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• http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1681-4706 Sihame Benmira 1 ,
• Moyosolu Agboola 2
• 1 Mayo Clinic Healthcare , London , UK
• 2 Virgin Care , Reading , UK
• Correspondence to Dr Sihame Benmira, Mayo Clinic Healthcare, London W1B 1PT, UK; sihame.benmira{at}doctors.org.uk

https://doi.org/10.1136/leader-2020-000296

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Introduction

Leadership is one of the most complex and multidimensional phenomena. It has been studied extensively over the years and has taken on greater importance than ever before in today’s fast-paced and increasingly globalised world. Nonetheless, leadership continues to generate captivating and confusing debate due to the complexity of the subject. Bennis notes that ‘leadership is the most studied and least understood topic of any in the social sciences’ and ‘never have so many laboured so long to say so little’. 1

Effective leadership is recognised as key to the success of any organisation. In fact, there has been a shift towards acknowledging the importance of human capital and organisational management. 5 6 But what is the difference between leadership and management? Leaders are generally viewed as visionaries and strategist whereas managers monitor and control performance, maintaining order and stability in an organisation. 7 8 Some researchers argue that leaders and managers have distinct roles and responsibilities while others assert that leadership and management are complementary and it would be difficult to separate them in practice. 7

The present paper traces the historical evolution of the main leadership theories and reviews the progress that has been made over the years. It explores four main eras in leadership theory: trait, behavioural, situational and new leadership.

Trait era: Great Man theory (1840s) and trait theories (1930s–1940s)

In the 19th century, research on leadership was focused on the innate characteristics of a leader 9 10 and on identifying the personality traits and other qualities of effective leaders. 11

The core belief of the Great Man theory is that leaders are born, not made or trained. In other words only a few, very rare, individuals possess the unique characteristics to be effective leaders and attain greatness by divine design. Examples were often drawn from popular historical figures such as Julius Caesar, Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln and Napoleon Bonaparte. It was believed that these individuals were natural born leaders with innate characteristics of leadership, which enabled them to lead individuals while they shape the pages of history.

The Great Man theory then evolved into the trait theories. Trait theories argue that leaders can be born or made. 7 In other words, that the traits of successful leaders can be either inherited or acquired through training and practice. The aim was to identify the right combination of characteristics that make an effective leader and focus was on studying the mental, social and physical traits of leaders. However, a consistent set of traits was not produced and by 1950, it appeared that there was little advantage in continuing with this approach and hence it was abandoned. Today, psychometric tools are an example of trait theory principles in action and are often used in staff recruitment. These tools highlight key personality traits and are used for personal performance and team development.

Behavioural era: behavioural theory (1940s–1950s)

Behavioural theory evolved from trait theories and asserts that leaders are largely made, rather than born and that particular behaviours can be learnt to ensure effective leadership. 11 12 It puts emphasis on the actual behaviour of the leader and not on their traits or characteristics, but it largely ignores the situation and environment of the leader.

Research in this area resulted in different patterns of behaviour being grouped together and labelled as styles. 11 This became a prevalent approach within management training—perhaps the best known being Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid. 13 Today, this theory is exemplified in the numerous leadership-training programmes, which involve the development of leadership skills and behaviours, thus supporting the belief that leadership is largely learnt.

Situational era: contingent and situational theories (1960s)

It was later recognised that the environment plays a significant role in the leader-follower dynamic and this belief dominated the situational era. 14 As the name suggests, the situational era is focused on leadership in particular situations, rather than on the traits or behaviours of leaders. This implies that leaders must be able to assess the context in which they operate and then decide what style will ‘fit’ the situation best. Because the best style is dependent on the situation, this approach is known as the contingency theory of leadership.

Fred Fiedler developed one of the first contingency theories of leadership. 15 His theory focuses on the importance of context in effective leadership and supports the belief that there is no one best set of leadership traits or behaviours. However, Fiedler asserst that because a leader’s style is fixed, they should be put into situations that best match their style. In other words, effectiveness as a leader is determined by how well their leadership style matches a particular context.

