Week 8: Assignment: Selling the Vision

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Business Finance

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Leadership is not magnetic personality—that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not “making friends and influencing people”—that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to higher sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.
—Peter F. Drucker, Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices

Kotter (2001) identified creating a vision as one of the defining characteristics of leadership. Academics and business leaders alike seem to echo the sentiment; however, each offers his or her own guidelines and advice on how this critical task of setting a vision can be accomplished. As a scholar-practitioner in the field of business, you must draw on the work of others and add your voice to those developing a strategy for accomplishing this crucial leadership responsibility. More than that, you must develop a concrete mechanism for verifying the successful adoption of that vision. Even if you do not occupy a central leadership role, you can use the strategy you develop to help guide others in the field.

To prepare for this Assignment, reflect on Dr. Craig Marsh’s case study. Consider his challenges as well as his strengths and how you have adopted a model for corporate change. This model should include your organizational change or cultural change model, steps you would take to change the culture, and the dissection and explanation of how these steps will influence each of the challenges you face. Also included will be the mitigation plan to address the challenges, the creation of your vision statement, and a description of how you will translate your vision into measurable objectives. This week you compile these elements into one PowerPoint presentation that is your strategic plan to sell your vision to your organizational team.

By Day 7

Submit a 5- to 8-slide PowerPoint presentation, excluding title and References slides, that includes a leadership strategy for translating your vision into organizational success. In your PowerPoint presentation, do the following:

  • Create your vision statement.
  • Delineate your plan for how you will get others within the organization to adopt it as their own. In your plan, be sure to include the following:
    • The organizational change or cultural change model you used as the basis for your plan
    • An explanation of the steps you will take to change the culture and how these steps will influence each of the challenges you face
    • A brief description of the mitigation plan to address the challenges

Your PowerPoint presentation must contain a minimum of five scholarly resources on the last slide of the presentation. Additionally, in the Notes section of each slide, you must provide detailed support, including relevant citations, for the bulleted information within the slide. Your resources can be a combination of the Learning Resources used throughout this course and new scholarly resources. Note: Your presentation should adhere to the APA Presentation Template, found in this week’s Learning Resources.

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Leadership Seventh Edition To Laurel, Lisa, Madison, Scott, and Kallie Leadership Theory and Practice • Seventh Edition Peter g.Northouse Western Michigan University For information: Copyright  2016 by SAGE Publications, Inc. SAGE Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. 2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, California 91320 E-mail: order@sagepub.com SAGE Publications Ltd. 1 Oliver’s Yard 55 City Road London EC1Y 1SP Printed in the United States of America United Kingdom Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data SAGE Publications India Pvt. Ltd. Northouse, Peter Guy. B 1/I 1 Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area Mathura Road, New Delhi 110 044 India SAGE Publications Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd. 3 Church Street #10-04 Samsung Hub Singapore 049483 Leadershop : theory and practice/Peter Northouse, Western Michigan University.—Seventh Edition. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4833-1753-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Leadership. 2. Leadership—Case studies. I. Title. HM1261.N67 2015 303.3′4—dc23   2014044695 Acquisitions Editor: Maggie Stanley This book is printed on acid-free paper. Associate Editor: Abbie Rickard Editorial Assistant: Nicole Mangona Production Editor: Libby Larson Copy Editor: Melinda Masson Typesetter: C&M Digitals (P) Ltd. Proofreader: Sally Jaskold Indexer: Sheila Bodell Cover Designer: Gail Buschman Marketing Manager: Liz Thornton Digital Content Editor: Katie Bierach 15 16 17 18 19 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Brief Contents Preface 1. Introduction xvii 1 2. Trait Approach 19 4. Behavioral Approach 71 3. Skills Approach 5. Situational Approach 43 93 6. Path–Goal Theory 115 8. Transformational Leadership 161 7. Leader–Member Exchange Theory 9. Authentic Leadership 10. Servant Leadership 11. Adaptive Leadership 12. Psychodynamic Approach 13. Leadership Ethics 14. Team Leadership 15. Gender and Leadership 16. Culture and Leadership 137 195 225 257 295 329 363 397 427 Author Index 467 About the Author 491 Subject index About the Contributors 477 493 Detailed Contents Preface xvii 1. Introduction Leadership Defined Ways of Conceptualizing Leadership Definition and Components Leadership Described Trait Versus Process Leadership Assigned Versus Emergent Leadership Leadership and Power Leadership and Coercion Leadership and Management Plan of the Book Summary References 1 2 5 6 7 7 8 10 12 13 15 16 17 2. Trait Approach Description Intelligence Self-Confidence Determination Integrity Sociability Five-Factor Personality Model and Leadership Emotional Intelligence How Does the Trait Approach Work? Strengths Criticisms 19 19 23 24 24 25 26 26 27 29 30 30 Application Case Studies Case 2.1 Choosing a New Director of Research Case 2.2 A Remarkable Turnaround Case 2.3 Recruiting for the Bank Leadership Instrument Leadership Trait Questionnaire (LTQ) Summary References 32 32 33 34 36 37 38 40 41 3. Skills Approach Description Three-Skill Approach Technical Skill Human Skill Conceptual Skill Summary of the Three-Skill Approach Skills Model Competencies Individual Attributes Leadership Outcomes Career Experiences Environmental Influences Summary of the Skills Model How Does the Skills Approach Work? Strengths Criticisms Application Case Studies Case 3.1 A Strained Research Team Case 3.2 A Shift for Lieutenant Colonel Adams Case 3.3 Andy’s Recipe Leadership Instrument Skills Inventory Summary References 43 43 44 44 44 45 46 47 48 52 53 54 55 56 56 57 58 59 60 60 62 64 66 67 69 70 4. Behavioral Approach Description The Ohio State Studies The University of Michigan Studies Blake and Mouton’s Managerial (Leadership) Grid Authority–Compliance (9,1) 71 71 72 73 74 75 Country-Club Management (1,9) Impoverished Management (1,1) Middle-of-the-Road Management (5,5) Team Management (9,9) Paternalism/Maternalism Opportunism How Does the Behavioral Approach Work? Strengths Criticisms Application Case Studies Case 4.1 A Drill Sergeant at First Case 4.2 Eating Lunch Standing Up Case 4.3 We Are Family Leadership Instrument Leadership Behavior Questionnaire Summary References 75 75 76 77 77 77 78 80 81 81 82 83 84 85 87 88 90 91 5. Situational Approach Description Leadership Styles Development Levels How Does the Situational Approach Work? Strengths Criticisms Application Case Studies Case 5.1 Marathon Runners at Different Levels Case 5.2 Why Aren’t They Listening? Case 5.3 Getting the Message Across Leadership Instrument Situational Leadership Questionnaire: Sample Items Summary References 93 93 94 96 97 98 99 102 103 103 105 107 108 109 112 113 6. Path–Goal Theory Description Leader Behaviors Directive Leadership Supportive Leadership Participative Leadership Achievement-Oriented Leadership 115 115 117 117 117 118 118 Follower Characteristics Task Characteristics How Does Path–Goal Theory Work? Strengths Criticisms Application Case Studies Case 6.1 Three Shifts, Three Supervisors Case 6.2 Direction for Some, Support for Others Case 6.3 Playing in the Orchestra Leadership Instrument Path–Goal Leadership Questionnaire Summary References 118 119 120 122 123 124 125 126 128 129 132 133 135 136 7. Leader–Member Exchange Theory Description Early Studies Later Studies Leadership Making How Does LMX Theory Work? Strengths Criticisms Application Case Studies Case 7.1 His Team Gets the Best Assignments Case 7.2 Working Hard at Being Fair Case 7.3 Taking on Additional Responsibilities Leadership Instrument LMX 7 Questionnaire Summary References 137 137 137 140 142 144 145 146 148 149 150 151 152 154 155 157 158 8. Transformational Leadership Description Transformational Leadership Defined Transformational Leadership and Charisma A Model of Transformational Leadership Transformational Leadership Factors Transactional Leadership Factors Nonleadership Factor Other Transformational Perspectives Bennis and Nanus Kouzes and Posner 161 161 162 164 166 167 171 172 172 172 174 How Does the Transformational Approach Work? Strengths Criticisms Application Case Studies Case 8.1 The Vision Failed Case 8.2 An Exploration in Leadership Case 8.3 Her Vision of a Model Research Center Leadership Instrument Summary References 175 176 178 180 181 181 183 185 187 190 191 9. Authentic Leadership Description Authentic Leadership Defined Approaches to Authentic Leadership Practical Approach Theoretical Approach How Does Authentic Leadership Work? Strengths Criticisms Applications Case Studies Case 9.1 Am I Really a Leader? Case 9.2 A Leader Under Fire Case 9.3 The Reluctant First Lady Leadership Instrument Authentic Leadership Self-Assessment Questionnaire Summary References 195 195 196 197 197 200 205 206 207 208 209 210 212 214 217 218 220 221 10. Servant Leadership Description Servant Leadership Defined Historical Basis of Servant Leadership Ten Characteristics of a Servant Leader Building a Theory About Servant Leadership Model of Servant Leadership Antecedent Conditions Servant Leader Behaviors Outcomes Summary of the Model of Servant Leadership How Does Servant Leadership Work? Strengths 225 225 226 226 227 229 231 231 233 236 238 238 239 Criticisms Application Case Studies Case 10.1 Everyone Loves Mrs. Noble Case 10.2 Doctor to the Poor Case 10.3 Servant Leadership Takes Flight Leadership Instrument Servant Leadership Questionnaire Summary References 240 241 242 243 244 247 249 250 253 254 11. Adaptive Leadership Description Adaptive Leadership Defined A Model of Adaptive Leadership Situational Challenges Leader Behaviors Adaptive Work How Does Adaptive Leadership Work? Strengths Criticisms Application Case Studies Case 11.1 Silence, Stigma, and Mental Illness Case 11.2 Taming Bacchus Case 11.3 Redskins No More Leadership Instrument Adaptive Leadership Questionnaire Summary References 257 257 258 260 261 263 273 274 275 276 277 279 12. Psychodynamic Approach Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries and Alicia Cheak Description The Clinical Paradigm History of the Psychodynamic Approach Key Concepts and Dynamics Within the Psychodynamic Approach 1. Focus on the Inner Theatre 2. Focus on the Leader-Follower Relationships 3. Focus on the Shadow Side of Leadership How Does the Psychodynamic Approach Work? Strengths 295 279 281 283 286 287 292 293 295 296 297 301 301 302 305 305 306 Criticisms Application Group Coaching Case Studies Case 12.1 Dealing With Passive-Aggressives Case 12.2 The Fear of Success Case 12.3 Helping a Bipolar Leader Leadership Instrument The Leadership Archetype Questionnaire (Abridged Version) Summary References 307 308 309 313 313 314 315 317 318 324 324 13. Leadership Ethics Description Ethics Defined Level 1. Preconventional Morality Level 2. Conventional Morality Level 3. Postconventional Morality Ethical Theories Centrality of Ethics to Leadership Heifetz’s Perspective on Ethical Leadership Burns’s Perspective on Ethical Leadership The Dark Side of Leadership Principles of Ethical Leadership Ethical Leaders Respect Others Ethical Leaders Serve Others Ethical Leaders Are Just Ethical Leaders Are Honest Ethical Leaders Build Community Strengths Criticisms Application Case Studies Case 13.1 Choosing a Research Assistant Case 13.2 How Safe Is Safe? Case 13.3 Reexamining a Proposal Leadership Instrument Perceived Leader Integrity Scale (PLIS) Summary References 329 329 330 331 332 332 333 336 337 338 339 341 341 342 344 345 346 347 348 349 349 350 351 352 355 356 359 360 14. Team Leadership Susan E. Kogler Hill Description 363 363 Team