Leadership Approaches - Essay Example

Leadership Approaches

Leadership refers to the process of influencing or motivating a group of individuals to perform some tasks or do their duties effectively. Any person who desires to be a leader must have the ability to influence and motivate people; he or she must possess some, leadership skills that make control their teams. This research will be based on two characters from different books namely Moses in Moses, Man of the Mountain and Rev. Taylor in Fire and Cloud. These characters will be analyzed to identify the different leadership approaches and how effective they were to their regime. Organization uses leaders to enforce their objectives to the employees and ensure these workers perform their duties towards these goals. These leaders help other people do things right and enjoy their work. They build a vision, set direction and establish something new that would help their followers work towards the goals. In essence, leaders are the drivers of all teams within a company, and if these leaders fail, the team also fail.

Many organizations are careful while selecting leaders because they are required to considers individuals who will guide their teammates using an approach that would be effective (Offermann et al. 45). In leadership, two different approaches are used namely behavioral and contingency approach. These approaches are also used to distinguish different types of leadership style such as autocratic and democratic leadership. The autocratic leadership has absolute power to direct their teams, workers or subordinates. The team members are given a little power to help in decision-making process and the leaders determine the way duties will be carried out. This kind of leadership style might result in unskilled employees and high turnover rates. Democratic leaders give their team mates the power to participate in decision-making process. This type of leadership increases the job satisfaction of the group members and led to a team that is highly skilled and can manage itself in the absence of the leader.

