Evolution of Leadership Theories and Applicability

Literature Review
Evolution of Leadership Theories and Applicability

Introduction
In the contemporary world of business leadership has always been considered an important
subject but in other spheres as well leadership has always been an important aspect. Leadership
encapsulates a set of skills and traits and the zeal to lead people forward. Leadership is one of the
most commonly researched subjects in the field of management. Even though there is no set
definition of leadership but in management literature it is defined as the process of leading
people by motivation to achieve some set goals (Antonakis & Day, 2017). Leadership has always
been under scanner and with time passing by it has received paramount importance from the
scholars, philosophers and other people. The traditional definition of leadership shows that the
leaders are normally motivating and influencing characters but there are various strategies and
styles of leadership where the motive of the leaders is same but the approach towards motivating
and influencing is different. Since the inception of the concept of business the “leadership” has
been considered integral for the success of a business. Leadership has various definitions and
hence scholars take interest to analyse the applicability of leadership theories in modern business
environment and the gradual evolution of leadership (McCleskey, 2014).
Evolution of Leadership Theories
According to Storey (2016) since the beginning of the concept of business, organisations have
faced multitude of problems in the operations which needed to be effectively addressed for the
efficient running of organisations. As initially there was no proper framework for running
businesses it was important to have a binding force which would help the employees to stay
together and achieve the organisational goals. The concept of leadership came into existence
then. With the gradual development of the society and globalisation taking place organisations
emphasised on various aspects of operations and leadership was considered to be the most
important aspect. For numerous years leadership theories have been subject of various researches
and it was clear that different leaders who have succeeded over the years have followed certain
theories and principles of leadership.

As per Chemers (2015) the evolution of leadership theories was gradual in nature with the first
leadership theory coming in the mid 1840s that is the great man theory. The great man theory
was a set of assumptions even though they were uncertain but it mainly talks about the elements
that make leaders great. Philosophy as a subject has been largely influential in the development
of leadership theories but the great man theory doesn’t really justify the different aspects which
make leaders effective rather it talks about how great leaders could make changes in the society.
Price & Van Vugt (2014) Since businesses were not that bigger then as nowadays leadership was
of partial importance to businesses but it was largely important for the society as it happened to
help people to get involved in revolution. All the past leaders involved in politics and social
reformation are considered great men and the great man theory discusses that effectively. What
this theory has emphasised mostly on is that leadership traits are highly intrinsic in nature and
tried to establish the fact that great leaders are born not made. Even though this theory has been
largely contradicted by the theories later emerged regarding leadership.
According to Van Vugt & Grabo (2015) the great man theory largely influenced another theory
which is still in use and is considered one of the effective contemporary leadership theories that
is the trait theory. The trait theory came into existence between 1930 and 40. The trait theory
states that the leaders are born with certain leadership traits and they make use of these traits to
emerge victorious in their respective field. In business most of the leaders earlier were trait
leaders who believed their instincts and had strong faith on their decisions which helped to
sustain in the market for a long time. Dugan (2017) said that the trait theory as stated earlier have
been embraced by traditional leaders who had the understanding of mental, physical and social
characteristic of people that largely helped to analyse situations and accordingly make decisions.
This largely helped them to come in good terms with the subordinates and influence them
effectively for better results.
According to Northouse (2018) a study of Max Weber the founding father of sociology,
leadership came up with few emerging questions of authority, status and other environmental
aspects and tried to address the unresolved rift between the leaders and the bureaucrats. From the
organisational point of view it could be said that leaders are extremely important because they
tend to drive the employees in a positive manner but trait theory came with its share of negatives.
One of the major weaknesses of trait theory is it is not able to define a leader based on his or her