Leadership

The ability to organize a group towards the achievement of goals is Leadership. It is the human factor that helps a group to identify where it is going and then motivates it towards its goals.

According to Ducker, “Leadership is the lifting of man’s visions to higher sights, the raising of man’s performance to a higher standard, the building of man’s personality beyond its normal limitations.” (1954)

According to George R. Terry, “Leadership is the activity of influencing people to strive willingly for group objectives.” (1960)

Interest is leadership increased during the early part of the twentieth century. Early leadership theories focused on what qualities distinguished between leader and followers, while subsequent theories looked at other variables such as situational factors and skill level. There are several Leadership Theories developed with time.

• 1900’s: Great Man Theory - says leaders are born; it’s an innate ability
• 1940’s - 50’s: Trait Theory – says leaders are alike; universal traits are common to all leaders
• 1950’s - 60’s: Behavior Theory – says leaders can learn; it states what key behavioral pattern results in leadership
• 1960’s - 70’s: Contingency/Situational – establish which leadership behaviors succeeded in different situations.

Great Man Theory

Aristotle may be said to be a proponent of the Great Man theory as he is quoted as saying, “Men are marked out from the moment of birth to rule or to be ruled.” This idea of Great Man also strayed into the mythic domain, with notions that in times of need, a Great Man would arise, almost by magic. This was easy to verify, by pointing to people such as Eisenhower and Churchill.

Trait Theory

Most of the time the traits are considered to be naturally part of a person’s personality from birth. From this standpoint, leadership trait theory tends to assume that people are born as leaders or not as leaders. Some of the main assumption are people are born with inherited traits, some traits are particularly suited to leadership and people who make good leaders have the right (sufficient) combination of traits. Stogdill is one the main scholars of trait theory approach to leadership.

Behavior Theory

This theory states, leader can be made, rather than are born and successful leadership is based in definable, learnable behavior. These theories of leadership do not seek inborn traits or capabilities. Rather, they look at what leaders actually do.

According to Jago, “Good leaders are made not born. If you have the desire and willpower, you can become an effective leader. Good leaders develop through a never ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience.” (1982)

Contingency/Situational Theory

The fundamental underpinning of the situational leadership theory is there is no single "best" style of leadership. Effective leadership is task-relevant and that the most successful leaders are those that adapt their leadership style to the maturity ("the capacity to set high but attainable goals, willingness and ability to take responsibility for the task, and relevant education and/or experience of an individual or a group for the task") of the individual or group they are attempting to lead/influence. That effective leadership varies, not only with the person or group that is being influenced, but it will also depend on the task, job or function that needs to be accomplished. This leadership theory is developed by Paul Hersey, professor and author of the book Situational Leader, and Ken Blanchard, leadership guru and author of The One Minute Manager.

Classification of Leadership

Chris Argyris has given the following classification of leadership:

1. The Directive type
2. The Permissive type
3. The Participative type

Kurt Lewin and colleagues did leadership decision experiments in 1939 and also identifies three different styles of leadership, in particular around decision making. These are Autocratic, Democratic and Laissez-faire or Free-rein.


Directive Leadership (Autocratic)

Directive Leadership is a common form of leadership we see in the world today. This leader tells the subordinate what to do, and how to do it. He initiates the action about the things to do and tells subordinates exactly what is expected of them, specifying standards and deadlines. They exercise firm rule and ensure that subordinates do follow.

This kind of leaders are usually found in more traditional and long standing companies where the prevalent culture in the country is a more authoritarian type of rule, and especially so in Asian countries. Employees in these organizations will find it hard or sometimes even frustrating to work there. This is because when a leader behaves in such a way, it restricts the potential of individuals in the organization by not valuing their creativity and initiative.
However, of course there are some cases where this form of leadership is important, like in the military where strictness and accuracy in performing tasks is often a virtue. However, for most other cases, most of us believe that this form of leadership in this day and age is counter-productive.

Permissive (Delegative/Laissez-faire)

Permissive leadership can also be called “hands-off” leadership. A permissive leader does not attempt to influence the members of the group. They are allowed to work on projects using whatever methods appear O.K. at the time. The truly permissive leader uses very little leadership pressure. The group is allowed and even expected to solve its own problems and accomplish goals using methods developed by group members. Permissive leadership may swing too far away from any form of leadership — resulting in a vacuum of leadership — which can result in confusion, lack of productivity, and even chaos within an organization. In other words there is an absence of effective leadership; although a group of disciplined and well motivated individuals may be able to get things done

Participative (Democratic)

A participative leadership style takes into consideration the opinions and thoughts of the subordinates before making a decision. This type of leader is useful especially in situations where you can tap on the talent of your team. Ultimately, you may not be the most equipped in your team to handling situations so you might want to make a collective decision with your team.
A board of directors often behave in this fashion, where before a decision is made, the whole board is consulted and then a decision be made unanimously. The responsibility of the decision will be borne by the whole team as a result. To have skills as a leader in this area, you must have the skill of facilitation; to learn how to facilitate discussion and idea generation in a group.
Sometimes people don’t speak up for various reasons and your job as a leader in this case is to draw everyone to speak up so that you can tap on everyone’s thoughts and potential. This is important because everyone must be willing to bear equal responsibility for a decision that is put forward.


Leadership is not a new concept but over a period of time different theories, styles and approaches to leadership have evolved; such as Four Framework Approach, Path Goal Theory, Managerial and Leadership Grid and many more. This is one of the most significant quality required to manage the organizations well. It is a very challenging task. There is no doubt about that the success of any organization depends on his leaders.