Leadreship Theory

Leadership theory and practice

Leadership can be learnt, it only takes a willing student. For leadership to be taught, does it necessarily require teaching? According to Capowski, leaders are made; it only requires effort and hard work. There are arguments that more leaders have been made by accident, circumstance, individual will or sheer determination but did these leaders acquire their knowledge or skills through cognitive approach or through any form of theoretical knowledge?. Allio (2005) posits that cognitive approach to leadership is a less result orientated way of developing leaders. He opines that schools of leadership only present historical accounts on leadership theory, newer ways of leadership and the traits/virtues of leaders but his argument is that this cognitive experiences do not exactly teach the aspiring leaders ‘how to lead’. Like my brothers will tease me during our early days, watching mummy prepare a pot of soup or reading the cookery books does not mean I know how to cook; cooking is practical. Allio (2005) asserts that these leadership programs and schools fail from the very beginning as they are unable to actually describe the role of a leader is. As stated in the Harvard Business Review for February 2007, no one can be authentic by trying to be like someone else, ‘ you can learn from other people’s experiences but there’s no way you can be successful when you are trying to be like them’. This means that authentic leadership is personal. It has a lot more to do with the aspiring leader than the teacher or model. A leader is one who puts in effort and is determined to get the best out of himself through acquiring the right leadership traits and applying them rightly.

Effectiveness or otherwise of Leade...

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...nd lives of other leaders, past and present. Other models like simulation, on-the-job training, mentoring with results measurement and trial and error methods.

References

Allio, R.J. (2005) Leadership development: teaching versus learning, Management Decision, 43 (7/8), pp. 1071–1077. [online] available at: https://brainmass.com/file/365598/Leadership_development_%5B1%5D.pdf. accessed 14th May 2014

Northouse, P.G. (2013) Leadership: Theory and practice 6th ed. London: Sage.

Leadership theories and styles (2009);IAAP 2009 Administrative Professionals Week Event [Online] available from: http://www.etsu.edu/ahsc/documents/Leadership_Theories.pdf Accessed 29 March 2014

George, B. et al (2007) Harvard Business Review: Discovering your authentic leadership. pp 1-10 [online] available at: http://www.aawccnatl.org/assets/authentic%20leadership.pdf. Accessed 14th May 2014