Leadership Traits in The Apprentice, Season 1
Analysis by S. al Matwi, S. Arora, and MK Rahman.
Synopsis.Prior to the finale of season one of the show, “The Apprentice”, the remaining four candidates of the initially selected sixteen, Bill, Kwame, Amy and Nick, take part in a series of round robin, one-on-one interviews with Trump's trusted advisory board. Based on their feedback, Trump fires Nick and Amy leaving Bill and Kwame to compete for the title of becoming Trump’s first apprentice. The following day, Kwame and Bill are given their final respective tasks. Bill is made in charge of running a golf tournament whereas Kwame is assigned to organizing the Jessica Simpson concert. Trump gives them the authority to handpick a team made up of previously fired candidates to aid them in their final tasks on the show. In the beginning of the finale, both Kwame and Bill find themselves over their head as they run into problems and face complications. Jessica Simpson is nowhere to be found and Bill is given a hard time about storage facilities by the golf course officials. Furthermore, Bill also has a hard time locating a banner of one of the major sponsors of the tournament and at Kwame’s end; the breakfast with the star turns out disastrous. Also the frost delay situation, and Omarosa’s persistent lies and denial of responsibilities do not help their cases. However, both Bill and Kwame, come out strong in the end accomplishing their designated tasks. After severe critiques and many valid arguments, Trump finally makes his decision and says "You're Hired" to Bill.
Theory. Leadership is defined as an attempt to use influence to motivate individuals to accomplish some goals . Leaders can be identified by specific traits (physical, mental, personality) associated with leadership success and leader effectiveness. These traits, primarily in terms of leadership abilities, personality traits and motivation, are primary tools of defining actions of effective leaders. Abilities: Possession of certain technical, interpersonal skills, and supervisory abilities enabling effective job performance. They can include entrepreneurial skills as an attribution of cognitive skills. Personality traits: Effective leaders portray high levels of alertness, energy level, stress tolerance, emotional maturity, personal integrity etc. to get jobs done. Motivation: Effective leaders constructively use power within the system to accomplish socially desirable outcomes. Their actions are driven by a relatively high need for achievement, which distinguishes them from their subordinates . These above mentioned traits or characteristics determine the level of a person’s leadership potential and efficacy. Leadership behavior analyses two important foci; what leaders do in relation to accomplishing the task and to maintaining the effort of people doing the task . There are two schools of thought for assessing leadership behavior; job-centered leadership and employee-centered leadership. The former defines a leadership style where people closely supervise and observe the work of their subordinates, which can be associated with a micro-managerial approach to effective leadership. The latter school of thought, however, relates to people only supervising the work of others generally, and permitting employees/ subordinates to experience autonomy and support .
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