Managerial traits and skills

MANAGERIAL TRAITS AND SKILLS Do you consider trait theories provide an important insight into leadership? Over the history of humankind leadership has been experienced, and yet even today there is lack of universal agreement on what leadership actually means. This ambiguity on leadership has led to the development of several theories that provide different concepts and aspects of leadership (Grint, 2010). The trait theory is of recent origin, emerging towards the middle of the twentieth century According to Bertocci 2009, p. 22, “ the trait theory of leadership informs us some specific and very similar personality traits can be found in many successful leaders”. The basic assumption in the trait theory is that certain characteristic that have been utilised over time by leaders to be effective can be identified, and such traits underline the behaviors of leaders, making them effective. Evidence from several studies have identified a master list of such traits and positively correlated them to effective leadership. The trait theory suffers from drawbacks in that such traits are not universally found in all leaders, and leaders that have possess some of the traits in the master list were not effective. Furthermore, the trait theory does not support variance seen in leadership based on the dynamics of characteristics, activities and goals of the followers (Van Wart, 2011). In spite of these drawbacks it is my opinion that trait theories do provide significant insight into leadership or the personal nature of leadership. From the trait theory it is possible to understand that leadership involves having vision, contagious enthusiasm, self-confidence, ability to enable others, and making things happen. It is the conjunction of these characteristics along with other factors that contributes to leadership. It is the people skills and not the position held that make for leadership. Finally, the trait theory gives us the understanding that excellence, quality, performance and productivity are the consequences of leadership (Bertocci, 2009). 2. As a researcher how would you establish if those traits are fundamental to the effectiveness of the leader? The list of traits that contribute to leadership is still growing and hence the size and clarity of the trait list makes it difficult for a researcher to establish that all the traits identified so far are fundamental to effectiveness in leadership. Yet, it is possible to first create a master list of leadership traits that point to being essential for leadership. This is the first step of the research. This research involves evaluating a wide range of leaders to identify the traits that distinguish leaders from non-leaders. This exercise is an objective exercise and avoids using the perceptions of followers or others in identifying personal characteristics that enable leadership. Assistance will be taken from the substantial research that has gone into research on leadership traits. In that sense, the first part of the research may be taken as the inductive phase employing a literature review to arrive at the master list of personal characteristics that are essential to leadership. The second phase of the research is the deductive phase and is the quantitative part of the research. In this phase each of these essential characteristics will be evaluated for its quantifiable contribution to effective leadership in terms of excellence, quality, performance and productivity. The findings of the research will give clarity on those traits in the master list that are essential to effective leadership. This method of research will be fruitful in establishing that the traits on the master list are fundamental to effective leadership (Daft & Lane, 2008). Literary References Bertocci, D. I. (2009). Leadership in Organizations: There is a Difference between Leaders and Managers. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, Inc. Daft, R. L. & Lane, P. G. (2008). The Leadership Experience. Fourth Edition. Mason, Ohio: Thomson Higher Education. Grint, K. (2010). Leadership: A Very Short Introduction. Great Clarendon Street, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Van Wart, M. (2011). Dynamics of Leadership in Public Service: Theory and Practice. Second Edition. Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe Inc.