Introduction.
Leadership is one of  the  most  mysterious  phenomena  that  occur  in  our
society.   Leaders  appeared  in  the  ancient  times  and  since  then  the
necessity  in  leadership  has  increased.  Our  society  has  become   more
complicated. Today there are a lot of social units on different levels  that
need leaders to function effectively. But it has been a  difficult  task  to
understand how leadership occurs. Leaders are different, their  tasks  vary,
as well as the way they lead their teams. Being an effective leader  in  one
organisation does not presuppose the same  success  in  other  organisation.
There are many “but” in this field  of  study,  leadership  raises  lots  of
questions. No wonder that there are several approaches to leadership.
The aim of this paper is to assess the applicability and value of  different
approaches using a service  organisation  as  an  example.   I  have  chosen
Quality Arcticus Hotel in Harstad and three of its leaders as  a  field  for
my research. I work at this organisation, so I  know  the  personnel  and  I
have observed the style of their work for some period. Now  I  will  use  my
knowledge and the method of  interview  to  go  deeper  into  the  question.
Quality Arcticus  Hotel  is  a  typical  service  organisation  that  offers
lodging and catering. The restaurant and the cafй  belonging  to  the  hotel
are both very popular among the citizens of Harstad.  The  hotel  itself  is
the second best in the town, following Rшkenes Gjestegеrd (which  takes  the
first place due to its exclusiveness) Such success of Arcticus  Hotel  would
be impossible without effective leadership.
My work consists of theoretical and  practical  parts.  In  the  theoretical
part I describe the approaches that we have been introduced to.
In the practical part I  take  a  look  at  the  structure  of  the  Quality
Arcticus Hotel and try  to  apply  different  approaches  to  leadership  to
understand the style of work of the three leaders that I have chosen as  the
subject for my study. I describe what, in  my  opinion,  helps  these  three
persons to be effective leaders (if they are so in reality)

2. Theory about leadership.


2.1 Definitions of leadership


Defining leadership has been a complex and elusive problem  largely  because
the nature of leadership itself is complex. A lot of  studies  have  emerged
from every discipline  “that  has  had  some  interest  in  the  subject  of
leadership:    anthropology,    business     administration,     educational
administration,   history,   military   science,   nursing   administration,
organizational   behaviour,   philosophy,    political    science,    public
administration,  psychology,  sociology,  and  theology.”   (Rost,   J.   C.
Leadership for the Twenty-first Century, p. 45)
Joseph Rost -- and many others,  including  James  MacGregor  Burns,  Warren
Bennis, and Henry Mintzberg -- goes on to argue that the entire  history  of
modern leadership studies has been seriously flawed.  First,  because  while
everyone talks about leadership, no-one has satisfactorily defined  what  it
actually  is.  Like  art,  we  seem  to  know  it  only  when  we  see   it.
(www.infinitefutures.com)
We can see how definition of leadership changed:
1927: “...the ability to impress the will of the leader  on  those  led  and
induce obedience, respect, loyalty, and cooperation.”  (Steward,  in  Moore,
1927)
1930’s: “…interaction between  specific  traits  of  one  person  and  other
traits of the many, in such a way that the course of action of the  many  is
changed by the one.” (Bogardus, 1934)
“Leadership may be broadly defined as the  relation  between  an  individual
and a group built around some common  interest  and  behaving  in  a  manner
directed or determined by him.” (Schmidt, 1933, page 282,  quoted  in  Rost,
page 48)
1940’s: “Leadership…is  the  art  of  influencing…people  by  persuasion  or
example to follow  a  line  of  action.  It  must  never  be  confused  with
drivership…which is the art of compelling…people by  intimidation  or  force
to follow a line of action.” (Copeland, 1942)
1950’s: “...the process (act) of influencing the activities of an  organized
group in its efforts towards goal setting and goal achievement.”  (Stogdill,
1950/1958)
1960’s: “…acts  by  persons  which  influence  other  persons  in  a  shared
direction.” (Seeman, 1960)
1970’s: “…a process in which an individual  takes  initiative  to  assist  a
group to move towards the production goals that are acceptable  to  maintain
the group, and to dispose the needs of individuals  within  the  group  that
compelled them to join it.” (Boles and Davenport, 1975)
Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus in their  book  “Leaders”  said  that  “Leaders
lead by pulling rather than pushing; by inspiring rather than  ordering;  by
creating  achievable,  though  challenging,   expectations   and   rewarding
progress toward them rather than by manipulating; by enabling people to  use
their own initiative and experiences rather than by denying or  constraining
their experiences and actions. (Bennis, W.,Nanus, B.,1985:225)
In 1993 Joseph C. Rost defined  leadership  for  the  twenty-first  century:
“Leadership is an influence relationship among  leaders  and  followers  who
intend real changes that reflect  their  mutual  purposes.”  Four  essential
elements must be present:
        1. The relationship is based on influence.
              The influence relationship is multidirectional;
              the influence behaviours are no coercive.
        2. Leaders and followers are the people in this relationship.
              The followers are active;
              there must be more than one follower, and there is typically
                 more than one leader in the relationship;
              the relationship is inherently unequal because the influence
                 patterns are unequal

The definition given by Rost comprises all the previous attempts  to  define
leadership, as it includes the elements reflected in the other  definitions.
However, most of the scholars considered some elements to be more  important
than others, so we have a  number  of  approaches  to  leadership.  We  will

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