The Trait approach

The Trait Approach

 

First systematic ways to study leadership in the 20th century. Focused on what made people "great leaders". Identified innate characteristics for the "Great Man" theories such as Lincoln, Gandhi, etc. Research focused on determining the traits that people are born with (Bass,1990; Jago,1982)

 

During the Mid 20th century, the theory was challenged (Stogdill,1948) that "no consistent set of traits differentiated leaders from non-leaders." An individual who was a leader in one situation might not have been a leader in another situation. It was re-conceptualized as a relationship between people as opposed to a set of traits (Stogdill, 1948).

 

·         The trait approach emphasizes the personality of the leader.

·         In recent years, there has been a renewed interest. Bryman, 1992; Lord DeVader and Alliger 1986 found that personality traits were strongly associated with individuals perceptions of leadership.

·         Locke and Kirkpatrick 1991, claimed that effective leaders are actually distinct types of people in several key respects.

·         It started with a focus on the traits, shifted to focus on situations, then shifted back to traits.

·         A good overview was found in 2 surveys

o    Stogdill, 1948 survey: Analyzed 124 traits. An individual does NOT become a leader solely based on possessing these traits. The traits must be relevant to the situation in which the leader is functioning. The survey argued that leadership was determined by the situational factor.

·         The following differentiated a leader from other individuals.

§  Intelligence

§  Alertness

§  Insight

§  Responsibility

§  Initiative

§  Persistence

§  Self confidence

§  Sociability

o    Stogdill, 1974 survey: Analyzed 163 traits. This survey was more balanced and argued that that both Personality and Situational factors were equal determinants of leadership.

·         The following differentiated a leader from other individuals.

§  Drive for responsibility and task completion.

§  Vigor and persistent pursuit of goals.

§  Venturesomeness and originality in problem solving.

§  Drive to exercise initiative in social situations.

§  Self confidence and sense of personal identity.

§  Willingness to accept consequences of decision and action.

§  Readiness to absorb interpersonal stress.

§  Willingness to tolerate frustration and delay.

§  Ability to influence other persons' behavior

§  Capacity to structure social interactions systems to the purpose oat hand.

·         Mann, 1959 conducted similar study which examined 1400 traits. He identified leaders as having strength in the following: Intelligence, Masculinity, Adjustment, Dominance, Extroversion, and conservatism.

·         Lord et al, 1986 reassessed Mann findings and used the meta-analysis procedure.

·         Locke and Kirkpatrick, 1991 contended that "Leaders are not like other people". They postulated that leaders differ from non-leaders in 6 traits including: Drive, desire to lead, honesty, integrity, self-confidence, cognitive ability, and knowledge of the business.

·         The trait approach and a century of research gives the would-be leaders a set of traits that they can develop.

 

Stogdill (1948)	Mann (1959)	Stogdill (1974)	Lord, DeVader and Allinger (1986)	Kirkpatrick and Locke (1991)
Intelligence Alertness Responsibility Initiative Persistence Self-confidence Sociability	Intelligence Masculinity Adjustment Dominance Extroversion Conservatism	Achievement Persistence Insight Initiative Self-confidence Responsibility Cooperativeness Tolerance Influence Sociability	Intelligence Masculinity Dominance	Drive Motivation Integrity Confidence Cognitive ability Task knowledge

 

·         The traits that are central to this list are:

o    Intelligence

·         Strong verbal ability, perceptual ability, and reasoning. Research indicates that a leader's intellectual ability should not vary too much from the that of his subordinates. In cases where there is a significant difference, it can be counter productive.

o    Self confidence

·         Ability to be certain about one's competencies and skills. It includes self esteem, self assurance and belief that one can make a difference. This is very important for ability to influence others.

o    Determination

·         Desire to get the job done. It includes initiative, persistence, dominance, and drive. Leaders exhibiting this are proactive, and have the capacity to persevere against obstacles.

o    Integrity

·         Honesty and trustworthiness. Adhere to a strong set of principles and take responsibility for their actions. Leaders with integrity inspire confidence in others. They do what they say there are going to do. They are dependable, loyal, and not deceptive.

o    Sociability

·         This is leader's inclination to seek out pleasant social relationships. Friendly, outgoing, courteous, tactful, and diplomatic. They are sensitive to others' needs, show concern, and well being.

 

How does the trait approach work?

The trait approach focuses exclusively on the leader and not the followers. It suggests that organizations will work better if people in managerial positions have designated leadership profiles. Selecting the "right" people will increase organizational effectiveness. It is used for personal awareness and development. When manager analyze their traits, they gain insight into their strengths and weaknesses. It allows leaders to get an understanding and take corrective actions.

 

Strengths

o    It is intuitively appealing

o    It has a century of research to back it up

o    By focusing exclusively on leader it has been able to provide some deeper understanding on how Leader’s personality is related to leadership process

o    It has given some benchmarks for what we need to look for, if we want to be leaders.

 

Weakness

o    The failure to delimit a definitive list of leadership traits

o    It has failed to take situations into account

o    The approach has resulted in highly subjective determinations of the "most important" leadership traits

o    It can also be criticized for failing to look at traits in relationship to leadership outcomes

o    It is not a useful approach for training and development of leadership. (The reasoning here is that traits are relatively fixed psychological structures that limits the value of training. On the contrary, we could challenge this assumption concerning at least some traits changeable.)

 

Leadership Instrument

There are many instruments that are used by organizations. Common personality tests include Minnesota Multiphase Personality Inventory or the Myers-Briggs Type indicator. The leadership Trait Questionnaire (LTQ) assesses the personal leadership characteristics.