Critically Discuss the Proposal That Management/Leadership Style Can Impact Positively on the Performance of an Organization. What Are the Arguments for and Against This Proposal? What Is the Evidence?

1. INTRODUCTION

1 One may argue that any business organizational setting without a leader is just a convention of people bound together by the notion of an eventual pay check. Recently, however, there is a surge in leadership naysayers who contend that leadership has been an overrated topic and some even attest that leadership theorists have all been hammering (pointlessly) at the myth of alleged leaders capable of changing organizations for the better. The idea may seem bleak but many would not fathom societies without leaders (just look at the sheer number of people who think the presidential election in the United States actually makes a difference to the world) nor would the topic be deemed irrelevant any time soon as the amount of literature pertaining to the subject of leadership continues to proliferate.

There is no contention that business organizations are changing at a radical pace; the advent of new technologies, globalization, a melting pot of cultures, all allude to new ways and new methods of thinking about organizations. The subject of leadership has also been flung around in face of these complexities. Old theories are rehashed and new theories are developed to make sense of the role leadership plays in a society of flux. Some are still looking for ‘the one leadership theory’ to unify all, some are redefining what leadership is and some suggest going back to the fundamentals by answering the most important question: does leadership really affect performance of organizations or all we all hitting on a blank wall assuming that it does?

This paper examines purported effects of leadership and look at both sides of the coin. It walks through the history and tapestry of what constitutes leadership studies, and explores how theories contribute to the discussion of various leadership styles. As it progresses to analysis of more recent theories, a clearer distinction is made between management and leadership. The field...