Three Different Theories of Leadership - Research Paper Example

Explain and evaluate three different theories of leadership. What does the emergence of research on leaders as 'corporate psychopaths' contribute to the discussion? Introduction The study and evaluation of leadership has been in existence for many decades. The evaluation of various theories of leadership has kept on changing as people seek to understand what makes up a superior leader. The 19th century marked the emergence of the leadership evolution following the emergence of the industrial revolution across Europe. Theories of leadership are in different formats, shapes and sizes. Some theories seek to expound on an excellent deal with few variables as possible. These are such as the universal theories that explain leadership in a universal manner in spite of the situation. Other theories take pride in being inclusive by incorporating essential factors like contingency. Others theories have a narrow focus on leadership by concentrating on the causes and effects of the leader attribution processes on subordinates and followers. Others theories examine on the wider array of leadership functions, expounding on production and worker satisfaction and the need for external alignment and organisational change (Waite, 2008). This study focuses on three theories of leadership namely great man theories, skills theories approach and relational theories. Great man theories Great man theories of leadership trait theories are the oldest of all concepts that seeks to explain leadership. The earliest leadership studies assumed the notion that leaders were born and not made. Great man theories thought of leaders always as males with natural competencies of authority and influence. The trait theory reflects the first systematic efforts to study leadership to establish leadership traits, which made certain people great leaders. Military, political and social leaders’ traits like Indira Gandhi, napoleon Bonaparte, Abraham Lincoln and Catherine the great were used to formulate the theory. The great men theory was challenged in the mid 20th century on the basis of universality of leadership qualities. One challenge on the theory held that there is no constant set of qualities that distinguished leaders from non-leaders. In addition, a person who had leadership attributes in one situation may not make a good leader in another. Further criticism held that individual attributes were largely associated with people’s perception of leadership (Outcalt, Faris, & McMahon, 2001). The trait leadership has gained fresh interest through the present prominence given on charismatic and visionary leadership. Charismatic leadership attracted fresh interest following the election of president Barrack Obama in 2008. Charismatic leadership was first introduced by Max Weber to refer to divine favor. Charismatic leaders possess charisma, which fundamentally refers to a leader’s personal attributes that attract massive following. The aspect of charisma emphasizes heroic leaders with something summarized in their dynamic and spectacular personalities. Many researchers recognize Obama’s charisma as the main reason why he had a massive following and eventual election into the United States presidency (Bligh & Kohles, 2009). Charismatic leadership focuses on noteworthy symbolic behaviors and emotional appeals that help to make events meaningful for followers. The delivery style of charismatic leadership is significant in helping a leader communicate with followers. Obama’s smooth delivery style was viewed as critical in helping him articulate his vision. His vision of “together we can” and “change we believe in” was described as the practical application of the theoretical supposition that charismatic leaders must distill complex future ideals into simple messages with emotional appeal (Raynolds, Outward Bound USA & Chatfield, 2007). A study to establish what differentiates charismatic leaders and ordinary people established that; charismatic leaders have traits of motivation to attain social power and self-actualization, engagement in impression management, and self monitoring. This recent studies reveal that the great men trait theory is still alive. The trait theory started with emphasis on establishing traits of great people, changed to reflect the impact of situations on leadership, and presently it has shifted back to re- emphasize on the integral role of attributes in effective leadership (Clark, 2003). Earliest survey on leadership traits revealed that average persons in leadership positions are different from ordinary group members in eight attributes: alertness, responsibility, self confidence, intelligence, initiative, insight, persistence and sociability. A survey by Stogdill revealed that a person does not become a leader merely because the person has certain qualities. Instead, the attributes that leaders possess have to be relevant to circumstances in which the leader is operating (Fairholm & Fairholm, 