Leadership

Leadership
Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support
of others in the accomplishment of a common task” . Definitions more inclusive of followers have also emerged. Alan Keith
of Genentech states that, "Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something
extraordinary happen." According to Ken "SKC" Ogbonnia, "effective leadership is the ability to successfully integrate and
maximize available resources within the internal and external environment for the attainment of organizational or societal goals."
Leadership remains one of the most relevant aspects of the organizational context. However, defining leadership has
been challenging and definitions can vary depending on the situation. According to Ann Marie E. McSwain, Assistant
Professor at Lincoln University, “leadership is about capacity: the capacity of leaders to listen and observe, to use their
expertise as a starting point to encourage dialogue between all levels of decision-making, to establish processes and transparency
in decision-making, to articulate their own values and visions clearly but not impose them. Leadership is about setting and not
just reacting to agendas, identifying problems, and initiating change that makes for substantial improvement rather than
managing change.”
The following sections discuss several important aspects of leadership including a description of what leadership is and
a description of several popular theories and styles of leadership. This article also discusses topics such as the role of emotions
and vision, as well as leadership effectiveness and performance, leadership in different contexts, how it may differ from related
concepts (i.e., management), and some critiques of leadership as generally conceived.
Theories of leadership
Students of leadership have produced theories involving traits, situational interaction, function, behavior, power, vision
and values, charisma, and intelligence among others.
1. Trait Theory
Trait theory tries to describe the characteristics associated with effective leadership.
Early History
The search for the characteristics or traits of leaders has been ongoing for centuries. History’s greatest philosophical
writings from Plato’s Republic to Plutarch’s Lives have explored the question of “What qualities distinguish an individual as a
leader?” Underlying this search was the early recognition of the importance of leadership and the assumption that leadership is
rooted in the characteristics that certain individuals possess. This idea that leadership is based on individual attributes is known
as the “trait theory of leadership.”
This view of leadership, the trait theory, was explored at length in a number of works in the previous century. Most
notable are the writings of Thomas Carlyle and Francis Galton, whose works have prompted decades of research. In Heroes and
Hero Worship (1841), Carlyle identified the talents, skills, and physical characteristics of men who rose to power. In Galton’s
(1869) Hereditary Genius, he examined leadership qualities in the families of powerful men. After showing that the numbers of
eminent relatives dropped off when moving from first degree to second degree relatives, Galton concluded that leadership was
inherited. In other words, leaders were born, not developed. Both of these notable works lent great initial support for the notion
that leadership is rooted in characteristics of the leader.
For decades, this trait-based perspective dominated empirical and theoretical work in leadership. Using early research
techniques, researchers conducted over a hundred studies proposing a number of characteristics that distinguished leaders from
non leaders: intelligence, dominance, adaptability, persistence, integrity, socioeconomic status, and self-confidence just to name
a few.
The Rise of Alternative Leadership Theories
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, however, a series of qualitative reviews of these studies (e.g., Bird, 1940; Stogdill,
1948; Mann, 1959) prompted researchers to take a drastically different view of the driving forces behind leadership. In
reviewing the extant literature, Stogdill and Mann found that while some traits were common across a number of studies, the
overall evidence suggested that persons who are leaders in one situation may not necessarily be leaders in other situations.
Subsequently, leadership was no longer characterized as an enduring individual trait, as situational approaches (see alternative
leadership theories below) posited that individuals can be effective in certain situations, but not others. This approach dominated
much of the leadership theory and research for the next few decades.
