Leadership Theories and Styles

Effective leadership is one of the most important necessities for success of groups, organizations and institutions. Till date, many management experts have put forth many leadership theories and styles which help us understand the concept of leadership in a better way. The types of leadership theories have also found place in the syllabus of many graduate, postgraduate and doctoral management programs. In the next few paragraphs, let us discuss these leadership theories and styles in detail.

Famous Leadership Theories

Great Man Theory
The Great Man theory has always been a part of widely read and well-known leadership books. As per this theory, there are two fundamental assumptions. Leaders are born, and not made, and great leaders are born when there is a need for them. The basic idea of this theory suggests that in times of calamities, when there is a need for sound, result-oriented and effective leadership, a Great Man would solve the unaddressed issues. Another fact to be noted is, when this noted self leadership theory was proposed, most of the leaders were males and hence comes the name, Great Man theory.

Leadership Traits Theory
The assumption of the traits theory is that leaders have inherited talent and traits in them, which make these people ideal to become leaders. When this theory was put forth, it was also assumed that all those who had leadership traits will become successful and efficient leaders in the time to come.

Behavioral Leadership Theory
Behavioral theory states that leaders are not born, but they are made through hard work, talent, consistency, enthusiasm and reasoning abilities. This theory assigns more importance to the tasks which are performed by leaders practically, rather than their strong mental skills and inner intelligence. Thus, the behavioral theory is a sign of hope for all those who wish to become good managers or leaders.

Transactional Leadership Theory
Transactional leadership theory suggests that one thing is always traded for the other thing. An ideal transactional leader would try his best to guide and help his followers so that they deliver good performance, as per his expectations. This theory also suggests that the interests of people should be safeguarded for the benefit of the organization.

Transformational Leadership Theory
In the transformational leadership theory, it is assumed that people are inspired and respect the qualities of a leader. At the same time, it is taken for granted that the leader is happy and passionate about his job. In this way, through impressive co-operation between the leader and the followers, tasks can be easily accomplished. In the next section, we shall study the types of leadership styles.

Main Leadership Styles

Autocratic Leadership Style
In the autocratic leadership style, the entire power is concentrated in the hands of the leader. The leader is responsible for decision-making process and its execution. This style can be very useful to manage team members who need a lot of guidance and supervision. The leader can get the best out of his subordinates, by using his managerial skills and leadership skills.

Participative Leadership Style
In a participative leadership style, the leader takes useful suggestions from all members of his team. However, he keeps the power of taking a final decision with himself. This leadership style is widely used as compared to different leadership styles in today's corporate world to get results better than expectations.

Laissez Faire Leadership Style
In the Laissez Faire Leadership style, the leader assigns duties to his team members and gives them complete freedom to do their work, as per their own thinking. If the team members are responsible, capable and devoted, this style of work can give them the freedom and opportunity to prove their talent.

Apart from these styles, charismatic leadership style, bureaucratic leadership style, relation-oriented leadership style and task oriented leadership style are widely used. This information on leadership theories and styles will surely help you to know how to be a good manager or leader. So, try your best to inculcate good managerial qualities for a bright future!