Theories

As the years go on, we learn more. We grow and develop new theories for all kinds of things. Leadership theories are one of those things that we can never stop learning about. The theories of leadership have changed a lot through out the years. As we learn each theory we take points from each of them to make ourselves a better leader. The two theories that we are currently studying are the Behavioral Theory and the Situational Theory. Both of these are strong theories that help leaders in this day and time everyday.

First is the Behavioral Theory. This theory states that leaders need to have certain behaviors that are not predisposed but can be learned. There are three behavioral skills that we can see in the most effective leaders; technical skills, human skills and contextual skills. Technical Skills are things you need to have, to get the job done.  Next are human skills they allow a person to be sociable and work well with people. People with good human skills are great with emotions, communication and work well with others. Last is conceptual skills, and seeing the big picture. These three skills are prominent in leaders today, but they are not the only skills that make a leader. I use human skills when leading in my everyday life. I love helping and working with others, and listening or making people happy. That’s why one day if I become a manager of a business I believe human skills would be my most positive trait.

After The Behavioral theory is The Situational Theory. The Situational Theory is all about how different situations demand different kinds of leaders and leadership skills. A well-rounded leader can adapt themselves in any situation.  When determining how to lead in a situation there are three steps. Step one is to determine the nature of the situation. Step two is to determine the competency level of the employees. Step three is to select a style that matches the need. After figuring out the situation there are four categories of leadership that you can decide from. They are directing, coaching, supporting and delegating. Since I’m only a student in college the leadership strategies that works best when teaching me to do things are coaching and supporting. I really don’t like when teachers just expect you to understand what to do, without learning about it first. I like when teachers can sit down with you, work together and coach you trough it with support and encouragement.

Every person in this world does things differently. People learn and lead in many different ways according to their strengths  they are born with, the skills they learn and the situations that they are put in.

The Great Man and Trait Theories

This week in HED we learned about two different theories. The Great Man theory and The Trait Theory. Both of these theories were created a long time ago, but are still used today. Some people agree with these theories and some people don’t.

First is the Great Man Theory. This is the belief that you are born as a leader, based on hereditary traits. People who believe in the Great Man Theory usually believe that the leaders come from royal, wealthy or political leaders.  And that in a time of great need, they will succeed in leading.  Great Man believers find that if two powerful people have children, they will follow under the Great Man theory and be great leaders. An example of this is Chelsea Clinton. Both of her parents Hilary and Bill Clinton are well-known and effective leaders in politics. The pressure that the Great Man theory puts on her is absurd. Image living Chelsea Clinton’s life and having all those expectations only because of who her parents are.

The second theory is the Trait Theory. The trait theory focuses on the traits that a leader has predisposed.  The Trait Theory believes that there are certain qualities that you have to have to be a great leader.  The five traits that they believe are the most important for a leader to have are; intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity and sociability. The trait theory was studied by McClelland and his associates, and they found that a good leader revolves around three motivators; achievement, power, and affiliation. If a person has the right amount of each of these things then they will be a perfect leader. In class we took a little quiz to see who had these exact traits. Only one girl in our class passed the test. Does that mean she’s the only good leader in the class? No. But according to the trait theory she would be the best and most effective leader.

I personally do not believe in the Great Man Theory or the Trait Theory. I believe that leadership can be learned and just because of who your parents are, or what traits people think are good, doesn’t mean that you are going to be a good or bad leader. I believe that everyone has leadership in them and that their leadership skills come out when it is most in need.  Some people, who don’t seem like leaders at first, don’t because they have never gotten their chance to shine. Yes, there are some better leaders then others. But with training and learning about leadership like we are doing in HED, anyone can grow and become an amazing leader.

The History of Leadership

There are five different eras of leadership that we learned about on Wednesday. Each era is very different from another and chronologically they changed according to what was going on in the world at the time.

 It all began with the first era, tribal leadership. The leaders in the tribal leadership era were always the most skilled people. They knew the most survival skills, where usually the biggest, and the strongest. The leader in tribal leadership didn’t just give orders and watch his people to they work. He taught his people what to do, and led them in doing it. Following the leader in tribal leadership was key to the success of the people because failure to follow usually resulted in death. 

