Have you ever thought why a certain person inspires us to aim at something beyond our capabilities? Why we admire certain people for their personalities and the ability to evoke awe? Or conversely, why do some people, who spend their entire lives managing people, end up despised, or at the most tolerated by those very people? In spite of being in the highest positions of power, why do some people simply not command genuine respect?

Theodore Roosevelt famously commented on the difference between a Leader and a boss, saying “The leader leads and the boss drives”.

This can sum up why leaders are admired and followed willingly, while mere bosses are not. Leadership, in fact, has nothing to do with position and authority and everything to do with inspirational behavior and actions.

“Leadership is not a title. It’s behavior. Live it.”–  Robin Sharma

It as a concept has fascinated numerous thinkers and management gurus over the years. Leadership theories attempting to explain and define leadership have abounded.

Starting from the early leadership theories of Trait and Behavior, to the later ones of Transformational and Distributed Leadership, almost every aspect has been touched upon in management literature. While earlier thinkers believed that it was based on certain inborn characteristics in people, and that leaders were born, not made, later theories focused on the environment and situations that generated leadership behavior.

So what are the various leadership theories over the years?

Some early leadership theories:

• Trait theory, originally propounded by Charles Bird, and later by Stogdill
• Behavioral theory, based on research studies conducted by the Ohio State University and University of Michigan
• Management or Leadership Grid theory, founded by Robert R. Blake and Jane S. Moulton
• Situational or Contingency theory, developed by Fred Fiedler
• Path-goal theory, proposed by Robert House
• Participation Theory, by Victor Vroom and Phillip Yetton

So let’s start from the beginning.

The Trait Theory

Charles Bird, in the Trait Theory, lists some traits that could lead to successful leadership, that include:

• Good personality
• Intellectual ability
• Initiative
• Maturity
• Self-confidence
• Flexibility
• Willingness to accept responsibility
• Fairness

Stogdill further classified the following traits and skills:

• Adaptability
• Decision
• Ambition
• Persistence
• Energy
• Dominance
• Tolerance to stress
• Diplomacy
• Intelligence
• Social skills
• Conceptual skills

While some of the specified traits like energy, self-esteem, and cognitive abilities are definitely linked to leadership behavior, the Trait theory has been found to be faulty. Critics argue that it relies too much on inborn traits, and measures traits only after a person has already become a leader. While some traits may work in some situations, they may not in some others. It is also difficult to draw a common list of personal traits found in every leader.

Yet, despite these limitations, the concept of individual leadership traits or potential works to this day. You tend to admire people like Barrack Obama and Ratan Tata for their personal charisma as much as their contribution in their area of work.

Behavioral Theory

As opposed to traits, this theory that resulted from the studies of Ohio State University and University of Michigan, focuses on activities of leaders to identify behavioral patterns that affected employee satisfaction and performance. As per this theory, a particular behavior of a leader gives greater satisfaction to followers, so they recognize him as a good leader.

The Leadership Behaviour Description Questionnaire (LBDQ) assessed leadership styles from the responses of the subordinates or followers, and the Leader Opinion Questionnaire (LOQ) assessed the leader’s own perception of his/her style.

The following two mutually independent behaviors were identified:

• Initiating Structure Behavior (IS), i.e., the leader allocates tasks and sets up formal communication channels
• Consideration Behavior (C), i.e., shows concern for followers and creates a supportive work climate

A leader may be high IS or a high C, or both.

Rensis Likert conducted the University of Michigan studies to clearly define two types of leadership behavior:

• Task-centred Leader Behaviour
• Employee-centred Leader Behaviour

Which simply means that your boss or leader is either simply focused on achieving organizational goals and tasks, and pushes you for the same, or that he/she is concerned only about you and other team mates, and seeks to establish supportive relationships at the workplace.

The Managerial Grid

Concern for people and concern for production form the two basic patterns of behavior, as per this theory propounded by Blake and Moulton.

Here, as per the grid, 1.1 is impoverished management lacking in both task and relationship considerations. On the other extreme end of the grid is 9.9 which is the ideal behavior, and results in team management.

Let’s say, you have a boss whom you gel with, and who gives you a free rein to do things as you wish. You love your boss, and so do others in your team, but management frequently tells him to pull up his socks. And at the end of the first quarter, you discover you are way behind your targets. Your boss is soon shown the door for repeated under-performance. Your boss is the typical Country-Club manager.

Situational Theory or Fiedler’s Contingency Theory

This theory moves away from the personality of the leader to the relationship with the group or followers and emphasizes that the situation or contingency decides the best style of leadership.

In a nutshell it says:

• Leadership style varies according to situation
• No single style of leading works in all situations
• It is dependent on
  • Subordinate considerations
  • Supervisor considerations
  • Task considerations

So your boss who is otherwise quite pleasant and easy going suddenly turns into a monster wielding a stick when a critical project has to be completed. She repeatedly supervises you, communicates the urgency of your task, and is behind your back most of the time. You wonder what the matter with her is. Nothing. She is simply switching her style to authoritarian as per the contingency or situation in hand.

Least preferred co-worker (LPC) scale: Fiedler fixes the leadership style of the leader by the LPC scale, an instrument for measuring an individual’s leadership orientation. The LPC scale asks a leader to describe the person with whom they have worked least well. Individuals rating their least preferred coworker more favourably on these scales are more relationship motivated, and those who rate the coworker negatively are task oriented. Therefore, the scale measures the leader’s orientation and motivation.

