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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:
Leader-Member Relations
Task Structure
Position Power
Type IV Perspectives: Behavioral Contingencies
Path-Goal Theory
Expectancy Theory
Operant Conditioning Prescriptive
The V}roon/Yetton Model
to be continued...
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