The concept of leadership had now been not only within the frame of team, organization etc. it had been spread around the world and world is influenced by this concept. Leadership is very much required in today's turbulent world because of various crises etc.
Leadership is also a universal concept. It is also a part of management and also considered as a management function. Leadership is also interconnected with other management functions such as planning, organizing, communication, motivating, coordination and controlling.
There had been various confusions in the concept of leadership starting from definition of leadership till theory and approaches of leadership. Many researchers of management concepts such as Max Webber, Mary Parker Follet, F.W Taylor etc. have lead to serious development of leadership concept.
The concept of leadership had been researched by various researchers leading to various findings. Findings such as leadership theories, approaches or styles had been analyzed and it is interpreted and given below.
Further, 'Leaders are born or made' is a biggest argument of century. This is what the whole research argues to conclude.
Leadership
There had been various definitions researched by various researchers.
The universal definition of leadership is 'working with and through people and influencing the behavior of people towards the achievement of common goals'.
Leading is a management function without which management cannot step into next function which will interrupt the total organizational job and performance.
Leadership involves four element:
Leader/Persuader.
Follower/Persuadee.
Situation.
Communication.
Leader
Leader is a person with the ability to influence or persuade the behavior of his/her subordinates towards a common objective or task to which the leader is focusing on.
Effective leader is a person who positively influence another person's behavior through effective approach or style relating to the leadership theory used which turns the behavior towards achievement of goals effectively and efficiently.
Role of effective leaders
There are twelve different roles that an effective leader performs and these twelve roles are categorized into three categories and its stated below:
Create an Inspiring Vision & Lead by Example
Create an inspiring vision, establish shared values, give direction and set stretch goals.
Manage change strategically, take risks, create change, lead change, manage resistance to change.
Lead by example, practice what you preach, set an example, and share risks or hardship.
Demonstrate confidence, win respect and trust without courting popularity.
Empower, Inspire, and Energize People
Be enthusiastic, inspire and energize people, create a positive work environment.
Empower people, delegate authority, be open to ideas, have faith in the creativity of others.
Communicate openly and honestly, give clear guidelines, set clear expectations.
Empathize, be willing to discuss and solve problems, listen with understanding, support and help.
Build and Lead a Team
Use team approach, facilitate cooperation; involve everyone; trust your group; rely on their judgment.
Bring out the best in your people, have common touch with them; coach and provide effective feedback.
Permit group decision, help your team reach better decisions.
Monitor progress, but don't micromanage, lead your team; avoid close supervision, do not over boss, do not dictate, lead team self-assessment.
To further discuss, an effective leader acts as a :-
Clarifier who listens, summarizes and makes things clearer.
Coach who encourages others to develop skills.
Facilitator who helps the group set goals, make decisions, choose direction, and evaluate progress.
Delegator who helps each group member apply their talents and interests to the group's goals.
Initiator who gets things moving.
Manger who helps coordinate the parts of a project and keeps an eye on program.
Mediator who helps resolve differences.
Networker who connects people with people and people with ideas to move the project forward.
Problem solver who suggests solutions and ways to get things done.
Visionary who sees creative solutions, new directions and possibilities.
It is identified six important roles are required during various changes occurring in the environment. They are:
Role model
Sponsor
Decision maker
Voice
Motivator
Enforcer
Skills of a leader
According to management concept, skills are categorized into three divisions such as conceptual, human and technical skills. After various researchers' findings being analyzed it had been concluded that an effective leader requires the following skills:
Vision, mission and goal
Competency
Communication
Inspiration
Interpersonal
Positive attitude
Discrimination and strategic thinking
Honesty/integrity
Dedication/commitment
Magnanimity/humility
Open minded
Creative/innovative
Assertive/decisive
Self-awareness
Know the stuff
Encouraging
Practice makes perfect
Passion
Persuasion
Delegate, empowering and fearlessness
Genuine
Supportive
Motivating
Emotional intelligence
Employee-relations
Crisis management
Ownership and responsibility
fairness
Leadership Theories
Leadership had been one of the concept universally researched by many, individually or jointly and which had resulted into various theories in the past centuries and it had been revised for various benefits. Out of these various theories major eight theories are discussed below:
Great man theory
Trait theory
Behavioral theories
Role theory.
McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y.
Managerial grid.
Participative leadership
Lewin's leadership style.
Likert's leadership style.
Situational leadership style
Hersey and Blanchard's situational leadership.
Vroom and yetton's normative model.
House's path goal theory.
Contingency theories
Fiedler's Least preferred co-worker(LPC) theory
Cognitive resource theory.
Strategic contingency theory.
Transactional leadership
Leader Member-Exchange (LMX) theory
Transformational leadership
Burn's transformational leadership theory.
Bass' transformational leadership theory.
Kouzes and Posner's leadership participating inventory.
