Leadership and Management Theories

Leadership can be defined as the art of influencing and inspiring subordinates to perform their duties willingly, competently and enthusiastically in order to achieve the desired organizational goals.

A dictatorship, under which the subordinates have to perform, would not be considered as leadership. A true leader motivates the following to follow and induces a belief that the followers will gain by the policies of the leader.

Generally speaking, leaders are known to possess energy, intelligence, self-confidence, patience, maturity and a charismatic appearance and attitude . Whether these characteristics are inherited or learned is still a subject of debate. Which ones of these characteristics are important and necessary for leadership is not explainable. Many of these traits are also exhibited by followers and it is not explained as to why followers could not become leaders.

Leaders are also judged by their behavior as leaders irrespective of the characteristics. If a manager has high consideration for the welfare of his subordinates and his policies, procedures and work assignments are all acceptable to the subordinates then such manager would be considered as a good leader.

Contingency theories of leadership propose that leadership can also be a function of the situation, so that the effectiveness of the leader’s behavior is contingent upon the demands imposed by the given situation. This approach defines leadership in terms of the leader's ability to handle a given situation and is based upon his skill in that particular area.

It is also possible to become a leader, if you know what the followers want and you have the resources or the know-how to satisfy these needs and wants, irrespective of the traits of the leader himself This approach is known as the path-goal theory. The leader sets up clear path and clear guidelines through which the subordinates can achieve both personal as well as work related goals and assists them in achieving these goals. The job of the leader becomes even easier when the subordinates are sufficiently mature, where the maturity of the subordinates can be defined as their ability and willingness to take responsibility for direction their own behavior in relation to a given task.

The practice of management is as old as civilization. In fact, much of the progress of mankind over the centuries may be attributed to the effective management of resources. Examples of effective management of resources are the irrigation systems, existence of public utilities and the construction of various monuments like the Taj Mahal and Egyptian pyramids of the bygone era. These examples amply demonstrate the practice of management in the olden days. The ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome and the Indus Valley display the spectacular results of good management practices However, the study of management in a systematic way as a distinct body of knowledge is only of recent origin. That is why, management is often described as the ‘oldest of the arts and youngest of the sciences'. Therefore, the practice of management cannot be considered as a new venture. Management has been practiced for thousands of years. But the science of it, which refers to the systematic body of knowledge, is no doubt a phenomenon of the past few centuries.

The traditional management practices remained quite stable until the Industrial Revolution in the mid-18th century. The industrial revolution brought about the substitution of machine power in place of manpower through several scientific inventions. As a result, within a few decades, the picture of industrial activity went through a metamorphic change. Man’s quest for finding new ways of doing things while adopting he scientific and technological inventions in the production of various goods and services, resulted in:

1. Mass production due to anticipation of demand
2. The advent of a corporate form of organization which led to large-scale production
3. Spectacular improvements in transport and communication Facilities