Leadership theory

A leadership theory (hereinafter, the Theory) is any theory that conceptualizes leadership; in other words, the Theory is a supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain leadership.

Classification

Person-focused theories

1. Leader-oriented:
   • Great Man Theory
   • Emotional Intelligence Theory
   • Charismatic leadership theory. A leadership theory that states that followers make attributions of heroic and extraordinary leadership abilities when they observe certain behaviors.
   • Trait theory of leadership. One of theories that consider personal qualities and characteristics that differentiate leaders from non-leaders.
   • Behavioral theory of leadership. Any leadership theory that identifies behaviors that differentiate effective leaders from ineffective leaders, as well as differentiate leaders from non-leaders.
   • 

     Leader-member exchange theory
     Leader-member exchange theory. The leadership theory that says leaders create ingroups and outgroups and those in the ingroup will have higher performance ratings, less turnover, and greater job satisfaction.
   • Leader-participation model. A leadership theory that provides a set of rules to determine the form and amount of participative decision-making in different situations.
2. Follower-oriented:
   • Attribution theory of leadership. A leadership theory that says that leadership is merely an attribution that people make about other individuals.
   • Learning Theories

Situation-focused theories

Leadership contingency theory.

• 

  Fiedler contingency model
  Fiedler contingency model. A model that suggests that effective group performance depends on the proper match between a leader's orientation, whether he or she is task-oriented or people-oriented, and the degree to which the situation allows the leader to control and influence. The model (1) uses a least preferred coworker questionnaire to classify leaders, (2) assumes that leaders cannot be both task-oriented or people-oriented, and (3) suggests that people orientation is the best match to the situations with moderate control, while those leaders who are task-oriented best perform in situations with high or low control.
• Situational leadership theory (Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory). A leadership contingency theory that focuses on followers' readiness.
• Path-Goal Theory
• Normative Leadership Theory