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Personality traits of a leader
Evolution of leadership theory
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Leadership has been described as "a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task", however there are alternative definitions of leadership. Leadership is a major way in which people change the minds of others and move organizations forward to accomplish identified goals. According to Fry et al (2004) stated that, “leaders must exhibit high levels of courage with a willingness to listen to others in order to collect and analyze information”.
Second, if there is a leader there must be followers. Behavioral theories of leadership are classified as such because they focus on the study of specific behaviors of a leader. For behavioral theorists, a leader behavior is the best predictor of his leadership influences and as a result, is the best determinant of his or her leadership success.
Leadership Models:
In the Innovators DNA, disruptive and innovative leadership is essential for progress and growth. In Dyer’s research, the use of real world examples of great companies such as Apple where their motto is to “think differently” which is what disruptive DNA portray (Dyer, et. al, 2011). According to Doyle and Smith in their article “classical leadership”, basically there have been four main ‘generations’ of theory which are trait theories, behavioral theories, contingency theories, and transformational theories. The most common leadership theories include:
The Great Man Theory is where theorists continue to argue whether a leader has a natural ability to lead or if they are molded into leadership through extensive training and developmental procedures. I believe that individuals can be transformed into leaders’ however; this conversion does not guarantee ...
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...ixed with a good sense of how to balance employee relationships, leaders can obtain the DNA characteristics necessary to become extraordinary (Dyer, et. al, 2011).
Self-Evaluation-Strengths and Weaknesses:
I believe the strongest areas I possess as a leader is embracing new challenges and not being afraid to take risks. I do believe that these strengths could also be weaknesses in a organizations that enforcing demanding guidelines. I am great at multi-tasking and completing tasks to the end. I understand that this strength could to also be a weakness and can be taking to others as being overzealous and vain.
Overall, the combined discovery and delivery score identifies some great areas of improvement where I could become stronger and be more innovative by changing some behavioral skills and improving some of my cognitive abilities through study and hard work.
A leadership theory is a clarification of some features of leadership; theories have practical importance as they are being used for better understanding, anticipating, and controlling successful leadership. Hence, the main principle of any theory is to inform practice(Lussier and Achua 2009). Leadership theories could be classified into eight main categories: Great man, trait, behavioral, contingency, Situational, Participative, Relationship , management (Cherry 2010).
According to Business Dictionary.com, leadership is defined as the individuals who are the leaders in an organization, regarded collectively. It also can be define as the activity of leading a group of people or an organization or the ability to do this. Leadership involves the establishing of a clear vision, sharing the vision with other so that they will follow willingly, providing the needed information, knowledge, and methods to realize the vision and coordinating and balancing the conflicts interests of all members and stakeholders.
As an overview, leadership theory consist of firstly, Great man theory that is leaders who have been born with qualities and are meant to lead (Bolden, Marturano & Dennison,
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. Great followership is a reflection of great leadership. In this, the follower is just as important as the leader in the relationship. Many great leaders have asserted that a leader with even a modicum of understanding of what drives their subordinates can take their organization to previously undreamt-of heights in creativity and productivity. Collins does not disabuse us of this notion, he does however add that the follower is indispensable agent in this interplay between leader and follower.
Leadership is a process whereby individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal (Northouse, 2013, p. 5).
Assertiveness – Leaders are not afraid to let others know where they stand, confront others on their mistakes, set high expectations, and demand better performance.
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.
Leadership is the ability of an individual to influence, motivate and inspire others (Gill, 2006). It is therefore defined as a process whereby a leader influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal (Northouse, 2013). A leader has to make a decision for something to happen and provide his followers with clear direction (Rost et al, 1991). It will evoke feelings of challenge, excitement and involvement for the followers to proceed with the task (Gill, 2006).
Stroup, J. (2004). Managing leadership: toward a new and usable understanding of what leadership is and how to manage it. Lincoln, NE. iUniverse, Inc. Retrieved July 20, 2011 from http://managingleadership.com/blog/2008/09/04/great-man-theory/
There are different leadership theories developed throughout the history. Most popular ones are trait theories, behavioral theories, contingency theories, and leader-member exchange (LMX) theory. The author of the post will briefly discuss two theories, Fiedler contingency theory and Leader-Member Exchange (LMX), and compare and contrast their strengths and weakness.
According to Shockley and Zalabak (2009) "Leadership is a process of guiding individuals, groups, and entire organization in establishing goals and sustaining action to support goals.Leadership is like mapping out where you need to go to win". A Leader is a person who has a strong personality and who has an ability to manage people and work. He is also the person who is able to direct people .Usually a leaders has a lot of attributes that
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...
This paper describes about my leadership strengths and areas for growth/future study. It also included how these qualities are used in my daily work routine, self-assessment results and a brief explanation on Individual style in leadership.
Leadership is seen as a process by which one individual influences others toward the attainment of group or organizational goals. It is a social influence process, which involves voluntary action on the part of followers and it is always purposeful and goal-oriented. Leadership deals with influence and is not the same as management, which includes planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling.
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.