Great Man Theory
This theory is brought by Thomas Carlyle in 1840s stating that "The history of the world is but the biography of great man". This theory is informed with the assumption that leaders are born and not made. He also assumes that great leaders will arise when there is a great need and that this is power inheritance within men.
The greatest critique or counter argument for this theory arose in 1860 by Herbert Spencer that "You must admit that the genesis of a great man depends on the long series of complex influences which has produced the race in which he appears, and the social state into which that race has slowly grown.... Before he can remake his society, his society must make him" which says that great men are the product of their societies and their actions would be impossible without social conditions built before their lifetimes.
This theory makes us see a great man as heroic person from birth which shows examples such as Napoleon, Shakespeare, Martin Luther, Mahatma Gandhi etc. the counter argument of Herbert Spencer is the one that helped this theory to be alive from its findings till date.
Trait Theory
Trait theory is major area of study on human personality. Trait can be defined as behavior, thought, emotions, etc. of people that differs among people and influence behavior. It can be described as behavioral act through which leadership style has been performed. It also has similarity with great man theory.
Gordon Allport's three tier model:
Gordon Allport was the first researcher to come up with this theory in 1936. He described four thousand personality traits. He categorized these traits into three levels:
Cardinal trait- traits that dominate an individual's whole life and person becomes to be recognized. These traits are rare.
Central trait- these are general characteristics that form the basic foundations of personality. These are the major characteristics that is used to describe another person but not dominating as cardinal trait. Terms such as intelligent, honest, anxious are considered central trait.
Secondary trait- these are the traits that are sometimes related to attitudes and often appear only in certain situations. E.g.: getting anxious speaking to a group.
16 Personality Factors:
Then, Raymond Cattell reduced the number of main personality traits found by Allport's list of four thousand to one seventy one by eliminating uncommon traits and combining common characteristics. Then using, a statistical technique known as factor analysis, he identified closely related terms and reduced his list to just sixteen key personality traits. This is known as sixteen personality factor questionnaire (16PF). The sixteen personality traits are openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, self-esteem, harm avoidance, novelty seeking, perfectionism, alexithymia, rigidity, impulsivity, disinhibition, psychotism. Since its findings in 1949, it had been revised four times, once in 1956, then 1962, 1968 and in 1983.
Eysenk three dimensions of personality:
Hans Eysenk, a british psychologist developed a three dimensional trait model which includes:
Introversion/Extraversion - introversion involves focusing on inner experience while extraversion focusing attention outward on other people and environment. So, person with high introversion might be quiet and reserved while those with high extraversion might be sociable and outgoing.
Neuroticism/Emotional stability - This dimension is related to moodiness versus even-temperedness. Neuroticism refers to an individual's tendency to become emotional while stability refers to the tendency to remain emotionally constatnt.
Psychoticism - Individuals who are high on this trait tend to have difficulty dealing with reality and may be anti-social and manipulative. Eyesenk added this trait after studying individuals suffering from mental illness.
Big Five Personality Trait Model:
Big five framework of personality traits from Costa and McCrae emerged based on research findings of Eyesenk and Cattell. This emerged because Cattell focused on too many traits and Eyesenk focused on too few. This model focuses on five core traits that interact to form human personality. Those five traits are:
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Conscientiousness
Neuroticism
Openness
Many psychologist believe this model is not only universal but also have biological origins.
Totally, trait theory was researched by various other researchers such as D.W.Fiske(1949), Norman(1967), Smith(1967), Goldberg(1981) etc. One of the famous research work is Stogdill's trait research.
Stogdill (1974) identified the following traits and skills as critical to leaders.
Traits are:
Adaptable to situations
Alert to social environment
Ambitious and achievement-orientated
Assertive
Cooperative
Decisive
Dependable
Dominant (desire to influence others)
Energetic (high activity level)
Persistent
Self-confident
Tolerant of stress
Willing to assume responsibility
Skills are:
Clever (intelligent)
Conceptually skilled
Creative
Diplomatic and tactful
Fluent in speaking
Knowledgeable about group task
Organized (administrative ability)
Persuasive
Socially skilled
McCall and Lombardo (1983) researched both success and failure identified four primary traits by which leaders could succeed or 'derail':
Emotional stability and composure: Calm, confident and predictable, particularly when under stress.
Admitting error: Owning up to mistakes, rather than putting energy into covering up.
Good interpersonal skills: Able to communicate and persuade others without resort to negative or coercive tactics.
Intellectual breadth: Able to understand a wide range of areas, rather than having a narrow (and narrow-minded) area of expertise.
To be finally said that trait theory as great man theory follows the same phrase of 'Leaders are born, not made'. The only difference it also includes an extra element of personality rather than looking it as a historic way.
