Leadership Theories

Leadership

There is a wide and ever growing variety of theories to explain the concept and practice of leadership. I will provide a very brief overview of the more dominant or better known theories in this short essay.

It is important to note that this essay attempts to provide an overview of leadership theories versus models. I view models as attempts to functionalize the more theoretical aspects of leadership and make them easier to put into play by organizations and consultants.

Most theories view leadership as grounded in one or more of the following three perspectives:

* leadership as a process or relationship,

* leadership as a combination of traits or personality characteristics,

* leadership as certain behaviours or, as they are more commonly referred to, leadership skills.

In virtually all of the more dominant theories there exist the notions that, at least to some degree, leadership is a process that involves influence with a group of people toward the realisation of goals and or targets.

I will say at the outset that, in my opinion, leadership is a dynamic and complex process, and that much of what is written these days tends to try to over-simplify this process.

My aim here is to provide an overview that keeps things simple, without crossing into over-simplification.

Trait Theory

This theory proposes that people are either born or not born with the qualities that predispose them to success in leadership roles. That is, that certain inherited qualities, such as personality and cognitive ability, are what underlie effective leadership. There have been hundreds of studies to determine the most important leadership traits, and while there is always going to be some disagreement, intelligence, sociability, and drive are consistently cited as key qualities.

Skills Theory

This theory states that learned knowledge and acquired skills/abilities are significant factors in the practice of effective leadership. Skills theory by no means disavows the connection between inherited traits and the capacity to be an effective leader - it simply argues that learned skills, a developed style, and acquired knowledge, are the real keys to leadership performance. It is of course the belief that skills theory if true warrants all the effort and resources devoted to leadership training and development.

Situational Theory

Different situations require different styles of leadership is suggested by Situational Theory. That is to say, to be effective in leadership requires the ability to adapt or adjust one's style to the circumstances of the situation. The primary factors that determine how to adapt are an assessment of the competence and commitment of a leader's followers. The assessment of these factors determines if a leader should use a more directive or supportive style.

Contingency Theory

This theory states that a leader's effectiveness is directly affected by how well the leader's style matches a specific setting or situation. And how, you may ask, is this different from situational theory? In situational theory the focus is on adapting to the situation, whereas contingency theory states that effective leadership depends on the degree of fit between a leader's qualities and style and that of a specific situation or context.

Path-Goal Theory

This theory is about how leaders motivate followers to accomplish identified objectives. It postulates that effective leaders have the ability to improve the motivation of followers by clarifying the paths and removing obstacles to high performance and desired objectives. The underlying beliefs of path-goal theory (grounded in expectancy theory) are that people will be more focused and motivated if they believe they