Good and Bad Leadership Traits - Research Paper Example

Methodology The research methodology for this study was interviews. Successful leaders from popular companies were interviewed and their responses recorded. The researcher identified three successful leaders to be interviewed. Since they did not want to be identified by names and the companies they manage for security reasons, the researcher assigned them code numbers. These leaders were SL1, SL2 and SL3. SL stood for successful leader. The time horizon the researcher adopted was cross-sectional research technique. Cross-sectional study was selected because the researcher carried out the study over a short period of time. The research choice for this study was qualitative research. Qualitative data methodology involves exploring issues, understanding phenomena, and finding answers to questions by analyzing and making sense of unstructured data (Jha 14). According to Kumar, the most common approach for collecting qualitative data include focus groups, in-depth interviews, evaluation and content analysis. The research strategy for this study was interviews for successful leaders (34). The researcher applied the interpretivism approach for this study. In the field of management research, interpretivism is the social constructionism that focuses on beliefs and values for giving justification of the research problem (Berg & Lune 22). The researcher took into consideration the ethical responsibility required in the research profession. The ethical considerations that the researcher was required to consider included data protection, informed consent, avoiding invasion of privacy and confidentiality, desisting from deception of respondents and protection of respondents from harm. The researcher applied systematic random sampling to carry out this study. Systematic random sampling was beneficial as they helped to avoid biasness in the research results. The sampling technique was also advantageous because it was less costly and less time consuming for the researcher than focusing on the whole population. Since the aim of the researcher was to identify advantages and disadvantages of various leadership traits, there was need to prepare a list of successful leaders from the corporation population. From the list, the researcher selected the 1st, 3rd, 6th, 9th, and 12th respondents. Prior to the research, the researcher requested the selected participants to accept whether they were willing to participate in the study. Initially, the researcher had identified five respondents, but two of them declined participation due to unavoidable circumstances. The three participants agreed with the researcher on the interview dates and venues. Data analysis involved use of a table. The researcher inserted a table consisting of items and leaders’ responses; their responses were inserted in that table for easy analysis. Demographic Statistics of the Respondents SL1 SL2 SL3 Gender Female Male Female Age 34 years 43 years 51 years Race Indian American Latin American Occupation Branch Manager in a city bank Executive director of an MNC HRM in own sole proprietorship Interview Questions Data collection involved use of 10 items as shown below: Item 1: What is your understanding of leadership traits? Item 2: Why do you think today’s leadership is different from what it was 10 years ago? Item 3: What are the five major leadership traits you know are crucial for successful leaders? Item 4: Do you consider the company you lead well-managed or poorly managed? Item 5: You as a successful leader, what are the top three leadership traits you possess that make you successful? Item 6: What do you use to identify leadership without good leadership traits? Item 7: What ways can you propose to leaders for developing effective leadership traits? Item 8: Which bad leadership traits would you strive to change among your fellow leaders? Item 9: Do circumstances make you change your leadership traits? Item10: Why could you encourage other leaders to adopt effective leadership traits? Analysis SL 1 SL 2 SL 3 Item 1 I think leadership traits are an integrated pattern of personal qualities that make a leader effective across a variety of group and organizational situations. Leadership traits, I believe, are qualities or characteristics that an effective leader has that help them perform their duties with diligence. Traits are just characteristics. In the context of leadership, they are qualities or features required by a leader for performance. Item 2 The business world is characterized by complexities and dynamisms. There is need to accept change in order to manage businesses according to time and circumstances. Business situations keep on changing across time and place. Leadership approaches and traits that leaders used some years ago are no longer applicable in the digital era. I think the current workplace has fast pace of change and increased demands. Leading has moved beyond just commanding the troops to working with people and teams. Item 3 I think successful leaders should be inspirational to their followers, have proper communication skills, be enthusiastic, have a clear vision of the organization, and be result-oriented. Among the leadership traits that I believe in include visionary, trustworthy, effective decision-maker, motivational, and accepting responsibility. A leader should not have empathy, not resist change, avoid wish-washy and have humanity in addition to being respectful, passionate and self-confidence. Item 4 If my organization was poorly managed, we would not have come this far. Regardless of some hurdles here and there, my organization is well-managed. I am a successful leader; hence, my organization is well-managed. Item 5 I am good decision-maker, visionary, and self-confidence. I believe in good decision-making, have a clear vision, and responsible. I always emphasize flexibility, respect for humanity and self-confidence. Item 6 The best way I can identify bad leaders is by looking at their character traits. For example, leaders without clear and achievable vision, those who lack integrity, poor decision-makers, and even those who do not want to learn. When I want to find bad leaders, I just look for someone who does not know how to communicate and make people united. A bad leader cannot be trusted and do not have self-confidence. I have had bad experience with ineffective leaders. These are leaders are callous, rigid, resistance to change, lack customer focus, and not committed to the success of the entire organization. Item 7 People who want to become effective leaders should show enthusiasm in leadership, learn new skills through formal education or experience, and introduce new improvements