ARTICLE

Leadership Styles

By: Trimble, Joseph Langford, Sara; California State Polytechnic University Pomona, PSY/SOC Thompson, Joshua; Western Washington University Camp, James

Leadership has been a topic of contentious debate since the time of the ancient philosophers. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries a number of leadership theories have been advanced. 

The Great Man Theory gives the basic framework on which contemporary theories have been based. Contemporary theories of leadership first began to focus on both traits and behaviors. Recently, there has been more of a focus on leadership styles, two of these being transactional and transformational. 

Most recently the focus has shifted again to the study of diversity in leadership and the need for more culturally reflective leadership.