Psychology of management

 
 
 
 
 
 

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Topic 4.
Leadership 
1. The notion of leadership 
2. Leadership theories 
3. Effective leadership skills 
4. The role of leader in managerial activity 
 
References: 
 
1. Romanovskiy A. The basics of social systems management theory.Kh., 2011. – 195 p. 
2. Romanovsky A., Mikhailichenko. Philosophy of success attainment.Learning aid. – Kh., 2003. 
– 691 p. 
3. Romanovsky A., Mikhailichenko, Gren L. Pedagogy of success. Textbook.Kh., 2014. – 267 p. 
4. Lukianov A. Who is a LEADER. 
5. Volkov I. To a manager on human factor. – L., 1989. 
6. Kravchenko A. The history of management. M. 2002. 
7. The leader of the XXI century. Encyclopedia of practical psychology edited by R. Corsini and 
A. Auerbah. 
8. Adair John. Psychology of leadership. – M., 2005. – 352 p. 
1. The notion of leadership 
 
A 
leader
(from English leader – the one who guides, who goes forward) is a person in any 
group who enjoys a great recognized prestige and influence which manifests as managerial 
actions. The group leader, whose right to take responsible decisions in significant for the group 
situations is recognized by the group, is the most competent personality who really plays the 
central role in organizing common activity and in regulating relationships within the group. 
But this is a dry definition, and WHO IS A LEADER indeed? 
Today the word “leader” has got several interpretations: 1. the one who dashed forward at 
competitions; 2. the one who is trusted by most people; 3. the one who is successful in life; 4. the 
one who can organize people; 5. the one who enjoys popularity in some group; 6. the state 
leader, etc. 
But first of all, a LEADER is a person who has learnt to control, motivate, and direct 
oneself for gaining one’s goals and performing one’s tasks. 
The notions of Leader and Success have become synonymous nowadays. 

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Any person having decided to start his/her road to success is just obliged to turn into a 
leader for him/herself in the beginning of this road. 
Without this, any of his/her undertakings will fail. 
If a person is unable of motivating oneself, cannot set tasks for oneself and start 
undertaking some actions to fulfill them, how will this person demand it from other people? 
YOU CANNOT GIVE WHAT YOU HAVE NOT. 
BUT YOU CAN DEVELOP IN YOU ANY QUALITY IF YOU REALLY WANT IT.
ONE IS NOT BORN A LEADER, ONE BECOMES IT! 
Take any successful person of modern time and analyze WHAT A LEADER IS. And you 
will see three regularities. 
Firstly, any leader started small, in a small way. 
Secondly, having learnt to be a leader for oneself, the person got an opportunity to become 
a leader for other people. 
Thirdly, the road of any leader was a gradual one – step by step, inch by inch. Leadership 
is not a subject that can be learnt by reading a book or by having attended a training course. Even 
if you know all about leadership, the qualities inherent to it, you will only make the first step. 
The only way of turning a person into a leader is not in absorbing books on this topic, but 
in learning to be oneself, in starting acting by using all one’s skills, proficiencies, abilities, 
energy given to you by nature and those that you’ve yourself managed to develop. 
One point which was established by psychologists after long research showed that any 
group of people thrown to uninhabited island, or to fight wild animals, or simply for a game 
pitch finds and chooses itself a leader whom each group-member will obey, esteem, support, and 
do the tasks set by him/her. And the choice of leader does not depend on intelligence level or age 
of the team participants. 
For being a leader it is not enough just having a wish: a person displaying such a desire 
must also have a few more characteristic traits which only a real leader can possess. Otherwise 
such a person will fail, for it difficult to be a leader. In business practices after all this time, the 
research and history has shown that any person may become a leader. But even here simply 
having a desire was not enough, for there was also needed the desire to learn and develop within 
oneself the abilities assisting in leadership. This dwsire should be rounded on a strong wish and 
hunger for success.