Comparing Four Leadership Theories

The purpose of this research is to examine several theories of leadership as they apply to organizational behavior and to select one such theory to the hypothetical task of reforming the organization that employs this writer, namely, the Hermosa Beach, Calif., Police Department. The plan of the research will be to set forth each theory in turn, identifying its source and discussing how the theory anticipates successful completion of its objectives. Then one theory will be selected with a view toward showing its relevance to the prospect of organizational transformation of the HBPD.

Along with the rise of psychological and social theory over the course of the latter 19th and entire 20th century there emerged a body of theoretical work concerning leadership--whether as a species of psychology, as a subset of organizational theory, as a style of social interaction, as analysis of those who are led, or having some other emphasis. The varieties of leadership theory, indeed, would seem to be almost as numerous as the varieties of leaders themselves. Even so, it is possible to approach the concept of leadership in a systematic way, by touching on theories and theorists whose influence appears to have been far re

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tyle of leadership has been linked to the so-called scientific management methods envisioned by Frederick Taylor, who in the early part of the 20th century was influential in devising a strategy of workplace behavior meant to eliminate uncertainty and chaos in the workplace. Problems that emerged were predictable, however, because managers who were certain and scientifically organized tended to leave employees out of the policy-implementation equation. Supposedly, scientific management would eliminate the adversary relationship between labor and management. Instead, "science, the impartial arbiter, would decide" (Kanigel, 1996, p. 45). Yet "science" inevitably meant top-down, hierarchical management practices: "Taylor's experts and engineers did the thinking, while you were consigned to mindless doing" (Kanigel, 1996, p. 51). After World War II, influential management philosophy shifted toward ideas of democratic-style leadership with the work of W. Edwards Deming, whose famous Fourteen Points of management included calls for management, not labor, to assume responsibility for quality and for managers to act as leaders who clearly articulated work objectives and supported labor in implementing them (Walton, 1986). Deming's manage
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Approximate Word count = 2411
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

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