• • • In Moses, Man of the Mountain, the author narrates the story of Moses. He was born from a humble background but grew up in loyalty. However, after Moses rejects his advantaged position he moves to another land where he spends many years then returned to rule his community away from hard lives of bondage in Egypt. This story shows the qualities of Moses of a leader and why he was able to convince the people to walk a long distance before getting to the promises land. The story which is based on the Biblical story of Moses is a great narration with several leadership approaches that Moses used. Hurston, who narrates the legendary story of Moses, also believes that his power did not originate from the Ten Commandments that he was given but from the rod and terror that he showed his subjects that made him successful in helping a large group of people escapes from Egypt under the regime of Pharaoh (Thompson 395). He not only shoed power to Pharaoh but also to the people of Israel.
    • Leaders start to show great qualities while they are still young, and this is true in the case of Moses. According to Hurston, Moses as a child was curious and his attention was mainly attracted by grooms and the gardeners. He was particularly fond of one old man who took care of the horses. This man answered all questions that Moses asked through stories and narrated other stories to Moses whenever they were together. This was the beginning of nurturing Moses to be a great leader when he grew up. Through these stories, he gained wisdom and knowledge about the world that his peers had no idea about. He distinguished himself from his peers by doing things that molded him into a better person full of knowledge and wisdom.
    • Moses grew up seeking wisdom and being a natural leader among his peers. As he grew into manhood, he improved his abilities and skills by learning military ways because his elder brother would one day be a Pharaoh and he will have the duty of protecting him. Leaders in the current world are expected to have great people skills, and through military activities, Moses was being molded as a person who would influence and motivate people. Moreover, Moses had many advisors his mother included. His mother encouraged him to learn how to fight in chariots and not on horsebacks as his elder brother had been trained (Mendenhall 10). This is one of the advances that made Moses successful as a leader to the Israelites; he had mastered a skill that he could use to make him in though battles.
    • Listening was also another skill that Moses learned when he was preparing for his future leadership roles. He listened and learned strategies of men from the war and experimented with maneuvers. He was respected, and men could listen to him not because he was the grandson to Pharaoh but because he possessed the influence that people admired. Moreover, Moses had a personality that made people feel relief and companionship in moments of danger (Wren 123) These people wanted to follow Moses plan to escape, and they believed he could deliver them. He was the man many youths had chosen as their leader even before he was appointed by God to lead them to the promised land. As Moses won against the finest chariot of Pharaoh, he had already mastered a skill that his brother had not gained.
    • The qualities and skills that Moses obtained when was growing up were the sources of his strength when he was struggling to help the people reach their destination. Through the leadership struggles, Moses would come up with different and new strategies that would make the people move forward with enthusiasm. For instance, Moses requires skills and strategies to negotiate with Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go. He also required understanding, patience, inspiration and perseverance. All these qualities he had developed when he was young played a crucial role in leading these people from Egypt. Moreover, the forty years that these people were expected to travel were not easy. Moses needed to learn strategies that would make him not lose patience, understanding or lack perseverance (Thompson 397). Through the journey, he was also expected to create strategies that would benefit all the people. Some of these strategies he had never used before but they needed to work for these people to walk in the wilderness for forty years.
    • In this narration, it is clear that Moses was a behavioral leader who utilized both democratic leadership styles. He was leading his people by example, and he needed these people to believe in him. He crated strategies that would motivate the people, and these people would see that he had influence. For instance, during the first battle, Joshua, Moses’ assistance questions him about his ways. When Joshua asks if all people will follow him, he replies that “Young or old men will follow you if you got that something to make ‘em willing.  You are going to be one of the great men at arms, watch my word” (Thompson 400). He insists that the battle would be good practice for him and the people because if they win the battle the people’s morale will be improved and they will gain hope again. Many times the people he is leading ask for freedom, but they act in a way that indicates they are not over their past dependence. Moses did not give in to their demands but led them through the wilderness based on his decision and the consultation with God.
    • In Fire and Cloud, the protagonist, Reverend Taylor is a man of God who tries to save the people from the period of starvation. The people who were denied food by the white authorities would not live for long, and the reverend was asked to lead a demonstration to end the food crisis. As Taylor is also denied food by these authorities and walks home empty handed he is met with two groups of people waiting to talk to him. On one hand is a group of communists that he had arranged to have a demonstration with, and the other room is the police chief and the mayor who also wants to talk to him. Taylor is torn between a rock and a hard place because, he had a close relation with the mayor who had done him favors in the past in exchange for order, security and peace among the black people. However, the reverend did not know that these favors would compromise his leadership qualities later. When the mayor finds out about the communists plans, Taylor is definitely in trouble (McCarthy 125).
    • After he gets home, Taylor talks to the communists and try to convince them that a demonstration would not be a solution to the crisis. Nevertheless, the group insists that he should lead a march by adding his name to the leaflets that were being distributed. Taylor is not sure as a leader and does not provide his followers with clear answers on the way forward with the demonstration. This creates a source of conflict, and some people lose trust in him. Unlike Moses, who was chosen by his people as a leader due to his confidence, Taylor was chosen as a leader due to his connection to the mayor and the people thought that he could negotiate for food (Offermann et al. 50). However, the reverend compromised himself when he decided to get favors from the mayor and the police chief. After a meeting with the mayor, he managed to get both groups out of the church without them crossing paths.
    • As a leader, Reverend Taylor is portrayed as an individual who is unable to make decisions and create strategies for his people in time of crisis, unlike Moses, who established new strategies to help the people move forward with the journey. As Taylor leaves to meet the deacon, he learns that someone has been playing to get him out of the church as the revered and lead the people. Most leaders who are unable to gain the confidence of their people are likely replaced within a short duration as their followers lack trust and respect for them. This become the turning point for the reverend as the activities of suffering through whipping makes him connect with the pain of his congregation. He finally agrees to lead the peel for a demonstration which he insisted that it had to be peaceful (Mendenhall 17). He uses his knowledge from the bible to help the people understand both the white and the black are created by God and must stand up and fight against the atrocities towards them.
    • In conclusion, both Moses and Reverend Taylor portray different approaches to leadership. These types of approaches have been used by many leaders around the world. One method might be effective for one group while in another group the same method will not be effective. Moses is portrayed as an individual who started learning about leadership at a young age. He developed leadership skills that would help him lead his people from Egypt into the wilderness for forty years. The strategies he learned from the military and men of the war made him rule as an example. His character and personalities are not compromised therefore it was not easy for the people to corrupt him. On the other hand, Reverend Taylor is portrayed as a man of God who is committed and submissive to eth scripture only as his source of wisdom and knowledge. When the reverend is requested to lead the people in a demonstration, he is torn between his fear of reprisal and desire to help the black community. However, after he is subjected to the violence and cruelty of the white men he is forced to stand up for a collective action. Although the reverend was corrupted as a leader through the favors given to him by the mayor, it is clear that he stood up and took his responsibility to lead the people to a better life.
• Works Cited

McCarthy, B. Eugene. "Models of History in Richard Wright's Uncle Tom's Children." Black American Literature Forum. Vol. 25. No. 4. St. Louis University, 1991.

Mendenhall, Mark E. "Leadership and the birth of global leadership."Global Leadership 2 (2013): 1-20.

Offermann, Lynn R., John K. Kennedy, and Philip W. Wirtz. "Implicit leadership theories: Content, structure, and generalizability." The Leadership Quarterly 5.1 (2014): 43-58.

• • • Thompson, Mark Christian. "National Socialism and Blood-Sacrifice in Zora Neale Hurston's" Moses, Man of the Mountain"." African American Review38.3 (2004): 395-415.

Wren, J. Thomas. The leader's companion: Insights on leadership through the ages. Simon and Schuster, 2013.