Leadership theories: a brief note

Discussion of leadership usually starts with a comparison between the concepts of leaders and managers. In this respect, leaders are more concerned  about formulating vision and introducing changes while mangers are more concerned about maintaining order and implementing strategy (Robbins, 2003; chapter 11). There are two main types of leadership identified in the literature, namely transactional and transformational leadership. Moreover, there are 3 major categories of leadership theories:

• Trait theories (e.g. charisma; ambitious, intelligent, willing to lead, etc.)
• Behavioral theories (e.g. the managerial grid)
• Contingency theories (e.g. Fiedler contingency model; Hersey and Blanchard's situational theory; path-goal theory)

In the literature, there are discussion on (a) leader [a person] and (b) leadership [a function]. Leadership has also been defined as the ability to influence a  group for goal achievement (Robbins, 2003). The subject of leadership is a mature subject but is still actively investigated in the academic world. Some of these leadership theories are not compatible with each other; for example, some hold the view that leaders are flexible to change their leadership style while others do not. There is at least one refereed journal I am aware of that is dedicated to leadership study called The Leadership Quarterly published by Elsevier. Many companies still run inhouse leadership workshops for their staff.


A related blog article: http://josephho33.blogspot.hk/2012/09/leadership-discussion-agenda.html

References

1. On charisma: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charisma
2. Robbins, S.P. (2003) Organizational Behavior, Prentice Hall.