Analyses and origin of Trait theory of leadership, its strengths and weaknesses and the pre-conditions for its effective use
Leadership, Communication
and Change Management
Course
No. 95.892CI 2014: Dr. Robert Khan
Analyses and origin of
Trait theory of leadership, its strengths and weaknesses and the pre-conditions
for its effective use
Due
date: 5th May 2014
Student
Name : PriyankaID : s2133228
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Definition of Leadershiptheorythis theory works?and
Analysis and Pre- conditions for effective use of Trait theory
DEFINITIONS
OF LEADERSHIP
are many definitions of leadership given by different research
persons or scholars. Some of them are given below:
1. It can be defined as the activity of doing the tasks
of a systematic/organised group in a manner that it move towards setting and
achieving the goals. (Stogdill, 1950, p. 3)
. Leadership can be defined as a process of impact
and interaction among the leader and followers. (Hollander, 1978, p. 1)
. Leadership is said to be a process in which the
activities or tasks of a group is influenced towards attaining the desired
goal. (Rauch & Behling, 1984, p. 46)
. According to Bass, leadership is defined as the
cooperation and communication among two or more than two group members that are
mostly involved in making and changing the situations and ideas of group
members. It arises when one member of the group corrects the ambition,
inspiration and skills of other members of the group. Any group member can show
the leadership qualities… (Bass, 1990, pp. 19-20)
. Leadership is the method of controlling and
influencing the members of the group to deliver their best performance/ output
in completing aims, activities, and projects. (Cohen, 1990, p. 9)' (1989 &
1990) leadership theory tells that there are three methods to define how
ordinary people acquire leadership qualities and become leaders. These methods
are given below:
· Peoples are naturally triggered into
leadership behaviour by few personality traits or qualities. This is known as
Trait theory.
· Sometimes, events or circumstances
lead a person to exhibit special and incredible leadership qualities. This is
known as Great Events Theory.
· People can select to be a leader.
They learn and acquire skills of leadership. This is known as Transformational
Leadership Theory. This theory of leadership is most accepted theory now a days
(Khan, 2014, p. 1).time different leadership theories are given, including:
. Great Man Theory 2. Trait Theory
. Behavioural Theory 4. Participative theory
. Situational Theory 6. Contingency Theory
. Transactional Theory 8. Transformational Theory
THEORY
leadership theory follower characteristic
According to this theory, people have some inborn leadership
characteristics. In this theory, leaders are also called as born leaders.
Strong leaders exhibit the natural qualities and traits. This theory says that,
if you find people with right characteristics, you are capable to find leaders.
Addition in this theory, it is found from the research that, trait or
characteristics can be learned also (Northouse, 2007, pp. 19-23).
How this theory works?
theory of leadership concentrates on leader, not essentially
on the conditions or followers. A successful leader shows some specific
characteristics and traits. This theory of leadership is suitable for companies
that have managers who are in leadership positions and have certain qualities.
Choosing “right” person for the organisation increases the organisations
performance and capabilities. If the managers don’t have those traits, they go
outside and look for people who have the required traits and get them. They
want those traits immediately in the people; they are not keen in developing
them. The manager can figure out their strengths and weaknesses if it
scrutinizes his traits. The person with the required qualities matches the
requirement of the companies. Or, there will be chances that organisation helps
the individuals in developing certain traits, if they have time. For example,
School. This theory grants leaders to understand the situation or problems and
take the right actions to make the situations favourable (Hazem Abolrous, 2014,
n.p.g.).
AND ANALYSIS AND PRE -CONDITIONS FOR EFFECTIVE USE OF TRAIT
THEORY
survey or research about leadership is done in 20th century
that concentrates on what makes people “great leaders”. After determining the
inherent characteristics or qualities of “Great Man” theory such as Gandhi,
Napoleon, Nelson Mandela, etc. After this, the research is concentrated on
finding the inborn traits of the people (Khan, 2014, p. 1).research related to
study Trait theory of leadership began in 1910. A challenge is given to the
theory in the mid of 20th century that “no specific traits or qualities
separate leaders from other individuals. A person can be leader in one
condition but it’s not necessary that the same person is leader in second or
another situation (Hazem Abolrous, 2014, n.p.g.).
· The Trait theory of leadership
insists on traits and nature of leader.
· In current years, it was found by
Alliger, 1986 and Lord DeVader 1986 that personality traits are linked with
person’s idea of leadership.
· It was stated by Locke and
Kirkpatrick, 1991, that effectual and successful leaders are different types of
people in various respects.
· It begins with putting focus on
qualities/ traits, switched the focus on circumstances, then again moved back
to qualities and traits.
· 2 surveys gave better outline of
Trait theory. They are given below (Hazem Abolrous, 2014, n.p.g.).
v Stogdill survey, 1948:
traits are scrutinized in this survey. By owning or having
merely these traits does not make an individual leader. The traits, the leader
have should be according to the circumstances in which the leader works. The
traits that differentiate a leader from other leaders or individuals are given
below (Northouse, 2007, p. 20).
² Alertness ² Initiative
² Insight ² Intelligence
² Persistence ² Responsibility
² Sociability ² Self-confidence
v Stogdill survey 1974:1974, second
survey of Stogdill is published. 163 traits are scrutinized in this survey. He
compared the findings of both studies and from the conclusion; he found that
the 1974 survey was more balanced. This survey argues that both Situational
factors and Personality factors are important for determining the leadership
capabilities. Also Stogdill, 1974 survey was better balanced than the previous
one (Northouse, 2007, p. 21).given traits separate leaders from others:
² Achievement ² Insight
² Persistence ² Responsibility
² Cooperativeness ² Influence
² Tolerance ² Sociability
v Mann’s survey 1959:study similar to
previous one is carried out by Mann, 1959 in which 1,400 traits are analyzed.
