Leadership Theory And The Main Methods Of Leadership

Leadership is an often misunderstood concept. Many people confuse management and leadership, classifying them as being the same. While a leader can be a manager and a manager can be a leader, they are often two separate things. There are four main components of leadership that we will discuss and there are many different ways to view and examine leadership with theory and maxim being the main methods. As many people point out, leadership is a complex topic to discuss. Leadership can mean many different things to different people. Leadership can be a combination of something a person is born with as well as something that someone acquires. On a very basic level, leadership can be defined as a process that involves influence, occurs†¦show more content†¦As with anything in life, one person’s view of something isn’t a very good judge. It takes many views and research to back it up. Leadership theories are a variety of explanations with scientific data to back up those explanations. Theories are used in many different aspects of the world because they are reliable. The difference between maxims and theories is the proof that backs up the explanations. When reviewing leadership it will be most effective to use theories so as to have supporting scientific documentation. There seems to be little usefulness with maxims, particularly when evaluating leadership. When evaluating leadership, theory will be the most important method of analysis. Forming a theory on leadership is providing explanations as well as scientific data to back it up. On example of a leadership theory will be trait theories. â€Å"Trait theories often identify particular personality or behavioral characteristics shared by leaders.† (Cherry, 2014) Trait Theories are theories that have been researched and there is scientific data to support trait theories. â€Å"Throughout the years, researchers have identified a multitude of traits that are associated with leadership.† (Northouse, 2015) When reviewing leadership, there are four main components and they include: being a process, involving influence, occurring in a group, and involving goal attainment. (Introduction to Leadership,