As I begin my journey toward a better understanding of leadership, I’ve already encountered some questions that I have regarding the various theories and beliefs surrounding the notion of leadership. One area of leadership that I’ve begun to have questions with, is the trait based leadership theories.
One issue with using traits to explain or predict leadership is that, as Allport and Olbert found in 1936, there were approximately 18,000 traits identified in an English dictionary, (PSU, 2015). However, it was determined that most terms can be decomposed into 5 distinct categories or, as they referred to them, dimensions (PSU, 2015).
To further complicate matters, according to Northouse, citing (Stogdill, 1945), there seemed to be no homogeneous solid list of traits that could adequately identify a leader from a non-leader (2012, p.19).
In spite of this, Northouse citing (Mann, 1959) concluded that personality traits could, in fact, be used to ascertain the likelihood that someone was a leader versus a non-leader; these were intelligence, masculinity, adjustment, dominance, extraversion, and conservatism, (2012, p. 21).
So, what’s the point of all this?
The point is, after reading some of the trait theories, from a modern perspective, I immediately began to think what feminine leaders and liberal leaders would feel about Mann’s conclusions. Are women who exhibit masculinity, more of a leader than women who maintain feminine characteristics and traits?
Even so, the lens on trait based leadership research continues to shift. Northouse, citing (Kirkpatrick and Locke, 1991) states that Kirkpatrick and Locke made a revision to Mann’s six traits by removing some and adding a few of their own to come up with the following list: drive, motivation, integrity, confidence, cognitive ability, and task knowledge.
As with the other lists of traits, I question this one. Is the leader of a drug cartel not a leader? If so, do they have integrity? I don’t think so. What about Adolph Hitler, even those that despise his memory have to concede that he was, indeed, a leader. He was able to get millions of people to do his bidding. Did he have integrity? I suppose that integrity is the one characteristic on their list that doesn’t sit well with me.
References:
Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice. (Sixth Edition). New York: Sage Publications.
Pennsylvania State University (PSU). 2015. Lesson 02: Recognizing Your Traits. PSYCH 485: Leadership in Work Settings. Course Material. Retrieved 1/21/1015 from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/sp15/psych485/002/content/02_lesson/04_page.html
Elizabeth Rose Ilgenfritz says
I agree with you that integrity does not dictate if someone is a leader or not. Integrity falls in line with morals and values. As you said Adolf Hitler was a powerful influential leader without an ounce of integrity. If the topic of discussion was assessing morally right leaders integrity would be a goo characteristic, however, when it comes to leadership in general I do not think integrity should be a trait.