Essay On Great Man Theory

As it was written on one of the class slides, a leader can change the way people thinks about what is possible. In other words, it can be suggested that leaders have certain traits that allows them to possess or cultivate leadership characteristics. When a the “Great Man” theories was presented during the early 1990s, it focused on identifying innate qualities and characteristics that many great social, political, and military leaders possessed. This leaderships traits approach is one of the first methodical attempts to study what leaders possess, which ultimately concluded but not fully determine as the only traits needed. These traits are intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity and sociability. As to where I stand in this trait spectrum, I know that I have determination, integrity and

19). Still a part of the Great Man Leadership era, these trait theories just went a step further in attempting to pinpoint exactly which traits of these “great men” were consistently associated with the leaders, in an effort to more clearly define what a great leader was. This was again a further attempt to be able to identify a leader early on and predict which individuals were born to become leaders. It is thought that a major flaw with these theories was the failure to account for external factors, such as the environment in which the individuals were brought up in, as well as the situations they experienced (Horner, 2007, p. 270). Still today we do continue to study the characteristics of leaders in order to better define and understand what makes someone a good leader.

As was mentioned earlier, the trait theory contains highly subjective perspectives. It means that the perception of leadership traits is associated with the assessment of leadership. Barry et al (2003) conducted an

Trait Approach consists of leadership theories looking to identify what qualities great leaders possess so future leaders can be identified based on these qualities. These theories have been referred to as the “Great Man” theories because the traits were based from research of readily identifiable extraordinary leaders (Northhouse, 2016, p. 19). Researchers believed all great leaders must share certain qualities, which makes them able to distinguish themselves above all others. This seemed like a logical approach, however it became apparent determining an absolute required set of traits for leadership proved difficult. Traits which make one an effective leader may only work in certain situations or with certain followers. Intensive studies were conducted during the 20th century with several theories identifying varying sets of traits

The trait approach is clearly flawed because it only takes into account one side of leadership; however, it does provide valuable insight on the leadership side. Trait theory provides an outline for feedback. Subordinates can quickly pick up on qualities that a leader does or does not have. This feedback can provide individuals with a good understanding of where they stand as a leader. Simple surveys such as the leadership trait questionnaire can be conducted to translate feedback into tangible evidence. I have distributed this questionnaire and collected results for myself to grasp my perceived leadership trait levels. For my example as a plebe, I had a clear perception of where the firstie stood as a leader. I unconsciously recognized many leadership traits without having a solid understanding of what I saw. This illustrates the nature of the approach. It identifies people who have demonstrated leadership traits and has no description for how a leader should act in an environment or situation. It is extremely easy to conceptualize but fails to take the leadership situation and context into account. The trait approach provides important concepts to better understand leadership but is clearly is not enough be used exclusively as a guiding theory.

In the text it explains a problem with trait leadership is it never explains which traits are the ones that make a leader and which one maintains one as a leader. I disagree with this statement as a leader may not possess the traits of a leader currently or yet but through life or circumstances that effect their decisions and personal qualities may change them and form a leader.

Leadership theory, or the scientific approach to understanding leadership, is a vast group of theories that try to explain what makes, or constitutes a great leader. There are many schools of thought on this subject and many pull from existing psychological theories, like Behavioral Theory, Developmental Theory, Personality Theory and Learning theory (Myers, 2014). There are three main leadership theories: trait theory, which suggests that some are born with certain traits that make them an effective leader, while behavioral theory focuses on how leader behave, while contingency theory addresses how the situation influences leadership.

The theories or concepts of leadership such as the Great Man theory, collective leadership, and scholar-practitioner are ideas that transformed the way leaders lead. The comparisons of the leadership styles illustrated that direction does not change. Within the comparisons, leadership links from one theory or concept to another. Each theory or idea is a building block for what a leader needs to be successful. The Great Man theory depicts a person of great need that possesses the characteristics of a leader from birth. A leader has the features or traits of a great leader without

“Some of the traits central to the lists of almost all the researchers studying trait leadership over the years are intelligence, drive, integrity, and sociability” (Khan, 2013, p.831). While, past research has not proven trait theory to be all that accounts for good leadership, recent research has made trait theory relevant again (Khan, 2013, p.832). Robbins (2009) states that research efforts to find a set of universal leadership traits failed. Behavioral theory is different from trait theory in many ways. “Behavioral theories support the idea that individuals can be trained to be leaders” (Satterlee, 2013, p.105). The manner in which a person reacts in a situation with others is what behavioral theorists looked at. Behaviors are not set in stone, behaviors can be modified meaning that leaders can be made. Both theories try to explain what makes one person over another a success leader.

The history of trait theory has…(still working on this part). The leadership traits that are involved in trait theory can be defined as relatively coherent and integrated patterns of personal

Trait approach is considered as the first interpretation of the leadership. People with in born talent of leadership are considered as part of this approach. This is considered as the oldest approach. It was noticed that people with such ability have set example to others by their personal, behavior attributes and inspirational talks. Many people have started to study and understand about great heroes who have set examples to the future. Many questioned have risen on this trait approach, Stogdill have stated that people with leadership trait in one particular situation might not be the same in all situations. Mann conducted on personal and less on situational leadership. Lord et al used analysis known as meta analysis from all these studies author have decided that personality trait has mainly differentiated leader from followers. Kirkpatrick and Locke conducted a qualitative study, which shows leaders are way different from

The Trait Approach was the 1st systematic attempt to study leadership. In the 20th century it was known as the “great man” theory. This approach takes a look at the leaders personal attributes such as but not limited to: motivation, energy, intuition, creativity, persuasiveness and foresight. Some of the traits that are essential to this list include: intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity and sociability. Thus it focuses mainly on the leader and not on the followers or situations. The strengths of the Trait Approach includes: 1) it is intuitively appealing, 2) it has research to back it’s theory, 3) it highlights the leader, 4) it identifies what the traits of a leader should have and whether the traits we do

If we focus on the idea that people can poses different personality and characteristics can be linked to successful leadership across various situation this would be defined as the trait theory of leadership. Some researcher believe that the ability to lead was something that a person was born with and not something that could be developed or learn. Many people still believe that leaders just have an intuition that makes them good at making decision and developing

Moreover, the trait approach gives a deeper understanding of the leader element in the leadership process by emphasising exclusively on the leader, (Gore et al, 2011). The trait theory does not offer hypotheses about the role of situational variance or characteristic of the followers. Instead, this approach provide information about leaders, and about which traits cause which behaviours and that certain set of traits are central to the leadership process and play an indispensible part of effective leadership.

This theory is based on the premise that there are certain personality characteristics that are essential for a person to possess in order to be a leader. The main emphasis is on what the person is in terms of a constellation of personality traits. This theory searches for that set of universal leadership traits that will assure success. Numerous traits have been suggested: courage, integrity, loyalty, charisma, ambition, intelligence, honesty, clairvoyance, persistence, arrogance, health, political skill, confidence and vision.