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Strengths and weaknesses of leadership theories
Strength and weakness of leadership theory
Strengths and weaknesses of leadership theories
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Introduction
Imagine being in a working environment where your flaws are never at the fore front. Imagine being a part of a team that values the strengths of each person, and practices the know how to move quickly from storming to norming in the teamwork cycle. Is this a reality that will produce results for all involved? Is there every such a style? To answer these questions, it is important to look at what leadership theory currently causing success in the professional world. One theory is called Strengths Based Leadership, or positive psychology. This concept is gaining a following; starting with the father of positive leadership, Donald Clifton. Still questions linger if this concept of using person strengths improves their leadership
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A fair criticism of the first one hundred years of the science of psychology is that the emphasis has been on addressing what makes life unbearable-mental illness, anxiety, neurosis, stress and so on, as stressed by Sligman & Cziakzemtmihalyi, 2000; see also Jahoda, 1958. (Kaiser & Overfield, 2011) Positive Psychology focuses on the good that could possibly increase a person’s quality of life. Positive Psychology a growing utilization in the workplace. Thus the development of strength-based leadership.
Donald Clifton PhD (1924-2003) was a psychologist and creator of the concept. Over his years of research, Clifton developed positive leadership and strengths finders’ assessment. Gallup organization is an analytics company that helps to solve issues for employers and organizations, but was it known that the father of positive leadership psychology purchased Gallup Inc., this owner is Donald Clifton. Donald Clifton (1924-2003) was a professor, author, and businessman revolving around the concept of positive, strength psychology. In 2001 Clifton and Marcus Buckingham published a book about discovering the strengths of a person. This book went on to become a hit, to the point the book is still coming out with versions after Clifton’s death. Clifton’s first assessment StrengthFinders was published in 2001, since then it has been used widely in development programs by various industries. (Kohnen,
There have been countless books, lectures, and and trainings, and retreats constructed around the idea of cultivating leadership in an individual. However, cultivating individuals’ ability to follow great leadership has received far less attention. Who are these people leading if each person within an organization is being trained to be a leader? The word follower has negative connotations, evoking the images of a weak, uncreative, milquetoast personality. However, Jimmy Collins, in his book, “Creative Followership: In the Shadow of Greatness”, suggests that the ability to be led brings as much creativity, consciousness, and indeed leadership to an organization or team as the leader himself.
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.
been minimized, suicides and substance abuse. Recognizing the usefulness of positive psychology can minimize substance abuse along with the view that it is a suitable alternative to dealing with complex issues while also minimizing impacts to mission accomplishment.
Positive psychology refers to strengths as positive qualities we each have as individuals. There are a few base principles to remember when working on strengths. It is important to value and develop individual talents, maintain healthy relationships, reflect on successes, practice, and teach others. It is important to focus on strengths and manage weaknesses. Our schools of today need to find ways to promote students into using their individual strengths. In classrooms individual talents should be valued and developed. For instance, one student in a class may be very strategic who is able to see patterns and issues within a project. This same class may also have someone analytical who likes to search for reasons as causes. A teacher who was taught to look for and recognize these strengths could draw on the strategic thinker to share with the class the patterns and issues they see ...
As a college basketball player, I learned that being an effective leader did not mean that I had to be a constant bundle of energy. Rather, I realized over time it is more important to understand your teammates and what makes them tick, and to translate that knowledge into separate leadership styles to match each individual. This is crucial when working with an extremely diverse group of attitudes, personalities, and mindsets. I believe people would describe my style as steady, positive, and upbeat – opposite of my head coach in many ways. Countless times I would pull a teammate aside who had been berated and explain in a constructive
“Seligman (1998) noted positive psychology’s focus is to make the lives of all people rewarding and to build positive experiences”(Costello & Stone, 2012). His concern and main focus was to train and support staff, faculty, and administrators of positive psychology approaches and overall, helping their students grow as learn...
