WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO TEACH LEADERSHIP?

I wrote this article for my PhD application in Leadership Studies and wanted to share it with you

?Introduction

According to Stogdill (1974), there are "nearly as many definitions of leadership as there are persons who have sought to define the notion." Leadership is a complicated concept that is susceptible to arbitrary interpretation. It is challenging to encapsulate everyone's unique intuitive sense of leadership in a brief definition because it is based on a combination of experience and education. A person’s theoretical position has a significant impact on how leadership is defined and interpreted. Others see leadership as a social process that develops out of group connections, while some see leadership as the result of a specific set of attributes or qualities held by "leaders." A difference of opinion regarding the essence of leadership will always be the result of such divergent viewpoints.

Roach & Behling (1984) define leadership as “the process of influencing an organized group toward accomplishing its goals”. Prentice (2004) also defines leadership as the accomplishment of a goal through the direction of human assistants. Vender (2015) defines leadership as "a combination of position, responsibilities, attitude, skills, and behaviors that allows someone to bring out the best in others, and the best in their organization, in a sustainable manner." These definition reveals certain common elements that makes up leadership. First, it is impossible to have leaders without followers because leadership is a communal and social phenomenon. Second, interpersonal influence or persuasion is a necessary component of leadership. Leaders inspire others to take action and reach their objectives. Third, leaders are important members of groups or organizations because leadership is goal- or action-oriented. Leaders employ their clout to persuade others to take a particular course of action or move in the direction of specific objectives. Fourth, when leaders are present, a hierarchy of some kind exists inside the group.

Why is it important to study leadership?

Similar to other scientific disciplines, for instance, leadership consists of a set of skills, methodologies, and concepts that can be studied. Contrary to, say, biology, leadership should influence all facets of life. Important life qualities such as introspection, cultural sensitivity, moral acuity, interpersonal skills, and decision-making skills are studied in leadership programs (Greenwalt, 2010). If leadership is considered a scientific discipline, then it must be?studied as such to give students the opportunity to learn and develop the skillsets they need to become effective leaders for teams, organizations and society.

In an article titled “Today’s Students Need Leadership Training like Never Before” Richard Greenwald said this about the importance of teaching leadership to all the students. “Graduates of leadership programs may not be crowned leaders as soon as they get their diplomas, but ideally, they will have the skills to lead tomorrow 's generation and to thrive in the new economy” (Greenwald, 2010). It’s clear that the leadership skills given to students will help them later on in life to become responsible and effective leaders. Teaching leadership helps people solve problems more effectively, communicate better, and have “responsible decision making…” skills Lipscombe, K., Tindall-Ford, S., & Lamanna, J. (2021). By allowing every student the same opportunity to broaden their leadership skillset, explore new techniques, and guiding them along the path to becoming leaders that are more effective, the reward will be improved leaders that are capable of handling daily life situations. The world needs leaders that are more knowledgeable, effective and results-oriented and teaching leadership is one sure way of getting such leaders.

Teaching leadership is now more important than ever as the world becomes more complex and riskier due to the economic crisis, conflicts, pandemics, and frightening levels of poverty. According to Greenwalt (2010), in order to solve the problems of the world, the next generation of leaders must have the abilities, expertise, and characteristics that leadership programs foster: self-reliance, social and cultural capital, appreciation for lifelong learning, creativity, conflict-resolution and team-building skills, ethics, understanding of economics, and more. Though past leaders have made significant contributions to the world, it is fair to assume that they could have done even better if given the chance to develop their leadership abilities. Future leaders now have the chance to hone their leadership abilities to become successful leaders of the future.

Leadership is crucial since it is one of the key determinants of any industry or organization's success or failure (Budur & Poturak, 2021; Mart, 2013). The only thing that propels development and progress in any society or organization is leadership. It is exhibited from the kindergarten to the boardroom. From the four corners of a house to the open spaces of the world, leadership is practiced consciously or unconsciously. It is required to lead nations, organizations or teams into achieving goals and objectives and as such should be taught to students and people with interest in leading organizations and society.?

