Leadership Approaches And Application Term Papers Examples

Approaches to Trait, Skills, & Style

Leading in any organization involves influencing other people. This means that leaders are therefore individuals who know what they want to achieve, the manner that they want to achieve those objectives and the reasons why they want to achieve certain objectives. There are three approaches to leadership, and they include trait approach, style approach and style approach. In trait approach to leadership, it is argued that leaders are born rather than made. This type of approach determines the kinds of traits and abilities that a specific individual has to differentiate the individual from being an effective leader and the ineffective leaders. In the trait approach to leadership, if the individual has a certain set of leadership traits, then they are successful leaders. Some of the traits that successful leaders in this approach have include self-confidence, eagerness to accept responsibility, capacity to motivate people, trustworthiness, physical stamina and vitality, courage and resolution.
The skills approach leadership takes on a leader-centered perspective. There is a shift from the focus on the personal characteristics of the individual to the idea that abilities and skills can be learned and developed by the leaders. In this approach to leadership, the three skill approach is vital in producing an effective leader. Skill approach to leadership is based on three basic personal skills that include conceptual, human and technical skills. In the technical skill, the leader should have knowledge of being proficient in a specific field meaning that the leaders can have specified competencies, the capability to use specified tools and techniques and equally important analytical skills. In terms of the human knowledge, the leaders should be knowledgeable on how to work with other people. This means that the leaders have to be aware of their own perspective on leadership and the perspectives of other individuals in the organization. This can be done through the creation of an atmosphere in the workplace where other staff members in the organization feel they are involved and that they can have an impact on the decisions made in the firm. In terms of the conceptual; skills, the leaders should have the ability to do mental work of shaping the meaning of the policies of the organization.
In the styles approach to leadership, the approach is based on what the leaders do rather than who the leaders are. This approach suggests that leaders are engaged in two primary types of behaviors which include the relationship behaviors and the task behaviors. The style approach to leadership analyzes how the leaders behave in certain circumstances. The individuals who are being led also play a major role in the success the leadership approach. In some cases, the leader gives authoritative instructions to his followers while demanding compliance from them. The task-oriented behaviors tend to facilitate objective accomplishment and thus help group members to attain their goals. On the other hand, the relationship-oriented behaviors enable the staff of any organization to feel comfortable with themselves whether they are with each other or in the circumstances that they find themselves in. the manner in which the leader combines the two factors is vital to the success of the organization.
Carol’s leadership traits can be described as a trait approach to leadership. The main idea is that Carol had not received any form of training before she took over from her deceased husband. The leadership traits that Carol depict are those that are of an individual who inborn. Additionally, there were traits that Carol had that can be considered as aspects that are in the trait approach model. Carol had self-confidence in that she believed that she could run the business even without experience. Another aspect that can be found in carols management style is the resilience and personal stamina in that she was suffering from cancer, and yet she had the will to continue.
The traits that Carol had played a vital role in the success of the business. Her resilience towards adversities that she faced ensured that she made the business successful. Her management skills of her workers meant that she could treat them as one of her own, and thus the firm became almost like a family business. All of the workers felt that they had a responsibility to guarantee the success of the business.
In another business context, carol would be a successful leader. This could be depicted by the fact that her natural instinct enabled her to make the right decisions even if she did not have the required experience. Additionally, her resilience towards adversity is what is considered the core value of the successful leaders. By not giving up on her business, carol guaranteed that she had the vision to compete with the more established businesses and pass on the mantle to her sons. This trait gives Carol the ability to be successful in any other business context.
Based on the skills approach to leadership, Lieutenant Colonel Adams was not able to exercise successful leadership skills. Even though he had drawn up a viable option in terms of how the conversion of the military base could be done, he did not make plans or contingencies of the occurrence of the unexpected. The challenges that the colonel faced were not very difficult and had he exercised enough human management skills then the problem could have been averted. The colonel did not implement the three skill approach. He was centered on how to achieve the goals set by the government while ignoring the human skill management.
In terms of dealing with the additional tasks that were provided to the colonel, there was a problem that had to be sorted out. The colonel did not have the mental capability to resolve the conceptual problems that he faced. In the initial stages, he dealt with the problems fairly but when the challenges became more difficult, he continued addressing the objectives of the mission while forgetting the bigger picture that was the human skill management.
If I was the coach to Adams, most of the advice that I would impart to him would be about the balancing of the three task skill approach. The colonel should not only be focused on achieving the goals that have been brought to him but should also consider the impacts of the choices that he makes. The other members of the military base such as the civilians and the military personnel had to work extra hours or on weekends due to the mistakes that the colonel did not foresee. In order to improve his leadership, and then the colonel should first consider the opinions of other people before making the decisions that he made.