A Detailed Literature Review on Diverse Leadership Styles and Theories

This literature review provides a comprehensive overview of various leadership styles, exploring their historical evolution, theoretical frameworks, and practical applications. It delves into the significance of leadership in organizational success, highlighting the importance of human resources and effective management. The review covers key leadership styles such as transformational, transactional, charismatic, and authentic leadership, examining their characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses. It also discusses the impact of leadership styles on employee motivation, job satisfaction, and organizational performance. The study incorporates insights from various researchers and studies, offering a detailed analysis of different approaches to leadership and their relevance in contemporary business environments. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of adaptable and effective leadership for organizational success.

Literature Review
on
Leadership

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Styles of Leadership........................................................................................................................1
Introduction..................................................................................................................................1
Theoretical Framework................................................................................................................1
Historical evolvement of Concept of Leadership........................................................................2
Leadership styles.........................................................................................................................3
New Approaches to Leadership...................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7

STYLES OF LEADERSHIP
Introduction
In order to run the business in profitable manner, it is essential to value the most
significant element of the company that are human resources. The success of any firm depends
on loyal and diligent managers. Hence for that purpose, good quality of leadership is required to
be shown on the part of the top management. In this era of globalization, companies are said to
be competitive on the basis of competency in their respective human resources (Hogan, 2011).
Concept of leadership is not new in the field of social science. In last few decades this concept
has been studied widely more than any other aspect of human resource management. The 20th
century was the era of great influential leaders but now the era is of great influential leaders. This
transformation from great leaders to great leadership is in respond to the rapid changing
environment (Allen and Hartman, 2008). The changes in the environment requires sound
decision making which could be possible only when there are efficient people who are capable of
taking such crucial decision. There are countless number of definitions of leadership. There are
many researchers who have made an attempt to explore this aspect.
Theoretical Framework
For several decades, study of leadership has been an important part of literature on
management and organization behaviour. It has been noticed that no other role within the
company has received such importance. Over the passing years, several researchers have
generated great evidences and data that adds value to the field of leadership. However leadership
is regarded as just an expression which is generally used in interaction and it is described by
using certain adjectives such as good leadership, bad leadership, effective leadership, poor
leadership etc. Many researchers have reached to the conclusion that the concept of leadership is
not limited to one specific definition. It might be difficult to find out the exact meaning of the
leadership but most of them agree that it is an influence relationship between leaders and
followers. It is essential to gain better understanding of the historical evolvement of this concept.
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Historical evolvement of Concept of Leadership
The historical concept of leadership was concerned with “great men” who are born with
the qualities of leadership. The Great Man Theory of leadership explained the concept on the
basis of heredity. The theory was based on the assumption that leaders are genetically gifted with
superior qualities which differentiate them from other people. In the early years of 20th century,
Galton, (1870) stated that great leaders take over their ability to lead to their followers through
their genes.
In 1900s, the following aspect was studied in terms of qualities or traits. Trait theory
stated that generally people are born with certain special characteristics or qualities such as
intelligence, persistence, flexibility etc (Mayer and et.al., 2009). The presence of these
characteristics helps a person to attain respectable position in an organization. It was pointless to
search for such universal traits because the general approach to leadership seemed to be more
significant.
After the trait approach the behavioural approach came into the existence. Researchers
diverted their attention towards the apparent leadership behaviours. It was known as the
behavioural leadership theory and it was based on behaviour of individuals (Edwards, 2007).
During that time, two major research studies were conducted by the researchers from University
of Michigan and Ohio State. They paid attention on apparent leadership behaviors. Both the
investigations delivered similar results. Study from the Ohio State discovered independent
dimensions of leader behaviour (Edwards, 2007). Starting with over 1000 dimensions, the study
contracted the list to two categories which accounted for most of the leadership behaviour
described by the employees. Initiating structure and consideration were the two dimension. Very
similar results were obtained by the University of Michigan study (Experience trumps age when
it comes to community leadership, 2013). The researchers there also stated the two dimensions of
leadership theories. First is production oriented and second is employee oriented. Production
oriented leaders are those who tend to focus on technical aspects of job and employee oriented
leaders are those who focuses on interpersonal relationships. These studies provide evidence to
the fact that an efficient leader is required to be combination of both production and employee
oriented behaviour (Flood, 2011).
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Leadership styles
Glasby and Dickinson, (2009), performed the investigation on leadership behaviour by
taking into consideration different types of variable which affects the leadership styles. For that
purpose they investigated 123 executive from the public and private sector. It was discovered
that 63% executives in private sector and 54% executives in public sector have adopted
democratic styles of leadership. Jackson, Schuler and Werner, (2011), reflected different
qualities of a women leader such as high intelligence, composed, experimenting, liberal,
preserving, self-motivated, calculative, confident etc. It was discovered that women in this kind
of position carries an intellectual approach to the conditions. They are capable of maintaining
cordial relations with their supervisors.
