Theory Assessment

Is the “traits” approach to the study of leadership valid? If so, in what ways? How does recent research on the links between personality and individual behavior contribute to our understanding of leadership?

As was mentioned earlier, the trait theory contains highly subjective perspectives. It means that the perception of leadership traits is associated with the assessment of leadership. Barry et al (2003) conducted an

This paper will outline my personal leadership philosophy and then discuss how I would apply that philosophy to a real world situation. The real world situation was described by a Squadron Director during an interview.

In this paper I have constructed my thoughts and ideas into what my leadership philosophy will consist of. Leadership is a process that continues to evolve, so embrace the change and challenge. We must place a high value on family, and lastly exhibit attributes and competencies of the Army Leadership Model. Today’s leaders forget the importance of families which the most important thing we have supporting our Soldiers. They also forget that they too were once in their shoes.

The history of trait theory has…(still working on this part). The leadership traits that are involved in trait theory can be defined as relatively coherent and integrated patterns of personal

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 one of the human traits that are looked up to the most. When a task is at hand many people look around for someone to lead them and take charge. Leadership has been a part of The Air Force since it was created in 1947. Recently more emphasis and researching went into leadership and scholars provided leadership theories. Two of the theories are the Full Range Leadership model and the Situational Leadership model. Both of these theories provide ideas on how to lead and a strategy. The Full Range Leadership model shows many different ways of approaching leadership based on motivation and needs. The Situational Leadership model gives a

The foundation of my leadership style stems from the trait approach. After a revival of its original intentions, the trait approach can now be summarized as a leadership approach that focuses directly on the leader’s traits that prove critical to the way they lead (Northouse, 40). Trait leadership is known to set leaders and the idea of leadership apart from the group. Trait leadership has lots of research to back up its claims (Northouse, 41). Trait approach leaders, often times take quizzes and assessments to pinpoint what leadership characteristics they have most developed. After taking such assessments, I can conclude that my confidence, my enthusiasm, and my dedication and perseverance to complete a task are traits most central to my personal leadership. If I am not satisfied with the results or I feel I have not fully met my personal expectations, I stay dedicated until I have met them. Additionally, when leading a group of people, or put in front of a crowd, I feel

The military has always thrived on leadership; it has been the core of this organization and the foundation that sustains it. Studies on organizational culture and leadership effectiveness have continued to gain popularity in recent years. Wong (2003) stated that long before leadership became a topic of discussion in the corporate, academic, or even public realm, militaries have been enamored by leadership. Leadership in the military has always been held in high regard. A leader is anyone who by virtue of assumed role or assigned responsibility inspires and influences people to accomplish organizational goals Yet, in recent years, an ever increasing style of leadership has emerged; toxic leadership. With military officials gaining negative attention, the Armed Forces determined that there needed to be an army-wide removal of toxic leaders and implementation of training that focuses on a new leadership style; effective leadership.

Trait theories of leadership defined as “theories that isolate characteristics (traits) that differentiate leaders from nonleaders.” (Robbins, et al., 2015. P.338) Research on leadership began with a search for inherited characteristics that differentiated leaders from nonleaders and explained individuals’ effectiveness as leaders. Early research dating back to the twentieth century was the beginning of the trait paradigm of leadership research. Researchers have not been able to definitively state that traits alone define

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

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.

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.

Trait theory of leadership is focused on individual’s physical, mental and personal characteristics which associated with successful leadership and use those traits to identify them from effective leadership (Bertocci, 2009). This theory proposed that an individual is born with predisposed to the characteristics or qualities of successful leadership (Nevarez & Wood, 2010). In other word, people are inherited with the certain personality which underlying the effective leadership such as cognitive ability. The others biological traits included height, race or ethnicity, gender and perceived