Leadership History and Case Study Research Paper

History Of Leadership

Throughout much of history, leadership was viewed as an inherited position. It was rare that somebody would earn their way into a leadership position. Over time, a leadership model emerged that emphasized traits, and those who displayed those traits were funneled into a leadership system that, at best, worked on a linear hierarchy where tenure determined who held what position.

The major gains in leadership theory occurred when the study of leadership moved beyond these two concepts. By the 1940s and 50s, there was a move towards behavioral theories. Leaders weren't successful because of their traits, but because of the behaviors that existed, a concept that was similar but different. Behaviorism opened up the study of leadership, however. It was really the first theory that focused on emergent leadership over assigned leadership. It also began to separate the idea of management from that of leadership. That separation would grow stronger as leadership study progressed through the 20th century. Contingency theories, situational leadership and similar approached in the 1960s highlighted the leadership behaviors were not certain, but could be tailored to the situation. A good leader, by this point, was considered an outcome. This was important, because it meant that leadership was something that could be taught, a fairly novel advancement in thinking at the time.

Motivation became a key differentiator between leadership and management. In the 1970s there was a split between what a leader was motivating for. Transactional leadership focused on day-to-day excellent -- improving efficiency, and managing performance of routine tasks. Transformational leadership was the counterpart, where a leader guided an organization through some sort of transformation -- often applied to changing industries, mergers and corporate reorganization. These different leadership paradigms -- the transactional/transformational dichotomy, situational leadership and behaviorism are all foundational elements of leadership study today, theories usually being based on combinations of these ideas.

The different concepts above were all refinements that looked at how leaders use their power, where that power comes from and what they use it for. The earlier theories have leaders whose power is assigned and formal. Trait theory, and behavioral theories, typically left power as formal, but the acquisition of power was viewed to be more emergent. The modern theories of leadership look at how leadership vests throughout the organization. One does not need formal power to have leadership, in particular in organizations that downplay formal power. Many…