Abraham Lincoln as a Trait, Situational, and Transformational Leader - Essay Example

Abraham Lincoln as a Trait, Situational, and Transformational Leader al Affiliation: Introduction Over the years, a number of theories focusing on leadership have been proposed by different scholars and academicians. However, many of these have focus on how individual historical personalities accomplished their missions, how they demonstrate leadership qualities and what astounding features made them effective and successful leaders in their endeavors. Therefore, because of some of the achievements such personalities achieved, theorists came up with leadership theories like the trait theory, transactional theory, situational theory, transformational theory, etc., which have found greater application especially in the fields of organizational theory and organizational behavior. Abraham Lincoln was born on 12 of Feb. 1809 in the county of Hardin, Kentucky. He moved to Illinois the west of Decatur with his family including dad before again moving to New Salem, Illinois in the year 1831 at the age of 21. He took up a job here as clerk in a general store, which acted also as meeting place, where he made a name for himself as a wrestler after he wrestled the towns bully. It is here that his popularity increased and the locals liked him. Finally, six months later he declared his interest to run for the Illinois legislature seat as an independent candidate but he lost. Thereafter he decided studied law before he was appointed post master of New Salem by then president Andrew Jackson. He later ran for the Illinois seat again and won in 1834 and won the president in 1860 (millercenter.org, n.d.). According to the millercenter.org. (n.d.), when a panel of forty nine political scientists and historians were interviewed by a Chicago Tribune rating all the past president of the U.S. using such categories as leadership qualities, crisis management/accomplishments, character/integrity, political skills and appointments, Abraham Lincoln emerged the top rated in all the categories aforementioned pegging for the question, what traits, leadership styles and accomplishes makes Abraham Lincoln the astounding president among all his colleagues? Therefore, to answer the question, we are going to look at the trait theory, situational theory, and transformational theory to analyze Abraham Lincoln’s leadership styles and traits: Part I: Trait Approach The trait theory became of interest to scholars during the 20th century with aim of determining what traits made certain personalities exceptionally great leaders (Northouse, 2013, p. 19). Moreover, the scholars conceptualized that leadership is the relationship between people in the social situation and thus, personal factors influencing leadership should be considered with regard to a given situation (p. 19). Thus, the traits a leader possess must correlate with position of leadership he/she is acting. This means that a person can be a leader in one situation and not another (p. 19). Therefore, to understand the trait of leaders, researchers came up with the trait theory. The theory holds that individuals who are born with the “right” traits are good leaders. In a study to determine the distinctive traits, a couple of researches have been conduct with the emphasis on identifying the qualities of great personalities. In 1948, Stogdill carried out a two surveys on the trait approach to determine the traits that individuals great personalities. In the first survey he identified 8 traits while he identified 10 leadership characteristics in the second survey (Northouse, 2013, p. 20-21). A similar study was done by Mann (1959) but with little emphasis on situational factors and suggested six traits that distinguish a leader from a non-leader (p. 21). The two researchers realized five main traits of an exceptional leader, which include intelligence, integrity, self-confidence, determination, and sociability (p. 23). Abraham Lincoln as a lawyer, businessperson, and politician exhibits these traits (millercenter.org, n.d.). Northouse (2013) argue that an intelligent leader is one who portrays traits such as “strong non-verbal ability, perceptional, and their reasoning appears superior” (p. 24). Abraham Lincoln is such leader. He was a well read, intelligent and an inspirational leader, which is evident through his devotion on the constitution and the rights of individuals (millercenter.org, n.d.). The second trait is his integrity nature, which is a quality of honesty and trustworthiness (p. 25). According to Northouse (2013), such leaders take responsibility of their action and this bestows confidence in their followers (p. 25). Lincoln as a politician depicted this character when he made reshuffles in his military commanders and defended their appointees from the public claiming he made the appointments honestly without prejudice (millercenter.org, n.d.). The third trait depicted by Lincoln is self-confidence; the ability to be sure of one’s proficiency and skills (Northouse, 2013, p. 24). Such ability influences others and thus, a leader feels confident that the efforts to influence others are justifiable. Lincoln with confidence, he appointed and swapped some Army commanders and he defended his decisions against public attack and defended each one of the commanders (millercenter.org, n.d.). The forth trait is determination; the ability to get the task done through initiation, diligence, control and drive (p. 25). Lincoln was proactive and had the confidence to persevere when he was faced with obstacles. The fifth trait is sociability that is “a leader’s inclination to seek social relationship” (p. 26). This is manifested through his outgoing and friendly nature, which made him always sensitive to others needs in addition to paying attention to every small detail that concerned his people. For instance, when there was public outcry regarding his new commander appointments he came out and explained his decisions (millercenter.org, n.d.). Therefore, considering the results and the evaluation of Lincoln and how his traits of confidence, integrity, and intelligence are prevalent, there is a lot to reflect in today’s professional practice. It is worth noting that the trait style can be applied in every level of the organization even although the approach does not offer an ultimate set of traits; it can offer direction as which qualities are necessary to be an effective leader. Thus, this theory is important for those desiring to taking up leadership positions as it can enable them reflect on their position and what they ought to do to strengthen it e.g. corporation managers. Further, regardless of the trait approach containing extensive research to defend the fact that leaders have exceptional traits than non-leaders, it draws some failures. It restricts definitive leadership traits to particular people. Despite several studies on the approach, most findings have been argued as ambiguous and untrue in some cases resulting to researchers generating an endless list of traits that makes the theory indecisive. Therefore, for these and many other weaknesses, we are going to use the situational theory to examine whether Lincoln demonstrated situational type of leadership. The trait theory, however, can help managers and other leaders to emulate the best traits, which are acceptable before their subordinates. Part II: Situational approach Hersey and Blanchard developed situational approach to focus on a leader (Northouse, 2013, p. 99). The theory holds that an effective leader ought to adapt his or her style to the followers ‘demands at different situations (p. 99). They further stressed that, this approach entails both directive and supportive dimensions; therefore, effective leaders are those who can recognize what followers need and adapt their own style to meet their needs (p. 99). Moreover, the theory is premised on the concept of adapting to particular situations in which a leader is found (p. 99). Therefore, according to this theory, effective leaders must or should be able to adopt to different situations e.g. adopting to the commitments and competencies of the subordinates in the case of the workplace environment (p. 99). Further, to help readers understand the situational theory, Hersey and Blanchard developed the SLII model, which is divided into developmental levels involving subordinates and leadership styles. SLII categorizes leadership styles into directive and supportive styles (p. 101). Further, the supportive styles also categorize leadership into directing style (high directive-low supportive style-SI); coaching approach (high-directive-high supportive-S2); supporting approach (high-supportive-low directive-S3) and finally, the delegating style (low supportive-low directive-S4). Abraham Lincoln understands that, situation and the change of a follower’s attitude, calls for a leader to respond in a special approach. For instance, he applied a directive approach in exercising his executive power. For example, when unrest broke in Washington, he declared Martial law and suspended the constitutional injunction of “habeas corpus” thus, allowing soldiers to arrest without specific charges by affirming personal judicial review making him the ultimate constitution interpreter; in addition to, declaring war without even summoning the Congress for the special occasion of declaring a clear demonstration of his situational style of leadership (millercenter.org, n.d.). In addition, he directed his critics and gave them the mandate to take action taking action whenever an emergency broke out hence being in tandem with also the supportive dimension. Further, during the civil war in 1862, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation that stipulated, all slaves in the US and not in the Union pact would be henceforth be free because he felt this act was justifiable as it aimed at pro-secession states, since they supported the use of freed slaves in military forces (millercenter.org, n.d.). Thus, it is evident that Lincoln’s idea was a well calculated strategic move. All these actions manifest Lincoln’s a situational leadership style because he acted or made decisions depending on the situations facing him. Through the study on situational theory, it is undeniable that the leadership role keeps on changing, and thus every leader ought to reflect on the circumstance at hand. Therefore, in any profession today, leaders must understand the outcomes as a measure of effectiveness as Lincoln employed this tact greatly. Situational theory envisages direction and support; therefore, it has immense implications on practice at any