2009). The survey also set out that leadership varies with situations and, leadership is not passive and it results from a working association between a leader and subordinates. This saw the emergence of a fresh approach on leadership research that highlights on leadership actions and situations (Bass & Bass, 2009). Several other studies were conducted by Zaccarro, Kemp and Bader (2004; Northouse, 2010) highlighted different traits that leaders possess. From the numerous surveys and findings, five major leadership attributes are identifiable; intelligence, self confidence, determination, sociability and integrity. Recent studies establish that leaders have higher intelligence than non leaders. In the modern corporate world, having a strong verbal capacity, perceptual ability and reasoning makes one a better corporate leader, which is a source of competitive merit to the organization. For illustration, Steve Jobs of the Apple computers intelligence helped to propel the apple company to higher levels. At one point he said that he had unbelievable products inside him, and these are like the iMac, iPad and the iPod that have revolutionized the technology industry in a massive way. Self confidence trait is the capacity to be certain concerning one’s skills and competencies. In the case of Steve jobs, people doubted his idea of the devices he wished to make. Nonetheless, Steve had self confidence that he would change the world in spite of the doubts and resistance (Rowe & Guerrero, 2011). Determination is a distinct attribute among leaders that denotes their desire to get work done. It also includes other attributes like persistence and drive. Integrity is an attribute that requires a leader to be trustworthy and honest, dependable and loyal. In the recent years, integrity has received a lot of psychopath discussion in the corporate world. Scandals in the corporate arena like what transpired in WorldCom and Enron made individuals to be more cynical on unethical leaders. Integrity of George Bush was questioned on his position to attack Iraq on allegations of Iraqi’s weapons of mass destruction. Thus, integrity is a characteristic that leaders have to have in order to earn the trust of followers and society at large (Ballus, 2010). Sociability is another noteworthy trait that leaders need to have especially in the modern corporate world. Sociable leaders are friendly, tactful and courteous. Richard Branson is one of the present day leaders with sociability skills. Branson is popular to customers and employees for his exceptional ability to bond well with customers and listen to employees concerns. His interpersonal skills have helped him to create a cooperative relationship with people of all walks of life (Bertocci, 2009). Skills approach leadership theory The skills approach to leadership embraces a leader centered point of view, with the focus on personality attributes. These attributes are innate and largely fixed to an emphasis on competencies and skills that may be learned and developed. Skills approach holds that competencies and knowledge play an essential role in effective leadership, although personality certain plays a fundamental role in leadership. Katz, who is the main proponent of the skills approach, endeavors to improve the trait theory by addressing leadership as a set of developable skills. Heightened interests on the skills theory of leadership have emerged; highlighting the verity that the efficacy of a leader varies with the leader’s capacity to solve intricate organizational problems. Katz asserted that effective administration necessitates a leader to possess three kinds of skills: conceptual, human and technical skills. This theory is different from the trait theory in that skills refer to what a leader may achieve, while traits are innate characteristics of who leaders are. In the context of the skills approach, leadership skills are the capacity to utilize one competencies and knowledge to realize organizational goals and objectives (Daft, 2008). Human skills Human skill is the competence and knowledge on how to work with people. Human skills are the people skills that help a leader to assist subordinates and work groups to work in harmony to realize a common goal. Successful leadership requires a leader to be conscious of the issues and to adjust their ideas to those of others. Leaders who are well versed with human skills create an environment of trust where subordinates feel comfortable, secure and energized to become involved in the planning of organizational issues that affect them (Cragan, Wright, & Kasch, 2008). Technical skill Technical skill is the knowhow and expertise in a certain kind of activity. It entails capabilities in an area of expertise, analytical competence, and the ability to utilize necessary tools and techniques, as well. For illustration, technical skills in a car manufacturing organization may include knowing how to make auto parts function for customers and the various auto models and their special