This paper examines the relevance of leadership
substitute theory for present-day organisations. The quest of leadership substitute theory has been
assessing which aspects of the organisation, followers and tasks act as a
substitute for leadership or negate the effect of leadership. The notion of
leadership substitute theory is to advise
on leadership behaviours, within a leader-employee fit framework.
Leadership substitute theory has been criticised on conceptual grounds (precise
definitions) and methodological grounds (flaws in measurement and variance
explanation of substitutes). Leadership substitute theory was developed half a century
ago, when organizations and leadership were different; the variety of
organisational forms was limited and leadership was mostly conceived as
vertical activity. Organisations have changed and leadership substitutes are
nowadays omnipresent. After a literature review of leadership substitute
theory, two case studies are presented of current organizational practices,
which support the ubiquity of leadership substitute factors. The paper argues
for shifting the focus of leadership substitute theory away from identifying
how single factor of employee, task and organisation exactly work, towards
leadership substitute as a generic concept. Connecting leadership theory to HRM
and organisational design is beneficial for a broader perspective on leadership
substitute theory.
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