According to Lussier and Achua, (2009), this aspect is significantly related to the four
personality factors like emotional stability, intelligence, outgoingness and assertiveness. He
performed the study on head of a secondary school in the state of Haryana.
Maki, (2010), stated that a new kind of guidance that is transformational guidance has
been the key to success for many large size corporations in US such as General Motors, General
Electric, AT&T etc. The researcher argued that transformational approach of leaders is capable
of developing a new vision for the companies. It is important for revitalizing the companies. The
authors are not very optimistic about the revitalization of US, unless the creation of this breed of
leaders becomes a national agenda.
Moyles, (2006), investigated the qualities of team leaders in the field of higher education.
The study showed that team leaders were having conceptual leadership style and characteristics
such as honesty, integrity and a sense of fairness. The investigation was performed on their
effectiveness, performance and characteristics. According to Schoemaker, Krupp and Howland,
(2013), leadership can be described as the selection of bases of influence. The transformational
approach takes it as a shared process which has the potential to transform others and taking them
to the height of motivation.
Sevdalis and et.al., (2009), examined the relationship between transformational
leadership on the basis of sample of 101 managers from two companies in India. The
respondents provided the answers to the questions on their readiness for promotions and on their
superior’s leadership. The readiness for promotion was captured by two dimensions. The first
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one is related to the motivation of the employees to perform and to rise. Second one was
measured on the basis of confidence of the employees. As per the results, expectations of the
leaders was significantly positively correlated to the follower’s readiness for promotion. Each of
the five factors of transformational leadership showed positive correlation with leader’s
expectations. Readiness for promotion was positively related to only three factors that were
inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and leadership-idealized influence. It was also
discovered that expectations mediates.
Weitzel, (2010), examined the effect of transformational and change leadership approach
on employee’s commitment to change. It was noted that effects of transformational leadership on
the outcomes of specific change initiatives were not well understood. According to West, (2012),
in their research examined the multivariate relationships between factors such as emotional
intelligence and transformational leadership. The investigation revealed canonical correlation
between emotional intelligence and leadership. It confirmed that emotional intelligence is an
important element of managerial temperament.
According to Lavaty and Kleiner, (2001), expatriates leadership style also plays a pivotal
role. It is considered to be a prime criterion to achieve success and effectiveness in the host
nation. The research performs investigation on 25 Japanese and 23 Americans expats in India.
Results were analysed to make out the differences and similarities between the headship styles. It
was discovered that American managers had good communication skills. On the other side,
Japanese managers motivate their employees by setting performance standards. American
managers are having more knowledge and skills to transfer and train their subordinates.
According to Moran, Harris and Moran, (2011), there is a positive correlation between
overall guiding styles and job satisfaction at significance level of P<0.05. The investigation was
done on physical education company employees. Among all the determinants of job satisfaction,
leadership is taken as the most important predictor and it plays a central role in the success of the
company.
New Approaches to Leadership
Apart from these traditional leadership theories, there are many other theories which has
emerged recently. These type of leadership theories are very helpful organizations in increasing
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the growth and in attaining objectives and goals. Theories like transactional, authentic,
charismatic and transformational.
Transformational leadership theories: In this leadership style leaders inspire their followers
and focuses on change which can be adopted (Glasby and Dickinson, 2009). Leader challenges
their followers so that they come up with innovations and solve problems differently. They
monitor, guide and coach their followers so that they get motivated and share their ideas freely.
Leaders provide them with specific tasks which they have to achieve. Followers are provided
with rewards or punishments according to the performance of job. This leadership style
motivates the followers as they are very clear in the steps which they need to take for achieving
the organizational goal and objectives (Jackson, Schuler and Werner, 2011).
Charismatic leadership theory: This leadership style was developed by Max weber. This theory
the leaders have four key characteristics, which are as follows: They have a clear vision, they
take risk, and they treat their followers as family members and do not hide their characteristics
(Lussier, and Achua, 2009). These type of leaders are very enthusiastic and aim in accomplishing
their tasks on given time. They have a close relationship with their followers and do help them in
personal problems.
Transactional leadership theory: In this leadership style, leaders provide rewards to their
employees according to their performance. This a technique which leaders adopt in order to
motivate their employees (Schoemaker, Krupp and Howland, 2013). Leader can also punish their
employees if the work is not completed by them effectively or on time. In order to get rewards,
employees work hard and do it effectively.