capacity in one event or the other, hence necessitating the need for directives for the success of the organization. Thus, the straightforward nature of the theory renders it practical for managers’ and other leaders to use. The theory can thus, provide guidance to CEOs of large companies in working with the board of directors. Moreover, it can also provide guidance to middle level managers and heads of departments in directing and supporting. Therefore, despite embracing extensive research on training and development, the situational approach theory contains some weaknesses. For instance, according to Northouse (2013), the situational theory is only supported by a few researchers whose main objective is to rationalize the assumptions, and suggestions set by the approach. Thus, lack of such strong substantive research raises eyebrows on its theoretical basis (p.106). In addition, the researchers of the theory have not provided any explanation on how competence and commitment are measured across different development ranks hence, such inadequacies leads to the examination of the transformational theory to help us examine Lincoln’s style of leadership. Part III: Transformational approach The approach came into existence through a classical work of political socialist James Mac Gregory Burns (Northouse, 2013, p. 186). He goes further to say that, Burns connected leadership to followership, hence stated that a leader tabs people’s intentions in order to achieve better goals for him/her and the followers (p. 186). He defines transformational leadership as when one engages others and creates a connection that fosters the leaders and the followers’ motivation and morality (p. 187). Therefore, a leader helps his/her followers reach their full potential by nurturing them to change through paying attention to their needs. Moreover, transformational leaders attempt to influence the ethics of the people or groups of people they lead by trying to influence their moral emotions and identities (p. 187). Further, Burns later published research about Charisma and describes it as a special gift that certain individuals possess that earns them capacity to do extraordinary things (p. 188). Leaders who demonstrate this approach are role models for beliefs and values they anticipate their followers to follow. Lincoln exhibited this style in motivating others by communicating through a compelling vision, appealing to the “greater good” and to others’ values. Lincoln paid meticulous interest to sharpen his speeches so they were clear, succinct, and directed toward the ordinary people. One part of Lincoln’s most famous speeches in 1863 on American’s unity in his Gettysburg address (millercenter.org, n.d.). According to the millercenter.org. (n.d.), Lincoln in his commitments to save the union and maintain democracy, he in the processes made strategic moves aimed at saving and ending slavery, which he accomplished. Moreover, he also managed to save the union and created a liberal and economically powerful Union, which he rallied behind him (millercenter.org, n.d.). These efforts by Lincoln to end slavery and free the slaves through change, is a clear manifestation that he was a transformational leader who was determined in motivating his citizens. Therefore, the transformational style as the name suggests implies an act of building or making alteration to achieve better results and such is the theme running through our analysis of the transformational theory. Thus, to a large extent, this approach emphasis on training and imparting visionary ideas implying that, if one is considering offering training then such a personality should own elaborate statements that reflects on his plans and future perceptions. That notwithstanding, the returns for this style of leadership are rewards. Therefore, I concur with the theory that Lincoln demonstrated that he was a transformational leader who managed to rally the citizenry behind him by creating a liberal and economical Union, in addition to, ending slavery in a more tactical way (millercenter.org, n.d.). Conclusively, it is significant to note that unlike trait and situational approach, transformational approach does not clearly describe the set of assumptions about how leaders should conduct themselves in a particular circumstance to be triumphant. Instead, it offers a general way of thinking about leadership those emphasis ideals, inspirational innovations and other concerns. It, therefore, requires leaders to be aware of their own relationship and the needs of their subordinate and change of dynamics in an organization. Therefore, transformational leadership can be taught at all ranks in an organization as it can absolutely contribute to better performance of an organization. It can be replicated in terms of recruitment, selection and promotion, training and development. Moreover, it is evident that Lincoln demonstrated that he is both a situational and transformational leader, in addition to, demonstrating leadership through the components of trait theory. References millercenter.org. (n.d.). American President: A Reference Resource. Retrieved from http://millercenter.org/president/lincoln/essays/biography/9 Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and practice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage book. Read More