Origin of Leadership - Essay Example

Where does leadership come from? Introduction Leadership is considered as one of the most important contemporary issues to be dealt both in business as well as governmental context. Its importance is both for the business organizations as well as nations since both need strong leaders to head them into a bright as well as robust future. However, over the period of time, there has been an intense intellectual debate as to how the leadership comes from and what are the characteristics which are required to be in a good leader. There are various theories in this regard which contribute towards defining the leadership and from where it eminent from. Based on the process of leadership, there emerged various styles of leadership which includes but are not limited to being authoritative, situational, transformative structuralist, Political democrat, symbolic or trait based as well as principle centered which is a relatively new concept of the leadership. Apart from the styles, it is also believed the leadership develops with the help of certain activities like self assessment, communication which includes writing, speaking as well as coordinating with media, development of certain competencies like managing conflicts, selecting priorities, managing time as well as negotiation skills. Apart from that, the leadership can be developed through knowledge like group dynamics etc. This essay will look into the issue of from where does the leadership come from and will review the theoretical evidence to explore the leadership. Leadership Defined In order to explore the question of where does the leadership come from, we must first need to understand what leadership actually is and how it has been defined. The present evidence in the context of leadership defines it in various different contexts. Peter Druker defined leaders as someone who has followers where as John C Maxwell defined as nothing but influence. (Thorson). However leadership may be defined as “Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. Leaders carry out this process by applying their leadership attributes , such as beliefs, values, ethics, characters, knowledge and skills” (Thorson). The concept of leadership in organizational context is therefore largely concerned with the organizational functioning and coordinating activities. (Hollander) Thus the study of leadership provides a coherent framework under which the organizational settings can be easily explored and understood. Contemporary thoughts on leadership suggest that the leadership does not necessarily revolves around the idea that it is largely dependent on the leader’s knowledge, ability as well as styles or charisma however it has now been considered as a process which is largely related with multi-layered concept of the involvement of different agents in the form of followers thus it is now considered as collaborative endeavor rather than the singular effect of the leader’s personality. This necessitated that the leadership is not just a singular leader but a web of leader and followers relationships which actually complete the flow of leadership in any organization. Leadership thus is a relational process involving the interactions of leaders, members as well as external stakeholders in the organization also. How leadership emerges The historical account of the studies on leadership suggests a very methodological approach towards leadership study. The earliest thoughts which emerged with the emergence of industrial revolution in the west were the concept of in-born qualities in leaders which help them to emerge and evolve as great leaders. (Horner). Subsequent emergence of research on leadership focused on the contextual orientation of the leaders with respect to their organizations. In fact theoretical focus was on what to do and what not to do in order to emerge as a leader. Third shift in the studies on leadership emerged when focus was shifted towards the leadership trait theories suggesting that the various behavioral traits are responsible behind the emergence of the leadership. The contingency theories developed during this theoretical research largely suggested that the leadership can emerge out of situations and any one can emerge as a leader given he or she raise to the occasion. (Horner) Research has also suggested various theoretical frameworks in order to assess the origins of leadership and from where it emerges. In this essay, we will focus on various theoretical assumptions regarding the leadership. Firstly, the theories on leadership being emerging through gender or biological characteristics are discussed. Research has produced various theories: whether or not the approach to leadership differs between men and women as distinctive biological groups; whether this difference is one of style or substance; whether it is real or perceived; whether one leadership approach is more or less effective than the other and which is more likely to lead to success. Three schools of thought will be examined here: 1) Biology & Sex: the core assumption behind this school of thought is that the leadership is determined by the biological characteristics of the leader. Due to this, the leadership has largely become a male oriented process where only leaders which can come up are males due to their masculinity. The research has focused on whether the males can be better leaders or women and it has been substantiated through research that the males can be better leaders and if leader is to emerge, it has to emerge from male however large body of research suggest otherwise that both men as well women can be equally good leaders. (Appelbaum, Molson and Audet). Some research as went further on to suggest that the similarities between the leadership qualities are rather greater than the differences between the women and men leaders. (Appelbaum, Molson and Audet) Thus it has become clear that it is not necessary that the biology as well sex of the leaders is detrimental factors in deciding from where the leadership emerges. 