Communication is the key to effective leadership. It is only through good communication skills that a leader is able to manage people without making them feel subdued. A good leader should be insistent but not obstinate, eloquent but not unsubstantiated, and persuasive but not coercive. Communication does not only have a profound effect on leadership; it is the essence of leadership which guides and helps to sustain it.
Clifton, J. (2006). A Conversation Analytical Approach to Business Communication: The Case of Leadership. The Journal of Business Communication, 43(3), 202.
The purpose of this article was to demonstrate the application of conversation analysis (CA) to talk-interaction during a business meeting. The article does not conduct any practical research; the author reviews a number of studies related to the topic in question. The author concludes that CA can help to make leadership more effective and that by means of communication the participants of business meetings can do leadership.
Farmer, B.A., Slatr, J.W., & Wright, K.S. (1998). The Role of Communication in Achieving Shared Vision under New Organizational Leadership. Journal of Public Relations Research, 10(4), 219.
The researchers’ purpose was to determine the relationships between the organization’s members’ shared vision of they company’s goals and communication-related activities practiced in the company. The article explored this relationship on the example of a definite company, its leader, and the public relations stuff. The researchers have found that the leaders who were able to remove communication boundaries between the employer and employees had more chances to achieve shared vision.
Flauto, F.J. (1999). Walking the Talk: The Relationship Between Leadership and Communication Competence. Journal of Leadership Studies, 86.
The aim of this article was to prove that communication competence can help to make leadership more effective. The participants of the study are nine organizations from Ohio, West Virginia, and East Indiana; the subjects (from 20 to 50) from these organizations were interviewed and their answers were measured by means of subscales of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. The results of the study have shown connection between poor communication competence and ineffective communication experiences.
Hopkins, W.E. & Hopkins, S.A. (1998). Diversity Leadership: A Mandate for the 21st Century Workforce. Journal of Leadership Studies, 5(3), 129.
The purpose of this study was to show that the U.S. corporations should change their approach to leadership and consider communication as one of the aspects influencing its effectiveness. The researchers explored and discussed a number of studies dedicated to leadership and communication trying to give evidence to the fact that communication can positively influence the organizational leadership. Concluding the article, the researchers re-iterated that leadership was diversified in the USA, but the simpatico style of leadership which involves active communication was the most effective.
Kolb, J.A. (1995). Leader Behaviors Affecting Team Performance: Similarities and Differences between Leader Member Assessments. The Journal of Business Communication, 32(3), 233.
This article was aimed at exploring the relation between the leaders’ communicative skills and competence and their effect on the organization’s performance and productivity. The researcher interviewed 32 teams from Rocky Mountain, East Coast regions of the USA, and Midwest; the leaders of these teams answered two open-ended questions about leadership. The results have shown that communicative competence of the leaders resulted in better productivity and overall performance of an organization.
Madlock, P.E. (2008). The Link between Leadership Style, Communicator Competence, and Employee Satisfaction. The Journal of Business Communication, 45(1), 61.
The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of supervisor communicators and their leadership style on the performance of their employees. To achieve this purpose, the researcher interviewed 220 working adults and based the results of his study on these interviews. The study discovered that the supervisor’s communication skills and leadership style are interrelated and have a certain effect on communication satisfaction of both customers and employees (the communication competence of the supervisor accounts for 68% of the variance in subordinate communication satisfaction).
Mayfield, J. & Mayfield, M. (2006). The Benefits of Leader Communication on Part-Time Worker Outcomes: A Comparison between Part-Time and Full-Time Employees Using Motivating Language. Journal of Business Strategies, 23(2), 131.
The purpose of this research was to determine which influence the motivating language used by leaders and supervisors had on job satisfaction. One group of the participants consisted of undergraduate and graduate management courses students who had full-time work positions and another group was composed of the members of the Association for Business Communication who took part in the online survey; the study examined the interactions of these participants with their bosses at work. The study revealed that the use of motivating language on the part of the bosses contributed greatly into the workers’ job satisfaction.
Pearson, JC. & Trent, J.S. (2004). 2003 Keynote Address: Communication, Women, and Leadership. Communication Studies, 55(2), 400.
The purpose of this article was to show that good communication skills result in greater success for women. The study compares the findings of the research conducted in 1983 with the same research conducted in 2000; the essence of the study consists in sending questionnaires to women at professor or associate professor levels to find out about their success in career. The article found out that the percentage of women publishing their articles in communication journals increased by 21%, let alone a number of other scholarly contributions made by women.
Snavely, W.B. & McNeil, J.D. (2008). Communicator Style and Social Style: Testing a Theoretical Interface. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 14(3), 219.
The purpose of this study was to explore social and communicator styles of communication; these styles are regarded as the most important in understanding communication behavior and, correspondingly, achieving effective leadership. The researchers interviewed students by means of Social Style Questionnaires and Communication Style Measures; at this, they referred to the findings of other scholars who have researched this topic. The researchers found out that both the questionnaires gave reliable results; however, communication style turned out to be more effective for leadership than the social one.
Winter, J.K., Neal, J.C., & Waner, K.K. How Male, Female and Mixed-Gender Groups Regard Interaction and Leadership Differences in the Business Communication Course. Business Communication Quarterly, 64(3), 43.
The purpose of this article was to show difference between men’s and women’s leadership and communication styles. The study was conducted among the students of upper level business communication courses; questionnaires were distributed between three groups: male, female, and mixed-gender. The results have shown that the mixed-gender group was the least cooperative, which means that men and women exhibit their leadership abilities differently with choosing a leader turning into a competition for them.