The Reemergence of the Trait Theory
New methods and measurements were developed after these influential reviews that would ultimately reestablish the
trait theory as a viable approach to the study of leadership. For example, improvements in researchers’ use of the round robin
research design methodology allowed researchers to see that individuals can and do emerge as leaders across a variety of
situations and tasks. Additionally, during the 1980s statistical advances allowed researchers to conduct meta-analyses, in which
they could quantitatively analyze and summarize the findings from a wide array of studies. This advent allowed trait theorists to
create a comprehensive and parsimonious picture of previous leadership research rather than rely on the qualitative reviews of
the past. Equipped with new methods, leadership researchers revealed the following:
Individuals can and do emerge as leaders across a variety of situations and tasks
Significant relationships exist between leadership and such individual traits as:
 Leadership
 intelligence
 adjustment
 extraversion
 conscientiousness
 openness to experience
 general self-efficacy
Current Criticisms of the Trait Theory
While the trait theory of leadership has certainly regained popularity, its reemergence has not been accompanied by a
corresponding increase in sophisticated conceptual frameworks.
Specifically, Zaccaro (2007) noted that trait theories still:
 Focus on a small set of individual attributes such as Big Five personality traits, to the neglect of cognitive abilities,
motives, values, social skills, expertise, and problem-solving skills
 Fail to consider patterns or integrations of multiple attributes
 Do not distinguish between those leader attributes that are generally not malleable over time and those that are shaped
by, and bound to, situational influences
 Do not consider how stable leader attributes account for the behavioral diversity necessary for effective leadership
2. Behavioral and style theories
In response to the early criticisms of the trait approach, theorists began to research leadership as a set of behaviors,
evaluating the behavior of 'successful' leaders, determining a behavior classification and identifying broad leadership styles.
David McClelland, for example, Leadership takes a strong personality with a well developed positive ego. Not so much as a
pattern of motives, but a set of traits is crucial. To lead; self-confidence and a high self-esteem is useful, perhaps even essential.
[Kevin Mick]
A graphical representation of the managerial grid model
Kurt Lewin, Ronald Lipitt, and Ralph White developed in 1939 the seminal work on the influence of leadership styles
and performance. The researchers evaluated the performance of groups of eleven-year-old boys under different types of work
climate. In each, the leader exercised his influence regarding the type of group decision making, praise and criticism (feedback),
and the management of the group tasks (project management) according to three styles: (1) authoritarian, (2) democratic and (3)
laissez-faire. Authoritarian climates were characterized by leaders who make decisions alone, demand strict compliance to his
orders, and dictate each step taken; future steps were uncertain to a large degree. The leader is not necessarily hostile but is aloof
from participation in work and commonly offers personal praise and criticism for the work done. Democratic climates were
characterized by collective decision processes, assisted by the leader. Before accomplishing tasks, perspectives are gained from
group discussion and technical advice from a leader. Members are given choices and collectively decide the division of labor.
Praise and criticism in such an environment are objective, fact minded and given by a group member without necessarily having
participated extensively in the actual work. Laissez faire climates gave freedom to the group for policy determination without
any participation from the leader. The leader remains uninvolved in work decisions unless asked, does not participate in the
division of labor, and very infrequently gives praise. The results seemed to confirm that the democratic climate was preferred.
The managerial grid model is also based on a behavioral theory. The model was developed by Robert Blake and Jane
Mouton in 1964 and suggests five different leadership styles, based on the leaders' concern for people and their concern for goal
achievement.
3. Situational and contingency theories
Situational theory also appeared as a reaction to the trait theory of leadership. Social scientists argued that history was
more than the result of intervention of great men as Carlyle suggested. Herbert Spencer (1884) said that the times produce the
person and not the other way around. This theory assumes that different situations call for different characteristics; according to
this group of theories, no single optimal psychographic profile of a leader exists. According to the theory, "what an individual
actually does when acting as a leader is in large part dependent upon characteristics of the situation in which he functions."
Some theorists started to synthesize the trait and situational approaches. Building upon the research of Lewin et al.,
academics began to normatize the descriptive models of leadership climates, defining three leadership styles and identifying in
which situations each style works better. The authoritarian leadership style, for example, is approved in periods of crisis but fails
to win the "hearts and minds" of their followers in the day-to-day management; the democratic leadership style is more adequate
in situations that require consensus building; finally, the laissez faire leadership style is appreciated by the degree of freedom it
provides, but as the leader does not "take charge", he can be perceived as a failure in protracted or thorny organizational
problems. Thus, theorists defined the style of leadership as contingent to the situation, which is sometimes classified as
contingency theory. Four contingency leadership theories appear more prominently in the recent years: Fiedler contingency
model, Vroom-Yetton decision model, the path-goal theory, and the Hersey-Blanchard situational theory.
