Hello,

In my humble opinion certain traits (e.g. extraversion) in leadership can have beneficial effects, however the leadership style is /should be dependent on the situation. You could include LMX-theory and look at the "fit" of employee and leader. The question ulitmately arises wether the proposed concordance is based on trait-similarities or valuing of the perceived actions (the leadership style).

Kind Regards!

Hi,

I have long been suspicious of the trait theory of leadership as there are many successful leaders who are different in personality as well as behaviours. It also relates strongly to the 'Great Man' theory and omits the relationship with followers. However, I feel that one of the most vital components of leadership is credibility and that comes through past behaviours that encompass many different components, e.g.. ability re: social and vision, as well as implementation. I agree with Burkhard Schmidt that most people would relate that to 'fit' of the industry, the tenor of the time that incorporates client/customer needs as a dynamic process. For me, credibility is the main 'trait'.

All the best.

Agree with the need to look at the context and fit, and the relationship of followers as suggested by Alex and Burkhard. However, LMX theory suggests looking at and building "preferred" ingroup networks. To me, this likely leaves out social groups who are less dominant in society, and does not pass the "fairness" criteria

Hi Jean,

In relation to the fairness component and LMX theory, might this be explained through reciprocal trust? And would credibility incorporate aspects of trustworthiness....and fairness?

HI, I have just spent the last few months finishing up a new book on leadership, and leadership coaching. I cannot share everything in those chapters here but it is a fascinating subject. Here's just a few comments which might be helpful. Know that this is very distilled from over eight decades of research into leadership development. This is from my new book to be published in March 2014. What is below doesn't go through the historical list of types of leaders, and the variety of leadership theories that have emerged (i.e. Trait theory, Behavioural theories, Contingency theories, Functional leadership theories, Situational theories, Attitude pattern approach, Transactional and transformational theories, Relationship theories, and Ethical and values-based theories). Another good book besides the one by Bass and Riggio, is The Nature of Executive Leadership: A conceptual and Empirical Analysis of Success by Stephen J. Zaccaro.

A leader is …

Someone who influences others to follow a given direction, and someone whose direction and approach other people are willing to follow. Leaders get their authority and power from being able to influence and persuade others to follow them.

Leadership has been described as a “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common goal” (Chemers, 2001:276). Therefore, leadership is about vision, direction, influence, communication and the aspirations of people.

Emergence of a new definition of leadership

New definitions of leaders and leadership are continuing to emerge globally:

1. Human-based leaders embrace people, recognise their talents, fundamentally desire to see others succeed in their own right, and earn the loyalty and respect of those working with them. People pay attention to what they say, trust in the safe environment they create to share their thoughts and critiques, and choose to engage more fully. They know these leaders have their backs (Karlin, 2011:x).

2. Visionary leaders articulate a purpose that rings true for themselves and attune it to values shared by the people they lead. And because they genuinely believe in that vision, they can guide people toward it with a firm hand. When it comes time to change directions, competences in self-confidence and in being a change catalyst smooth the transition (Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee, 2002: 54-59).

3. Effective leadership … the power of simple governing principles: guiding visions, sincere values, organisational beliefs – the few self-referential ideas individuals can use to shape their own behaviour. The leader’s task is first to embody these principles, and then to help the organisation become the standard it has declared for itself (Wheatley, 2006:130).

4. True leadership stems from individuality that is honestly and sometimes imperfectly expressed. (Buckingham, 2012).

5. Leaders should strive for authenticity over perfection (George, 2007).

6. Leaders who work with a panoramic view of success do not operate with total selflessness, but they do define their own success within the context of the bigger picture. If “we” don’t succeed, “I” don’t succeed (Lipkin, 2013:135).

7. Successful leadership is a lifelong task of perpetual self-examination…when you are in touch with your own vision, values, perspectives, and roles, you will find a rewarding leadership path ( King, Altman & Lee, 2011).

8. Resonant leaders help blend financial, human, intellectual, environmental, and social capital into a potent recipe for effective performance in organisations. in addition to being great to work with, they get results. To be great, a leader needs to understand the market, the technology, the people, and a multitude of other factors affecting the organisation (Boyatzis and McKee, 2005:4-5).

9. Great leadership works through the emotions whether it’s creating strategy or mobilising teams to action – their success depends on how they do it. If leaders fail in this primal task of driving emotions in the right direction, nothing they do will work as well as it could or should. The leader acts as the group’s emotional guide (Goleman, 2002:3-5).

