Leadership Style As An Outcome Of Motive: A Contingency 'State' Rather Than Trait' Concept

This paper proposes that one may more fully understand leaders' selection of leadership style at any given leader-follower interaction through the use of four motives: (a) the 'me' motive calls for the use of the charismatic leadership style; (b) the 'we' motive calls for the use of the transformational leadership style; (c) the 'thee' motive calls for the use of the servant leadership style; and (d) the 'it' motive calls for the use of the transactional leadership style. This conceptual paper argues that for the leader-follower interaction to be most effective the leader should disclose the motive to the follower since many of the leader behaviors are common across the four leadership styles.