Leadership theories
Leadership theories try to explain what makes some leaders effective. A lot has been written about this topic. Here we’ll look at some key theories.
Is leadership about personality?
Is there a magic list of personality traits and behaviours of effective leaders? For many years, research into effective leadership tried to answer this question. The results of this research were not very clear, though: there was little agreement about the main traits or behaviours that make a leader ‘effective’.
Or is there more to it?
More recent theories have recognised that the leader’s style is only one variable in a leadership situation. There are other important factors, including:
- the task itself (for instance, how well defined the task is)
- the group dynamics (including who the followers are, and the relationship between them and the leader).
These theories recognise that group performance depends on the interaction between leadership style and the situation. They are called contingency or situational theories of leadership.
Contingency theory: Some examples
There are several ways to describe how effective leadership styles are dependent on the group and situation. Here, we’ll look at two approaches.
How much does the leader share decision making?
One early contingency theory of leadership looks at how much of the decision making is shared with staff. This is called the autocratic-democratic continuum model.
Leadership styles range from the autocratic leader, who makes all the decisions themselves without consulting staff, through to the democratic leader who allows staff to make decisions. Diagram 1, below, shows one way of classifying the leadership styles on this continuum. You’ll find, though, that most leaders use a blend of these approaches.
Autocratic |
|
|
|
|
Democratic |
Autocratic I |
Autocratic II |
Consultative I |
Consultative II |
Group-oriented |
Laissez-faire |
The leader makes decisions alone |
The leader asks for information then makes their own decision |
The leader shares issues with individual staff before making the decision themselves |
The leader shares issues with a group of staff before making the decision themselves |
The leader shares with the group and democratically makes the decision |
The leader has a ‘hands off ’ style – the group makes the decision |
Diagram 1: Leadership style continuum (based on Victor H. Vroom and P.W. Yetton’s classifications) - [D] Text equivalent
Does the leadership style match the followers?
Is leadership all about the leader? The Hersey-Blanchard situational leadership theory says that it is the followers who accept or reject the leader, so the leader’s effectiveness depends on the followers.
A leader’s style should change depending on how willing and/or able to do the job tasks the followers are (Hersey and Blanchard call this the followers’ ‘maturity’ level). If a staff member or group of staff can’t or don’t want to do their job tasks, they’ll need a lot of direction. Staff who are motivated and have all the skills they need to finish the job need far less support and direction from the leader. Table 1 describes this in more detail.
Maturity level |
M1. People are both unable and unwilling to take responsibility to do something |
M2. People are unable but willing to do the necessary job tasks |
M3. People are able but unwilling to do what the leader wants |
M4. People are both able and willing to do what is asked of them |
Leadership style |
Telling.The leader defines roles and tells people what, how, when, and where to act |
Selling. The leader provides both direction and support |
Participating. The leader and follower share decision making. The main role of the leader is facilitating and communicating |
Delegating. The leader doesn’t give much direction or support |
Table 1: Maturity and leadership styles - [D] Text equivalent
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