Are contingency theories of leadership, or trait theories of leadership, more useful for leaders in organisations? Write an essay demonstrating critical awareness of the issues involved
The role of leadership within modern organisations is a significant one in terms of its ability to motivate employees and drive productivity levels up. As a result of this, a number of theories have been developed that attempt to explain what makes an effective leader and how the qualities of leadership are applied to individual workplace scenarios. However, it is not possible to analyse all of them, so two of the most fundamental approaches have been selected as a focus. This is based on the needs of the assignment, which is to identify the most suitable
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Yukl highlighted that the trait model reinforces the attributes that are typical of leadership and that leadership comes naturally to certain people who are "endowed with certain traits not possessed by other people,” (p. 13). Clearly, this moves away from the point made above that highlights leadership as a process. Instead, the trait approach holds that the ability to lead is limited to a select number of people that have talents and abilities they are born with (Yukl, 2006). However, as Yukl highlights, it is important to highlight that the trait approach is the founding leadership theory, and all others since have attempted to build on this. It might therefore be argued that it is impossible to base
The other side of the argument – which is process rather than trait driven – suggests that everyone is capable of leading and the qualities that define it can actually be learned. Indeed, a number of theorists suggest that this can be gleaned directly through observing the activities of leaders and how they perform them (Daft, 2005; Northouse, 2010). This leads to the consideration of the contingency theory which holds that there are more 'contingencies ', variables and contexts which apply to effective leadership. The common assumption that leaders are born not made is perhaps, reflective of how simple a solution this is, without
True leaders are born with this ability not everyone can be an effective leader. A good leader can do the role of an effective manager. But leadership is complex, its not necessarily something that effective managers can learn. As trait theory approach described that people are born with inherited traits. Leaders should have as alert to environment, adaptability to situations, assertive, ambitious and achievement oriented, cooperative and dominant with desire to influence other, identified by Stogdil (1974). In addition, a leader should have certain skills such as being persuasive, diplomatic and tactful, conceptually and socially skilled.
Leadership as a term has differing meanings through time. The influence of ‘Great Man’ theories stem form the socio-politico models prevalent in much of the first half of the twentieth century. However, personality traits map poorly to successful leaders, and this theory has waned. Post-war good leadership was thought to be based more around behaviours. It was out of this that models for behaviour arose, including Adair’s (1973) three circles model (task, team and individual). Truly good leadership will undoubtedly involve a mixture of nature (or traits) and nurture (behaviours). Current theory is
(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.
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
Leadership is bold, motivational, and extremely broad. Some people acquire leadership skills through experience and trial and error, whereas others are what are known to be “born leaders”. Northouse (2013) states “The trait perspective suggests that certain individuals have special innate
In Andrew (1998) in “Nature vs nurture: Are leaders born or made? A behavior genetic investigation of leadership style” a publication by the Australian Academic Press, leadership is inherited. Their focus was based on trait theories to explain leadership. A look at the personality of individuals and relying on the premise posed in this context, personality traits are correlated with leadership. The author is quick to mention that, there is no sufficient modern research in this field. Through the use MQL which is an abbreviation of Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire as well as self-report psychometric inventories, it was found out that transformational leadership was due to genetic influence (Andrew 219). In
hilosophers, political scientist, and psychologist have composed vast amount of literature on leader and leadership. Leadership is a broad term, open to interpretation. Leadership development begins with the simple realization that you want to be a leader. This literature review examines and evaluates major theories of leadership and summarizes findings from empirical research on leadership. Discuss the concept of leadership with a particular focus on the role leadership, such as collegiate organization. This literature will conclude with recommendation to enhance student leadership. Leadership have many descriptions from personality, traits, characteristics, activities, and types of goals. The importance of college leadership training, to develop leadership skills will be explained in this paper. An integrating conceptual framework is presented to show how the different theories and lines of research fit together.
