Reference no: EM133257417
Leadership is a difficult topic to grasp. Despite more than 100 years of focused research, few can agree about how to approach leadership, how to explain it, and particularly how to determine what the best form of leadership is. Despite its complexity, leadership is vital to the success of organizations, and it is critical to understand what makes leaders effective or ineffective.
Many studies of leadership have attempted to examine the characteristics of a leader. Traits- and behavior-based leadership theories contribute the most to an understanding of leadership, as the balance between relationships and task structure are evident in nearly all other theories. While these two theories provided the foundation on which others have been built, charismatic leadership was the first theory to include an emotional aspect as driving superior results.
Another influential group of leadership theories examines the relationship between leaders and followers. Two primary theories of leadership emerged from this analysis:
- transformational leadership and
- transactional leadership.
Transformational leaders tend to focus on inspiration to motivate followers, while transactional leaders tend to focus on a reward system to motivate followers. The LMX theory revealed that leaders do not exhibit a generic style of leadership; instead, they cultivate unique relationships with each of their subordinates. From this line of research, it became clear that leaders should strive for a transformational relationship with all subordinates while maintaining transactional behaviors, which are necessary for basic group performance.
Finally, contingency theories of leadership provided the most complete perspective, as they encompassed aspects about the leader, the followers, and the situation. According to these theories, approaches to leadership vary depending on the characteristics of the work environment. Some situations require leaders to be more involved, while others require less influence. Although these theories do not build a consensus, they provide interesting perspectives with which to evaluate the complexity of a situation.
- Consider the three aspects of leadership that have been discussed in this chapter-the leader, the follower, and the situation. Do you believe that one aspect is more important than another? Why?
- Why is the "Great Man" theory of leadership so compelling? Why do many people still believe that leaders are born, rather than made?
- Consider the primary leadership skills-cognitive, technical, and interpersonal. As an individual moves up in his or her career, which skills become more important? Why?