Tactics, command, leadership

its employees can, however, attain better results with the help of
so­called leadership development. Leadership development entails,
among other things, that a person in charge serves as an example,
is thoughtful in dealings with personnel, motivates others, and in
short, adapts his or her leadership to the situation at hand. Most
leaders consciously or unconsciously utilise various types of lead-
ership styles to larger or lesser degrees depending on, among other
things, the current situation.
A model has been developed in Sweden for bringing to light
leadership’s most important component parts and how these re-
late to one another (Larsson & Kallenberg, 2003). Note that the
model is based on the leader’s perspective and consists of three
main areas: leader characteristic, environment characteristic and
leadership styles. The leader characteristic area encompasses two
parts: fundamental qualities and desired competence. The fun-
damental qualities influence development of the desired com-
petence. So the better the fundamental qualities the leader has,
the greater is the capacity to develop the desired competence. A
favourable combination of these two parts is a prerequisite for
successful leadership. Neither is sufficient on its own and they do
not represent any guarantee for successful leadership. Factors in
the environment will, as previously mentioned, also have an influ-
ence. The model shows that groups and organisations influence
one another and are mutually dependent upon one another. The
same applies to organisations and their environments.
Groups and organisations need leaders. However, leadership
cannot be exercised unless there is a group that is willing to be
led and to surrender in some sense the right to make decisions
to another person. The ability to lead is highly dependent on the
group’s willingness to permit itself to be led. Leadership entails
that one participates in an interplay between various entities ha-
ving different intentions and different needs.
The management role can often be complex. A person in char-
ge not only works with his or her own group, but must also deal
with other groups that exist in a wider context. The decisions
made will affect other groups in the subsequent echelon and it
will be up to this subsequent echelon to implement decisions and
guidelines from higher levels. Even if the decisions that are made
at a higher level are oriented in some respect to a wider context,
management staff and decision­makers on higher levels must be
aware that these decisions will affect other groups or individuals