Leadership Model Team Effectiveness Leadership Decisions Leadership Actions How Does the Team Leadership Model Work? Strengths Criticisms Application Case Studies Case 14.1 Can This Virtual Team Work? Case 14.2 They Dominated the Conversation Case 14.3 Starts With a Bang, Ends With a Whimper Leadership Instrument Team Excellence and Collaborative Team Leader Questionnaire Summary References 366 367 372 377 381 382 383 384 385 385 386 387 389 391 393 393 15. Gender and Leadership Crystal L. Hoyt and Stefanie Simon Description The Glass Ceiling Turned Labyrinth Evidence of the Leadership Labyrinth Understanding the Labyrinth Gender Differences in Leadership Styles and Effectiveness Navigating the Labyrinth Strengths Criticisms Application Case Studies Case 15.1 The “Glass Ceiling” Case 15.2 Lack of Inclusion and Credibility Case 15.3 Pregnancy as a Barrier to Job Status Leadership Instrument The Gender–Leader Implicit Association Test Summary References 397 401 406 409 410 411 411 412 413 414 415 416 419 420 16. Culture and Leadership Description Culture Defined Related Concepts 427 427 428 428 397 398 398 399 Ethnocentrism Prejudice Dimensions of Culture Uncertainty Avoidance Power Distance Institutional Collectivism In-Group Collectivism Gender Egalitarianism Assertiveness Future Orientation Performance Orientation Humane Orientation Clusters of World Cultures Characteristics of Clusters Anglo Confucian Asia Eastern Europe Germanic Europe Latin America Latin Europe Middle East Nordic Europe Southern Asia Sub-Saharan Africa Leadership Behavior and Culture Clusters Eastern Europe Leadership Profile Latin America Leadership Profile Latin Europe Leadership Profile Confucian Asia Leadership Profile Nordic Europe Leadership Profile Anglo Leadership Profile Sub-Saharan Africa Leadership Profile Southern Asia Leadership Profile Germanic Europe Leadership Profile Middle East Leadership Profile Universally Desirable and Undesirable Leadership Attributes Strengths Criticisms Application Case Studies Case 16.1 A Challenging Workplace Case 16.2 A Special Kind of Financing Case 16.3 Whose Hispanic Center Is It? 428 429 430 431 432 432 432 433 433 433 434 434 434 436 437 437 437 437 438 438 438 439 439 439 439 441 441 441 443 443 444 445 445 446 446 448 449 450 451 452 452 454 456 Leadership Instrument Dimensions of Culture Questionnaire Summary References 458 459 464 465 Author Index 467 About the Author 491 About the Contributors 493 Subject index 477 Preface This seventh edition of Leadership: Theory and Practice is written with the objective of bridging the gap between the often-simplistic popular approaches to leadership and the more abstract theoretical approaches. Like the previous editions, this edition reviews and analyzes a selected number of leadership theories, giving special attention to how each theoretical approach can be applied in real-world organizations. In essence, my purpose is to explore how leadership theory can inform and direct the way leadership is practiced. NEW TO THIS EDITION New to this volume is a chapter on adaptive leadership, which examines the nature of adaptive leadership, its underpinnings, and how it works. The chapter presents a definition, a model, and the latest research and applications of this emerging approach to leadership. In addition, the strengths and weaknesses of the adaptive leadership approach are examined, and a questionnaire to help readers assess their own levels of adaptive leadership is provided. Three case studies illustrating adaptive leadership are presented at the end of the chapter. This volume also presents an entirely new chapter on psychodynamic leadership written by a leading expert in the field, Manfred F. R. Kets De Vries, and Alicia Cheak. Like the other chapters, this chapter provides a theoretical explanation of psychodynamic leadership, applications, cases studies, and an assessment instrument. This edition also includes an expanded discussion of the dark side of leadership and psuedotransformational leadership and the negative uses and abuses of leadership. New research has been added throughout the book as xvii xviii  Leadership Theory and Practice well as many new case studies and examples that help students apply leadership concepts to contemporary settings. This edition retains many special features from previous editions but has been updated to include new research findings, figures and tables, and everyday applications for many leadership topics including leader–member exchange theory, transformational and authentic leadership, team leadership, the labyrinth of women’s leadership, and historical definitions of leadership. The format of this edition parallels the format used in earlier editions. As with previous editions, the overall goal of Leadership: Theory and Practice is to advance our understanding of the many different approaches to leadership and ways to practice it more effectively. Special Features  Although this text presents and analyzes a wide range of leadership research, every attempt has been made to present the material in a clear, concise, and interesting manner. Reviewers of the book have consistently commented that clarity is one of its major strengths. In addition to the writing style, several other features of the book help make it user-friendly. • Each chapter follows the same format: It is structured to include first theory and then practice. • Every chapter contains a discussion of the strengths and criticisms of the approach under consideration, and assists the reader in determining the relative merits of each approach. • Each chapter includes an application section that discusses the practical aspects of the approach and how it could be used in today’s organizational settings. • Three case studies are provided in each chapter to illustrate common leadership issues and dilemmas. Thought-provoking questions follow each case study, helping readers to interpret the case. • A questionnaire is provided in each of the chapters to help the reader apply the approach to his or her own leadership style or setting. • Figures and tables illustrate the content of the theory and make the ideas more meaningful. Through these special features, every effort has been made to make this text substantive, understandable, and practical. Preface xix Audience  This book provides both an in-depth presentation of leadership theory and a discussion of how it applies to real-life situations. Thus, it is intended for undergraduate and graduate classes in management, leadership studies, business, educational leadership, public administration, nursing and allied health, social work, criminal justice, industrial and organizational psychology, communication, religion, agricultural education, political and military science, and training and development. It is particularly well suited as a supplementary text for core organizational behavior courses or as an overview text within MBA curricula. This book would also be useful as a text in student activities, continuing education, in-service training, and other leadership-development programs. Instructor Teaching Site SAGE edge for Instructors, a password-protected instructor resource site, supports teaching by making it easy to integrate quality content and create a rich learning environment for students. The test banks, which have been expanded for this edition, include multiple-choice and true/false questions to test comprehension, as well as essay questions that ask students to apply the material. An electronic test bank, compatible with PCs and Macs through Diploma software, is also available. Chapter-specific resources include PowerPoint slides, study and discussion questions, suggested exercises, full-text journal articles, and video and audio links. General resources include course-long projects, sample syllabi, film resources, and case notes. Printable PDF versions of the questionnaires from the text are included for instructors to print and distribute for classroom use. A course cartridge includes assets found on the Instructor Teaching Site and the Student Study Site, as well as a bonus quiz for each chapter in the book—all in an easy-toupload package. Go to edge.sagepub.com/northouse7e to access the companion site. Student Study Site SAGE edge for Students provides a personalized approach to help students accomplish their coursework goals in an easy-to-use learning environment. Mobile-friendly eFlashcards and practice quizzes strengthen understanding of key terms and concepts and allow for independent assessment by students of their mastery of course material. A customized online action plan includes xx  Leadership Theory and Practice tips and feedback on progress through the course and materials, which allows students to individualize their learning experience. Learning objectives, multimedia links, discussion questions, and SAGE journal articles help students study and reinforce the most important material. Students can go to edge.sagepub.com/northouse7e to access the site. Media Icons Icons appearing at the bottom of the page will direct you to online media such as videos, audio links, journal articles, and reference articles that correspond with key chapter concepts. Visit the Student Study Site at edge. sagepub.com/northouse7e to access this media. icons Northouse on Leadership   SAGE Journal Article   Audio    Reference Article   Video Acknowledgments Many people directly or indirectly contributed to the development of the seventh edition of Leadership: Theory and Practice. First, I would like to acknowledge my editor, Maggie Stanley, and her talented team at SAGE Publications (Nicole, Abbie, MaryAnn, Liz, Katie, and Lauren) who have contributed significantly to the quality of this edition and ensured its success. For their very capable work during the production phase, I would like to thank copy editor Melinda Masson, and senior project editor Libby Larson. In her own unique way, each of these people made valuable contributions to the seventh edition. For comprehensive reviews of the seventh edition, I would like to thank the following reviewers: Meera Alagaraja, University of Louisville Mel Albin, Excelsior College Thomas Batsching, Reutlingen University Cheryl Beeler, Angelo State University Mark D. Bowman, Methodist University Dianne Burns, University of Manchester Eric Buschlen, Central Michigan University Steven Bryant, Drury University Daniel Calhoun, Georgia Southern University David Conrad, Augsburg College Joyce Cousins, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland xxi xxii  Leadership Theory and Practice Denise Danna, LSUHSC School of Nursing S. Todd Deal, Georgia Southern University Caroline S. Fulmer, University of Alabama Greig A. Gjerdalen, Capilano University Andrew Gonzales, University of California, Irvine Carl Holschen, Missouri Baptist University Kiran Ismail, St. John’s University Irma Jones, University of Texas at Brownsville Michele D. Kegley, University of Cincinnati, Blue Ash College David Lees, University of Derby David S. McClain, University of Hawaii at Manoa Carol McMillan, New School University Richard Milter, Johns Hopkins University Christopher Neck, Arizona State University–Tempe Keeok Park, University of La Verne Richard Parkman, University of Plymouth Chaminda S. Prelis, University of Dubuque Casey Rae, George Fox University Noel Ronan, Waterford Institute of Technology Louis Rubino, California State University, Northridge Shadia Sachedina, Baruch College (School of Public Affairs) Harriet L. Schwartz, Carlow University Kelli K. Smith, University of Nebraska-Lincoln David Swenson, The College of St. Scholastica Danny L. Talbot, Washington State University Robert L. Taylor, University of Louisville Precious Taylor-Clifton, Cambridge College John Tummons, University of Missouri Acknowledgments xxiii Kristi Tyran, Western Washington University Tamara Von George, Granite State College Natalie Walker, Seminole State College William Welch, Bowie State University David E. Williams, Texas Tech University Tony Wohlers, Cameron University Sharon A. Wulf, Worcester Polytechnic Institute School of Business Alec Zama, Grand View University Xia Zhao, California State University, Dominguez Hills I would like to thank, for their exceptional work on the leadership profile tool and the ancillaries, Isolde Anderson (Hope College), John Baker (Western Kentucky University), Renee Kosiarek (North Central College) and Lisa Burgoon (University of Illinois), and for his feedback in the construction and scoring of the adaptive leadership questionnaire, Paul Yelsma (Western Michigan University). A special acknowledgment goes to Laurel Northouse for her insightful critiques and ongoing support. In addition, I am grateful to Marie Lee, for her