02 Trait Approach

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Chapter 2 - Trait Approach

Leadership

Northouse, 4th edition

Read: Chapter 3 (Jon Pierce)



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Great Person Theories

Historical Shifts in Trait Perspective

What Traits Differentiate Leaders

From Nonleaders? How Does the Trait Approach Work?

Overview


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Great Person Theories

Great Man Theories

(early 1900s)

Focused on identifying

innate qualities andcharacteristics possessed

by great social, political, &

military leaders

Trai t App roach:one of the first systematic

attempts to study leadership


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Great Man

Theories

Early 1900s

Research focused

on individual

characteristicsthat universally

differentiated

leaders

from nonleaders

Traits Interacting

With Situational

Demands on Leaders

1930-50s

Landmark Stogdill (1948)

study - analyzed and

synthesized 124 trait studies- Leadership

reconceptualized

as a relationship between

people in a social situation

Mann (1959) reviewed 1,400

findings of personality and

leadership in small groups- Less emphasis on situations

- Suggested personality traits

could be used to discriminate

leaders from nonleaders

Revival of Critical Role of

Traits in Leader

Effectiveness

Stogdill (1974)

- Analyzed 163 new studies

with 1948 study findings- Validated original study

- 10 characteristics

positively identified with

leadership

Lord, DeVader, &

Alliger (1986) meta-analysis

- Personality traits can beused to differentiate

leaders/nonleaders

Kirkpatrick & Locke (1991)

- 6 traits make up the

Right Stuff for leaders

Historical Shifts in Trait Perspective1970s - Early 90s

Innate Qualities

Situations

Personality / Behaviors

Today

Intelligence

Self-Confidence

Determination Integrity

Sociability

5 Major

Leadership

Traits


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Studies o f Leadership Trai ts and Character ist ics

Leadership Traits


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Major Leadership Traits

IntelligenceIntellectual ability includingverbal, perceptual, and reasoning capabilities

Self-Confidence Ability to be certainabout ones competencies and skills

DeterminationThe desire to get the jobdone (i.e., initiative, persistence, dominance,

drive)

Traits to possess or cultivate if one seeks to be

perceived by others as a leader:


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Major Leadership Traits

Integrity The quality of honesty andtrustworthiness

SociabilityLeaders inclination to seek

out pleasant social relationships

Traits to possess or cultivate if one seeks to be

perceived by others as a leader:


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B ig Five Personal i ty Facto rs

5-Factor Personality Model& Leadership


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5-Factor Personality Model & Leadership

Resultsa strong relationship between

personality traits and leadership Extraversion factor most strongly associated with

leadership

Most important trait of of effective leaders

Conscientiousness2nd most related factor Neuroticism & Openness next most related

Neuroticism negatively associated to leadership

Agreeablenessonly weakly related to leadership

Big Five & LeadershipStudy using meta-analysis (Judge et al, 2002)


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Emotional Intelligence& Leadership

people who are

more sensitive totheir emotions &

their impact on

others will be

more effective

leaders

Underlying PremiseDefinition

Ability to perceive and:

apply emotions to lifes

tasks reason/understand

emotions

express emotions

use emotions tofacilitate thinking

manage emotionswithin oneself &relationships


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How Does the TraitApproach Work?

Focus of Trait Approach

Strengths

Criticisms

Application


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Focus of Trait Approach

Focuses

exclusivelyon

leader

What traits

leaders exhibit

Who has thesetraits

Organizations use

personality assessments to

find Right people Assumpt ion- will increase

organizational effectiveness

Specify characteristics/traits

for specific positions Personality assessment

measures for fit

Instruments: Myers Briggs

Leader PersonalityAssessments


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Strengths

Intuitively appealing

Perception that

leaders are different in

that they possess

special traits

People need to view

leaders as gifted

Credibi l i tydue to acentury of research

support

Highlights leadership

componentin the

leadership process

Deeper level

understanding of how

leader/personality

related to leadership

processProvides benchmarks

for what to look for in a

leader


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Criticisms

Fails to del imi ta

definitive list of

leadership traits Endless lists have

emerged

Doesnt take into

account si tuat ional

effects

Leaders in one situation

may not be leaders in

another situation

List of most important

leadership traits is

highly subject ive

Much subjective experience &

observations serve as basis

for identified leadership traits

Research fails to look at

traits in relationship toleadership outcomes

Not useful fort rain ing &

development


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Application

Provides direction as towhich traits are

good to have if one aspires to a

leadership position

Through various tests and questionnaires,individuals can determine whether they

have the select leadership traits and can

pinpoint their strengths and weaknesses

Can be used by managers to assesswhere they stand within their organization

and what is needed to strengthen their

position

Leadership

TraitsIntelligence

Self-Confidence Determination

Integrity

Sociability

Documents

02 Trait Approach