Theories Of Leadership Theories

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This essay aims to evaluate major theoretical developments and research in the area of leadership as well to explore the ways of training leadership successfully. The essay will also comprehensively provide research evidence that support or challenge the theories. Based on the evidence a conclusion will then be made to determine the effectiveness or innate or taught leadership. Leadership is defined as “the ability to guide a group toward the attainment of goals” (Riggio, 2009). A manager differs from a leader because a manager only ensures that a small fraction of an organisation stays afloat whereas a leader leads by example to the followers and also ensures that the organisation succeeds and extends beyond expectations. Generally a leader…show more content…
Characteristics are central to effective leaders. The first theory within the Universalist theory category is the Great Man/ Woman Theory which states that “great leaders are born, not made” (Riggio, 2009). The main idea of the theory was rooted from the early “historical leaders such as Julius Caesar” (Riggio, 2009) simply because of their ability to be naturally good at leadership. However there is very little evidence in support of this theory although a new study published by the APA in 2013 supports this notion since there is evidence that “It seems the most successful have more grey matter in places that control decision making and memory, giving them a vital edge when it comes to making the right call.” (Mail Online, 2013). Following this theory is the second universality theory which is called the trait theory: “based on the characteristics of many leaders - both successful and unsuccessful - and is used to predict leadership effectiveness” (Managementstudyguide.com, 2015). The strengths of this theory are: • It is valid as a lot of research has validated the foundation and basis of the…show more content…
Furthermore, theories have also contributed to our understanding of the Leadership area. The Great Man/Woman theory which is one of the very first theories developed by theorists, states that “great leaders are born, not made” meaning that it is due to genetic predispositions that one is destined for greatness, this view is somewhat very narrow pretty much because it does not include other contributing factors that can cause one to be a great leader, i.e., birth order, emotional intelligence, gender and personality, which modern theories and
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