What are the major arguments opposed to formal leadership in an organization?

Answer 1

According to the text of "Leadership: Research Findings, Practive, and Skills - Fifth Edition" by Dubrin, there are three arguments opposing formal leadership; substitutes for leadership, leader irrelevance, and complexity theory. The text states the following: Substitutes for leadership include closely knit teams of highly trained individuals, intrinsic satisfaction, computer technology, and professional norms. When members of a cohesive, highly trained group are focused on a goal, they may require almost no leadership to accomplish their task. Intrinsic satisfaction is when employees who are engaged in work they find strongly self-motivating, or intrinsically satisfying, require a minimum of leadership. Their task itself grabs the worker's attention and energy. Computer technology such as computer-aided monitoring and computer networking can take over many of the supervisor's leadership functions. The computer provides productivity and quality data, and directions for certain tasks can be entered in to the computer systems. When professional norms are incorporated by workers they often require a minimum of supervision and leadership. According to the theorizing of Jeffrey Pfeffer, leadership is irrelevant to most organizations. Rather, it is the situation that must be carefully analyzed. Factors outside the leader's control have a larger impact on business outcomes than do leadership actions. And high-level leaders have unilateral control over only a few resources, and is usually limited by obligations to stakeholders. The complexity theory holds that organizations are complex systems that cannot be explained by the usual rules of nature. Leaders and managers can do little to alter the course of the complex organizational system.