In his survey, he put less stress on situational factors that how they affect
leadership. He found that leaders have strength and efficacy in following 6
traits (Northouse, 2007, p. 21).
² Adjustment ² Conservatism
² Dominance ² Extraversion
² Intelligence ² Masculinity
v Lord, DeVader and Allinger survey
1986:’s findings are re-evaluated by Lord et al, 1986 by using meta-analysis
procedure. They found three traits that are associated with how individuals are
seen as leaders. The three traits are given below (Northouse, 2007, pp. 21-22).
² Intelligence ² Masculinity
² Dominance
v Kirkpatrick and Locke survey 1991:was
stated by Locke and Kirkpatrick, 1991 that “Leaders are different from others”.
The Trait theory of leadership and the long time research that is conducted on
Trait theory gives a list of traits to leaders that they can acquire or
develop. They suggested that there are 6 traits that differentiate leaders from
others and they are the following (Northouse, 2007, p. 22).
² Cognitive Ability ² Drive
² Motivation ² Task knowledge
² Integrity ² Confidence
: Adapted from Northouse, 2007; p. 23
1. Illustrates “different surveys conducted by different researchers”.traits
that are common in all surveys are:
. Intelligence: The leader should have affective
capability, strong lexical capability and reasoning. Surveys and research shows
that intellectual ability of leader should not be very high from its team members.
If it is high between leaders and, it will have negative impact (Northouse,
2007, pp. 23-24).
. Self-confidence: Capability to have sure about
one’s talent, expertise and proficiency. It contains dignity, self-respect,
pride and faith that can differentiate one from others. It is very necessary
for influencing others (Northouse, 2007, p. 24).
. Determination: Eagerness to get the work complete.
It consists of endurance, enthusiasm, action, and supremacy. Leaders who show
determination are enthusiastic and have the capability to persist against
hurdles (Northouse, 2007, p. 25).
. Integrity: It is a combination of truthfulness and
faithfulness. These leaders follow strongly the rules and take accountability
for their behaviour. Leaders who have integrity, they stimulate morale in
others. They do what they said (Northouse, 2007, p. 25).
· The leaders are seen as people with
gifted traits.
· This theory has given criteria that
if we want to be a leader what traits we need to develop or attain.
· The trait theory can be applied to
different types of people who are working at different levels.
· A leader can use this theory to get
to know about their strengths and weakness.
· This theory says that leaders are
those persons who exhibit extra-ordinary characteristics and qualities.
· Only trait theory of leadership can
make claim to provide satisfactoriness.
· Trait theory of leadership is
suitable for both groups and individuals.’
· It provides detailed information
about leaders.
· This theory of leadership is valid as
long time research is done on this theory.
· Lots of research has been done for
proposing this theory (Hazem Abolrous, 2014, n.p.g.).
· Some traits are not by birth but can
be developed by training.
· Trait theory of leadership is not
effective for training and development of leaders as most of the traits in
leader are born traits.
· The characteristics that are
necessary for developing leadership may not be similar to those traits that are
essential for a leadership to maintain.
· Trait theory of leadership is very
complicated.
· It does not consider the situations.
· The number of traits in an effective
leader is large in count.
· Trait theory of leadership does not
prioritize the traits and does not tells which trait is more important and why?
· Most of the modern theories of
leadership consider trait theory of leadership out-dated (Hazem Abolrous, 2014,
n.p.g.).
CONCLUSION
trait theory of leadership was among the initial analytical
efforts that were used to study leadership. This theory tells that leadership
traits are inherited and connected to personal characteristics. In spite of the
weaknesses, this theory gives a lot of information regarding leaders and
leadership. Trait theory of leadership can be used at different levels
including individual, organisational, etc. For example, by giving various exams
and tests, people can identify their qualities, strengths, weaknesses and their
place in the organisation. Managers can also use this theory to identify their
position in the company and ways to improve their strength and qualities. Trait
theory of leadership provided a touchstone that what we need to acquire if we
want to be a leader. (Northouse, 2007, pp. 21-25)., trait theory of leadership
gets a high number of interests by people. Many research people strived to
describe how leadership is affected by these traits. It has been seen from
study that, trait theory of leadership started by focusing on finding traits of
great people, then it switched to situations and later on again it moved back
towards traits .(Northouse, 2007, p. 16).
Bass,
B. M. (1990). Bass and Stogdill’s handbook of leadership: Theory, research and
managerial applications. New York: Free Press., W. A. (1990). The art of a
leader. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Jossey-Bass.
Cynthia Measom.
(2014). Trait vs. Situational Approach for Leadership. Retrieved May 2, 2014,
from
<http://smallbusiness.chron.com/trait-vs-situational-approach-leadership-38796.html>Abolrous.
(2014). The Trait approach. Retrieved May 1, 2014, from
<http://leadershiptheories.blogspot.co.nz/2010/02/trait-approach.html>,
E. P. (1978). Leadership dynamics: A practical guide to effective
relationships. New York: Free Press.
Khan,
Robert. (2014). Lecture notes: Leadership, Communication and Change management.
Palmerston North: IPC Tertiary Institute.
Management Study
Guide. (2014). Trait Theory of Leadership. Retrieved April 28, 2014, from
<http://managementstudyguide.com/trait-theory-of-leadership.htm>, P. G.
(2007). Leadership: theory and practice (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Publications., C. F., & Behling, O. (1984). Functionalism: Basis for an
alternate approach to the study of leadership. Elmsford, NY: Pergamon Press.,
R. M. (1950). Leadership, membership and organization. Psychological bulletin.
(pp. 1-14).