Andrea Jankurová, Ivana                                                             ISSN 2071-789X 
                                                                       135 
                  Ljudvigová, Klaudia Gubová 
                                                                       RECENT ISSUES IN SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH 
                                                            Jankurová, A. Ljudvigová, I., Gubová, K. (2017), Research of the Nature of 
                                                            Leadership Activities, Economics and Sociology, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 135-151. DOI: 
                                                            10.14254/2071-789X.2017/10-1/10                                     
                   
                   
                   
                   
                      Andrea Jankurová,                      RESEARCH OF THE NATURE OF 
                      Danubius University,                         LEADERSHIP ACTIVITIES1 
                      Sládkovičovo, Slovak Republic, 
                      E-mail:  
                      andrea.jankurova@vsdanubius.sk          
                                                             ABSTRACT. Professional literature on  leadership mostly 
                      Ivana Ljudvigová,                      states that a leader should be like (personality traits) and 
                      University of Economics in             describes different leadership styles and types. However, 
                      Bratislava,                            very little is known about what leaders do in their everyday 
                      Bratislava, Slovak Republic,           practice,  or  how  they  do  it.  Leadership  should  be  seen 
                      E-mail: ivana.ljudvigova@euba.sk       more  widely  and  should  be  explored  along  the 
                                                             characteristics and style of leadership and how leaders are 
                      Klaudia Gubová,                        manifested externally through their work, which means to 
                      University of Economics in             explore  the  nature  of    leadership  work.  The  aim  of  the 
                      Bratislava,                            research  project  was  to  gain  more  knowledge  about  the 
                      Bratislava, Slovak Republic,           activities undertaken by leaders to answer a simple, but yet 
                      E-mail: klaudia.gubova@euba.sk         not  too  clearly  answered  question:  „What  does  a  leader 
                                                             really  do?“  This  finding  will  help    reveal  important 
                      Received: July, 2016                   activities on which best leaders focus and determine which 
                      1st Revision: October, 2016            elements are really important for leadership. The research 
                      Accepted: December, 2016               project  was  managed  as  a  combination  of  interviews 
                                                             conducted  with  leaders,  people  on  senior  management 
                                                             positions along with a questionnaire survey. 
                       
                      DOI: 10.14254/2071-
                      789X.2017/10-1/10 
                      JEL Classification: M20,           Keywords: leadership, leader, leadership activities, followers. 
                      M21, M29 
                   
                  Introduction 
                           
                          Leadership is a topic that is now a matter of high interest and attention, as reflected in 
                  a  large  number  of  books  and  articles  on  the  subject  (Yukl,  2010).  Despite  the  enormous 
                  amount of professional and popular literature, the concept of leadership is associated with 
                  many  unanswered  questions  and  controversial  conclusions.  One  of  the  most  important 
                  theoretical problems is the lack of uniform definitions of leadership as such, resulting in a 
                  lack of practically applicable characteristics of leadership activities. Findings  presented in 
                  literature  mostly  talk  about  how  to  act  like  leaders,  emphasizing    their  personal 
                  characteristics,  or  describing  different  leadership  styles  and  types  of  leaders.  A  leader  is 
                  mostly seen as a complex entity equipped with features that make him/her ideal for  the role 
                  of a leader. Excessive research on  characteristics carried out in the past decades, however, 
                  did  not  reveal  which  features  guarantee  leadership  success  (Northouse,  2010).  Practical 
                  examples also show that  the personality that does not have the selected features, still may be 
                                                                   