Authentic leadership: These are those leaders who are very confident in what they do and what
they believe. They act according to their beliefs and values and do not involve anyone in making
decision (Sevdalis and et.al., 2009). These leaders trust their experience and learn from their
mistakes. The employees consider these leaders ethical as they do not act anything against the
firm’s policies. The follower thrust their leader fully as they do work for the welfare of the
organization and employees (Moran, Harris and Moran, 2011). The rules and regulations given
by the firm have to followers strictly and in this leadership style leaders ensure that the
employees follow all of it. They are very systematic and punctual in nature and offers motivation
to their employees.
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CONCLUSION
After reviewing the literature on leadership, it can be concluded that accountable and
suitable leadership is vital for the success of the business. Every company whether big or small,
must have efficient leaders who are capable of enhancing firm’s productivity by increasing the
job satisfaction, performance and commitment of the followers. It is to be noted that changes in
the environment requires sound decision making which could be possible only when there are
efficient people who are capable of taking such crucial decision. Some of the researchers have
claimed that transformational and transactional leadership are the best guiding styles for existing
business environment. Some of them claim that there should have balance between bot the styles
of leadership. It is now clear that face of headship is now changing and in order to prove to be
an effective leader an individual is required to embrace the changes. He must be flexible, ready
to accept the changes and adjust the style of leadership if necessary.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Allen, S. and Hartman, N., 2008. Leadership Development: An Exploration of Sources of
Learning. Advanced Management Journal. 73(1). pp. 0-19.
Edwards, 2007. International Human Resource Management. 1st edition. Pearson Education
India. p 77.
Eisenberg, E. M., 2009. Organizational Communication: Balancing Creativity And Constraint
Author: Eric M. Eisenberg, HL Goodall, Angela Trethwey.
Flood, P., 2011. Understanding leader development: learning from leaders. Leadership &
Organization Development Journal. 32(4). pp.358 – 378.
Glasby, J. and Dickinson, H., 2009. International Perspectives on Courier and Social Care:
Partnership Working in Action. John Wiley & Sons.
Hogan, T., 2011. What is Global Leadership? 10 Key Behaviours that Define Great Global
Leaders. Nicholas Brealey Publishing.
Jackson, S, Schuler, R, and Werner, S., 2011. Managing Human Resources. 11th ed. Cengage
Learning.
Lavaty, S. and Kleiner, H. B., 2001. Managing and understanding the French employee.
Management Research News. 24(3/4). pp.45 – 48.
Lavaty, S. and Kleiner, H. B., 2001. Managing and understanding the French employee.
Management Research News. 24(3/4). pp.45 – 48.
Lussier, R. N. and Achua, 2009. Leadership: Theory, Application, & Skill Development. 4th
edition. Cengage Learning. p 173.
Maki, 2010. Assessing for Learning: Building a Sustainable Commitment Across the Institution.
2nd edition. Stylus Publishing, LLC. p26.
Mayer, D. M. and et.al., 2009. How low does ethical leadership flow? Test of a trickle-down
model. Organizational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes. 108(1). pp.1-13.
Moran, T. R. Harris, R. P. and Moran, V. S., 2011. Managing Cultural Differences: Global
Leadership Strategies for Cross-cultural Business Success. Routledge.
Moyles, 2006, Effective Leadership and Management in the Early Years. 1st edition. McGraw-
Hill International. p13.
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Pellegrini, E. K., Scandura, T. A. and Jayaraman, V., 2010. Cross-cultural generalizability of
paternalistic leadership: An expansion of leader-member exchange theory. Group &
Organization Management. 35(4). Pp.391-420.
Robertson, J. M. and Webber, C. F., 2000. Cross-cultural leadership development. International
Journal of Leadership in Education. 3(4). Pp. 315-330.
Scullion, H. and Collings, D., 2011. Global talent management. Routledge.
Sevdalis, N. and et.al., 2009. Observational teamwork assessment for surgery: construct
validation with expert versus novice raters. Annals of surgery. 249(6). 1047-1051.
Steers, R. M. and et.al., 2010. Management across Cultures: Challenges and Strategies.
Cambridge University Press.
Weitzel, T., 2010. The performance impact of business process standardization: An empirical
evaluation of the recruitment process. Business Process Management Journal. 16(1).
pp.29 – 56.
West, M. A., 2012. Effective teamwork: Practical lessons from organizational research. John
Wiley & Sons
Online
Experience trumps age when it comes to community leadership. 2013. [Online]. Available
through: < ://www.rbc.com/community-sustainability/rbc-in-action/cmh-experience-
trumps.html >. [Accessed on 12th November 2015].
Schoemaker, H. J. P, Krupp, S. and Howland, S., 2013. Strategic Leadership: The Essential
Skills. [Online]. Available through: < http://hbr.org/2013/01/strategic-leadership-the-
esssential-skills/ar/1 >. [Accessed on 12th November 2015].
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