Leadership in Management and the "Great Man' theory

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Leadership in top management and organisations for centuries have fascinated humankind and even gathering more storm as organisations continually change in structure either through merger and acquisition, joint ventures, etc. 21st century organizations require good leadership to revitalise and survive in today’s highly competitive market; which is also critically important to nations. (Boloden, R., Gosling, J., Marlushro, A. and Dennson, P. :Leadership Theory and Competency).

There has been various theories on leadership by leading management scholars attempting to review, explain and define leadership. Cole (1996, p.51) defines leadership as a “dynamic process in a group whereby one individual influences the others to contribute voluntarily to the achievement of group tasks in a given organisation.” He further argued that leadership is not just personality or by accident or appointment but linked with behaviour, clearly a stand against the “great man” philosophy (Cole, G.A., 1996).

Most literatures, tracks its evolution right from the ‘‘Great man’’ notion of heroic leade...

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