New leadership era: transactional, transformational theories (1990s) and others (2000s)

For the first time, it was recognised that focusing on one aspect or dimension of leadership cannot address all the complexity of the phenomenon. 16 In a world that has become more complex and challenging, a need emerged for leadership theories that support circumstances of rapid change, disruptive technological innovation and increasing globalisation. This led to the new leadership era, moving away from the above-mentioned traditional theories of leadership, which define leadership as a unidirectional, top-down influencing process, drawing a distinct line between leaders and followers. Instead, the focus became on the complex interactions among the leader, the followers, the situation and the system as a whole, with particular attention dedicated to the latent leadership capacities of followers.

Transactional and transformational theories

The above-mentioned context encouraged the popularity and adoption of two leadership theories: transformational and transactional theories, 17 and also gave rise to approaches such as the Lean strategy 18 and agile methodology 19 to help deal with the fast pace of change and increasing complexity of the challenges faced. Transformational leadership is a theory in which leaders encourage, inspire and motivate followers. 20 This theory is used when an organisation needs to be revitalised, is undergoing significant change or requires a new direction. It is especially vital to today’s fast-paced technological industry where innovation and agility can make or break an organisation. Examples of transformational leaders include the likes of Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates.

Transactional leadership, on the other hand, relies on authority to motivate employees. 20 The leader exchanges reward for follower effort and punishes any follower who fails to meet their goals. In this context, the follower’s perception concerning fairness and equity of the exchange with the leader is vital. 21 Transactional leadership works best in mature organisations that already have clearly defined structure and goals, to keep them on track, and reinforce the status quo. Examples of transactional leaders include managers, who tend to focus on supervision, processes and follower performance.

The continued shift in leadership concepts led to the development of shared, collective and collaborative leadership practices. 22 23 According to these, success in an organisation is more dependent on coordinative leadership practices distributed throughout the organisation rather than the actions of a few individuals at the top. Servant leadership became popular once again, emphasising the importance of followers. Servant leaders seek to support their team members and are most concerned with serving people first. 24 More recently, inclusive leadership also emerged, focusing on a person-centred approach. 25 It is based on the dynamic processes that occur between leaders and followers and focuses on empowering followers to becoming leaders. Finally, contemporary leadership theory also includes complexity leadership, which emerged as a means to deal with the complexity of our modern world. This theory takes a whole-system view, considering contextual interactions that occur across an entire social system. 26

Leadership theory is a dynamic phenomenon and continues to change over time. It has been studied extensively over the years and several theories have emerged ( table 1 ). Traditional leadership theories include the Great Man theory, which maintains that leaders are born to lead thus possessing certain inherent characteristics that destines them to lead. Trait theory evolved from the Great Man theory and specifies that leaders are can be born or made and that the combination of certain characteristics is needed to be an effective leader. Behavioural theory then followed, asserting that leaders are largely made with a focus on the actions of the leader as opposed to their personality traits. There was then recognition that certain environmental factors are important and contingency and situational theories were added to the mix. The modern era followed and involved a shift from focusing on the leaders and their attributes to considering the complex and continuous interactions and interrelationships among the leader, the followers and the situation. The resulting theories include shared, collective and collaborative leadership as well as inclusive leadership. Finally, complexity leadership also emerged, focusing on the whole system of an organisation.

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Summary of the main leadership theories

Examining the historical development of leadership theories provides some necessary perspective as well as context within which to appreciate the complexity of the subject. Each theory has its merits and drawbacks and seems to provide part of the answer to the leadership puzzle. In today’s complex, dynamic and globalised world, organisations are consistently dealing with change and uncertainty and no one theory has been able to address all the concerns regarding leadership. Many consider the traditional hierarchical views of leadership as less and less relevant given the complexity of our modern world. This led to a shift in focus from the characteristics and behaviours of leaders to a more systemic perspective, focusing on leadership as a collective social process resulting from the interactions of multiple factors. New leadership theories were consequently formulated in an attempt to deal with the new reality of organisations and business, resulting in newer and more relevant definitions of leader, follower and situation.