exceptional editing and guidance throughout this project. For their reviews of and comments on the adaptive leadership chapter, I am indebted to Sarah Chace (Marian University), Carl Larson (University of Denver), and Chip Bailey (Duke University). Finally, I would like to thank the many undergraduate and graduate students whom I have taught through the years. Their ongoing feedback has helped clarify my thinking about leadership and encouraged me to make plain the practical implications of leadership theories. SAGE was founded in 1965 by Sara Miller McCune to support the dissemination of usable knowledge by publishing innovative and high-quality research and teaching content. Today, we publish more than 750 journals, including those of more than 300 learned societies, more than 800 new books per year, and a growing range of library products including archives, data, case studies, reports, conference highlights, and video. SAGE remains majority-owned by our founder, and after Sara’s lifetime will become owned by a charitable trust that secures our continued independence. Los Angeles | London | Washington DC | New Delhi | Singapore | Boston 1 Introduction L eadership is a highly sought-after and highly valued commodity. In the 15 years since the first edition of this book was published, the public has become increasingly captivated by the idea of leadership. People continue to ask themselves and others what makes good leaders. As individuals, they seek more information on how to become effective leaders. As a result, bookstore shelves are filled with popular books about leaders and advice on how to be a leader. Many people believe that leadership is a way to improve their personal, social, and professional lives. Corporations seek those with leadership ability because they believe they bring special assets to their organizations and, ultimately, improve the bottom line. Academic institutions throughout the country have responded by providing programs in leadership studies. In addition, leadership has gained the attention of researchers worldwide. A review of the scholarly studies on leadership shows that there is a wide variety of different theoretical approaches to explain the complexities of the leadership process (e.g., Bass, 1990; Bryman, 1992; Bryman, Collinson, Grint, Jackson, & Uhl-Bien, 2011; Day & Antonakis, 2012; Gardner, 1990; Hickman, 2009; Mumford, 2006; Rost, 1991). Some researchers conceptualize leadership as a trait or as a behavior, whereas others view leadership from an information-processing perspective or relational standpoint. Leadership has been studied using both qualitative and quantitative methods in many contexts, including small groups, therapeutic groups, and large organizations. Collectively, the research findings on leadership from all of these areas provide a picture of a process that is far more sophisticated and complex than the oftensimplistic view presented in some of the popular books on leadership. This book treats leadership as a complex process having multiple dimensions. Based on the research literature, this text provides an in-depth description Leadership Defined Role of Leadership 2  Leadership Theory and Practice and application of many different approaches to leadership. Our emphasis is on how theory can inform the practice of leadership. In this book, we describe each theory and then explain how the theory can be used in real situations. Leadership Defined______________________________ There are many ways to finish the sentence “Leadership is . . .” In fact, as Stogdill (1974, p. 7) pointed out in a review of leadership research, there are almost as many different definitions of leadership as there are people who have tried to define it. It is much like the words democracy, love, and peace. Although each of us intuitively knows what we mean by such words, the words can have different meanings for different people. As Box 1.1 shows, scholars and practitioners have attempted to define leadership for more than a century without universal consensus. Box 1.1 The Evolution of Leadership Definitions While many have a gut-level grasp of what leadership is, putting a definition to the term has proved to be a challenging endeavor for scholars and practitioners alike. More than a century has lapsed since leadership became a topic of academic introspection, and definitions have evolved continuously during that period. These definitions have been influenced by many factors from world affairs and politics to the perspectives of the discipline in which the topic is being studied. In a seminal work, Rost (1991) analyzed materials written from 1900 to 1990, finding more than 200 different definitions for leadership. His analysis provides a succinct history of how leadership has been defined through the last century: 1900–1929 Definitions of leadership appearing in the first three decades of the 20th century emphasized control and centralization of power with a common theme of domination. For example, at a conference on leadership in 1927, leadership was defined as “the ability to impress the will of the leader on those led and induce obedience, respect, loyalty, and cooperation” (Moore, 1927, p. 124). Defining Leadership Chapter 1 Introduction 3 1930s Traits became the focus of defining leadership, with an emerging view of leadership as influence rather than domination. Leadership was also identified as the interaction of an individual’s specific personality traits with those of a group; it was noted that while the attitudes and activities of the many may be changed by the one, the many may also influence a leader. 1940s The group approach came into the forefront with leadership being defined as the behavior of an individual while involved in directing group activities (Hemphill, 1949). At the same time, leadership by persuasion was distinguished from “drivership” or leadership by coercion (Copeland, 1942). 1950s Three themes dominated leadership definitions during this decade: • continuance of group theory, which framed leadership as what leaders do in groups; • leadership as a relationship that develops shared goals, which defined leadership based on behavior of the leader; and • effectiveness, in which leadership was defined by the ability to influence overall group effectiveness. 1960s Although a tumultuous time for world affairs, the 1960s saw harmony amongst leadership scholars. The prevailing definition of leadership as behavior that influences people toward shared goals was underscored by Seeman (1960) who described leadership as “acts by persons which influence other persons in a shared direction” (p. 53). 1970s The group focus gave way to the organizational behavior approach, where leadership became viewed as “initiating and maintaining groups or organizations to accomplish group or organizational goals” (Rost, 1991, p. 59). Burns’s (1978) definition, however, was the most important concept of leadership to emerge: “Leadership is the reciprocal process (Continued) Leadership in Nursing 4  Leadership Theory and Practice (Continued) of mobilizing by persons with certain motives and values, various economic, political, and other resources, in a context of competition and conflict, in order to realize goals independently or mutually held by both leaders and followers” (p. 425). 1980s This decade exploded with scholarly and popular works on the nature of leadership, bringing the topic to the apex of the academic and public consciousnesses. As a result, the number of definitions for leadership became a prolific stew with several persevering themes: • Do as the leader wishes. Leadership definitions still predominantly delivered the message that leadership is getting followers to do what the leader wants done. • Influence. Probably the most often used word in leadership definitions of the 1980s, influence was examined from every angle. In an effort to distinguish leadership from management, however, scholars insisted that leadership is noncoercive influence. • Traits. Spurred by the national best seller In Search of Excellence (Peters & Waterman, 1982), the leadership-as-excellence movement brought leader traits back to the spotlight. As a result, many people’s understanding of leadership is based on a trait orientation. • Transformation. Burns (1978) is credited for initiating a movement defining leadership as a transformational process, stating that leadership occurs “when one or more persons engage with others in such a way that leaders and followers raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality” (p. 83). Into the 21st Century Debate continues as to whether leadership and management are separate processes, but emerging research emphasizes the process of leadership, whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal, rather than developing new ways of defining leadership. Among these emerging leadership approaches are • authentic leadership, in which the authenticity of leaders and their leadership is emphasized; • spiritual leadership, which focuses on leadership that utilizes values and sense of calling and membership to motivate followers; The Future of Leadership Working Across Generations Chapter 1 Introduction 5 • servant leadership, which puts the leader in the role of servant, who utilizes “caring principles” to focus on followers’ needs to help these followers become more autonomous, knowledgeable, and like servants themselves; and • adaptive leadership, in which leaders encourage followers to adapt by confronting and solving problems, challenges, and changes. After decades of dissonance, leadership scholars agree on one thing: They can’t come up with a common definition for leadership. Because of such factors as growing global influences and generational differences, leadership will continue to have different meanings for different people. The bottom line is that leadership is a complex concept for which a determined definition may long be in flux. Source: Adapted from Leadership for the Twenty-First Century, by J. C. Rost, 1991, New York: Praeger. Ways of Conceptualizing Leadership In the past 60 years, as many as 65 different classification systems have been developed to define the dimensions of leadership (Fleishman et al., 1991). One such classification system, directly related to our discussion, is the scheme proposed by Bass (1990, pp. 11–20). He suggested that some definitions view leadership as the focus of group processes. From this perspective, the leader is at the center of group change and activity and embodies the will of the group. Another set of definitions conceptualizes leadership from a personality perspective, which suggests that leadership is a combination of special traits or characteristics that some individuals possess. These traits enable those individuals to induce others to accomplish tasks. Other approaches to leadership define it as an act or a behavior—the things leaders do to bring about change in a group. In addition, some define leadership in terms of the power relationship that exists between leaders and followers. From this viewpoint, leaders have power that they wield to effect change in others. Others view leadership as a transformational process that moves followers to accomplish more than is usually expected of them. Finally, some scholars address leadership from a skills perspective. This viewpoint stresses the capabilities (knowledge and skills) that make effective leadership possible.  