Behavioral Theory
After the criticism of trait theory, many researched leadership in the form of behaviors, values etc. which lead to the behavioral theory that states behaviors of leaders pave way to learn and engage in leadership very easily. It also states that great leaders are made, not born. This theory focuses on actions of leaders, not on mental qualities. People learn to become leaders through teaching and observation. Under this theory there were two great studies:
Ohio State University Study -
This study was conducted by a group of people from Ohio state university. They developed a list of one-fifty statements which was designed to measure nine different behavioral leadership dimension. The resulting questionnaire is known as Leaders Behavior Description Questionnaire(LBDQ). This was provided to students, administers, even to military personnel. The primary goal of the study was to identify common leadership behaviors. After analyzing the results, study led to a conclusion that there were two group of behaviors that were strongly correlated. These were defined as consideration(People oriented behavioral leaders) and initiating structure(Task oriented leaders).
University Of Michigan Study(1950s) -
This study was led by Dr. Rensis Likert. This leadership study identified three characteristics of effective leadership. Two were which already found in Ohio State University study. Third dimension which was found in this study was participative leadership.
Some of the theories that are categorized under behavioral theory are listed below:
Role Theory -
Various researchers are involved in this theory. Some are Margaret Mead, Talcot Parsons and Robert k. Merton. But, this became famous through B.F. Skinner. Role theory states that followers are able to send their expectations of how their leaders might act and leaders also have expectations of their own roles and responsibilities of how to act to the situation. If the leader is so sensitive to people they may accept the followers' expectation. This theory really states what the leader should do depending on situations. This might also solve conflicts and sometime lead to role-conflict.
It shows that the way the leader acts in the normal life must be implemented when they are needed to act as a leader. This can be considered as an 'avatar' or 'second life'. The leaders who are role-playing may require their followers to act as they do. To be said in phrase "Do as I do". This theory can take any style such as autocratic or sometimes democratic. This depends on the behaviorism of leader i.e. the way they look or the way they act etc.
McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y -
This theory was developed by McGregor in 1960s. This theory outlines the motivation need and behaviorism of leaders. Theory X outlines that leaders think their followers are lazy and doesn't want to work, they are who wants to ignore work as wherever possible. Leaders also think that they are responsible to restructure their followers through high restrictive supervision and a punitive atmosphere. This might lead to mistrust and cause diseconomies of scale in large business.
Theory Y outlines that leaders think that their followers are ambitious, self-motivated and they know what their responsibilities and make themselves work to what they seek. This influences the leader that their only job is to make available a comfortable environment for workers' purpose. This improves superior-subordinate relationship, participative skills, human resource development ability, conflict solving etc.
Managerial Grid -
Managerial grid is also known as leadership grid. This is formed by Robert Blake and Jane Mouton in 1960s. It is a graphical portrayal that depicts two dimension of leader behavior; concern for people on y-axis and concern for production on x-axis. This grid ranges from low(1) to high(9), creating 81 different positions to which leader's style may fall.
Five leadership styles that results in the graph are :-
Indifferent or Impoverished Management (1,1) - In this style leaders have low concern for people and production. Leaders use this style to preserve job and job seniority, and protect themselves by avoiding getting into trouble. The main concern of leaders is not to be held responsible for any mistake. Employees will have high degree of dissatisfaction, disharmony within group. Ineffective approach resulting ineffective operations and decisions for organizations.
Country club or Accommodating (1,9) - Leaders have high concern for people and low concern for production. Leaders have qualities of yield and compliance to the situation. Leaders pay attention to the security and comfort of peoples hoping that performance would increase. Atmosphere would be friendly but ineffective productivity. Employees are happy and harmony within team.
Status Quo or Middle of the road - Leaders in this style try to balance and compromise between company goals and workers' needs. Leaders try to achieve the needs of people and production but it's not really met. Even though if it is met it will be average production. There will be good harmony in teams and average production.
Dictatorial or Produce, Perish or Control (9,1) - Leaders focus all their attention to production related matters and very little towards the needs of followers. Leaders will dominate as they hold the belief that gain could be achieved through rigid disciplines. This style remains effective where human interaction remain less. Productivity is short lived. This style is inspired by McGregor's Theory 'X'. followers experience high level of dissatisfaction and there will be high level of conflict within group.
Sound or Team (9,9) - This is considered as the most effective leadership style where leaders will contribute, are committed, can motivate and are motivated while believing that trust, respect and empowerment are essential for fostering a team environment where followers are motivated which results in maximum employee satisfaction as well as most efficient productivity. This is inspired by McGregor's Theory 'Y'.
To this grid later certain additions were made:
Opportunistic style - Leaders using this style do not have a fixed location on the grid and they adopt the behavior that offers the greatest benefit. Exploit and manipulative characteristics.
Paternalistic style - Leaders using this style support and guide and discourage challenges to their thinking. This style defined to alternate between the (1,9) and (9,1) locations on the grid.
