ABSTRACT
The chapter depicts a landscape of scientific discussions on leadership theories and transformational approaches to leadership. The multitude of approaches and the thicket of terminology sometimes can make it difficult for non-specialists in the field to fully grasp the idea of leadership, which itself remains elusive as a concept and strenuous to define. The author attempts to provide as clear and comprehensive definition of transformational leadership as possible in light of the literature review in the field. The chapter starts from the discussion on ‘Great Man’, trait, contingency, situational, behavioural, participative, transactional, management, relationship, and transformational theories, and it continues towards depicting and explaining the nature of the following approaches to leadership: servant, leader–member exchange (LMX) theory, ethical/inclusive, authentic, adaptive, charismatic, path-goal, inspirational/resonant, visionary, distributed and shared, and finally emotional intelligence in leadership. Additionally, the latest developments in the field that combine the elements of those most prominent approaches are discussed. All these approaches, to a greater or lesser extent, fall into a broader umbrella category of transformational leadership.
