Trait Theory And Theory Of Leadership

The next big era of leadership theories was the Rational Management era. When the previous era failed to determine exact traits that could consistently be identified in great leaders, a shift occurred to begin looking at how these leaders behaved, and what made them into great leaders, rather than who they were in a specific sense. This was a major shift from thinking that people were born leaders, to now considering that perhaps leaders could be made, or trained to become leaders. The first of these theories, beginning in the early 1950’s, were the behavior theories. The focus of these theories was to study what these leaders do, and

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

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

Skills-based leadership theory is a leader-centered model emphasizing skills and abilities that can be learned and developed (Armistead, 2017). More specifically, leadership is based on three skills: technical, human, and conceptual (Northouse, 2015). Technical skills related to knowledge about and proficiency in a specific field; human skills related to the ability to communicate with people; conceptual skills are the ability to work with ideas and concepts (Northouse, 2015). The three elements of skill approach are individual attributes, competencies, and leadership outcomes (Armistead, 2017). The skills approach implies that many people have leadership potential, and if they can learn from their experiences and training, they can improve their capabilities. This theory can help leaders identify their weaknesses and strengths. In the group project, my human skill is developed. When planning the project, I was able to work well with other. More specifically, through interacting

A leader I admire, whether real-life or fictional character from the television, the movies or a book, will be identified. Leadership theories will be used to evaluate my selected leader to determine what characteristics and leadership abilities helped this leader become successful. I will also include an evaluation of my own leadership style and identify what my individual leadership characteristics are. The plan will be developed to improve my leadership style based upon the findings of my chosen leader’s leadership style compared to my own.

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.

The trait leadership theory focuses on the individual leader’s personal characteristics as the basis of its investigations. It is one of the earliest leadership theories upon whose tenets many researches on leadership have been done. Although it is not very coherent, its heuristic nature has contributed to its significance in leadership research. Zaccaro and Klimoski (2002) define traits of reference to leadership as the stable personality characteristics, which result in a consistent leadership performance pattern, given different scenarios and groups. They include individual personalities, temperament, rationale, prowess, as well as cognitive abilities. Initially, the theory explored both physical and psychological characteristics that tell apart leaders from non-leaders.

Zaccaro (2007) suggests a close relationship between trait theory and conditional leadership. As the author believes that the choice of a theory’s model is not mutually exclusive, but rather trait theory supports conditional leadership. That is for a leader to be successful in a particular situation, the leader must possess a set of a specific characteristic. Also, the characteristics that the person possesses can determine if the individual has the capability to emerge as a leader in a given situation. Norman, Avolio, & Luthans (2010) indicates that when authentic leaders show transparency and positivity toward their subordinates, they can have a positive impact on their trust and the perceived effectiveness of their

Leadership theories that have developed over many generations through the baby boomers, generation x, generation y, and millennials suggests that leaders during each period exhibited characteristics of strong leadership based on many factors such as their hereditary, personality features including charisma, and the environmental, social and cultural conditioning, that they would have experienced during the period of time in which they were active. This paper having reviewed the more salient theories will take the position that all leaders, past and present, possess qualities attributable to various theories, whether it be trait theory, the transactional/transformational model, contingency/behavioral theories, depending on the situation or the

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

Introduction: Any discussion on leadership issues reveals the complexity of the topic with wide-ranging views and perspectives. However leaders do share some common characteristics, and they have a positive impact on the organization and the employees. Through countless interviews, Kouzes and Posner discovered that all types of leaders, across different industries, professions and countries exhibited similar practices when describing their most exceptional leadership accomplishments.(Truedell, 2011 p. 1 Review) Various theories of leadership include the Great Man Theory, Trait Theory, Behavioral Theories, Motivational

In today’s world, leaders are not defined by age, race or gender. They can be a high school basketball coach, the shift supervisor at the local coffee shop, or even the President of the United States of America. In as many ways that leaders can vary by appearance and responsibility, there is also a variance in the ways that they lead. This case study aims to compare three of the more popular theories of leadership. These leadership theories are situational leadership, trait theory and transformational leadership.

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.

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.