Assignment # 2:

The Great Man Theory

Introduction:
Theories of "Great Men" have "focused on identifying innate qualities and characteristics possessed by
great social, political, and military leaders,"
According to Wikipedia (Northouse, 2019).
Great Man theories hold that people are born leaders, and thus have certain characteristics that
make them great leaders (Northouse, 2019).
These theories were primarily developed during the nineteenth century, with Thomas Carlyle doing the
majority of the work (Juneja).

History:
The concept of the great man theory was developed in the nineteenth century, primarily by historian
Thomas Carlyle. The theory explains how the influence of great men, also known as Heroes, influenced
history. These heroes or great men are highly capable and different people with different superior
characteristics such as highly intellectual, courage like heroes, and so on, and as a result, they can leave a
significant historical effect.

Assumptions:
There are two main assumptions on which Great Man theory is based.
Leaders cannot be made and are born only.
As per this assumption, the following aspects are considered:
Leaders are God gifted to the world. They have divine attributes that reflect their actions.
Great leaders will come into existence as the need arises.
This assumption is based on the myth that if the appropriate situation demands, great leaders will rise.

Great Man Leadership Theory:

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 Assignment # 2:
The Great Man Theory

The Great Man Theory states that leaders cannot be made but they are leaders by birth. Let’s read further
to study the Great Man Theory in detail.

“BORN TO BE LEADER”
Great Man Theory: The theory is based on the built-in characteristics or traits of leadership in an
individual which clears if an individual is a successful leader by birth or not. This theory ignores other
factors like education, experience, the behavior of an individual to be a great leader, and suggests that
these are not required to be as a leader and can only shape leadership abilities.

History

The great man theory was formulated in the 19th century and the concept is mainly attributed to a

historian Thomas Carlyle. The theory explains how history was affected by the influence of great men
also called Heroes. These heroes or great men are highly capable and are different people, who have
different superior characteristics like highly intellectual, courage like heroes, etc., and due to this, they
can leave a significant historical effect.
Thomas Carlyle further stated that successful leaders were a combination of divine inspiration and the
right characteristics. Thomas also defined the Great Man concept in his various lectures which were based
on heroes and heroism. He further published articles of Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in
History.

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The Great Man Theory

Criticism
The Great Man theory is criticized by different writers and researchers.

 Herbert Spencer was one of the criticizers of the theory. According to his critics in 1896, great
leaders can be looked at as only products of the society in which they were born and brought up
also they have an impact on their social environment. So society is the one that has a contribution
in shaping these as great men and which resulted in giving further shape to the society by them.
 According to Novelist Tolstoy in 2010, the relevance of the Great Man theory is based on
imagination. In actual, these great people are slaves of history by believing as divine intervention.
 In-fact modern researchers, scientists also strongly rejected the great man concept. According to
them, there is no scientific proof of the concept of theory and the born leader concept is just an
imagination. Cherry in 2017 stated that great men can be developed also with the right education,
experience, and by empowering them.

Limitation:
The limitations of Great Man theory are:

 This theory is based on the blind faith of great leaders that happened in history. It only looked at
the change in history by those leaders and there is no insight into the selfish motives and their real
actions behind the change.
 There is no great logic behind the theory. It is based on myth and assumptions.
 This theory didn’t emphasize real heroes who had an important contribution to actual events
happened under the leadership of great leaders. Link in the case of Abraham Lincoln who is
famous for successfully leading the civil war in the U.S., he had a little role to play and other
people who fight are not considered.
 This theory considered only men as great leaders and avoided women having the potential to be a
leader.
 The theory didn’t consider childhood and upbringing of great leaders of that time and ignored the
impact of environment, culture, and society on them in their development.

Conclusions
To conclude, the Great Man Theory is a born leader theory who is born to lead as they have inherent
characteristics. The theory was criticized a lot due to the avoidance of impact of social environment on
leadership and over-focus on the abilities of a leader. This theory generated the interest of researchers in
discovering more insights into leadership and a leader. Despite lots of criticism, this theory maintained its
status for the guidance of leadership until the mid of the 20th century. Further the emergence and growth
of behavioral science, leadership is shaped as a scientific study later on that can be acquired. Leaders,
irrespective of by birth or made as a leader, who don’t have leadership qualities have to undergo
leadership development training by engaging in the culture, environment and with people around them to
become great leaders. Also, it is not necessary for a leader to be successful in all areas as he/she might
have expertise in one particular domain to which he/she belongs to.
However, supporters of great man theory still believe that great leaders have God gifted qualities and
these qualities cannot be gained.

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The Great Man Theory

References:
https://studiousguy.com/great-man-leadership-theory/

https://www.verywellmind.com/the-great-man-theory-of-leadership-2795311

https://sites.psu.edu/leadership/2021/01/26/great-man-theories/

https://slideplayer.com/slide/13083629/

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