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The present paper explores the historical evolution of leadership theory, which includes four main eras: trait, behavioural, situational and new leadership. The focus was initially on natural born leaders and identifying the traits of the effective leader. Behavioural leadership then followed and focused on the actions of a leader. The situational and contingent theories in turn assert that the best leadership style is the one that best fits a given context. These traditional leadership theories offered part of the answer to the leadership puzzle but none had all the answer. These were then followed by the new leadership theories, which are inclusive of additional factors, generally adopt a more systemic approach to leadership and take into account the multifaceted and complex nature of our modern world and the importance of followership in effective leadership.

In practice

Hospital trusts in the UK are large, complex, and mature organisations within the National Health Service (NHS) with established structures and processes. Traditional leadership theory tells us that transactional leadership is ideal in this situation for keeping an established organisation on track, maintaining the status quo and ensuring the execution of plans. Transactional leadership is also known to be effective in guiding efficiency decisions, which are aimed at cutting costs and improving productivity. However, because the NHS is not only a mature organisation but also undergoing tremendous change, leaders may switch styles and adopt a transformational leadership approach to engage followers in implementing change and encouraging innovation.

Healthcare organisations may also benefit from the application of other more contemporary leadership theories such as collaborative, inclusive and shared leadership, which blur the distinction between leader and follower and adopt a person-centred approach that focuses on the empowerment and development of followers. Compassionate leadership is also relevant in the context of patient care. And complexity leadership theory can also help the NHS understand how to thrive in today’s uncertain and turbulent times using a process-orientated, contextual and interactive approach to infiltrate leadership at all levels. The challenge is for healthcare professionals to be able to recognise which leadership theory is most relevant to their clinical practice and know how to effectively apply these theories in the workplace.

• Stogdill RM
• Froiland JM
• Bhattacharyya SS
• Buchanan DA ,
• Huczynski A
• Denison DR ,
• Hooijberg R ,
• Fiedler F ,
• Van Seters DA ,
• Codington-Lacerte C
• Hollander EP ,
• Offermann LR
• Kukenberger MR ,
• D'Innocenzo L
• Lee-Davies L
• Thompson H ,
• Rosenhead J ,
• Franco LA ,
• Grint K , et al

Contributors SB conceived the idea for the article. SB and MA contributed to the design and wrote the article. SB submitted the article. Both SB and MA contributed to revising the article following reviewer feedback.

Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Competing interests None declared.

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The Major Leadership Theories

The 8 Major Theories of Leadership

Verywell / Brianna Gilmartin 

• "Great Man"
• Contingency
• Situational
• Participative
• Relationship

What Kind of Leader Are You?

What is it that makes some people excel in leadership roles? Leadership theories seek to explain how and why certain people become leaders. Such theories often focus on the characteristics of leaders, but some attempt to identify the behaviors that people can adopt to improve their own leadership abilities in different situations.

Early debates on the psychology of leadership often suggested that such skills were simply abilities that people were born with. In other words, these theories proposed that certain people were simply "born leaders." Some more recent theories propose that possessing certain traits may help make people natural leaders, but experience and situational variables also play a critical role.

A Closer Look at Leadership Theories

As interest in the psychology of leadership has increased over the last 100 years, a number of different leadership theories have been introduced to explain exactly how and why certain people become great leaders.

What exactly makes a great leader? Do certain personality traits make people better suited to leadership roles, or do characteristics of the situation make it more likely that certain people will take charge? When we look at the leaders around us—be it our employer or the President—we might find ourselves wondering exactly why these individuals excel in such positions.

People have long been interested in leadership throughout human history, but a number of formal leadership theories have only emerged relatively recently. Interest in leadership increased during the early part of the twentieth century.

Early leadership theories focused on what qualities distinguished leaders from followers, while subsequent theories looked at other variables such as situational factors and skill levels. While many different leadership theories have emerged, most can be classified as one of eight major types.

"Great Man" Theories

Have you ever heard someone described as "born to lead?" According to this view, great leaders are simply born with the necessary internal characteristics, such as charisma, confidence, intelligence, and social skills, to be natural-born leaders.

Great man theories assume that the capacity for leadership is inherent—that great leaders are born, not made. These theories often portray great leaders as heroic, mythic, and destined to rise to leadership when needed. The term "Great Man" was used because, at the time, leadership was thought of primarily as a male quality, especially in terms of military leadership.

