The Effectiveness of Group Leadership

The Effectiveness of Group Leadership

Throughout our lives we recognize the importance of leadership when we exercise our right to vote for political leaders. We realize that it matters who is in office, so we participate in the election process to choose the best candidate. We know that leadership has an impact on our schools, cities and government and nation. On a smaller scale leadership is also essential for group effectiveness because it helps guide organizations and teams to obtain favorable outcomes and success.

Leadership is defined by Robert Kreitner in his book Management as “a social influence process of inspiring, influencing, and guiding others to participate in a common effort” (402). He further defines group leadership as “the process of providing focus and direction to a specific group of people” (405). When group leaders are effective, the influence they have over others helps the group achieve its goals.

Group leadership is a key ingredient for high performing groups, teams, and organizations. In their book Contemporary Management, Gareth Jones and Jennifer George confirm that “all groups and teams need leadership” (507). They contend that “when teams do not live up to their promise, sometimes the problem is caused by a lack of leadership” (507).

In his book, Leadership in Organizations Gary Yukl contends “leadership functions are essential for success” (364). Group leaders are essential to team effectiveness especially in the planning stages of projects, because they can create the vision for the group by providing direction for all of the members of the group. The function of clearly defining the group’s goals is a key to the group obtaining success.

Groups are frequently used to solve problems and make decisions in organizations. Oftentimes the goal is clear to some group members but not others. Group leadership is essential because they can help everyone on the team by clearly defining the goals so that everyone...