Historic leaders Vs Nowadays leaders Dissertation

Historic leaders Vs Nowadays leaders - Dissertation Example Copyright Copyright in the text of this dissertation rests with the Author. Copies (by any process) either in full, or of extracts, may be made only in accordance with instructions given by the Author. The ownership of any intellectual property rights, which may be described in this dissertation, is vested in the author and may not be made available for use by third parties without the written consent of the author, which will prescribe the terms and conditions of any such agreement. Acknowledgements I dedicate this dissertation to my loving mother and father as well as all of my friends who helped in numerous ways to conclude successfully this project. Abstract It is unfortunately true that no one single perfect leader in human history is the ideal in terms of leadership, and this means that it is impossible to define precisely the set of characteristics and skills that any leader should aspire to. However, it makes sense to try to understand better leadership and the attributes, sk ills and characteristics desired in leaders by examining that which great leaders have demonstrated through the ages because such an effort assists with the understanding of leadership and aspirations for leadership. Although leadership is an intensely human activity, leaders must strive to attain the right vision for the future of their group in an environment in which they exist with their groups and in their time. This means that the right leadership must present a regard for the complexity of organised society and the state of development of humanity to confront future challenges. Because leadership is of significance for any group and there is a shortage of talented leaders in all spheres of human activity, with unique challenges lying ahead, it is possible to gain from insights about leadership by comparing a sample of leaders of the past with a sample of modern leaders to decide about leadership and its evolution over time. This dissertation presents a comparison of Alexander the Great, King Leonidas, Napoleon, Che Guevara, Margaret Thatcher and Barack Obama as leaders to decide about leadership and the evolution of leadership. Contents Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Background 3 1.2 Objectives of study 7 1.3 Scope of study 9 1.4 Structure of dissertation 10 Chapter 2 Historic Leaders 11 2.1 Alexander the Great 13 2.1.1 Alexander the Great in the Light of the Trait Theory of Leadership 14 2.1.2 Alexander the Great and the Situational Theory of Leadership 16 2.1.3 Alexander the Great in the Light of Contingency Theory of Leadership 17 2.1.4 Alexander the Great as a Transformational Leader