Entrepreneurial Leadership for

Sustainable Development (ELSD)

PDM (2016 18)
Session 2
Theories of Leadership

Early Theories of Leadership

Traits Approach
Great man Approach/Traits Approach - early research focused on leaders
who had achieved a level of greatness.
Attempted identifying innate qualities and characteristics possessed by great social,
political, and military leaders as the

Attempted to find out what made them great

Attempted to find common traits of people born with greatness

Traits approach generated a lot of interest among researchers for its

explanation of how traits influence leadership

Early Theories of Leadership

Traits Approach
Major Leadership Traits

Intelligence
Self-confidence
Determination
Integrity
Sociability

Early Theories of Leadership

Traits Approach
Big Five Personality Factors:
Neuroticism: Tendency to be depressed, anxious, insecure, vulnerable, and hostile
Extraversion: Tendency to be sociable and assertive, to have positive energy
Openness: Tendency to be informed, creative, insightful and curious
Agreeableness: Tendency to be accepting, conforming, trusting and nurturing
Conscientiousness: Tendency to be thorough, organized, controlled, dependable and
decisive

Early Theories of Leadership

Traits Approach
How does it work?
Straightforward approach as it focusses exclusively on the leader
and not on the follower and situation.
Emphasizes that having a leader with certain set of traits is
crucial to having effective leadership. Leader and his/her
personality is central to leadership process (Leader Situation
Followers)
Beneficial for personal awareness and development

Early Theories of Leadership

Traits Approach
Where it fails
Is a limiting approach as it has a definitive list of leadership traits
In mid- 20th century, traits approach was challenged by researches
that questioned the universality of leadership traits
An individual who was a leader in one situation might not emerge as the
leader in other situations.

Is a subjective determination of ones capabilities, skills and

characteristics

Early Theories of Leadership

Skills Approach
Also a leader-centered approach. However, rather than focusing on personality characteristics, which is
viewed as innate and largely fixed, it focuses on skills and abilities that can be learned and developed.

Three Skill Approach (Katz)

Technical Human Conceptual
Technical Skills (Things): Knowledge about and proficiency in a specific type of work or activity.
Includes competencies in a specialized area, analytical ability, and ability to use appropriate tools
and techniques.

Human Skills (People): Knowledge about and ability to work with people.
Conceptual Skills (Ideas): Ability to work with ideas and concepts

Early Theories of Leadership

Skills Approach
INDIVIDUAL
ATTRIBUTES

Cognitive
Ability
Motivation
Personality

COMPETENCIES

Problem-Solving
Skills
Social Judgement
Skills
Knowledge

LEADERSHIP
OUTCOMES

Effective
Problem
Solving
Performance

Career Experiences
Environmental Influences

Early Theories of Leadership

Skills Approach
Career Experiences Leaders are shaped by their experience.

Therefore, leaders are not born, leaders can develop their abilities
through experience (according to skills model)

Environmental Influences
Internal Environment such as technology, facilities, expertise of subordinates, communication skills etc.

External Environment such as economic, social, political issues etc.

Early Theories of Leadership

Skills Approach
How does the skills approach work?
Skills approach makes leadership available to everyone.
Rather than providing prescriptions for success in leadership, the skills

approach provides a structure for understanding the nature of effective

leadership.

It emphasizes importance of certain leadership skills depending on

where leaders are in management hierarchy

Early Theories of Leadership

Skills Approach
Where it fails
Skills model has a weak predictive value as it does not explain how skills
lead to effective leadership performance

It is similar to traits model as cognitive abilities, motivation and

personality variables are also trait variables

Early Theories of Leadership

Style Approach
Style Approach emphasizes on the behavior of the leader as oppose to

emphasis on personality characteristics in Trait Approach and leaders

capabilities in Skills Approach

Emphasis on Task Behaviors and Relationship Behaviors

Task Behavior Facilitate goal accomplishment
Relationship Behavior Helps employees feel comfortable with each
other

BLAKE AND MOUTONs MANAGERIAL GRID

Early Theories of Leadership

Style Approach

Early Theories of Leadership

Style Approach
How does this approach work?
Style Approach emphasizes the need for action based on task and relationship
E.g. Depending upon the situation, leader has to be either task or relationship oriented

Style Approach broadened the basic approach of Leadership Research i.e. beyond skills
and traits

It provides broad conceptual map through which complexities of Leadership can be

understood

Early Theories of Leadership

Style Approach
Where it fails
It has not adequately explained how leaders style are
associated with performance outcomes

It fails to find a universal style of leadership