Leadership in Organisation

COURSEWORK A

You must answer ALL questions.

Choose a leader from industry - preferably an airline, airport authority, ATC service or air force leader - and discuss:

1. What leadership styles account for their success?

2. What leadership skills/behaviours can you identify that this individual has exhibited?

3. Describe and explain how they have communicated their vision, give examples and illustrate how successful this has been.

4. How does your own style of leadership compare or contrast with this individual?

INTRODUCTION

Defining “Leadership” can be such a chore, as different schools of thought have different views of who a leader is. Kevin Kruse in his article for the Forbes Magazine[1] asked the question, “What is Leadership?.” In the article, he went ahead to disprove the definitions of popular business thinkers such as John Maxwell, who said “The true measure of leadership is influence – nothing more, nothing less”[2], or Peter Drucker who said “The only definition of a leader is someone who has followers”[3]. Defining Leadership, Kevin Kruse said “Leadership is a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal.”[1]

Dana C. Ackley, Ph.D., in his article[4] postulated that there are six leadership styles namely; The Coercive Leader, The Authoritative Leader, The Affiliative Leader, The Democratic Leader, The Pacesetter and The Coach. Peter .G. Northouse in his book divided the styles of leadership into three[5]; The Authoritarian, Democratic, and Laissez-Faire Leadership Styles.

For the purpose of this paper, the leader chosen is Dr. Harold Olusegun Demuren, the former Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, and the classification of leadership styles that this paper is based upon is the one postulated by Dana C. Ackley, Ph.D.

DR. HAROLD OLUSEGUN DEMUREN

Dr. Harold Olusegun Demuren was my boss. He was the Director General of the Nigerian Civil...