jlcox2

Leadership Defined
Leadership to me is the ability to have followers accomplish goals because of their belief of the leader, the act of responsibility (not only for oneself but also for a group of people), creating ideas and vision as well as having followers.
Above is my definition of leadership. To me, leadership is nothing without followers, followers that take the leaders vision and make it possible. Leadership is also taking responsibility for ones actions, good or bad. Creating ideas and vision are must have characteristics of a leader. The following is a list of words that I feel describe a leader and leadership.
1. Visionary
2. Encouragement
3. Welcomes change
4. Utilizes conflict positively
5. Charismatic
6. Responsible

Hopefully I have created a solid definition of leadership. From here I will move further into my own theory of leadership.

Situational Theory
What do a CEO of Coca-Cola and an owner of a small car wash have in common? They are both the leader of their respective companies. They both sit at the top of the companies “food chain,” in respects to the executive board of Coca-Cola and, of course, if the owner of the car wash’s wife or husband likes to be involved in the family business. Which person is more important to their business? Which one is more involved? What I am trying to get across is that it all depends on the situation at hand. The CEO of Coca-Cola is in charge of a multi-billion dollar a year company; the car wash owner deals with maybe one hundred thousand a year. Coca-Cola has thousands of employees where as the car wash may have ten to fifteen. The CEO of Coca-Cola has to take on a larger leadership role than the car wash owner. Each person still has management issues at each level, however, the car wash owner will work closer with those issues than the CEO. The following are graphical representation of situational leadership.

The amount of leadership is related to the amount of management due to the situation that the leader is in. The CEO of Coca-Cola is in a role that needs more leadership than management; the car wash owner is in a role that needs more management than leadership. In both situations, however, neither leadership nor management totally disappears.

Followers
All leaders must have followers; that is what makes them a leader. In my personal theory of leadership I would like to look at not characteristics of leaders but how followers respond to their leaders. Dr. Edwin Hollander has being doing research on this topic for years. He has found idiosyncrasies related to certain types of leader/follower relationships. The research by Dr. Hollander is based on his Idiosyncrasy Credit Model, where the follower’s perception and evaluation of the leader is where the majority of the study has been done.

I find the relationship between the leader and follower very interesting and will continue research on the subject. I feel you can learn a lot about a leader by the way their followers perceive them.
Conclusion
Words like Access, Retrieval, and Storage can be broken down and giving personifying qualities related to leadership/management. I feel like I have placed the Primary Category words in appropriate groups given my explanations
In “The Historical and Contemporary Context of Leadership: A Conceptual Model,” Wren states how different people perceive leaders depending on their time period, situation, and many other varying factors.
The ever-changing third section of this article is my personal theory of leadership. I have incorporated my definition of leadership, situational leadership, and looking at leaders through their followers. I will continue to update and refine my theory as I progress through my research.