Public Leadership - Abraham Lincoln - Report Example

Research Paper on Public Leadership Introduction Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865) had been the 16th President of the United s. Heis remembered for his acts to protect country from disintegration by preserving union of the state. His vital role as a leader in beginning the process for freedom of slaves cannot be forgotten. Being considered as America’s wisest president by the following politicians, President Lincoln had set a very good example of leadership. The aim for selecting Abraham Lincoln for discussion in research paper on public leadership is to learn more about his life, accomplishments, acts, decisions and moral characteristics in order improve understanding regarding his benevolent leadership qualities. The author would like to expand aim of this paper discussing President Lincoln to know more about his self-educated personality and to better understand his leadership by focusing his ability to make wise decisions under critical circumstance. The author is interested in knowing perception of Lincoln to deal sensitive issues of the state. Furthermore, the hardworking phase of President Lincoln’s life and the services he offered to public are the attributes which attract author to select him for discussion as a public leader in this research paper. Abraham Lincoln, through his hard work and ambition, won the presidential election in 1860 for the Republican Party and was elected as president of United States from 1861 to 1865. It was the time when the country was facing civil war. The states of South that were in favor of slavery announced their breaking from states of North that were against slavery and formed their own army. President Abraham with his wise decisions, speeches and actions protect country from splitting in different states and announced the freedom of slaves by issuing Emancipation Proclamation. His leadership was critical in preserving the union of states during the course of America’s civil war. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the leadership styles of Abraham Lincoln through a review of biographical and other research. Discussion: The qualities or characteristics of a leader that inspire the countrymen vary according to the existing state or conditions in a country. In addition, the prosperity and development of a country is also dependent on the character of a leader and his attitude towards the success of the country. Thus, a combination of qualities that can satisfy the demands of countrymen and the demands for county development and integrity can define a good leader. A public leader makes its place in the heart of people by taking bold steps and wise decisions for the success of country and to fulfill basic necessities of the public with ease. Several researches exist in the literature that define the aspects of a good leader. These studies define qualities of a public leader which range from the personal values of the leader to the perception of his personality and leadership by the followers, keeping in mind the set of circumstances under which leadership aroused (Antonakis, Cianciolo, & Sternberg, 2004). It makes sense that a public leader possessing the very best possible personal and moral values can achieve respect and trust by public. In particular, a leader having power to control national affairs must be of satisfactory fame to the public. He must have a background that should be at least understandable to the people belonging to middle class of economy. Abraham Lincoln, in this aspect gained the benefit of belonging to a humble background. Hard working for self-education and ambition at a serious note have been the qualities possessed by Lincoln from an early age and were well known to local people of his surroundings. Kirkpatrick & Locke (1991) after the review of pre-existing literature have compiled the list of traits in their overview, which appear necessary for the fame of a public leader and constitute a good leadership. Drive is one of the main aspect of a public leader and had been defined in detail by Smith & Harrison, (1986). These authors defined drive as group of motives forcing a leader to exert his full efforts for the achievement of a defined goal. It comprises of a high motivation for achievement of the goal, ambition for desired goal, energy to sustain the efforts of decided goal, the ability to overcome obstacles, persistence to achieve the goal and the skill of initiation to make changes in the system (Smith & Harrison, 1986). The history of accomplishments made by Abraham Lincoln indicate that his election as the president and his effort to end up the civil war in United States was successful because of his drive to attain this goal. One of important trait for a good leadership appears as the desire to lead. According to Bentz (1967) the motivation behind good leadership is the desire of the leader to lead others and influence others, obviously with the power of being a leader. A good leader uses this desire to lead follower politicians in a positive sense and does this by submitting the services to public which have not been offered before. Abraham Lincoln was called as ‘wisest president of America’ by the following politicians of the state and this was possible because of positive impression he imposed due to his desire of lead. In the list of traits for a good leadership, the essence of honesty and integrity in the leader constitute an important part. Honesty and integrity are the virtues that are liked and respected by public to a great deal. These two aspects make a leader trust-worthy and provide public the ground to believe on his words (Kouzes & Posner, 1985). When considering Abraham Lincoln with the aspect of honesty and integrity of a good leadership, we can see that when he issued Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, announcing the freedom of slaves, he was opposed by people and politicians in South but he did not stop his efforts for ending up slavery. Another quality which seems crucial for a good leadership is self-confidence of the leader. McCall & Lombardo (1983), in their report regarding creative leadership have illustrated that it’s the great deal of information while accomplishing a desired goal which ensures a leader to be confident for his actions and decisions. Self-confidence enables a leader to gain trust and respect by the public and convince followers to pursue particular actions. Stability of emotions helps to support matters regarding inter-personal conflicts and guarantees the achievement of self-confidence. Abraham Lincoln when announced the end of slavery, he was self-confident in his decision of freeing black maids from the south of United States. Although, President Lincoln could not achieve this goal during the course of his presidency, it was his surety and confidence in the decision that forced coming up followers to move in same direction and resulted in end of slavery after many years. Cognitive ability is another aspect of a good leadership listed in the overview by Kirkpatrick & Locke (1991) and in detail by Lord, DeVader, & Alliger (1986). It defines the intelligence of a leader to collect, process and integrate huge amount of information regarding any desired goal. According to Lord, DeVader, & Alliger (1986), this ability defines skill of a leader to define strategies and to make wise decisions for solving a