The Fiedler contingency model bases the leader’s effectiveness on what Fred Fiedler called situational contingency. This
results from the interaction of leadership style and situational favorableness (later called "situational control"). The theory
defined two types of leader: those who tend to accomplish the task by developing good-relationships with the group
 Leadership
(relationship-oriented), and those who have as their prime concern carrying out the task itself (task-oriented). According to
Fiedler, there is no ideal leader. Both task-oriented and relationship-oriented leaders can be effective if their leadership
orientation fits the situation. When there is a good leader-member relation, a highly structured task, and high leader position
power, the situation is considered a "favorable situation". Fiedler found that task-oriented leaders are more effective in extremely
favourable or unfavourable situations, whereas relationship-oriented leaders perform best in situations with intermediate
favourability.
Victor Vroom, in collaboration with Phillip Yetton (1973) and later with Arthur Jago (1988), developed a taxonomy for
describing leadership situations, taxonomy that was used in a normative decision model where leadership styles where connected
to situational variables, defining which approach was more suitable to which situation. This approach was novel because it
supported the idea that the same manager could rely on different group decision making approaches depending on the attributes
of each situation. This model was later referred as situational contingency theory.
The path-goal theory of leadership was developed by Robert House (1971) and was based on the expectancy theory of
Victor Vroom. According to House, the essence of the theory is "the meta proposition that leaders, to be effective, engage in
behaviors that complement subordinates' environments and abilities in a manner that compensates for deficiencies and is
instrumental to subordinate satisfaction and individual and work unit performance. The theory identifies four leader behaviors,
achievement-oriented, directive, participative, and supportive, that are contingent to the environment factors and follower
characteristics. In contrast to the Fiedler contingency model, the path-goal model states that the four leadership behaviors are
fluid, and that leaders can adopt any of the four depending on what the situation demands. The path-goal model can be classified
both as a contingency theory, as it depends on the circumstances, but also as a transactional leadership theory, as the theory
emphasizes the reciprocity behavior between the leader and the followers.
The situational leadership model proposed by Hersey and Blanchard suggests four leadership-styles and four levels of
follower-development. For effectiveness, the model posits that the leadership-style must match the appropriate level of
followership-development. In this model, leadership behavior becomes a function not only of the characteristics of the leader,
but of the characteristics of followers as well.
4. Functional theory
Functional leadership theory (Hackman & Walton, 1986; McGrath, 1962) is a particularly useful theory for addressing
specific leader behaviors expected to contribute to organizational or unit effectiveness. This theory argues that the leader’s main
job is to see that whatever is necessary to group needs is taken care of; thus, a leader can be said to have done their job well
when they have contributed to group effectiveness and cohesion (Fleishman et al., 1991; Hackman & Wageman, 2005; Hackman
& Walton, 1986). While functional leadership theory has most often been applied to team leadership (Zaccaro, Rittman, &
Marks, 2001), it has also been effectively applied to broader organizational leadership as well (Zaccaro, 2001). In summarizing
literature on functional leadership (see Kozlowski et al. (1996), Zaccaro et al. (2001), Hackman and Walton (1986), Hackman &
Wageman (2005), Morgeson (2005)), Klein, Zeigert, Knight, and Xiao (2006) observed five broad functions a leader performs
when promoting organisation's effectiveness. These functions include: (1) environmental monitoring, (2) organizing subordinate
activities, (3) teaching and coaching subordinates, (4) motivating others, and (5) intervening actively in the group’s work.
A variety of leadership behaviors are expected to facilitate these functions. In initial work identifying leader behavior,
Fleishman (1953) observed that subordinates perceived their supervisors’ behavior in terms of two broad categories referred to
as consideration and initiating structure. Consideration includes behavior involved in fostering effective relationships. Examples
of such behavior would include showing concern for a subordinate or acting in a supportive manner towards others. Initiating
structure involves the actions of the leader focused specifically on task accomplishment. This could include role clarification,
setting performance standards, and holding subordinates accountable to those standards.
