LEADERSHIP MODELS

Leadership Models



Leadership Models

Introduction

Leadership is a universal phenomenon. Both in space and in time it appears to us continuously. The figure of the leader is common to all human communities (and animals) and that in all historical periods. Precisely because of these circumstances many studies on the subject have been made. According to Cattell, |The leader is the person who produces a different group that would have said if he were not in the group, and measure their leadership skills by the magnitude of the changes that occur throughout the group.” Stodgill defines leadership as: “The process involved to influence the activities of an organized group that makes efforts to define and achieve objectives.” According to Fritz Redl, “The leader is the person who is able to serve as the backbone to the behavior of other group members.”

Leadership involves influence; it is concerned with how the leader affects followers. Northouse (2003) believes that influence is the basic part of leadership. Without influence, leadership does not exist. It occurs in groups. Groups are the context in which leadership takes place. Leadership involves influencing a group of individuals who have a common purpose. Leadership includes attention to goals. This means that leadership has to do with directing a group of individuals toward accomplishing some task or end. Leaders direct their energies toward individuals who are trying to achieve something together. The leader should display confidence in all actions. This will inspire others to reach for new heights. He needs to be intelligent and know what is going on within the organization.

Discussion

A major challenge when it comes time to work on leadership is the great diversity of approaches. There are several models of leadership, where researchers are all related in some way dependent variables such as performance or organizational citizenship behaviors.

Comparison of Leadership Theories

1.Traits Theory

Early studies of leadership focused on the "great man theory," that leaders are born, not made. These studies focused on the personal traits of leaders and attempted to identify a set of characteristics or traits that distinguished between (1) the leaders of the followers, and (2) successful leaders.

The comparison of leaders with other leaders and followers for several physical, intellectual, personality, and other traits has been a popular approach, but has been controversial amongst various researchers and practitioners (Blanchard, 1985).

2.Behavior Theory

The behavioral approach has provided the basis for classifying leadership styles, or styles of behavior. This has become a serious contribution and a useful tool to understand the complexities of leadership. Due to the widespread inconsistencies of the study of traits of leadership effectiveness, the investigation continued and focused on behavior patterns, or styles of leadership with respect to its interaction with members of the group. . Many researchers of this school of thought suggest that there is a "way better" for all administrative scenarios, and research efforts seek to substantiate their claims (Bass, 2008).

Behavioral theorists argue that the style of a leader is facing an employee-centered emphasis or focus on the ...