The Major Leadership Theories - Their Pluses and Minuses - Literature review Example

? Leadership Leadership is one of the topics, which are being widely discussed in modern scientific literature. The modern organizational environment is characterized by the significant changes in the comprehension of leadership. Leadership knowledge is a strong background of a personal development. Moreover, the knowledge of leadership plays a crucial role in the work of the enterprises. The main task of a leader is to make people follow him: “no matter how carefully you plan your goals they will never be more than pipe dreams unless you pursue them with gusto” (Stone cited in Groves 2006). According to the literature on leadership, it is necessary for every person to work out his/her personal strategy of leadership skills development and try to live and act in compliance with them. There are a lot of theories created in order to explain the peculiarities of each leadership style. If a person is acquainted with such styles, he or she can easily find the most appropriate for him/her. The knowledge of styles can help achieve the desired goals. The given paper will provide the overview of leadership and describe the theories as well as their pluses and minuses. Also the situations, where a person can use that or this theory in the best way will be described. “Leadership is diving for a loose ball, getting the crowd involved, getting other players involved. It's being able to take it as well as dish it out. That's the only way you're going to get respect from the players (Bird cited in Groves, 2006). Despite the fact that the qualification of manager is very popular in the modern world, the demand for good managers is still growing. “Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall” (Covey cited in Groves 2006). The fast development of business demands real professionals in the field of management. The organizations with the structure that prescribes self-management are very typical nowadays. Moreover, with the fast development of computers and informational technologies any kind of information becomes accessible for people within a shorter period of time. Nevertheless, no one can underestimate the importance of good managers, people that can not only organize the work, but organize it in stressful situations, which are so common for the modern business world. The question is how to become a good manager. Many scientists claim that success in any major can be reached not due to the talent, but due to the hard work. In order to become a good manager, one has to be acquainted with the main features that a future leader has to acquire. A good manager should know about his/her capabilities. A leader should always have many ideas: “If you have ideas, you have the main asset you need, and there isn't any limit to what you can do with your business and your life. Ideas are any man's greatest asset” (Firestone cited in Rok 2009). It is necessary to improve the leadership skills and be self-assured. It is important to be sociable, but at the same time it is essential to remember that the sociability should stay somewhere between the extremes. If you cannot find common language with people or they irritate you, you can’t be a leader. It is also important to understand that your success strongly depends on the faith of your subordinates. In the modern business world the main task of a good manager is not just to control others, but rather to inform the team about the plans and goals and supervise the implementation process. A good manager should possess good leadership skills and know how to apply them. The team should feel the presence of their manager even if the manager is absent. It is not easy to be a leader. According to Bushnell “Everyone who's ever taken a shower has an idea. It's the person who gets out of the shower, dries off and does something about it who makes a difference” (Bushnell cite din Graetz, 2000) The leader should be neither too strict, not too conformable. It is necessary to be able to take decisions and to consider the ideas of the other members of the team. A leader should have a creative thinking in order to propose nonstandard ideas. Undoubtedly, some mistakes can’t be avoided, but a leader should be ready for them. A good manager should be quick-witted to be able to resolve the complicated problems which can occur in any company. According to Sun Tzu, “Leadership is a matter of intelligence, trustworthiness, humaneness, courage, and discipline . . . Reliance on intelligence alone results in rebelliousness. Exercise of humaneness alone results in weakness. Fixation on trust results in folly. Dependence on the strength of courage results in violence. Excessive discipline and sternness in command result in cruelty. When one has all five virtues together, each appropriate to its function, then one can be a leader” (The 100 Greatest Leadership Principles Of All Time). Northouse provides an interesting definition of leadership. He claims that it is a process that is used by a person, when an individual would like to affect other people in order to reach the goal usually for common benefit. Leaders usually apply all their knowledge and experience in order to affect the activities of their opponents. It is a controversial issue, whether leadership is innate or acquired skill. “Leadership can not be measured in a poll or even in the result of an election. It can only be truly seen with the benefit of time. From the perspective of 20 years, not 20 days” (Rubio, 2011). For leaders, it is essential and beneficial to study the theories. By learning theories leaders can extend their knowledge in order to get over the difficulties that they can face. Fielder is a creator of the Leadership Contingency Model, which introduces 8 types of behavior. The model is used in extreme situations. For instance, imagine the situation in a hospital, when a nurse is in close relations with the head of this hospital, who is a leader. In this case the main goal of the leader is to use task-oriented approach in order to solve this problem. This model of leadership is called configuration of situational. The main advantage of such type is a quick adaptation to changes that could occur. This model can be useful if leader can identify all the pluses and minuses of the particular situation. In order to choose the most effective model of leadership you have to take into account all the obstacles. If the leader changes his style, it can have negative results, as employees are not quite adjusted to another type. “All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership” (Galbraith, cited in Groves, 2006). It is essential to analyze participative style of leadership, which is widely applied in modern organizations. Northouse define it as a style that “consists of inviting subordinates to share in the decision-making” (Northouse, 2009). He also notices that the leader, who uses participative style, often communicates with the employees, gathers their thoughts and believes, and integrates them into the strategy used by the organization. This style provides the leader with special privileges. He defines the goals