3 Types of Leadership Theories

According to Forbes, leadership is a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal. Leadership is a topic that is often discussed when it comes to personal development and plays an important role in organisational success. As such, it is not surprising to see many companies looking out for leadership traits in individuals during the hiring process and questions surrounding leadership will appear for job interviews.

This begs the question of whether leadership is born or acquired during an individual’s lifetime. While traditionally some argue that leaders are inherently born with certain good quality traits through the Great Man Theory, development of leadership theories have proved that leadership can be acquired rather than just a genetic endowment.

In this article, we will explore the various leadership theories and how you can learn from each of them to be a future leader yourself!

1. Behavioural Theories - Ohio State Leadership Studies

Contrasting to the Great Man Theory and the notion of leaders being born with natural attributes, behavioural theories of leadership put the spotlight on how leaders behave and assumes that successful behaviours exhibited by leaders can be replicated.

According to TechnoFunc, human behaviour refers to the range of behaviours exhibited by humans and which are influenced by many different factors such as:

• culture
• attitudes
• emotions
• values
• ethics
• authority
• rapport
• hypnosis
• persuasion
• coercion and/or genetics.

 

Different patterns of behaviour can be observed and then classified into various styles of leadership.  

While there are several behavioural leadership theories, one of the leading behavioural leadership theories include the Ohio State Leadership Studies. In the 1940s, a group of researchers from Ohio State University developed a list of 150 statements to measure various behavioural leadership dimensions. The conclusion was that there were two groups of behaviours, namely Initiating Structure and Consideration. 

On the one hand, a high level of Initiating Structure behaviour implies that the leader makes most decisions leading to more clarity and structure, with a clear definition of roles, tasks and expectations. On the other hand, a high level of Consideration behaviour suggests that the leader has a lot of empathy and focuses on relationships as well as the welfare of people. Importantly, the Ohio State Leadership Studies concluded that the most effective leaders display high Initiating Structure and Consideration Behavior at the same time, and that leadership can be learnt. 

For students, you can be conditioned to lead by learning various remarkable behaviours from both the Initiating Structure and Consideration behaviour categories. For Initiating Structure behaviour, you can learn to take charge in project work, setting milestones and performance targets for the team when no one else is willing to take the initiative. For Consideration behaviour, you will work on developing the ability to establish effective and cooperative relationships through more communication and listening to team members.

2. Situational Theory - Hersey and Blanchard Model

Building on the idea that there are various styles of leadership, the situational theory posits that no single leadership style is the best and leaders should be defined by their flexibility. More concretely, experts Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard developed four common types of leadership styles:

1. Delegating: This is a low-task, low-relationship style as the leader can pass on most of his or her responsibilities for a given task to various members of the team without having much direction or guidance needed.
2. Participating: This is a low-task, high-relationship style as the leader will blend in with those who are working as part of the team, emphasising shared ideas and decisions.
3. Selling: This is a high-task, high-relationship style as the leader tries to sell his or her ideas to the team by explaining task directions in a persuasive manner, convincing team members to follow.
4. Telling: This is a high-task, low-relationship style as the leader simply gives explicit directions on the task and supervises work closely with little collaboration between the leader and team members.

What this means for students is that depending on the circumstances, you must adapt accordingly to become a successful leader in your own right. During the course of your school life, there should be various opportunities to try out different ways to lead.

The most ideal leader is one that is not restricted to any one style, but can respond by delegating, participating, selling and telling based on the situation.

3. Transformational Leadership Theory

Finally, transformational leadership theory asserts that leaders can inspire positive changes in followers. According to researcher Bernard M. Bass, transformational leadership consists of four key elements:

1. Intellectual Stimulation: Transformational leaders encourage followers to explore new ways of doing things and finding new opportunities to learn, resulting in greater creativity.
2. Individualised Consideration: Transformational leaders offer support and encouragement to individual followers, keeping lines of communication open so that followers can freely share ideas and be recognised for their contributions.
3. Inspirational Motivation: Transformational leaders have a clear vision that is articulated to followers, helping them to experience the same motivation to fulfill these goals.
4. Idealized Influence: Transformational leaders serve as a strong role model for followers, such that followers trust and respect the leader, internalising the leaders’ ideals.

It is the ultimate goal for leaders to inspire followers and push them to greater heights. For students, these qualities of transformational leaders can be useful to learn from, as actionable steps can be taken, such as creating an inspiring vision for your team, motivating followers to be creative and deliver the vision with strong relationships.

In conclusion, there are various theories to be a future leader and most of them, with the exception of the Great Man Theory, suggest that leadership can be acquired over time.

However, being a successful leader does not come overnight and it would be useful to learn the successful behaviors of other leaders, how to adapt your leadership style based on the situation and ultimately, transform others to become successful leaders as well.

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