Traditional Theories and Approaches to Leadership

8/3/2019 Traditional Theories and Approaches to Leadership

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Traditional Theories and

Approaches to LeadershipEducational Leadership and Perspectives

EDU6009

Trust men and they will be true to you; treat themgreatly and they will show themselves to be great.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Basic Approaches to

Leadership

Traditional Theories and Approaches

04/28/12 Prepared and Presented by Dr. D. Bernard-Johnson UTECH M Ed. Ed. Leadership andManagement (MLM)

Educational Leadership andPerspectives EDU6009


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What Is Leadership?

LeadershipThe ability to influence agroup toward theachievement of goals.

Management

Use of authority inherent indesignated formal rank toobtain compliance fromorganizational members.

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Great Person Theories

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Trait Approach: one of the firstsystematic attempts to study leadership

Great Man Theories (early 1900s)

Focused on identifying innatequalities and characteristics

possessed by great social,political, & military leaders


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Trait Theories

Leadership TraitsLeadership Traits::

ExtraversionExtraversion ConscientiousnessConscientiousness

OpennessOpenness

EmotionalEmotionalIntelligenceIntelligence(qualified)(qualified)

Leadership TraitsLeadership Traits::

ExtraversionExtraversion ConscientiousnessConscientiousness

OpennessOpenness

EmotionalEmotionalIntelligenceIntelligence(qualified)(qualified)

Traits Theories ofLeadership

Theories that considerpersonality, social,

physical, or intellectualtraits to differentiateleaders from nonleaders.

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Great Man

Theories

Early 1900s

Research focused

on individual

characteristicsthat universally

differentiated

leaders

from nonleaders

Traits Interacting

With Situational

Demands on Leaders

1930-50s

Landmark Stogdill (1948)

study - analyzed and

synthesized 124 trait studies- Leadership

reconceptualized

as a relationship between

people in a social situation

Mann (1959) reviewed 1,400

findings of personality and

leadership in small groups- Less emphasis on situations

- Suggested personality traits

could be used to discriminate

leaders from nonleaders

Revival of Critical Role of

Traits in Leader

Effectiveness

Stogdill (1974)

- Analyzed 163 new studies

with 1948 study findings- Validated original study

- 10 characteristics

positively identified with

leadership

Lord, DeVader, &

Alliger (1986) meta-analysis

- Personality traits can beused to differentiate

leaders/nonleaders

Kirkpatrick & Locke (1991)

- 6 traits make up the

Right Stuff for leaders

Historical Shifts in Trait Perspective1970s - Early 90s

Innate Qualities

Situations

Personality / Behaviors

Today

Intelligence Self-Confidence

Determination Integrity Sociability

5 Major

Leadership

Traits


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Studies of Leadership Traits and Characteristics

Leadership Traits


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Major Leadership Traits

Intelligence Intellectual abilityincluding verbal, perceptual, andreasoning capabilities

Self-Confidence Ability to becertain about ones competencies andskills

Determination The desire to get

the job done (i.e., initiative, persistence,

Traits to possess or cultivate if one seeks to be

perceived by others as a leader:


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Major Leadership Traits

Integrity The quality of honestyand trustworthiness

Sociability Leaders inclination

to seek out pleasant socialrelationships

Traits to possess or cultivate if one seeks to be

perceived by others as a leader:


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How Does the TraitApproach Work?

Focus of Trait Approach

Strengths

Criticisms

Application


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Focus of Trait Approach

Focusesexclusivelyonleader

What traitsleaders exhibit

Who has thesetraits

Organizations usepersonality assessments

to find Right peopleAssumption- will

increase organizationaleffectiveness

Specifycharacteristics/traits forspecific positions

Personality assessment

measures for fit Instruments: LTQ, Myers

LeaderLeader PersonalityAssessments

Personality

Assessments


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Trait Approach

Traits (examples) Extraversion Conscientiousness Openness

Assumption: Leaders are born Goal: Select leaders Problems

Traits do not generalize across situations

Better at predicting leader emergence thanleader effectiveness

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Strengths

Intuitivelyappealing

Perception that

leaders aredifferent in thatthey possessspecial traits

People need toview leaders asgifted

Credibilitydue to

a century ofresearch su ort

Highlightsleadershipcomponentin the

leadership process Deeper level

understanding ofhow

leader/personalityrelated to leadershipprocess

Provides

benchmarksfor


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Criticisms

Fails to delimitadefinitive list ofleadership traits Endless lists have

emerged

Doesnt take into

accountsituationaleffects Leaders in one

situation may not beleaders in another

List of mostimportant leadershiptraits is highlysubjective Much subjective

experience & observationsserve as basis for

identified leadership traits

Research fails to lookat traits inrelationship to

leadership


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Trait Theories

LimitationsLimitations::

No universal traits found that predictNo universal traits found that predict

leadership in all situations.leadership in all situations.