while doing away with traditional ways of operations. I think effective leadership is created through both theory and practice. Anticipating leaders should attend schooling and then practice leadership in real contexts. Good leaders take responsibility and work extra harder than other members of the organization. Through practicing good leadership traits, a leader has the potential of becoming an effective leader. Item 8 Obviously, I would discourage bad traits such as dishonesty, aggressiveness, authoritative leadership, poor decision-making and lack of self-confidence. Bad leadership traits such as poor decision-making, lack of vision, lack of flexibility and irresponsibility would be my point of focus. I discourage dogma, aggression, lack of vision, fear, and lack of respect for humanity. These bad and others make organizations to fail. Item 9 Yes, circumstances can sometimes determine the trait applied to handle a situation. For example, dishonesty is not always bad when used well because it can release a leader from the worst form of liability. The prevailing circumstances determine the leadership qualities applied. Good leaders are flexible and should change their traits to rhyme with the prevailing conditions. Regardless of the prevailing circumstances, I usually maintain my leadership qualities. There is no condition that can make me change my traits because I am consistent. Item 10 Good leadership qualities ensure that organizations are streamlined both in the short-run and in the long-run. There are minimal disagreements when leaders are using good leadership traits. I believe that good leadership traits enable leaders to have influence on both individual and group performance. Quality leadership also lead to satisfaction of followers and overall effectiveness. Good leadership traits such as flexibility enable the organization to change to better ways of doing things. Good leadership traits motivate workers and ensure respect for humanity among the workers Confident leaders take risks and face issues without fear. Discussion Adopting good leadership traits constitute the primary goal of organizations of the 21st century. There is an urgent need to develop leaders with good leadership traits and discourage bad traits from organizational contexts. Qualitative research carried out by interviewing three successful leaders showed the critical necessity of adopting good leadership traits and striving to eliminate bad leadership traits. The researcher had planned to interview five successful leaders; however, only three respondents were available. Good leadership qualities lead to effective performance of organizations. Good leadership qualities equip leaders with ability to influence action. When employees are motivated, they work extra harder than usual in order to contribute towards the achievement of both collective and individual goals (Boa 7). Bad leadership qualities, on the other hand, minimize the leader’s influence on people and make them ineffective in organizational management. Northouse asserts that people cannot work effectively in organizations characterized by fear, dogmatism, aggression, subjectivity, and inflexibility because these bad traits cause tension and negative work relationships in organizations (34). These bad traits cause poor working relationships among the organizational members. Good decision-making and visionary are the fundamental leadership qualities in the current world. Decisions made determine the route an organization takes while vision and mission guide the organization in the route it takes. This is why most of the interviewees identified decision-making and visionary as the best leadership traits that have enhanced their success. An effective leader should posses all other leadership qualities such as trustworthy, supportive, unity, honesty, integrity, sensitivity to others’ feelings, fairness, self-confidence, and empathy. These qualities, according to the research findings, streamline organizational administration and enhance motivation with consequent increase in both individual and organizational performance. Conclusion and Recommendations Leadership without good leadership qualities minimizes the chances of organizational success and even survival. Good leadership qualities have the potential for enhancing motivation and inspiration among the workers, leading to increased productivity and improved general performance of the organization (Yukl 17). Good leadership qualities include flexibility, respect for humanity, visionary, trustworthy, effective decision-maker, motivational, accepting responsibility, respectful, passionate and self-confidence (Farrell n.p). Bad leadership traits, on the other hand, include dishonesty, aggressiveness, authoritative leadership, poor decision-making, lack of self-confidence, lack of vision, lack of flexibility, irresponsibility, dogma, aggression, and lack of respect for humanity. It is sometimes critical to change leadership traits according to circumstances in order to handle situations effectively. Citing the advantages of good leadership traits and disadvantages of bad leadership traits, leaders should adopt good leadership traits in order to maximize on the benefits associated with good leadership traits. Leaders should strive to do away with bad leadership traits because they cause strained relationships, conflicts and agony in organizations. Future leaders should also equip themselves with both theoretical and practical knowledge for them to gain knowledge and skills vital for their leadership endeavors. Organizations should also plan and implement seminars, workshops and conferences discussing matters related to leadership in order to enhance the understanding of leaders about effective ways of leading their organizations. Works Cited Berg, Bruce L, and Howard Lune. Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences. Harlow, Essex, England: Pearson Education, 2014. Print. Boa, Kenneth. Perfect Leader: Practicing the Leadership Traits of God. Eugene: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2012. Print. Farrell, Rachel. "23 Traits of Good Leaders." CNN. Cable News Network, 03 Aug. 2011. Web. 23 Feb. 2015. . Jha, N K. Research Methodology. Chandigarh: Abhishek Publications, 2008. Print. Kumar, Ranjit. Research Methodology: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners. London: SAGE, 2005. Print. Northouse, Peter G. Introduction to Leadership: Concepts and Practice. Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE Publications, 2012. Print. Yukl, Gary A. Leadership in Organizations. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall, 2010. 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