Paper Sample on Leadership Theories and Concepts: A Comprehensive Exploration

Overview

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There is a single definition of leadership (Brown, 2017). Leaders are thought to influence their followers while also being influenced by followers' wishes (Northouse, 2016). As a result, leaders use their positions in leadership to accomplish specific goals. The earliest leadership theories maintained focus on the leaders' hierarchical role in commanding their subordinates (Brown, 2017).

Consequently, employees under the ancient leadership systems were expected to execute orders from their leaders, absent thinking (Northouse, 2016). The leadership theories define leaders under the basement of their characteristics or the leadership style employed by each specific leader (Northouse, 2016). Some of the leadership theories hold the view that leaders possess specific characteristics responsible for their leadership roles. For instance, leaders may be charismatic, transformational, or authoritarian. The leadership style theories provide that leaders' behaviors are responsible for their suitability in the leadership role.

A course in leadership theories is significant to students and business management (Brown, 2017). By studying the course, students, leaders, and subordinates get an opportunity to define leadership while they are brought into the knowledge of the available leadership theories. Additionally, it gives an insight into how leadership theories evolved (Brown, 2017). Such groups of people also understand leadership's various conceptualizations in business leadership (Brown, 2017). Finally, it permits students and individuals in organizational set up to understand the relationships that exist between leadership, management, and power-added coercion.

In businesses, studying theories permits subordinates or employees to be good followers. This means that employees are not made to understand how to lead best, but how to work with leaders. As a result, employees can easily understand the reasons behind certain behaviors engaged by their leaders (Pondent, 2017). In such cases, subordinates equipped with knowledge of these specific theories can develop insights on how to best respond or act to such behaviors and effectively interact with the individual(s).

Leaders in business setups have a great chance to identify the leading factors behind their businesses' successes quickly. In contrast, leaders with knowledge of leadership theories can quickly trace the factors behind business failure. Simultaneously, they have an enhanced decision-making skill that permits the best options to solve business problems.

Given any approach, the purpose of diverse leadership theories is to make sense of leaders' critical roles (Pondent, 2017). Such roles entail dealing with people and hard inputs. Therefore, theories of leadership provide insight into impact factors like performance that determine the success of businesses. Managers, therefore, use the theories to develop their leadership and apply various approaches to achieve business goals and objectives (Pondent, 2017).

Leadership in business concerns itself with aspects of multiple dimensions of management and administration (Ray, 2012). Such aspects are correlated with commerce, technology, and economics (Ray, 2012). Therefore, leadership entails a process that is sustained enough to help individuals achieve desired outcomes with others' help- followers, friends, clients, and superiors. As a result, the theories of leadership focus on qualities that create the difference between leaders and followers.

Leadership is, however, interrelated with the performance of businesses (Ray, 2012). Bass (1985) opined that businesses in the modern world must be oriented towards performance. As a result, most of the performance activities are dependent on leaders' capabilities of organization and optimization.

Essential Theories of Leadership

Following the complexities involved in leadership, leadership falls under five perspectives- competency, transformational, behavioral, and implicitly added contingency perspectives (Covelli & Mason, 2017). The choices related to the leadership theories have their basements under these perspectives. Northouse (2016) further provides that leadership theories remain under a continuous evolution due to changes found in societies, cultures, economies, and political environments.

Therefore, understanding such evolution and exploring models of the present day remains vital in informing leadership across organizations (Northouse, 2016).

The theories of trait hold the assumption that individuals make them more suitable in various leadership roles. As a result, the theory seeks specific personality features commonly shown by leaders. Humans possess cardinal and central traits in that later describe situational and responsive common characteristics of humans to explicit environments on specific crises.

The contingency theory emphasizes distinct variables in settings that are specifically important in determining the leadership style to best suit the situation. The principle governing this theory entails the idea that there is no single leadership style applicable in all available situations. As a result, the best form of leadership is that specific one that strives to find a perfect balance between needs, contexts, and individual behaviors. Other theories include transactional and transformational leadership theories, the great man's theories, and management.

Main Concepts of The Leadership Theory

Leadership entails an influencing process aimed at making others understand how and what needs to be done within an organization and has various tenets and concepts around which it revolves.

