Leadership



Leadership

TASK 01

The paper begins with a description of leadership trait theory, a theory that concerns itself solely with leader characteristics. Following this, two theories are reviewed. They are: transactional leadership and contingency approach to leadership. The paper concludes with a look at transformational leadership. Although these leadership theories or models could be considered contingency models, they are addressed separately because of the emphasis that they place on morality and follower development.

Trait Theory

In the early 1900s, leadership traits were studied to determine what made certain people great leaders. The theories that were developed were called, “great man” theories because they focused on identifying the innate qualities and characteristics possessed by great social, political, and military leaders (e.g. Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Mohandas Gandhi). It was believed that people were born with these traits and only “great” people possessed them. During this time research concentrated on determining the specific traits that clearly differentiated leaders from followers (Bass, 2000; Jago, 1982). Although different researchers identified a variety of leadership traits and characteristics, it is generally thought that there are five major leadership traits: intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity, and sociability.

In the mid-1900s, the trait approach was challenged by research that questioned the universality of leadership traits. In a major review in 2000, Stogdill suggested that no consistent sets of traits differentiated leaders from non-leaders across a variety of situations. An individual with leadership traits who was a leader in one situation cannot be a leader in another situation. Rather than being in quantity that individual possessed, leadership was reconceptualized as a relationship between people in social situation.

Because the trait approach focus on the leader, however, and not on the followers or the situation, researchers failed to discover any traits that would guarantee leadership success. Early trait theorists assumed that leadership was innate. They failed to acknowledge that being in a leadership role might facilitate the development of leadership traits. Also the theory neglected to account for why some individuals might be effective leaders in certain circumstances yet not in others.

The trait approach has several strengths. It is intuitively appealing and fits in our notion that leaders are the individuals who are “out front” and “leading the way” in our society. The trait approach is consistence with this perception because it is built on the premise that leaders are different and their difference resides in the special traits they posses. In addition to its strength, the trait approach has several weaknesses. As Stogdill (2000) pointed about 50 years ago, it is difficult to isolate a set of traits that are characteristics of leaders without factoring situational effects into the equation as well. Furthermore, this trait has resulted in highly subjective determinations of the “most important” leadership trait.

Transactional Leadership

Transactional leadership is based on the exchange between leaders and followers. Transactional leaders exchange things of value with subordinates' to advance their own as well as their subordinates' agenda (Khunert, 2004). It is effective because it is in the best interest of followers to do what the ...