Theories Of Leadership : Trait, Behaviours And Contingency Approaches

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,

There have been numerous theories surrounding leadership, which attempt to explain which form is most effective in the workplace. A universalistic approach was once used to rationalize leadership and it was believed that successful leaders possessed certain common abilities and traits. However, today due to external factors such as globalization and advanced technologies, there has been an evolution towards a new paradigm of leadership. Subordinates want to feel empowered and engaged at the workplace and often the behaviors and relationships between leaders and their subordinates become important to understand in order to fully understand effective leadership. Contingency theories have been developed in which people began to look at the behavior of leaders in specific situations. Two such contingency theories are: Path-Goal and Hershey and Blanchard’s Situational Theory.

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.

The trait theory focuses on innate qualities and personality characteristics. Based on this theory, “leaders are born, not made” (Northouse, 2013). Throughout the 20th century researchers, including Stogdill, Mann, Locke, and Zaccaro, were challenged to identify universal traits to distinguish leaders

There are many theories about different aspects of leadership and the effectiveness of each in a criminal justice setting. Contemporary research brings into focus the behavioral approach and the contingency approach. The behavioral approach emphasizes the behavior of leaders while the contingency approach emphasizes situational variables that affect leadership.

Trait Approach consists of leadership theories looking to identify what qualities great leaders possess so future leaders can be identified based on these qualities. These theories have been referred to as the “Great Man” theories because the traits were based from research of readily identifiable extraordinary leaders (Northhouse, 2016, p. 19). Researchers believed all great leaders must share certain qualities, which makes them able to distinguish themselves above all others. This seemed like a logical approach, however it became apparent determining an absolute required set of traits for leadership proved difficult. Traits which make one an effective leader may only work in certain situations or with certain followers. Intensive studies were conducted during the 20th century with several theories identifying varying sets of traits

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.

Though the theories of leadership glorify factors, such as personal significance, timing, special skills, responsiveness, or power, as the qualities of a leader, I believe that neither of those factors are as essential as being personable. I believe being personable is the greatest determinant since a leadership position requires public speaking, either in the form of one-to-one conversations or to an audience. I believe that a leader should create an impression that will motivate and inspire others. Therefore, they should be able to create an impressive and enduring impression. Leaders should speak to others in a way that is respectful, friendly, and relatable. If they are unable to do so, then no matter how powerful or significant the individual, not a single person will follow, admire, or respect them.

Robbins and Judge (2017) concluded that individuals, who possess traits, by themselves, does not guarantee that these individuals will be great leaders; however, presence of certain traits can help to predict the leadership potential of an individual (p. 385). Robbins and Judge (2017) defined leadership as, “the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of a vision or set of goals” (p. 382). Explaining how leadership happens cannot be answered by trait theories (Robbins & Judge, 2017, p. 384).

The same principles underlie many other approaches such as a Fiedler’s contingency model of leadership suggest a productive group and effective performance of a team is based upon the style of leadership and to an extent to which the leader is able to apply his leadership qualities under given circumstances. The style of the leader is determined in terms of relationship and tasks, whereas the situational factors will include the power of the leader, relationship with the follower and the level of the situation. This theory assumes that a task-oriented leader will be extremely effective when he is able to control and influence his subordinates and the situation. On the other, a relationship-oriented leader will be extremely effective when there will be less control over the situation (Yukl, 2001).

Bass (1990; Koh, 1990) posited the historical evolution of leadership as commencing with the trait theory in the 1930s until to 1940s , in which the assumption was that leaders were born with special qualities which made them effective leaders. As a result, distinction was employed on in discovering universal traits which stood out between leaders and non-leaders (Koh, 1990). Early studies investigated traits such as Intelligence, dominance, age, sex, height, and weight, but at last the trait theory was disputed when confirmation could not be established that specific traits were connected with effective leaders (Koh, 1990; Yukl, 2002).

The model uses least preferred co-worker questionnaire as an instrument that purports to measure weather a person is task or relationship oriented. It then matches the leader with the situation. Fiedler identified 3 dimensions which are leader member relations, task structure, and position power. For effective leadership it must change to a leader who fits the situation or change the situation variable to fit the current leader. Other theories in contingency theory is situational leadership theory which focuses on follower’s readiness, path-goal theory, and leader- participation model.

The most popular and extensively researched situational theory of leadership was first proposed by Fred Piedler during the 1960s. Fiedler's model claims that group performance depends on the interaction of the leader style and the favorableness of the situation. Fiedlers major contributions consist of(l) iden-tifying the leadership orientation of the leader and developing a way to measure it, and (2) identifying three situational factors influencing leadership and developing a method of measuring them

The essence of this theory is to explain the phenomenon of leadership by outstanding personality qualities. As one of the prominent representatives of the trait theory, E. Bogardus, writes, "superior intellectual talents bring an outstanding position to individuals, sooner or later leading to leadership." The trait theory sets itself the task of revealing the universal structure of the personality of an effective leader by defining characteristic features or characteristics.

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.