LEADERSHIP

Theory and Practice of Leadership

Theory and Practice of Leadership

Introduction

The success of any business and organizations depend on the management and leadership of those organizations, and how they use their available resources to maximize the profitability. Good leaders always tend to get the maximum out of his subordinates. They have the capability to convince the people and motivate them to perform a given task. Their essential task is to create and maintain a strong relationship with their subordinates, so that the subordinates must follow them in the pursuit of achieving organizational benefits (James, 2011). Communication plays a significant role in the perspective of leadership. It is necessary that the message is communicated accurately to the person, while using the most appropriate communication medium.

Leadership is not only applicable in the business environment, but it is also applied in the everyday life. People tend to work on various projects and events related to their personal life or academic requirement. When there is a family event to be conducted, there exists a need for a responsible person who can plan and execute the entire event successfully, through assigning the responsibilities among the other members. Similarly, while doing a course project, students tend to work in a group. The group needs a person who can guide them to how to perform a task and what tools and techniques need to be used to complete the tasks within the deadlines.

Leadership Theory

There is a myth regarding the concept of leadership. People tend to believe that leaders are born and not made. However, it is not true, as leadership can be learned by the individuals through improving on the interpersonal skills, and the ability to get work out of the other individuals associated with the group (Zaccaro, & Horn, 2003). There are numerous authors who presented different leadership theories, which highlighted several traits an individual must possess in order to become an efficient leader. Since the twentieth century, there have been emerged four main theories of the leadership, which have been supported by some other theories related to the traits of the leadership. These theories are as follows:

Trait Theories

Trait theory is based on the perception that there is a common set of personality characteristics a leader possess. These characteristics are known as traits. The theory further justifies that these traits either come from the birth of the individual or these traits can also be learned (Northouse, 2009). Through trait theories, one can identify about the qualities one might possess or built in order to lead a group or team. Such of the most common traits include, but are not limited to, empathy, good decision-making skills, integrity, likability, and assertiveness etc.

There are also some limitations of the trait theory, which cause difficulty for the leaders to represent their authority over their subordinates. The trait theory is based on the subjective judgment of an individual that how he/she perceives about the others. For one leader, integrity will be rated higher, while for the other leader, strong decision making ability will ...