2) Gender: Related research expands upon the idea that an individual’s gender is linked solely to the person and moves on to the more general concept of gender role with the purpose of linking leadership effectiveness or leadership emergence to characteristics or behaviors thought to be typically male or female. Thus it has been suggested that the gender role has been the more accurate predictor of the leadership emergence than the sex of the leader. 3) Attitudinal Drivers: attitudinal drivers are also considered as one of the key factors behind determining the emergence of leadership. Over the period of time, the drivers of attitude both of female as well as male has evolved and now are considered as two different approaches towards dealing with various basic issues which leaders has to deal like negotiation, communication, conflict resolution etc. Though above defined approaches are largely focused on the sex and gender qualities as to know whether sex and gender or rather biological characters of human has any significance over the emergence of leadership. The available research suggest some overlapping results suggesting that there is some correlation between the leadership emergence and the biological characteristics of the leaders however this correlation is not so strong as the similarities between the leadership of male as well as female leaders are greater than the differences in them thus it is now largely assumed that the biological characteristics are now weak indicators of biological emergence. The subsequent sections will discuss various theories which are largely based on above factors which determine the emergence of leadership. A) Great Man Theories These theories suggested that the leaders are born. The inherent and implicit qualities of leadership are present already in the leaders. These theories suggested that the individual achievements of the leaders are causal factors of progress. (Barrow). By focusing on what leaders are rather than what leaders should be, various sets of personal traits like originality, knowledge, persistence, patience, prestige as well as biological characteristics like height, gender were studied to suggest the variables which determine the emergence of leadership. These theories presented leaders to possess some mythical powers which are given to them by divine powers and they are born leaders. However it was largely considered that the great man theories are close oriented approaches and can not be empirically proved as one set of personality traits can not work in other situations thus can not be theoretically substantiated. B) Leader Behavior Investigation With the collapse of great man theories, researchers started to focus their attention and what leaders actually do hence an investigation into the leader behavior was initiated to understand whether the behaviors can be behind the emergence of leadership behaviors. The studies at Ohio States University suggested that the leadership behavior emerge from the consideration and initiating structures whereas studies at Michigan Survey Research Center suggested that the leadership emerge from employee orientation as well as production orientation of leaders. The Skills Mix theory propagated by Mann proposed that leadership can emerge from a trilogy of skills set namely human relations skills, technical skills and administrative skills. Human Relations skills include facilitating interpersonal interaction and creating positive working relationships between employees as well as external agents. Task structures as well as work accomplishment counts towards the technical skills whereas planning, organizing and involving into group dynamic are counted towards the administrative skills. The three sets of skills combine together to give emergence to the leadership behavior as well leadership qualities in any leader. Wofford’s managerial behaviors theory was another attempt to define the orientation of leadership. This theory was based on the five factors characterizing managerial and leadership behaviors. The five factors model was thus defined the orientation of leadership and provided a better explanation of the orientation of leadership and its emergence. C) Situational Investigation The situational investigation on the emergence of leadership focused on the influences of external environment on the personality of the managers in order to help them evolve into leaders. This approach is also considered as more open approach towards the emergence of the leadership. Situational factors were thus largely considered as the influential factors which determined the orientation of leadership. These theories suggested that the leadership emerge largely due to the stage of