                  1
                   Supported by Grant no. ITMS 26210120047. 
                                                  Economics & Sociology, Vol. 10, No. 1, 2017 
                  Andrea Jankurová, Ivana                                                              ISSN 2071-789X 
                                                                       136 
                  Ljudvigová, Klaudia Gubová 
                                                                        RECENT ISSUES IN SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH 
                  an effective leader too (Ulrich et al., 2009). On the other hand, it cannot be explained why 
                  leaders  even  though  they  possess  leadership  characteristics  based  on  the  research, 
                  unexpectedly fail.  
                           Looking back on the extensive research concerning the characteristics of leaders, we 
                  know very  little  about  what  leaders  actually  do  in  their  daily  work,  or  how  they  do  it. 
                  Comprehensive  studies  on  this  topic  exist,  resulting  in  a  completely  non-specific  and 
                  metaphorical understanding of the whole concept of leadership based on personality, charisma 
                  or holding certain positions. Leadership should be seen more widely and same applies to the 
                  characteristics  of  leadership  and  leadership  styles,  as  well  as  how  are  leaders  manifested 
                  outwardly through their work, what is the nature of their work. Comprehensive understanding 
                  of  leadership  involves  not  only  understanding  the  personality  of  a  leader,  his/her  value 
                  orientation, properties and characteristics, i.e. "Who is a leader?" and a style of leadership 
                  used by a leader, that is, "How does he/she lead?", but also actions that a leader performs, i.e., 
                  "What is he/she doing in fact?"  
                   
