General trait theory and grand person theory
According to Trait theory, there are various characteristics that distinguish between leaders and followers. These characteristics are innate, that is, people are born with them and as a result, there are those people that are born leaders while others are born followers. Regarding the G person theory, great leaders are extraordinary people and are more gifted Grand Person Theory, leaders who perform their duties without becoming famous. These leaders persuade large numbers of their fellows to follow them and raise their standards of living (Hemphill, 1949, para.13).
Transformational-Transaction theories
According to the Transformational-Transaction theories, transformational leaders lead as their fellows follow. On the other hand, transactional encourage their followers to be effective by explaining to them their target and how to achieve these targets (Burn, 1978, p.158).
Contingency theories
According to this theory, leadership style depends on the prevailing circumstances of a situation at hand. Some of the leaders who used this style of leadership are Feidler, Hersey and Blanchard. Each of these leaders identified their situation and then the best style of leadership to use (Hemphill, 1949, para.17).
Path goal theory
This theory was developed in 1971 by Robert House. According to this theory, leaders’ performance and behavior are based on the expectation they have concerning the attainment of the goals and the satisfaction of subordinates. According to this theory, leaders are motivated to work and are satisfied when their subordinates are satisfied and when they are able to give paths leading to the attainment of goals (Penning, 1986, p.34).
Functional leadership theory
According to this theory, the main work of a leader is to ensure the needs of the group are met (Currie, 1997, p.65). This theory is applied in team leadership as well as organizational leadership.
A successful business leader, his current role and major achievements
Richard Branson, born on the 18th of July, 1950 in Black Health, South London in the UK, is one of the successful business leaders. He dropped out of school and started his own business while only sixteen years old. He was a husband to Tomasi who he divorced and married Joan and is a father to Holly and Sam Branson (Muldon, 2003, para.7). Sir Richard Branson’s great achievement includes establishing the Virgin group of companies. He is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Virgin companies. Some of the companies affiliated with the Virgin brand include Virgin mobile, Virgin Blue and Virgin railway stations, amongst others (Leadership styles, 2006, p.23).
Leadership style of Richard Branson
Richard Branson is charismatic and a team leader this is because he had a strong character that many people were drawn to him. In addition, he had a vision and always aimed to reach higher and always lead others (Kristie &Carter, 2002, p.557). He was naturally born a leader as he portrays such traits of leadership as honesty, competency, intelligence, inspiring, and forward-looking. As a result, he has endeared many people to follow him.
How the leadership style of Richard Branson contributed to his success
Richard Branson succeeded because he always aimed at reaching higher and was ready to take risks. That is why he invented so many business ventures even though he failed in a few of them (Odu, 2009, p.34). Additionally, he believed in the contributions that people made to his business and always motivated the employees by showing them their worth. For instance, when he won a lawsuit against one of his companies and was awarded $500000, he divided this money amongst his staff. Moreover, he always liked listening to the views of other people of all calibers with who he interacted with.
Reference List
- Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership. New York: Harper and Row Publishers Inc..
- Currie, D. (1997). Personnel in practice. New York: Wiley-Blackwell publishers.
- Hemphill, J. K. (1949). Situational Factors in Leadership. Columbus: Ohio State University Bureau of Educational Research
- Kristie, B., & Carter, C.(2002).The charismatic gaze: Everyday leadership practices of the New manager, management news, 40(6):552-565.
- Leadership styles: Richard Branson.2006.
- Muldon, D.S. (2003).Excellent managers: Exploring the acquisition, measurement and Impact of leader skills in Australian Business content. New Zealand: Victoria University Technology.
- Odu, J.K. (2009).Select undergraduate papers: Real Team and Research papers that Received Top Grades in college. New York: Decent Hill publishers.
- Pennings, J.M. (1986).Decision making: An organization behavior approach.2 ed.Princeton: Markus Wiener publishers.