5. Transactional and transformational theories
Eric Berne first analyzed the relations between a group and its leadership in terms of Transactional Analysis.
The transactional leader (Burns, 1978) is given power to perform certain tasks and reward or punish for the team’s
performance. It gives the opportunity to the manager to lead the group and the group agrees to follow his lead to accomplish a
predetermined goal in exchange for something else. Power is given to the leader to evaluate, correct and train subordinates when
productivity is not up to the desired level and reward effectiveness when expected outcome is reached.
The transformational leader (Burns, 1978) motivates its team to be effective and efficient. Communication is the base
for goal achievement focusing the group on the final desired outcome or goal attainment. This leader is highly visible and uses
chain of command to get the job done. Transformational leaders focus on the big picture, needing to be surrounded by people
who take care of the details. The leader is always looking for ideas that move the organization to reach the company’s vision.
Leadership and emotions
Leadership can be perceived as a particularly emotion-laden process, with emotions entwined with the social influence
process. In an organization, the leaders’ mood has some effects on his/her group. These effects can be described in 3 levels:
The mood of individual group members. Group members with leaders in a positive mood experience more positive
mood than do group members with leaders in a negative mood. The leaders transmit their moods to other group members
 Leadership
through the mechanism of emotional contagion. Mood contagion may be one of the psychological mechanisms by which
charismatic leaders influence followers.
The affective tone of the group. Group affective tone represents the consistent or homogeneous affective reactions
within a group. Group affective tone is an aggregate of the moods of the individual members of the group and refers to mood at
the group level of analysis. Groups with leaders in a positive mood have a more positive affective tone than do groups with
leaders in a negative mood.
Group processes like coordination, effort expenditure, and task strategy. Public expressions of mood impact how group
members think and act. When people experience and express mood, they send signals to others. Leaders signal their goals,
intentions, and attitudes through their expressions of moods. For example, expressions of positive moods by leaders signal that
leaders deem progress toward goals to be [Link] group members respond to those signals cognitively and behaviorally in
ways that are reflected in the group processes.
Beyond the leader’s mood, her/his behavior is a source for employee positive and negative emotions at work. The leader
creates situations and events that lead to emotional response. Certain leader behaviors displayed during interactions with their
employees are the sources of these affective events. Leaders shape workplace affective events. Examples – feedback giving,
allocating tasks, resource distribution. Since employee behavior and productivity are directly affected by their emotional states,
it is imperative to consider employee emotional responses to organizational leaders. Emotional intelligence, the ability to
understand and manage moods and emotions in the self and others, contributes to effective leadership in organizations.
Leadership is about being responsible.
6. Neo-emergent theory
The Neo-emergent leadership theory (from the Oxford school of leadership) espouses that leadership is created through the
emergence of information by the leader or other stakeholders, not through the true actions of the leader himself. In other words,
the reproduction of information or stories form the basis of the perception of leadership by the majority. It well known that the
great naval hero Lord Nelson often wrote his own versions of battles he was involved in, so that when he arrived home in
England he would receive a true hero's welcome. In modern society, the press, blogs and other sources report their own views of
a leader which may be based on reality, but may also be based on a political command, a payment or an inherent interest of the
author, media or leader. Therefore, it can be contended that the perception of all leaders is created and in fact does not reflect
their true leadership qualities at all.
7. Environmental leadership theory
The Environmental leadership model (Carmazzi) describes leadership from a Group dynamics perspective incorporating
group psychology and self awareness to nurture “Environments” that promote self sustaining group leadership based on personal
emotional gratification from the activities of the group. The Environmental Leader creates the psychological structure by which
employees can find and attain this gratification through work or activity.
