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Comparative Analysis of Business Leadership Theories

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Introduction

Business leadership is a very important topic to learn about. This has led to the

development of different theories that give unique views on how to be a good leader. This essay

focuses on exploring, comparing, and critically analyzing three significant leadership theories:

Transformational Leadership, Servant Leadership, and Situational Leadership are different kinds

of ways to be a good leader. These theories are picked because they have made a big difference

in the study of leadership and use different ways. The study includes a close study of each

theory's past, growth and main features (Deshwal & Ali, 2020). The essay wants to show both

alike and different parts of these theories by following where they came from and how they

changed. This side-by-side look tries to give a clearer picture of how each idea can be used in

business. It stresses their importance and usefulness in shaping a company's culture and

success. The aim is to combine all these theories into a big view. This will show that they are all

important for both studying in school and running a business well.

Overview of Leadership Theories

Transformational Leadership

Leadership that changes things is all about encouraging and getting others to do better for

their team and company. Pioneered by James MacGregor Burns and later expanded by Bernard

M. Bass, this theory is underpinned by four key components: Idealized Influence, Inspirational

Motivation, Intellectual Stimulation, and Individualized Consideration (Wolor et al.,

2021). Leaders who bring change are known for making plans, building trust, promoting new

ideas and helping followers to grow personally. They show the way, standing for the beliefs and

rules they want to teach their group. This method not only wants to raise follower's happiness
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and desire more, but also tries making them leaders too. It helps create a place where everyone

can constantly improve and work together for success.

Servant Leadership

This idea by Robert K. Greenleaf, says that the leader should serve their team first and

foremost. This theory posits that effective leadership stems from a desire to serve others, with a

focus on empathy, listening, stewardship, and the growth of people. Leaders who serve focus

first on their team members' needs and health. They stress personal growth, building friendships,

and making decisions together with coworkers (Dias et al., 2023). Servant Leadership changes

the usual boss style to make it more friendly and good. This gives leaders who listen and care

more power. This giving way of thinking makes for a strong workplace culture. It helps build

trust and commitment among workers, leading to their active involvement in the company.

Situational Leadership

It was developed by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard; it says there is no best way to lead.

Instead, leaders must change their style based on different situations. Rather, it says that good

leadership changes based on the circumstances and growth of followers. This theory categorizes

leadership styles into four types: Telling, Selling, Participating, and Delegating (Cinnioğlu,

2020). Leaders should check how ready and skilled their team members are, and change their

approach to match. It focuses on being flexible and changing with the situation. It says you

should use a different way of leading depending on how people act. It knows that human

behavior can change a lot. This useful theory is often praised because it can be used in a lot of

different work places.

Historical Origins of Each Theory

Transformational Leadership Origins

The origins of the concept trace back to the late 1970s, primarily attributed to James

MacGregor Burns. In 1978, Burns introduced a distinction in leadership styles, differentiating

between transaction-oriented leaders and those who are change-oriented. Transactional leaders

work under the existing rules and rewards while transformational leaders motivate and change

their followers (Verma & Mehta, 2022). At first, his main aim was on politicians. But later on,

Bernard M. Bass changed the idea for use in business situations. Bass's work in the 1980s made

the theory bigger to include how people behave in organizations and manage staff. This made it

very important in understanding how leaders work well different places, especially in businesses

and big companies.

Servant Leadership Origins

Robert K. Greenleaf first created the idea in his 1970 writing called "The Servant as

Leader." He got the idea from reading Hermann Hesse's book "Journey to the East," where a

character's leadership comes from helping others. Greenleaf said that real leadership comes from

taking care of people under you instead of using power to control them (Deshwal & Ali,

2020). This idea was very new; it went against old ways of thinking about how people lead

others. The idea has become popular, especially for people who want a better and kinder way to

lead. It focuses on the importance of leaders caring for their team's health and progress.

Situational Leadership Origins

In the late 1960s, Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard developed the concept, culminating in

their 1969 publication "Management of Organizational Behavior." They recognized that effective

leadership varied and was not a one-size-fits-all approach. It fits the situation and how

experienced and ready to follow people are. It used ideas from behavioral science and took ideas

from older theories like Tannenbaum and Schmidt's Leadership Scale (Wolor et al.,
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2021). Hersey and Blanchard said that leaders need to change their way of leading based on their

team's ability and skills. This makes their idea very flexible and easy to use in different

companies.