features that the company makes. In audit firms, technical skills might include the ability to establish an audit path on certain transactions that can help detect fraud or irregularities. This skill is essential to lower level managers (Ladkin, 2010). Conceptual skills Conceptual skills are the capacity to function and operate with ideas and concepts. Conceptual skills entail the capability to work with ideas. A leader who possesses conceptual skills is at ease talking about the ideas and shape and organization and the intricacies involved. Such a leader is good at propelling the organization’s objectives into words, and can understand and express the monetary rules affecting the entity. Conceptual skills are fundamental to making a vision and premeditated plan for an entity. For illustration, it would take conceptual skills for a chief executive in a struggling production company to articulate an apparition for a line of new product brands that would propel the organization to prosperity. An executive director in a not-for-profit health provider also needs to have conceptual skills to design a strategic plan, which will compete effectively with for-profit health providers in a market with scarce resources (Beerel, 2009). The skills model was put forward by Mumford and colleagues after analyzing the principal elements of effective performance. The model has five elements: personal attributes, competencies, career experiences, leadership outcomes, and environmental influences. Competencies include the problem solving skills, knowledge and social judgment skills. Problem solving skills is a leader’s creative ability to solve new and unusual organizational problems. This skills entail being able to define significant problems, gather problem information, formulate alternatives and generate the prototype for problem solutions. Problem solving skills necessitate that a leader be able to apply probable solutions to the unique problems facing their organization. Skills judgment requires that a leader should also have social judgment skills (Murphy & Riggio, 2003). These skills enable the leader to understand people and social systems, which enable the leader to work with other organisational members to marshal support and implement change within the organisation. Knowledge is inextricably related to the application of implementation of problem solving skills. Knowledge influences on a leader’s competence to define composite organizational problems and endeavor to solve them. Personal attributes refer to the cognitive ability, motivation and personality that help in decision making during difficult organizational times. Leadership outcomes are largely influenced by the leader’s skills, that is, problem solving skills, knowledge and social judgment skills. Career experiences have an effect on the attributes and capabilities of leaders. The skills model asserts that the experiences acquired in the course of leaders’ careers influence their skills and knowledge to solve problems. Further, leaders may be helped to solve new and unusual problems through mentoring, training, hands on experience, as well as challenging job assignments. Environmental influences are the last element of the skills models representing factors outside the leader’s capabilities and experiences (Frey, Gouran & Poole, 1999). Environmental influences may be internal and exterior. Inside environmental influences that affect leadership success are such as technology, organizational resources, communication and expertise of subordinates. For illustration, if subordinates are highly competent, they are likely to enhance organizational problem solving and performance, eventually increasing a leader’s performance, as well (Brown & Trevino, 2006). Relational theories In the late 1970s, many notions of leadership have centered on the relational aspect on how leaders and their followers interact and influence each other. Rather than being viewed as what a leader does to a subordinate, leadership is taken as the relational process that meaningfully involves all participants and allows everybody to contribute to organizational vision attainment. Interpersonal associations are regarded as the most fundamental elements of leadership effectiveness. Two integral relational theories are Transformational and transactional leadership. Transactional leadership refers to the leadership model in which a leader establishes the types of rewards that subordinates want in order to attain the performance level that is based on their performance (Bien, 2006). Transformational leadership has its origins on charismatic leadership behavior. Transformational leaders have the capacity to inspire and energize subordinates and followers to achieve more results that initially planned. This is achieved through intrinsic rewards rather than extrinsic rewards. Such leaders inspire followers to work for longer term and substantial goals than working for short term interests. Transformation and transactional leadership