It stems from the idea that each individual has various environments that bring out different facets from their own
Identity, and each facet is driven by emotionally charged perceptions within each environment… The Environmental Leader
creates a platform through education and awareness where individuals fill each others emotional needs and become more
conscious of when, and how they affect personal and team emotional gratifications. This is accomplished by knowing why
people “react” to their environment instead of act intelligently.
“Environmental Leadership is not about changing the mindset of the group or individual, but in the cultivation of an
environment that brings out the best and inspires the individuals in that group. It is not the ability to influence others to do
something they are not committed to, but rather to nurture a culture that motivates and even excites individuals to do what is
required for the benefit of all. It is not carrying others to the end result, but setting the surrounding for developing qualities in
them to so they may carry each other.” Carmazzi
The role of an Environmental Leader is to instill passion and direction to a group and the dynamics of that group. This
leader implements a psychological support system within a group that fills the emotional and developmental needs of the group.
Leadership styles
Leadership style refers to a leader’s behaviour. It is the result of the philosophy, personality and experience of the
leader.
1. Kurt Lewin's Leadership styles
Kurt Lewin and colleagues identified different styles of leadership:
 Dictator
 Autocratic
 Participative
 Laissez Faire
Autocratic or Authoritarian Leaders
Under the autocratic leadership style, all decision-making powers are centralized in the leader, as with dictator leaders.
They do not entertain any suggestions or initiatives from subordinates. The autocratic management has been successful
as it provides strong motivation to the manager. It permits quick decision-making, as only one person decides for the whole
 Leadership
group and keeps each decision to themself until they feel it is needed by the rest of the group. An autocratic leader does not trust
anybody.
Participative or Democratic Leaders
The democratic leadership style favors decision-making by the group as shown, such as leader gives instruction after
consulting the group.
He can win the cooperation of his group and can motivate them effectively and positively. The decisions of the
democratic leader are not unilateral as with the autocrat because they arise from consultation with the group members and
participation by them.
Laissez Faire or Free Rein Leaders
A free rein leader does not lead, but leaves the group entirely to itself as shown; such a leader allows maximum freedom
to subordinates.
They are given a freehand in deciding their own policies and methods.
Different situations call for different leadership styles. In an emergency when there is little time to converge on an
agreement and where a designated authority has significantly more experience or expertise than the rest of the team, an
autocratic leadership style may be most effective; however, in a highly motivated and aligned team with a homogeneous level of
expertise, a more democratic or laissez faire style may be more effective. The style adopted should be that which most
effectively achieves the objectives of the group while balancing the interests of its individual members.
Leadership performance
In the past, some researchers have argued that the actual influence of leaders on organizational outcomes is overrated
and romanticized as a result of biased attributions about leaders (Meindl & Ehrlich, 1987). Despite these assertions however, it is
largely recognized and accepted by practitioners and researchers that leadership is important, and research supports the notion
that leaders do contribute to key organizational outcomes (Day & Lord, 1988; Kaiser, Hogan, & Craig, 2008). In order to
facilitate successful performance it is important to understand and accurately measure leadership performance.
Job performance generally refers to behavior that is expected to contribute to organizational success (Campbell, 1990).
Campbell identified a number of specific types of performance dimensions; leadership was one of the dimensions that he
identified. There is no consistent, overall definition of leadership performance (Yukl, 2006). Many distinct conceptualizations
are often lumped together under the umbrella of leadership performance, including outcomes such as leader effectiveness, leader
advancement, and leader emergence (Kaiser et al., 2008). For instance, leadership performance may be used to refer to the career
success of the individual leader, performance of the group or organization, or even leader emergence. Each of these measures
can be considered conceptually distinct. While these aspects may be related, they are different outcomes and their inclusion
should depend on the applied/research focus.
