Practicing Leadership

CHAPTER 2

Leadership Roles and Activities

Introduction

Whereas leaders can be distinguished from managers, leaders nonetheless are responsible for a number of the same functions typically categorized as “managerial” such as setting goals and designing strategic plans to achieve those goals, communicating directives to other members of the organization, overseeing execution of the organizational strategy, and setting guidelines for motivating organizational members and assessing their performance. All leaders, regardless of their position, are engaged in the following core roles and activities provided by the four-factor theory of leadership proposed by Bowers and Seashore: support, in the form of leader behaviors that enhance a subordinate’s ...