Studied as early as the beginning of the twentieth century, the trait approach was one of the first attempts to methodically and scientifically study leadership. This approach focuses mainly on the leader and identifies certain innate qualities or characteristics that he or she may possess (Northouse 2013). As interesting as this approach may seem, several disadvantages question its true validity. The disadvantage that I would like to concentrate on is how the trait approach fails to take situations into consideration. As Northouse (2013) states, it may become extremely laborious to examine the qualities and characteristics of a leader without regarding the repercussions of the situation as leaders with certain traits may thrive in certain situations, but not necessarily be the best fit to lead in other scenarios.
A prime example of this is current majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, Michael Jordan. As a shooting guard for the Chicago Bulls, Jordan won the regular-season MVP award five times, led his team to six NBA titles, won Finals MVP a record six times, and has a higher scoring average than any other player in league history (ESPN 2013). However, his success on the court has not translated to the owner’s box. As the majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, Jordan’s executive decisions led to the drafting of many disappointing and underachieving players such as Kwame Brown and Adam Morrison. Additionally, during the 2011-2012 NBA season, the Bobcats finished with a 7-59 record earning them the worst winning percentage (.106) in NBA history (Wikipedia 2013). It remains obvious that Michael Jordan the player is far more successful than Michael Jordan the owner. This relates back to the trait approach and its inability to acknowledge situational effects. As a player, Jordan’s self-confidence, determination, and basketball intelligence allowed him to be successful. However, using those same traits as the owner of the Bobcats has yielded undesirable and downright terrible results.
Therefore, the trait approach should be applied with caution. It provides a benchmark of what characteristics we would like our leaders to possess, which may offer valuable information to corporations in regards to the evaluation of their managers and supervisors. However, its inability to consider the situational effect is a major concern.
Looking forward to the situational approach in the text, Northouse (2013) states that this type of approach focuses on leadership in different situations, as the name suggests. In addition, the text states that a successful leader is an individuation who will adapt his or her style to satisfy the requirements of different situations. That being said, it will be interesting to learn more about the situational approach and its strengths and weaknesses in comparison to the trait approach in the coming months.
References:
ESPN (2013). Michael Jordan Biography. [Online] Retrieved from http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/player/hollinger/_/id/1035/michael-jordan. [Last Accessed 17 January 13].
Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice (6th edition). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.
Wikipedia (2013). Michael Jordan. [Online] Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jordan. [Last Accessed 17 January 13].