Contexts of leadership
Leadership in organizations
An organization that is established as an instrument or means for achieving defined objectives has been referred to as a
formal organization. Its design specifies how goals are subdivided and reflected in subdivisions of the organization. Divisions,
departments, sections, positions, jobs, and tasks make up this work structure. Thus, the formal organization is expected to
behave impersonally in regard to relationships with clients or with its members. According to Weber's definition, entry and
subsequent advancement is by merit or seniority. Each employee receives a salary and enjoys a degree of tenure that safeguards
her/him from the arbitrary influence of superiors or of powerful clients. The higher his position in the hierarchy, the greater his
presumed expertise in adjudicating problems that may arise in the course of the work carried out at lower levels of the
organization. It is this bureaucratic structure that forms the basis for the appointment of heads or chiefs of administrative
subdivisions in the organization and endows them with the authority attached to their position.
In contrast to the appointed head or chief of an administrative unit, a leader emerges within the context of the informal
organization that underlies the formal structure. The informal organization expresses the personal objectives and goals of the
individual membership. Their objectives and goals may or may not coincide with those of the formal organization. The informal
organization represents an extension of the social structures that generally characterize human life — the spontaneous
emergence of groups and organizations as ends in themselves.
In prehistoric times, humanity was preoccupied with personal security, maintenance, protection, and survival. Now
humanity spends a major portion of waking hours working for organizations. Her/His need to identify with a community that
provides security, protection, maintenance, and a feeling of belonging continues unchanged from prehistoric times. This need is
met by the informal organization and its emergent, or unofficial, leaders.
Leaders emerge from within the structure of the informal organization. Their personal qualities, the demands of the
situation, or a combination of these and other factors attract followers who accept their leadership within one or several overlay
structures. Instead of the authority of position held by an appointed head or chief, the emergent leader wields influence or power.
Influence is the ability of a person to gain co-operation from others by means of persuasion or control over rewards. Power is a
stronger form of influence because it reflects a person's ability to enforce action through the control of a means of punishment.
 Leadership
A leader is a person who influences a group of people towards a specific result. It is not dependent on title or formal
authority. (elevos, paraphrased from Leaders, Bennis, and Leadership Presence, Halpern & Lubar). Leaders are recognized by
their capacity for caring for others, clear communication, and a commitment to persist. An individual who is appointed to a
managerial position has the right to command and enforce obedience by virtue of the authority of his position. However, she or
he must possess adequate personal attributes to match his authority, because authority is only potentially available to him. In the
absence of sufficient personal competence, a manager may be confronted by an emergent leader who can challenge her/his role
in the organization and reduce it to that of a figurehead. However, only authority of position has the backing of formal sanctions.
It follows that whoever wields personal influence and power can legitimize this only by gaining a formal position in the
hierarchy, with commensurate authority. Leadership can be defined as one's ability to get others to willingly follow. Every
organization needs leaders at every level.
Leadership versus management
Over the years the philosophical terminology of "management" and "leadership" have, in the organisational context,
been used both as synonyms and with clearly differentiated meanings. Debate is fairly common about whether the use of these
terms should be restricted, and generally reflects an awareness of the distinction made by Burns (1978) between "transactional"
leadership (characterised by eg emphasis on procedures, contingent reward, management by exception) and "transformational"
leadership (characterised by eg charisma, personal relationships, creativity). That those two adjectives are in fact used equally
well with the noun "management" as with the noun "leadership" indicates that there is such a messy overlap between the two in
academic practice that attempts to pontificate about their differences are largely a waste of time.
Leadership by a group
In contrast to individual leadership, some organizations have adopted group leadership. In this situation, more than one
person provides direction to the group as a whole. Some organizations have taken this approach in hopes of increasing creativity,
reducing costs, or downsizing. Others may see the traditional leadership of a boss as costing too much in team performance. In
some situations, the maintenance of the boss becomes too expensive - either by draining the resources of the group as a whole,
or by impeding the creativity within the team, even unintentionally.[citation needed]
A common example of group leadership involves cross-functional teams. A team of people with diverse skills and from
all parts of an organization assembles to lead a project. A team structure can involve sharing power equally on all issues, but
more commonly uses rotating leadership. The team member(s) best able to handle any given phase of the project become(s) the
temporary leader(s). Additionally, as each team member has the opportunity to experience the elevated level of empowerment, it
energizes staff and feeds the cycle of success.