theories shift their focus from being leader-centered to follower centered, unlike in the skills and great man/ trait theories (Collinson, 2006). Transactional leadership is also known as management by exception where those in authority identify what needs to be done and accomplish the organizational goals and objectives. The leader communicates the rewards for the anticipated performance and then uses the path and goal setting concepts to show the follower how to accomplish the rewards. The leader then steps aside and does not intervene unless the objectives are not being attained. Transactional leadership is contingent since it depends on followers doing what requires to be done so as to get the rewards (Balkundi & Kilduff, 2006). The leader utilizes the path goal concept but alters goals and missions so as to attain effectiveness. Transactional leadership calls for flexibility on the part of the leaders and the followers, as well. Transformational leadership effectiveness depends on the leader’s capability to energize and inspire others to accomplish results and exceed expectations. This competence is based on three individuality traits; intellectual simulation, personal attention and charisma. Charisma enables the leader to instill a sense of respect, pride and vision articulation. Personal attention enables the leader to pay attention to followers’ needs and assist them develop both individually and professionally. Intellectual simulation is essential in helping the leader to assist followers to think of coherent ways of approaching a situation in an innovative manner (Baker, 2007). Transformational leaders start by looking for opportunities for the group they lead. The leader then takes risks by experimenting and challenging the status quo to create an atmosphere that encourages subordinates to follow suit. The leader then creates a vision that provides a common purpose for the followers, and looks for people to accept his vision through communication and drive. Then, the leader promotes teamwork by bringing people together to work to actualize the vision. Collaboration calls for a leader to cultivate an environment of cooperation, trust and group problem solving. In order to achieve the set vision, the leader empowers the followers with tools, resources and knowledge indispensable for handling the job. Empowerment gives workers the independence to make decisions concerning the job, as well as the information needed to get rid of barriers in task execution such as bureaucracy (Escandon & Mckenna, 2006). The leader then sets him/herself as the role model for in terms of actions and values indispensable for vision accomplishment. This is done through planning on small wins by establishing a series of small goals that uniformly contribute to the organization’s vision. The next action is that the leader makes expectations known by linking rewards to performance and ensuring that performance is measurable. After the vision has been achieved, the leader then celebrates the accomplishments visibly and publicly. Fletcher (2003) notes that traditional heroic leadership theories are masculine, yet both men and women display the traits that make up the theory. He thus advocated for post heroic leadership that seeks to incorporate gender implications in the modern leadership. Post heroic leadership concept acknowledges the leadership as a relational process that dependent on creating circumstances under which people may learn and grow with noteworthy gender implications. This implies that the adoption of relational stance and putting into practice the relational knowledge necessary to enact post heroic leadership will be subconsciously related to femininity. Therefore, practicing the new leadership calls for relational skills and expertise towards social interactions. Therefore, post heroic leadership is viewed as the vehicle for transformation, and a means to create organizations that are able to manage dynamic processes, as well as assimilate the interests of various stakeholders. The concept of corporate psychopath is a recent term that refers to a psychopath who operates in the world of business. Corporate psychopaths are also referred to as organisational and executive psychopaths. Corporate psychopaths are destructive to the organization. Recent studies report that spiteful leaders are heartlessly ignoring the wishes and needs of others. Boddy (2010) refers to corporate psychopaths as managers who severely affect productivity and also have harmful impacts on other areas of organizational success. It has been argued that corporate psychopaths may be singled out for swift promotion as a result of their polish and cool determination. It has also been hypothesized that corporate psychopaths are most likely to occupy the top management positions of current entities than at the bottom. The chaotic nature of the contemporary corporations has made it possible for corporate psychopaths to enter into organizations and rise quickly. The frequent