Perspectives of Leadership 6  Leadership Theory and Practice Definition and Components Despite the multitude of ways in which leadership has been conceptualized, the following components can be identified as central to the phenomenon: (a) Leadership is a process, (b) leadership involves influence, (c) leadership occurs in groups, and (d) leadership involves common goals. Based on these components, the following definition of leadership is used in this text: Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal. Defining leadership as a process means that it is not a trait or characteristic that resides in the leader, but rather a transactional event that occurs between the leader and the followers. Process implies that a leader affects and is affected by followers. It emphasizes that leadership is not a linear, one-way event, but rather an interactive event. When leadership is defined in this manner, it becomes available to everyone. It is not restricted to the formally designated leader in a group. Leadership involves influence. It is concerned with how the leader affects followers. Influence is the sine qua non of leadership. Without influence, leadership does not exist. Leadership occurs in groups. Groups are the context in which leadership takes place. Leadership involves influencing a group of individuals who have a common purpose. This can be a small task group, a community group, or a large group encompassing an entire organization. Leadership is about one individual influencing a group of others to accomplish common goals. Others (a group) are required for leadership to occur. Leadership training programs that teach people to lead themselves are not considered a part of leadership within the definition that is set forth in this discussion. Leadership includes attention to common goals. Leaders direct their energies toward individuals who are trying to achieve something together. By common, we mean that the leaders and followers have a mutual purpose. Attention to common goals gives leadership an ethical overtone because it stresses the need for leaders to work with followers to achieve selected goals. Stressing mutuality lessens the possibility that leaders might act toward followers in ways that are forced or unethical. It also increases the possibility that leaders and followers will work together toward a common good (Rost, 1991). The Ethical Dimension of Leadership  Effective Leadership Chapter 1 Introduction 7 Throughout this text, the people who engage in leadership will be called leaders, and those toward whom leadership is directed will be called followers. Both leaders and followers are involved together in the leadership process. Leaders need followers, and followers need leaders (Burns, 1978; Heller & Van Til, 1983; Hollander, 1992; Jago, 1982). Although leaders and followers are closely linked, it is the leader who often initiates the relationship, creates the communication linkages, and carries the burden for maintaining the relationship. In our discussion of leaders and followers, attention will be directed toward follower issues as well as leader issues. Leaders have an ethical responsibility to attend to the needs and concerns of followers. As Burns (1978) pointed out, discussions of leadership sometimes are viewed as elitist because of the implied power and importance often ascribed to leaders in the leaderfollower relationship. Leaders are not above or better than followers. Leaders and followers must be understood in relation to each other (Hollander, 1992) and collectively (Burns, 1978). They are in the leadership relationship together—and are two sides of the same coin (Rost, 1991). Leadership Described____________________________ In addition to definitional issues, it is important to discuss several other questions pertaining to the nature of leadership. In the following section, we will address questions such as how leadership as a trait differs from leadership as a process; how appointed leadership differs from emergent leadership; and how the concepts of power, coercion, and management differ from leadership. Trait Versus Process Leadership We have all heard statements such as “He is born to be a leader” or “She is a natural leader.” These statements are commonly expressed by people who take a trait perspective toward leadership. The trait perspective suggests that certain individuals have special innate or inborn characteristics or qualities that make them leaders, and that it is these qualities that differentiate them from nonleaders. Some of the personal qualities used to identify leaders include unique physical factors (e.g., height), personality features (e.g., extraversion), and other characteristics (e.g., intelligence and fluency; Bryman, 1992). In Chapter 2, we will discuss a large body of research that has examined these personal qualities. Development of Leadership Followership 8  Leadership Theory and Practice To describe leadership as a trait is quite different from describing it as a process (Figure 1.1). The trait viewpoint conceptualizes leadership as a property or set of properties possessed in varying degrees by different people ( Jago, 1982). This suggests that it resides in select people and restricts leadership to those who are believed to have special, usually inborn, talents. The process viewpoint suggests that leadership is a phenomenon that resides in the context of the interactions between leaders and followers and makes leadership available to everyone. As a process, leadership can be observed in leader behaviors ( Jago, 1982), and can be learned. The process definition of leadership is consistent with the definition of leadership that we have set forth in this chapter. Assigned Versus Emergent Leadership Some people are leaders because of their formal position in an organization, whereas others are leaders because of the way other group members respond to them. These two common forms of leadership are called assigned leadership and emergent leadership. Leadership that is based on occupying a position in an organization is assigned leadership. Team leaders, plant managers, department heads, directors, and administrators are all examples of assigned leadership. Yet the person assigned to a leadership position does not always become the real leader in a particular setting. When others perceive an individual as the most influential member of a group or an organization, regardless of the individual’s title, the person is exhibiting emergent leadership. The individual acquires emergent leadership through other people in the organization who support and accept that individual’s behavior. This type of leadership is not assigned by position; rather, it emerges over a period through communication. Some of the positive communication behaviors that account for successful leader emergence include being verbally involved, being informed, seeking others’ opinions, initiating new ideas, and being firm but not rigid (Fisher, 1974). In addition to communication behaviors, researchers have found that personality plays a role in leadership emergence. For example, Smith and Foti (1998) found that certain personality traits were related to leadership emergence in a sample of 160 male college students. The individuals who were more dominant, more intelligent, and more confident about their own performance (general self-efficacy) were more likely to be identified as leaders by other members of their task group. Although it is uncertain whether these findings apply to women as well, Smith and Foti suggested that these three traits could be used to identify individuals perceived to be emergent leaders. Leadership: Skill or Process? Chapter 1 Introduction 9 Figure 1.1 The Different Views of Leadership TRAIT DEFINITION OF LEADERSHIP PROCESS DEFINITION OF LEADERSHIP Leader • Leadership • • • • Height Intelligence Extraversion Fluency Other Traits Followers Leader Leadership (Interaction) Followers SOURCE: Adapted from A Force for Change: How Leadership Differs From Management (pp. 3–8), by J. P. Kotter, 1990, New York: Free Press. Leadership emergence may also be affected by gender-biased perceptions. In a study of 40 mixed-sex college groups, Watson and Hoffman (2004) found that women who were urged to persuade their task groups to adopt high-quality decisions succeeded with the same frequency as men with identical instructions. Although women were equally influential leaders in their groups, they were rated significantly lower than comparable men were on leadership. Furthermore, these influential women were also rated as significantly less likable than comparably influential men were. These results suggest that there continue to be barriers to women’s emergence as leaders in some settings. A unique perspective on leadership emergence is provided by social identity theory (Hogg, 2001). From this perspective, leadership emergence is the degree to which a person fits with the identity of the group as a whole. As groups develop over time, a group prototype also develops. Individuals emerge as leaders in the group when they become most like the group prototype. Being similar to the prototype makes leaders attractive to the group and gives them influence with the group. The leadership approaches we discuss in the subsequent chapters of this book apply equally to assigned leadership and emergent leadership. When a person is engaged in leadership, that person is a leader, whether leadership  Ordinary Leaders 10  Leadership Theory and Practice Table 1.1 Six Bases of Power Referent Power Based on followers’ identification and liking for the leader. A teacher who is adored by students has referent power. Expert Power Based on followers’ perceptions of the leader’s competence. A tour guide who is knowledgeable about a foreign country has expert power. Legitimate Power Associated with having status or formal job authority. A judge who administers sentences in the courtroom exhibits legitimate power. Reward Power Derived from having the capacity to provide rewards to others. A supervisor who gives rewards to employees who work hard is using reward power. Coercive Power Derived from having the capacity to penalize or punish others. A coach who sits players on the bench for being late to practice is using coercive power. Information Derived from possessing knowledge that others want or need. Power A boss who has information regarding new criteria to decide employee promotion eligibility has information power. SOURCE: Adapted from “The Bases of Social Power,” by J. R. French Jr. and B. Raven, 1962, in D. Cartwright (Ed.), Group Dynamics: Research and Theory (pp. 259–269), New York: Harper & Row; and “Social Influence and Power,” by B. H. Raven, 1965, in I. D. Steiner & M. Fishbein (Eds.), Current Studies in Social Psychology (pp. 371–382), New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston. was assigned or emerged. This book focuses on the leadership process that occurs when any individual is engaged in influencing other group members in their efforts to reach a common goal. Leadership and Power The concept of power is related to leadership because it is part of the influence process. Power is the capacity or potential to influence. People have power when they have the ability to affect others’ beliefs, attitudes, and courses of action. Judges, doctors, coaches, and teachers are all examples of people who have the potential to influence us. When they do, they are using their power, the resource they draw on to effect change in us. Although there are no explicit theories in the research literature about power and leadership, power is a concept that people often associate with leadership. It is common for people to view leaders (both good and bad) and people in positions of leadership as individuals who wield power over others, and as a result, power is often thought of as synonymous with leadership. In addition, people are often intrigued by how leaders use their power. Studying  Power and Leadership Bases of Power Chapter 1 Introduction 11 Table 1.2 Types and Bases of Power Position Power Personal Power Legitimate Reward Coercive Referent Expert Information SOURCE: Adapted from A Force for Change: How Leadership Differs From Management (pp. 3–8), by J. P. Kotter, 1990, New York: Free Press. how famous leaders, such as Hitler or Alexander the Great, use power to effect change in others is titillating to many people because it underscores that power can indeed effectuate change and maybe if they had power they too could effectuate change. But regardless of people’s general interest in power and leadership, power has not been a major variable in theories of leadership. Clearly it is a component in the overall leadership process, but research on its role is limited. In her recent book, The End of Leadership (2012), Kellerman argues there has been a shift in leadership power during the last 40 years. Power used to be the domain of leaders, but that is diminishing and shifting to followers. Changes in culture have meant followers demand more from leaders, and leaders have responded. Access to technology has empowered followers, given them access to huge amounts of information, and made leaders more transparent. The result is a decline in respect of leaders and leaders’ legitimate power. In effect, followers have used information power to level the playing field. Power is no longer synonymous with leadership, and in the social contract between leaders and followers, leaders wield less power, according to Kellerman. In college courses today, the most widely cited research on power is French and Raven’s (1959) work on the bases of social power. In their work, they conceptualized power from the framework of a dyadic relationship that included both the person influencing and the person being influenced. French and Raven identified five common and important bases of power—referent, expert, legitimate, reward, and coercive—and Raven (1965) identified a sixth, information power (Table 1.1). Each of these bases of power increases a leader’s capacity to