Leaders who demonstrate persistence, tenacity, determination and synergistic communication skills will bring out the
same qualities in their groups. Good leaders use their own inner mentors to energize their team and organizations and lead a
team to achieve success.
According to the National School Boards Association (USA)
These Group Leadership or Leadership Teams have specific characteristics:
Characteristics of a Team
 There must be an awareness of unity on the part of all its members.
 There must be interpersonal relationship. Members must have a chance to contribute, learn from and work with others.
 The member must have the ability to act together toward a common goal.
Ten characteristics of well-functioning teams:
 Purpose: Members proudly share a sense of why the team exists and are invested in accomplishing its mission and goals.
 Priorities: Members know what needs to be done next, by whom, and by when to achieve team goals.
 Roles: Members know their roles in getting tasks done and when to allow a more skillful member to do a certain task.
 Decisions: Authority and decision-making lines are clearly understood.
 Conflict: Conflict is dealt with openly and is considered important to decision-making and personal growth.
 Personal traits: members feel their unique personalities are appreciated and well utilized.
 Norms: Group norms for working together are set and seen as standards for every one in the groups.
 Effectiveness: Members find team meetings efficient and productive and look forward to this time together.
 Success: Members know clearly when the team has met with success and share in this equally and proudly.
 Training: Opportunities for feedback and updating skills are provided and taken advantage of by team members.
Leadership among primates
Richard Wrangham and Dale Peterson, in Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence present evidence
that only humans and chimpanzees, among all the animals living on earth, share a similar tendency for a cluster of behaviors:
violence, territoriality, and competition for uniting behind the one chief male of the land. This position is contentious. Many
animals beyond apes are territorial, compete, exhibit violence, and have a social structure controlled by a dominant male (lions,
wolves, etc.), suggesting Wrangham and Peterson's evidence is not empirical. However, we must examine other species as well,
including elephants (which are undoubtedly matriarchal and follow an alpha female), meerkats (who are likewise matriarchal),
and many others.
 Leadership
It would be beneficial, to examine that most accounts of leadership over the past few millennia (since the creation of
Christian religions) are through the perspective of a patriarchal society, founded on Christian literature. If one looks before these
times, it is noticed that Pagan and Earth-based tribes in fact had female leaders. It is important also to note that the peculiarities
of one tribe cannot necessarily be ascribed to another, as even our modern-day customs differ. The current day patrilineal custom
is only a recent invention in human history and our original method of familial practices were matrilineal (Dr. Christopher
Shelley and Bianca Rus, UBC). The fundamental assumption that has been built into 90% of the world's countries is that
patriarchy is the 'natural' biological predisposition of homo sapiens. Unfortunately, this belief has led to the widespread
oppression of women in all of those countries, but in varying degrees. (Whole Earth Review, Winter, 1995 by Thomas Laird,
Michael Victor). The Iroquoian First Nations tribes are an example of a matrilineal tribe, along with Mayan tribes, and also the
society of Meghalaya, India. (Laird and Victor, ).
By comparison, bonobos, the second-closest species-relatives of man, do not unite behind the chief male of the land.
The bonobos show deference to an alpha or top-ranking female that, with the support of her coalition of other females, can prove
as strong as the strongest male in the land. Thus, if leadership amounts to getting the greatest number of followers, then among
the bonobos, a female almost always exerts the strongest and most effective leadership. However, not all scientists agree on the
allegedly "peaceful" nature of the bonobo or its reputation as a "hippie chimp".
Historical views on leadership
Sanskrit literature identifies ten types of leaders. Defining characteristics of the ten types of leaders are explained with
examples from history and mythology.
Aristocratic thinkers have postulated that leadership depends on one's blue blood or genes: monarchy takes an extreme
view of the same idea, and may prop up its assertions against the claims of mere aristocrats by invoking divine sanction: see the
divine right of kings. Contrariwise, more democratically-inclined theorists have pointed to examples of meritocratic leaders,
such as the Napoleonic marshals profiting from careers open to talent.