The second era of leadership was the pre-classical era. This was the era of kings and queens. They became very interested in spirituality and death was greatly feared.  Because the king was male he had the most power and worked closely with the church to influence his people. Followers in this era listened to the king because the spiritual beliefs they were taught by the church told them they had to. It was implied that if they didn’t obey, they should fear the after life. 

The third era is the classical leadership era. In this era the leaders job was to lead and do nothing else. They demanded, controlled and made sure that things got done no matter what. This was a new era of major production that needed lots of workers to do very dangerous jobs.  The followers in this era listened because the leaders taught them that the work would make them a better person. They said that it would “build character. ”

 The fourth era was the progressive leadership era. In this era a lot of change was made. It wasn’t about the quantity, but the quality of thing being made. The leaders in this era preached to everyone that they would, “unlock the potential of everyone.” The followers in this era had value and were told they were equal to their leaders. 

The fifth and last era, is the post-progressive leadership era.  This era focused on change and making society better for all. The leaders in this era tested new ideas and had a new demographic agenda. The followers had a great relationship with their leaders, as they became partners. 

Although each of these leadership eras has passed, the world of leadership has grown and little parts of the theories in each era are still used today. The eras that I see in leadership roles the most today are the fourth and fifth. Maybe its because their the most recent but they also seem to be the most effective.  Still, little pieces of the first era of leadership are used today. In picking a leader you want someone who “has survival skills” someone who can take care of his or her people just like in the first era. As in the second era of leadership the male domination is still present today. I realize that women have much more power then they used to but I won’t be content until there is a woman president someday.  It’s amazing how much leadership has changed throughout the years. I can’t wait to see how much more it changes in my lifetime. 

The Definition of Leadership

What is the definition of leadership? The dictionary defines it as, “the ability to lead.” That does not give us a good enough definition.  An interesting thing that we learned in class last week was that there are multiple definitions of leadership and that each person needs to find a definition that fits them. Everyday leadership is changing and evolving. It seems that every decade according to the events that go on in that decade that definition changes. 

Researches have found that leadership begun as early at 2300 B.C. “Written philosophical principles emerged early, “The Egyptian hieroglyphics for leadership (sehemet), leader (sehemu), and the follower (shemsu)“(Bass 50).

J.B. Ciulla in The Nature of Leadership writes, that the definition of leadership is the 1930’s was “The process in which the activities of many are organized to move in a specific direction by one.” It’s important to remember that in the 1930’s the United States of America was going trough the great depression and The New Deal. Then we skip ahead to Cilulla’s definition of leadership in the 1990’s,  “Leadership is an influence relationship between leaders and followers who intended real change that reflect their mutual purposes.”  Notice the difference between the two definitions. One big difference is the use of the word “one” in the 1930’s compared to the words “leaders” in the 1990’s. In the 1920’s the idea of more then one leader was not possible. Now, there are millions of leaders for different reasons around the United States.

The leaders that come to mind are usual politicians, and famous people that are very charismatic. But reality is that everyone is a leader and will have to use leadership skills in some way, sometime in their life.  There are no specific ways to lead, it is taught and applied in many different ways.

A lot of the time we think about leaders as good people who have helped us and done good things for America.  What about Hitler?  Was he a good leader? Hitler was one of the best leaders in all history. He somehow convinced people that killing millions of people who didn’t look like they did was moral. He was an amazing speaker and an amazing leader. Did he do good things with his amazing leadership skills? No.

I think of myself as a leader. Through out my entire life I have grown and slowly learned how to be a good leader. I have taken on roles including the president of my Spanish class, historian of DECA, and a camp counselor. All of these roles have improves my leadership skills and made me the leader I am today. I hope from my experience in Blue Chip and in this class I can further my skills everyday by learning new strategies of leadership.  And just as the definitions of leadership will change in the years to come, so will mine. . I’m not perfect. I’m not famous, and I’m not done learning. But I love leading, being looked up to and making a difference.

-Amie Roden

Bass, Bernard. “Concepts of Leadership: The Beginnings” (1995). The Leader’s Companion. New York: Free Press pp.49-52.

Ciulla, J. B. (2004) Ethics and Leadership effectiveness. In J. Antonakis, A. T. Cianciolo, &R.J. Stenberg (Eds.), The Nature of Leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Puplications, pp 302-312. Part 1.