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 Leadership theories are relatively recent phenomena, and they have been advanced by the sudden interest in historical leaders as well as the desire to identify the characteristics, and behaviors, that these leaders exhibited. By understanding the characteristics of the leader, their successes and failures, in addition to the political and work environment they faced, the modern day worker can hope to replicate this success.
Three Leadership Theories
In this article, we will take a look at three of the better-known leadership theories of Max Weber (1948), George Burns (1978), and Daniel Goleman (1995). These three theorists will take us from the development of the concept of transformational leadership through the beginnings of emotional intelligence.
Weber's Theories of Transactional and Transformational Leadership
In Max Weber's leadership theory, he wrote about three types of leaders: bureaucratic, charismatic, and traditional. Weber was one of the first of the leadership theorists to recognize that leadership itself was situational in nature, and that true leaders needed to move dynamically from one type of leadership style to another to remain successful.
Weber also believed that there were two basic paradigms within which leaders worked: transactions and transformations. Weber believed that transactional leaders were those that worked within the existing systems or environment to achieve results. For example, he theorized that the bureaucratic leader was a transactional leader that was effective in using their knowledge, or legal authority, to achieve results.
Charismatic leaders were transformational leaders in Weber's model. These types of leaders were almost divine in nature, and were often compared to heroes. A transformational leader was not afraid to approach things from an entirely different perspective, and in Weber's theory of leadership, they used personal charm or charisma to help them achieve their goals.
Burns' Leadership Theories
George Burns' theory of leadership aligns with some of the thoughts of Weber. To these he added his own insights into leaders and how they operated. While both theories of Weber and Burns recognized transactional and transformational leadership types, Burns created an overarching dimension of moral leaders versus amoral leaders. The latter of which he felt were not true leaders.
Transactional Leaders
Among the transactional leadership styles, Burns went on to describe five different types of leaders:
- Opinion Leaders - those leaders with the ability to sway public opinion
- Bureaucratic Leaders - those that hold position power over their followers
- Party Leaders - leaders that hold political positions or titles in a particular country
- Legislative Leaders - political leaders that are at work behind the scenes
- Executive Leaders - often described as the president of a country, not necessarily bound to a political party or legislators
Transformational Leaders
In addition to the five transactional leaders mentioned above, Burns' theory went on to describe four transformational leaders including:
Goleman's Leadership Theory
Daniel Goleman's theory of emotional intelligence attempted to answer the question: What are the elements that characterize a leader? This was more of a behavioral approach to describing leadership than some of the previous work that was just described. Goleman wanted to determine the behaviors that made people effective leaders.
Goleman's emotional intelligence is sometimes characterized as an emotional quotient, or EQ. This idea was to supplement the thought behind an intelligence quotient or IQ. He felt that intelligence was not enough to define a leader. He believed there was something that separated leaders from mere intellectuals - their emotional intelligence.
Emotional Intelligence
Goleman's leadership theory went on to describe five characteristics, or components, of emotional intelligence:
- Self Awareness - which is the ability to understand your strengths and weaknesses
- Social Skills - which is how leaders relate to others and build rapport
- Self Regulation - the ability of a leader to think through consequences before reacting to a situation
- Motivation - a strong will, or a drive to succeed
- Empathy - the ability to understand another person's point of view
Leadership Theory Today
In many ways, recent leadership theories build upon the work of earlier theorists. Our understanding of leaders, and leadership, has been improving as refinements are made to existing models. The beneficiaries of all this research and written theory are those that apply what we learn to our work environments, or to our lives outside the workplace.
As is the case with many learning experiences, our leadership abilities stem from the total of all lessons we've learned via the written word, as well as the successes, and the mistakes, we've made along the way.
About the Author - Leadership Theories
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