Thinking Skills and General

Management

What makes a good leader

&

How might the performance of leaders be

measured

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Contents

1. What makes a good leader

Communication

The

communication

process

Removing

barriers

Motivation

Challenges

Herzberg′s motivation and hygiene factors

Finding

the

right

leadership

style

Autocratic

leadership

Democratic leadership or participative

leadership

Laissez-faire

leadership

Transformational

leadership

The

leadership

continuum

Contingency theories or situational

leadership

Improving

the

leadership

qualities

2. How might the performance of leaders be measured

Performance

appraisal

program

Performance

plan

Progress review

Performance

appraisal

The

balanced

scorecard

3. Conclusion

What makes a good leader &

How might the performance of leaders be measured

2

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1. What makes a good leader

Probably everybody will agree that a good leader is very important to any

successful business. But what makes an effective leader and how can

someone develop her or his leadership qualities? Indeed there are many

factors that affect the leadership qualities. And one thing is sure, anyone can

be a good leader, even if he or she isn′t yet. Discover in the next paragraphs

"my" major elements that affect the leadership quality.

Communication

One of the most important factors of good leadership is communication. It

doesn′t matter of what size business it is ­ a large organisation, a small firm,

or even a home-based business ­ well developed communication skills are

indispensable for success. If good communication skills don′t already exist,

they have to be built up to become a good leader. The goal of communication

is to get an important message clearly and unequivocal across to others.

Doing this requires effort from both the sender and the receiver. If employees

have no idea what is on the supervisor′s mind, the leadership is going to

falter. When this isn′t detected, it can cause very big confusion, wasted

exertion and missed opportunity. In order to transfer the massage clearly, a

manager should use an effective communication. As stated in the course book

thinking skills and general management (University of Leicester, 2007)

following points have to be considered:

· What is the purpose of the communication?

· Are the occasion and timing of the communication right?

· Will those receiving it be able to follow it from one stage to another?

· Is the medium (usually language) suited to the audience?

· Has the purpose of the communication been achieved?

What makes a good leader &

How might the performance of leaders be measured

3

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The communication process

Communication problems can appear at every stage of the communication

process (which consists of sender, encoding, channel, decoding, receiver and

feedback - see the diagram below) and may create misinterpretation and

confusion.

Diagram 1.1: The communication process (Kryder, 2006)

Msg

Msg

Msg

Sender

Msg

Encoding

Channel

Decoding

Receiver

Feedback

The

sender

starts the communication process and than

encodes

a message,

and selects a channel (written, oral or visual) for transmitting the message to a

receiver. The

receiver

is the person or group to whom the message is

directed. He or she

decodes

or interprets the meaning of the message. The

feedback

of the receiver back to the sender controls whether he or she

understood well the content of the message.

Removing barriers

In each stage of the communication process exist barriers that disturb the

smooth transfer of the message. To deliver the message without

misunderstanding, it is important to pull down these barriers.

Let′s start with the message. If the message is too long, disorganized, or full

of errors, the message can be misunderstood and misinterpreted. Poor verbal

and body language can also confuse the message and therefore shouldn′t be

used.

What makes a good leader &

How might the performance of leaders be measured

4

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