This paper examines the relevance of leadership substitute theory for present- day organisations. The quest of leadership substitute theory has been assessing which aspects of the organisation, followers and tasks act as a substitute for leadership or negate the effect of leadership. The notion of leadership substitute theory is to advise on leadership behaviours, within a leader-employee fit framework. Leadership substitute theory has been criticised on conceptual grounds (precise definitions) and methodological grounds (flaws in measurement and variance explanation of substitutes). Leadership substitute theory was developed half a century ago, when organizations and leadership were different; the variety of organisational forms was limited and leadership was mostly conceived as vertical activity. Organisations have changed and leadership substitutes are nowadays omnipresent. After a literature review of leadership substitute theory, two case studies are presented of current organizational practices, which support the ubiquity of leadership substitute factors. The paper argues for shifting the focus of leadership substitute theory away from identifying how single factor of employee, task and organisation exactly work, towards leadership substitute as a generic concept. Connecting leadership theory to HRM and organisational design is beneficial for a broader perspective on leadership substitute theory.
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