Page 388 - Fundamentals of Management Myths Debunked (2017)_Flat

Exhibit 12–1 Traits Associated with Leadership

1 Desire to lead. honesty Self-confidence.
Drive.
and integrity.
Leaders exhibit a high effort
Followers look to leaders who
Leaders have a strong desire
level. They have a relatively
don’t self-doubt. Leaders,
to influence and lead others.
Leaders build trusting rela-
high desire for achievement,
They demonstrate the willing-
therefore, need to show
tionships with followers by
they are ambitious, they
have a lot of energy, they are 2 3 4
convince followers of the
ful, and by showing high
tirelessly persistent in their ness to take responsibility. being truthful, or nondeceit- self-confidence in order to
rightness of their goals and
consistency between word
activities, and they show and deed. decisions.
of information, and they need 6
5 technical matters. In-depth 7 8
initiative.
Job-relevant
Intelligence.
Proneness to guilt.
Extraversion.
knowledge.
Guilt proneness is positively re-
Leaders need to be intelligent
Leaders are energetic, lively
Effective leaders have a high
enough to gather, synthesize,
lated to leadership effectiveness
people. They are sociable,
and interpret large amounts
the company, industry, and
sense of responsibility for others.
withdrawn.
to be able to create visions, degree of knowledge about assertive, and rarely silent or because it produces a strong
solve problems, and make knowledge allows leaders to
correct decisions. make well-informed decisions
and to understand the impli-
cations of those decisions. Source: Based on S. A. Kirkpatrick and E. A. Locke, “Leadership: Do Traits Really Matter?”
Academy of Management Executive, May 1991, 48–60; T. A. Judge, J. E. Bono, R. Ilies,
and M. W. Gerhardt, “Personality and Leadership: A Qualitative and Quantitative Review,”
Journal of Applied Psychology (August 2002): 765–80.
What Now?
• TRAITS alone were not sufficient for identifying effective leaders? Why? Explanations
based solely on traits ignored the interactions of leaders and their group members as
well as situational factors.
• Possessing the appropriate traits only made it more likely that an individual would be
an effective leader.
• Leadership research from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s turned to finding preferred
behavioral styles that leaders demonstrated.

Was there some-

thing unique in what

leaders did—in

other words, in their

behavior?

Vege/Fotolia

387