Abstract

Leadership still seems to be a popular theme among various disciplines and researchers as it was in the past. A growing body of research has been produced in the leadership field until now. Although increased studies and publications help to build up the leadership theory, leadership theory has not been integrated yet. The theoretical studies related to a specific field in a specific time seem to be useful in related field’s advancement. With this rationale in this study, it is aimed to examine the prominent leadership theories in the literature. It is possible to specify the theories examined in the study as the Great Man Theory, Trait Theory, Behavioural Theory and Contingency Theory. So, firstly leadership theories have been divided into two as universal and contingency, and then, the basic assumptions and criticisms of each theory have been presented. Moreover, the findings of the models and researches that make up the theories have been presented in detail. In particular, comments on the criticisms of the theories have been made and a critical point of view has been tried to be reflected. According to findings, Great Man theory and Trait Theory were found to be clearly distinct theories from each other even they were considered together in most part of literature. Great Man Theory has been criticized since it has a gender-based prejudice. This was found very heavy criticism due to the nature of time in which women were not as active as men. Although Great Man and Trait Theories are criticized for lack of scientific research, they are accepted as the first theories in which leadership was examined scientifically. In fact, this is also a subject for major criticism. Because it is a great contradiction to scientifically judge these theories, which are supposed to be the first theories to examine leadership scientifically. Moreover, when all the theories including contingency theory are examined, the biggest criticism can be directed to the fact that a huge proportion of the leadership theories are of North American origin. The assumption that the findings of these researches in North American origin are valid in all parts of the world requires considering all theories with suspicion.In addition, there may be more than one hundred leadership styles today. Most of these new types of leadership, in fact, do not say much about anything new outside of the old ones and are repeating each other. A general overview of prominent leadership theories from a critical perspective has been presented in the study. Thus, it is expected to contribute to leadership, organizational behaviour and management literature.

Keywords: leadership, Great Man Theory, Trait Theory, Behavioural Theory, Contingency Theory.

JEL Classification: M10, M12.

Cite as: Uslu, O. A. (2019). A general overview to leadership theories from a critical perspective. Marketing and Management of Innovations, 1, 161-172. https://doi.org/10.21272/mmi.2019.1-13

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

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