turnovers of people in leadership and management positions has made intricate to spot corporate psychopaths (Allio, 2007; Boddy, 2011). Leadership theories emphasize on different attributes that are indispensable for one to become a leader and drive the organization towards a competitive edge, when properly utilized. The trait/great man theory for instance highlights traits like knowledge and sociability as essential in leadership. The skills approach requires the leader to possess human, conceptual and technical skills, while relational theories necessitate that a leader should inspire followers to work towards organizational goals. For one to be an effective leader in a corporate environment that demands for so much, it is increasingly becoming easy to corporate psychopaths to find their way into organizations. Their drive to achieve may not be discernible from honest leadership skills and traits. Therefore, the concept of leadership skills and core competencies emerge into the corporate psychopaths’ discussion. Bibliography Ballus, J., 2010. The Organization is Flat and Friendly: The Genesis of Leadership and Followership Thought To The Interdependence Continuum to. Accessed on 11April 2013 from: http://thesportdigest.com/archive/article/organization-flat-and-friendly- genesis-leadership-and-followership-thought-interdependence-c. Boddy, R.C., 2011. The corporate psychopaths theory of the global financial crisis. Journal of Business Ethics, 102: 255-259. Bligh, C.M. & Kohles, J.C., 2009. The enduring allure of charisma: how barrack Obama won the historic 2008 presidential election. Leadership quarterly, 20(1), 483-492. Daft R.L.,2008. The Leadership Experience. Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Dalton, M., Hoyle, G.D., & Watts, W.M., 2010. Human Relations. Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Fairholm, R.M & Fairholm, G.W., 2009.Understanding Leadership Perspectives. NY: Springer Fletcher, J.K., 2003. The paradox of post heroic leadership: gender matters. Center for gender in organizations, working paper, no. 17, pg 1-22 Allio, R. J., 2007. Bad Leaders; How They Get That Way and What to Do About Them, Strategy and Leadership 35(3), 12–17. Boddy, C. R., 2010. Corporate Psychopaths and Productivity, Management Services Spring, 26– 30 Escandon, A.C. & Mckenna, C.C., 2006. Rational Leadership Theory: Exploring the Social Processes of Leadership and Organizing. The leadership quarterly 17(1):654-676. Baker, S. D., 2007. Followership: The theoretical foundation of a contemporary construct. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 14(1), 50-60. Balkundi, P., & Kilduff, M., 2006. The ties that lead: A social network approach to leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 14(4), 419-439. Beerel, A., 2009. Leadership and Change Management. NY: Sage. Bass, B, M. & Bass, R., 2009. The Bass Handbook of Leadership: Theory, Research, and Managerial Applications. NY: Simon and Schuster. Bien, U.M., 2006. Relational Leadership Theory: Exploring the social processes of leadership and organizing. The Leadership quarterly, 17(6): 654-676. Bertocci, D.I., 2009. Leadership in Organizations: There is a Difference Between Leaders and Managers. NY: University Press of America. Brown, M. E., & Trevino, L. K., 2006. Ethical leadership: A review and future directions. The Leadership Quarterly, (17), 595–616. Clark, C.C., 2003. Group Leadership Skills: 4th Edition. NY: Springer Publishing Company. Collinson, D., 2006. Rethinking followership: A post-structuralist analysis of follower identities. The Leadership Quarterly, 17,179– 189. Cragan, C.F., Wright, D.W., & Kasch, C, R., 2008. Communication in Small Groups: Theory, Process, and Skills. Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Daft, R.L., 2008. The Leadership Experience + Infotrac. Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Frey, L. R., Gouran, D., & Poole, M.S., (1999). The Handbook of Group Communication Theory and Research. NY: Sage. Ladkin, D. M., 2010. Rethinking Leadership: A New Look at Old Leadership Questions. UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. Murphy, S. E., & Riggio,R.E., 2003. The future of leadership development. London: Routledge. Northouse, P.G., 2010. Leadership: theory and practice. NY: Sage. Outcalt, C.L., Faris, S.K., & McMahon, N.K., 2001. Developing Non-Hierarchical Leadership on Campus: Case Studies and Best Practices in Higher Education. Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. Raynolds, J., Outward Bound USA., & Chatfield, R., 2007. Leadership The Outward Bound Way: Becoming a Better Leader in the Workplace, in the Wilderness, and in Your Community. NY: The Mountaineers Books. Rowe, G.W. & Guerrero, L.K., 2011. Cases in leadership. New York: Sage. Waite, M.R., 2008. Fire Service Leadership: Theories and Practices. Burlington: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Zaccarro, Kemp & Bader., 2004. Leadership at the Crossroads [Three Volumes].California: ABC-CLIO. Read More