Leadership Definition and History

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to enlighten and explore the concept of leadership in a holistic manner. The paper will not only enlighten leadership but also the history of leadership along with different phases that proposed distinct theories in context of leadership. The paper will also highlight different leadership styles that are outcome of different characteristics and assert the historic phases in which a particular leadership style was proposed.

Table of Contents

Introduction4

Leadership History4

Phases of Leadership History5

Leadership Styles6

Authoritative Leadership6

Participative Leadership7

Transactional Leadership7

Transformational Leadership8

Conclusion8

References9

Leadership Definition and History

Introduction

Leadership is a phenomenon that asserts the influence of one individual over the others in order for the accomplishment of objectives. A leader is an individual that supports and motivates its followers for achievement of the objectives; moreover, a leader takes the responsibility of the individuals that operate under his supervision. Leadership plays a significant role in achieving the short term and long term objective designed by the organization. The leader not only manages and supervises the performance of the followers. Nonetheless, a leader is equipped with distinct characteristics that make him different from others. There are distinct styles of leadership each aligned with the characteristics that a leader engulfs. Leadership and the approaches adapted by a leader is a historical phenomenon; however, the discovery of the leadership tactics and methods were discovered steady with the passage of time.

Leadership History

The concept of leadership in corporate environment or any other industry is not a contemporary concept. The researchers with the passage of time have enlightened and explored different characteristics of leadership along with the approaches that are followed by the leadership in order to influence their followers. Nonetheless, leadership is a historical phenomenon that has been encountered in practice since centuries (Costa, 1998, 66-74). The notion of leadership has been explored by different scholars and practitioners in order to understand the core nature of the phenomenon. The historical perspective of leadership enlightens that the individuals having leadership characteristics were highlighted from the resource and aligned with superior designations in order to extract their effective services. Leadership is often considered as a phenomenon with evolution as the approaches and styles of leadership are not stagnant as they are is constant state of flux depending upon the nature of circumstances encountered by the leaders.

Phases of Leadership History

The ancient era of leadership was much more focused upon the personality traits on the basis of which the individuals were identified as leaders. The historic inception of leadership also reveals that the traits of a leader cannot be copied as they are present in an individual since birth. However, with the passage of time, it was identified that an individual can also be termed as a leader on the basis of his encounter with the experiences through which his traits are refined (Yoshida, Geller, 2009, 108-115).

The later phase in the history of leadership focused on benchmarking an individual's behavior as the major cause of him being a leader. In this era, the traits of a leader in historic era were refined ...