Leadership: Style vs. Traits The pursuit to find what makes a leader great has always been a subject of debate amongst many of the greatest minds for centuries. Some believe leaders are born with the “right stuff”. Their natural abilities are leadership qualities that cannot be taught. Other believe that through education and guidance, leaders can be developed. Many think that situations will dictate leadership capabilities; a leader will rise to the occasion when it is right. There are groups that think it’s a combination of things; personality, culture, values, behaviors and situations that determine a leader and their personal leadership style. Can behavior and personality traits determine a leadership style? Do characteristics play …show more content…
Many people have developed views and theories on the different types of leadership styles. Air Force leadership courses teaches their developing leaders that there are two types of leadership styles. “Production-oriented leadership which focuses on initiating structures and paths for followers to perform effectively and people- or relationship-oriented leadership which considers fostering good relationships between the leader and followers” (Noncommissioned Officer Academy Distance Learning Course, 2015, pg. 194). Kurt Lewin developed his theory that there are three main styles of leadership: autocratic, democratic and laissez-faire (Mindtools, n.d.). An autocratic leader makes decisions without consulting members of the team. Democratic leaders include members during the decision making process, but the leader ultimately makes the final decision. Laissez-faire leaders have a “hands off” approach and the team makes the decisions in all matters. According to Bass &Steidlmeier (1999), “There are clearly many styles of leadership that relate to the legitimacy of authority and informed consent by followers. Two distinct but interrelated ideal types are transformational and transactional leadership” (para 7). Often thought of as the most effective style of leadership is transformational; motivating others, sharing common goals and visions with the team. Transactional leadership relies on the …show more content…
Regarding leadership, traits represent characteristics such as self-confidence, ambition and high energy, commonly found among leaders representing a wide variety of leadership styles. According to Kirkpatrick & Locke (1991), “evidence shows that traits do matter; six traits on which leaders differ from nonleaders include drive, the desire to lead, honesty/integrity, self-confidence, cognitive ability and knowledge of the business” (para7). It is important to note that traits alone are not what make a great leader; it’s defined as a “precondition” of individuals that have potential to become a great leader (Pierce & Newstrom, 2011). Military leaders tend to not have traits similar to other types of leaders. What if individuals do not possess or display high levels of positive characters, such as described by Kirkpatrick & Locke? Could it affect their leadership style and ultimately affect the team
There are a variety of ways to define both leader and leadership. There is not, however, a clear definition of how to become one. There is no set list of mandatory traits, either innate or learned, that a person must embody to be considered successful or proved a failure. What I feel it takes is the right mix of strengths and weaknesses in a given situation to demonstrate effectiveness. No one person has abilities without accompanying deficiencies. It’s all in the way they are balanced. The balance in the way one uses his or hers’ abilities will ultimately determine the type of leadership one has throughout time. To support these claims I will examine a well-known leader throughout the military, General James “Mad Dog” Mattis. This essay will provide some insight into both his strengths and weaknesses while discussing some personality traits he is said to possess.
In the novel The Glass Castle, there are many reasons why a family might be unhappy.
The movie begins with the family and parenting styles concept of child development by introducing the audience to the main character James and his parents. James lives in a two-parent household with his authoritative parents who are providing him with warmth, love, and encouragement (Levine & Munsch, pp. 521-522). This concept of parenting styles is shown as the movie begins and James is seen spending time with his parents. Then suddenly, James’ world changes and he is abandoned as a result of his parents being killed. This causes James to become orphaned and forced to live with his authoritarian aunts, Spiker and Sponge. Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge are very controlling towards James and expect him to obey their rules without allowing him to express his feelings. This authoritarian behavior is seen throughout the movie. Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge are also uninvolved, neglectful, and abusive, using verbal and physical punishment on James when they feel it’s necessary, which is also seen throughout the movie (Levine & Munsch, p. 522). These behaviors cause James to develop lower self-esteem, show less intellectual curiosity, and feel lonely and afraid, which are typical outcomes of an authoritarian parenting approach (Levine & Munsch, pp. 521-523). Although James’ aunts’ authoritative parenting style has an effect on his emotional and social behaviors, it is his parents authoritative parenting that plays a...
Giltinane (2013) identifies three leadership styles. The first is transactional leadership in which a leader is controlling and functions in a reward and punishment environment. In transactional leadership style, leaders give little room for employees to express ingenuity. Decisions are passed laterally from top down and the form of leadership is to stress obedience rather than loyalty. Transactional leadership is closely related to autocratic style (Giltinane, 2013).
They made many mistakes but don’t seem to care much because they know their children will forgive them. Jeannette 's mother sees her weakness for her father and uses it against her. When ever she messed up she told the kids they “should forgive her the same way [they] always forgave Dad for is drink”(174). She expects them to forgive her just like they forgive their dad because she knows they always think the best of them. She messes up endless amounts of time but the kids forgive them every time because they care about them. They are very selfish, and exploit their kids love. Her father knows she has “a soft spot for him the way no one else in the family did, and he took advantage of it”(209). Jeannette know knows her dad is using her for her forgiveness, but she doesn’t seem to mind because she loves him so much. Her parents use their love to get what they want, and since the kids unconditionally love them. Her mother and father constantly need Jeannette’s help and love, more than she needs theirs. If jeannette ever says no they become disappointed and make her feel bad. But since they are family, they always stick
They further stated that most leadership forms a new paradigm for understanding both the lower and higher order effects of leadership style. The style of leadership which is adopted by a leader is influenced by the leader’s background, personal experience, religion, political affiliation, ideology, inclination, culture and even orientation without necessarily being based on the dynamics of the situation. The major leadership constructs consist of transformational leadership, transactional leadership, and lazzirfair leadership others that are going are common are democratic and autocratic types of
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.
In my view, people employ certain traits that differentiate us from our neighbor next door, and leadership is no different. The test produced by the University of Kent in the United Kingdom (University of Kent, n.d.) has developed a process that I feel accurately defines what sort of leader you are based on 50 simple questions. I was not surprised by the results and found them to be quite accurate and expected. In this essay, I will explore why I feel the test is an accurate way to determine your leadership style due to my personal experience with
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.
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
Based on Burns (1978) there are two types of basic leadership styles, transformational and transactional. Transactional leaders are in contact with an individual for an exchange that will occur between them while transformational leaders motivate and connect with their followers
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.