Preview

Trait Approach

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
709 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Trait Approach
Trait Approach By Javier Mauricio Alfonso LDR/531 ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP Facilitator University of Phoenix September 22, 2012

TRAIT APPROACH

Leadership is one theme in the field of business, is widely discussed and studied. In today 's world continually covering aspects of leadership, especially in relation to the nature and behavior of good leaders, and the structure and characteristics of the organizations in which they perform and develop. Trait Approach emphasizes attributes of leaders such as personality, motives, values, and skills. Underlying this approach was the assumption that some people are natural leaders, endowed with certain traits not possessed by other people (Yukl, 2010). Leadership Definition: John C Maxwell: In the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, John Maxwell sums up his definition of leadership as "leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less." This moves beyond the position defining the leader, to looking at the ability of the leader to influence others - both those who would consider themselves followers, and those outside that circle. Indirectly, it also builds in leadership character, because without maintaining integrity and trustworthiness; the capability to influence will disappear (The Teal Trust). It is widely believed that there are leaders who are born with innate abilities and there are others that are developing in their professional development. Innate abilities favor the development of the leader but is sometimes more crucial training that one gains and the experience gets. Going taking responsibility, making decisions, solving problems, facing difficult situations, forged to allow a true leader. The majority of researchers today believe that the origins of leadership go beyond genes and family to other sources. Work experiences, hardship, opportunity, education, role models, and mentors will



References: Maltby, D. (2011). Leaders: Born or made? the state of leadership theory and training today. Retrieved from http://www.biola.edu/academics/professional-studies/leadership/resources/leadership/bornormade/ The Teal Trust. (n.d.). Our definition of leadership. Retrieved from http://www.teal.org.uk/leadership/definition.htm Too Many Morningns. (2009, December 23). mel-gibson-braveheart. Retrieved from http://www.toomanymornings.com/?attachment_id=2621 Yukl, G. (2010). Leadership in organizations, seventh edition chapter 1: Introduction. Retrieved from https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/content/eBookLibrary2/content/eReader.aspx

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    The trait theory concentrates on the personal characteristics of a good leader. That is, if you were to examine the traits or characteristics of great leaders throughout history, you would notice a common group of essential qualities that all of them seem to have possessed. It is by mastering these qualities that would enable people to emerge from the rest of the population, to separate themselves from the masses and to become a great leader that others were willing to follow.…

    • 17190 Words
    • 69 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Like the Great Man theory, Trait theory of leadership assume that people inherit certain qualities and traits that make them better suited to leadership. Trait theories often identify certain characteristics or personality types shared by leaders. Traits are considered to be naturally part of a person’s character from the time they are born. From this standpoint, leadership trait theory assumes that people are born as leaders or not as leaders. Since certain traits are associated with leadership, if…

    • 1158 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    * One of the first systematic attempts to study leadership. Early theories focused on innate qualities/characteristics.…

    • 1709 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The trait approach is one of the earliest approaches to studying leadership. This approach highlights characteristics of leaders such as behavior, intentions, ethics, and skills. The trait approach studies natural leaders who have precise awareness and influences to help others believe the leader’s approaches (Yukl, 2010). The trait approach emphasizes that leaders are born with leadership characteristics and that these characteristics permit them to be great leaders. As with any other approach, the trait approach inhabits strengths and weaknesses.…

    • 471 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Leadership

    • 5470 Words
    • 15 Pages

    Leadership style is the combination of traits, skills, and behaviors leaders use as they interact with people. In order for one to favor a leadership style, one must understand where the leadership styles originated. Throughout the years, the topic of leadership has been debated. However, research indicates that certain characteristics or traits are inherent in leaders According to research, the 1940’s proffered leaders as maintaining certain traits. These traits were based on physical and personality characteristics as well as intelligence and interpersonal skills. Marquis & Huston associated the Great Man Trait Theory with that of the Aristotelian philosophy, which indicated that leaders were born and not made and depending on the need a leader would surface.…

