Summarize the Conclusions of Trait

Theories of Leadership

Leadership is the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of a vision or set
of goals.
- Not all leaders are managers, nor are all managers leaders.
- Nonsanctioned leadership is often as important or more important than formal
influence.
● Trait theories of leadership focus on personal qualities and characteristics.
-The search for personality, social, physical, or intellectual attributes that differentiate
leaders from non-leaders goes back to the earliest stages of leadership research.
● A comprehensive review of the leadership literature, when organized around the
Big Five, has found extraversion to be the most predictive trait of effective
leaders, but it is more strongly related to the way leaders emerge than to their
effectiveness
● Unlike agreeableness and emotional stability, conscientiousness and openness
to experience also showed strong relationships to leadership, though not quite as
strong as extraversion.
● Good leaders who like being around people:
- Are able to assert themselves (extraverted)
- Are disciplined and able to keep commitments they make (conscientious) -
Willing to take risks/handle uncertainty (openness).
● Another trait that may indicate effective leadership is emotional intelligence.
- A core component of El is empathy.
● People high in El are more likely to emerge as leaders, even after taking
cognitive ability and personality into account.
● Two conclusions:
- Traits can predict leadership.
- Traits do a better job predicting the emergence of leaders than they do at
distinguishing between effective and ineffective leaders.
Central Tenets and Main Limitations of Behavioral Theories
● Behavioral theories of leadership imply we can train people to be leaders.
- Ohio State Studies found two behaviors that accounted for most leadership
behavior.
● The GLOBE study suggests there are international differences in preference for
initiating structure and consideration.
- Found that leaders high in consideration would succeed best in where cultures
did not favor unilateral decision making.
● Summary of Trait Theories and Behavioral Theories
-Leaders who have certain traits and who display culturally appropriate
consideration and structuring behaviors do appear to be more effective
 -Traits and behaviors do not guarantee success.
•Context matters too
•What combinations of traits are optimal?
Contrast Contingency Theories of Leadership
The Fiedler contingency model: effective group performance depends upon the proper
match between the leader's style of interacting with subordinates and the degree to
which the situation gives control to the leader.
- The least preferred coworker (LPC) questionnaire:
● Task- or relationship-oriented
● High score == relationship-oriented
● Low score == task-oriented
● Assumes leadership style is fixed
Defining the Situation
- Contingency dimensions:
● Leader-member relations
-Most important
● Task structure
● Position power
-Decision-making autonomy of leader
- Least important
Situational leadership theory (SLT) is a contingency theory that focuses on the
followers. - Successful leadership is achieved by selecting the right leadership style,
which is contingent on the level of the followers' readiness.
Path-goal theory:
- Contingency model of leadership that extracts key elements from the Ohio State
leadership research on initiating structure and consideration and the expectancy
theory of motivation.
- Derived from belief that effective leaders clarify the path to help followers achieve
work goals.
- Directive leadership-task-oriented leadership.
- Supportive leadership - relationship-oriented leadership.
Leadership does not exist in a vacuum, it is a process in which the leader, followers,
outcomes, and context influence each other (Free Management Books, n.d.). The
leader can give directives, but if the followers do not follow the directives then the set
goals will not be achieved.
Contemporary Theories of Leadership
Key Characteristics of a Charismatic Leader

1. Vision and articulation. Has a vision-expressed as an idealized goal--that

proposes a future better than the status quo; able to clarify the importance of the
vision in terms that are understandable to others.
 2. Personal risk. Willing to take on high personal risk, incur high costs, and engage
in self-sacrifice to achieve the vision.
3. Sensitivity to follower needs. Perceptive of others' abilities and responsive to their
needs and feelings.
4. Unconventional behavior. Engages in behaviors that are perceived as novel and
counter to norms.

Are Charismatic Leaders Born or Made?