influence the attitudes, values, or behaviors of others. In organizations, there are two major kinds of power: position power and personal power. Position power is the power a person derives from a particular office or rank in a formal organizational system. It is the influence Types of Power 12  Leadership Theory and Practice capacity a leader derives from having higher status than the followers have. Vice presidents and department heads have more power than staff personnel do because of the positions they hold in the organization. Position power includes legitimate, reward, coercive, and information power (Table 1.2). Personal power is the influence capacity a leader derives from being seen by followers as likable and knowledgeable. When leaders act in ways that are important to followers, it gives leaders power. For example, some managers have power because their followers consider them to be good role models. Others have power because their followers view them as highly competent or considerate. In both cases, these managers’ power is ascribed to them by others, based on how they are seen in their relationships with others. Personal power includes referent and expert power (Table 1.2). In discussions of leadership, it is not unusual for leaders to be described as wielders of power, as individuals who dominate others. In these instances, power is conceptualized as a tool that leaders use to achieve their own ends. Contrary to this view of power, Burns (1978) emphasized power from a relationship standpoint. For Burns, power is not an entity that leaders use over others to achieve their own ends; instead, power occurs in relationships. It should be used by leaders and followers to promote their collective goals. In this text, our discussions of leadership treat power as a relational concern for both leaders and followers. We pay attention to how leaders work with followers to reach common goals. Leadership and Coercion Coercive power is one of the specific kinds of power available to leaders. Coercion involves the use of force to effect change. To coerce means to influence others to do something against their will and may include manipulating penalties and rewards in their work environment. Coercion often involves the use of threats, punishment, and negative reward schedules. Classic examples of coercive leaders are Adolf Hitler in Germany, the Taliban leaders in Afghanistan, Jim Jones in Guyana, and North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il, each of whom has used power and restraint to force followers to engage in extreme behaviors. It is important to distinguish between coercion and leadership because it allows us to separate out from our examples of leadership the behaviors of individuals such as Hitler, the Taliban, and Jones. In our discussions of leadership, coercive people are not used as models of ideal leadership. Our Leadership and Coercion Chapter 1 Introduction 13 definition suggests that leadership is reserved for those who influence a group of individuals toward a common goal. Leaders who use coercion are interested in their own goals and seldom are interested in the wants and needs of followers. Using coercion runs counter to working with followers to achieve a common goal. Leadership and Management Leadership is a process that is similar to management in many ways. Leadership involves influence, as does management. Leadership entails working with people, which management entails as well. Leadership is concerned with effective goal accomplishment, and so is management. In general, many of the functions of management are activities that are consistent with the definition of leadership we set forth at the beginning of this chapter. But leadership is also different from management. Whereas the study of leadership can be traced back to Aristotle, management emerged around the turn of the 20th century with the advent of our industrialized society. Management was created as a way to reduce chaos in organizations, to make them run more effectively and efficiently. The primary functions of management, as first identified by Fayol (1916), were planning, organizing, staffing, and controlling. These functions are still representative of the field of management today. In a book that compared the functions of management with the functions of leadership, Kotter (1990) argued that the functions of the two are quite dissimilar (Figure 1.2). The overriding function of management is to provide order and consistency to organizations, whereas the primary function of leadership is to produce change and movement. Management is about seeking order and stability; leadership is about seeking adaptive and constructive change. As illustrated in Figure 1.2, the major activities of management are played out differently than the activities of leadership. Although they are different in scope, Kotter (1990, pp. 7–8) contended that both management and leadership are essential if an organization is to prosper. For example, if an organization has strong management without leadership, the outcome can be stifling and bureaucratic. Conversely, if an organization has strong leadership without management, the outcome can be meaningless or misdirected change for change’s sake. To be effective, organizations need to nourish both competent management and skilled leadership. Managers Require; Leaders Inspire 14  Leadership Theory and Practice Figure 1.2 Functions of Management and Leadership Management Produces Order and Consistency Leadership Produces Change and Movement Planning and Budgeting • Establish agendas • Set timetables • Allocate resources Organizing and Staffing • Provide structure • Make job placements • Establish rules and procedures Controlling and Problem Solving • Develop incentives • Generate creative solutions • Take corrective action Establishing Direction • Create a vision • Clarify big picture • Set strategies Aligning People • Communicate goals • Seek commitment • Build teams and coalitions Motivating and Inspiring • Inspire and energize • Empower followers • Satisfy unmet needs SOURCE: Adapted from A Force for Change: How Leadership Differs From Management (pp. 3–8), by J. P. Kotter, 1990, New York: Free Press. Many scholars, in addition to Kotter (1990), argue that leadership and management are distinct constructs. For example, Bennis and Nanus (1985) maintained that there is a significant difference between the two. To manage means to accomplish activities and master routines, whereas to lead means to influence others and create visions for change. Bennis and Nanus made the distinction very clear in their frequently quoted sentence, “Managers are people who do things right and leaders are people who do the right thing” (p. 221). Rost (1991) has also been a proponent of distinguishing between leadership and management. He contended that leadership is a multidirectional influence relationship and management is a unidirectional authority relationship. Whereas leadership is concerned with the process of developing mutual purposes, management is directed toward coordinating activities in order to get a job done. Leaders and followers work together to create real change, whereas managers and subordinates join forces to sell goods and services (Rost, 1991, pp. 149–152). In a recent study, Simonet and Tett (2012) explored how leadership and management are best conceptualized by having 43 experts identify the overlap and differences between leadership and management in regard to 63 different competencies. They found a large number of competencies (22) Leadership in the NHS Chapter 1 Introduction 15 descriptive of both leadership and management (e.g., productivity, customer focus, professionalism, and goal setting), but they also found several unique descriptors for each. Specifically, they found leadership was distinguished by motivating intrinsically, creative thinking, strategic planning, tolerance of ambiguity, and being able to read people, and management was distinguished by rule orientation, short-term planning, motivating extrinsically, orderliness, safety concerns, and timeliness. Approaching the issue from a narrower viewpoint, Zaleznik (1977) went so far as to argue that leaders and managers themselves are distinct, and that they are basically different types of people. He contended that managers are reactive and prefer to work with people to solve problems but do so with low emotional involvement. They act to limit choices. Zaleznik suggested that leaders, on the other hand, are emotionally active and involved. They seek to shape ideas instead of responding to them and act to expand the available options to solve long-standing problems. Leaders change the way people think about what is possible. Although there are clear differences between management and leadership, the two constructs overlap. When managers are involved in influencing a group to meet its goals, they are involved in leadership. When leaders are involved in planning, organizing, staffing, and controlling, they are involved in management. Both processes involve influencing a group of individuals toward goal attainment. For purposes of our discussion in this book, we focus on the leadership process. In our examples and case studies, we treat the roles of managers and leaders similarly and do not emphasize the differences between them. Plan of the Book________________________________ This book is user-friendly. It is based on substantive theories but is written to emphasize practice and application. Each chapter in the book follows the same format. The first section of each chapter briefly describes the leadership approach and discusses various research studies applicable to the approach. The second section of each chapter evaluates the approach, highlighting its strengths and criticisms. Special attention is given to how the approach contributes or fails to contribute to an overall understanding of the leadership process. The next section uses case studies to prompt discussion of how the approach can be applied in ongoing organizations. Finally, each chapter provides a leadership questionnaire along with a discussion of how the questionnaire measures the reader’s leadership style. Each chapter ends with a summary and references. Leadership and Nursing Theory 16  Leadership Theory and Practice Summary________________________________________ Leadership is a topic with universal appeal; in the popular press and academic research literature, much has been written about leadership. Despite the abundance of writing on the topic, leadership has presented a major challenge to practitioners and researchers interested in understanding the nature of leadership. It is a highly valued phenomenon that is very complex. Through the years, leadership has been defined and conceptualized in many ways. The component common to nearly all classifications is that leadership is an influence process that assists groups of individuals toward goal attainment. Specifically, in this book leadership is defined as a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal. Because both leaders and followers are part of the leadership process, it is important to address issues that confront followers as well as issues that confront leaders. Leaders and followers should be understood in relation to each other. In prior research, many studies have focused on leadership as a trait. The trait perspective suggests that certain people in our society have special inborn qualities that make them leaders. This view restricts leadership to those who are believed to have special characteristics. In contrast, the approach in this text suggests that leadership is a process that can be learned, and that it is available to everyone. Two common forms of leadership are assigned and emergent. Assigned leadership is based on a formal title or position in an organization. Emergent leadership results from what one does and how one acquires support from followers. Leadership, as a process, applies to individuals in both assigned roles and emergent roles. Related to leadership is the concept of power, the potential to influence. There are two major kinds of power: position and personal. Position power, which is much like assigned leadership, is the power an individual derives from having a title in a formal organizational system. It includes legitimate, reward, information, and coercive power. Personal power comes from followers and includes referent and expert power. Followers give it to leaders because followers believe leaders have something of value. Treating power as a shared resource is important because it deemphasizes the idea that leaders are power wielders. While coercion has been a common power brought to bear by many individuals in charge, it