Behaviors of initiative, inquiry, advocacy, decision, conflict, critique, resilience were associated with managerial grid.
Participative Leadership Style
Participative model can be known as an approach or style as well as a theory in leadership concept. Participative theory is also known as democratic theory which is described under title of 'leadership approaches' below.
This theory views that leaders make available a clear definition roles/responsibilities to his/her followers and leaders require their views or participation to the task or situation which increases motivation, commitment level and more collaborative and creativity. Participant may be subordinates, peers etc. But, the decision will be made by the leader through various views are taken. Many methods exists such as consultation, democratic leadership, management by objectives, joint decision making etc. Negative impact is, if the participant's view is totally neglected the followers may feel as they are betrayed and less motivated leading to less commitment.
Lewin's leadership style -
In 1939, Kurt Lewin with Ron Lippit and Robert White came up with three set of leadership styles which are autocratic, democratic/participative and delegative/free-rein (Laissez-Faire) styles.
Autocratic leader takes his own decision without consultation of members, Laissez-Faire style leader allows the followers to work on their own and participative leader takes decision with the consultation of his/her followers. Even, Kurt Lewin says that participative leadership is the most effective leadership style among his three findings.
Likert's leadership style -
Rensis Likert and his colleagues studies the styles of leaders for three decades at University of Michigan and identified a four model system. This model was based on basis of questionnaire which is provided to managers at various managerial positions in over two-hundred organizations.
Likert's four leadership style are :
System 1 - Exploitative Authoritative
Responsibility lies in the hands of top managers. Superior has no trust, confidence in subordinates. Subordinates are not allowed to participate in decision making. Communication is very little and motivation is based on threats.
System 2 - Benevolent Authoritative
Responsibility lies at managerial levels but not at lower level of organizational hierarchy. Superior has confidence and trust in subordinate which involves master-servant relationship. Still subordinates do not feel free to discuss things about the job with their superior. Communication is very little and motivation is based on reward system.
System 3 - Consultative
Responsibility is widely spread throughout the organization. The superior has substantial confidence in subordinates. Some discussion about job-related things take place between superior and subordinates. Fair communication takes place and motivation is based on rewards and involvement in job.
System 4 - Participative
Responsibility to achieve organizational goals is widely spread throughout the organizational hierarchy. Superior has high level of confidence in subordinates. High level of team work, communication and participation.
Likert compares the four systems on the basis of leadership process, motivational force, communication process, interaction-influence process, decision making process and concludes that system 1 and 2 are least productive whereas system 3 and 4 are most productive. Finally, it is noted that system 4- participative model is the most effective style among the four systems.
Situational Leadership Style
As participative style, situational leadership is also considered as a style and theory. The famous leadership model discussed under this theory is Hersey and Blanchard's leadership style discussed below. This theory shows the effective leadership style to be chosen defending on the situation i.e. depending to the maturity level and ability to willingness etc. This theory was first introduced as Life cycle theory of leadership which is renamed to situational leadership in mid 1970s.
Hersey and Blanchard's Leadership style -
First, Hersey and Blanchard developed their own situational leadership concept. In 1970s, they mutually agreed and developed the concept of situational leadership based on task and relationship behaviors that leader provides to the followers. They categorized all leadership styles into four behavior types which they named as:
S1 : Telling/Directing - high task focus and low relationship focus. Leaders define the roles and task of followers. Decisions are made by leaders and announced, so communication is largely one way. Followers need direction and supervision to get started. This is required for people who lack competence but are enthusiastic and committed.
S2 : Selling/Coaching - high task focus and high relationship focus. Leaders define roles and tasks to followers and also seek suggestions from followers. Communication is two way. Followers need direction and supervision because they are still inexperienced. They need support to build self-esteem and involvement in decision making to restore their commitment. This helps for people who have some competence but lack commitment.
S3 : Participating/Supporting - low task focus and high relationship focus. Leader pass day to day decisions to followers but control is with the followers. This is required for people who have competence but lack confidence or motivation but, they do not need much direction because of their skills.
S4 : Delegating - low task focus and low relationship focus. Leaders are still involved in decision and problem solving but control is with followers. Follower decides when and how leader will be involved. It is useful for people who have both competence and commitment. They are able and willing to work by themselves.
Hersey and Blanchard's situational leadership style developed four levels of maturity:
M1 : followers of this maturity level lack specific skills or knowledge to work on their own. They need to be directed and supervised.
M2 : they are willing to work but are unable to take independent responsibility to the task on which they are willing to work.
M3 : followers at this maturity level are experienced and are able to work on the task but lack confidence to take the responsibility.
M4 : followers at this maturity level are ones willing to take the task and be responsible for it and they have the experience to work on it.
