Leadership literature review confirms that the concept of leadership embraces series of evolving of thought from the oldest great man and trait theories to the recent -transformational leadership. While early theories tend to focus upon the characteristics and behaviors of successful leaders, later theories begin to consider the role of followers and the contextual nature of leadership in an organization. 2.2.1. Great Man Theory of Leadership Great man theory, as the earliest approach to studying leadership, asserts that the capacity for leadership is inherent in that great leaders are born, not made. This theory often describes leaders as heroic, mythic and destined to rise to leadership when needed. The term great man was used because, at …show more content…
Trait Theory of Leadership Trait theorists argued that leaders are naturally born with distinct traits. They associated leadership with certain personal qualities and characteristics that distinguished leaders from followers. Three kinds of traits were mostly studied in the early leadership researches: physical factors (height, appearance, age, etc.), aspects of personality (self-esteem, dominance, emotional stability, conservatism, etc.), and aptitudes (general intelligence, fluency of speech, creativity, etc), assuming that the differential traits could be identified by empirical research (Stogdill, 1948: …show more content…
From the late 1940s onwards, the focus of leadership research shifted from leader traits to leader behavior. Researchers were particularly interested in identifying leader behaviors that enhanced the effectiveness of subordinates. With that shift in research, the former common opinion that leaders with the right qualities have to be selected changed into the opinion that, knowing the effective leadership behaviors, leaders can be trained to become successful (Bryman, 1992). Mainly two research groups coined the behavior approach - the Ohio and the Michigan studies. Accordingly, the view that leaders are naturally born is shifted to the notion that leaders can learn and change their behavior to emulate effective leaders (Benson, 2008). Yukl, Gordon, and Taber (2002) identified three behavior categories that depict leaders: task behavior, relations behaviors, and change behaviors. Leaders who display task behaviors develop schedules, provide short-term planning, and monitor unit activities. Relations-oriented leaders demonstrate certain levels of effort to establish and maintain employee relationships (Kilburn & Gates, 2010). Change-oriented leaders encourage creative ideas by seeking improvements (Yukl et al.,
Transactional Leadership and Organizational Change: Literature on leadership shows a progressive model, which starts from focusing on the traits and characteristics of a leader, then focuses on behavior and afterward highlights on the contextualized nature of the leadership. The concept of leadership starts with the unique focus on the theory of “Great Man”. The supporter of the great man theory assumes that leaders are born and have innate qualities; therefore, leaders cannot be made. The word “Man” was intentionally used to indicate the role of males only. Early research on leadership further focused on the common characteristics that discriminate leaders from followers.
1. Introduction Individuals with leadership qualities are everywhere, if you can identify them. From within the family household, the school your children attend, to the more obvious; the workplace and political environments. However, what makes an individual a leader and what makes that leader an effective one? Can anyone be a leader?
Introduction Leadership personality has always been a key interest subject for me. I have always looked to find which criteria a leader should achieve or what are the characteristics they have already mastered that make them a leader? I still search for the answer of the questions. Human behavior is one of the key factors that count a lot in this regard. Probably the differences of behavior from person to person have made people leaders and employees.
In developing this paper on leadership, I examined what was most important to me as a leader. As I reflected on my leadership philosophy, I thought about my experiences and the principals that I have learned through my own self-discovery and the observation of other leaders that I have had throughout my life. My leadership philosophy paper will focus on what leadership is to me, core values, and knowledge of others. In thinking about my definition of leadership, I thought of what was most important to me in and as a leader.
In America during the last few decades, studies of leadership traits and characteristics were conducted by research teams, such as Group Dynamics, to determine what people think contributes to leadership. Their results
My philosophy of a leadership is shaped by many of the components included in trait theory. I think leaders have specific traits that make them effective in leading. In my first discussion question I used my father-in-law as example of an effective leader by describing traits that made him effective as a leader as a result, I felt inclined to use him in the leadership questionnaire. Unsurprisingly, the survey revealed that faculty rated my father in law high in empathy, sensitivity, perceptive, trustworthy, and dependability. I think it is important for the leader being surveyed to understand his or her effectiveness as a leader based of individual traits.
Those individuals who were believed to have these inherent skills were people of very influential status, wartime heroes and those of great wealth. The people who emerge or are most picked to lead have distinctive drives and character profiles (Nicholson, 2013, p.16). Leadership Thought Development from 1900 – 1970 The thought of leadership evolved from the Great Man Theory to Trait Theory and Behavior Theory. The trait theory focuses on identifying distinctive personality traits and characteristics that are associated to successful leadership.
Introduction Every leader shares the goal of enhancing the qualities of leadership. A leader builds and maintains relationships to produce better overall outcomes. The personal style of the leader sets the tone for the organization, indicating the vast effect they have on others. Therefore, it is important for the leader to reveal weaknesses and to be open about their individual struggles that allowed them to become effective leaders. The leader must be cognizant of the organizational culture and how to address the negativity to transform it to an encouraging environment.
Individuals need only work hard to develop the skills of a good leader to be effective. This is encouraging for people who are interested in excelling but do not have the traits or innate abilities proposed in other leadership theories. A skills-based leadership theory also makes it easy to select a leader by taking inventory of each potential leader's skills in the important areas. Limitations
Introduction There are many different characteristics and traits that leaders have that influence those around them. Some of us are born leaders, while others have to learn to develop the necessary skills to become a leader. Nonetheless, each individual person will come across a time in their life where they are needed or able to display their leadership skills. Determining when that situation is can be the challenging part. Are we all leaders?
Organizer/hierarchical labels- is describing the leader position and qualities (Lonergan, 2016). Leader qualities are the following cognitive abilities that can be displayed through personality and values. Social appraisal skill is a skill that is acquired through education programs and trainings. Excellent leadership characteristics are future thinker, having integrity when it comes to ethical issues, being understanding and caring, having good communication skills and tackling hard to deal with issues, having confidence, high energy and very passionate (Lonergan, 2016, p.
Dr. Gardner, research suggests that genetics account for approximately 30% of the variance leadership role occupancy. Another 10-15% is related to external work and life events (Arvey, Avolio, Zhen, & Krueger, 2007). Some environmental variables that influence leadership emergence and development include educational, family, and prior work experiences (Arvey et al., 2007). The remaining comes from learned behavior. Leaders are ultimately developed through experience, new knowledge, reflection, and time to practice (Ruvolo, Petersen, & LeBoeuf, 2004).
Leader who is helter skater over initiating structure maybe that's only the tip of the iceberg worried around characterizing undertaking prerequisites and other parts of the fill in organization security. Moreover, there are also University of Michigan studies which divided in two which is Production Orientated and Employee Orientated. In production orientated is about finishing a task with group and doing it well in any tasks they are giving in group. The employees must have the interpersonal role in their self to become a good leader and must not be racist or bias about the different employees u have in the
This paper will examine the three leadership theories, identify how they apply to my practice, and explore how these theories interact with each other. The Trait Leadership Theory is based on the belief that a person is born with special traits contributing to natural leadership abilities. Studies of famous historical leaders have been used to identify various traits for this theory. Although the list of traits differs from study to study, there are five major traits that are consistent throughout most studies.
Leaders are made, not born. The Great Man Theory suggests that people inherit qualities and traits that make them better suited for leadership. “To suggest that leaders do not enter the world with extraordinary endowment is to imply that people enter the world with equal abilities, with equal talents.” (Thomas Carlyle 1840) While it is true that there are certain characteristics that leaders are born with that predispose them to become leaders, the influence of these characteristics are often overexaggerated.