This document provides information about rural leadership, including definitions of leadership, characteristics and functions of effective leaders, classifications of leaders, the role and advantages of local leaders in rural development, and limitations of local leaders. It was compiled by Sh. Rabeesh Kumar Verma from Chaudhary Chhotu Ram Post Graduate College in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh for an agriculture course on rural sociology and educational psychology between November 1 and March 30. Key points covered include definitions of leadership as influencing others, functions of leaders as planning and policy making, and the role of local leaders in coordinating group activities and disseminating information.

2. Details of the Content Creator/Compiler :
Sh. Rabeesh Kumar Verma,
Assistant Professor (Agril. Extension)
Email id: rabeesh4700@gmail.com
Mobile No: 7988338378
University: CCS, University, Meerut, U.P.
Stream: Agriculture
Department Name: Department of Agriculture Extension
Subject Name : Rural Sociology and Educational Psychology
Course Code: D-196
Course Duration: Nov 1 to March 30.
Subtopic Name: Rural Leadeship, types and their Role
Content Type: PDF File
Search Keyword: Leadership, characteristics of Leadership, Role etc.
Topic : Rural Leadership and their Role
Leader: is a person who has ability to influence the attitude and overt behaviour of the
people.
According to Linderman, ‘a leader is an individual whose relations, judgments and feelings
are accepted (responded to) by the group, as the bases of belief and action.’
In the view of Allport, ‘leadership according to our present usage means the direct, face-to-
face contact between leader and followers; it is personal social control.’
Leadership: Is the process of influencing the behaviour of the individual in a given situation
or situations. Leadership is the phenomenon of influencing, guiding, influencing and
directing the action and thought of the people in the intended direction.
Chaudhary Chhotu Ram Post Graduate College, Muzaffarnagar, U.P-
251001

3. According to Davis (1977) "Leadership is the ability to persuade others to seek defined
objectives enthusiastically".
Dahama and Bhatnagar (1985), leadership is the process who in any social situation with his
ideas and actions influence the thoughts and behaviour of other Leadership are the process of
influencing the thoughts and behaviour of others towards goal setting and goal achievement.
We can safely say that leadership is the phenomenon of influencing, guiding , directing the
actions and thoughts of the people in the intended direction. The leader of a group must
somehow perceive what the group wants. He must contribute something that will move the
group closer to the goal and his contribution must be accepted before he can be said have
patterned the behaviour of the group. Some other definition given by scholars are following:

4. Function of leaders:
According to Barnard, a leader performs four main functions. They are: 
According to Dhama and Bhatnagar (1985) a leader has following functions to perform:
1. Excutive
2. Planner
3. Policy makers
4. Expert-in human realtions as well as technical field
5. External group representative
6. Controller of internal relationship
7. Purveyor of reward and Punishments
8. Arbitrator
9. Exemplar
10. Group symbol
11. Father figure and
12. Scapegoat
Characteristics of effective leader:
 Visionary
 Emotional stability
 Honesty
Function
of
leaders
 Control of the
instrumentality
of action
Manipulation of
means
Stimulation of
coordination
action
Determination of
objective

5.  Demonstrate Integrity
 Command over communication skills
 Risk Taking
 Enthusiasm
 Make hard decisions
 Motivate and inspire others
 Lead by example
 Empowers others
Factors determining effectiveness of a leader:
The most important factors identified through researchers in relation to effectiveness of
leaders are listed below:
 Need fulfilment
 Prestige
 Value membership
 Cooperative relationship
 Heightened interaction
 Clarity of goal
 Small units
Determinants of
effectivenessin
leadership
Awareness of
the function of
the group
Ability in
performing
the functions
Achievements
of goals
Assignments
of group
functions to
members
Appraisal of
effects of
distributionof
functions
Attainmentof
positive value
as a leader

6.  Homogeneity
 Outside events
 Increased position
Role of leader:
Reddy (1985) has identifies 8 important role of the leader which are following:
Dahama and Bhatnagar (1985) ascertained the role expectations of farm leaders in
view of the new strategy of agricultural production from the experts in the field of
agricultural extension. By working out the index, following were identified as the
expected role of farm leaders.
1. Raising demonstration plots and showing it to others.
2. Keeping themselves abreast with the latest agricultural technology.
3. Adopting themselves all the improved agricultural practices.
4. Organizing meetings and other discussion groups.
5. Serving as marketing advisers.
6. Supplying the improved seeds to the farmers.
7. Assisting the farmers in getting credits.
Role of leader
Group
spokesperson
Group
harmonizer
Group
discussion
chairman
Group
educator or
Teachers
Group
executive
Symbol of
group ideals

7. 8. Serving the innovative farmers in the village.
9. Educating the farmers to grow more than two crops a year.
10. Acting as liaison officers between the extension workers and the farmers.
11. Educating the farmers in the latest agricultural technology.
Role of local leaders in rural development
Leaders help in coordinating the activities of group member in order to achieve
the well-defined goals and objectives.
2. Establishing and maintaining good social climate among group member.
3. Leaders assist the groups to organize themselves.
4. They play very vital role desiminating the message of extension agency among
the villagers
5. Assists extension workers in planning and executing various development
programmes.
6. They act as demonstrators for the innovations.
7. Helps in maintaining intergroup and intragroup coordination thus effective
functioning of the group .
8. They also act as spokesman for their respective groups.
9. Local leaders help the group to make the effective decisions and develop
scientific decision-making process.
10. They encourage the members to learn from each other's experiences.
Classification of Leaders:
Various writers has classified leaders in different categories based on different
disposition and characteristics. One such classification has introduced by Dhama
and Bhatnagar (1985).
They are as following:
a) Democratic, autocratic and laissez-faire
b) Formal and informal leaders
c) Professional and lay (voluntary) leaders d) Political, religious, social

8. e) Elected, selected or nominated
f) Popular and unpopular
g) Traditional and progressive leaders
Advantage of leadership:
A. Adivi Reddy (1987) has discussed the various advantages of using local
leaders which are as following:
Local leaders virtually play the role of extension teachers and hence the volume
of coverage with improved practice is increased.
2. Cost of extension is reduced, as local leaders are not paid for their work.
3. Local leaders themselves become better taught, because of the experience
they gain in teaching and influencing others
. 4. People accept a new idea more readily from a local person who has
practically tried it, while they may resist if the ideas were to come from a paid
extension worker.
5. The frequent association of extension personnel with the local leaders
enhances his prestige.
Limitations:
1. Persons selected as leader may not have the expected following among
neighbours.
2. Sometimes they may not be willing to devote required time to work or may be
a poor teacher.
3. Considerable time is required to locate and train local leaders.
4. Local leaders may try to use prestige with position for personal advantage.
Public recognition and publicity given to informal local leaders may sometimes
jeopardize their position, and adversely affect their influence among the people.
References:
 O. P. Dhama and O.P. Bhat (1985) Education and Communication for
Development. Oxford and IBH Publishing. Co. Pvt. LTD.
 A.Adivi Reddy (1987) Extension Education Sree Lakshmi Press, 2001 - 344
pages
 TNAU Study notes