A good leader develops the 'competence and commitment' in followers, So they are self-motivated rather than being dependant. So, Hersey develops four combination of competence and commitment which is known as development level.
D1 - Low competence and high commitment
D2 - Low competence and low commitment
D3 - High competence and low commitment
D4 - High competence and high commitment
Competence shows one's task focus, experience etc. and commitment shows one's confidence and motivational level.
Vroom and Yetton's Normative Model -
This model is created by Vroom in collaboration with Yetton and later joining hands with Jago. The Vroom-Yetton-Jago model identifies five different styles on situation and level of involvement. They are:
Autocratic type 1 (A I) - Leader makes the decision on his/her own with the information he/she readily have at the time. This style is completely autocratic.
Autocratic type 2 (A II) - Decision is made by the leader, but information from relevant followers are collected. Decision or the problem is not informed to the followers. Followers only involvement is providing information.
Consultative type 1 (C I) - Leaders make the decision alone but he/she shares the problem to relevant followers individually and seek their ideas. Followers do not meet each other and leader's decision may or may not reflect his/her followers' influence.
Consultative type 2 (C II) - Leaders shares the problem to relevant followers as a group and seek their ideas to make decisions alone. Followers are allowed to meet each other. Leader's decision may or may not reflect his/her followers' influence. Here, followers involvement is helping as a group in decision making.
Group-based type 2 (G II) - Leader discusses the problem with followers as a group and seek their ideas through brainstorming. Decision accepted by the group is the final decision.
House's Path-goal Theory -
Path goal theory is developed by Robert House in 1971 and revised in 1996. This theory summarizes that leader's behavior acts towards the benefit of subordinates in terms of satisfaction, motivation and performance. This can be considered also as a contingency or a transactional leadership theory model. This theory is the work inspired by the work of Martino G. Evans(1970) expectancy theory of Victor Vroom(1964). This theory makes the leader to choose the best path that may help the followers to achieve the goals flexible and easily.
This theory identifies achievement oriented, directive, participative and supportive leader behaviors. Path-goal theory also states that leaders can change their style as situation require. This theory depends on two factors which are environmental factor and follower characteristics.
Contingency Theory
Contingency theory is similar to situational theory but contingency theory does not include adapting to situational factors only, it also includes the degree of leaders' ability, capability, preferred style and behaviorism towards followers and various other situational factors.
This theory shows how leaders who are able to act successful in one situation becomes unsuccessful in another and make unsuccessful decisions. The theory also states that there is no, one best way to manage, and the needs of an organization are best satisfied when its properly organized and, appropriate style is chosen that fits both to task undertaken and nature of work group. Some of the contingency factors are government, union, technology etc. Below, certain famous contingent models are described.
Fiedler's Least Preferred Co-worker(LPC) theory -
Least Preferred Co-worker theory(LPC) is created by Fred Fiedler in 1967. This theory depends on two factors; leadership style and situational favorableness.
Leadership style -
Leadership style is measured by LPC scale which is used to measure an individual's leadership orientation. LPC scale makes the leader to think of the person that the leader has worked or working with who performs least well and it is measured as follows:
Unfriendly
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Friendly
Unpleasant
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Pleasant
Rejecting
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Accepting
Tense
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Relaxed
Cold
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Warm
Boring
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Interesting
Backbiting
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Loyal
Uncooperative
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Cooperative
Hostile
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Supportive
Guarded
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Open
Insincere
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Sincere
Unkind
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Kind
Inconsiderate
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Considerate
Untrustworthy
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Trustworthy
Gloomy
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Cheerful
Quarrelsome
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Harmonious
The responses are summed and averaged where a high LPC score suggests that he/she is a human -relations oriented leader where as a low LPC score suggest that he/she is a task-oriented leader.
Situational Favorableness -
According to Fiedler, there is no ideal leaders. Both low LPC and high LPC scoring leaders are effective if their leadership-orientation fits the situation. Contingency theory allows for predicting the characteristics of the appropriate situations for effectiveness. Three situational components determine the favorableness of situational control : Leader-member relations, task structure and leader position power.
A favorable situation is where a good leader-member relation, high task structure and high leader-position power is considered to be available.
Fiedler found that low LPC leaders are more effective in extremely favorable or unfavorable situations whereas high LPC leaders perform best in intermediately favorable situations.
Cognitive Resource Theory -
This theory is developed by Fred Fiedler and Joe Garcia in 1987 as a revised model of Fiedler's Contingency model. This theory consists of two variables which are intelligence and experience. This theory assumes and concludes that:
Leader IQ can contribute positively to team performance when the leader is directive.
Stress moderates the relationship between IQ and performance.
Leader experience is related positively to performance in high-stress situation but not in low-stress situations.
Limitations in this theory are intelligence is not defined, nature of task is not clearly addressed, many types of stress exists in today's environment etc.