                  1. Literature overview 
                           
                          Leadership is a concept that in managerial language, despite more than half a million 
                  books  about  leaders  did  not  have  a  clear  and  unambiguous  interpretation.  According  to 
                  Crainer  (1995)  there  are  about  400  definitions  of  leadership  –  "it's  a  real  minefield  of 
                  misunderstandings and differences, through which theorists and practitioners have to walk". 
                  The  definition  of  leadership  is  arbitrary  and  largely  subjective.  Stogdill  (1948)  after  a 
                  comprehensive review of the literature on leadership concluded that "there are almost as many 
                  definitions of leadership as those who have tried to define this concept". Confusion is caused 
                  mainly  due  to  using  other  misleading  terms  such  as  management,  administration,  power, 
                  authority and control to describe similar phenomena. "It seems that the concept of leadership 
                  has always escaped from us, or appears in a different form to mock with its sliding properties 
                  and complexity. That's why we invented endless definitions to deal with it ... and now this 
                  concept is yet not well defined", says Bennis (1959). 
                          Leadership is defined in different ways. First, leadership occurs in groups. Leadership 
                  is  „the behavior of an individual directing the activities of a group toward a shared goal.“ 
                  (Hemphill,  Coons,  1957)  Similarly  Northouse  (2010)  says  that  „leadership  involves 
                  influencing  a group  of  individuals  who  have  a common  purpose“.  Second,  leadership  is 
                  a process or transactional event that occurs between the leader and the followers, it is not 
                  a trait or characteristic of leader. „Leadership is realized in the process whereby one or more 
                  individuals  succeed  in  attempting  to  frame  and  define  the  reality  of  others“  (Smircich, 
                  Morgan, 1982) Jacobs and Jaques (1990) pointed out that „it is a process of giving purpose to 
                  collective effort, and causing willing effort to be expended to achieve purpose“. Similarly 
                  Drath and Palus (1994) define leadership as „the process of making sense of what people are 
                  doing together so that people will understand and be committed“. „Leadership then has a role 
                  to further develop internal policies of the organization and procedures within the workplace 
                  and to ensure such effective and ethical practices in the workplace that will reflect the values, 
                  mission  and  purpose  of  the  organization  /  company  through  a  clear  set  of  values  and 
                  principles  in  the  context  of  employers  and  employees  with  respect  to  a  particular  set  of 
                  attitudes  and  habits  of  interested  individuals  or  groups“  (Děd,  Jankurová,  2015).  Third, 
                  leadership  involves  influence.  Leadership  is  „the  influential  increment  over  and  above 
                  mechanical compliance with the routine directives of the organization“ (Katz, Kahn, 1978) 
                  House et al. (1999) say that it is „the ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and 
                  enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organization“. Most 
                  definitions of leadership reflect the assumption that "it involves a process whereby intentional 
                                                  Economics & Sociology, Vol. 10, No. 1, 2017 
                  Andrea Jankurová, Ivana                                                              ISSN 2071-789X 
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                  Ljudvigová, Klaudia Gubová 
                                                                        RECENT ISSUES IN SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH 
                  influence  is  exerted  over  other  people  to  guide,  structure,  and  facilitate  activities  and 
                  relationships  in  a group  or  organization“  (Yukl,  2010).  For  example  „in  the  context  of 
                  regional development also raises the question of what types of institutions and stakeholders 
                  should  form  a  so-called  top  management  with  right  leadership  in  the  process  of 
                  implementation of the strategic goals and objectives“ (Čajka, Rýsová, 2008). Within that view 
                  to  the  forefront  of  regional  development  also  receive  such  aspects  as  regional  identity  of 
                  actors  active  in  the  regional  context  (see  more  Dušek,  2007,  2014  and  2015).  Similarly 
                  Northouse (2010) defines leadership as "the process whereby an individual influences a group 
                  of people to achieve common objectives" and Rauch and Behling (1984) as „the process of 
                  influencing the activities of an organized group toward goal achivement“. The increase of 
                  organized  group´s  innovative  capacity  can  only  be  achieved  by  means  of  supporting 
                  intelligent  investment.  Investment  into  education,  research  and  development  will  manifest 
                  itself positively in the sustainability of total growth of organization (Terem, 2013; Čajka et 
                  al., 2012). 
                          On the other hand, the interpretation of leadership differ mainly in defining how a 
                  leader carries out its influence and determining what is the result of effort to influence. The 
                  issue of leadership is analyzed by Weber in the political spfere. „Weber's concept highlights 
                  the power of political elites who rule and are a major pillar of stability of the company, which 
                  in the case of establishing direct democracy faces extinction“ (Kováčová, 2014). 
                          Very often definitions appear which have a historical, psychological and sociological 
                  importance, however, are not applicable to modern business and management, for example 
                  leader as a servant, leader as a media product. Some definitions are therefore more useful than 
                  others, but there is no definition that would capture the essence of leadership and would be 
                  sufficiently general to all situations. Theoretical knowledge of leadership shows the necessity 
                  to  perceive  the  function  of  management  and  broad  experience  proves  it.  Under  these 
                  circumstances, it is preferable to use different concept of leadership as a source of different 
                  perspectives  on  this  complex  and  multifaceted  phenomenon.  Karmel  (1978)  also 
                  recommends:  "Whenever  feasible,  leadership  research  should  be  designed  to  provide 
                  information relevant to a wide range of definitions, so that in time it will be possible to 
                  compare the usefulness of different approaches and come to some kind of conformity in this 
                  case".  
                          While  several  similarities  and  differences  surround  the  ideas  of  two  theorists 
                  leadershipstyles, the most obvious comparison is that they both deal with perceptions and 
                  assumptions about people. These perceptions tend to take the form of how management views 
                  employees, while Ouchi's Theory Z takes this notion of perceptions a bit farther and talks 
                  about how the workers might perceive management. Jasaňová (2002) shows a comparison 
                  and contrast of the two theorists, and how they might apply the concepts shown to their 
                  particular management theories. 
                          Part of the answer to the question of what leaders actually do, can be found in an 
                  unlimited number of definitions of leadership. Northouse (2010) states that during the past 
                  sixty  years  more  than  65  different  classification  systems  were  developed  to  define  the 
                  dimensions of leadership. Burns (1978) defines that "leadership is exercised when persons 
                  mobilize institutional, political, psychological, and other resources so as to arouse, engage, 
                  and satisfy the motives of followers“. Richards and Engle (1986) consider that "leadership is a 
                  formulation of a vision, embodied values and creating an environment in which things can be 
                  done". House et al. (1997) define leadership as "the ability of an individual to influence, 
                  motivate  and  enable  others  to  contribute  effectiveness  and  success  of  an  organization". 
                  Donnelly et al. (1997) talk about leadership as "the ability to persuade others", the definition 
                  Kotter  (1992)  points  out  is  that  "a  leader  inspires  to  achieve  vision,  regardless  of  the 
                  complications". Schein (1992) says that leadership „is the ability to start evolutionary change 
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                  Andrea Jankurová, Ivana                                                              ISSN 2071-789X 
                                                                       138 
                  Ljudvigová, Klaudia Gubová 
                                                                        RECENT ISSUES IN SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH 
                  processes that are more adaptive“. Nowadays, it is necessary to examine the definition of 
                  leadership as knowledge-oriented leadership – in the field of knowledge management as as 
                  deal for example Donate and Sánchez de Pablo (2014)   
                          Based on definitions above, we can state that leaders influence, formulate a vision, 
                  motivate, inspire, mobilize, leading change etc. 
                          In  carrying  out  the  research  project,  we  assumed  that  leaders  in  their  leadership 
                  activities  affect  their  employees,  but  are  also  used  at  the  same  time,  inspired  by  their 
                  surroundings, but also affect people through their charisma, encouraging their colleagues, but 
                  in some situations before they mobilize, inspiring trust, but their relations with staff are also 
                  based on undertakings made up of followers, while raising their successors. 
                   
