LeadershipLeadershipChapter 2 - Trait Approach

OverviewOverview Great Person Theories Historical Shifts in Trait Perspective What Traits Differentiate Leaders From Nonleaders? How Does the Trait Approach Work?

Great Person TheoriesGreat Person Theories

“Great Man” Theories (early 1900s)◦Focused on identifying

inate qualities and characteristics possessed by great social, political, & military leaders

Trait Approach: one of the first systematicattempts to study leadership

Great ManTheories

Early 1900s

•Research focused on individual characteristics that 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 LeaderEffectiveness

• 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 be used to differentiate leaders/nonleaders

• Kirkpatrick & Locke (1991) - 6 traits make up the “Right Stuff” for leaders

Historical Shifts in Trait PerspectiveHistorical Shifts in Trait Perspective1970’s - Early 90s

Innate Qualities

Situations

Personality / Behaviors

Today

• Intelligence• Self-Confidence• Determination• Integrity• Sociability

5 MajorLeadership

Traits

Studies of Leadership Traits and Characteristics

Leadership TraitsLeadership Traits

Major Leadership TraitsMajor Leadership Traits

Intelligence – Intellectual ability including verbal, perceptual, and reasoning capabilities

Self-Confidence – Ability to be certain about one’s competencies and skills

Determination – The desire to get the job done (i.e., initiative, persistence, dominance, drive)

Traits to possess or cultivate if one seeks to be perceived by others as a leader:

Major Leadership TraitsMajor Leadership Traits

Integrity – The quality of honesty and trustworthiness

Sociability – Leader’s inclination to seek out pleasant social relationships

Traits to possess or cultivate if one seeks to be perceived by others as a leader:

Big Five Personality Factors

5-Factor Personality Model 5-Factor Personality Model & Leadership & Leadership

5-Factor Personality Model & Leadership5-Factor Personality Model & Leadership

Results – a strong relationship between personality traits and leadership

Extraversion – factor most strongly associated with leadership◦ Most important trait of effective leaders

Conscientiousness – 2nd most related factor Neuroticism & Openness – next most related

◦ Neuroticism negatively associated to leadership Agreeableness – only weakly related to

leadership

Big Five & Leadership

Study using meta-analysis (Judge et al, 2002)

Emotional Intelligence Emotional Intelligence & Leadership & Leadership

people who are more sensitive to their emotions & their impact on others will be more effective leaders

Underlying Premise Definition Ability to perceive and:

– apply emotions to life’s tasks

– reason/understand emotions

– express emotions– use emotions to

facilitate thinking– manage emotions

within oneself & relationships

How Does the Trait How Does the Trait Approach Work?Approach Work?

Focus of Trait Approach Strengths Criticisms Application

Focus of Trait ApproachFocus of Trait Approach

Focuses exclusively on leader◦What traits leaders exhibit

◦Who has these traits

Organizations use personality assessments to find “Right” people◦Assumption - will increase

organizational effectiveness◦Specify characteristics/traits

for specific positions Personality assessment

measures for “fit” Instruments: LTQ, Myers

Briggs

LeaderLeader PersonalityAssessmentsPersonality

Assessments

StrengthsStrengthsIntuitively appealing

◦Perception that leaders are different in that they possess special traits

◦People “need” to view leaders as gifted

Credibility due to a century of research support

Highlights leadership component in the leadership process◦Deeper level

understanding of how leader/personality related to leadership process

Provides benchmarks for what to look for in a leader

CriticismsCriticisms

Fails to delimit a definitive list of leadership traits◦ Endless lists have

emerged

Doesn’t take into account situational effects◦ Leaders in one

situation may not be leaders in another situation

List of most important leadership traits is highly subjective◦ Much subjective experience

& observations serve as basis for identified leadership traits

Research fails to look at traits in relationship to leadership outcomes

Not useful for training & development

ApplicationApplication

Provides direction as to which 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 assess where they stand within their organization and what is needed to strengthen their position

Leadership Leadership TraitsTraits• IntelligenceIntelligence• Self-ConfidenceSelf-Confidence• DeterminationDetermination• IntegrityIntegrity• SociabilitySociability

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The Romance of LeadershipThe Romance of Leadership

Chicken or Egg…Good leadership, or good performance?

What factors go in to corporate performance?

How much of a company’s success should be attributed to the CEO?

How much IS attributed to the CEO?

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The Romance of LeadershipThe Romance of LeadershipA Famous Philosopher Once Said: “Quarterbacks

get more credit than they deserve but they get more blame than they deserve too.”

(Peyton Manning after winning the Super Bowl over the Chicago Bears)

How does this effect the trait approach to leadership?

Romantic Attributions◦In love: no flaws◦After Break up: many flaws

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Implicit Leadership TheoriesImplicit Leadership Theories

Take a moment and think about the ideal/perfect/prototype leader. Get a picture of this leader in your mind.

Describe this leaderThis is your implicit leadership theoryQuality of leadership will be judged

according to this standard

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Implicit Leadership TheoriesImplicit Leadership Theories

Where did this prototype leader come from?

What about the role of culture in forming this concept?

What does this mean for evaluating the quality of leadership?