How Does Leadership Affect Organisational Performance

group its efforts toward goal-setting and goal achievement (Buchanan & Huczynski, 2010:596). There has been a long debate as to how leadership can make a difference in an organisation based on the organisational performance. This is an interesting topic to discuss as many factors can contribute to organisational performance. The purpose of this essay is to clarify the difference that a leadership can have on organisational performance by discussing the different theories of leadership - e.g. Power and Influence or the Contingency theory - and the outcome it can have on organisational performance. Whilst demonstrating there can be a link to a leadership making difference in an organisations performance as the leader is often able to influence

The Trait Spotting Theory is one that searches for leaders who possess traits which distinguishes themselves as an individual. An example of the traits, named by Ralph Stogdill, must be tolerant of stress, self-confident or adaptable to situations etc. Stogdill’s theory was later expanded, by Lombardo and McCall, with the idea that a leader was able to be made or broken with their ability to admitting their faults whilst having a set of interpersonal skills . However, the Trait Spotting Theory has its challenges as numerous researches has found that a set of consistent attributes were unfound even though they were common ones. The theory developer himself stated that the “qualities, characteristics, and skill required in a leader are determined to by a demand of the situation” (Stogdill 1948:63). Therefore, the traits must be relevant to the situation or in the case of an unexpected event, or the traits possessed would be irrelevant and would not be as promising in aiding in the demands of the situation. Subsequently, the Trait Spotting Theory by Ralph Stogdill illustrates that the few traits the leader may possess could be helpful in making a strong leader who is influential in the organisations performance. However, one finds that it is far-fetched to say that this theory would have a link in the performance of the organisation as it is focusing more on what traits the leader possesses’. This could lead one to question whether the traits are being implemented to have an influence on the employees, thus causing the organisations performance to either improve or