Strategic Contingency Theory -
This theory is developed by D.J. Hickson in 1971. This theory focuses on task that need to be done in form of problems to be solved. Theory says that if person is able to solve the problem though they do not have charisma, they can be an effective leader. This theory notes more on leadership techniques rather than relying more on personality. In situation where people are rational agents, strategic contingency theory have more force and effect. It consists of variables affecting power in contingency control by an organizational units,
Drawbacks in this theory are that power and context of the situation is not clearly defined or assessed and then uniform testing instrument also doesn't exist to assess the predictability of model.
Transactional Leadership Theory -
This theory was first developed by Max Webber in 1947 and then by Bernard Bass in 1981. It focuses on management processes of planning, organizing and controlling. This theory shows that leaders use autocratic and laissez-faire styles and this theory is based on rewards and punishment. If the followers show a desired outcome they are rewarded and if not they are punished. It is also based on management by exception.
This leadership involves motivating and directing followers power of transactional leaders come from their formal authority and responsibility in the organization/team. The style can be also mentioned as 'telling style'. This can be considered as a theory as well as an approach. This style works well for governmental leaders, legislative leaders etc. One of the theory discussed under transactional theory is:
Leader-Member Exchange Theory (LMX) -
Leaders develop relationship with each member of their group and this theory explains how those relationship can be developed in unique ways. The theory focuses on two-way relationship between leader and subordinates. This theory is known as LMX, LMET or vertical Dyad Linkage Theory.
According to this theory, leaders having a relationship with an inner circle of assistant and advisors to whom they give high level of responsibility and access to resources are considered as 'in group'. These members work harder, more committed to objective and share more administrative duties and they are considered as loyal to their leaders. Opposite to this group is known as 'out group', where they are given low level of choice and influence and they put constraints upon the leader.
These relationships start after persons joining the group and follow three stages which are role taking, role making and routinization. This theory considers various factors such as size of group, financial resource availability and overall work load to value the quality of relationship. It should be noted that this theory works upwards also. The main drawback of LMX theory is that it doesn't describe clearly the specific leader behaviors that promote high quality relationships.
Transformational Leadership Theory -
Again this leadership can also be categorized as a theory and an approach. It is pointed that transformational leadership is one clearly recognized to be used at present turbulent world compared to other theories. This leadership enhances motivation, morale and performance of followers through various models. This style make leaders understand the strength and weaknesses of followers and act as a role model for followers, inspire followers to take responsibility for work, so the leader can align followers with task that enhance their performance.
This theory was first introduced by J.M. Burns(1978) and this concept was extended by B.M. Bass(1985). Theory measures the enthusiasm and energy of team. The leaders have vision and passion to do great things. They are people-oriented style too. This leadership style develops a vision, sell the vision, finding the way forwards and leads the change.
Burn's Transformational Leadership Theory -
Burn defines transformational leadership as a style where leaders and followers mutually engage in process of raising each other to higher level of morality and motivation. He views transformational leadership as more effective than transactional leadership and he also states that transformational leadership as an appeal to social values which encourages people to collaborate, rather than working individually.
He says transformational leaders raise the bar by appeal to higher values of followers. In doing so, they model the values themselves and use charismatic methods to attract people to the values and to the leader. It redesigns perceptions and values, and changes expectations and aspirations of employees.
Bass' Transformational Leadership theory -
Bass defined transformational leadership in terms of how the leader affects followers. Charisma is seen necessary but not sufficient. Two key charismatic effects that transformational leaders achieve is to evoke strong emotions and to cause identification of followers with the leader. It may also occur through quieter methods such as coaching and mentoring.
Bass identified three ways in which leaders transform followers:
Increasing their awareness of task importance.
Making them focus on team/organizational goals.
Activating their higher-order needs.
Bass has pointed that transformational leadership is based on moral foundations that are based on four components:
Idealized influence.
Inspirational motivation.
Intellectual simulation.
Individualized consideration.
And, it is also based on three moral aspects:
Moral character of leader.
Ethical values embedded in leader's vision and program.
Morality of processes of ethical choice and action that leaders and followers engage in and collectively pursue.
Kouzes and Posner's Leadership Participation Inventory -
James Kouzes and Barry Posner developed a survey(The Leadership Practices Inventory) that asked people which of, a list of common characteristics of leaders were in their experiences of being led by others and the seven top things they look for, admire and would willingly follow. They managed to ask this of seventy-five thousand people.
Results showed that people preferred the following characteristics in order :
Honest
Forward looking
Competent
Inspiring
Intelligent
Fair minded
Broad minded
Supportive
Straight forward
Dependable
Co-operative
Determined
Imaginative
Ambitious
Courageous
Caring
Mature
Loyal
Self-controlled
Independent
It also showed up five actions that Kouses and Posner identified as being for successful leadership:
Model the way.
