LEADERSHIP IN A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT
EARLY LEADERSHIP THEORY PERTAINING TO CASE STUDY
TENTS-R-US
Contents Page
1. Introduction
2. Background- Early Leadership Theory & Tent-R-Us
3. Personality Era
1. The Great Man Theory & Tents-R-Us
2. Trait Theory & Tents-R-Us
4. Influence Era
1. Power Relations & Tents-R-Us
2. Persuasion Period & Tents-R-U
5. Strengths and Weakness of Tents-R-Us
6. Conclusion
7. References
1. Introduction
The following report was compiled to discuss early leadership theories relating to the case study Tents-R-Us, with citation to relevant literature throughout. The ones that are relevant
…show more content…
Although the early part of the personality era is important this was a building block that needed expansion, so personality traits were incorporated to expand on the great man theory.
3.2 Trait Theory
Trait theory is similar in nature to that of the great man approach in that traits of personality are considered to be inherent. Trait theory was explored in the early 20th century and was built on from the great man theory. Tead (1929) discussed trait theory as someone who held a specific group of traits that would evolve followers to complete a chosen task.
R. Bolden et al (2003) discussed that the trait approach stemmed from the great man approach and that trait approach was common within the military and is still used as a set criteria today to commission candidates. It’s clear from the case study that Peter Ridge has quite a military style of leadership of command and control style. Bass (1981) stated that leadership is still classified as a critical factor in military success and has been continually recorded. Trait theories are qualities that are within a human being which constitutes a leader. Stogdill (1974) spoke about there being a list of leadership traits and related skills, he sees leaders as adaptable to situations, ambitious and achievement orientated, assertive, energetic,
3. Henry Murray created a theory of personality traits that were organized by motivation, presses, and needs or the personological system (1938)
Trait theory states that in order to understand individuals, we must break down behavior patterns into a series of observable traits.
traits are the essence of who a person is and what they will become. They can even be tracked
Although the four humors do not necessarily decide the personality, other theories give genetic and neurochemical reasons concerning the behavior of humans. The theory of traits is to understand personality by listing attitudes and certain types of behavior into "traits. " They are used to describe the way a person thinks, feels or acts in a certain way. Trait theory assumes that parts of a persons personality can be acknowledged by using existing terms such as words or short phrases. Gordon Allport and Henry Odbert conducted research into personality traits.
Our book was divided into different chapters on various theorists and explained the major theories of personality that were proposed by the different psychologists. One of the theories that we learned about was the trait theories. Gordan Allport introduced the trait theory and his theory suggested that individual
Northouse (2010) stated that the trait theory appears to be the first attempt to examine leadership effectiveness, in that, researchers attempted to find universal individual characteristics that might differentiate a leader from a nonleader (House & Aditya, 1997). However, one of the problems with the early trait studies was the insufficient information about reliability properties of the trait measures, which in turns appeared to influence the validity of the trait measures as well (House & Aditya, 1997). Furthermore, most of the earlier studies concerning leadership traits were done in the 1930s, but there was a re-emergence in the 1970s, with clarifications to address certain theoretical issues with previous studies on traits (House & Aditya,
The Behaviorist theory states that we are born with a blank slate and that we are a product of our environment and a product of our nurture. It is basically stating that our behavior is learned. I agree with this theory because life experiences whether good or bad help make us stronger and become a better person. The quote that comes to mind is that we are born hating one another and that type of behavior is taught. When you are young, you are innocent and naïve, but overtime you become more aware of your surroundings and have a better understanding of how things are. At an early age, I was taught the importance
The trait perspective asserts that personalities are made up of various traits that vary in degrees of strength. These traits are exemplified on a
The word ‘Personality’ is derived from the latin word ‘persona’, which stands for the mask theatre artists wear during performances. By definition, “ personality is a pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique characteristics that give both consistency and individuality to a person’s behavior”(Feist & Rosenberg, 2009). Human personality is a unique set of traits that determines how a person reacts to certain situations. Whether the person is curious, risk-taking, meticulous, introverted etc. falls in the realm of personality. Personality is a unique determinant of how we conduct our lives and in effect determines our biological fitness. There are many theories that try to explain the origins of personality and how they manifest into life-decisions.
The Trait Approach was the 1st systematic attempt to study leadership. In the 20th century it was known as the “great man” theory. This approach takes a look at the leaders personal attributes such as but not limited to: motivation, energy, intuition, creativity, persuasiveness and foresight. Some of the traits that are essential to this list include: intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity and sociability. Thus it focuses mainly on the leader and not on the followers or situations. The strengths of the Trait Approach includes: 1) it is intuitively appealing, 2) it has research to back it’s theory, 3) it highlights the leader, 4) it identifies what the traits of a leader should have and whether the traits we do
Trait theory was developed from the psychometric tradition by Eysenck and Ranchman (1964) that used variables such as cognitive ability and IQ to assess individual differences; however, criticism argued that IQ tests would favour only white middle class. Eysenck (1965) adopted a nomothetic approach, which classifies personality dimensions, to measure and describe the individual differences of personality. In Eysenck’s and Ranchman (1964) approach, the science of personality was a means of clarifying psychiatric classification. He believed that individual’s behaviour, i.e. personality, is influenced by biological characteristics: causal factors at a neurological level can influence individual’s temperament and behaviour. However, he recognised that other features such as individual’s past
To understand the many different theories of personality you must understand that personalities are unique. Everyone has different experiences, parents, and lives. These differences cause all people to view the world differently than the person next to them. There are various thoughts of how and when personalities develop and grow. Carl Rogers and George Kelly are two theorists who have influenced the understanding of the nature and development of personality (Pervin, 1989).
Trait theory, as its name suggest is a platform to study Human Psychology that identifies and measures the degree to which certain personality traits—recurring patterns of thought and behavior, such as anxiousness, shyness, openness to new things—exist from individual to individual. The subject involves a set number of personality traits (although the number of traits can vary wildly) and assigns the degree that a trait exists, which then determines the individual’s personality. Dr. William Sheldon (1898-1977) was an American psychologist who during his career held teaching and research posts at a number of Universities in the United States. Much of Dr. William Sheldon 's professional life was devoted to investigating the range human
This theory determines the personal characteristics of successful leaders to predict leadership ability in others. This theory is applicable to Xero as it views leadership as a large set of different traits or qualities. It has suggested a list of personality traits or characteristics which must be present in a person for his success as a leader which the members of xero have. Trait theory can be defined as a set of theories that seek personal, social or intellectual traits that differentiate leaders from non leaders. There are innate traits and acquirable traits:
Trait theory of personality is concerned with the identification and measurement of human characteristics. These human characteristics could be personality, aptitude, competency, ability, and so on. These characteristics (also called traits) contribute to the disposition of an individual. A trait is a characteristic of an individual that is assumed to be stable across situations and time but differ across individuals. This characteristic can be numerous in an individual and when all are combined they form the psychological person. Cherry (2016) has it that the combination and interaction of various traits form a personality that is unique to an individual. Each individual has a unique personality trait and