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Trait theory in leadership
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Recommended: Trait theory in leadership
Leadership, in its broadest sense, is the process using social influence to enlist the support of other people in completing a common task or achieving a collective goal. Common conceptions about organisational leadership focus on the image of charismatic individuals inspiring their subordinates with their own passion and zeal for a vision. This popular image is taken as the standard for effective leadership style and a measure of future organisational success.
Effective leadership is a function of both the individual and the working environment of the organisation they are tasked with leading. Competing theories of personality provide differing conclusions on how effective any given leader and their style of leadership is on the behaviour of their organisation.
Older conceptions of leadership often revolve around the idea of ‘great men’, individuals who are born with the ability to lead by virtue of their superior abilities and traits. Trait theory evolved from this antiquated idea, and holds that several identifiable traits set apart leaders from non-leaders, and allow these individuals to successfully lead organisations (Kirkpatrick and Locke, 1991, Pg 48). Research by Ralph Stogdill demonstrated that no one trait could be universally correlated with effective leadership. Furthermore, Stogdill found that situational factors have a more measurable impact on leadership than traits. Kirkpatrick and Lock (1991) argue that, while traits may not be universally correlated, possessing these traits act as a pre-condition for effective leadership, increasing the probability of organisational success. Effective leaders are actualised by the actions that they take, which stem from the desire to lead and the drive to accomplish things w...
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...anagement. Strategic Management Journal, Strategic Leaders and Leadership Special Issue, Vol. 10, Pgs 17 - 32.
G. T. Rotemberg, G. Salona (November, 1993). Leadership Style and Incentives. Management Science, Vol. 39, Pgs 1299 - 1318.
K. Roberts, R. E. Miles, L. V. Blankenship (December, 1968). Organisationa Leadership Satisfaction and Productivity: A Comparative Analysis. The Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 11, Pgs 401 - 414.
M. A. Smith, J. M. Canger, (June, 2004). Effects of Supervisor 'Big Five' Personality on Subordinate Attitudes. Vol. 18, Pgs 465 - 481.
M. R. Barrick, M. K. Mount and T. A. Judge. Personality and Performance at the Beginning of the New Millennium: What Do We Know and Where Do We Go Next? Personality and Performance 9, Pgs 9 - 30.
S.A Kirkpatrick, E. A. Locke (May, 1991). Leadership: Do traits matter?. The Executive, Vol. 5, Pgs 48 - 60.
Pierce, Jon L. and John W. Newstrom (2011) 6th edition. Leaders and the Leadership Process.
Kirkpatrick, S. A., & Locke, E. A. (2001). Leadership: Do traits Matter? Academy of Management Executive,5,, 48-60.
Leadership at times can be a complex topic to delve into and may appear to be a simple and graspable concept for a certain few. Leadership skills are not simply acquired through position, seniority, pay scale, or the amount of titles an individual holds but is a characteristic acquired or is an innate trait for the fortunate few who possess it. Leadership can be misconstrued with management; a manager “manages” the daily operations of a company’s work while a leader envisions, influences, and empowers the individuals around them.
pp. 146-170. Kreitner, R., & Kinicki, A., (2004). Organizational Behavior (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Mullins, L. J. (2005). Management and organizational behavior (7th ed.). Harlow, England: Prentice Hall/Financial Times.
Simonton,D.K,(1995). Personality and intellectual predictors of leadership. In D.H. Saklofske and M. Zeidner (eds), International handbook of personality and intelligence. New York: plenutn Press, 739-757.
Willis, Gary. Certain Trumpets: The Nature Of Leadership. New York , New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994.
Perrin, C. (2010). LEADER VS. MANAGER: WHAT'S THE DISTINCTION? The Catalyst, 39(2), 6-8. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/610477001?accountid=12085Stevenson, W. J., (2012), Operations Management (11th ed). New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill.
Managers seem to inherit a strong trust in the authority of personality traits to forecast behavior at the work area. If managers thought that situations resolute behavior, they would hire individuals almost at random and assemble the situation correctly. But the employee selection procedure in most establishments places a great deal of importance on how applicants achieve in interviews and on examine through which the personality of a person can be achieved and the task distribution can be much easy varying upon the type of personality (Robbins, Odendaal and Roodt, 2001)
Robbins, S.P., DeCenzo, D.A., & Coulter, M. (2013). Fundamentals of management (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
...Five Personality, and the Prediction of Advanced Academic and Workplace Performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93(2), 298-319. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.93.2.298
John A., 2009. Not Bosses but leaders, How to lead the way to success.3rd ed. London: kogan page.
Leaders are instrumental to the success or failure of an organization as they have significant influence on the individuals which determines the outcome. A leader’s vision and leadership style relate to the employees and subsequently employees relate to their work. From this connection, the leadership style and behaviours and individual uses may have an influence on important subordinate outcomes, such as performance, satisfaction, and perception of that leader’s effectiveness (Bass, 1997; Bass & Avolio, 1993).
Leadership has been described as a “complex process having multiple dimensions” (Northouse, 2013). Over the past 60 years, scholars and practitioners have introduced a vast amount of leadership models and theories to explain this complex field and examine its many perspectives. Numerous leadership theories and models have attempted to define what makes a leader effective. From the early 1900s, the trait paradigm dominated leadership literature, focusing on inherited traits of leaders and suggesting that “leaders are born, not made”. However, during the 1950s, the trait approach lost enthusiasm as focus shifted to the behavior of leaders. Similar to the trait theory, the behavioral paradigm was based on general effective leadership behaviors
Steers, R. M., Porter, L. W., & Bigley, G. A. (1996). Motivation and leadership at work. (6th ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill.