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20th century leadership theories
Classical theories of leadership
Classical theories of leadership
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More handpicked essays just for you.
20th century leadership theories
Classical theories of leadership
Classical theories of leadership
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
This article primarily discusses how leadership has evolved over time and how human civilization developed. The article starts by exploring how traits such as physical strength would have defined leaders in primitive civilization and how today, leadership is defined by a persons intelligence, loyalty, and emotion sensitivity, among other characteristics. This text covers all the time periods that will be addressed in the paper and should help draw a connection between the literary works being discussed and the modern world by showing common traits that are valued in all leaders throughout history. Viljoen, Leonie. "
TRAIT APPRAOCH In order to determine the causes of what made certain individuals great leaders, several leadership traits were studied. They focused on the innate abilities and qualities possessed by leader. The theories that were developed were called “great man” theories which suggest that leaders are born to be a leader.
Leadership defined by the people, trait and behaviour. Great man theory and trait theory are based on personal, some people are innate leadership since the mental, body and thinking stronger than the followers (Horner, 1997; Bolden, Gosling, Marturano & Dennison, 2003). Bolden, Gosling, Marturano and Dennison (2003) states that next stage of leadership theory is behaviour, leaders' behaviour will make a positive effect on team or organization, it can help the team to achieve the
The first source of this value is from the Trait Theory of Leadership. The Trait Theory of Leadership was first studied in the 20th century (Northouse, 2016). The primary purpose of this study was to determine what qualities were possessed by great leaders (Northouse, 2016). These traits varied wildly throughout the many studies in the 20th century (Colvert, Judge, Choi, Wang, 2012). However, in the late 20th century, many behavioral scientists reached a consensus on which traits are the most pertinent to success as a leader (Colvert, Judge, Choi, Wang, 2012).
2.1. Leadership and the evolution of theories Various attempts have been proposed in order to trace the development of thinking and research on leadership and LMX theory. In this regard, Van Seters and Field (1990) divide the stages of theories of leadership in nine evolutionary eras: the personality, influence behavior, the situation of contingency, transactional, antiliderança, cultural and transformational (which would be the most promising). The division of the ages has the role to show how thinking about leadership has evolved over time. 2.2.
Many debates the concept of Leadership: is there a right way to lead and who is an effective leader and where is the line between effective and atrocious leader. The question society has asked for ages, what is the right thing to accomplish and did they initiate the proper choice. The idea of leadership has been around since humanity could conceive of the community, but the study of leadership is a new phenomenon. The beginning of leadership was the great men theory and after that a colossal amount of theories on the leaders emerged trait theories and value theories. Later in time they added the follower and context, but the focal point for a multitude of scholars today is the leader.
The concept of a leader as a person, who uses other means than their position power, is a relative new concept and has only been studied since about 100 years. Leadership is defined as the conscious changing of behavior of others in order to obtain pre-defined targets. Management is changing behavior of people by means of systems or processes; it is indirect leadership.
According to Moore (1927) stated that, “Gen. Stewart defined leadership as the ability to impress the will of the leader on those led and induced obedience, respect, loyalty, and cooperation” (p.124). Therefore, leading to the theme that leadership emphasizes control and centralization of power. Moore ((1927) also stated that “leadership is a means to good management which gets the results desired by the leaders” (p. 128). Leadership in the 1930s began to add traits to the focus of leadership according to Northouse (2016). Traits can be considered as a Followership evolution Followership has started in the beginning of time with Moses leading the Israelites however, there was not an actual formal name.
Introduction Wong cites a “3 Ps” mnemonic as being key ingredients for defining a leader; a leader is a Person who influences People toward attaining a given Purpose (Wong, 2007). A closer dissection of this definition by the student leads to the suggestion of a hypothesis that a leader ought to be part the group which, is united by a common factor from whence he/she can then sway the group in the direction that would benefit collective individual aspirations and or overall organisation objectives. This assertion is confirmed from literature on substance abuse therapy particularly focusing on group therapy that cites that a leader of a group needs to identify with recurrent themes in the group in order to sway those undergoing therapy in a positive direction (towards rehabilitation) (Pollack & Slan , 1995).
Thanks to the long history of leadership theory in the organisational studies field, leadership has been defined by scholars in various approaches. Apart from the classical and mainstream approaches, which focus on leaders’ personal trait, style, charisma etc., Alvesson, Blom and Sveningsson (2017) define leadership as an
Before he can remake his society, his society must make him. (p.31) Spencer posits that it is the societal circumstances and the subsequent experiences gained that shape and mold leaders. Critics of the great man theory that the theory is flawed at its core owing to the fact that, if it was that great leaders are born with these traits all persons possessing these traits should in turn be in a position of leadership. Later on, in the 1930s and 1940s, the Trait theory on leadership emerged and is believed to be a gateway into the behavioral approach taken by subsequent scientific research into leadership. The trait theory follows the school of thought that leaders are born and not made.
Interest in leadership theories can be inferred from writings of early civilizations. Confucius (circa 500 B.C) wrote one of the earliest comprehensive treatises on leadership (Ayman, 1993) and discussion of leadership can be found in the writings of Plato, Plutarch and Caesar (Bass, 1981). Egyptian rulers, Greek heroes and biblical patriarchs all have one thing is common – leadership. There are numerous definitions and theories of leadership; however, there are enough similarities in the definitions to conclude that leadership is an effort of influence and the power to induce compliance (Wren,
This paper will examine the three leadership theories, identify how they apply to my practice, and explore how these theories interact with each other. The Trait Leadership Theory is based on the belief that a person is born with special traits contributing to natural leadership abilities. Studies of famous historical leaders have been used to identify various traits for this theory. Although the list of traits differs from study to study, there are five major traits that are consistent throughout most studies.
The study of leadership was only studied at an in-depth level from the beginning of the twentieth century when leading academics began applying the scientific approach to the study of leadership in a business and organisational context. Before this period the subject of leadership was only studied under the context of a historical analysis and in military studies. (Mark E. Mendenhall, 2008) There have been numerous theories on what it takes to be a strong leader and how a successful leader can lead an organisation and its employees in the future. There are five different types of leadership styles: trait, behavioural, power-influence, situational and integrative approaches.
However, it is important for leaders not to hurry in order to secure or control the responses of other staff members. These leaders must recognise that emotions of individuals can change from one situation to another. By using their emotional intelligence, these leaders can deal easily with the stress for some wrong decisions made by the members that might have led to poor outcomes (Feather 2009). Leadership-central. com (2015) categorized various theories of leadership which have been the source of numerous studies by philosophers, researchers and professors. Table 1 presents the various theories of leadership, which include : The Great Man Theory, 1840; Trait Theory, 1930's-1940's; Behavioural Theories , 1940's-1950's; Contingency Theories, 1960's; Transactional Leadership, 1970's and Transformational Leadership, 1970's.