My Leadership Style : Leadership, The Skills Model And Motivations, And The Path Goal Theory

The Trait approach in leadership focuses exclusively on the leader, not on the followers or the situation (Northouse 2016, p 29). There are five major traits (intelligence, self-confidence,

In the research carried out by Bass (1990), they found out that trait leadership theory believes some people are born to lead because of their personal qualities, while others are not. Trait theory also suggests that leadership is only accessible to the chosen ones and not available to all. In the past researchers focused on traits that were able to measure such as physical characteristics, aspects of personality and aptitudes. The current trait research has pointed the focus to more specific traits like stress tolerance, energy level, emotional maturity, integrity and self-confidence. Reviews of the trait research have found all of the above traits to be related to managerial effectiveness Bass (1990) and Marques (2010). When looking at the results of

The trait leadership theory focuses on the individual leader’s personal characteristics as the basis of its investigations. It is one of the earliest leadership theories upon whose tenets many researches on leadership have been done. Although it is not very coherent, its heuristic nature has contributed to its significance in leadership research. Zaccaro and Klimoski (2002) define traits of reference to leadership as the stable personality characteristics, which result in a consistent leadership performance pattern, given different scenarios and groups. They include individual personalities, temperament, rationale, prowess, as well as cognitive abilities. Initially, the theory explored both physical and psychological characteristics that tell apart leaders from non-leaders.

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

Leadership is often an ambiguous term used to describe those individuals who are managing people and processes. There are as many styles of leadership as there are industries who utilize them. Most often, the culture of an industry creates a particular type of leader or manager, and individuals who wish to become leaders must change their style to reflect that of the culture. However, I believe that everyone has a leadership style that reflects who they are, and if provided the opportunity to utilize their natural tendencies toward leadership, can create a style that is uniquely theirs. This paper will reflect on the leadership style that I feel is closer to the unique style I possess. I will also discuss the style in which I feel less

As a graduate student approaching her final semester in school, thoughts regarding my leadership abilities in the soon-to-be “real world” have occupied my mind lately. To further explore and develop my ideas about leadership, I decided to develop my personal leadership theory. So, I asked myself the following questions: What makes a successful leader? How do you recognize a leader when you meet one?, and lastly, what is my theory of leadership? With this last question I thought about what leadership meant to me personally and how I personified it in a role of authority. While I had given thought to how I led, I had rarely taken the time to fully understand what my personal leadership theory entailed. Throughout the length of this paper I will analyze how my leadership skills, traits, values and elements from both Authentic Transformational theories help me to shape my leadership philosophy. In doing so I hope to define the leadership values that influence the way I view and practice leadership.

While Trait theory has helped us understand how traits are related to leadership behavior and effectiveness, it does not identify which traits are the most important for effective leaders and, there is no proven correlation between leader qualities and standards of leader success. Additionally, leadership qualities and traits alone are not sufficient for achieving effectiveness. Thus, some of the problems with the trait approach to leadership were the theory’s failure to address leadership development and the how or why traits develop. The theory does not account for personality changes. Moreover, Trait theory does not consider situational factors relating to the leader’s role in the organization, the culture of the organization, or the environment affecting the organization.

First of all as pertaining to the trait theory I am a born leader with all the relevant leadership qualities that will enable me to be the best team leader. I posses a personality as well as cognitive ability which are qualities that underlie an effective leader. When it comes to skills I will apply the skills and knowledge that I acquired in my two year management course that I took. Therefore with my learned skills, the styles that I have developed as well as the knowledge that I acquired will act as key factors that will be applicable in my position as a team leader (VectorStudy ,2013).There are various styles of leadership that I

Research indicates that there are a number of approaches to assessing ones leadership styles. One study (Malik, 2012) of the Relationships between Leaders Behaviors and Subordinate Job Expectations reveals that the leader’s role is to ensure that they provide guidance and support while demonstrating behavior that is motivated by inspiring followers to work diligently to achieve organizational goals that were carefully outlined to facilitate success. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to teach leaders more about the path-way leadership style in addition to exposing the conduct and character of leaders while investigating situational contingencies that transform those behaviors.

Despite a large body of literature to support it, the trait approach was open to criticism for its ambiguity, its subjectivity, the difficulty associated with identifying leadership traits without considering situational factors, and for its inability to describe how leadership traits affect outcomes (Northouse, 2013). One of the main problems of the trait approach is that traits are largely fixed, which seems to suggest that those born without these desirable traits will never be effective leaders (Northouse, 2013).

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.

According to (SOURCE) trait theory of leadership, the leader’s are deemed to behave in a variety of ways because they have intrinsic attributes. Curiosity, self-control, empathy, ambition and self-confidence are the main features needed in leadership. (SOURCE) argued that leadership cannot be learnt since individuals are born as leaders. Therefore, whilst appointing individuals to leadership positions certain traits need to be considered. As a result, procedures of selection are deemed more important than developing people (Hogan et al 1994)

Over the course of our semester so far, I have learned that leadership is the product of skills, behaviors, experiences, and relationships working in tandem. During this time, I ask myself the following questions: What makes a successful leader?, How do you recognize a leader when you meet one?, and lastly, Am I a good leader? With this last question I thought about what leadership meant to me personally and how I personified it in a role of authority. This paper analyzes and critically applies my personal strengths and values as an individual to a leadership context. Based on my personal opinions, data collected from personal inventory surveys, and the use of leadership theories, I intend to define my emerging leadership style.

In any society, institution or organization, leadership plays an important role. From organization, discipline, planning and mentorship, the role of a leader is invaluable (Tannenbaum, Weschler & Massarik, 2013). However, the challenge lies in the determination of the precise qualities or attributes that a great leader should possess. Several theories have been put forth to try and demystify the concept of leadership. These theories attempt to describe who a leader is, what qualities he or she possesses, and how he or she executes the leadership mandate. These theories include; trait theory, behavioral theory and the situational theories of leadership. This paper focuses on the situational Theory of leadership.

This paper discusses on the basic concept of leadership based on trait approach theory. The establishment of relationship between leader and subordinate that focus on real changes and outcomes that reflects through shared purposes is basically leadership. In many aspects, the importance of vital without it families, communities as well as organizations would go down apart. To reach center point of goal, the leader should teach his follower to achieve better fruitful result. For this reason, the leader must be gained some characteristics to influences subordinate. This paper discusses on trait basic leadership theory based on leader qualities. This paper provides a beginning for defining leader and leadership, administrator for discussing trait approach leadership theory.