Abstract
Contingency theories of leadership were intended to resolve the problems of Trait and Behavioural theories. To what extent have they achieved? According to the dictionary, leadership is « the process whereby one person influences the thoughts and behaviour of others »; it thus appears to be a key element in the success of a company. In those circumstances, we must wonder what the parameters that make a leadership efficient are. It is accordingly that Dr Ralph Melvin Stogdill, an American professor of Psychology, developed the « Trait theory » based on Thomas Carlysle's « Great Man » concept. It was later completed by inter alia Mutton and Blake, who added the dimension of behaviour. However innovative they were, those theories which aimed to describe the ideal leader were inexact; indeed some leaderships which reunited right criteria happened to be fails. In that context, Joseph Bower in order to solve those problems elaborated the « Contingency theory », which particularity was to take into account the employees and the situation of the leadership.
