Theories in Leadership in Organizations

Leadership in Organizations
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Leadership in Organizations
Various theories, explanations, definitions, and classifications about leadership exist in the available literature. More emphasis has been on the classification and clarification of various leadership aspects resulting in an enormous amount of research on leadership styles and traits. Moreover, it has led to a consensus among researchers and practitioners. These individuals agree that research has proved leadership to be a developmental process throughout the years. Some of the emerging theories include trait theory, situational theory, style theory, and transformational leadership theory.
Research on leadership has evolved from trait theory to transformational theory. However, despite the plethora of literature on leadership in organizations, much still needs to be explored. Various definitions of leadership exist, and scholars have attempted to define the concept. Based on the available literature, experts can argue that various blind men attempt to describe a moving elephant (Sharma et al., 2018). Due to the availability of various definitions of leadership, specialists consider it as the ability of an individual to influence or lead others toward a common objective. For the last two decades, leadership research has continued growing, with the field taking a holistic perspective. This new approach has resulted in incorporating more leadership styles into the available literature. Moreover, specialists continue refining and modifying the available theories to be relevant in the modern era.
Trait Theory
Early scholars of leadership theories postulated that successful leadership traits result from specific inborn personality characteristics. This discovery was among the first explorations into the nature of leadership. Experts link this line of thinking to Thomas Carlyle's "great man" theory which held that history depends on great leaders. According to Carlyle, the ability to lead is a trait that people are born with and do not develop (Spector, 2016). However, the trait theory ignored these assumptions and identified various traits that successful leaders should possess. For instance, Jenkins' model contains two traits; emergent (hereditary traits such as attractiveness, height, and intelligence) and effective traits (learning or experience) such as charisma which is a significant aspect of leadership (Nawaz & Khan, 2016).
Max Weber described charisma as a powerful force that can produce a new orientation of followers and personal devotion (Tambiah, 2019). This initial focus on specific traits that distinguished leaders from non-leaders resulted in research that concluded that there were minor variances between leaders and their followers. This failure to detect the common traits among successful leaders led to criticisms about leadership theory. To counter the critics, the proponents of the trait theory explored the traits of both military and non-military, establishing the importance of certain traits at certain times.
Situational Theory
The situational theory, or contingency/environmental theory as experts commonly refer to it, postulates that no leadership style can act on its own since the utilized style depends on various factors such as the situation of followers, quality, and other variables. Therefore, according to this theory, there is no practical way to lead because an environment's macro and micro situations sometimes require the leader to adapt to them (Thompson & Glaso, 2018). Leaders change the dynamics, environments, and employees within the organization. Based on the various arguments about leadership theories, the situational theory falls under the behavioral theory category, which posits that no one effective leadership style exists. Furthermore, a style that individuals utilize in certain situations may only be successful in some.
Proponents of contingency theory assume that the leader plays a significant role in the leader-follower relationship. In contrast, situational theorists hold that followers play a significant role in determining the relationship. Although the situational theory emphasizes the leaders, it provides the necessity of focusing on group dynamics. Due to this behavior, studies emerged on leaders and their groups, which led to the development of the modern group dynamic and leadership theories. Therefore, the situational theory holds that there is no practical way to lead, and for leaders to be influential, they must have the ability to adapt to the current situation and transform their styles with a focus on both task accom...