According to M. George and Gareth R. Jones leadership is the exercise of influence by one member of a group or organization -the leader- over other members -the subordinates-to help the group achieve its goals

According to M. George and Gareth R. Jones leadership is the exercise of influence by one member of a group or organization -the leader- over other members -the subordinates-to help the group achieve its goals (Bertocci, 2009). There are several leadership theories which have been approached by various scientists, either based on the traits of leaders, on their behaviours or on the situations.

I will use as an example the AXA Insurance company, which has a human-centered profile giving special importance to the management of its human resources. It promotes a behavioral leadership style believing that production and people are equally important factors for the effectiveness of an organization. Accepting that the leadership style is affected by various factors such as the culture of the company, the characteristics of the leader and employees’ personality, needs, motivations, and expertise, it seeks to transfuse a leading profile to the managers by training and developing them continually.

According to the behavioral theory “rather than the personality characteristics of the leader, the effectiveness of a leader is related to how the leader behaves or what he/she does”. Also, “leader behaviour is not innate but can be learned afterwards” (Uslu, 2019).

Among several studies, in 1985, Blake and Mouton created a managerial grid that illustrated five leadership styles, both concern for people and production/task. The ideal is the 9.9 style (team management), in which both productivity and people are given equal attention. The condition is that employees are active in comprehending the organization’s mission and determining production needs. Employees’ requirements and production needs coincide when they are committed to and invested in the organization’s success. This fosters a trusting and respectful team environment, which means high contentment and motivation, as well as high performance (Khan et al., 2015).

Moreover, Yukl (1989) introduced three different leadership styles, the democratic, the autocratic and the Laissez faire. The employees working with democratic leaders showed a high level of contentment, innovation, and motivation. They work with tremendous excitement and energy regardless of whether the leader was there or not, and they maintain better relationships with him concerning the productivity (Khan et al., 2016).

Referring to the relevant literature I found that there are conflicting views on the importance of the leadership regardless of its style. Some academics argue that its effects are minimal compared with historical, organizational, and environmental forces. Others suggest that attributing organizational outcomes to individual leaders is a romantic oversimplification. Similarly, complexity theorists maintain that organizational performance cannot be attributed to individual leaders because performance is an emergent phenomenon involving complex, nonlinear interactions among multiple variables in a dynamic system open to outside influences (Kaiser et al., 2008).

So, I am concerned to what extent the application of leadership contributes to the performance of the organizations in relation to external factors such as economic, political, environmental, etc., what is your opinion on this?