problem. It requires the capacity to think in many directions with the formulation of strategies that can provide ease in achievement of any goal. Another important criteria to carry leadership is that a leader must be aware of his cognitive ability which can then direct followers to believe his words and actions. Abraham Lincoln’s cognitive ability enabled him to issue the order of slaves’ freedom. It was also because of his ability to process information that other countries could not interrupt during civil war of America. Traditionally, the research on leadership has focused on aspects which define the increment in followers due to behavioral style of a public leader to deal critical situations. According to Balkundi & Kilduff (2006) the dealing of a task to be accomplished and the capacity to make wise decision can define good leadership. Locke (2003) defined a good leadership by the development of relationship between the leader and his followers. If a leader is doing right acts, making wise decisions, offering services to public, and ensuring the growth and success in a positive direction, the followers will ultimately be with his leader. A good leadership ensures enhancement of motivation in its followers (Kotter, 2001). In the view of Chemers (2002) a good public leader must be sensual about his creditability and integrity with a huge number of followers. He must be aware of the public needs and motivations. A good leader must be capable of providing resources to the public and the same time attempting for success and development of a country. Comparing these aspects for being a good leader in particular for public, Abraham Lincoln appears as a good example as he was the first include Homestead Act, Morrill Act and the National Banking Act in the law. All these acts provided benefit to the public of state. He was also first to pass a bill regarding a transcontinental rail road. Combining all these researches together, it appears that different authors consider different aspects necessary for a good leadership. Targeting towards behavioral aspects of a good leader; honesty, persistence and ambition are the attributes which most of articles pursue. However, self-confidence and energy to sustain the achievement of a task are extremely necessary and are suggested by other authors. Another interesting aspect of a good leadership that appeared during this research is the ability to take initiative step to induce change in the state, particularly when the public is accustomed to old regular circumstances. Knowledge of the affairs, creation of a vision for the future of country and making of wise decisions can help in a good leadership. Some articles discuss the development of good relation between a leader and public to acquire good leadership abilities, on equal basis. According to these articles a good leader can stand for the development of his state and defeat enemies and politicians who are against him only by attaining a good relationship with the public. The ability to provide public their basic necessities and surety of their reach to resources can make this task easy. All these articles are quite appealing and present a complete consistent portrayal of a good leadership as according to Bennis & Nanus (1997) that a good leadership is all dependent on character. Summarizing important results regarding the leadership of Abraham Lincoln as presented in the sources reviewed here, it can be pointed that President Lincoln possessed attributes such as Oriented to achievement. Ambitious. A high level of energy to achieve a goal. A high level of stamina to bear hard times. Ability to overcome obstacles/hurdles. Persistence to achieve a goal. Skill to induce change in the old system of slavery. Motivation to end up slavery. Self-confidence in decisions and actions. Ability to make wise decisions. Honesty in the character. Integrity for the claim. Desire to lead followers. Intelligence to solve critical problems. Capacity to take a stand to protect state from splitting. Ability to set up challenging goal. Cognitive ability. Hard working to achieve goal. Emotional stability under sensitive situations. Groundwork for good relation with public. The effort of Abraham Lincoln in ending up the slavery and thus the civil war in United States was possible because of these above-listed attributes. Reviewing all the aspects necessary for a good leadership in this research paper indicates that President Lincoln possessed at least majority of the character values that are pre-requisite for a good leadership. Conclusion: The purpose of this paper was to discuss the attributes that are required for a good leadership, while considering the example of Abraham Lincoln; the 16th president of United States, through a review of biographical and other researches. This study helped to learn about the qualities of President Lincoln, considered essential for a good leadership, in other research sources of leadership. It can be concluded from this study that attributes such as ambition, motivation and hardworking are necessary for a public leader. The ability to make wise decisions after integrating all the possible details and information regarding a critical situation make a leader successful. In addition, the presence of moral values such as honesty, integrity and self-confidence are what that make him respectful to public. Furthermore, the ability of a leader to communicate his vision, to inspire his followers and to provide public the basic resources are the qualities-most appreciated for a good leadership. References Antonakis, J., Cianciolo, A. T. & Sternberg, R. J. (2004). Leadership: Past, present, and future. In J. Antonakis, A. J. Cianciolo, & R. J. Sternberg, (Eds.), The Nature of Leadership (pp. 1-16). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Balkundi, P. & Kilduff, M. (2006). The ties that lead: A social network approach to leadership. Leadership Quarterly, 17, 419-439. Bennis, W. G. & Nanus, B. (1997). Leaders: the strategies for taking charge. New York: Harper and Row. Bentz, V.I. (1967). The sears experience in the investigation, description, and prediction of executive behavior, In F. R. Wickert, & D. E. McFarland, (Eds.) Measuring Executive Effectiveness, New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts. Chemers, M. M. (2002). Efficacy and effectiveness: Integrating models of leadership and intelligence. In J. S. Ott, S. J. Parkes, & R.B. Simpson, (Eds.), Classic Readings in Organizational Behavior (pp. 114-131). CA: Wadsworth, Belmont. Kirkpatrick, S. A. & Locke, E. A. (1991). Leadership: Do traits matter? Academy of Management Executive, 5(2), 48-60. Kotter, J. P. (2001). What leaders really do? Harvard Business Review, 79, 85-96. Kouzes, J. M. & Posner, B. Z. (1985). When are leaders at their best? Santa Clara Magazine, 27(3), 2-6. Lord, R. G., DeVader, C. L., & Alliger, G. M. (1986). A meta-analysis of the relation between personality traits and leadership perceptions: An application of validity generalization procedures. Journal of Applied Psychology, 61, 402-410. McCall, M. W. & Lombardo, M. M. (1983). Off the track: why and how successful executives get derailed. Retrieved from: http://www.amazon.com/Off-Track-Successful-Executives-Leadership/dp/091287919X Smith, K. G. & Harrison, J. K. (1986). In search of excellent leaders. In W. D. Guth (Ed.), The Handbook of Strategy. New York: Warren, Gorham, & Lamont. Read More