Everyone has probably played the game “Follow the Leader” back in elementary school. It is a game where the leader stands in front of the line. He or she can say or do anything, and her followers (standing in a straight line behind her) must repeat exactly the same thing he or she does or says. Whoever was picked to be the leader must have loved the experience because one had the freedom to do whatever they please, while others followed miserably or happily depending on what the leader is saying or doing. However, if one was the follower, one would wait anxiously to be the next chosen leader. At the same time, one must somehow express his or her self in a fashion that will make them stand out from the rest of the students. Whether he or …show more content…
However, researchers have been organizing traits around the Big-Five personality framework. It was evident that most leadership traits could be summed up under the Big-Five. This approach shows strong support for trait as a predictor of leadership. Under comprehensive review, extroversion is the most important trait of effective leaders. Next would be conscientiousness and openness to experience. However, it is better to use traits to predict leadership (emergence and appearance of leader) than use it to distinguish between effective and ineffective leaders. (Robbins, 2005) In contrast, the behavioral theories of leadership work on finding unique behaviors of effective leaders so that they would be able to provide answers about the nature of leadership. If there were specific behaviors that identified leaders, they would be able to teach leadership by designing programs. In trait theories, leaders are natural, they are born with it. However, let’s examine the Ohio State studies and the University of Michigan studies. In the Ohio State studies, studies wanted to identify the dimensions of leader behavior. From a thousand dimensions, they narrowed the list down to two categories that accounted for most of the leadership behavior (told by
The next big era of leadership theories was the Rational Management era. When the previous era failed to determine exact traits that could consistently be identified in great leaders, a shift occurred to begin looking at how these leaders behaved, and what made them into great leaders, rather than who they were in a specific sense. This was a major shift from thinking that people were born leaders, to now considering that perhaps leaders could be made, or trained to become leaders. The first of these theories, beginning in the early 1950’s, were the behavior theories. The focus of these theories was to study what these leaders do, and
In the changing business environment, leaders of all organisations may face unprecedented uncertainty, especially the technology advancement and changes among the employees. To survive and succeed, leaders should have some necessary attributes. Meanwhile, some changes for leadership skills have to be made to confront the challenges.
There are 5 big traits that I want to possess as a leader. Agreeableness and conscientiousness are my most prominent traits. Extroversion, open to new experiences and neuroticism are my least prominent traits. I believe I need to emphasize being extroverted as a leader. Talking to people and being social is something I believe a leader should know how to do to communicate. I think my agreeableness needs to be downplayed. I struggle with saying no and feeling like I need to do whatever I can whenever I can. Leaders have to make tough decisions and turn things down sometimes. I struggle with that. Knowing that I
This provided an advantage over the traits theory because behaviors can be observed, measured, and taught (Nahavandi, 2014). The behavioral theory of leadership pulls many aspects of its theory from behavior psychology and specifically recounts aspects of the theory of behavior modification, which takes into account the effect of reward and punishment on changing behavior (Myers, 2014). A great example of a leader who was trained to be a leader would be Howard Schultz, who grew up in a Brooklyn housing project, and went on to found Starbucks (Loudenback,
This paper will discuss the simulation, "Leadership in Action". The simulation is based on a company called Smith & Falmouth(S&F), who requires assistance to provide the company with conceptual information about the organization structure and to provide specific recommendation to be successful in the next three years. This paper will describe the formal culture of the organization and how this structure compares with other organizational structures. How the companys informal culture influences their effectiveness and formal structure will also be addressed. The role of power and politics will be looked at as well as which leadership style would be the most effective for the Chief Operating Officer (COO) for S & F's structure and
In today’s competitive world, leadership skills are crucial for both personal and professional development. Leadership is an important function of management which helps an individual or a business to maximize efficiency and to achieve goals. Leadership has different meanings to various authors.Most commonly, leadership is defined as influence, that is, the art of influencing people so that they will strive willingly and enthusiastically toward the achievement of group goals. (Koontz). Leadership is the process of influencing the activities of either formal or informal group in the task of goal setting and goal achievement. A leader is one whose magnetic personality innervates people for some cause. Not by words, but by their actions is
One of the aspects of the personality theory is the Big Five Personality traits. Those traits are: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness. Each of these traits have been studied by many experts and defined based on the behaviors and attitudes that are attributed to most people. There are no absolutes meaning that just because most people who display a certain characteristic are effective leaders, does not mean that everybody who has that trait is an effective leader (Dziak, 2017). This paper will break down each of the Big Five traits and talk about their role in leadership.
