Leadership traits theories in Century

 Introduction  :-

 

The Leadership traits theories evolves along with the era we live in and it has been upgraded time to time, the trait approach began with an emphasis on identifying the qualities great persons, shifted the impact of situations on leadership and currently has shifted back to reemphasize the critical of traits in effective leadership.

Transitions :

According to Stogdill (1948, 1974), consistent set of traits differentiated leaders from nonleaders a person with a leadership traits who was a leader in one situation might not be a leader in another situation. (Stogdill, 1974)

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, "great man" leadership theories were highly popular. These theories asserted that leadership qualities were inherited, especially by people from the upper class. Great men were, born, not made hence those days, virtually all leaders were men (Man, 1959) .

(Lord, et al., 1986), identified in their research that Intelligence, Masculinity and dominance are the key factors leadership traits. 

Leaders do need to have the “right stuff” and this stuff is not equally present in all people and identified six traits where the leaders differ from nonleaders (Kirkpatrick & Locke, 1991).

(Zaccaro, et al., 2004), included that apart from previous all traits “social abilities” in the categories of leadership traits they outlined as important leadership attributes.

Globally recognized leadership traits :-

•       Trustworthy

•       Fair

•       Coordinator

•       Honest

•       Team Builder

•       Foresight

•       Plans Ahead

•       Encouraging

•       Positive

•       Dynamic

•       Motive aroused

•       Confidence Builder

•       Informed

•       Motivational

•       Dependable

•       Intelligent

•       Excellence orientated

•       Decisive

•       Effective bargainer

•       Win-win Problem Solver

•       Administrative Skilled

•       Communicative

                        Source : Youtube 

Advantages of the trait theory after a 100 years of research: -

·       Naturally pleasing 

·       Its serves as a yardstick against which the leadership traits of an individual can be assessed

·       Can guide individuals in preparing for leadership responsibility

·       Focusses on the difference of leaders

·       Highlights the role of an individual in the leading of others 

·       Identifies qualities to improve for potential leader

·       It supports the general image in the society that leaders are a special kind of people who can do extraordinary things. People have a need to see their leaders as gifted people, and the trait approach fulfills this need

·       It has a long research tradition and a significant body of research data that support this approach.

·       The trait approach focuses only on the leader and analysis very thoroughly this component in the leadership process

·       The trait approach has given us some benchmarks for what we need to look for if we want to be leaders

 (Northhouse, 2016).

 

Limitations of the trait theory :-

·       The trait approach does not indicate how much magnitude of the trait should be possessed by a leader

·       There is no unanimous agreement about the desirable traits

·       Many of these traits are in reality patterns of expected behaviors

·       The trait approach fails to recognize the importance of the characteristics of followers and the influence of situational factors in leadership

·       Difficult to identify which trait is most important to have an effective leader

(Judge, et al., 2009)

 

Conclusion :-

 

In a summary, after a century of research its been identified that the leadership traits are not stick to certain factors and it’s been changing time to time, in this 21^st Century the  “Technology” considered as a main trait which the leader should have. 

 

The above analysis also indicated the positive and negatived factors endowed with leadership traits.

 

However, the leaders are not like other people at the same time leaders do not have to be great men or Women being Intellectual geniuses to succeed. 

 

References:-

Stogdill, R., 1948. Personal factors associated with leadership. Journal of Psychology, Volume 25, pp. 35-71.

 

Man, R. D., 1959. A review of the relationships between personality and performance in small groups. Psychological Bulletin, IV(56), pp. 241-270.

 

Stogdill, R., 1974. Handbook of leadership. New York: Free press.

 

Lord, R., Devader, C. & Alliger, G., 1986. A Meta-Analysis of the Relation between Personality Traits and Leadership Perceptions : Procedures. Journal of Applied Psychology, Volume 71, pp. 402-410.

 

Kirkpatrick, S. & Locke, E., 1991. Academy of Management Executive. Leadership: Do traits matter?, Issue 5, pp. 48-60.

 

Zaccaro, S., Bader, P. & Kemp, C., 2004. The nature of leadership. In: J. Antonakis, A. Cianciolo & R. Sternberg, eds. Leader traits and attributes. New York: Thousand Oaks, pp. 101-124.

 

Northhouse, P., 2016. Leadership Theory and Practice. 7th Edition ed. London: Sage Publication.

Judge, T., Piccolo, R. & Kosalka, T., 2009. The Leadership Quarterly Yearly review of leadership. Elsevier, Volume 20, pp. 855-875.