Unclear evidence of the cause and effectUnclear evidence of the cause and effect

of relationship of leadership and traits.of relationship of leadership and traits.

Better predictor of the appearance ofBetter predictor of the appearance ofleadership than distinguishing effectiveleadership than distinguishing effective

and ineffective leaders.and ineffective leaders.

LimitationsLimitations::

No universal traits found that predictNo universal traits found that predict

leadership in all situations.leadership in all situations.

Unclear evidence of the cause and effectUnclear evidence of the cause and effect

of relationship of leadership and traits.of relationship of leadership and traits.

Better predictor of the appearance ofBetter predictor of the appearance ofleadership than distinguishing effectiveleadership than distinguishing effective

and ineffective leaders.and ineffective leaders.

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Application

Provides direction as to which traitsare good to have if one aspires to aleadership position

Through various tests andquestionnaires, individuals candetermine whether they have theselect leadership traits and can

pinpoint their strengths andweaknesses

Can be used by managers to assesswhere they stand within theirorganization and what is needed tostrengthen their position

Leadership TraitsLeadership Traits

IntelligenceIntelligence Self-ConfidenceSelf-Confidence DeterminationDetermination IntegrityIntegrity SociabilitySociability


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Behavioral Theories

Behavioral theory:Behavioral theory:

LLeadership behaviors can beeadership behaviors can be

taught.taught.

Vs.Vs.

Trait theory:Trait theory:

Leaders are born, not made.Leaders are born, not made.

Behavioral theory:Behavioral theory:LLeadership behaviors can beeadership behaviors can be

taught.taught.

Vs.Vs.

Trait theory:Trait theory:

Leaders are born, not made.Leaders are born, not made.

Behavioral Theories of Leadership

Theories proposing that specific behaviorsdifferentiate leaders from nonleaders.

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Behavioral Approach

Ohio State Studies/U. of Michigan Initiating Structure/Production Orientation

Consideration/Employee Orientation

Assumption: Leaders can be trained

Goal: Develop leaders

Problem: Effective behaviors do notgeneralize across situations

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Ohio State LeadershipStudies

After WWII

Measured specific leader behaviors

Identified two dimensions Consideration

Initiating Structure

A leader could possess varyingamounts of both dimensions


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Ohio State Studies

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Behavioral Approaches circa1950

Ohio State studies generated 1800

items tocreate two questionnaires: LOQ (Leader opinion questionnaire)completedby supervisors LBDQ(Leader behavior descriptivequestionnaire) completed by

subordinates


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Ohio State Studies

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Major Findings from Ohio State

Consideration Structure mutualtrust, respect, warmth, concern forothers, allowing subordinates toparticipate in decisions.

Initiating Structure Organizing,planning,defining and monitoring group

activities, clarifying and facilitating


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Ohio State Studies

Initiating Structure

The extent to which a leader islikely to define and structure hisor her role and those of sub-

ordinates in the search for goalattainment.

Consideration

The extent to which a leader is likely to have jobrelationships characterized by mutual trust, respectfor subordinates ideas, and regard for their feelings.

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Findings

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Inconclusive

Some research indicated highconsideration

and high structure was ideal

Not enough research support for this

premise

Best leadership style seemed

contingent on the context


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University of Michigan Studies(940s-1960s)

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Production OrientationLeader emphasizes technical

aspects of work

Utilitarian view of followers theyare merely the tools for completing thework

Employee Orientation emphasizes thepersonal aspects of work

Views followers as unique, attendsto their


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University of MichiganStudies

Employee-Oriented Leader

Emphasizing interpersonal relations; taking a personalinterest in the needs of employees and acceptingindividual differences among members.

Production-Oriented Leader

One who emphasizes technicalor task aspects of the job.

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TheManagerial

Grid(Blake and Mouton)

E X H I B I

T 12104/28/12


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Leadership Dimensions

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ProductionCentered

Univ. ofMichigan

EmployeeCentered

TaskOriented

Blake andMouton

SocialEmotional

Initiating Ohio StateConsiderationStructure

Documents

Traditional Theories and Approaches to Leadership