Evolution of Leadership and Management Theories: A Critical Evaluation

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Module Title: Historical Development of Management and Leadership
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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Identification of key theories and perspectives of Leadership and Management............................4
Evaluating the Various Leadership Styles250.............................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9
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Introduction
Since early 20th century, the concept of leadership in the business and its importance in the
management has been realized by the scholars and researchers. Since 1880, it has been seen that
several researchers are coming up with their different ideas about leadership and its relations
with management. Each and every research believes leadership and management should go hand
in hand, which may help an organization to achieve success (Sharma and Jain, 2013).
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Identification of key theories and perspectives of Leadership and Management
According to Mischel (1968), leadership is a process through which a good leader can influences
other individuals to perform their responsibilities within an organization in a more efficient
manner. In this regard, Jago (1982) claimed effective leadership is applying knowledge and skills
to influence others action in a positive manner to reach the ultimate goal, which can be also
regarded as the leadership trait. In order to define key theories of leadership Sharma and Jain
(2013) argued leadership trait does not become automatically, rather it is a never-ending process
of self-development in terms of characteristics and experience. Moreover, it can be asserted that
both leaders and managers are considered as the building block of an organization. Managers and
leaders both are responsible for improving the overall performance of an organization that will
significantly help an organization to attain its pre-determined goals efficiently. According to,
Srivastava, Bartol and Locke, (2006), the core responsibility of a manager is to set certain goals
for their respective field, whereas a good leader should have adequate knowledge or strong
vision to help his team members by providing a valuable suggestion, which will help team
members to complete their assigned tasks within a specific time. In the context of, Razik, and
Swanson, (1995), it can be asserted that managers of an organization are responsible to manage
and control the administrative work properly and also responsible for designing appropriate
organizational strategies to accomplish the pre-determined goals. In addition to this, managers of
an organization should have adequate knowledge to make appropriate strategic decisions to bring
changes within the organizational premises to improve productivity and profitability. On the
other hand, in this regard, Srivastava, Bartol and Locke, (2006), leaders of an organization
should alley motivate their team members and subordinates to complete their assigned task
within a specific time. Therefore, it can be asserted that managers of an organization are mainly
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looking after the internal organizational activities, while leaders of an organization are mainly
responsible for motivating employees to improve their employee’s performance, which will
significantly improve the overall performance of an organization.
According to, Razik, and Swanson, (1995), communication skill is highly required for a good
manager to set appropriate organizational goals. Likewise, it can be said that the improper
communication skill of the managers and leaders has created an adverse impacted on the
reliability of their employees. With the help of effective communication tool, a manager or a
leader is able to develop a healthy relationship with their employees that will positively impact
on the overall performance of the organization. Besides, in the context of, Srivastava, Bartol and
Locke, (2006), it can be asserted that managers and leaders should be honest towards their work.
Moreover, a good manager should have self-confidence as well as have knowledge about their
employee’s skills and on the basis of that, he should allocate the right amount of resources to the
right employees to execute the job within a stipulated time. A good leader should always respect
their team members to gain their loyalty, which will directly influence the overall performance of
the organization. According to, Smircich and Morgan, (1982), it can be argued that a good leader
should have appropriate communication skills and also have a good sense of humor to handle the
workforces efficiently. In addition to this, creativity is one of the vital characteristics of a leader,
which helps a leader to make and implemented innovative strategic idea’s within their
organization to grab the attention of the stakeholders.
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Evaluating the Various Leadership Styles250
There are primarily eight types of leadership style, such as transformational leadership,
transactional leadership, servant leadership, autocratic leadership, democratic leadership,
bureaucratic leadership, charismatic leadership, and situational leadership. According to, Razik,
and Swanson, (1995), in transformational leadership style, a leader should provide motivation
towards their subordinates to perform well, while in transactional leadership style, a leader of an
organization has the right to provide rewards as well as punishment to their subordinates to
complete their assigned task within a specific time. Besides, servant leadership is also known as
the power-sharing model, which has an aim to provide an opportunity for all the employees to
take part in the decision-making process. In the context of, Srivastava, Bartol and Locke, (2006),
it can be said that in autocratic leadership style, a leader has significant control over their
subordinate, while in democratic leadership style, leaders should always ask every employee to
provide their opinion before making final rational decisions for the betterment of their
organization. Bureaucratic leaders have implemented certain regulations and policies within their
organization for their employees to carry out their work efficiently. Moreover, it can be asserted
that this leadership style has created a negative impact on the mind of the employees, which will
adversely affect their performance. According to, Smircich and Morgan, (1982), sometimes
charismatic leadership is also known as transaction leader style. In this leadership style, a leader
has an aim to motivate their subordinates by giving them encouragement, which will
significantly influence their employee’s performance. Situational leadership style has been
developed by K. Blanchard and P. Hersey. In this leadership style, every leaders and manager
must have that capability to make rational decisions in every difficult situation to address internal
and external issues efficiently. After evaluating all the leadership styles, it can be asserted that
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every business organization should take the appropriate leadership style according to the
organizational requirement to attain the desired outcome.
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Conclusion
Based on the aforementioned discussion, it can be concluded that both manager and leader posts
play important roles in the improvement of the organizational performance. Managers are
responsible for managing administrative work and leaders are responsible for motivating
employees to improve their performance standard.
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References
 Jago, A. G., 1982. Leadership: Perspectives in theory and research. Management Science,
Volume 28 Number 3, pp. 315-336.
 Mischel, W., 1968. Personality and Assessment. New York: Wiley.
 Razik, T.A. and Swanson, A.D., 1995. Fundamental concepts of educational leadership
and management. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Merrill.
 Sharma, M. K. and Jain, S., 2013. Leadership Management: Principles, Models and
Theories. Global Journal of Management and Business Studies, Volume 3, Number 3, pp.
309-318.
 Smircich, L. and Morgan, G., 1982. Leadership: The management of meaning. The
Journal of applied behavioral science, 18(3), pp.257-273.
 Srivastava, A., Bartol, K.M. and Locke, E.A., 2006. Empowering leadership in
management teams: Effects on knowledge sharing, efficacy, and performance. Academy
of management journal, 49(6), pp.1239-1251.
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