1. Trait Theories of Leadership:

• Consider personality, social, physical, or intellectual traits to differentiate leaders from non-leaders.

Seven traits associated with leadership

1. Drive: Leaders exhibit a high effort level. They have a relatively high desire for achievement
2. Desire to lead: Leaders have a strong desire to influence and lead others.
3. Honesty and integrity: Leaders build trusting relationships with followers by being truthful
4. Self-confidence: Leaders, therefore, need to show self-confidence in order to convince followers of the rightness of their goals and decisions.
5. Intelligence: Leaders need to be intelligent enough to gather, synthesize, and interpret large amounts of information, and they need to be able to create visions, solve problems,
6. Job-relevant knowledge: In-depth knowledge allows leaders to make well-informed decisions and to understand the implications of those decisions.
7. Extraversion: Leaders are energetic, lively people. They are sociable, assertive, and rarely silent or withdrawn.

2. Behavioral Theories of Leadership:

• Theories proposing that specific behaviors differentiate leaders from non-leaders.

3. Contingency Theories:

• Is based on the environment in which the leader exists.
• Three key contingency theories of leadership:

– Fielder’s Model

– Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory

– Path-Goal Theory

a) Fielder’s Model:

• Considers Three Situational Factors:

– Leader-member relations: degree of confidence and trust in the leader

– Task structure: degree of structure in the jobs

– Position power: leader’s ability to hire, fire, and reward

• For effective leadership: one must change to a leader who fits the situation or change the situational variables to fit the current leader.

b) Hersey & Blanchard’s Situational Leadership theory:

• Considers leaders based on the following:

1. Telling (high task–low relationship): The leader defines roles and tells people what, how, when, and where to do various tasks.
2. Selling (high task–high relationship): The leader provides both directive and supportive behavior.
3. Participating (low task–high relationship): The leader and followers share in decision-making; the main role of the leader is facilitating and communicating.
4. Delegating (low task–low relationship): The leader provides little direction or support.

c) Path-Goal Model:

• Two classes of contingency variables determine the leader’s behavior:
• -Environmental those are outside of employee control
• -Subordinate factors are internal to employee