Peter F. Drucker once said, "Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things" (Famous-Quotes-And-Quotations.com, n. d.). Leading is a key function of management. Without leadership, valuable time spent on planning, organizing, and controlling can be lost with no productive end result. Because leadership is the core of management, a great deal of focus must be placed on its key components. "Leading means influencing other people to get the job done, maintaining morale, molding company structure and managing conflicts and communication" (Dessler, 2004, p. 3).
Effective leadership is the foundation for any business. Developing leaders, leading strategic planning, overcoming obstacles, and motivating and inspiring employees are major components of leadership. Many articles and publications have been devoted to these four components. In selecting the articles to be summarized, emphasis was placed on articles that discussed universal methods utilized by businesses, along with recommendations for promoting successful leadership.
Developing Leaders
From front-line employees to mid-level managers, expectations of employees in today's organizations have become more demanding. "Today, employees are given leadership titles and expected to figure out how to handle their new roles, but aren't effectively trained" (Gale, 2002, p.1). Companies benefit when they have leaders positioned throughout the organization. This positioning distributes knowledgeable and skilled employees to benefit all aspects of the organization.
In the past, leadership development was limited to executive employees. This training process must change as companies strive to become m ...