Personality and Leadership - Essay Example

Personality and LeadershipIntroductionLeadership involves the ability to maintain and build a group which performs well relative to the competition it faces. It is evaluated on the basis of performance of a group with regard to time. It mainly involves; coordinating, planning, monitoring and motivating people. Leadership is affected by the personality of people in charge (Watson, 2014). This paper reviews Hogan’s and Kaiser’s views on leadership and personality as well as the strengths and weaknesses of leadership.

Strengths Leadership solves the complex problem and issue of how to control and organize collective effort. It involves putting people in order so that they can perform a common goal or duty. Effective leadership ensures that institutions are able to achieve their goal and visions while keeping in line with their mission. Leadership ensures organization effectiveness and efficiency. Because of good leadership organization such as universities, hospitals, corporations, governments and armies are able to thrive (Armstrong, 2012).

The success in organizations as a result of leadership boosts psychological and financial well-being of people. The main objective of leadership is to ensure that people collectively achieve common goal and aspirations. It is a tool that ensures group and individuals thrive and survive. Leadership involves keeping things in order whenever they go astray. It involves motivating and encouraging people to work towards the common or set objectives. It entails maintaining and building of teams which are effective.

It does this by encouraging people to work towards a common objective and goal (Watson, 2014). It discourages selfishness and ensures collective benefits and achievements. Leadership encourages corrective responsibility of a team as people are encouraged to work as a team. It ensures people are watching each other’s back. People are able to seek guidance and assistance from others because of the team spirit caused by leadership.WeaknessesWhen misused, leadership becomes a tool of destruction.

Leaders use the authority they have to push for their personal intentions and objectives. Leadership gives few people authority who can use the chance to dictate and ruin other people’s lives. Leadership only involves pursuing the objectives and intentions of the few people who have the leadership roles. It promotes laziness as people act upon instructions and supervision. With leadership people get used to being pushed. It makes people to depend on other people’s effort in order to get something done.

Leadership minimises competition between individuals as people are encouraged to work collectively, competition is healthy for human development and enhancementHogan and kaiser’s views on personalityAccording to Kaiser and Hogan (2005), personality is basically reputation and identity of a person. It is determined by someone’s character attitude and relationship with others. Personality involves how an individual thinks and reacts to circumstances. They describe two aspects of personality which are generalizations about human nature and the systematic accounts of individual differences.

It involves the way people are truly like deep within. Personality is also acquired through life experiences and challenges. The tasks and roles people handle in life shapes their personality. They postulate that personality predicts the leadership style which in turn predicts the employee attitudes and team functioning which predict organizational performance.Hogan and kaiser’s views on leadershipKaiser and Hogan (2005), define leadership as an ability to build and maintain a group that performs well in relation to its competition.

According to Kaiser and Hogan leadership is based on virtues such as decisiveness, vision, competence and integrity. They suggest that leadership is not necessarily a talent but it can be acquired through practise and experience. They suggest a leader should be credible enough to keeping promises, being fair and just to everyone and not taking advantage of peoples situations (Weinzeimmer & McConoughey, 2012). Leadership is all about gaining peoples trust through being charismatic transparent and wise.

It also involves making timely good decisions.ConclusionGood leadership enhances effective group and team performance. It ensures success of individuals collectively. Bad leadership on the other hand works to degrade the quality and aspects of life for the people affected. Leadership mainly depends on the personality of people.References