Team Leadership : Concepts, Roles, Strategies and Attributes

Contents: Foreword. Preface. Acknowledgements. I. Leadership perspectives: 1. Understanding leadership. 2. Leadership functions. II. Conceptual framework: 3. Theories of leadership. 4. Styles of leadership. 5. Emerging framework for leadership. 6. Strategic leadership. 7. Participative leadership. 8. Positive leadership. 9. Ethical leadership. 10. Indian ethos and leadership. 11. Influence, power and politics. III. Roles: 12. Creating effective teams. 13. Nurturing team spirit and cohesiveness. 14. Managing effective teams. 15. Making team members effective. 16. Encouraging talented people to stay. 17. Leader's role in organisation change. 18. Leader's role in implementation of organisational change. 19. Leadership in different cultures. 20. Managing cultural diversity. 21. Being a manager of choice. 22. Establishing a climate of creativity. 23. Leading with emotional stability. 24. Setting goals. 25. Convening meetings. 26. Delegating authority. 27. Empowering people. 28. Mentoring role. 29. Counselling. 30. Leaders apologise or not. 31. Converting individualists into team players. IV. Skills/Traits/Attributes: 32. Communication effectiveness. 33. Developing collaboration. 34. Developing trust. 35. Increasing motivation. 36. Problem-solving and decision-making. 37. Consensus building in teams. 38. Managing conflicts. 39. Feedback for effectiveness. 40. Coping with stress. 41. Managing time. 42. Interpersonal skills. 43. Traits predicting leadership effectiveness. V. Development of leadership: 44. Training and development of leadership skills and behaviours. 45. Mapping and developing leader's competencies. 46. Developing organisational values. 47. Developing sensitivity for cultural diversity. 48. Practices of leaders. 49. Leadership challenges. 50. Leaders for the future. 51. Mahatma Gandhi--great visionary leader of leaders. VI. Annexures: 1. Leaders to reflect on emerging trends. 2. Women leadership--main arenas. 3. The 21 irrefutable laws of leadership. 4. The five practices and ten commitments of leadership. 5. How can we get from bad leadership to better leadership? 6. Actions for becoming result-based leader. 7. Leading up--how to lead your boss so you both win? 8. The GE Leadership effectiveness survey. Index. 

"Teams have become a central focus of new system of organization management. Leadership involves influencing others, to drive them towards the achievement of organizational goals. Two important functions of leadership are--the task functions and the social functions. The former involves helping the group achieve its goals through planning and organizing, while the latter involves resolving differences and maintaining a pleasant group environment. 

It is well realized that most important factor for quality of teamwork is role of the leader. He may build or destroy the team and may not use the team. Leaders inspire vision, create innovative change, involve and empower others to take decisions. Thus, they forge a new path. Leaders see the potential in people and have full faith in it. They connect the potential of people with the need of the organization. Leaders are focussed on catalyzing change and on service. Among the essentials to leadership are competency, clarity, integrity, taking accountability and courage.

Dr. M.B. Athreya in his Foreword to this book rightly observes, "the theme chosen for this book is very contemporary. Both the words in the title have been very much in focus in recent management discussions in India and the world. Team work has appeared difficult both in India and the US, partly because, as great democratic cultures, they put a lot of stress, in principle, on individual liberty and initiative.... In the last decade, managers have been exhorted as follows--'Don't just manage! Lead!!' The wider concept of management includes, of course, leadership as one of its important processes. However, often, in practice, management tends to focus more on structures, systems, procedures, activities, data etc. The people factor tends get left out; or, at the most, get cursory, inadequate attention, beyond lip service".

"Team Leadership" will fulfil the needs of curriculum of management` students and of upcoming leaders who want to be successful in their areas." (jacket)