and encourages employees to find the ways to reach these goals. Spreitzer notices that this type can give an appropriate effect, if the leader can influence his employees on all the stages of decision-making process. Rok claims that this pattern can be useful from the ethical point of view. This type of leadership should not be used, if the members of the organization are not ready to change or they are not involved in active communication with each other. This model can be used, when employees have valuable knowledge to share. Transactional leadership theory prescribes that the interests of employees are the top priority. If a leader is using this leadership style, he does not manipulate with the emotions of his employees in order to make them reach the common goal. Beerel underlines that only appropriate techniques of motivation can bring the results. By analyzing this type, it becomes clear that it is based on mutual exchange between a leader and employees. The leader should always encourage his or her employees, and they always have to submit to the decision that was proposed. It is clear that transactional type is not appropriate, if the employees are not ready to accept the leader’s decision completely. This type cannot be used, when a leader lacks the control over his/her employees. Undoubtedly, this type as well as the participative and contingency leadership provides a leader with a chance to create the best tactic in order to reach his goals no matter how many difficulties he can meet on his way. In the research by Groves (2006) there is an advice that emotional behavior is very important for leader. The author underlines that in such a way it is possible to unite people and manage them easily. Therefore this skill is of high relevance for the profession of a manager who has to be able to influence other workers in the organization. Groves states that working out and developing of leader’s charisma in combination with high emotional expressivity lead to business success and self-development. “Enlightened leadership is spiritual if we understand spirituality not as some kind of religious dogma or ideology but as the domain of awareness where we experience values like truth, goodness, beauty, love and compassion, and also intuition, creativity, insight and focused attention” (Chopra). In the research conducted by Rowden (2000) we can see a correlation of charisma importance and successful leadership. This study presented 6 behaviors of charismatic leaders. With the help of expressive visual gestures leaders attracts attention of HR. These pieces of advice are my particular steps in leadership qualities’ development. On the ground of research by Graetz (2004) “Strategic change leadership” where she claims that leadership plays an important role in modern business and her ideas are closely related with the ideas expressed by Rowden. Leaders should be charismatic individualities, with prompt adaptation of knowledge and innovations etc” (Graetz 2004). If a person wants to develop the leadership skills the ideas expressed by Allio (2005) can be valuable. The author pays his attention to leaders’ training. Leaders should be well-educated and have a strong theoretical background, but skills and personal experience is of high relevance too. Thus it is essential to develop leadership skills and qualities not only during the study, but also in the daily life, e.g. in relations with friends, while solving daily problems etc. It is essential to consider the ideas of Stewart (2007, pp. 239-251) who considers ideas on leader’s adaptive qualities and learning importance. Nowadays e-learning plays a great role. It is desirable to combine e-learning with a human factor in order to reach success. “Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one's self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily” (Szasz). The process of acquiring leadership skills can be structured in accordance with model presented by Pettigrew et al. (2004): a continuous learning process (life-long training of leadership); essential for business survival (leadership development as a crucial element of future career); a competitive weapon (well-trained leader is competitive force of the company) linked to organisational strategy and individual goals (improvement of self-performance through leadership development); on the job plus specialists courses (internal and external trainings for leaders); self selected (preferred leadership trainings); usually non-directive, novel methods (leadership knowledge gaining in educational process and in daily life). In conclusion, it is essential to mention that leadership is one of the most important issues, which is widely studied in the modern science of management. Today a leader is not only a person, who makes an undisputed decision, but rather the one who introduces changes and hold responsibility. Different theories of leadership were created in order to help leaders develop their leadership skills. It is important to understand that in the environment where the one style works perfectly, another can fail. Leaders have to be mobile and flexible in order to solve the problems, which can arise. According to Powell, “Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership” (Powell). It is important to underline the importance of leadership theoretical knowledge for the people, who want to develop leadership skills. The development of leadership qualities is crucial for those, whose profession is closely connected with supervision. “The exercise of power is determined by thousands of interactions between the world of the powerful and that of the powerless, all the more so because these worlds are never divided by a sharp line: everyone has a small part of himself in both” (Havlel cited in Graetz, 2000). The way of life means much. It is important to organize daily life actions in accordance with the degree of their importance, learn to act urgently, complete all given tasks properly, and help the friends and family. All these plain actions can help develop leadership skills, become self-assured and direct. Coaching exercise is another effective tool in leadership qualities development. Daily application of gained theoretical knowledge on leadership is very important as only practice can help understand the essence of leadership and the benefits the leadership skills can bring to every person in the modern business world. Works cited 1. Adkins, S.S. (2003). The Brave New World of Learning. T+D Magazine, pp. 29-37. 2. Allio, R. J. (2005). INFORMED VIEWPOINT ARTICLE. Leadership development: teaching versus learning. Management Decision, 43/ 7/8, pp. 1071-1077. 3. Developing change and leadership capabilities. (2004). Strategic Direction, 20/6, pp. 24-26. 4. Fombrun. (1984). Strategic human resource management. New York: Wiley. 5. Graetz, F. (2000). Strategic change leadership. Management Decision, 38/8, pp. 550±562. 6. Groves, K. S. (2006). Leader emotional expressivity, visionary leadership, and organizational change. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 27/ 7, pp. 566-583. 7. Kundu C. et al. (2004). 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