Multifactor Leadership Theory Essay

Leadership can be defined as the process of identifying a goal, motivating others, and make them to achieve the mutually goals (Giltinane, 2013). According to Humphreys (2002), successful leaders do this by applying their leadership knowledge and skills. A good leadership is not only good at management, but also use different leadership styles in different situations. A successful corporation must has a good leader who have the flexible ability which can provide a suitable leadership to make the company successful. Furthermore, there have no perfect leadership styles in the world. Different leader have different leadership styles which also have the different strengths and weaknesses (Ali & Waqar, 2013). Leaders need to consider

Assessment tools can be a good start for individuals to assess their leadership characteristics and skills, such as Grossman and Valiga’s Leadership Characteristcs and Skills

Leadership comes in different forms and in different aspects of life from private business to government entities (Wren, 1995, p. 5). The models of leadership used are dependent upon the individual attributes of the leaders, for example traits, values, self-identity, skills, and competencies (Yukl, 2013, p. 136). A close look at select leadership models and how they compare and contrast with each other provides insight into the types of leadership that might be employed within organizations as they face various leadership issues and challenges.

Leadership is an action not a position. With the proper personality, a leader can accomplish many things like knowledge of the organization. Being able to handle all type of situations shows great leadership traits. According to (Hughes, Ginnett, and Curphy) the adjustment dimension of the Five Factor Model of Personality “is concerned with how people react to stress, failure, or personal criticism” and it is important for leaders to develop their response to this dimension. Leader trait research examined the physical, mental, and social characteristics of individuals. In general, these studies simply looked for significant associations between individual traits and measures of leadership effectiveness. Physical traits such as height, mental traits such as intelligence, and social traits such as personality attributes were all subjects of empirical research. (LEADERSHIP THEORIES AND STUDIES)

Leadership is a process of influencing activities of a particular group of people with the aim of attaining certain stipulated goals. In defining leadership there is need to consider a particular group, the common goals and the duties that are allocated to specific members of the group depending on their abilities (Fiedler 1976). Leadership therefore cannot successfully occur unless members of the group are given different considerations in terms of personality, traits and responsibilities. In considering leadership, it is important to look at the leader, the group or organization they are leading, the members as individuals and the situation; these are

Transformational leadership. Burns (1978) is recognized as one of the earliest theorist on transformational leadership, who introduced transformational leadership over 30 years ago. Transformational leaders are perceived as leaders who uplift their employee morale, subsequently uplifting the entire organizational. Transformational leaders are known by their capacity to inspire followers to forgo self-interests in achieving superior results for the organization (Clawson, 2006). Avolio and Yammarino (2002) shared Bass’s explanation of transformational leadership as leaders who act as agents of change that stimulate, and transform followers’ attitudes, beliefs, and motivate from lower to higher level of arousal.

Bass, B. M. (1990, Winter). From transactional to transformational leadership: Learning to share the vision. Organizational Dynamics, pp. 19-31.

The results of the self-assessments are not consistent. According to the Authentic Leadership Self-Assessment, I rated low on self-awareness. This is due to my inability to recognize my strengths and weaknesses. I did, however, rate high on internalized moral perspective, balanced processing, and relational transparency. Next, the LMX 7 Questionnaire, I rated high. This questionnaire was given to my supervisor and one of my followers. The results of my Path-Goal Leadership Questionnaire, I rated average in all leadership styles. I rated highest in the directive style. The Skills Inventory Assessment resulted in a high score in technical and human skills, and moderate in conceptual skills. Having a moderate score in conceptual skills results in my inability to see the goals of the organization. I should familiarize myself with the organizations aims and objectives and align my goals with theirs. Furthermore, the Leadership Trait Questionnaire scores averaged between a 3 and 4, the highest scores being in dependability and friendly.

Over the past twenty years, an abundant body of researches have been done to review transformational leadership and transactional leadership. Burn (1978) was the first person to introduce and conceptualize the concept of transformational leadership and transactional leadership. Bass (1985) based on Burn’s concept and deepened his notion with modifications, which stated that one of the best frameworks of leadership is transformational or transactional. Following Bass and Avolio (1994, p. 4) provided the idea of these two leaderships and generalized them into the development of global economic world. Bass and Avolio (1997) also suggested that there was no need to view transformational and transactional leadership as

Transformational leadership is a leadership style that promotes change as well as improves performance in the organization as a whole as well as on the individual employee level (Phaneuf, Boudrias, Rousseau, & Brunelle, 2016). James MacGregor Burns first introduced transformational leadership in his book titled Leadership that he authored in 1978. Burns defined transformational leadership as leadership that stems from one’s core unchanging values and beliefs. Burns believed that transformational leaders not only bring together their followers, but also positively influence their follower’s values and beliefs in a way that brings about positive change (Humphreys & Einstein, 2003).

I also believe that an effective leader plays a significant role in promoting and molding individuals’ readiness as it relates to motivation and commitment. As such, I developed my leadership assessment with these points in mind. The assessment focuses on 14 attributes that I believe are important not only for a leader to be successful within the parameters of the SLT, but for most any leadership model adopted by a successful leader in the modern business environment. The assessment was completed by Bobby, my manager of nearly six years, and by Katrina, my highest-ranking direct report of nearly four years. Each was asked to assign a candid rating to each attribute using a one-to-ten (worst-to-best) scale as well as to make notes or offer any suggestions so that I may incorporate it into my leadership style in an effort to improve the areas of weakness and become a better leader. In addition, I did a self-assessment using the same criteria. It should be noted that while Bobby offered both a ranking and narrative feedback, Katrina completed the assessment using the numerical ranking only. The results were consistent in some areas and mixed in others, but revealed some valuable information that I can use not only within the context of this course, but also as my career is better defined over time.

The 1970s brought a number of emerging leadership theories, these theories focused on the importance of a leader 's charisma to leadership effectiveness. Many of these theories and models were the same. Transformational leadership theory separated itself between the transactional and the transformational leader. This leadership theory focuses on role and task requirements and utilizes rewards contingent on performance. Research shows that in contrast, transformational leadership focuses on developing mutual trust, fostering the leadership abilities of others, and setting goals that go beyond the short-term needs of the work group.

major problem leadership research and has been lack of agreement about which theory behavior categories are relevant and meaningful. It is difficult to integrate findings from five decades of research unless the many diverse leadership behaviors can be integrated in a parsimonious and meaningful conceptual An emerging solution is a framework. hierarchical taxonomy with three metacategories (task, relations, and change behavior). Confirmatory factor analysis of a behavior

Characteristics’ and behaviors of successful leaders are both innate and learned (DuBrin, 2013). Assessing ones personality, cognitive abilities, emotional intelligence, and behavioral characteristics assists in determining the areas in which there is opportunity to increase ones effectiveness as a leader. Utilizing the Humanmetrics Jung Typology Test, the Big Five Personality Factors, in addition to three self-assessment quizzes from the Dubrin (2013) text this paper will discuss the instruments chosen for the self-assessment and their results, personal reaction to the assessments, what the results convey regarding leadership performance, and a summary of the most significant insights gleaned from the assessment.

Bass, B. M. & Avolio, B. (1995). _MLQ Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire_. Technical Report. Redwood City CA.: Mind Garden.