10. A process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common goal (Chemers: 2001).

11. Two essential elements of leadership are: the people element and the task element (related to objectives). Every successful leader has to work with both of these. This suggests the end goal is already provided, clearly defined or laid down. Sometimes leaders and followers evolve these together, with the leader consulting others to gather opinion and win support.

12. Leaders provide direction – a dream of an ideal future or a “vision” which may be crystallised into a “common goal” and objectives involving followers in doing so.

Nice comprehensive response. You point to not who leaders are (i.e. traits) but what they do. These are functions that are needed to take us into the 21st century.

Principles and theories on leadership provide guidence for leadership to be effective. But the reality situation is different in organizational life. In an organization, where trade unions are strong and infulence the decision making process; leadership is how to balance the trade unions and lead the activities. Having spend three years as a CEO of 3500 employees; what i realized that leadership is not an easy work nor there is prescribed tablet that works at all situation. A determination that i will lead the organization toward success and visioning to that goal is what makes a road map for a leader. Now, despite that there are problems with participative approach to lead, such as that time consuming, difficult to reach to a consensus agreement, winner and looser in the organization; ego and conflict; I still believe that leader should try to win over their subordinates so that all the staff could move to same direction. Understand the current problem, taking that issue in a professional manner and finding the right answer is what makes a leader successful.

I agree with your perspective. Trade unions play an important role in shaping the leadership process, and poses a reversal of power inherent to leadership. As you say, understanding the current problem helps to find the right answer for leadership success. There are no singular traits that make for universal success as a leader. However, does how one's identity as a leader align with that of trade unions and subordinates facilitate leader success?

These days trait theory has less believers. Especially after the globalization dynamics that has resulted in chaotic competition, more emphasis is laid on the management of people's diversity, emotions and idiosyncrasies in the organization.

That is what transformational leadership theory focuses on. It also imbibes in it the servant leadership approach.

Transformational leadership does recognize identity but with a different word, which is charisma. it is argued that charisma along with shared vision help in creating a buy-in amongst the people.

The other behaviors of the leader that are highlighted in this approach are: integrity, transparency, fairness, celebration & fun, identifying heroes in performance and recognizing them through acceptable means, and measuring results.

In a way, they are part of leader's identity.

Looking at the outcome of a leader's actions, Ghoshal and Bartlett 1994 identified the main task of leadership as the creation of a facilitative environment for productive, innovative work by employees. High quality management resulted in high quality work environments. Their framework for high quality management comprised the four dimensions of trust, support, stretch and discipline. The contribution to each to the building of supportive work contexts were (from Ghoshal & Bartlett, 1994);

1. Trust is an attribute of an organization’s context that induces its members to rely on the commitments of each other. Fairness and equity in the organization’s decision processes, involvement of individuals in decisions and activities affecting them, and staffing of positions with people who possess and are seen to possess the required capabilities contribute to the establishment of trust.

2. Support is an attribute of an organization’s context that induces its members to lend assistance and countenance to others. Mechanisms that allow actors to access the resources available to other actors, freedom of initiative at lower levels and personal orientation of senior functionaries that gives priority to providing guidance and help over exercising authority contribute to the establishment of support.

3. Stretch is an attribute of an organization’s context that induces its members to voluntarily strive for more, rather than less, ambitious objectives. Establishment of a shared ambition, the development of a collective identity, and the ability to give personal meaning to the way in which individuals contribute to the overall purpose of the organization contribute to the establishment of stretch.

4. Discipline is an attribute of an organization’s context that induces its members to voluntarily strive for meeting all expectations generated by their explicit or implicit commitments. Establishment of clear standards of performance and behavior, a system of open, candid and fast-cycle feedback, and consistency in the application of sanctions contribute to the establishment of discipline.

TRUST FACTOR (3 components)

Equity

Involvement

Competence

SUPPORT FACTOR (3 components)

Resource access

Autonomy

Guidance and help

STRETCH FACTOR (3 components)

Shared ambition

Collective identity

Personal meaning

DISCIPLINE FACTOR (3 components

Clear performance standards

Open fast-cycle feedback

Consistent sanctions

It would be interesting to test and segregate a sample of those high quality environments as a first step. Having done that, to isolate the leaders associated with those environments and thereafter to identify those traits or identities (if any) common to those leaders.