TRAIT LEADERSHIP THEORY Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

TRAIT LEADERSHIP THEORY - Assignment Example Taylor’s main goal was to attain economic efficiency. On the other hand, sociologist Max Weber’s contribution to the management theory was his concept that ideal bureaucracies comprise several characteristics such as efficiency, division of labour, promotion based on performance, written codes of conduct, impersonality, and hierarchy of authority. Therefore, his conclusion was that a leader obtained power through his position. In the 1920s, another management theorist Mary P. Follett proposed the notion of participatory management, i.e. the abandonment of ‘power over’ and adoption of ‘power with’ by managers. According to Simon, Smithburg, and Thompson (1991), Luther Gulick’s major administrative issue was to determine how to attain control and coordination that was necessary to achieve an organisation’s goals. He proposed the introduction of a powerful chief executive to counter the discordant features that were associated with i ncreasing levels of division of labour and specialisation. In his Notes on the Theory of Organization, he introduced the PODSCORB concept. His main argument was that the roles of the executive include planning, organising, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting and budgeting. Leadership R. Dernhardt and J. Denhardt (2006) pointed out that Chester Barnard, who was a business executive, defined leadership as ‘the ability of a superior to influence the behaviour of subordinates and persuade them to follow a particular course of action’. There are many definitions of leadership. However, a common thing amongst these definitions is the concept that a leader should yield power to influence people in an organisation. Fiore (2004) stated that in 1968, John French and Bertram Raven described five different types of power that leaders use in pursuit of their objectives. Although other classifications exist, this remains the most useful and includes: a) Legitimate power: Thi s is power that a leader holds virtually due to the position in the organisation. b) Reward power: This is power that a leader holds to the ability to promote, offer salary increases and allocate interesting challenges. c) Expert power: A leader possesses this power from having superior knowledge in a matter that is beneficial to the organisation. d) Referent power: This is power associated with charismatic personalities, which makes followers identify and respect their leader. e) Coercive power: This is power that establishes a leader’s capacity to punish non-compliant subordinates or exhibition of undesirable behaviour. Effective leaders form an important element that determines the existence and accomplishments of an organisation. This type of leadership will transform possibilities into realities through revealing the potential that lies in an organisation and its employees. Leaders should offer direction by proposing new paradigms when existing ones lose their effectiven ess. Therefore, leadership is a significant way through which persons transform other people’s minds to enable organisations to move forward and attain their objectives. Over the years, various management theorists have suggested different leadership theories, and this paper will focus on one of these theories – the trait leadership theory. Trait Theory of Leadership According to Marquis and Huston (2009), the trait theory was amongst the leadership theories that formed the basis for research up to the 1940s. Trait theory assumes that certain people yield some personality traits or characteristics that give them leadership abilities. Therefore, some people are better leaders than others. Researchers evaluated the lives of prominent individuals in history to help them identify the traits that