LEADERSHIP

Leadership

ASSIGNMENT

3) Utilise appropriate techniques to review W L Gore leadership requirements

Leadership is also difficult to define because it is often equated with the numerous “fads” of management literature, which emphasize techniques for successful business organization. So, the W.L Gore determines leadership requirements. Behavioralists, psychologists, management theorists, social scientists, and geneticists, attempting to answer W.L Gore leadership requirements that have created a complex, evolving view of leadership (Hiebert, 2001, pp: 42).

Great Man and Trait Theories

The “born” side—sometimes called “great man theories”—includes the work of Francis Galton, founder of eugenics and biostatistics. His influential 1869 publication W.L Gore theorized that heredity was more important than environmental influences, such as education, on human ability. More recently, W.L Gore study of 650 twins in 2000 concluded that “a substantial portion of a latent leadership factor was accounted for by genetic factors” (Hiebert, 2001, pp: 45).

People have always been immensely interested in the qualities of “natural born leaders” and hundreds of studies of these leadership traits have been undertaken. Especially popular in the 1920s and 1930s, “trait theory” research examines the personalities and demographic and developmental backgrounds of current or past leaders to identify those attributes, or combinations of attributes, thought to be present in individuals born or appropriately raised for leadership positions (Stubblefield, 1993, pp: 115).

One developmental characteristic that has been thoroughly studied is birth order. Research has indicated that firstborn children tend to achieve better educational results. Also, firstborn children—especially firstborn sons—have been overrepresented in business leadership, but they “tend to be underrepresented in the political arena and revolutionaries are much less often firstborn children”. Other areas of study have included gender, social class, orphanhood, parental relationships, mentor relationships, and locations and eras of birth.

Personality traits most commonly related to effectiveness in positions of responsibility include high energy levels, tolerance of stress, intelligence, integrity, verbal fluency, self-confidence, and emotional maturity. However, trait-based research has not been successful in its aim to differentiate potential leaders from nonleaders (Stubblefield, 1993, pp: 133).

Behavioral and Situational Theories

The “leaders are made” argument became more fashionable beginning in the 1940s. The essential concept of behavioral theory is that leadership can be learned and that good leadership is a matter of adopting the right behavior when attempting to lead people (Hiebert, 2001, pp: 52).

This was further developed into situational (or contingency) theory—a view that the situation determines the style of leadership needed and the actions a leader should take to achieve successful outcomes. For example, historical research has shown that times of economic insecurity have often elevated authoritarian political leadership, like the dictatorship of South Korea's Park Chung Hee in 1961.

Authoritarianism as a “style” of leadership involves issuing commands and allocating rewards and punishments. The leadership “acts” for the group “for their own good” but does not promote their self-development. At the other extreme stands democratic or inclusive leadership , which involves persuasive argument and seeks understanding and agreement among members of the group. It presumes that an initial proposal may be modified by the group's response and encourages the ...