- Some individuals are born with charismatic traits, others are trained to exhibit
charismatic behaviors.
- Develop the aura of charisma.
● Use your passion to generate enthusiasm.
- Speak in an animated voice, reinforce your message with eye contact and facial
expressions, and gesture for emphasis.
- -Bring out the potential in followers by tapping into their emotions and create a
bond that inspires them.

Does Effective Charismatic Leadership Depend on the Situation?

- People are especially receptive when they sense a crisis or when they are under
stress.
The Dark Side of Charismatic Leadership
- Many leaders don't necessarily act in the best interest of their companies
• Personal goals can override the goals of the
organization.
• Narcissism associated with charismatic leadership.

Characteristics of Transactional and Transformational Leaders

Transactional Leader
Contingent Reward: Contacts exchange of rewards for effort promises rewards for
good performance, recognizes accomplishments.
Management by Exception (active): Watches and searches for deviations bones and
standarts, takes corrective action.
Management by Exception (passive): tervenes only if standards are not met Laissez-
Faire: Abdicates responsibilites, avoids making decisions

Transformational Leader
Idealized influence: Provides vision and see of mission, instils pride, gams respect and
trust
Inspirational Motivation: Communicates high expectations, uses symbols to focus
efforts, expresses important purposes in simple ways
Intellectual Stimulation: Promotes intelligence, nationality, and careful problem solving
Individualized Consideration: Gives personal attention, treats each employee
individualy coaches, advises.

How Transformational Leadership Works

- Creativity - theirs and others.
- Decentralization of responsibility.
- Propensity to take risks.
- Compensation is geared toward long-term results. - Greater agreement among top
managers about the organization's goals.

Evaluation of Transformational Leadership

- Transformational leadership has been supported at diverse job levels and
occupations, but it isn't effective in all situations.
•It has a greater impact on the bottom line in smaller, privately-held firms than in more
complex organizations.

Transformational versus Transactional Leadership

- Transformational leadership is more strongly correlated with a variety of workplace
outcomes.
- Charismatic leadership places more emphasis on the way leaders communicate - are
they passionate and dynamic?
- Transformational leadership focuses more on what they are communicating - is it a
compelling vision?
- Both focus on the leader's ability to inspire followers.

Role of Leaders in Creating Ethical Organizations

•Authentic Leadership
- Authentic leaders:
● Know who they are
● Know what they believe in and value
● Act on those values and beliefs openly and candidly
- The result: people come to have faith in them.
•Ethical Leadership
- No universal ethics
- Leaders must persuade others to act ethically

Abusive Supervision - refers to the perception that a supervisor is hostile in their

verbal and nonverbal behavior
 ● Negatively affects health, leads to increased depression, emotional exhaustion,
and job tension perceptions.
● Leads to decreases in organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and
perceived organizational support along with increased work-family conflict.
● Can adversely affect employee performance and other employee behaviors.
Servant Leadership - Servant leaders go beyond their self-interest and instead focus
on opportunities to help followers grow and develop.
- Characteristic behaviors include listening, empathizing. persuading, accepting
stewardship, and actively developing followers' potential.

Positive Leadership
• Trust and Leadership
- Trust: a psychological state that exists when you agree to make yourself
vulnerable to another because you have positive expectations about how things
are going to turn out.
● A primary attribute associated with leadership.
● When trust is broken, it can have serious adverse effects on a group's
performance.
•Trust propensity
- Trust and Culture
- The Role of Time
- Regaining Trust

Challenges to our Understanding of Leadership

•Selecting Leaders
- Identifying effective leaders:
● Review specific requirements for the position. Consider personality tests to
identify leadership traits.
● Situation-specific experience is relevant.
● Plan for a change in leadership.
• Training Leaders
- Leadership training is likely to be more successful with high self-monitors.
- Teach implementation skills.
- Teach trust building, mentoring, and situational-analysis. - Behavioral training
through modeling exercises can increase an individual's charismatic leadership
qualities.
- Review leadership after key organizational events.
- Train in transformational leadership skills.