1.0 Introduction
In recent years, the theory of leadership is increasingly being used in the study of management. The leadership theory can help to improve the leader’s comprehensive qualities and achieve the common goal of an organization. Western leadership theory, especially the US-led theory, there are two research directions: First, start from the leaders to study leadership theory; second, start to study leadership theory from leadership activities. When we study the leaders’ behaviors, the psychology of leadership is an important study field. This paper intends to demonstrate the psychology of leadership’s role in the management of an organization. This article is divided into two parts. First, this article reviews the literature about psychology of leadership. Second, this article uses a case to support its view.
2.0 Literature review
Leadership can be defined as “a process of organizing a group of people to achieve a common goal ( Bass, 1973) ”. Some scholars believe that leadership is an influence, or is the process of influence on people, so that people are willing to work to achieve organizational goals. The leadership is regarded as a course of conduct, and in this process, there are many factors, such as leadership, leaders and leadership situations, etc., are important factors of affecting the effectiveness of leadership (Bryman, 1992).
The psychology of leadership is the discipline dealing with psychological phenomenon and its rules in leadership activities, is a cross-discipline of Managerial Psychology and modern science of Leadership. It is using the general laws of mental activity revealed by management psychology to solve psychological problems in leadership activities, and substantiate the knowledge of management psychology in leadership activities (Bryman, 1986).
Here, the author focuses on the psychological characters and