Inspire a shared vision.
Challenge the process.
Enable others to act.
Encourage the heart.
Overall, this has a transformational style focused on followers.
Latest Leadership Theory
Three level leadership theory-
This theory is developed by Scouller in 2011. It is designed as a practical tool for developing a person's leadership presence, knowhow and skill, it summarizes what leaders have to do, not only to bring leadership to their group or organization, but also to develop themselves technically and psychologically as leaders. It is designed considering the limitations of older theories which makes this more effective to be initiated.
Scouller represent a three circle model with four arrows growing diagonally. The three levels referred to in the model's name are Public, Private and Personal leadership.
The first two levels : public and private leadership -
Public and private leadership are "outer" or "behavioral" levels. Scouller distinguished between the behaviors involved in influencing two or more people simultaneously (what he called "public leadership") from the behavior needed to select and influence individuals one to one (which he called private leadership). He listed 34 distinct "public leadership" behaviors and a further 14 "private leadership" behaviors.
The third level : personal leadership -
Personal leadership is an "inner" level and concerns a person's leadership presence, knowhow, skills, beliefs, emotions and unconscious habits. "At its heart is the leader's self-awareness, his progress toward self-mastery and technical competence, and his sense of connection with those around him. It's the inner core, the source, of a leader's outer leadership effectiveness".
The idea is that if leaders want to be effective they must work on all three levels in parallel.
The two outer levels : public and private leadership -
Public and private leadership are what the leader must do behaviorally with individuals or groups to address the "four dimensions of leadership". These are:
A shared, motivating group purpose or vision.
Action, progress and results.
Collective unity or team spirit.
Individual selection and motivation.
The inner level : personal leadership -
Personal leadership refers to what leaders should do to grow their leadership presence, knowhow and skill. It has three aspects :-
Developing one's technical knowhow and skill.
Cultivating the right attitude toward other people.
Working on psychological self-mastery.
Scouller argued that self-mastery is the key to growing one's leadership presence, building trusting relationships with followers and enabling behavioral flexibility as circumstances change, while staying connected to one's core values (that is, while remaining authentic). To support leaders' development, he introduced a new model of the human psyche and outlined the principles and techniques of self-mastery.
The assumption in this model is that personal leadership is the most powerful of the three levels.
Leadership Approaches or Styles
Some of the theories discussed above had led to the rise of various approaches and some had been discussed below. It should be importantly stated that some theories discussed above are also identified as approaches. Therefore, it's not deeply discussed. Further it also should be noted that some of the models such as Normative model, Managerial Grid, Burn's & Bass' Leadership styles etc. are also considered as styles. Because these are deeply discussed above it had not been discussed here.
Autocratic leadership style -
Autocratic leadership approach is where a leader exerts high power on subordinates and gets work done to their words without any against. It is a top-down approach. It is effective for a short-term, complex projects and useful for industries where employees need to perform low skilled, monotonous and having low level of motivation. It promotes one sided conversion which restricts creativity and leadership skills. Some of the autocratic leaders are Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin etc. This style is useful in emergency situation. It is possible to make quick decisions and other members are not allowed to provide any suggestions.
Democratic leadership style -
Democratic/participative leadership approach is also known as shared leadership. Here, members and leaders are allowed to suggest their view and involve in decision making process. This motivates the members to effectively perform. One of the disadvantage is it is time consuming. But, it encourages creativity leading to various solutions and ideas for the problem. It also brings up the advantage of social equality and various ideas from diverse minded people. This is the style that is mostly voted to be used by many leaders especially, in today's world.
Laissez-Faire leadership style -
This style is also known as 'hands off' leadership style. In this approach leader is responsible for the outcome but the followers are on their own to assess the situation and act according to it. If the leader expects too much from his/her followers it can result in lack of productivity, cohesiveness and dissatisfaction. This style be effective if followers are highly educated, experienced and trustworthy. This style should not be used if leaders cannot provide regular feedback to their followers or followers feel insecure. Leaders are also responsible to make available what the follower requires and make sure right ones are performing the relevant job.
(NOTE: It should be noted that the above three styles are developed in relevant to participative leadership theory)
Task-Oriented leadership -
This style makes the leader be focused on achieving the assigned task or objective. It could be considered as an autocratic form. Here, leaders define the task, structure, roles etc. clearly to the subordinates. Some of the drawbacks faced by this style are motivation and retention problems. Advantage is that it's possible to meet the task exactly and before the deadline being crossed mostly. This has been an effective style worked in Asian world.
