Any social group has some people who are respected by others and their opinions and advice are valued by the group members. Such people are called as leaders, who have a great influence on their followers and guide them properly. The role of leaders is quite significant in extension programmes as they are the people who are amongst the community and have thorough knowledge about different aspects of the village, and have similar feelings and perceptions as local people may have. Leaders are the one, in whom village people have tremendous faith and they represent their community before the extension workers. They can explain in detail the needs and problems of village people and specify the areas of development more convincingly in the people’s language to the extension officials and other higher authorities. Leaders help in maximizing the participation of rural people in different extension programmes for their development and getting solutions to their problems. It is the leaders only who, through their competent skills, are able to convince the people to accept a change in right direction for better development.
Leader is a person who has been spontaneously considered, or chosen, as being influential in specific situation or situations.
According to Sundarson, the leader is the servant of the group. The position of the leaders is an essential mechanism of effective group organisation.
As mentioned by S.N. Singh, a leader is one who helps the members of the group, as an individual he accepts the responsibility for thinking through problems and working out solutions that need to be discovered.
A leader is one, who in a social situation can stimulate positive reaction from other members of the group, as said by B.M. Stogdill.
Last modified: Wednesday, 11 January 2012, 7:51 AM
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