Trait theory
Part 1
Steve Jobs Leadership style
The trait theory says that people are born with certain traits that make them leaders or followers. Some of the typical characteristics include; intelligence, creativity, confidence, and the ability to motivate and influence others. The attribute-based approach states that effective leaders get based on the right stuff, which is a motive personality trait and cognitive sectors. This paper analyses the leadership practice in different organizations and how the theory fits the leadership style portrayed by Steve Jobs, the leader at Apple
One of the greatest achievements of Steve Jobs was the revolution of personal computers. In the year 1977, Steve Jobs witnessed the mass production of personal computers. Steve Jobs also introduced the mouse and graphical user interface to the global market. These were a result of Steve’s job invention. The other achievement of Steve Jobs is the innovation of music players to the market and revolution of the sale of music. He geared the selling of music by introducing I tune store, which offered an easy and affordable way of downloading songs to computers and phones.
There are various traits that Steve job portray in his leadership practice. Some of these traits include Independent thinking and motivation. An independent thinker is likely to ignore assumptions and make decisions based on his own beliefs rather than those ruled that have been defined by others. For example, even though computers existed even before his invention, Steve Jobs acted upon his ideas to establish personal computers. Also, Steve Jobs is a motivator and an influencer. Motivation can be internal or external, and its primary goal is to achieve goals. Steve Jobs is known for motivating his employees and for making them feel appreciated, especially after delivering an excellent job. For example, An engineer who worked at Apple company confessed that working with Steve job was enjoyable because of the momentum that the company had and the passion behind the company’s products. All this was a result of Steve job influence over his employees.
Among the cognitive traits that most leaders possess, Steve Job had two outstanding cognitive characteristics; creativity and analytical intelligence. For example, Steve Jobs realized that people struggled to purchase music. Out of his creativity, he created I tunes. An online platform that allows people to download music at ease. The product of his creativity is used eve in the current world. Also, Steve Jobs is an analytical thinker. His innovation was not only made to serve the present need but also to help people in the future. For example, even though personal computers got invented over 20 years ago, they are still used by many in the current world.
Part 2
charisma and transformational qualities of Steve Jobs
Charisma refers to a divine gift upon someone. It is a positive quality that makes people want to be led by that particular leader. For example, Steve Jobs referred to an as charismatic leader, and that is why many employees love working with him. Charismatic leaders like Steve Jobs do not influence their followers using their official position as leaders, but they change their followers using their vision, compassion, and empowerment.
Steve Jobs referred to as a charismatic leader because of his ability to connect with people from different cultural backgrounds during his speeches. He is tactful in social situations. Many people are attracted to him and like following him. For example, when he was introducing an I pad to the global market, he did that by sitting on a couch at home, creating a scene that made people imagine using his product. Steve Job connects to people easily through his communication skills. Steve job possesses confidence, and it is the reason why he addresses people by relating to them.
Being an advisor to steve job, I would advise him to develop his ability to inspire trust and test employees. Because if Steve Jobs could nature his employees in skills by training them and naturing their creative talent, It will po9rir6o7’ould be easy to trust the employees with some crucial duties in the company, which in turn will see the company expand faster. Also, the ability to test employees would help Steve job ensure continuous production in his company by providing that skilled employees with capacity held the critical positions. If Steve job employers his employees entirely and trust them, then Apple is likely to grow fast in the global market.
Steve does not qualify to be called a transformational leader because he was not concerned with the ethical impact he had on others. Again, Steve Job knew to confront his employees anyhow and call them names. For example, there is a day he fired his employee without notice and refused to her 2 weeks’ severance pay. However, Steve Jobs referred to as a transactional leader. Transactional leaders engage their followers in some exchange relationship to get their needs met while transformational serve to change the status quo of their followers by considering their values.
Part 3
behaviors and styles of Steve Jobs
Leadership theories describe effective leadership as one that allows leaders to utilize personal traits in different situations to build effective relationships with their followers. Successful leaders such as Steve Jobs have expressed different leadership styles in their era, which has attributed to the success of Apple company. The various behavioral leadership styles get practiced by leaders based on the needs of the organization and its structure.
In relationship-oriented behavior, steve Job possesses Steve job personalized leadership. In personalized leadership and communication skills. In personalized leadership, one serves their interest and has minor restrictions on the use of power. Steve Jobs did not motivate his employees by telling them theory but also by putting force on them. It is the reason Steve described as a manipulative leader. For example, Steve Jobs got spotted saying that his job was not to be easy on people but to make them better. Steve Jobs expects his employees to follow him and be obedient to him. Much of these expectations point at the self-interest of seeing his interest and vision materialize. However, In as much as Steve jobs put pressure on his employees, he uses his communication skills to attract their attention and normalize their working relationship
In task-oriented behavior, Steve job possess creativity and charisma behavior. He used his creative ability to inspire his employees towards innovation. It is the reason Steve Jobs was able to create a new revolution in digital; technology. He nurtured his employees to develop new ideas, and besides that, Steve Jobs was in the front line innovating new ideas and innovating them to produce valuable products. Apple workers were more engaged and performed best because they wanted to satisfy the perfection and the ambitions that their key leader Steve Job had. Steve used his charisma to motivate and influence his employees. The success of Apple Company was because of Steve Jobs’s coaching traits and his communication skills while encouraging employees. Steve Jobs is a perfectionist who was ambitious in his work. For example, most of the employees claim that steve jobs were a perfectionist who was zealous in achieving his vision.
Steve jobs practice an autocratic leadership style. He admits that more tha 100 employees in his company report to him directly. Meaning, he is the type of a leader that wants to hold everything in the company in his hands. An autocratic leader like Steve Jobs is the leader that tells people what to do while a participative leader wants to hear the opinion of everyone before making a decision. Rumors have it that Steve Job is a rude participant while in meetings and extremely impatient. Such kind of behavior from a leader does not encourage people to air their opinions.