should not be viewed as ideal leadership. Our definition Chapter 1 Introduction 17 of leadership stresses using influence to bring individuals toward a common goal, while coercion involves the use of threats and punishment to induce change in followers for the sake of the leaders. Coercion runs counter to leadership because it does not treat leadership as a process that emphasizes working with followers to achieve shared objectives. Leadership and management are different concepts that overlap. They are different in that management traditionally focuses on the activities of planning, organizing, staffing, and controlling, whereas leadership emphasizes the general influence process. According to some researchers, management is concerned with creating order and stability, whereas leadership is about adaptation and constructive change. Other researchers go so far as to argue that managers and leaders are different types of people, with managers being more reactive and less emotionally involved and leaders being more proactive and more emotionally involved. The overlap between leadership and management is centered on how both involve influencing a group of individuals in goal attainment. In this book, we discuss leadership as a complex process. Based on the research literature, we describe selected approaches to leadership and assess how they can be used to improve leadership in real situations. Sharpen your skills with SAGE edge at edge.sagepub.com/northouse7e References_______________________________________ Bass, B. M. (1990). Bass and Stogdill’s handbook of leadership: A survey of theory and research. New York: Free Press. Bennis, W. G., & Nanus, B. (1985). Leaders: The strategies for taking charge. New York: Harper & Row. Bryman, A. (1992). Charisma and leadership in organizations. London: Sage. Bryman, A., Collinson, D., Grint, K., Jackson, G., & Uhl-Bien, M. (Eds.). (2011). The SAGE handbook of leadership. London: Sage. Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership. New York: Harper & Row. Copeland, N. (1942). Psychology and the soldier. Harrisburg, PA: Military Service Publications. Day, D. V., & Antonakis, J. (Eds.). (2012). The nature of leadership (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Fayol, H. (1916). General and industrial management. London: Pitman. Fisher, B. A. (1974). Small group decision making: Communication and the group process. New York: McGraw-Hill. 18  Leadership Theory and Practice Fleishman, E. A., Mumford, M. D., Zaccaro, S. J., Levin, K. Y., Korotkin, A. L., & Hein, M. B. (1991). Taxonomic efforts in the description of leader behavior: A synthesis and functional interpretation. Leadership Quarterly, 2(4), 245–287. French, J. R., Jr., & Raven, B. H. (1959). The bases of social power. In D. Cartwright (Ed.), Studies in social power (pp. 259–269). Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research. Gardner, J. W. (1990). On leadership. New York: Free Press. Heller, T., & Van Til, J. (1983). Leadership and followership: Some summary propositions. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 18, 405–414. Hemphill, J. K. (1949). Situational factors in leadership. Columbus: Ohio State University, Bureau of Educational Research. Hickman, G. R. (Ed.). (2009). Leading organizations: Perspectives for a new era (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Hogg, M. A. (2001). A social identity theory of leadership. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 5, 184–200. Hollander, E. P. (1992). Leadership, followership, self, and others. Leadership Quarterly, 3(1), 43–54. Jago, A. G. (1982). Leadership: Perspectives in theory and research. Management Science, 28(3), 315–336. Kellerman, B. (2012). The end of leadership. New York: HarperCollins. Kotter, J. P. (1990). A force for change: How leadership differs from management. New York: Free Press. Moore, B. V. (1927). The May conference on leadership. Personnel Journal, 6, 124–128. Mumford, M. D. (2006). Pathways to outstanding leadership: A comparative analysis of charismatic, ideological, and pragmatic leaders. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Peters, T. J., & Waterman, R. H. (1982). In search of excellence: Lessons from America’s best-run companies. New York: Warner Books. Raven, B. H. (1965). Social influence and power. In I. D. Steiner & M. Fishbein (Eds.), Current studies in social psychology (pp. 371–382). New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston. Rost, J. C. (1991). Leadership for the twenty-first century. New York: Praeger. Seeman, M. (1960). Social status and leadership. Columbus: Ohio State University, Bureau of Educational Research. Simonet, D. V., & Tett, R. P. (2012). Five perspectives on the leadership-management relationship: A competency-based evaluation and integration. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 20(2), 199–213. Smith, J. A., & Foti, R. J. (1998). A pattern approach to the study of leader emergence. Leadership Quarterly, 9(2), 147–160. Stogdill, R. M. (1974). Handbook of leadership: A survey of theory and research. New York: Free Press. Watson, C., & Hoffman, L. R. (2004). The role of task-related behavior in the emergence of leaders. Group & Organization Management, 29(6), 659–685. Zaleznik, A. (1977, May–June). Managers and leaders: Are they different? Harvard Business Review, 55, 67–78. 2 Trait Approach Description______________________________________ Of interest to scholars throughout the 20th century, the trait approach was one of the first systematic attempts to study leadership. In the early 20th century, leadership traits were studied to determine what made certain people great leaders. The theories that were developed were called “great man” theories because they focused on identifying the innate qualities and characteristics possessed by great social, political, and military leaders (e.g., Catherine the Great, Mohandas Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Joan of Arc, and Napoleon Bonaparte). It was believed that people were born with these traits, and that only the “great” people possessed them. During this time, research concentrated on determining the specific traits that clearly differentiated leaders from followers (Bass, 1990; Jago, 1982). In the mid-20th century, the trait approach was challenged by research that questioned the universality of leadership traits. In a major review, Stogdill (1948) suggested that no consistent set of traits differentiated leaders from nonleaders across a variety of situations. An individual with leadership traits who was a leader in one situation might not be a leader in another situation. Rather than being a quality that individuals possess, leadership was reconceptualized as a relationship between people in a social situation. Personal factors related to leadership continued to be important, but researchers contended that these factors were to be considered as relative to the requirements of the situation. The trait approach has generated much interest among researchers for its explanation of how traits influence leadership (Bryman, 1992). For example, an analysis of much of the previous trait research by Lord, DeVader, and Heroic Women What Traits Do Leaders Have? 20  Leadership Theory and Practice Alliger (1986) found that traits were strongly associated with individuals’ perceptions of leadership. Similarly, Kirkpatrick and Locke (1991) went so far as to claim that effective leaders are actually distinct types of people in several key respects. The trait approach has earned new interest through the current emphasis given by many researchers to visionary and charismatic leadership (see Bass, 1990; Bennis & Nanus, 1985; Nadler & Tushman, 1989; Zaccaro, 2007; Zaleznik, 1977). Charismatic leadership catapulted to the forefront of public attention with the 2008 election of the United States’ first African American president, Barack Obama, who is perceived by many to be charismatic, among many other attributes. In a study to determine what distinguishes charismatic leaders from others, Jung and Sosik (2006) found that charismatic leaders consistently possess traits of self-monitoring, engagement in impression management, motivation to attain social power, and motivation to attain self-actualization. In short, the trait approach is alive and well. It began with an emphasis on identifying the qualities of great persons, shifted to include the impact of situations on leadership, and, currently, has shifted back to reemphasize the critical role of traits in effective leadership. Although the research on traits spanned the entire 20th century, a good overview of this approach is found in two surveys completed by Stogdill (1948, 1974). In his first survey, Stogdill analyzed and synthesized more than 124 trait studies conducted between 1904 and 1947. In his second study, he analyzed another 163 studies completed between 1948 and 1970. By taking a closer look at each of these reviews, we can obtain a clearer picture of how individuals’ traits contribute to the leadership process. Stogdill’s first survey identified a group of important leadership traits that were related to how individuals in various groups became leaders. His results showed that the average individual in the leadership role is different from an average group member with regard to the following eight traits: intelligence, alertness, insight, responsibility, initiative, persistence, self-confidence, and sociability. The findings of Stogdill’s first survey also indicated that an individual does not become a leader solely because that individual possesses certain traits. Rather, the traits that leaders possess must be relevant to situations in which the leader is functioning. As stated earlier, leaders in one situation may not necessarily be leaders in another situation. Findings showed that leadership was not a passive state but resulted from a working relationship between the leader and other group members. This research marked the beginning of a Great Man Theory  Impression Management Chapter 2 Trait Approach 21 new approach to leadership research that focused on leadership behaviors and leadership situations. Stogdill’s second survey, published in 1974, analyzed 163 new studies and compared the findings of these studies to the findings he had reported in his first survey. The second survey was more balanced in its description of the role of traits and leadership. Whereas the first survey implied that leadership is determined principally by situational factors and not traits, the second survey argued more moderately that both traits and situational factors were determinants of leadership. In essence, the second survey validated the original trait idea that a leader’s characteristics are indeed a part of leadership. Similar to the first survey, Stogdill’s second survey also identified traits that were positively associated with leadership. The list included the following 10 characteristics: 1. drive for responsibility and task completion; 2. vigor and persistence in pursuit of goals; 3. risk taking and originality in problem solving; 4. drive to exercise initiative in social situations; 5. self-confidence and sense of personal identity; 6. willingness to accept consequences of decision and action; 7. readiness to absorb interpersonal stress; 8. willingness to tolerate frustration and delay; 9. ability to influence other people’s behavior; and 10. capacity to structure social interaction systems to the purpose at hand. Mann (1959) conducted a similar study that examined more than 1,400 findings regarding traits and leadership in small groups, but he placed less emphasis on how situational factors influenced leadership. Although tentative in his conclusions, Mann suggested that certain traits could be used to distinguish leaders from nonleaders. His results identified leaders as strong in the following six traits: intelligence, masculinity, adjustment, dominance, extraversion, and conservatism.  