                  2. Aim and research methods 
                           
                          The inspiration for the research project was the study of Henry Mintzberg, one of the 
                  leading academics who have studied management. Mintzberg conducted research and its aim 
                  was to find out how managers actually do their jobs. His findings were published in 1973. The 
                  results  were  surprising.  Mintzberg  concluded  that  managers  do  not  perform  traditional 
                  management functions, namely planning, organizing and control, but carry out interpersonal, 
                  informational and decision-making activities. This means that most of the time managers 
                  work  at  representative  roles,  the  roles  of  spokesman,  resource  allocator  and  negotiator. 
                  Supplemented  and  more  complex  model  of  managing  (model  of  the  manager's  job)  H. 
                  Mintzberg published in 1994. Same as Henry Mintzberg looked at managers, we decided to 
                  explore  the  leaders  and  find  out  what  activities  do  leaders  really  perform  whether  these 
                  activities are consistent with what is suggested by the literature. 
                          Research of leadership activities is rare and does not have complex nature. Mission of 
                  submitted article is to clarify this a little researched area of leadership and to contribute a little 
                  to the set of konwledge about leadership activities, which will create conceptual knowledge. 
                  Presented  research  project  is  a  „snapshot“  study  that  explores  the  most  important  (basic) 
                  leadership activities. The main objective of the research project was to learn more about the 
                  activities undertaken by the leaders and by experience to answer a simple, but yet not too 
                  clearly  answered question: "What really makes a leader?" This finding helps us to reveal 
                  important activities that the best leaders focused on and determine which elements are really 
                  important for leadership. These findings further help and guide in training of successors to 
                  leadership roles, and so to improve the next generation of leaders.  
                          The  result  of  the  main  objective  are  the  following  sub-objectives  of  the  research 
                  project, based on a complex characteristic of leadership: 
                      to explain how a leader use their power and influence in practice, how they influence 
                       events in the business and what tools they use, 
                      describe the ways and means used by a leader to inspire followers, 
                      deepen and broaden the knowledge of when and how a leader mobilizes and encourages 
                       their employees, 
                      clarify  what  makes  a  leader,  to  enhance  people's  confidence  towards  them  and  used 
                       obligations in their work with people. 
                          The research project was conducted jointly by Department of Management, University 
                  of Economics in Bratislava and recruiter KINGFISHER Executive Search in 2014-2015. The 
                  research  project  was  attended  by  leaders  at  the  top  level  in  the  organization  (top 
                  management). Research sample consists of top leaders (CEO, chairman of the board) of big 
                  companies, that have hundreds of employees, so we assured consistency across the subjects of 
                  research. Survey sample consists of leaders from different sectors (IT, financial sector, food 
                  industry,  construction  industry...).  The  research  sample  consists  of  leaders  from  Slovak 
                                                  Economics & Sociology, Vol. 10, No. 1, 2017