The Trait Theory: The Different Aspects Of Leadership?

There are many qualities that come to mind when a person thinks of a good leader. It may not be an actual person that is pictured when term “leader” comes in casual conversation, but instead just a series of characteristics or experiences that might make a person fit to be in charge. Or rather instead there are some that see themselves when they think of authority and power, still even those that imagine what they could become if given the proper training. The emphasis society places on leadership is undoubtedly instilled within the minds of every child from a young age that are urged that having a sense of leadership is the only way to be successful. Despite this, only few are really fit for a position where

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 a growing debate, the question at hand is whether great leaders are born with specific leadership traits, or if one can be taught certain traits over time. According to (Wikipedia.com) the approach of listing leadership qualities, often termed "trait theory of leadership", assumes certain traits or characteristics will tend to lead to effective leadership. I believe that leadership traits such as honest, competent, initiative, inspiring, hardworking, intelligent, and the ability to lead the masses, are some of the leadership traits one should possess. Within this paper, I will examine the overall concept of leadership traits, while observing the traits that were, or can be associated with successful leaders.

The traits theory of leadership relies on the assumption that people are endowed with certain qualities or

Leadership and management are similar; however, have different definitions. Some leaders have an innate ability to learn whereas others may have to learn how to lead. A manager may not be an effective leader. A leader must possess certain characteristics to be effective. Communication, fairness, and leadership knowledge are the top three characteristics of an effective leader.

The trait theory of leadership supports the claim that some people are endowed with certain characteristics that make them more capable of being a good leader than others (Zaccaro, 2007). Trait theory can be defined as the range of qualities that can consistently differentiate a non-leader from someone who is an effective leader (Zaccaro, 2007). The difference between someone who is a great leader and someone who is a good leader is the possession of certain qualities that help establish strong leadership. One of the greatest leaders known in the sports world is John Wooden, a basketball player, and coach of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Bruins. Wooden led his team to ten national championships, seven of which were in

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

Managers are people who do things right, while leaders are people who do the right thing. — Warren Bennis, Ph.D. On Becoming a Leader

Leadership is a trait that has both fascinated me, yet eluded me for most of my life. Some say great leaders are born, I however disagree. I believe the qualities of leadership are born out of someone’s experiences, passion, and ambition.

An important question about leadership if a Leader is born with this capacity or develop this and how is the process to reach that. As per Yukl (2006) for example attributes such personality, values and skill for a Leader, reinforcing the idea of “Natural Leaders”, or trait approach.

Throughout history there have been numerous leaders who changed the course of the world, whether through conquest or innovation, having the vision and ability to stand at the front of their people and guide them to the future. Yet one must only look at the past to see that for every successful leader there were several who failed at some point in their course, lacking some qualities contained within their more well known peers. Analyzing the most well known leaders of history has led me to believe that the three most important characteristics of leadership are the abilities to delegate tasks, communicate well, and inspire.

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.

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.

Leadership is an essential quality for all managers. However, it is true that leadership is also one of the biggest shortcomings seen in managers. Some managers merely view their job description as completing tasks, but really management focuses on how the tasks are completed. Mastering this concept cannot be done very easily, which is a reason why so many managers lack effective leadership qualities.