COMMUNICATION AND ADOPTION 3(3+0)

Lesson 39 : Opinion Leadership

Theories of Leadership

In order to study the leadership pattern it is essential to know about various theories regarding development of leadership. According to traditional thought leaders are born not made. But recent investigations has discarded this theory and developed various approaches to study the leadership. Some of the theories are given below:

1. Trait Theory
   According to this theory leaders are born, not made. They must possess certain qualities of leadership which make them successful. Various authors has give different traits of leadership as given in this chapter.

2. Situational Theory
   According to this theory leadership is the product of a situation in a particular group. According to Rogers (1975) Leadership is specific and always relative to the particular situation in which it occurs. It is assumed that the traits and skills which characterize a good leader will vary from group to group and from situation to situation.