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Researchers have examined leadership for several years to discover how successful leaders are created. Experts have proposed several theories, including the trait, behavioral, contingency, and full-range leadership models.
The Trait Theory of Leadership
The search for the characteristics or traits of influential leaders has been central to the study of leadership. Underlying this research is the assumption that leadership capabilities are rooted in characteristics possessed by individuals. Research in the field of trait theory has shown significant positive relationships between effective leadership and personality traits such as intelligence, extroversion, conscientiousness, self-efficacy, and openness to experience. These findings also show that individuals emerge as leaders across various situations and tasks.
Four Theories of Leadership. http://oer2go.org/mods/en-boundless/www.boundless.com/management/textbooks/boundless-management-textbook/leadership-9/defining-leadership-68/four-theories-of-leadership-344-7580/index.html Content and user contributions on this site are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 with attribution required.
According to trait leadership theory, influential leaders have in common a pattern of personal characteristics that support their ability to mobilize others toward a shared vision. These traits include personality and motives dimensions, skills and capabilities, and behavior in social relationships. Using traits to explain effective leadership considers both characteristics that are inherited and attributes that are learned. This approach has been used to differentiate leaders from non-leaders. Understanding the importance of these traits can help organizations select, train, and develop leaders.
Leaders’ Traits
Following studies of trait leadership, most leader traits can be organized into four groups:
- Personality: Patterns of behavior, such as adaptability and comfort with ambiguity, and dispositional tendencies, such as motives and values, are associated with effective leadership.
- Demographic: In this category, gender has received by far the most attention in terms of leadership; however, most scholars have found that gender is not a determining demographic trait, as male and female leaders are equally effective.
- Task competence: This relates to how individuals approach the execution and performance of tasks—Hoffman groups intelligence, conscientiousness, openness to experience, and emotional stability into this category.
- Interpersonal attributes: These relate to how a leader approaches social interactions. According to Hoffman and others (2011), traits such as extroversion and agreeableness are included in this category.
The Trait Theory Approach. http://oer2go.org/mods/en-boundless/www.boundless.com/management/textbooks/boundless-management-textbook/leadership-9/trait-approach-69/the-trait-theory-approach-345-3943/index.html Content and user contributions on this site are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 with att