Such theories suggest that people cannot really learn how to become strong leaders. Leadership is either something you are born with or born without. This is very much a nature ( as opposed to nurture ) approach to explaining leadership.

Trait Theories

Similar in some ways to Great Man theories, trait theories assume that people inherit certain qualities and traits that make them better suited to leadership. Trait theories often identify a particular personality or behavioral characteristics shared by leaders. For example, traits like extroversion , self-confidence, and courage are all traits that could potentially be linked to great leaders.

If particular traits are key features of leadership, then how do we explain people who possess those qualities but are not leaders? This question is one of the difficulties in using trait theories to explain leadership.

Plenty of people possess the personality traits associated with leadership, yet many of these people never seek out leadership positions. There are also people who lack some of the key traits often associated with effective leadership yet still excel at leading groups.

Contingency Theories

Contingency theories of leadership focus on particular variables related to the environment that might determine which particular style of leadership is best suited for the situation. According to this theory, no leadership style is best in all situations.

Leadership researchers White and Hodgson suggest that truly effective leadership is not just about the qualities of the leader; it is about striking the right balance between behaviors, needs, and context.

Good leaders are able to assess the needs of their followers, take stock of the situation, and then adjust their behaviors accordingly. Success depends on a number of variables including the leadership style, qualities of the followers, and aspects of the situation.

Situational Theories

Situational theories propose that leaders choose the best course of action based upon situational variables. Different styles of leadership may be more appropriate for certain types of decision-making.

For example, in a situation where the leader is the most knowledgeable and experienced member of a group, an authoritarian style might be most appropriate. In other instances where group members are skilled experts, a democratic style would be more effective.

Behavioral Theories

Behavioral theories of leadership are based on the belief that great leaders are made, not born. Consider this the flip side of the Great Man theories. Rooted in  behaviorism , this leadership theory focuses on leaders' actions, not on their mental qualities or internal states. According to this theory, people can learn to become leaders through teaching and observation.

Participative Theories

Participative leadership theories suggest that the ideal leadership style is one that takes the input of others into account. These leaders encourage participation and contributions from group members and help group members feel more relevant and committed to the decision-making process. In participative theories, however, the leader retains the right to allow the input of others.

Management Theories

Management theories, also known as transactional theories , focus on the role of supervision, organization, and group performance. These theories base leadership on a system of rewards and punishments. Managerial theories are often used in business; when employees are successful, they are rewarded and when they fail, they are reprimanded or punished.

Relationship Theories

Relationship theories, also known as transformational theories, focus upon the connections formed between leaders and followers. Transformational leaders motivate and inspire people by helping group members see the importance and higher good of the task.

These leaders are focused on the performance of group members, but also want every person to fulfill their potential. Leaders with this style often have high ethical and moral standards.

Try our fast and free quiz to find out your usual leadership style.

There are many different ways of thinking about leadership, ranging from focusing on the personality traits of outstanding leadership to emphasizing aspects of the situation that help determine how people lead.

Like most things, leadership is a highly multi-faceted subject and it is a mixture of many factors that help determine why some people become great leaders. Learning more about some of the things that make people strong leaders is one way of potentially improving your own skills.

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Theories of Leadership

• Reference work entry
• First Online: 01 January 2023
• pp 12729–12736
• Cite this reference work entry

• Wallace Swan 2  

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Attribution leadership; Authentic leadership; Behavioral leadership theories; Complexity and integrative leadership; Great Man theory; Leadership; Online leadership; Performance-base leadership; Relational-based leadership theories; Situational and contingency leadership theories; Team and participative leadership theories; Traits and skill-based leadership theories

Introduction

The intent of this chapter is to talk about each of the major theories of leadership and discuss how they are related. Over the years, the field has since evolved into an array of leadership theories – with both striking differences as well as interrelationships between the theories.

What is a theory? According to Abraham Kaplan, “A theory is a way of making sense of a disturbing situation so as to allow us most effectively to bring to bear our repertoire of habits, and even more important, to modify habits or discard them altogether, replacing them by new ones as the situation demands” (Kaplan 1964 ,...

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Swan, W. (2022). Theories of Leadership. In: Farazmand, A. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66252-3_2373

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