The field of positive psychology, founded by Martin Seligman (1998), seeks to influence individuals whose lives are “neutral” and increase their psychological well-being. Positive psychology offers a unique perspective on mental health through focusing on individual strengths rather than dysfunction, pathology, and mental illness (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). The goal of positive psychology is to assist individuals in creating meaningful lives through the promotion of positive emotions, individual character strengths, as well as, eudemonic happiness, as key components to optimal mental health. Like many other contemporary theories, positive psychology borrows principles and tenets of philosophies, which preceded its formal conception. The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast virtue, character strengths, relationships, and happiness as presented by positive psychology with Aristotle’s virtue ethics theory.
Sky is the limit for whoever that makes career advancement the priority. Others are motivated and encouraged by the service of their leaders from the laid down good example that is shown to them. Understanding the strength and the weakness of the working team as an individual is one of the characteristics of a good leader, which helps in assisting them when needed and also a source of strength for them as well (Rankin, 2015).
In order to effectively lead and build a successful evolving team requires that you “think outside the box,” and equip yourself to find new ways to lead your team. It may require a scenery change from time to time, leadership training classes, trust exercises, or a fun day to restore enthusiasm and satisfaction back into the team. However, leaders must retain a special set of leadership skills, patience, and tolerance. (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2013).
Engagement is positive psychology by the theoretical model Job Demand Resources (JDR-WE). This model takes the perspective of positive organizational psychology, in which the well-being
A great leader has the ability and capacity on leading other individuals to achieve greatness. What makes this leader stand out is their capacity to lead different types of individuals. In today’s society, leading individuals is not an easy task since individuals have different characteristics when is comes to work. Individuals have different methods of achieving their daily task of work. Individuals are either very work strong and achieve their highest ability to achieve greatness then there are individuals that achieve the very minimum in a work setting. A great leader will have the capacity to lead these individuals by having different methods of achieving the work standard in a workplace. In the article, “Social Organizations,” by Robert Prodanciuc talks about different methods of achieving greatness in a workplace. He examines was makes an astonishing leader within the
Psychologist has made an attempt on better serving individuals in the community. However, positive psychologist believes their area of expertise will be an helpful addition to the field that would assisting clients in the community. Even though, they are many individuals who are critical of positive psychology it has become part of the new movement of psychology. The field of psychology has been evolving and has given others various ways to look at psychology.
Positive leaders have an image, a sense, and a reason. They understand and are able to articulate, trust in, and breathe a comprehensible idea or visualization. Purpose requires them to concentrate on long-term calculated goals. By these actions, not only are leaders engage with organizational requirements but also attend to the society benefits for employees. Remember to ask the question: What really motivates the personnel?
Positive leadership is a leadership approach grounded in ethical values that focuses on bringing out the best in everyone while creating a transparent and appreciative environment. This concept applies the principles of positive psychology to take a value-driven approach to motivate individuals to exceed their goals. Youssef and Luthans (2012) define it as “the systematic and integrated manifestation of leadership traits, processes, intentional behaviors and performance outcomes that are elevating, exceptional and affirmative of the strengths, capabilities and developmental potential of leaders, their followers and their organizations over time and across contexts.” Cameron (2011) had a very similar interpretation that focused on ways in which
“The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude” by Oprah Winfrey which shows the power that people have over their minds and their actions. Recently there have been numerous developments in the field of positive psychology. Positive psychology depends on how we decide to frame the world around us as well as, can be controlled by how we choose to see our lives and everything around us in a positive light or a negative light. Additionally, this process of reframing things to reflect everything in a positive manner is important for people to thrive and be motivated to achieve their goals. However, when it comes to mental disorders there is only so much a person can do as abnormal mental states are definite in their diagnosis and understanding of the mental disorder whereas, in positive psychology whether or not a person is ill does not play a factor rather positive psychologists try and better society as a whole. As a result, a person can be diagnosed with a mental disorder through observed symptoms whereas, in positive psychology it is more difficult as diagnosing true happiness is a challenge.