This theory developed by Scottish writer named Thomas Carlyle in the 1840’s. One of his famous quotes that represents his believes which was a milestone of his theory is: “The history of the world is but the biography of great men” (Carlyle, 1888). According to his theory, the true leader is born not made. The leader is born with the ability to manage the situation in a perfect way and influence others through his charisma, intelligence, wisdom or other parameters. Carlyle linked his theory with the heroes/historians at this time to proof that they used their personal attributes or divine intervention to shape history. In the 1900’s, this theory gained its reputation because of the association of the male to leadership roles and the mythology …show more content…
Trait theory This theory can be considered as a branch of the Great Man Theory. The main assumption of this theory is that some specific traits of person give him a virtue to be a leader (Furham, 2005). These leadership traits – either personality traits or behavioral characteristics – are innate and instinctive qualities that person inhered in family and passed on genetically. This theory hypothesizes that exhibiting and sharing those common traits and characteristics by leaders is the core of their success Turner and Muller (2005). Many researchers discussed this theory and their studies covered it, the early was Gordon Allport. He and some researchers identified some factors which are related to leader effectiveness, such as physiological, demographic, intellective, task-related and social characteristics. However, it was unsuccessful in establishing empirical relationship between personal traits and being a …show more content…
That makes some leader successful in organization but failure in another, as he does not change his leadership style to be matching with the new situation and environment (Fiedler, 1967). Many different models draw from those theories, such as the Path-Goal Theory (1971), Fiedler’s Contingency Theory (1967), Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory (1984), and the Vroom and Yetton’s Decision-Making Model
Situational leadership is a theory which was designed in 1969 by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard. The “contingency theories of leadership” states that a leader’s effectiveness is dependent on their behaviours in relation to different situational factors. Thus, situational leadership theory, relates to how a leader 's effectiveness is depend on their ability to adjust their leadership behaviour to the required level of the “followers” capability or if the situation is modified.
There are lot of theories and opinions about what makes a good leader. People who want to become a good leader not only have to have the will to take on the job, but they need to have certain traits and qualities that are characteristic of a good leader. The trait theory of leadership supports this claim that some people are endowed with certain characteristics that make them more capable of being a good leader than others. Many leaders and researchers have come up with certain traits that make people great leaders, whether it is being a leader in a business, organization or a leader of a sports team.
The situational leadership theory states that leaders use different styles and strategies depending on the situation. There are two models that support this theory. The Fiedler’s Contingency Model of Leadership Effectiveness states that an “effective leadership occurs only when there is an ideal match between the leader’s style and the group’s work situation” (pg
According to this theory great leaders are born, not made. These great leaders have inherited few or several favorable traits which distinguishes them from common people. For example, Napoleon, Mao-se-Tung are considered to be natural leaders, who have had all qualities of leadership built-in them(Biju 2010). The great man theory notion has been used for the first time by Carlyle in his article on heroes, he has defined the leader as someone gifted with a set of an exceptional qualities which capture the minds and souls of the public(Carlyle 1993).
The leadership is a result of a combination of traits, with special emphasis on the personal qualities of the leader, which he should possess certain personality traits that would be special facilitators in leadership performance. This theory shows that leaders are born as such, there is no likelihood of 'making' them later with personal development techniques.
The Traits theory, otherwise known as the Great Man theory, is the origination of leadership theories. This theory believes that there is a unique set of qualities for a leader, mainly: his intelligence and ability to judge, his knowledge power, self-confidence and dependabil...
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 theories assume that people inherit certain abilities and traits that make them better suited for leadership than others (Stroup, 2004). The trait theories originated from an earlier impression called the “great man” theories pop...
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...
The most important quality that differentiates a leader from other people is the ability to think strategically. Vision is the most important aspect that drives a leader’s strategy. It is all about where you want to be. Other qualities include Decision making, problem solving, time management, self-motivation, emotional intelligence and many more. Once we know the type of leadership, it is easy to find what leadership skills we have and which we need to develop which is explained in the book “Leadership: Theory, application, skill development (5th ed.) by Lussier and Achua.” Also, Keirsey Style Sorter personality type helps to knowing our temperament type, and work on our weakness and to emerge out as a good leader.
Fiedler’s theory is a trait-based, leader-match theory, meaning that leader selection depends on that person’s compatibility to the situation (Kelly 200). The Vertical Dyad Linkage Theory model is based on the belief that “leaders and followers mutually influence each other’s behavior, and focuses on the dynamic interchange between leader and follower dyads” (Kelly 202). The Vroom-Yetton Contingency Theory is a behavior theory that mainly focuses on improving the effectiveness of leaders by encouraging their examination of situational characteristics (Kelly
One of the first approaches to leadership is the leadership trait theory that people are born with certain character traits. The theory assumes that people are born as leaders or not as leaders because the traits are considered to be naturally part of a person 's personality. The basic idea behind trait theory is that effective leaders are born, not made. The trait theory was used in the 1930s,
...is & Thomas, (2002), Dotlich, (2005), Hartman & Harris (1992) and Maxwell, (1993). These studies reported that not only are leaders born and made, but also that genetics, parental influence, adverse life experiences and training and development all affect leadership development.
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.