Leadership - Theoretical perspectives

Theoretical perspectives on Leadership can organized in a four-fold typology based on the dominating assumptions of the research effort:

(1) the focus on a universally appropriate set of leadership traits,

(2) the focus on a universally appropriate behavioral style,

(3) the focus on situationally contingent leadership traits, and

(4) the focus on situationally contingent behavioral styles.

This typology can be diagrammed as follows:

Type I Perspectives: The Search for Universal Leadership Traits

A type of work falling under this stream is: Attribution Theory of Leadership.

The organizational implications stemming from a Type I perspective are potentially far-reaching. If leadership is indeed governed by the traits given in the research, the selection of people most likely to be successful in positions of leadership-including political officials, industrial managers, PTA presidents-could be made in a relatively straightforward and mechanical manner. Replacing subjective methods and educated guesswork, a "leadership test" could be constructed to assess and weigh the various traits known to be associated with leadership. ...

Type II Perspectives: Leadership Styles

  • Consideration and Initiating Structure

  • Autocracy vs. Democracy

  • Leader Behavior: Cause or Effect?

Type III Perspectives: Fiedler's Contingency Model

In the "Contingency Model of Leadership Effectiveness," Fiedler and his associates argue that group productivity is dependent upon the match between: (1) a personality trait labeled task versus relationship motivation, and (2) the "favorableness" of the leadership situation. Task versus relationship motivation is measured by Fiedler's Least Preferred Co-worker scale. ...

Fiedler defines situation favorableness in terms of three critical dimensions:

  1. Leader-Member Relations

  2. Task Structure

  3. Position Power

Type IV Perspectives: Behavioral Contingencies

  • Path-Goal Theory

  • Expectancy Theory

  • Operant Conditioning Prescriptive

  • The V}roon/Yetton Model

to be continued...