In the autocratic/paternalistic strain of thought, traditionalists recall the role of leadership of the Roman pater familias.
Feminist thinking, on the other hand, may object to such models as patriarchal and posit against them emotionally-attuned,
responsive, and consensual empathetic guidance, which is sometimes associated with matriarchies.
Comparable to the Roman tradition, the views of Confucianism on "right living" relate very much to the ideal of the
(male) scholar-leader and his benevolent rule, buttressed by a tradition of filial piety.
Leadership is a matter of intelligence, trustworthiness, humaneness, courage, and discipline . . . Reliance on intelligence
alone results in rebelliousness. Exercise of humaneness alone results in weakness. Fixation on trust results in folly. Dependence
on the strength of courage results in violence. Excessive discipline and sternness in command result in cruelty. When one has all
five virtues together, each appropriate to its function, then one can be a leader. — Sun Tzu
In the 19th century, the elaboration of anarchist thought called the whole concept of leadership into question. (Note that
the Oxford English Dictionary traces the word "leadership" in English only as far back as the 19th century.) One response to this
denial of élitism came with Leninism, which demanded an élite group of disciplined cadres to act as the vanguard of a socialist
revolution, bringing into existence the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Other historical views of leadership have addressed the seeming contrasts between secular and religious leadership. The
doctrines of Caesaro-papism have recurred and had their detractors over several centuries. Christian thinking on leadership has
often emphasized stewardship of divinely-provided resources - human and material - and their deployment in accordance with a
Divine plan. Compare servant leadership.
For a more general take on leadership in politics, compare the concept of the statesman.
Action Oriented Team Leadership Skills This section does not cite any references or sources.
This is a unique approach to team leadership that is aimed at action oriented environments where effective functional
leadership is required to achieve critical or reactive tasks by small teams deployed into the field. In other words leadership of
small groups often created to respond to a situation or critical incident.
In most cases these teams are tasked to operate in remote and changeable environments with limited support or backup
(action environments). Leadership of people in these environments requires a different set of skills to that of front line
management. These leaders must effectively operate remotely and negotiate both the needs of the individual, team and task
within a changeable environment. This has been termed Action Oriented Leadership. Some example action oriented leadership is
demonstrated in the following ways: extinguishing a rural fire, locating a missing person, leading a team on an outdoor
expedition or rescuing a person from a potentially hazardous environment.
Titles emphasizing authority
At certain stages in their development, the hierarchies of social ranks implied different degrees or ranks of leadership in
society. Thus a knight led fewer men in general than did a duke; a baronet might in theory control less land than an earl. See
peerage for a systematization of this hierarchy, and order of precedence for links to various systems.
In the course of the 18th and 20th centuries, several political operators took non-traditional paths to become dominant in
their societies. They or their systems often expressed a belief in strong individual leadership, but existing titles and labels
("King", "Emperor", "President" and so on) often seemed inappropriate, insufficient or downright inaccurate in some
circumstances. The formal or informal titles or descriptions they or their flunkies employ express and foster a general veneration
 Leadership
for leadership of the inspired and autocratic variety. The definite article when used as part of the title (in languages which use
definite articles) emphasizes the existence of a sole "true" leader.
Critical Thought on the concept of leadership
Noam Chomsky and others have brought critical thinking to the very concept of leadership and analyzed the processes
whereby people abrogate their responsibility to think and will actions for themselves. While the conventional view of leadership
is rather satisfying to people who "want to be told what to do", one should question why they are being subjected to a will or
intellect other than their own if the leader is not a Subject Matter Expert (SME).
The fundamentally anti-democratic nature of the leadership principle is challenged by the introduction of concepts such
as autogestion, employeeship, common civic virtue, etc, which stress individual responsibility and/or group authority in the work
place and elsewhere by focusing on the skills and attitudes that a person needs in general rather than separating out leadership as
the basis of a special class of individuals.
Similarly various historical calamities are attributed to a misplaced reliance on the principle of leadership.