“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.
In corporate America the term used to describe a person in a position of power is “Manager”. A leader can be a manager, but a manager is not necessarily a leader. Leaders motivate, challenge, and influence others to achieve goals. Great leaders have the necessary skills and attributes which allow them to connect with the team and organization. Being a leader is not the same as managing an organization. Leader’s posses the interpersonal skills needed to influence others to achieve a goal willingly. Leading is a major part of a manager’s job. Leaders do not need to be a manager to lead people, but managers must know how to lead as well as manage.
Trait theories of leadership defined as “theories that isolate characteristics (traits) that differentiate leaders from nonleaders.” (Robbins, et al., 2015. P.338) Research on leadership began with a search for inherited characteristics that differentiated leaders from nonleaders and explained individuals’ effectiveness as leaders. Early research dating back to the twentieth century was the beginning of the trait paradigm of leadership research. Researchers have not been able to definitively state that traits alone define
There have been a number of approaches that have been developed to explore the topic of leadership. These theories try to explain the factors that determine great leaders. As a result, the theories are important to organizations that wish to employ the right leaders that will further the organizations’ objectives. Two examples of these theories include the trait and style approaches to leadership. The trait approach lays emphasis on a leader’s personality traits, while the style approach lays emphasis on a leader’s actions and behaviour in a given situation (Mullins, 2010). This essay examines the two approaches by comparing and contrasting them, in addition to assessing their relevance in the 21st century.
A leaders traits display certain personality traits, these traits are developed from the theories of leadership, and it is used to determine what personality an individual have. There are many approaches to leadership theories, starting with attributes and traits, also physical and personality’s traits characteristics, competencies and values. A Leader Traits mainly focuses on behavior effectiveness, Traits theory concentrates the personality of a person, it help to understand the differences and what independent traits the person possess. It establishes what traits the person has; such as if, the person is clever, generous. It is a belief that leaders display certain key personality traits, and it is determined that no particular trait is consistently identified with good leadership. Leader’s traits are very important and necessary to provide a description of an individual’s personality, because it offers insight into a person psyche.
This theory determines the personal characteristics of successful leaders to predict leadership ability in others. This theory is applicable to Xero as it views leadership as a large set of different traits or qualities. It has suggested a list of personality traits or characteristics which must be present in a person for his success as a leader which the members of xero have. Trait theory can be defined as a set of theories that seek personal, social or intellectual traits that differentiate leaders from non leaders. There are innate traits and acquirable traits:
One similarity to leadership is called, trait theory. Trait theory focuses on identifying the innate qualities of “great men”. Taken from what I was taught. I believe, “Leaders are born not made” So many people think they are leaders, but are better as a follower. For example, in Stogdill’s first survey he acknowledged a group of leadership traits that were related to how they became leaders. The results of the survey came out to be, “The average individual in the leadership role is different from an average group member in the following ways, intelligence, alertness, insight, responsibility, initiative, persistence, self- confidence, sociability” ( p.16). He also found in his findings, an individual does not become a leader solely because he or she possess, certain traits. Just because the person may be good in one situation may not essentially be leaders in another situation” (p.16). I believe this theory is by far correct because everyone has different talents. Even though a person can cut hair doesn’t mean they can
The trait approach was one of the earliest theories proposed to explain leadership. Effective leaders were supposed to have specific traits, although the research failed to provide evidence of precise characteristics that predicted leadership success. This approach suggested that some individuals are naturally inclined to lead (Yukl, 2006). The researcher on trait theory was conducted roughly from the 1930s through the 1950s. Some leadership theorists have returned to trait theory. There is still little evidence that there are universal traits associated with effective leadership.