Reference no: EM132425855
A. Summarize the results of the early 20th century leadership research (i.e. leadership qualities in Lesson Two). List and explain the qualities that were identified.
B. Which of these qualities are strongly related to a propensity for moral behavior? Which of the qualities could potentially be faked by a leader? What are the underlying implications therefrom in terms of ethics?
Lesson 2
No Such Thing as a Leadership Recipe
Formal management and leadership research began in the early 20th century. And some of the first work in this field was directed at trying to determine whether or not there were characteristics (physical and psychological) of human beings that were sufficiently correlated with successful leadership so as to infer causation (Kirkpatrick & Locke, 1991). In other words, were there any attributes that all successful leaders possessed, and which would inform a "recipe" for successful leaders?
The answer, predominantly, was no. The research was largely unsuccessful at finding any qualities which correlated perfectly with successful leadership. In terms of physical characteristics, there were none that even looked generally promising. Indeed, leaders come in all different shapes, sizes, races, ethnicities, genders, abilities, etc. However, in terms of psycho-social elements, while there were no qualities that were consistently present among all the successful leaders of recorded human history, the researchers did find eight qualities which could be loosely associated with leadership success (Judge, Bono, Ilies, & Gerhardt, 2002).
Generally speaking, successful leaders usually have high levels of energy, ambition, and drive for success. They are typically highly-motivated and very persistent with respect to their goals. Considering the level of effort which would ordinarily be necessary to achieve levels of greatness sufficient to earn one's self a prominent place in the annals of history, this quality is not surprising.
Ethical Implications of Leadership Qualities
Now that we've listed and discussed these eight leadership qualities, and explained that none are strictly dispositive insofar as success is concerned, we can examine the ethics of leaders exhibiting these attributes in different contexts.
Drive
Desire to Lead
Honesty and Integrity
Self-Confidence
Intelligence
Job-Relevant Knowledge
Extraversion
Accountability