Leadership Challenge: Using Sources of Power Ethically - Essay Example

has emphasized the importance of individual traits in leadership as well as differences in personality that contribute to making a person a leader in specific situations but not in other situations. The renowned expert John Gardner (1989) studied many organizations and leaders and came to the conclusion that there were some qualities or attributes that did appear to mean that a leader in one situation could lead in another. These included: Physical vitality and stamina, Intelligence and action-oriented judgement, Eagerness to accept responsibility, Task competence, Understanding of followers and their needs, Skill in dealing with people, Need for achievement, Capacity to motivate people, Courage and resolution, Trustworthiness, Decisiveness, Self-confidence, Assertiveness, and Adaptability/flexibility.

The list of leadership traits listed above indicates that leaders can be expected to deal with a myriad of situations provided they exhibit some of the leadership traits described above and apply them to different situations. However, other experts have noted that the traits exhibited in a situation need not necessarily translate into effective leadership in a different situation. Thus, apart from the traits what one can perceive is the role of individual differences in leadership. This is where the personality of the leader comes into play.

An effective leader would know when to be adaptable and when to exercise firmness of judgement. Stodgill (1948) showed that differences in personality make some people leaders and the others followers. As the personality traits listed above indicate, leaders are those with some or all of the attributes and this is what that separates them from other people. In the current context, it is incumbent upon CEO’s and business leaders to apply the ethical theories of leadership to business situations.

Some of the instances include whether the employees should get the share of the profits in a greater proportion, whether the bailout