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Trait Approach
2
Description
Of interest to scholars throughout the 20th century, the trait approach was one of the first systematic attempts to study leadership. In the early 20th century, leadership traits were studied to determine what made certain people great leaders. The theories that were developed were called “great man” theories because they focused on identifying the innate qualities and characteristics possessed by great social, political, and military leaders (e.g.,
Catherine the Great, Mohandas Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln,
Joan of Arc, and Napoleon Bonaparte). It was believed that people were born with these traits, and that only the “great” people possessed them.
During this time, research concentrated on determining the specific traits that clearly differentiated leaders from followers (Bass, 1990; Jago, 1982).
In the mid-20th century, the trait approach was challenged by research that questioned the universality of leadership traits. In a major review,
Stogdill (1948) suggested that no consistent set of traits differentiated leaders from nonleaders across a variety of situations. An individual with leadership traits who was a leader in one situation might not be a leader in another situation. Rather than being a quality that individuals possess, leadership was reconceptualized as a relationship between people in a social situation. Personal factors related to leadership continued to be important, but researchers contended that these factors were to be considered as relative to the requirements of the situation.
The trait approach has generated much interest among researchers for its explanation of how traits influence leadership (Bryman, 1992). For example, an analysis of much of the previous trait research by Lord,
DeVader, and Alliger (1986) found that personality traits were strongly
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16 Leadership Theory and Practice
associated with individuals’ perceptions of leadership. Similarly,
2
Description
Of interest to scholars throughout the 20th century, the trait approach was one of the first systematic attempts to study leadership. In the early 20th century, leadership traits were studied to determine what made certain people great leaders. The theories that were developed were called “great man” theories because they focused on identifying the innate qualities and characteristics possessed by great social, political, and military leaders (e.g.,
Catherine the Great, Mohandas Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln,
Joan of Arc, and Napoleon Bonaparte). It was believed that people were born with these traits, and that only the “great” people possessed them.
During this time, research concentrated on determining the specific traits that clearly differentiated leaders from followers (Bass, 1990; Jago, 1982).
In the mid-20th century, the trait approach was challenged by research that questioned the universality of leadership traits. In a major review,
Stogdill (1948) suggested that no consistent set of traits differentiated leaders from nonleaders across a variety of situations. An individual with leadership traits who was a leader in one situation might not be a leader in another situation. Rather than being a quality that individuals possess, leadership was reconceptualized as a relationship between people in a social situation. Personal factors related to leadership continued to be important, but researchers contended that these factors were to be considered as relative to the requirements of the situation.
The trait approach has generated much interest among researchers for its explanation of how traits influence leadership (Bryman, 1992). For example, an analysis of much of the previous trait research by Lord,
DeVader, and Alliger (1986) found that personality traits were strongly
15
16 Leadership Theory and Practice
associated with individuals’ perceptions of leadership. Similarly,
References: Bass, B. M. (1990). Bass and Stogdill’s handbook of leadership: A survey of theory and research Bennis, W. G., & Nanus, B. (1985). Leaders: The strategies for taking charge. New York: Harper & Row. Bryman, A. (1992). Charisma and leadership in organizations. London: Sage. Caruso, D. R., & Wolfe, C. J. (2004). Emotional intelligence and leadership development. In D. V. Day, S. J. Zaccaro, & S. M. Halpin (Eds.), Leader development for transforming organizations: Growing leaders for tomorrow (pp Goldberg, L. R. (1990). An alternative “description of personality”: The big-five factor structure Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam. Goleman, D. (1998). Working with emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam. Jago, A. G. (1982). Leadership: Perspectives in theory and research. Management Science, 28(3), 315–336. Judge, T. A., Bono, J. E., Ilies, R., & Gerhardt, M. W. (2002). Personality and leadership: A qualitative and quantitative review Jung, D., & Sosik, J. J. (2006). Who are the spellbinders? Identifying personal attributes of charismatic leaders Kirkpatrick, S. A., & Locke, E. A. (1991). Leadership: Do traits matter? The Executive, 5, 48–60. Mann, R. D. (1959). A review of the relationship between personality and performance in small groups. Psychological Bulletin, 56, 241–270. Marlowe, H. A. (1986). Social intelligence: Evidence for multidimensionality and construct independence Mayer, J. D., Caruso, D. R., & Salovey, P. (2000). Selecting a measure of emotional intelligence: The case for ability scales Mayer, J. D., & Salovey, P. (1995). Emotional intelligence and the construction and regulation of feelings Mayer, J. D., & Salovey, P. (1997). What is emotional intelligence? In P. Salovey & D Mayer, J. D., Salovey, P., & Caruso, D. R. (2000). Models of emotional intelligence. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.), Handbook of intelligence (pp. 396–420). McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T. (1987). Validation of the five-factor model of personality across instruments and observers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 81–90. Nadler, D. A., & Tushman, M. L. (1989). What makes for magic leadership? In W Stogdill, R. M. (1948). Personal factors associated with leadership: A survey of the literature Stogdill, R. M. (1974). Handbook of leadership: A survey of theory and research. Zaccaro, S. J. (2002). Organizational leadership and social intelligence. In R Zaccaro, S. J. (2007). Trait-based perspectives of leadership. American Psychologist, 62, 6–16. Zaccaro, S. J., Kemp, C., & Bader, P. (2004). Leader traits and attributes. In J Zaleznik, A. (1977, May–June). Managers and leaders: Are they different? Harvard Business Review, 55, 67–78.