Everyday Leaders Trait Leadership 22  Leadership Theory and Practice Table 2.1 Studies of Leadership Traits and Characteristics Mann Stogdill (1948) (1959) intelligence alertness insight responsibility initiative persistence self-confidence sociability intelligence masculinity adjustment dominance extraversion conservatism Stogdill (1974) achievement persistence insight initiative self-confidence responsibility cooperativeness tolerance influence sociability Lord, DeVader, and Alliger (1986) Kirkpatrick and Locke (1991) intelligence drive masculinity motivation dominance integrity confidence cognitive ability task knowledge Zaccaro, Kemp, and Bader (2004) cognitive abilities extraversion conscientiousness emotional stability openness agreeableness motivation social intelligence self-monitoring emotional intelligence problem solving SOURCES: Adapted from “The Bases of Social Power,” by J. R. P. French, Jr., and B. Raven, 1962, in D. Cartwright (Ed.), Group Dynamics: Research and Theory (pp. 259–269), New York: Harper and Row; Zaccaro, Kemp, & Bader (2004). Lord et al. (1986) reassessed Mann’s (1959) findings using a more sophisticated procedure called meta-analysis. Lord et al. found that intelligence, masculinity, and dominance were significantly related to how individuals perceived leaders. From their findings, the authors argued strongly that traits could be used to make discriminations consistently across situations between leaders and nonleaders. Both of these studies were conducted during periods in American history where male leadership was prevalent in most aspects of business and society. In Chapter 15, we explore more contemporary research regarding the role of gender in leadership, and we look at whether traits such as masculinity and dominance still bear out as important factors in distinguishing between leaders and nonleaders. Yet another review argues for the importance of leadership traits: Kirkpatrick and Locke (1991, p. 59) contended that “it is unequivocally clear that leaders are not like other people.” From a qualitative synthesis of earlier research, Kirkpatrick and Locke postulated that leaders differ from nonleaders on six traits: drive, motivation, integrity, confidence, cognitive ability, and task knowledge. According to these writers, individuals can be born with these traits, they can learn them, or both. It is these six traits that make up the Leadership Presence Florence Nightingale Chapter 2 Trait Approach 23 Table 2.2 Major Leadership Traits • Intelligence • Self-confidence • Determination • Integrity • Sociability “right stuff ” for leaders. Kirkpatrick and Locke contended that leadership traits make some people different from others, and this difference should be recognized as an important part of the leadership process. In the 1990s, researchers began to investigate the leadership traits associated with “social intelligence,” characterized as those abilities to understand one’s own and others’ feelings, behaviors, and thoughts and to act appropriately (Marlowe, 1986). Zaccaro (2002) defined social intelligence as having such capacities as social awareness, social acumen, self-monitoring, and the ability to select and enact the best response given the contingencies of the situation and social environment. A number of empirical studies showed these capacities to be a key trait for effective leaders. Zaccaro, Kemp, and Bader (2004) included such social abilities in the categories of leadership traits they outlined as important leadership attributes (see Table 2.1). Table 2.1 provides a summary of the traits and characteristics that were identified by researchers from the trait approach. It illustrates clearly the breadth of traits related to leadership. Table 2.1 also shows how difficult it is to select certain traits as definitive leadership traits; some of the traits appear in several of the survey studies, whereas others appear in only one or two studies. Regardless of the lack of precision in Table 2.1, however, it represents a general convergence of research regarding which traits are leadership traits. What, then, can be said about trait research? What has a century of research on the trait approach given us that is useful? The answer is an extended list of traits that individuals might hope to possess or wish to cultivate if they want to be perceived by others as leaders. Some of the traits that are central to this list include intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity, and sociability (Table 2.2). Intelligence Intelligence or intellectual ability is positively related to leadership. Based on their analysis of a series of recent studies on intelligence and various indices of leadership, Zaccaro et al. (2004) found support for the finding that leaders tend to have higher intelligence than nonleaders. Having strong verbal  Emotional and Other Intelligences 24  Leadership Theory and Practice ability, perceptual ability, and reasoning appears to make one a better leader. Although it is good to be bright, the research also indicates that a leader’s intellectual ability should not differ too much from that of the subordinates. If the leader’s IQ is very different from that of the followers, it can have a counterproductive impact on leadership. Leaders with higher abilities may have difficulty communicating with followers because they are preoccupied or because their ideas are too advanced for their followers to accept. An example of a leader for whom intelligence was a key trait was Steve Jobs, founder and CEO of Apple who died in 2011. Jobs once said, “I have this really incredible product inside me and I have to get it out” (Sculley, 2011, p. 27). Those visionary products, first the Apple II and Macintosh computers and then the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad, have revolutionized the personal computer and electronic device industry, changing the way people play and work. In the next chapter of this text, which addresses leadership from a skills perspective, intelligence is identified as a trait that significantly contributes to a leader’s acquisition of complex problem-solving skills and social judgment skills. Intelligence is described as having a positive impact on an individual’s capacity for effective leadership. Self-Confidence Self-confidence is another trait that helps one to be a leader. Self-confidence is the ability to be certain about one’s competencies and skills. It includes a sense of self-esteem and self-assurance and the belief that one can make a difference. Leadership involves influencing others, and self-confidence allows the leader to feel assured that his or her attempts to influence others are appropriate and right. Again, Steve Jobs is a good example of a self-confident leader. When Jobs described the devices he wanted to create, many people said they weren’t possible. But Jobs never doubted his products would change the world, and, despite resistance, he did things the way he thought best. “Jobs was one of those CEOs who ran the company like he wanted to. He believed he knew more about it than anyone else, and he probably did,” said a colleague (Stone, 2011). Determination Many leaders also exhibit determination. Determination is the desire to get the job done and includes characteristics such as initiative, persistence,  Political Leadership  Steve Jobs Chapter 2 Trait Approach 25 dominance, and drive. People with determination are willing to assert themselves, are proactive, and have the capacity to persevere in the face of obstacles. Being determined includes showing dominance at times and in situations where followers need to be directed. Dr. Paul Farmer has shown determination in his efforts to secure health care and eradicate tuberculosis for the very poor of Haiti and other third world countries. He began his efforts as a recent college graduate, traveling and working in Cange, Haiti. While there, he was accepted to Harvard Medical School. Knowing that his work in Haiti was invaluable to his training, he managed to do both: spending months traveling back and forth between Haiti and Cambridge, Massachusetts, for school. His first effort in Cange was to establish a one-room clinic where he treated “all comers” and trained local health care workers. Farmer found that there was more to providing health care than just dispensing medicine: He secured donations to build schools, houses, and communal sanitation and water facilities in the region. He spearheaded vaccinations of all the children in the area, dramatically reducing malnutrition and infant mortality. In order to keep working in Haiti, he returned to America and founded Partners In Health, a charitable foundation that raises money to fund these efforts. Since its founding, PIH not only has succeeded in improving the health of many communities in Haiti but now has projects in Haiti, Lesotho, Malawi, Peru, Russia, Rwanda, and the United States, and supports other projects in Mexico and Guatemala (Kidder, 2004; Partners In Health, 2014). Integrity Integrity is another of the important leadership traits. Integrity is the quality of honesty and trustworthiness. People who adhere to a strong set of principles and take responsibility for their actions are exhibiting integrity. Leaders with integrity inspire confidence in others because they can be trusted to do what they say they are going to do. They are loyal, dependable, and not deceptive. Basically, integrity makes a leader believable and worthy of our trust. In our society, integrity has received a great deal of attention in recent years. For example, as a result of two situations—the position taken by President George W. Bush regarding Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction and the impeachment proceedings during the Clinton presidency—people are demanding more honesty of their public officials. Similarly, scandals in the corporate world (e.g., Enron and WorldCom) have led people to become skeptical of leaders who are not highly ethical. In the educational arena, new Terry Fox  Consultant Nurses 26  Leadership Theory and Practice K–12 curricula are being developed to teach character, values, and ethical leadership. (For instance, see the Character Counts! program developed by the Josephson Institute of Ethics in California at www.charactercounts.org, and the Pillars of Leadership program taught at the J. W. Fanning Institute for Leadership in Georgia at www.fanning.uga.edu.) In short, society is demanding greater integrity of character in its leaders. Sociability A final trait that is important for leaders is sociability. Sociability is a leader’s inclination to seek out pleasant social relationships. Leaders who show sociability are friendly, outgoing, courteous, tactful, and diplomatic. They are sensitive to others’ needs and show concern for their well-being. Social leaders have good interpersonal skills and create cooperative relationships with their followers. An example of a leader with great sociability skills is Michael Hughes, a university president. Hughes prefers to walk to all his meetings because it gets him out on campus where he greets students, staff, and faculty. He has lunch in the dorm cafeterias or student union and will often ask a table of strangers if he can sit with them. Students rate him as very approachable, while faculty say he has an open-door policy. In addition, he takes time to write personal notes to faculty, staff, and students to congratulate them on their successes. Although our discussion of leadership traits has focused on five major traits (i.e., intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity, and sociability), this list is not all-inclusive. While other traits indicated in Table 2.1 are associated with effective leadership, the five traits we have identified contribute substantially to one’s capacity to be a leader. Until recently, most reviews of leadership traits have been qualitative. In addition, they have lacked a common organizing framework. However, the research described in the following section provides a quantitative assessment of leadership traits that is conceptually framed around the five-factor model of personality. It describes how five major personality traits are related to leadership. Five-Factor Personality Model and Leadership Over the past 25 years, a consensus has emerged among researchers regarding the basic factors that make up what we call personality (Goldberg, 1990;  Extraversion Chapter 2 Trait Approach 27 Table 2.3 Big Five Personality Factors Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Agreeableness Conscientiousness The tendency to be depressed, anxious, insecure, vulnerable, and hostile The tendency to be sociable and assertive and to have positive energy The tendency to be informed, creative, insightful, and curious The tendency to be accepting, conforming, trusting, and nurturing The tendency to be thorough, organized, controlled, dependable, and decisive SOURCE: Goldberg, L. R. (1990). An alternative “description of personality”: The big-five factor structure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 1216–1229. McCrae & Costa, 1987). These factors, commonly called the Big Five, are neuroticism, extraversion (surgency), openness (intellect), agreeableness, and conscientiousness (dependability). (See Table 2.3.) To assess the links between the Big Five and leadership, Judge, Bono, Ilies, and Gerhardt (2002) conducted a major meta-analysis of 78 leadership and personality studies published between 1967 and 1998. In general, Judge et al. found a strong relationship between the Big Five traits and leadership. It appears that having certain personality traits is associated with being an effective leader. Specifically, in their study, extraversion was the factor most strongly associated with leadership. It is the most important trait of effective leaders. Extraversion was followed, in order, by conscientiousness, openness, and low neuroticism. The last factor, agreeableness, was found to be only weakly associated with leadership. Emotional Intelligence Another way of assessing the impact of traits on leadership is through the concept of emotional intelligence, which emerged in the 1990s as an important area of study in psychology. It has been widely studied by researchers, and has captured the attention of many practitioners (Caruso & Wolfe, 2004; Goleman, 1995, 1998; Mayer & Salovey, 1995, 1997; Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso, 2000; Shankman & Allen, 2008).  