur because different people visit a religious organization with various goals in mind: to find friends, to heal emotionally, or to establish a connection with God. The lack of vision can also lead to the inability of followers to trust in their church leaders (Watt, 2014). In the absence of a clear strategic path, people interacting within this setting can lose their purpose and inevitably leave to find other organizations in which the goals and aims are defined in a comprehensive way.
Another issue existing in a church organization refers to the wrong management style that also relates to the poor structure alignment. This means that pastors do not understand the opportunities or weaknesses of the groups that they lead, thus failing to help them achieve positive outcomes. While the ultimate goal of a religious organization is getting closer to God in a figurative way, it is essential for church leaders to become the embodiment of that goal and adopt a situational approach to their leadership: determining what followers need and make changes accordingly (Griffin & Moorhead, 2012).
Poor skills and no inventory rarely affect church organizations because of their orientation on spiritual goals (Agorastos, Demiralay, & Huber, 2014). One’s skills do not usually matter because they can improve with time, and close relations with people can also be beneficial.
Total Quality in Management and Leadership
Total quality management is associated with the improvement of personal or professional development, relationships between people, management effectiveness, and organizational productivity. In a church setting, personal development of a leader is associated with gaining positive skills and knowledge to enrich oneself and act upon expert power. Interpersonal relationships in a church organization play a crucial role because connections between people strengthen the religious beliefs and facilitate the accomplishment of objectives (Khoynezhad, Rajaei, & Sarvarazemy, 2012). Management effectiveness is associated with the degree at which a leader can motivate followers to achieve organizational objectives.
Such steps as planning and execution play important roles: a leader sets organizational goals, creates a plan, and then executes it. Organizational productivity in such a context is not of particular significance; however, if a religious group fails to meet most of its long- and short-term objectives, it can be considered unproductive.
Plan for Organizational Transformation
To transform a church organization, a comprehensive approach to leadership is needed. The covenantal orientation of leadership and management can be replaced by more updated styles that leaders can use. The combination of situational and transformational leadership is applicable to a religious setting because they can provide sustainable guidelines that can apply to varying contexts (Scarborough, 2008). Transformational leadership is particularly recommended for a church organization because it implies the inspiration of followers and leading by example through the vision of the future (Scarborough, 2008). In addition to this, establishing a clear leadership style can enhance management effectiveness, which is one of the principles of total quality management.
The second step in the organizational transformation plan implies teambuilding exercises targeted at strengthening interpersonal relations between organizational members as well as between them and their leaders. Such exercises can be based on religious teachings and lessons as well as on general principles associated with enhancing relationships between people. The third step is creating small and achievable goals that can boost organizational productivity. These can include the sharing of experiences between members, the improvement of communication, getting to know people better. The improvement of personal and professional development is the outcome of the proposed plan because it relies on experiences and connections between organizational members.
Reflections
The present assignment allowed for the exploration of the leadership concept from a variety of perspectives. It showed that there is no unified approach to leadership, which means that the strategies that leaders may use depend on every situation. In addition, it can be concluded that experiences play a defining role in shaping the approaches of leaders to their strategies and skills since there is a direct connection to relationships between people.
In the case of Pr. Theophilus, the leadership approaches that the interviewee implemented were predominantly based on his experiences and interactions with other people. Since the setting of a Church Organization is complex and implies the fostering of positive relationships between people, a leader has to implement a variety of strategies and tools to make the interactions beneficial.
Learning about leadership is important because it is a crucial function of management that not only helps various organizations reach their objectives but also help people be more proactive in their communication (Hughes, Ginnett, & Curphy, 2015). In life, regardless of the setting, leadership is needed to teach people how they can achieve certain goals, thus helping everyone in the society. Unlike the common misconception that leadership is egotistical and does not consider the feelings of other people, it is crucial for inspiring others to be successful in their beginnings.
Another important finding associated with the assignment refers to the idea that no one can depend on others when it comes to succeeding. If a person has an objective of becoming successful in life, he or she should acquire some leadership skills in order to inspire others to share their objective. The interview with Pr. Theophilus showed that any person has some leadership skills and tendencies inside them, and it takes hard work, dedication, and a clear vision in order to reach the objectives one aims to achieve.
It is very important in leadership to maintain the belief in one’s abilities and practice the skills that make them become better (Patel, 2017). Reflecting upon the learning, the personal conclusion is that a person will never become a leader through doing nothing. It takes trial and error as well as persistence to become appealing to other people as a figure of authority and an inspirational individual.
Assessment
The system of comprehensive leadership theory that included various activities and exercises helped to enhance the personal understanding of leadership and its importance in both personal and organizational life. One of the most important and revealing takeaways from the assessment included the differentiation between different styles of leadership such as transformational, charismatic, transactional, and other. Understanding the various styles of leadership people may have contributed to the knowledge of how different situations requires different actions from leaders. For instance, transactional leaders are notable for their orientation of tasks targeted at achieving short-term goals.
Such leaders are oriented on the organization and supervision of their followers to guarantee their immaculate performance. Transformational leaders are very different and are creative visionaries that integrate the principle of change within their organizations. Thus, the gain of a greater understanding of different leadership styles enhanced the knowledge and allowed for the further explorations of the subject.
In addition to the differentiating between various styles of leadership, the knowledge about this subject was also enhanced through learning about the Path-Goal theory of leadership. This theory implies the existence of connections between a leader’s behavior and the work environment in an organization to achieve specific objectives. The main goal of the theory is increasing the empowerment, satisfaction, and motivation to be productive in a specific setting.
Leaders that use a Path-Goal approach in their practice usually follow three important steps: determine the environmental characteristics of an organization, select a leadership style that will fit the situation, and develop motivational factors to ensure that their followers succeed (Kouzes & Posner, 2018). The knowledge of the Path-Goal approach is extremely beneficial for future practice because it teaches people how to adapt to different situations and environments and to get the greatest advantage from them.
Conclusion
In summary, the current assignment approached the concept of leadership from a comprehensive perspective and included a range of theories and principles. The example of the interview with Pr. Theophilus showed that leadership was a skill that is necessary for any setting and in relation to people of different beliefs and backgrounds. In the context of a religious organization, the experiences of pastors and their followers make a significant contribution to how different competencies and skills develop.
The interview revealed that the pastor saw his leadership skills as the outcome of interactions with people, his continuous work as a counselor, as well as the study of God’s word. Despite the common misconception that Christian ideas have no place in organizational contexts, the foundations of the religion suggest the ethical attitude to all individuals (Hill, 2008). Therefore, learning from a pastor in regards to leadership training and exploration of the principle.
When it comes to aligning leadership aspects with the sources of power inventory, the assignment allowed to point out specific characteristics of a person that either contribute or limit one’s leadership skills. Such qualities as personality dimensions, types of personality, key values, motives, and influence tactics have all shown to influence people’s leadership dimensions and inclinations.
For instance, people with high scores on the coercive power scale may point to a person being high on the neuroticism range of personality dimensions. Thus, leaders that are highly neurotic cannot use their power and influence to reach positive outcomes. Another example is the conscientious dimension – leaders that show high scores within this category tend to be prepared for many situations and be prepared to have set schedules.
Overall, leadership is an extremely complex subject that requires an in-depth analysis from several perspectives. The key conclusion that should be made refers to the idea that leaders are not born but rather develop on the basis of experiences, relationships with people, and personal struggles and challenges. In the future, studies of leadership should continue because the social and organizational environments are always changing, which means that approaches to leadership will change too.
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