Leadership Theories
by Professor Leaves
1. Classic Organization Theory - From beginning of commerce to 1930's
1.1. Aristotle
1.2. Machiavelli
1.3. Adam Smith
1.4. Daniel McCallum
1.5. Frederick Winslow Taylor
1.6. Luther Gulick
2. Neoclassic Organization Theory - 1945 - 1950's
2.1. Chester Bernard
2.2. Robert Merton
2.3. Herbert A Simon
2.4. Philip Selznick
3. Human Resource Theory - 1957 to the present
3.1. Mary Parker Follett
3.2. Fritz J. Roethlisberger
3.3. Abraham H. Maslow
3.4. Douglas Murray McGregor
4. Modern Structural Organizational Theory - Post WWII/1950's to present
4.1. Peter Blau and Richard Scott
4.2. Tom Burns and G.M. Stalker
4.3. Henry Mintzberg
4.4. Richard Burton and Borge Obel
4.5. Arthur Walker and Jay Lorsch
5. Organizational Economics Theory - 1960's to the present
5.1. John Locke
5.2. Michael Jensen & William Meckling
5.3. Oliver E. Williamson
5.4. Jay B. Barney & William G. Ouchi
5.5. Paul Rubin
6. Power and Politics Organizational Theory - 1970's to the present
6.1. Rosabeth Moss Kanto
6.2. Henry Mintzberg
6.3. Jeffrey Pfeffer
6.4. James March
6.5. John R. P. French and Bertram Raven
6.6. John French Jr. and Bertram Raven
7. Theories of Organizational Culture and Change - 1980's
7.1. Joan Acker
7.2. Mitchell F. Rice & Audrey L. Mathews
7.3. Archie Carroll & Ann Buchholtz
7.4. Paul C. Light
7.5. David Billis
8. Theories of Organizations and Environments - 1967 - present
8.1. Daniel Katz and Robert Kahn
8.2. James D. Thompson
8.3. John Meyer and Brian Rowan
8.4. Jeffrey Pfeffer and Gerald Salancik
8.5. Glenn R. Carroll and Michael T. Hannan
9. Major Contributors
10. Theory Group
11. Major Approaches to Leadership
12. Trait Approach - 1930's
12.1. Focus on innate personality of leader
12.2. “Great Man” Theory : Leaders are born, not made
12.3. Later, refined to say that specific people are leaders in specific areas, not all areas. leads to "Skills Approach."
13. Skills Approach – 1950’s
13.1. Focus on leadership as a skill which can be learned
14. Behavioral Approach -1960’s
14.1. Focus on leadership as a behavior which influences other people
15. Situational Approach – late 1960’s
15.1. Each situation is different and needs a different type of leader
16. Path-Goal Theory – 1970’s
16.1. Each group of followers is different and need a different leadership style to match their needs.
17. Leader-Member Exchange Theory – mid 1970’s
17.1. Focus on interaction between leaders and followers
18. Transformational Leadership – late 1980’s – early 1990’s
18.1. Leaders inspire followers to become better people
19. Authentic Leadership – early 1990’s
19.1. Comes from transformational leadership
19.2. Focus on if leadership is “real” and trustworthy
20. Servant Leadership – 1970’s
20.1. Focus is on (ethical) behavior of leader (skills approach and behavior approach)
20.2. Leader focuses on needs of followers.
20.3. Leader empowers followers
21. Adaptive Leadership – mid 1990’s
21.1. Leaders encourages followers to face difficulties and learn new ways of working
21.2. Is follower-centered
22. Followership - 1930’s/40’s
22.1. Started in 1930’s/40’s, has recently gained more interest
22.2. Good followers can make a leader great
22.3. Followers have ethical obligation to choose good leader
22.4. Followers accept leadership to accomplish a goal
23. Major Ideas
24. Strengths and Weaknesses
25. The function of an organization is to achieve production and economic goals, and there is one "best way" do do this. Focus on specialization and division of labor. Workers are replaceable cogs in the machine.
25.1. Strengths
25.1.1. Beginning of industrial revolution and modernization of civilization.
25.2. Weaknesses
25.2.1. Lead to dehumanization of the worker and rise of the capitalist class.
26. Started to look at the environments in which a business operated. Use of sociology in business.
26.1. Strengthes
26.1.1. Opened up the door to other schools of thought.
26.1.2. Added the human element to the study of organizations.
26.2. Weaknesses
26.2.1. Didn't go far enough
27. Organizations and people can work together for mutual benefits. Workers give organizations labor and ideas, organizations give workers a place to grow and create something larger than themselves.
27.1. Strengths
27.1.1. Adds the very important human element.
27.1.2. Looks at benefits for both employees and organization.
27.2. Weaknesses
27.2.1. Might oversimplify and "whitewash" relationship between employee and organization.
28. Many similarities to classic organizational theory. Focus on structure and hierarchy. Incorporates some modern ideas like external/human influences, but goal is to increase production/profits.
28.1. Strengths
28.1.1. Adds many modern ideas to classic organization theory, like outside influences and human element.
28.2. Weaknesses
28.2.1. Still focuses on formal authority and rigid power structure.
29. Added theories from the field of economics, such as Game Theory. Organizations reduce cost of transactions better than the market. Managers must delegate some agency to subordinates.
29.1. Strengths
29.1.1. Focus is primarily on making money, which is good for a business
29.2. Weaknesses
29.2.1. Focus is primarily on making money, which is bad for public education.
29.2.2. low on ethics.
30. Organizations are a complex conglomeration of smaller groups that compete for resources and power within the organization. These coalitions may have goals different from the stated goals of the organization, and their goals may change frequently.
30.1. Strengths
30.1.1. High explanatory power
30.2. Weaknesses
30.2.1. low application power
31. Many decisions in an organization are not made rationally, but are due to the culture of the organization. What people think is happening in an organization is more important that what is really happening. Symbols carry much power because the are easier to understand than complex theories.
31.1. Strengths
31.1.1. Gives good ideas for how to start change in an organization.
31.2. Weaknesses
31.2.1. Different people will have different ideas and interpretations of what are the cultural symbols in an organization and how to change/use them.
31.2.2. Can be very ambiguous.
32. The organization must interact with its environment, much like a living organism. It is a complex set of linked inputs, outputs and throughputs, each of which interacts with and influences the others. Many of these interactions are unknown and changing one may lead to unintended consequences.
32.1. Strengths
32.1.1. Incorporates many of the ideas from previous schools of thought
32.1.2. allows for complex analysis of all elements of an organization.
32.2. Weaknesses
32.2.1. Not very useful in small, closed systems