Elements of Effective Leadership

This is a significant concept of the leadership theory, which entails the idea that, for anyone to succeed in any leadership capacity, they must possess and portray specific characteristics that will act as a springboard to their success (Halpern, 2018). Transparency, which can portray idea-sharing in decision-making and proper communication, can help good leaders encourage their followers to embrace change. Another element that can bring leadership success is confidence and trust. Any leader must be confident, especially in the decisions they make. They should stand for them and carry them out since they have the confidence in themselves that they can deliver the best.

Consequently, they should also be trustworthy to allow collaboration between themselves and their followers. Leaders should also portray humbleness, decisiveness, and creativity to bring success. If learners understand and put into practice the tenets of this concept, they may become better leaders in the future.

Leadership Styles

This concept demonstrates how a leader's leadership style can lead to an organization's failure or success. Leaders can adopt styles such as transformational, authoritarian, delegation, or participative leadership (Al-Daibat, 2017). For instance, an authoritative leadership style can, at times, cause rebellion by the employees, affecting productivity and causing failure in the organization. Similarly, a leader who adopts a participative leadership style encourages an increase in employees' motivation and their level of job satisfaction, increasing productivity, and encouraging success.

Therefore, the style chosen affects the success of leadership. This implies that to attain leadership success, leaders must choose a style that favors their subordinates and encourages them to achieve the organization's goals. Leaders should also avoid styles such as pseudo-transformational; leadership, which aims at addressing their interests, making them forget about the collective goal.

Leadership and Followership

The concept is based on the relationship and interactions between a leader and their followers, which can trigger leadership effectiveness and general organizational success. The concept demonstrates that when there are relationships of high quality between the leader and his or her followers, better performance is experienced, triggering increased work commitments. In turn, this inhibits the organization's overall success, and hence leadership success may be experienced. Therefore, a leader must portray himself to encourage followership, which would make the followers, such as the employees and customers. This will make them have the zeal of associating and sharing ideas with their leader, increasing the relationship's quality.

Leadership: A Trait and Process

The leadership as a trait concept tries to establish that leaders are born. They possess extraordinary qualities such as communicating fluently and some unique physical characteristics that other people do not possess. The concept of leadership as a process, however, outweighs the traits basement and suggests leadership as a contextual phenomenon, implying that anyone can become a leader. It suggests that through learning and observing general behavior, one can become a good leader. Therefore, learners should embrace leadership as a process that can be learned and see leaders from the perspective of being made but not born. This would give them the aspiration of learning and making good leaders.

Leadership and Personality

This concept of the leadership theory shows how an individual's personality traits can affect their leadership. It shows how personality influences a leader's behavior, perception, interaction, thinking, communication, and attitude control (Kalshoven, Den Hartog, & De Hoogh, 2011). Therefore, leaders who have positive personality traits perform better and tend to bring institutional success. A leader needs to understand their personality and try to find out how their personality traits affect their behavior while at their place of work. This will help them in identifying the negative traits. Once identified, such a leader will learn and try to improve and change such traits positively, attaining better behavior while at the place of work, hence achieving successful leadership.

Leadership and Ethics

Leadership effectiveness is highly defined by the moral principles that govern and revolve around a person's behavior and how they do things (Perry, 2018). Therefore, this concept of leadership portrays that leaders who want to succeed must portray good morals such as self-discipline, practicing justice and fairness, respecting workmates, being honest and loyal, and above all, abiding by the rules and regulations of the organization. Good ethics would, in turn, give them the right working environment since they are free with everybody within the organization, and hence ethics contribute to effective leadership (Perry, 2018).

Discussion

Integration of Concepts from Northouse And Merida Texts Along with The Bible and Other Sources

Since the creation of the universe, each age has shown some leadership interest. As a result, people continue to experience their presence at the hands of leaders thought to be chosen or anointed by God. Being anywhere, it paid people to establish who was in charge of them and what they could do, given that they had little powers contrasted with their leaders. The current fascination goes past leaders to include leadership. In the last four decades, an interest in incorporating spirituality, leadership, and faith has developed. The key drivers behind this yearned work experience meaning and purpose at work. Therefore, this discussion incorporates spirituality, Christian faith, theological leadership, and general theories of leadership.