Emotional Intelligence 28  Leadership Theory and Practice As the two words suggest, emotional intelligence has to do with our emotions (affective domain) and thinking (cognitive domain), and the interplay between the two. Whereas intelligence is concerned with our ability to learn information and apply it to life tasks, emotional intelligence is concerned with our ability to understand emotions and apply this understanding to life’s tasks. Specifically, emotional intelligence can be defined as the ability to perceive and express emotions, to use emotions to facilitate thinking, to understand and reason with emotions, and to effectively manage emotions within oneself and in relationships with others (Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso, 2000). There are different ways to measure emotional intelligence. One scale is the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT; Mayer, Caruso, & Salovey, 2000). The MSCEIT measures emotional intelligence as a set of mental abilities, including the abilities to perceive, facilitate, understand, and manage emotion. Goleman (1995, 1998) takes a broader approach to emotional intelligence, suggesting that it consists of a set of personal and social competencies. Personal competence consists of self-awareness, confidence, self-regulation, conscientiousness, and motivation. Social competence consists of empathy and social skills such as communication and conflict management. Shankman and Allen (2008) developed a practice-oriented model of emotionally intelligent leadership, which suggests that leaders must be conscious of three fundamental facets of leadership: context, self, and others. In the model, emotionally intelligent leaders are defined by 21 capacities to which a leader should pay attention, including group savvy, optimism, initiative, and teamwork. There is a debate in the field regarding how big a role emotional intelligence plays in helping people be successful in life. Some researchers, such as Goleman (1995), suggested that emotional intelligence plays a major role in whether people are successful at school, home, and work. Others, such as Mayer, Salovey, and Caruso (2000), made softer claims for the significance of emotional intelligence in meeting life’s challenges. As a leadership ability or trait, emotional intelligence appears to be an important construct. The underlying premise suggested by this framework is that people who are more sensitive to their emotions and the impact of their emotions on others will be leaders who are more effective. As more research is conducted on emotional intelligence, the intricacies of how emotional intelligence relates to leadership will be better understood.  Emergent Leadership Chapter 2 Trait Approach 29 How Does the Trait Approach Work?__________ The trait approach is very different from the other approaches discussed in subsequent chapters because it focuses exclusively on the leader, not on the followers or the situation. This makes the trait approach theoretically more straightforward than other approaches. In essence, the trait approach is concerned with what traits leaders exhibit and who has these traits. The trait approach does not lay out a set of hypotheses or principles about what kind of leader is needed in a certain situation or what a leader should do, given a particular set of circumstances. Instead, this approach emphasizes that having a leader with a certain set of traits is crucial to having effective leadership. It is the leader and the leader’s traits that are central to the leadership process. The trait approach suggests that organizations will work better if the people in managerial positions have designated leadership profiles. To find the right people, it is common for organizations to use trait assessment instruments. The assumption behind these procedures is that selecting the right people will increase organizational effectiveness. Organizations can specify the characteristics or traits that are important to them for particular positions and then use trait assessment measures to determine whether an individual fits their needs. The trait approach is also used for personal awareness and development. By analyzing their own traits, managers can gain an idea of their strengths and weaknesses, and can get a feel for how others in the organization see them. A trait assessment can help managers determine whether they have the qualities to move up or to move to other positions in the company. A trait assessment gives individuals a clearer picture of who they are as leaders and how they fit into the organizational hierarchy. In areas where their traits are lacking, leaders can try to make changes in what they do or where they work to increase their traits’ potential impact. Near the end of the chapter, a leadership instrument is provided that you can use to assess your leadership traits. This instrument is typical of the kind of assessments that companies use to evaluate individuals’ leadership potential. As you will discover by completing this instrument, trait measures are a good way to assess your own characteristics.  Introvert Contributions 30  Leadership Theory and Practice Strengths_______________________________________ The trait approach has several identifiable strengths. First, the trait approach is intuitively appealing. It fits clearly with our notion that leaders are the individuals who are out front and leading the way in our society. The image in the popular press and community at large is that leaders are a special kind of people—people with gifts who can do extraordinary things. The trait approach is consistent with this perception because it is built on the premise that leaders are different, and their difference resides in the special traits they possess. People have a need to see their leaders as gifted people, and the trait approach fulfills this need. A second strength of the trait approach is that it has a century of research to back it up. No other theory can boast of the breadth and depth of studies conducted on the trait approach. The strength and longevity of this line of research give the trait approach a measure of credibility that other approaches lack. Out of this abundance of research has emerged a body of data that points to the important role of various traits in the leadership process. Another strength, more conceptual in nature, results from the way the trait approach highlights the leader component in the leadership process. Leadership is composed of leaders, followers, and situations, but the trait approach is devoted to only the first of these—leaders. Although this is also a potential weakness, by focusing exclusively on the role of the leader in leadership the trait approach has been able to provide us with a deeper and more intricate understanding of how the leader and the leader’s traits are related to the leadership process. Last, the trait approach has given us some benchmarks for what we need to look for if we want to be leaders. It identifies what traits we should have and whether the traits we do have are the best traits for leadership. Based on the findings of this approach, trait assessment procedures can be used to offer invaluable information to supervisors and managers about their strengths and weaknesses and ways to improve their overall leadership effectiveness. Criticisms________________________________________ In addition to its strengths, the trait approach has several weaknesses. First and foremost is the failure of the trait approach to delimit a definitive list of leadership traits. Although an enormous number of studies have been conducted over the past 100 years, the findings from these studies have  Character Traits Chapter 2 Trait Approach 31 been ambiguous and uncertain at times. Furthermore, the list of traits that has emerged appears endless. This is obvious from Table 2.1, which lists a multitude of traits. In fact, these are only a sample of the many leadership traits that were studied. Another criticism is that the trait approach has failed to take situations into account. As Stogdill (1948) pointed out more than 60 years ago, it is difficult to isolate a set of traits that are characteristic of leaders without also factoring situational effects into the equation. People who possess certain traits that make them leaders in one situation may not be leaders in another situation. Some people may have the traits that help them emerge as leaders but not the traits that allow them to maintain their leadership over time. In other words, the situation influences leadership. It is therefore difficult to identify a universal set of leadership traits in isolation from the context in which the leadership occurs. A third criticism, derived from the prior two criticisms, is that this approach has resulted in highly subjective determinations of the most important leadership traits. Because the findings on traits have been so extensive and broad, there has been much subjective interpretation of the meaning of the data. This subjectivity is readily apparent in the many self-help, practiceoriented management books. For example, one author might identify ambition and creativity as crucial leadership traits; another might identify empathy and calmness. In both cases, it is the author’s subjective experience and observations that are the basis for the identified leadership traits. These books may be helpful to readers because they identify and describe important leadership traits, but the methods used to generate these lists of traits are weak. To respond to people’s need for a set of definitive traits of leaders, authors have set forth lists of traits, even if the origins of these lists are not grounded in strong, reliable research. Research on traits can also be criticized for failing to look at traits in relationship to leadership outcomes. This research has emphasized the identification of traits, but has not addressed how leadership traits affect group members and their work. In trying to ascertain universal leadership traits, researchers have focused on the link between specific traits and leader emergence, but they have not tried to link leader traits with other outcomes such as productivity or employee satisfaction. For example, trait research does not provide data on whether leaders who might have high intelligence and strong integrity have better results than leaders without these traits. The trait approach is weak in describing how leaders’ traits affect the outcomes of groups and teams in organizational settings.  Effective and Ineffective Leaders 32  Leadership Theory and Practice A final criticism of the trait approach is that it is not a useful approach for training and development for leadership. Even if definitive traits could be identified, teaching new traits is not an easy process because traits are not easily changed. For example, it is not reasonable to send managers to a training program to raise their IQ or to train them to become extraverted. The point is that traits are largely fixed psychological structures, and this limits the value of teaching and leadership training. Application______________________________________ Despite its shortcomings, the trait approach provides valuable information about leadership. It can be applied by individuals at all levels and in all types of organizations. Although the trait approach does not provide a definitive set of traits, it does provide direction regarding which traits are good to have if one aspires to a leadership position. By taking trait assessments and other similar questionnaires, people can gain insight into whether they have certain traits deemed important for leadership, and they can pinpoint their strengths...
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