Is There Any Truth in the Leadership Theories?

It is difficult to identify a leader. It is even more difficult to become a leader since no two leaders are same. They hardly come from similar background or have similar intelligence and methods. The path followed by every single leader is different. They are all unique. Most leaders had no indication of their success until they became successful. However, experts have developed some theories of leadership which helps us in understand the leaders.

Most experts agree on eight theories which are:-

1. Great Man Theory:

It assumes that leaders are born and not made. The word, great man is used since almost all leaders in earlier times had been males.

2. Trait Theory:

This theory assumes that the leaders have some inherent traits like adaptability, ambition, assertiveness, decisive, dependability, trustworthiness and willing to assume responsibility. This theory is not very different from the great man theory as it assumes that leaders are born with certain traits.

3. Contingency Theory:
This theory states that there cannot be a best leadership style in all situations. The leadership style depends on the type of followers and the situation at hand.

4. Situational Theory:
This theory believes that leaders are created based on the situation and the requirement of the time. For example, the leader in the wartime is different than the leader of the peacetime.

5. Behaviour Theory:
This theory is just opposite of the great man theory as it believes that leaders are made and not born. This theory believes that it is possible to become a leader by training and observation.

6. Participative theory:
The assumption of the participative theory is that the people who are expected to carry out the decision must participate in the decision making as people are more inclined to implement the joint vision. However, the leader should retain the final decision-making if the participants do not agree with each other.

7. Transactional Theory:
This is also called the management style as it is most common in organizations. This theory presumes that most people are motivated by rewards and punishments. There must be clear chain of command and the people lower in hierarchy must obey the command of the higher ups.

8. Transformational Theory:
This theory presumes that people follow the leaders who inspire them. It means that the leaders must have some exceptional qualities which make him charismatic and persuade the people to follow him. Transformational leaders have vision that excites, motivates and converts the followers who too develop the similar vision.

The most interesting part of these academic theories of leadership is that they are often contradictory and follow the principle of "Head I win and Tail you lose". They have covered every possibility of leadership. All you have to do is to find a leader and fit a theory for him. If nothing works, as a leader who does not follow any style or any theory than can always be put in the "great man theory" as he would have been said to be born as a leader. If the person display no leadership quality for most part of his life (like Mahatma Gandhi), you can apply behavioral theory and claim that he made himself a leader. If the leaders have some traits of leader as predicted by the trait theory, apply trait theory. Yet if a person has all traits yet no leadership, you can always use contingency theory or situational theory to explain why he could not become a leader. Sometime leaders are vested with some extraordinary qualities. For example Hitler was a great speaker. Here you can use the Transformational theory as he was the charismatic leader who transformed the people of Germany. Yet how can you explain the equality potent leader like Gandhi who had no exceptional quality and he was one of the poorest speakers of his time.

There seems to be no theory which can describe even one leader. If these theories have any truth in it, it could be possible to predict a leader when he is young or new. However, the fact is that all leaders had to struggle for decades before they were accepted as leader. There was no indication of leadership in their earlier years.

Leaders are therefore created as the need for them arises. Therefore, every leader is different and different situation throws up different types of leaders. The leaders of the first half of the twentieth century are different than those of the later half. The leaders of twenty first century have to be different than the leaders of previous generation. Everyone has a chance to become a leader if he has the courage of conviction and a selfless desire to do good for the people.