Chapter 1: Leadership theories
Leadership theories are attempts to answer some of the question people have about leadership. These theories range from simple “armchair philosophies” about the personal characteristics and effect relationship between leaders and followers and situations.
Great man theory
Thomas Carleyle, an influential Scottish historian, is given credit for the dictum: “the history of the world is but the biography of great men”. We can easily relate to Carleyle’s view since specific examples of men who seem to have changed the course of history come readily to mind de Gaulle, Hitler, Jesus Christ, Lincoln, Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Lenin, and Martin Luther King. Winston Churchill, a man who for many personifies the great man, is the main subject of a recent book, the great man. On a less grand scale, there have been great man leaders in business and industry Rockefeller, Carnegie, Ford, Mellon, Gould, Sloan and Harriman.
In great man theory the emphasis is on the person, who he is and what makes him the way he is. Presumably, through studying the personality, behavior and characteristics of these great men, we can acquire greater awareness of leadership. This view implies that we can learn from how to become effective leaders by studying these men and emulating those characteristics that seem to account for their successful leadership.
Very often, when people lament the critical shortage of leadership in American society, they are referring to the great man type of leader.
What often is overlooked is that the demands on today’s leaders have become incredibly complex broad in scope. Contemporary society is less responsive to the appeal of great man leaders and is less willing to play a docile follower role,...
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...l in cases of intergroup competition. The point is that, even though universal traits cannot be found, it may be possible to find personality traits that are common to homogeneous types of groups or situations.
Third, for purposes of personal selection in an organization there often will be reliance on an appraisal of personality traits.
Finally, in spite of lack of agreement on a complete list of leadership traits, there is some agreement on a few: intelligence, social maturity and breadth, inner motivation and achievement drives, and human relations attitudes. These traits are in no sense “universal” traits. However, as Keith Davis notes in his discussion of these traits, “Studies show that there is a better than chance probability that a leader will have more of these traits than the general population and sometimes even more than the average of his followers”.
All of these traits begin with the individual realizing who he is and where he stands to become a leader. Like Jack Welch said, “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” Works Cited Machiavelli, Niccol. The Prince of the Sea.
Kirkpatrick, S. A., & Locke, E. A. (2001). Leadership: Do traits Matter? Academy of Management Executive,5,, 48-60.
Simon Klinek discusses about how as well as why respectable leaders are leaders the reasons behind why they do what they do and the reactions these leader’s actions cause to those surrounding them. The fact in which a person becomes a leader is a matter of choice, and a willingness to put another person before one’s self the idea of getting the fall so that another is able to triumph and succeed. Simon utilizes ethos, pathos, and logos in an effective manner during his presentation examples are as follows.
In this book, the authors Tom Rath and Barry Conchie examine the question “What are the keys to being an effective leader?” To answer this question they had a team that reviewed data collected from Gallup polls. The data came from interviews from 20,000 senior leaders, over a million teams and more than fifty years of Gallup Polls of the most admired leaders in the world. The authors then had the team do a study of more than 10,000 followers to find out why they follow the influential leaders in their life.
The Taoist philosopher Lao Tzu put it best when he said, “A leader is best when people barley know he exists, When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, They will say: We did it ourselves.” Often when a person thinks of a leader they think of such great leaders as George Washington, George Patton, and Thomas Jackson. The word “leader” itself will invoke images of die-hard men with the charisma to command anyone and overcome anything. Yet despite this common image there was no theory of leadership that covered this common belief in a “super” leader.
Throughout 2016, many different people will claim they can lead America to greatness again just as they do each election year. This directs attention towards leadership, and most Americans simply trust that these potential candidates display leadership characteristics. Unfortunately, politicians don’t always exemplify leadership, and many Americans experience poor leaders daily such as dreadful bosses. Because of these commonplace experiences, leadership may not appear as a direct character trait. Adaptable communication, the ability to inspire, a clear passion, and professional attitudes all characterize a true leader.
“Our leader” is “no better than a criminal.” A true leader emboldens his people and knows his position or as Douglas MacArthur once said, “A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent.” When power is the motivation of a leader, he becomes a dictator. In World War II, the world saw the uprising of the most notorious dictators – Adolf Hitler.
When people think of leadership so many things rush through their heads. For example am I a leader, am I apart of a group that has a leader, and what does being a leader mean? A common definition of being a leader is a person who leads or guides a group of people. So now knowing the definition of a leader who pops into your head; Phil Jackson, Mike Krzyzewski, Martin Luther King Jr.? All of these people are great leaders, but the real question is why are they so great? One very important thing that all these men have in common is they have a philosophy of leadership. This philosophy is going to help guide these men during turbulent times, or when they need guidance themselves. Nobody is perfect and everyone needs direction no matter how wise or gifted you are. I am no different, which is why writing this philosophy of leadership is going to be a fruitful experience for years to come.
The trait theory prevailed until the forties, passing these characteristics to be studied within a universalistic perspective....
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.
Traits of a good leader are trustworthiness, respectfulness, honesty, and be stern. When you have leaders that take their role seriously, you can form a backbone to an organization that cannot be broken. You have born leaders and you have trained leaders. Martin Luther King was a natural born leader for the Civil Rights movement. King saw there was something that needed to be changed and he took the steps to change the world.
As Yukl (2010) indicates, such factors (e.g. personality, values and capacities) attributed to a leader. Normally it is widespread acknowledged that someone is born to be a lead...
Trait theories are theories that consider personal qualities and characteristics that differentiate leaders from nonleaders." Early results aimed at confirming this theory were inconclusive. Many research studies were conducted and each identified key traits supposed to differentiate leaders from nonleaders. The problem is that they didn't get the same results, thus failing to discover common traits, which should have shown in each research study. When applying the Big Five Personality framework (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability and openness to experience) to the study and research of leadership traits, results were more encouraging. They showed that the most important trait for leaders was extraversion. Still, this founding sh...
Since 1869, leadership trait theories have been explored to determined what qualities make a good leader. Sir Fancis Galton explored the theory that genetic leadership characteristics were passed down from generation to generation (Manning and Curtis, 2015). Through continued exploration of leadership traits, it has been proven that these traits are not necessarily genetic, but are behavioral in nature, and can be taught.
Another aspect of leadership includes leadership traits such as being influential and inspirational. There also different contexts of leadership, e.g, leading oneself, leading other individuals, leading groups, leading organizations. Some traits that are often associated with being an effective leader include a measure of intelligence, high energy, self confidence, dominance, and a need for achievement. An effective, charismatic leader must lead by example. That leader must be able to know what is going on, the job or task that is being accomplished, and be able to lead the group into performing the task at hand successfully.