According to the trait-based theory of leadership, certain integrated patterns of personal characteristics develop the ability to lead a group of people effectively. (Zaccaro 2007). Here the word ‘trait ' is defined as "The distinguishing personal characteristics of a leader, such as intelligence, honesty, self-confidence and even appearance" (pg 612, Samson & Daft 2014). Trait-based leadership is based on the idea that people born with certain qualities and characteristics are more suitable for leadership. It was achieved by identifying the traits of many leaders, both successful and unsuccessful, and looking into their physical, emotional, and cognitive traits that made them who they were. (Derue, D. S., Nahrgang, J. D., Wellman, N., & Humphrey, S. E. 2011). By studying the likes of leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr, Gandhi and even controversial leaders like Hitler, researchers interpreted
Leadership theories include trait, attitudinal, and situational. The trait theory focus is on characteristics of leaders. Some elements of the trait theory are having vision and trust, being visible and accessible, as well as knowing there are different leadership styles. The attitudinal theory focusses on the attitude of leader’s behaviors, and the situational theory focuses on observed behavior of leaders and how leadership styles can be matched to situations. The attitudinal theory is task and relationship oriented. This theory does not factor in experience in leadership. Situational theory has the leader look at each situation and analyze what type of
Have you ever heard a leader described as “born to lead?” According to this point of view (Great Man Theory), great leaders are “simply born with the necessary internal characteristics such as charisma, confidence, intelligence, and social skills that make them natural born leaders.” Have you ever heard that leaders are made, not born? Consider this the flip side of the Great Man Theory (Behavioral Theory). This leadership theory focuses on “the actions of leaders not on mental qualities or internal states, people can learn to become leaders through teaching and observation.”
The first week’s topic was the history of leadership theories that explained the evolution of leadership theories in different periods of time. The leadership theories have ten theories. The first theory is the great man theory; a leader must born to be, cannot change and make, such as Napoleon, Alexander the Great, Abraham Lincoln. The second theory is the trait theory; leaders should have characteristics and personalities such as honesty, self-confidence, independent, optimism, responsibility and have interpersonal skills. They can improve, change and develop those characteristics and personalities to be better in the future. The third theory is the skill theory; a person who is a leader must have three skills, which are technical skills, conceptual skills and human skills. For the technical skill, a leader should have an experience and an expert to do and to perform tasks. The conceptual skills, a leader must have an ability to think critically and analytically (cognitive thinking). The last skills are human skills, a leader must have an ability to work with others. The next theory is the style theory that concentrates on what a leader does in organizations, not on a leader position. The leader styles have three styles; an autocratic, a democratic and a laissez faire leadership style. For the autocratic leader style, a leader has a power to dictate employees, have a centralized authority, and limited employee participation. For the democratic leader style, a
There are many theories that contribute to the discussion of leadership some of which are: Trait, Behavioural, Contingency, Relational theory and the Style theory. The contingency theory claims that there is no set way to lead an organisation. This is due to the fact that both external and internal factors need to be considered by the leader and need to be handled accordingly. The Relational theory looks into how relations within an organisation develop leaders and at how leaders are required to be accustomed to others within the organisation. The Style theory of leadership proposes that they style of leadership is the key to good leadership. It looks at leaders and their style of leadership for example Steve Jobs would lead in a very autocratic manner whereas Richard Branson is seen to be a democratic leader. The managerial grid is also part of the style based theory; it allows people to embrace a leadership style that is both people friendly and achieve target production. However this theory has been criticised of being too simplistic as different people would prefer to be lead in different ways. Having said this there are two main theories that have become the result of this debate: behavioural and trait. The trait theory believes that people are born with leadership characteristics such as imagination, determination and enthusiasm. The analysis of mental, physical and social attributes of leaders resulted in the trait theory being developed. Whereas the behavioural
Therefore, leaders are born with certain personal qualities that are not part of 'non-leaders' personality, like self-confidence, intelligence or creativity. The theory focuses on the leader itself and not on the situation or job he faces. In every situation a born leader will always make the best decision, if you belief in or refer to this theory. 3
In any organisation there are managers, they help deliver the company’s objectives and goals by managing the employees. Action Centred Leadership (Adair, 1973) suggests that to achieve maximum productivity and commitment to the organisation, leaders, not managers are required. There are eight major theories of leadership which include; the “Great Man” theory (About.com, 2014), in which leaders are born and not made, portrayed as heroic and destined to rise to leadership. Situational Leadership Theory (Hersey-Blanchard, 1969) state that focus should be given to environmental variables, determining the style of leadership best suited to a particular situation. Behavioural theories (Adair, 1973 & McGregor, 1960) state that leaders can be made and are not born, developing their skills through training and observation of others.
The paper first covers information about the trait-based perspective. It provides an in-depth definition of the theory, in which it is believed that leaders are born, not developed. It also includes a description of how innate traits influence leadership potential, effectiveness, and behaviors. Next, a summary of a research review conducted by Stephen Zaccaro in 2007 is provided in support of the theory. For comparison an in-depth definition of the theory of leadership development is provided, as well as a summary of a research review conducted by Curt Brungardt in 1997 that supports the theory of leadership being developed. Finally, the paper includes a summary of the two theories, then, a discussion about the effectiveness of the arguments for each theory, and draws a conclusion based on a comparison of the