economic development in the country, group influences and norms, span of control, external threats and stress, variations in leadership power, organizational size as well as organizational culture. (Horner). The situational approach the leadership emerges due to the qualities of the persons to show reaction towards various group settings and their demands. (Hollander) D) Reciprocal Causation Investigation This approach to the leadership define leadership as a mutual interpersonal influence process between leader and subordinate thus leadership is viewed largely as a social exchange theoretical framework. The basic assertion behind this approach of leadership is the fact the subordinates view leaders in a particular context and held certain expectations from them and when these expectations are fulfilled, subordinates start to develop a level of respect and trust and hence leadership starts to emerge from that organization. It is also believed that the effectiveness of the leadership emerging out of the social exchange is one of the important yardsticks of a leader’s effectiveness. Is Charisma the single most important factor for the originating of leadership? Having discussed the various theoretical approaches towards the leadership, we may come to the conclusion of narrowing our focus on the specific variables which might help evolve the leadership. It is in this context that the leadership has also been considered as a process emerging out of charisma. Charisma has been described as the personal power of the person which derives so much power that it attracts people attention and hence helps individuals to emerge as leaders. (Conger and Kanungo). Max Weber suggested that the charisma is a basis of legitimacy and described it something through which leaders derive his authority not from rules and regulations but out of personal and exceptional sanctity of the leader. Thus charisma is one of the strongest variables which are largely behind the determination of the origin of the leadership. (Conger and Kanungo). However to use charisma as one of the single most important factor, one has to look into various contextual meanings of charisma and in what context it can be used to create the leadership. It is largely believed that the leaderships emerging out of the charisma is largely dependent on the perception of the subordinates that their leader has almost supernatural abilities and he or she is exceptional. (Bendix). The earliest work on charisma as one of the proponents of leadership was undertaken by Max Weber who took the concept both in secular as well as religious concepts however believed that the institutionalization of the charisma depends upon the heredity, kinship as well as office. This is particular evident in the family owned businesses where the influence and charisma of family members has been large as compared to other leaders. Take an example of Ford motors whose turnaround in the recent past possible only when one of the family members of the ford family took over to bring back the traditional family charisma into the Ford Motors to ensure its survival and turnaround. Similarly Steve Jobs of Apple Computers is another glaring example of charismatic leadership who made possible the turnaround of Apple Computers in the market largely through his charismatic personality. Thus evidence does point out towards the charismatic tendencies of the persons to emerge as leaders. However, the charismatic leadership does often evolve into authoritative leadership with less flexibility. (Hermann, Preston and Korany). Conclusion Research on the leadership has evolved over the period of time however it has been of considerable debate as to explore what really help leadership to emerge. Different theoretical perspectives were put into place which suggested various theoretical evidence in their support however there isn’t any conclusive agreement of the theorists to basically determine what are the factors which determine the leadership and which can help us understand the dynamics of leadership and what it constitute of. The biological as well as situational assumptions regarding the emergence of leadership has separately pointed out the substantial theoretical literature however there still remains a wide gap between how leadership emerge in actual and what current theory is suggesting. Works Cited Appelbaum, Steven H., et al. "Gender and leadership? Leadership and gender? A journey through the landscape of theories." Leadership & Organization Development Journal 24.1 (2003): 43-51. Barrow, Jaffery C. "The Variables of Leadership: A Review and Conceptual Framework." The academy of Management Review 2.2 (1977): 231-251. Bendix, Reinhard. "Reflections on Charismatic Leadership." Asian Survey 7.6 (1967): 341-352. Conger, Jay A and Rabindra N Kanungo. "Toward a Behavioral Theory of Charismatic Leadership in Organizational Settings." The Academy of Management Review 12.4 (1987): 637-67. Hermann, Margaret G., et al. "Who Leads Matters: The Effects of Powerful Individuals." International Studies Review 3.2 (2001): 83-131. Hollander, Edwin P. "Style, Structure, and Setting in Organizational Leadership." Administrative Science Quarterly 16.1 (1971): 1-9. Horner, Melissa. "Leadership theory: past, present and future." Team Performance Management 3.4 (1997): 270-287. Thorson. "What is Leadership." 2005. 11 Feb 2008 . Read More