This approach assumes that a ‘great man’ naturally holds the essential. In leadership theory the “what” represents the goal that the leader looks to attain. The great man theory was established in the 19th century and suggests that great leaders are born, not made and have certain traits not found in all people. The Great Man theory of leadership assumes that leaders are born, and not made.

ADVERTISEMENTS: This is the Great Man Theory of leadership which asserts that leaders in general and great leaders in particular are born and not made. According to the theory, leadership calls for certain qualities like charm, persuasiveness, commanding personality, high degree of intuition, judgment, courage, intelligence, aggressiveness and action orientation which are of such a nature that they cannot be taught or learnt in a formal sense. One either has them or does not have them. Leadership qualities are carried in the genes. In other words, they are inborn, or- something inherited in family from generation-to-generation. Examples are drawn from such great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Mao Tse Tung, Kamal Ataturk, Abraham Lincoln, General de Gaulle and others.

They were born natural leaders with built-in qualities of leadership and attained greatness by divine design. It is said that history is nothing but the biographies of great men and women. Carti In Limba Romana Pdf Files there. They were the ones who made history.

They were great leaders of their time. It is contended that such men would have become leaders in any case because they were inherently endowed with leadership traits and skills.

They were not trained in leadership nor did they acquire any leadership skills in their lives; such skills were natural to them. In other words, there was something in their anatomy, physiology and personality which marked them out from the common mass of mortals. They had an instinctive urge to assume leadership and had an inborn will to achieve greatness and success. People turned to them instinctively for inspiration, solace and support. ADVERTISEMENTS: The further implications of the theory that leaders are born and not made, are as follows: (i) Leaders are gifts of God to mankind. A measure of divinity is attributed to leaders and their actions. (ii) Everyone cannot aspire to become a leader and to attain greatness.

(iii) The inborn leadership qualities alone are necessary and sufficient for a leader to exercise influence over his followers and to become successful. (iv) Leadership qualities and effectiveness are independent variables. Situational factors like the nature and needs of followers, the demands of task and the general socio­economic environment have little or no influence on a leader’s emergence or effectiveness.

(v) The theory discounts the belief that individuals can be trained for assuming leadership positions and roles. Leadership qualities cannot be transmitted through education and exposure.

The Great Man Theory of leadership is similar to the notion of divine right of kings to reign and rule over their subjects on a perpetual hereditary basis. Kings were supposed to acquire their legitimacy from God Himself.

Similarly, some individuals were destined to become great leaders on their own because God gave them certain inimitable abilities of a divine nature. In fact, the Great Man Theory dates back to the ancient Greek and Roman times when leadership used to be correlated with certain peculiar mental, physical and personality characteristics. Because leaders were thought to be born, a measure of divinity used to be attributed to them and their behaviour.

The theory carries some credibility to the extent that leaders in general and great leaders in particular have certain mystique about them and are viewed with awe by their followers. The qualities and actions of such leaders inspire implicit respect, at-least in some respects. The incidence and effectiveness of some great individuals who become leaders just like that without any tutelage and training were inexplicable in any way other than by genetic theory. ADVERTISEMENTS: Critique of the Theory: It is clear that the Great Man theory has no scientific basis and empirical validity.

It is more of a speculative piece of notion. The great weakness of the Great Man Theory, apart from the improbability of inherent traits, is the absurd belief that some people become great and successful leaders independent of their environmental situations.

Manual Of Christian Reformed Church Government Charts. The Great Man Theory is totally rejected by many modern theorists and even by some leaders themselves. Registry First Aid 7.0 Keygen on this page. The reasons are not far to seek and they are listed as under: (i) There is nothing inborn, divine or mysterious about leadership qualities. Born leaders are imaginary characters. The so called born leaders tend to be misfits in the modern complex fast changing conditions. If at all there are born leaders, they are freaks of nature; their availability is negligible, unreliable and cannot meet the growing demands of society for effective leadership in all spheres of activities.