5.3 Leadership theories

Many theories about leadership tend to focus on the question 'What is it that makes one leader more effective than another?' The hope is that by observing carefully enough how successful leaders operate, it will be possible to arrive at a theory which will either enable others to be more effective leaders, or at least enable organisations to select better leaders. These theories of leadership fall into three broad categories: trait theories, style theories and contingency theories. I'll examine each of these in turn.