Contingency theories of leadership were intended to resolve the problems of Trait and Behavioural theories. To what extend have they achieved this?

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MANAGEMENT 120 - Essay

'Contingency theories of leadership were intended to resolve the problems of Trait and Behavioural theories. To what extend have they achieved this?'

Katerina Gavrielidou

Lonsdale College

06021311

Introduction

From the early years of the twentieth century many leadership studies have been published, let alone thousands of pages that have been written about leadership. It is quite obvious that leadership is the most popular subject studied in the organizational sciences the last years. Most of the studies, though, emphasize on the nature of leadership in workplaces of leaders, firms and organizations. It is well known that in order for an organization to be successful and hence profitable it is necessary to have a highly effective leadership. When all the employees work to achieve organization's goals then the probability of being successful is high. And if we consider that leadership involves influencing others toward the achievement of a particular goal then we are sure that the answer in success is nothing else than leadership.

Definitions of Leadership

Many definitions of leadership have been derived from all this studies through all these years. A classical definition presents leadership as 'an interpersonal influence directed toward the achievement of a goal or goals'. The key words from the above definition are interpersonal, influence and goal. Leading is interpersonal, between people. Thus we see that a leader has to do with more than one person. A leader has to lead a group of people, two or more. In addition a leader influences people. This is the ability of a leader to affect others, to make people consider his/her words and want to help him/her, follow or work in his/her team. Lastly a leader knows the goals that he/she has to achieve, the aim of his/her work and has the 'power' to drive people to these and lead them to the goals they have to attain. Thus, this traditional definition of leadership shows in overall that a leader leads two or more people toward a particular end they all have to achieve. As Kevin and Jackie Freiberg put it, leadership is 'a dynamic relationship based on mutual influence and common purpose between leaders and collaborators in which both are moved to higher levels of motivation and moral development as they affect real, intended change' (K. Freiberg & J. Freiberg, 1996). This alternative definition of leadership says in simple words that the leader is influenced by the subordinates while they work together to attain goals they both have to. Furthermore a leader is someone who is 'able to think and act creatively in non-routine situations - and who set out to influence the actions, beliefs and feelings of others' as Doyle and Smith claim (Doyle, M. E. & Smith, M. K., 2001).

Leadership versus Management

Leadership, though, should be distinguished from management. Management is a completely different issue from leadership and it has to do with organizing, planning, directing, controlling and setting goals to be achieved. Manager is someone who is hired by the organization and has been given the formal authority to deal with the above aspects. While management has to do with achieving the goals of the organization, leadership has to do with the interpersonal aspects of the manager's job. It's all about influencing, motivating, inspiriting people to work and attain ends. The main difference between managers and leaders is that people follow leaders because they want to not because they have to. Manager though, may have to use his or her formal authority to make people follow and attain goals. People thus are forced to listen to managers because they are afraid of consequences if they don't do it.
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Theories of Leadership

Through the past century, three classical theoretical approaches have dominated the leadership studies. In the 1930s the Trait theory of leadership appears, while in the 1940s and 1950s researchers come across the Behavioural theory. Last but foremost, Contingency theory appears in the 1960s and 1970s. Contingency theory makes its appearance and comes to give more satisfying answers to leadership researchers.

Trait theory of Leadership

Trait theory of leadership was the first to make an appearance in the beginning of the twentieth century. Trait theory is based on the assumption that people inherit specific ...

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