Trait Theory of Leadership is based on the assumption that people are born with inherited traits and some traits are particularly suited to leadership. The theory aims to discover specific leadership & personality traits and characteristics proven to predict the likelihood of success or failure of a leader.
The trait approach to personality is one of the major theoretical areas in the study of human personality and is focused on differences between individuals. The trait approach was one of the first systematic attempts to study leadership. The combination and interaction of various traits forms a personality that is unique to each individual. Trait theory is focused on identifying and measuring these individual personality characteristics known as Traits.
Traits: Also called dispositions, Traits can be defined as habitual patterns of behavior, thought, and emotion. Traits are relatively stable over time, differ across individuals and influence behavior. Traits are external behaviors that emerge from internal beliefs and processes.
Trait Theory of Leadership is based on the assumption that people are born with inherited traits and some traits are particularly suited to leadership. People who make effective leaders have the right (or sufficient) combination of traits and great leaders has some common personality characteristics. Trait theories help us identify traits and dispositions that are helpful when leading others. This theory as described by Kelly (1974) attempts to classify what personal characteristics such as physical, personality and mental, are associated with leadership success. Trait theory relies on research that relates various traits to the success of a leader.
“Leadership consists not in degrees of technique but in traits of character; it requires moral rather than athletic or intellectual effort, and it imposes on both leader and follower alike the burdens of self-restraint.” - Lewis H. Lapham
“The screenwriters I know share a few personality traits and one of them is anxiety.” - Tony Gilroy
“I think in the end, when you're famous, people like to narrow you down to a few personality traits. I think I've just become this ambitious, say-whatever's-on-her-mind, intimidating person. And that's part of my personality, but it's certainly not anywhere near the whole thing.” - Madonna Ciccone
“The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor that theory” - Thomas Jefferson
Early research on leadership was based on the psychological focus of the day, which was of people having inherited characteristics or traits. The trait theory of leadership focused on analyzing mental, physical and social characteristic in order to gain more understanding of what is the characteristic or the combination of characteristics that are common among leaders. There have been many different studies of leadership traits and attention was put on discovering these traits, often by studying successful leaders, but with the underlying assumption that if other people could also be found with these traits, then they, too, could also become great leaders.
The trait theory is naturally pleasing theory and gives constructive information about leadership. Lot of research has validated the foundation and basis of the theory and it can be applied by people at all levels in all types of organizations. Managers can utilize the information from the theory to evaluate their position in the organization and to assess how their position can be made stronger in the organization. It serves as a yardstick against which the leadership traits of an individual can be assessed and individuals can get an in-depth understanding of their identity and the way they will affect others in the organization. This theory makes the manager aware of their strengths and weaknesses and thus they get an understanding of how they can develop their leadership qualities. It gives a detailed knowledge and understanding of the leader element in the leadership process.
A lengthy list of traits has been made to describe an effective leader in terms of certain characteristics. Given below is outcome of studies on leadership traits and characteristics with reference to timelines in terms of years:
Many arguments are made against the leadership theory of traits and it has some inherent limitations as during the 1930s the field of Psychometrics was in its early years. The greatest argument is that if particular traits are key differentiator of leadership, then how do we explain people who possess these qualities but are not leaders? This question is one of the difficulties in using trait theories to explain leadership.
These characteristics according to some people are considered valid indicators of successful leaders, but if you compare leaders by various physical personality and intelligence traits, you may find very little agreement on these. Some findings point out to the fact that leaders are intelligent individuals. But they do not provide any clue as to whether leaders are brighter than their followers or are as close to them in intelligence.
This theory is quite complex and there is bound to be some subjective judgment in determining who is regarded as a ‘good’ or ‘successful’ leader and many of these factors are situational related factors. The followers have a significant effect on the job accomplished by the leader. Trait theory completely ignores the followers and the situations that also help a leader to be successful. To be more objective, traits of the person as well as demand of the situation together determine the effectiveness of the leader.
Some of the personality traits are overlapping with each other. Therefore, you need to be cautious in stating, personality or any other characteristic as a cause of successful leadership. You must ask the questions: Who is a successful leader? Is he far superior physically? Is he far brighter? Is he more mature as a person? Is he more motivated to achieve his goal? Does he have more consideration for his followers? Etc.
Moreover the list of possible traits tends to be very long and personality traits measurement weren't reliable across studies. More than 100 different traits of successful leaders in various leadership positions have been identified. These descriptions are simply generalities and there exists disagreement over which traits are the most important for an effective leader. This theory does not offer explanations between the relation of each characteristic and its impact on leadership. Some of the traits may describe a successful leader but predicting successful leaders on the basis of traits alone is not a correct approach.
Stogdill in 1948, suggested that no consistent set of traits differentiated leaders from non-leaders across a variety of situations implying that an individual with certain traits who has been successful in one situation might not be as effective in another situation and this led to researchers concluding that traits were to be considered as relative to the requirements of the situation.
There are four characteristics of leadership that help us to understand the character of leadership as a concept. 1. Leadership is a process, 2. Leadership involves influence, 3. Leadership always occurs in a group context and 4. Leadership involves goal attainment. These are the four components that make up the character of the 'leadership' term and help us to define the leadership concept. All of these components of leadership have common characteristics.
The Fiedler Model of leadership is a contingency theory and states that a leader's effectiveness is based on the situation. There is no one best style of leadership and the effectiveness of a leader in an organization depends on matching the leader to the situation. Leaders should determine the natural leadership style and assess the situation to flex the style.
The Vroom-Yetton model is designed to optimize for the current situation the leadership style for best decision-making. Its a decision model formulated with contribution from Arthur Jago on how to make group decisions. The leader must gather information from the team prior to making the decision and involves more people in the decision process.
University of Iowa Studies was the first leadership study to analyze leadership using scientific methodology. The study was conducted by Lewin, Lippitt, and White and worked on different styles of leadership. The studies explored three leadership styles - authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-fair leaders. This early study was very influential and established three major leadership styles.
Participative Leadership Theories
Participative leadership theories rely on the involvement of different participants and suggest that the ideal leadership style is one that takes the inputs of others into account. Participative leaders encourage participation and contributions from group members and involve them in the decision-making process. Participative leadership tries to achieve through people, teamwork and collaboration.
Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid is a style leadership model that identified five manager styles based on two dimensions viz concern for people and the concern for production. Managerial Grid uses concern for production style which is largely based on McGregor's Theory X.
Communication has as its central objective the transmission of meaning. The process of communication is successful only when the receiver understands an idea as the sender intended it. How does a message or an idea travel from one person to another? To transmit our message, we engage in a sensitive and complex process of communication, with different elements like sender, message, channels, receiver, noise, and feedback.
The social identity theory of leadership views leadership as a group process. Social identity is a person's sense of who they are based on their group membership. Social identity theory sets agendas and goals generated by social categorization, defines who we are based on processes associated with social identity, and motivates to conduct ourselves based on what followers think of the leader.
Reciprocal influence theory also known as reciprocal determinism is authored by Albert Bandura and states that an individual's behavior influences and is influenced by both the social world and personal characteristics. Three factors that influence behavior are the environment, the individual, and the behavior itself. Certain leader behaviors can cause subordinate behaviors and reciprocal influence on the leader by the group.
Contingency Theories in Action
Contingency theory suggests matching the best leader to a specific situation based on situational factors and the leadership style. The practical application of theory can be done in various ways. The workplace example is to determine the best candidate for a given set of requirements using the LPC score. Applying the model to determine a leader's ability to adapt in the scenario of a new project etc..
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