Theory and Practice of Leadership Research Paper

Theory and Practice of Leadership - Research Paper Example Thus, the managers require identifying the leadership approaches which can help in the integration of marketing activities and also help the employees in achieving their personal and professional goals. Leadership has been defined â€Å"essentially contested concept† (Godwin, Neck & Houghton, 2000, p.161). The concept has been regarded very different from management and not for the reasons employee think but because of its exotic and charismatic traits. Traditional theorist regarded leadership as integrated approach which laid emphasis on team work and had the ability to influence its followers. Traditionally, the relationship between employer and employee resembled almost to man servant relationship which has been replaced by superior subordinate relationship. The leadership theories occurred in various groups which helped in the emergence of various innovative ideas and also in the improvement of the existing features. A high quality relationship between the employer and emp loyee is actually a result of the dyadic approach between the leaders and subordinates. The dynamic relationship between the management and subordinates would lead to positive interactions between the employers and employees. Innovativeness is closely related to leadership as it is regarded as the key goal of the organization. It helps in the accomplishment of goals and objectives through proper and innovative methods and has a positive impact on the organizational performance. As per traditional theorists leadership helps in creation of a congenial organizational climate. There are various facets of leadership theories and one of them is the leader member followership relationship which helps in constructing problem solving solutions. These also help in enhancement of follower efficacy and in inculcating innovativeness among the organizational members. Situational Leadership Although, several theorists introduced the concept of leadership and various other leadership styles, situat ional leadership was the first theory which focused on the effectiveness of leadership style. Presently, no theorist believes that there is a singular leadership theory which can contribute effectively in managing various situational crises. Several situational theories were developed to highlight the leadership style which is apt for every manager under various managerial circumstances. These situational theories are highly dependent upon factors like the particular situation, task, people, environmental variables and organization. Fiedler had proposed a situational theory which proposed that there is no singular way of handling particular situation (Bolen, 2004). He proposed that a particular leadership style should be selected as per the managerial situation (Bolen, 2004).A distinction should be made between the task and relationship oriented managers. Task oriented manager’s lays emphasis on the present tasks in hand than on the enhancement of the leader member relationsh ip. These kind of managers focus on the organizational structure, task delegated to the members and the position and power of the employees. Relationship oriented managers excel in most of the situations and their managerial style resembles participative style of leadership. According to theorists Hersey