People-Oriented leadership -
This style makes leaders totally focused on organizing, supporting and developing a structure to help subordinates develop themselves in terms of ability, willingness, qualities etc. This is a high participating style. It encourages good team work and creative collaboration. This style is opposite of task-oriented leadership. People-Oriented leaders treat everyone on the team equally. It is a friendly approach that pay attention for the benefit of everyone in the group. This makes team members become more productive and makes them take risk because they know the leader will provide support if they need it. Sometimes, this type of approach leads taking more time in decision making because of spending time on team development that finally leads to lose focus on achievement of objective. This could be said to be a democratic type of style too.
Bureaucratic leadership -
Bureaucratic leadership is also takes an autocratic form, but leaders work by the book (rules). This style is employed for work engaging delicate equipment or machineries and engaged in hazardous work. This style cannot be effective in work that rely on flexibility, creativity and innovation. Leaders make sure that subordinates follow rules rigorously and leaders are the extreme if the particular rule is not available in the book. This is required where tasks are performed repeatedly.
Charismatic leadership/Pacesetter leadership -
"Charismatic leadership is resting on devotion to the exceptional sanctity, heroism or exemplary character of an individual person and of the normative patterns or order revealed or obtained by him" are the words of Max Webber.
This leadership can resemble transformational leadership style. Here, leaders inspire enthusiasm in their teams and are energetic in motivating members to move forward. This excitement and commitment from team is an enormous benefit. Members follow the leader because, who and what the leader can do rather than because of leader's leadership skills. What succeeds as a charismatic leader in one country may be entirely different kind of a person from the one who succeeds as a pacesetter in another. This leadership may be an advantage to the organization and its board of directors. Charismatic leaders have the qualities of vision, speech, high principles, emotional sensitivity, personality and charisma. This style also a part of transformational leadership theory.
Servant leadership -
Servant leadership style is described by Robert Greenleaf in 1970s. In many ways, servant leadership is a form of a democratic leadership as the whole team tends to be involved in decision making. It is known that this style is to be employed in environment that considers values and ethics highly important but this style remains way behind the other styles in competitive environment.
Situational, Transactional and Transformational styles -
These had been clearly defined in the theory part.
Narcissistic, Paternalistic and quiet leader styles.
There are some negative styles which might work at times depending on the situations and the ability of leader and the team. These are:
Post-hoc management - a poor, but common style.
Micro management - controls every detail.
Seagull management - flying in, pooping on you and flying off again.
Mushroom management.
Kipper management - two faced approach.
Analysation Of Theories To Develop An Effective Leadership Approach And Skills
It is clearly shown of the history of theories and models and styles developed relating to it. It has also been shown that how the theories, its models and approaches helps a leader and develop their skills and roles to act to the situation and defined framework.
From the above information we come to know that all eight theories and approaches can be categorized under two groups people-oriented or task-oriented categories. Under the eight theories as researchers say transformational theory is the best to apply as it consists of personality, behaviorism, situational acting and transactional format of styles. In the approaches we had researched the best approach to be implemented for effective achievement is democratic style.
Great man theory teaches to being influenced and be stable when power being exert on a person and the same way it helps to understand to limit the power of influence for the welfare of the team. It totally helps develop skills that had been noted in the theory such as agreeableness, openness, emotional stability etc. Behavioral theories teaches a person to understand the roles and responsibility at situation, then motivation skill, self-awareness skill. It also makes to know which style should be implemented as it helps to understand the teams position at leadership position i.e. Managerial grid. Participative theory helps to improve leader's communication, motivational skills and delegate skills also. Situational leadership helps to understand adapting, facilitating, supporting skills. Contingency theory helps teach a leader to understand the intelligent and emotional skills of him/her as well as his/her followers and how to use that effectively for the benefit of team. Transactional leadership and transformational leadership help improve dedicating/commitment, task and people orientation skills.
Other skills such as confidence, persuasion, genuine etc. grows indirectly. Through the enormous development of skills, approaches that we use to lead also become effectively performed which in turn will achieve the goals effectively. It should noted to be said again that the latest three layer leadership approach tops the contemporary theories as the theory is developed considering the drawbacks of the contemporary theory. So, this is the best to be implemented in today's world whereas the researchers still remain with the statement of implementing transformational leadership theory.
It should also be said that participative leadership style is the approach that is flexible and more useful for both sides i.e. organization as well as employees. Therefore this style is better to be implemented to achieve the team task.
Conclusion
Through various researchers' findings and comparing the work here I conclude saying that great man theory and trait theory isn't probably enough to defend whereas other theories are ones that states a defending arguments for the phrase "Not all leaders are born, but they are made". It is also possible to understand the various models shaped under each theories and which pave way for various leadership styles that are implemented for an effective achievement of goals.
This research work makes to understand the roles, skills and approaches as well as theories and how the theories developed the approaches and skills of an effective leader. It also help understand the needs and wants of today's organization and how the leader should react to it and through which. For this what he should develop and how. Practice makes better as well as experience shapes an employee. Therefore 'leaders are not born, but they are made'.