Path-Goal Theory

An individual will do something only if it leads to attaining his/her goals, and if he/she appreciates the payoff in doing the work. This is the crux of this theory. A leader facilitates achievement of individual goals while aligning these to the organization’s objectives. So leadership behavior is motivational, it coaches and supports followers.

• Leader’s work is to guide followers in attaining their goals and integrating individual goals to group/organizational objectives
• Influence the subordinate’s perception of the benefits in achieving organizational/group goals

Robert House identified four leadership styles:

• Directive, where the leader tells subordinates what to do, gives guidance
• Supportive, where he/she shows concern towards subordinates
• Participative, where subordinates are consulted in decision making, or asked to take a decision themselves
• Achievement-oriented, where the leader helps subordinates in setting and accomplishing goals

The leader’s style is flexible and he/she may use any or all of the above styles depending on the situation.

The theory was later revised to emphasize that the leader also makes up for deficiencies in subordinates and in the work environment.

To give an example, let’s say your team has to submit a market survey report by a scheduled date, and there is a lack of sufficient data. Also two team members are absent just before the submission date. Your leader will strive to attain the required information from all possible sources, provide guidance and inputs to you all, and actively help you and other team members complete the report in time. In short, he/she has helped you achieve your goals.

Situational Leadership Model

This model was developed by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard. The focus of this model is on followers and their progress from low competence and commitment individuals to high competence and commitment ones.

Salient Features:

• This model focuses on followers.
• It suggests that leaders should adopt different approaches according to the type of followers.
• It proposes a ‘continuum’ of leadership adaptation in response to the development of followers.

Followers are classified into the following categories:

1. Those who have low Competence and low Confidence and commitment
2. Those who have low Competence but high Confidence and commitment
3. Those who have high Competence but low Confidence and commitment
4. Those who have high Competence and high Confidence and commitment

Leaders need to adapt their leadership approach according to follower willingness and ability.

The continuum progresses from:

To illustrate with an example, in a group of people there are two workers who have low confidence and are generally unwilling to do any work. With these two people, the leader will specify firmly what needs to be done (Telling). One worker is very enthusiastic and willing to put in his best, but he is a newcomer and doesn’t know much about the job. Here the selling approach will be used by the leader (explaining the task, methods and remaining available for guidance). Another person may be very competent, but may lack confidence and willingness. Here the leader will encourage inputs, and appreciate efforts (Participating). With the remaining two workers who are competent as well as committed, the delegating approach will be used (giving responsibility for planning and execution of the task).

Participation Theory

Here again, the situational model of leadership behavior is stressed. Vroom and Yetton defined the following styles of leadership for making decisions.

So the process moves away from autocratic decision making to group decision making where each team member participates in deciding the final course of action.

Participative leadership works best in situations where multiple opinions are required like marketing a new product or deciding on a new training program. The style works in creative set-ups like advertising or software design. However, when decisions need to be taken fast, this style proves cumbersome.

The early leadership theories are relevant to this date and shape many leadership development programs that focus on imbibing leadership skills to participants.

Over the years, the focus of leadership research has shifted from the leader to the impact on followers and the organization.

I will touch upon these leadership theories briefly.

• Transactional Leadership

This theory is characterized by the exchange between leaders and followers or members. People usually want to increase pleasurable experiences and minimize unpleasant ones. Leaders use rewards and punishment to get their members to carry out tasks.

• Leader-member Exchange

The leader must maintain his or her leadership position by working with associates, supporters and the “inner circle” of followers. Here the leader regards followers differently depending on the degree of support they offer him/her.

• Transformational Leadership

This is one of the most popular leadership theories , introduced in the ‘70s. The concept of transformational leadership was initially introduced by James MacGregor Burns, and later expanded by Bernard M. Bass.

Transformational Leadership is a style that inspires positive change in followers. Followers are inspired and enthused to achieve extraordinary outcomes. Here, the personality of the leader has to be truly inspiring and should command respect and admiration from followers. The leader is a role model others look up to.

Salient features:

• This leadership style works best in introducing and implementing change in the organization
• The model relies a lot on the personal charisma and integrity of the leader
• The leader develops the vision and sells the vision to followers, who are then positively enthused to internalize the vision
• This leader leads from the front
• This style inspires followers to transform themselves and discover their own leadership potential

One of the criticisms of this theory is that it relies too much on personal charisma of the leader. Also such leaders perform to the hilt in introducing and implementing change, but when things need to remain as they are, such leaders find themselves out of place.

Action-centered Leadership model

John Adair proposed the Action-Centred Leadership model. As per this model, the leader must focus on three overlapping areas:

1. Task completion
2. Teamor group unity
3. Meeting individual needs

Leadership Participation Inventory or Five Leadership Practices Model

James Kouze and Barry Posner developed on the leadership traits that are necessary to inspire followers.

The following traits were listed:

• Being a Role Model
• Providing Inspiration
• Facing Adversity
• Empowering others
• Generating enthusiasm

Emerging concepts of leadership include servant leadership, authentic leadership, ethical leadership, neo-charismatic leadership, shared or distributed leadership, and entrepreneurial leadership.

“A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a moulder of consensus.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

Times have changed since the first theory on leadership was formed. Today, economic turbulence, global uncertainties and changing corporate realities, have necessitated the emergence of new leadership paradigms. The leader today has to be a moulder of opinion, a creator of opportunities, a driver of change, a manager of diversity, and a conflict management expert. Not an easy task that.

As Napolean puts it, “A leader is a dealer in hope.”

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