There is no denying the significance of leadership in organizations and society. Because of the diversity of leadership and its styles, each style's application has a unique level of significance and importance (Al Khajeh, 2018). When we consider the typical characteristics of leadership, we frequently recall the personal qualities of a leader we know or aspire to be, such as one who has precise goals, makes effective plans, inspires employees or team members, and leads and motivates them while meticulously preserving their well-being.

A leader should decide on and put into practice the best productivity style for the organization. The proper style offers fantastic prospects within organizations and also enables staff members to take part in decision-making (Torlak et al., 2021b). To excel and enhance organizational performance, leaders are proven to function best when they practice transformational and democratic leadership (Budur, 2020; Budur & Poturak, 2021b). In order for students to master the various leadership styles and be successful in leadership roles, it is crucial to teach leadership to them.

Effective communication and effective leadership are closely related (Agnew, 2019; Budur, 2018). To achieve desired results, leaders must learn how to interact with their teams in an efficient manner. To accomplish his goals, a leader must be able to build effective communication channels within a

group or organization. Leaders that are unable to effectively communicate with their employees may never achieve the desired outcomes. Thus, understanding good communication and understanding how to interact to your team is crucial for leaders, and as such, these abilities must be mastered in order to prepare leaders for their leadership roles.

According to Guttman (2004), leaders spend 24% of their time resolving conflicts. It is obvious that as humans working in teams, conflicts are bound to happen. Effective leaders know how to bring conflict situations out in the open so that all parties involved can begin to work towards a resolution that will benefit everyone. They manage conflicts in a way that is seen as an opportunity to build productive relationships (Guttman, 2004; Kazimoto,13). This is one of the very important reasons why leadership should be studied. Studying leadership would give students (leaders) different perspectives and skills required to amicably resolve conflicts in their organization when they rise.

Conclusion

Leadership is not a position nor a role to be played, it is a function to motivate and move with others (Budur, 2018; Zaim et al., 2020). In every country and in every sector, leadership plays?the most essential part in achieving goals. In moments of crises, it takes good leader, to plan and implement new strategic ways to respond to the crises in an effective way. It is the leader who is responsible for every error inside an organization and among the team. Leadership education improves and develops leaders to have a good organizational culture inside an organization that guarantees the formation of innovation, productivity, and accomplishments for the team or organization. Teams respond to good effective leaders inside an organization by forming great ideas and by showing good performance.

It is not enough to provide all the pragmatic tools and develop technocrats that organizations and society lack, and call it a day. Of what use would it be to train professionals who cannot lead their teams to achieve set goals? Would the world become a better place if we do not train people to lead innovation and drive change? If leadership is all that is required to spur change and progress, then it must be taught and studied like math or any other subject that students find important in order for them to develop into better leaders for our next generation.

Reference

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Al Khajeh, E. (2018). Impact of leadership styles on organizational performance. Journal of Human Resources Management Research, (2018), Article ID 687849. https://doi.org/10.5171/2018.687849

Budur, T., & Poturak, M. (2021b). Employee Performance and Customer Loyalty: Mediation effect of Customer Satisfaction. Middle East Journal of Management.

Budur, T. (2020). Impact of transformational leadership on customer satisfaction: Mediating effects of employee performance and organizational citizenship behaviors. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). International Burch University.

Greenwald, R. (2010) Today’s Students Need Leadership Training Like Never before. The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://m.chronicle.com/article/Todays-Students-Need/125604/

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Torlak, N. G., Demir, A., & Budur, T. (2021a). Decision-making, leadership and performance links in private education institutes. Rajagiri Management Journal. https://doi.org/10.1108/RAMJ-10-2020-0061.

Vender R. J. (2015). Leadership: an overview. The American journal of gastroenterology, 110(3), 362–367. https://doi.org/10.1038/ajg.2014.199

Zaim, H., Demir, A., & Budur, T. (2020). Ethical leadership, effectiveness and team performance: An Islamic perspective. Middle East Journal of Management, 8(1), 42-6