The great man theory of leadership free download as pdf file. The theory essentially implies that those in power deserve to lead because of the traits theyve been endowed with. My goal in this article is to treat the great man theory seriously and to. Pdf during the early of the twentieth century attention in leadership area increased. The great man theory of leadership is centered around the ideas of prominent historians of. The lack of positive and effective leadership is a key reason why many talented workers leave the organization. According to the theory, leadership calls for certain qualities like charm, persuasiveness, commanding personality, high degree of intuition, judgment, courage, intelligence, aggressiveness and action orientation which are of such a nature that they cannot be taught or learnt in a formal sense.
While transformational and distributional leadership theories have recently emerged, most can be classified from great man, trait theories, behavioural. It includes the great man theory, charismatic leadership, and the approaches of mcclelland, winter, bennis, burns, fiedler, hersey and blanchard. This theory ignores other factors like education, experience, the behavior of an individual to be a great leader, and suggests that these are not required to be as a. In many examples, it seems as if the right man for the job seems to emerge almost magically to take control of a situation and lead a group of people into safety or success. In a more progressive approach to leadership, contingency theory recom mends matching a leader s style to the right situ ation, which involves matching to the team of people and goals. One of the challenges of this theory is the assumption that. The great man theory of leadership states that some people are born with the necessary attributes that set them apart from others and that these traits are responsible for their assuming positions of power and authority. The mythology behind some of the worlds most famous leaders such as abraham lincoln, julius caesar, mahatma gandhi and alexander the great helped contribute to the notion that great leaders are born and not made.
Given that everyone has the capacity for leadership at some level, it would seem that the absence of leadership in an organization shouldnt be a problem. Great man trait behavioral contingency transactional transformational great man. Great man theories, trait theories and environmental t heories. Global definitions of leadership and theories of leadership. These great man theories of leadership examined the effects of personal characteristics such as height, physical appearance, and intelligence on leaders emergence and effectiveness. The paper compares and contrasts great man theory of leadership with a more collaborative and inclusive style of leadership. You must use your judgment to decide the best course of action and the leadership style needed for. This is the great man theory of leadership which asserts that leaders in general and great leaders in particular are born and not made.
Trait theories often identify particular personality or behavioral characteristics shared by leaders. Main theories that emerged during 20th century include. The theory is based on the builtin characteristics or traits of leadership in an individual which clears if an individual is a successful leader by birth or not. Il 2007 how leaders woo followers in the romance of leadership. Great man theory of leadership management study guide. Carlyle, freud, and the great man theory more fully considered. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. The great man theory of leadership became popular during the 19thcentury. Each of these offers some insights into the qualities of. The author uses her own experience of being surprised by her attraction to behaving as a great man even as her knowledge, gender, training and experience would dictate otherwise. Pdf this note summarizes several major theories of leadership. Researchers who support the great man theory believe that people are born to leadership. These leaders are cited as naturally great leaders, born with a set of personal qualities that made them effective leaders. What you do in one situation will not always work in another.