    • 5470 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The age-old question continues to raise its ugly head: Are leaders born to lead, or are they made? Does Leadership DNA exist? We often point to one person or the other and say, “Now, he’s a leader,” without giving a lot of thought to how this person became a leader in the first place. Sometimes it is easy to simply conclude that some of us have the leadership gene and some of us do not. Those who do get to lead, while those who do not are forever assigned to the sidelines while leaders have all the fun, make all the decisions, and cover themselves in glory. This comes as rather unsettling news for those of us who fear we may get the opportunity to lead. What hope do we have that we can ever aspire to lead people, teams, companies, organizations, even our children?…

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    I agree with the above authors on their working definition of leadership. Both definitions focus on an important element , people. One cannot lead without followers. My personal definition of leadership is that it is the power to influence individuals through communication, motivation and trust to perform tasks to achieve a specific goal.…

    • 2878 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Even though these two approaches to leadership are very different in many ways, we have found that they are in fact very similar as well. We notice that the trait approach focuses on the leaders’ personal characteristics yet ignores the situation in which they try to lead. In a very similar way the behavior approach identifies the behaviors responsible for effective leadership without considering how the situation affects behavior. This has always been interesting to me because I do not understand how one trait can functional successfully without the other. I think a person’s personal characteristics and behavior affect their overall leadership style and the way they treat their employees.…

    • 634 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Leadership and Theory

    • 2338 Words
    • 10 Pages

    What is Leadership? It means influencing, motivating and enabling other employees to contribute their best towards the effectiveness and success of the organization. It’s not only motivating and influencing individual but the goals can only be attained by mutual cooperation and cohesive behavior. Leadership has been studied since civilization but it was not given that much important like it’s given in today’s scenario. Leadership is not any type of quality but it’s an individual behavior. There are some qualities in person who helps him develop the characteristics of a Leader like positive attitude, high self-esteem, continuous self-study, training, evaluation and take positive things in life.…

    • 2338 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The main weakness of the trait approach is to assume that one’s attributes simply determine their strength in leadership. One may have the identifiers of a true leader and fail to have the intelligence or character to implement success. The trait approach requires extensive research measuring the correlation between individual leadership attributes and the criteria of a successful leader.…

    • 383 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Effective leaders must master core competencies (essential skills) required by their level of organizational responsibilities (Manager & Leader Functions)…

    • 2285 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Leadership and Theories

    • 739 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Similar in some ways to Great Man theories, trait theories assume that people inherit certain qualities and traits that make them better suited to leadership. Trait theories often identify particular personality or behavioral characteristics shared by leaders. For example, traits like extraversion, self-confidence, and courage are all traits that…

    • 739 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    What Makes a Good Leader

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages

    To begin, the book discusses Trait theory which simply states that there are a certain set of traits and characteristics possessed by the most effective leaders. Although not an indisputable fact, through studies and observations, many of these traits can be found in today’s top executives. Some of these traits are drive, the desire to lead, honesty, integrity, self-confidence and emotional stability. These traits are not in themselves enough to be a good leader however, one must also posses the ability to initiate structure and show consideration when dealing with subordinates.…

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Some people are natural born leaders, nature plays a role. Some people work all their life to become great leaders, nurture plays a role. They both have many things in common but the most important one is that they want to be in charge; become leaders and not followers. They all have a vision and need to have a strong belief in their leadership ability. In addition, leaders set goals that help them achieve their vision. I believe that in order to be a great leader you first have to be a great follower. Being a follower before will make it easier for a leader to empathize with their followers. Learning how to motivate people is a great leadership tool. They know they need other people to get the job accomplished. The leader is not always the most analytical person in the room, but he knows how to use other people’s strengths to get the job accomplished. A great leader has great people to people relations skills and knows how to work a room. People want to follow and work for a great leader. This means a leader has to have charisma, character, personality and be unbiased. People look up to this person and wants to be like them. What make these leaders effective is not a natural ability; it is their desire to lead people, combined with a set of learned skills that they apply as leaders. The only real ingredient in the leadership recipe that they possessed when they began leading was desire and integrity. They learned the rest of it as they go. The desire to lead was the motivational ingredient that drove them to lead; the skills they learned along the way are what allowed them to lead people. Are leaders born or made? Individual…

    • 899 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The core traits identified with the Trait Theory include the following (“Trait Theory of Leadership,” 2013):…

    • 2013 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays

Related Topics