Theoretical Perspectives on
Leadership:
The Trait Approach
Leadership
• One psychological perspective on leadership
"Leadership is just like psychic fraud... you're waiting
for something lucky to happen you can take credit
for" (Dilbert, 2002)
Outline
• The Trait Approach
– Personality
– Motives
– Cognitive factors
• Leadership Traits Activity
Understanding Leadership:
The Trait Approach
• The “Great Man” theory:
• The best leaders have particular qualities which make
them inherently more fit to lead than other people.
• Julius Caesar or Napolean would have been influential
figures anywhere anytime
• This view is represented in biographies, news
reporting, history books
• Common sense approach to leadership
The Trait Approach
• Most extreme form:
– Leaders are born, not made.
• Characteristics associated with leadership can
be classified into three broad categories
– Personality traits
– Motives
– Cognitive factors
Personality Traits
• P1) Self-confidence
– The ability to be certain about one’s competencies
and skills
• P2) Integrity
– The quality of honesty and trustworthiness. They
inspire confidence because they can be trusted.
Personality Traits
• P3) Sociability
– A leader’s inclination to seek out pleasant social
relationships. Have good interpersonal skills and are
cooperative.
Leader Motives
• M1) The power motive
– Have a strong need to control resources
• Can be used for the sake of the powerholder or for
helping others
2 Types of Power Motives
• Personalized power motive
– Seek power mostly to further their own interests.
• Socialized power motive
– Use power primarily to achieve organizational goals
or a vision. Power is used to help others.
Leader Motives
• M2) Drive and achievement motive
– Putting forth high energy and persistence into
achieving goals
– Finding joy in accomplishments
Leader Motives
• M3) Strong work ethic
– The belief in the dignity of work. They value hard
work.
• M4) Tenacity
– Better at overcoming obstacles because of their
tenacity.
Cognitive Factors
• C1) Intelligence
• Intellectual ability strongly related to leadership
• C2) Knowledge of the business or group task
• Important for the leader to provide expertise in the
field that will be a source of competitive advantage
• C3) Creativity
• Creative in finding original and imaginative solutions
to complex problems.
Cognitive Factors
• C4) Insight into people and situations
• A depth of understanding that requires intuition and
common sense.
• C5) Farsightedness and conceptual thinking
• Need to develop visions and corporate strategies.
• Need to see the overall perspective
• C6) Openness to experience
• Having a positive orientation towards learning
Traits of a Leader Exercise
1
10
Trait not
manifest
Trait strongly
manifest
Using the 1-10 scale above, assess
the following three people on the
traits listed to the right:
• 1) Colin Powell
• 2) The leader you most admire
• 3) Yourself.
Traits:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Self-confidence
Integrity
Sociability
Power motives
Drive and achievement motives
Tenacity
Intelligence
Knowledge of group task
Strengths and Limitations
to the Trait Approach
• Strengths
• Intuitively appealing
• A great deal of research
• In-depth understanding of the leader
• Provides a way to evaluate our own leadership attributes
Strengths and Limitations
to the Trait Approach
• Limitations
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Often based on leader’s own accounts
Measurement of traits is difficult
Comprehensive reviews fail to find a general set of traits
Overlooks the needs of the followers
Fails to clarify relative importance of traits
It ignores situational factors
Not amenable to training and development
Empiricism
Empirical vs non-empirical research
 Empirical:
Empirical research is research which uses data derived from
actual observation or experiment to reach conclusions. Original
research papers that describe empirical studies and their results
are published in academic journals.
.
Non-Empirical:
A non-empirical approach to research makes no explicit or
formal reference to data as such. This research results from
thinking, reading and contemplation.
Guidelines
To determine if an article is an empirical research article, use these
guidelines:
 What is the name of the journal?
Popular magazines like Newsweek or Life Magazine don’t publish
empirical research articles; publications like the Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology or the Leadership Quarterly do.
 How long is the article?
An empirical research article is usually substantial, not 1 or 2 pages.
 Does the article contain references to other works?
Serious researchers always cite their sources.
 Does the abstract of the article contain variations of the words
study, measure, subjects, data, survey, or statistical to describe
the empirical research?