Evolution of Theories

The evolution of leadership theories reflects ongoing scholarly discourse and adaptations

to changing organizational landscapes.

Transformational Leadership

Bernard M. Bass greatly expanded this idea in the 1980s. He added the idea of

transactional leadership, which was different. He formed a complete model that included both

transformational and transactional parts. Bass made changes that could be measured. This led to

the creation of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), a main tool for looking at

different ways of leading (Dias et al., 2023). His work made this theory of leadership popular in

business and organization settings. It wasn't just for politics anymore.

Timeline

 1978: Introduced by James MacGregor Burns.

 1980s: Expanded and refined by Bernard M. Bass.

Servant Leadership

Larry Spears, the CEO at the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, was very

important in developing this idea. Spears took Greenleaf's first writings and turned them into ten

main traits of servant leaders. These include understanding others, responsibility for what's given

to us, and working on growing more. It gives a more clear structure. (Cinnioğlu, 2020) This

growth made it easier to do experiments and use them in different places where organizations

are.
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Timeline

 1970: Introduced by Robert K. Greenleaf in "The Servant as Leader."

 Post-1970s: Further developed and structured by Larry Spears and others.

Situational Leadership

Hersey and Blanchard worked on improving their model. They made important changes

in the late 1970s to put more focus on how much people were growing or developing. This

change resulted in the Situational Leadership II model. This gave a more detailed plan for seeing

how leader behavior and follower preparedness interact. (Verma & Mehta, 2022) Their job

shows how important it is to change in leadership. This connects the theory with the needs and

problems of modern organizations.

Timeline

 Late 1960s: Conceptualized by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard.

 Late 1970s: Revised to focus more on follower maturity levels.

Comparison Matrix

Leadership Theory Transformational Servant Leadership Situational

Leadership Leadership

Focus Inspiring and Serving the team, Adapting style to the

motivating for higher prioritizing their situation and follower

goals needs maturity

Key Components Idealized Influence, Empathy, Listening, Telling, Selling,

Inspirational Stewardship, Growth Participating,

Motivation, of People Delegating

Intellectual
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Stimulation,

Individualized

Consideration

Ideal Context Dynamic, change- Community-oriented, Varied, depending on

oriented ethical cultures team dynamics and

environments maturity

Leadership Visionary and Altruistic and Flexible and

Approach change-centric nurturing adaptable

Conclusion

To sum it up, by comparing Servant, Situational and Transformational Leadership

theories, we see that they have different yet helpful ways for leadership in business. Leadership

that transforms is very important in changing areas. It focuses on vision and motivation to help a

group or company change. Servant Leadership, which emphasizes feeling for others and helping

them grow, is perfect for creating a culture focused on the community. This helps make people at

work more involved. On the other hand, Situational Leadership is flexible and can be used in all

kinds of situations. It's especially good when the team has many different members. These ideas

show how important it is to think about the situation and what each person needs for good

leadership. In today's busy and many types of business world, understanding and using these

ideas can very much improve a leader's job. Each method gives important strategy tips for

encouraging, directing, and growing teams. These ideas help a lot with company success and

staying strong. Knowing about different ways to lead is very important for today's leaders. They

need this understanding to manage the complications of the modern company world well.
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Reference

Cinnioğlu, H. (2020). A review of modern leadership styles in perspective of industry 4.0. Agile

Business Leadership Methods for Industry 4.0, 1-23.

Deshwal, V., & Ali, M. A. (2020). A systematic review of various leadership theories. Shanlax

International Journal of Commerce, 8(1), 38-43.

Dias, M., Vieira, P., Pereira, L., Quintão, H., & Lafraia, J. (2023). leadership theories: a

systematic review based on bibliometric and content analysis methods. GPH-

International Journal of Business Management, 6(05), 01-16.

Verma, S., & Mehta, M. (2022). Corporate entrepreneurship and leadership theories: Conceptual

review. Journal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies, 14(5), 902-925.

Wolor, C. W., Nurkhin, A., & Citriadin, Y. (2021). Leadership style for millennial generation,

five leadership theories, systematic literature review. Calitatea, 22(184), 105-110.