He believes that the successful leader carries out the functions depicted by the three circles. Situational components require different reactions of the leader. The size of each of the circles may change depending on the situation.
However, the main task of the leader is to manage all sectors of the diagram: Task. The leader has to define the task clearly, develop the plan, allocate all necessary resources, supervise the work, check and adjust the performance plan). Team. The leader should be able to maintain group discipline, create team spirit, motivate his subordinates, develop relationships within the group and develop the group itself). Individual. The task of the leader is to develop individual, recognize and use individual abilities, praise individuals, give them status and pay attention to their personal problems.
Jack Welch offers his “4E” theory to explain what makes an exceptional leader. The “4E” concept involves positive energy (positive thinking), ability to energize the other people (motivation), edge to be courage enough and to make firm decisions even in uncertain situations, and ability to execute (to implement his ideas and decisionsin a real life) (Mourkogiannis, 2007, p.9). The most crucial components of leadership according to Mourkogiannis involve: Thinking. Thinking is the most critical stage of each process, because it focuses on the future.
Thinking leads to creating an objective, innovating and selecting a strategic position. Mobilizing. The leader must be able to mobilize people. He should know how to move people to action to perform the stated task. He should be able to create coalitions, lead campaigns and foster networks.
He has to define the most authoritative people and collaborate with them. He should be able and eager to compete and defeat his enemies. Inspiring. Inspiring involves motivation, giving people the feeling of importance of their actions. The leader’s job is to make people to feel comfortable in their team, so that they could contribute the process. Inspiring is not a sentiment.
Moreover, it helps us to decide what’s possible. Empowering. In order not to be overloaded with responsibilities, leaders delegate part of their working duties to other people. Therefore, it is essential to know how, to whom, and what responsibilities it is possible to deelegate. Leaders have to allocate resources. Workers need the equipment to perform their responsibilities.
This is a significant component of being a prominent leader (Mourkogiannis, 2007, p.9). J. Richard Hackman pays particular attention to motivation. He believes that the team motivation substantially depends on the fact, whether the leader focuses mainly on the end results of their activity or on the procedures and methods the team must be using while performing their responsibilities.
According to Hackman, to achieve the best results, the leaders that create teams should use all their authority to specify end-states and do their best not to advertise the manner in which the team is going to meet these objectives. The situation, depicted in the upper right quadrate of Figure 2 Encourages energetic and objective-oriented work. When the leader focuses on the results and means for their achievement (the lower right quadrate) the challenge to the team members becomes less attractive, human resources are underused.When the leader pays no attention to both factors, the risk of anarchy occurs.
This situation is depicted in the upper left quadrate. Nevertheless, the worst variant takes place when the leader specifies means and ignores ends (the lower left quadrate).
