Theories of Leadership

Contents

1.        INTRODUCTION        

2.        THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP        

2.1        Trait Leadership Theories        

2.2        Behavioral Leadership Theories        

2.2.1        Ohio state studies        

2.2.2        McCanse’s Leadership Grid (The Managerial Grid)        

2.2.3        McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y        

2.3        The Contingency Leadership        

2.3.1        Fiedler’s contingency theory        

2.3.2        Cognitive Resource Theory        

2.3.3        Path Goal Theory        

2.3.4        Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Model        

3.        THE NEED FOR CONTINGENCY THEORY OF LEADERSHIP FOR THE CONTEMPORARY PERIOD        

4.        CONCLUSION        

REFERENCES        

1. INTRODUCTION

Leadership is about vision, big picture views, and coping with change. Part of the reason leadership has become so important in recent years is that the business world has become more global, more competitive and more volatile. (David I. Bertocci, 2009). Leadershipin its broadest sense is the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of goals.

Today’s business environment can be characterized by two primary influences.

1. The accelerating pulls towards commoditization.
2. The continuous uncertainty in markets,

The probability that complexity will only continue to increase in contemporary period organizations, consequently there will be a need to bring a fresh approach to their markets, with unprecedented creativity and resilience to stand out and attract customers and talent in order to thrive.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss comparatively the leadership theories to identify which of them is more suitable for contemporary period organizations.