The Hour Glass Theory

The trait theory of leadership was first discovered in mid 1800s. It is closely tied to the great man theory whereby leaders are thought to be born and only those who were born with correct traits and quality are suited to leadership (Lee, 2014). It is a line of research which examine which characteristics we should pursue to lead effectively. The most common traits to leaders are intelligence, determination, integrity, self-confidence and sociability. However, different study shows that there are other traits such as knowledge, responsibility, emotional control, courage and trustworthiness to be linked to effective leaders. Not only that, it is seen as a benchmark for what to be expected in a leader.

Helen Knighter and Sam Schwede are assistant store managers for a large retail department store. The chain was started by Mel Robinson in Kansas in 1903. Helen is a supervisor who always stands in one’s shoes. One day, her subordinate, Jane wanted to take 3 days off, but deadline of a project was in that three days. She changed the deadline for Jane. Let Jane could join her son’s graduation ceremony.

The earliest study of leadership thought would be the “Great Man Theory. This theory conceptualized leaders as a single “Great Man” who knew everything and influenced others to follow him. In leadership discourse, the Great Man theory—an assertion that certain individuals, certain men, are gifts from God placed on earth to provide the lightening needed to uplift human

One of the popular definitions of a leader is, "The only definition of a leader is someone who has followers." ( ) A more comprehensive definition that highlights striking features of a leader is, "A simple definition of leadership is that leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal.” ( ) A closer scrutiny of the characteristics of an influential leader would many ways assist one, in recognizing those attributes in an attempt to assimilate the best in others.

This course provides me a chance to gain more insight about leadership and it helps me develop my new image of leadership. Meanwhile, I also use the theories in our textbook as a framework for self-assessment of my leadership skills and try to develop my own leadership style during the

Leadership has been defined in a variety of ways, there are multiple authors and theorists who have tried to define and understand leadership, all leading to varying theories and conclusions, but one thing that is universally understood is the importance of effective leadership and how someone with good leadership skills can impact so many people around them. (Kakabadse and Kakabadse, 1999; Yukl, 2002; Northouse,2013)

Chapter 12 outlined the psychodynamic approach to leadership, which focuses on the subtleties and undercurrents of human thoughts and behaviors (Northouse, 2016). The basis of the psychodynamic approach is deterministic, insofar as it advances the premise of human behavior having a specific cause or origin. The Clinical Paradigm is a structure used to help explain the basic foundation of the approach and consists of the following: 1) there is always a reason for how people behave, 2) many of the cognitive reasons people have for doing something operate below conscious awareness, 3) emotional expression and regulation is the prime indicator of who a person is, and 4) the interactions with oneself and others is based on experiences from the past

Different scholars identified various kinds of leadership styles that affect the job performance, satisfaction and learning and development of subordinates. Warrick, D.D (1981) cited that there are no doubt variables other than a leader’s style that affect employee performance and development but leadership style plays a significant role and not to be underestimated. An awareness of leadership styles and their consequences are very important because it may either facilitate or inhabit skill development.

Through self-reflection and academic readings, I have discovered that I identify with three different leadership theories. During the first meeting in a Strength Based Leadership class, we were asked to write our leadership history. The class then began an ongoing exploration of various leadership theories. Upon reviewing my leadership history from the first class and synthesizing the information from the theories that were examined, I discovered that I most resonate with the Trait Leadership Theory, the Skills Leadership Theory, and the Path-Goal Leadership theory. These theories are leader focused, describing the process and techniques a leader uses to accomplish goals. This paper will examine the three leadership theories, identify how they apply to my practice, and explore how these theories interact with each other.

Mosadeghard (2003) had pointed out different styles of leadership. These styles are: autocratic, bureaucratic, laissez-faire, charismatic, democratic, participative, situational, transactional, and transformational leadership. Aioanei (2006) explained that in autocratic leadership style, organization is highly centralized. Leaders are more concerned with the tasks to be performed rather than developing relations. In this type of leadership employees are less involved and most of the decisions are made by the management. Vugt et al. (2004) stated that in autocratic leadership style, employees are not involved in decision making, it is only leaders who decide what to do and how to do. While in democratic leadership, leaders allow employees to involve in decision-making process. Their involvement can be participative or consultative. In lassies-faire style of leadership, Leaders don’t exercise their control over employees and employees have freedom that they can do what they want without any hurdle. Outstanding leadership is defined as a leadership that demands having a right man in the right place (Mumford, 2008). He pointed out that there are three types of outstanding leadership: charismatic leadership, ideological leadership and pragmatic leadership. Charismatic leaders put emphasis on goal attainment and perceive

The five keys of elements of leadership are leader-follower, influencing, organizational objective, changes and people. Each of elements works differently, the first key world leader-follower is leaders influence a behavior to the followers as well as follower also influence leaders. Second, Influencing is change role from somebody. For example in leaders and followers relationship, when leader give any inspiration toward followers and then followers change something, it is consider as influences. Third, organizational objectives are based on leaders and followers outcome from what they willing to accomplish in the future. Being a member of organization need to work together in order to produce outcomes that both leaders both followers

This paper is going to encompass different leadership theories and their relevance to my own personal personality and method of leadership. There will be information on the advantages and disadvantages of the leadership theories and information on each including examples. The purpose of this paper is to view various kinds of leadership theories and apply them to a real-life scenario.

“An organizational strategy is the sum of the actions a company intends to take to achieve long-term goals (Johnson, 2016)”. Organizational strategy is derived from a company 's mission, which tells why an organisation is in business. There are three important aspects of organizational strategy such as resources, scope and the company’s core competency (Johnson, 2016). As Johnson (2016) postulated that top management produces the larger organizational strategy, while middle and lower management adopt goals and plans to satisfy the overall strategy. Germano (2010) states that leadership has a significant impact upon organisation and its success, whereby leaders determine values, culture and employee motivation. Additionally, he further added

This chapter presents the theorists that support the literature review by showcase how important effective leadership is for an organization and the impact on employee performance and morale.

Leadership- The ability to influence a group toward the achievement of goals. Management the use of authority inherent in designated formal rank to obtain compliance from organizational members because management positions come with some degree of formally designated authority, a person may assume a leadership role simply because of the position he or she holds in the organization. But not all leaders are manager, nor, for that matter, are all managers’ leaders. Just because an organization provides its managers with certain formal rights is no assurance that they will be able to lead effectively