Traditional Leadership During The Industrial Era Essay

From the vantage point of the present, it is easy to look back at the tenure of any great leader and draw conclusions about just what it was that made him/her great. We can examine the circumstances under which their leadership flourished; piece together what we know of their character and personality traits; delve into the factors that may have driven them; and dissect their leadership style all in an effort to pinpoint the source of their success. The ‘Great Man’ theory, popular in the 19th century and now thoroughly debunked, held that leaders are born, not made; suggesting that men like George Washington, Martin Luther King Jr., and Winston Churchill were born with the innate capacity to change the world (Landis,

Leadership is, and always has been, a vital aspect of social and economic constructs. It is essential to the survival of societies, industries, organizations, and virtually any group of individuals that come together for a common purpose. However, leadership is difficult to define in a single, definitive sense. As such, theories of leadership, what constitutes a great leader, and how leaders are made have evolved constantly throughout history, and still continue to change today in hopes of improving upon our understanding of leadership, its importance, and how it can be most effective in modern organizational cultures.

For centuries leaders have been analyzed in order to determine what the traits and characteristics of a successful leader are. Leadership, as defined by Koontz and Weihrich (2008) is “the art or a process of influencing people so that they will strive willingly and enthusiastically toward the achievement of group goals” (p. 311). Leadership plays an important role in employee’s participation, creativity, recruitment to an organization, their commitment to the organization, and productivity levels. Over the years, there have been a number of theories surrounding leadership such as the “Great Man” theory, which, according to Riaz and Haider (2010), “assumes that leaders are born and have innate qualities, therefore, leaders

Leadership has come a long way with earlier studies of trait and behavioral approaches. Since these were highly directive and non-supportive types of leaders, their main objective was to get the job done within the nine to five work day and go home. Although, this was an effective style back in the early 1900s, a lot has changed in terms of the business setting and functionality that many employees were operating back in the early 1900s. Many of the businesses back in the early 1900s consisted of factories, locally run family businesses that leaned towards a bureaucratic organizational system that suited that kind of leadership style. One of the major outcomes from this era was a lack of relationships and high standards of the work environment towards their employees. Overtime, businesses with help of extensive research till this day realized that in order to have better performance from their employees which could lead to increased profits, they must change how they operate within the organization and deal with their employees. Employees started to strive for more interpersonal style leadership behaviors and improved work settings to thrive and develop as an employee within the organization. Theories such as: LMX, Path-Goal, Transformational, Charismatic, and Servant Leadership were created to help understand and develop leaders for the benefit of their subordinates. These leadership styles are all good in their own way, yet I believe authentic leadership is ultimately

In the following paper, the leadership style of one individual is critically examined and analyzed. Leader X has a delegative leadership style that places a majority of the decision making on the subordinates within the office. She has influenced me to alter my leadership style and address some fallacies I have with my behavior in a leadership capacity. Leader X welcomes suggestions from the staff, changes to the office and promotes employee feedback regarding work assignments. The delegative leadership style creates a comfortable and inviting work environment,

Leadership can be defined as the ability of a company 's management to make sound decisions and inspire others to perform well (Investopedia, 2014). From the beginning of time, in the middle of all the major changes and historical events there where effective and motivated leaders having a wide sphere of influence and inspiring other groups of people to be creative and efficient. A leader is defined as a person or thing that holds a dominant or superior position within its field, and is able to exercise a high degree of control or influence over others (businessdictionary,2014).Leaders have always played a major role in the evolution of technology as well as in forming the very lifestyle of today’s society. Effective leaders are able to set and achieve challenging goals, to take swift and decisive action even in difficult situations, to outperform their competition, to take calculated risks and to persevere in the face of

For a leader to be a “great” man, he must exemplify certain qualities. A few of these qualities might include emotional and cognitive intelligence, superior communication skills, bureaucratic, pragmatic and rational, and trustworthy. Long before

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.

According to Horner (1997), "In some cases, leadership has been described as a process, but most theories and research on leadership look at a person to gain understanding." According to Wren (2004), "People found advantages to forming and working together in groups." (p. 6). Classical Leadership started approximately the early 1800 's around the time of the Industrial revolution. The Modernism Era was a new step forward in the studies of management. This model deals with the flexibility in the management.

In time of economic crisis, companies are looking for innovative methods to improve production and to meet the needs of a diverse workforce in order to improve or maintain the organization’s profit margin in a stress global economy. Indeed, companies are extremely concerned about their future, as well as, preventing closure of their establishment. SimmonsCompany is no exception. However, how does a major company make those changes when tradition is the foundation of their organization and the economic status of their company is in jeopardize of

During the 19th and early 20th century many people had this idea of what the ideal great man of a leader would posse specific traits. In today’s time it simply does not matter who you are, where you come from, how smart you appear, or your height, or even your weight. What does matter are the traits of what a great leader possess. The physical of one self does not matter, nor does intelligent. What does matter is what does a great leader desires for those around them. To inspire them, to motivate them, to push them beyond what they can do. Those types of traits people look for in a great leader, no matter tall, short, or man, woman (Shelly and Locke 199).

From Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela’s charisma, to Winston Churchill and Martin Luther King’s intelligence and Steve Jobs’ analytical nature, there can be as numerous ways to lead as there are leaders (Crossman, 2010). Leadership is a hot debate both in the business world and other areas of the society. Throughout the world's, there have been as many leadership models as there have been their commentators (Burns & Peltason, 1966). Fortunately, psychologists and businesspersons have established useful frameworks that refer to the main ways of leadership.

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

The nineteenth century saw the rise of the ‘Great man Theory’ asserting the inheritance of traits and qualities required to be a leader, usually belonging to an upper class lineage (Carlyle, 1993). The popular notion being that in times of distress somewhere out of magic a leader would emerge to guide people into safety and success. The mythology behind the some of the world’s finest leaders like Abraham Lincoln, Churchill, Mahatma

Great Man Theories:- This theory assumes that great leaders are born, They cannot made. These theories say that in case of need great leaders, they lead from the front. Great man term was evolved because in military leadership only male leaders were present on that time.