at shape their decision making and envisioning in order for them to work effectively at an organizational level.
Leadership Styles and Characteristics
Most writers combine discussion of managers and leaders, not making the distinction between those concerned with managing daily tasks and those associated with such things as organizational change and revitalization. There are also many different schemes of leadership styles and types, and different labels for these styles.
There has been considerable discussion during the past century about what comprises leadership. Some have attributed leadership to certain skills, traits, and characteristics that belong to the individual. Others have indicated that leadership is a quality that emerges situationally. There are trait theories of leadership, contingency theories of leadership, and many other currents of thought about the field.
Bass (1981) built upon the earlier work of Stogdill in surveying much of the literature about leadership that emphasized personal factors or traits. Stogdill's efforts resulted in findings that emphasized only a very few traits as consistently associated with leadership. He categorized these traits under the headings of capacity, achievement, responsibility, participation, and status. In addition, the situation was found to be important in mediating these characteristics.
Situational theories of leadership tend to look at the characteristics of the group involved, as well as the characteristics of the individual leader. Most of them start with some variation of early research studies that identified two different qualities of group leadership: (1) consideration; and (2) initiation of structure. The first is an orientation toward people and process, while the second is a focus on agenda and accomplishment.
These have been phrased in several different ways. For example, Blake and Mouton (1981) developed a managerial grid which utilized...