Leader Traits,Behaviors & Relationships

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Leader Traits,Behaviors Relationships

• Damon Burton
• University of Idaho

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LEADERSHIP THEORIES

• Trait Approach
• Behavioral Approach
• Relationship/Individualized Approach

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• What are personality traits and how do they
  influence leadership?

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TRAITS DEFINED

• Traits are the distinguishing personal
  characteristics of a leader such as intelligence,
  honesty, self-confidence and enthusiasm.

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GREAT MAN APPROACH

• Great leaders are born with traits that make
  them natural leaders.
• Research sought to identify the traits leaders
  possessed that distinguished them from
  nonleaders.
• Results found weak relationships between
  personal traits and leader success

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EVOLUTION OF TRAIT APPROACH

• Trait approach expanded to aptitude
  and psychological tests.
• Personality tests focused on traits such as
  creativity and confidence.
• Physical traits looked at age and energy level.
• Abilities such as knowledge and speaking
  ability.

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EVOLUTION OF TRAIT APPROACH 2

• Social characteristics such as popularity and
  sociability.
• Work-related characteristics such as desire to
  excel and persistence against obstacles.
• Stogdills (1948) review of 100 studies
  challenged the trait approach.

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STOGDILLS (1948) TRAIT REVIEW

• Stogdills (1948) review of 100 studies found
  some traits consistent with effective leadership
  (e.g., intelligence, initiative, interpersonal
  skill, confidence, responsibility, integrity).
• Importance of traits vary with situation.
• Conclusion - possessing key traits doesnt
  guarantee success.

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STOGDILLS (1970) TRAIT REVIEW

• Stogdills (19708) review of 163 studies
  confirmed previous traits along with
  aggressiveness, independence and stress
  management were consistent with effective
  leadership.
• Importance of traits vary with situation.
• Conclusion - possessing key traits doesnt
  guarantee success.

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PERSONAL LEADER CHARACTERISTICS
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OPTIMISM AND CONFIDENCE

• Optimism - is the tendency to see the positive
  side of situations and expect things to turn out
  well.
• Top leaders see opportunities where others see
  problems.
• Conclusion optimism helps leaders see past the
  gloom and develop a vision for a better future.
• The opposite of a leader is a pessimist.

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OPTIMISM AND CONFIDENCE -2

• Confidence - is the belief in yourself and your
  judgments, decisions, ideas and capabilities.
• Confident leaders foster confidence, motivation
  and commitment among followers.
• Conclusion confidence allows leaders to make
  good decisions without adequate information and
  move the organization forward.
• Confidence allows successful risk-taking.

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KNOW-HOW TO BE GREAT LEADER

• Executive consultant Ram Charan has spent 30
  years developing leaders in numerous industries
  believes leaders can be developed.
• Learn to judge people accurately.
• Mold a team of leaders.
• Manage the social system and develop
  collaboration and teamwork.
• Set the right goals.
• Create a personal leadership development plan.

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HONESTY AND INTEGRITY

• Honesty - is grounded in truthfulness and
  nondeception as well as openness and
  transparency.
• Integrity means that leaders character is
  integrated and grounded in solid moral principles
  and they act in accordance with those principles.
• Conclusion optimism and confidence are of
  little value without honesty and integrity.
• Successful leaders are consistent and
  trustworthy.

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DRIVE

• Drive - is the high motivation that creates a
  clear and consistent focus and high effort
  persistence to reach valued goals.
• Ambition should be focused on setting
  challenging goals that promote the organization
  and the initiative to reach them.
• Conclusion leaders such as GE CEO Jeff Immelt
  work hard (i.e., 100 hour weeks for 25 years).
• Fact in a study of 600 executives, 75 of
  successful leaders possessed high confidence and
  drive.

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• What is a behavioral approach to leadership and
  how is it different from a trait approach?

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BEHAVIORAL APPROACH DEFINED

• Behavior Approach anyone who utilizes
  appropriate behaviors can be a good leaders.
• Implication - Leadership is about developing
  effective skills and behaviors more than
  possessing key traits.

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DEMOCRATIC VERSUS AUTOCRATIC STYLES

• Democratic Style delegates authority to others,
  encourages participation, relies on subordinates
  knowledge to perform needed tasks, and influences
  based on subordinates respect.
• Autocratic Style centralizes authority and
  derives power from position, control of rewards
  and coercion.

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LEWIN RESULTS

• Autocratic Style group performed well as long
  as leader was present to supervise.
• Members were displeased with the style and
  feelings of hostility frequently arose.
• Democratic Style group performance was almost
  as good.
• Members expressed positive feelings toward
  leadership rather than hostility.
• Performance declined minimally when leader was
  absent.

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DEMOCRATIC-AUTOCRATIC CONTINUUM
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• What determines the correct leadership style
  variation on the democratic-autocratic continuum
  that is best in a particular situation?

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CHOOSING THE BEST LEADERSHIP STYLE

• Style Choices boss- versus subordinate-centered
  style choice depends on organizational
  circumstances.
• Under time pressure or with inexperienced
  followers, an autocratic style is better.
• When subordinates have good decision-making
  skills, a democratic style is usually best.
• The greater the difference in skill between
  leaders and followers, the more effective an
  autocratic approach.

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OHIO STATE STUDIES

• Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire from
  a study identifying 2000 leader behaviors, the
  LBDQ selected 150 behaviors to survey employees
  about their leaders.
• Two broad categories of leader behaviors were
  identified consideration initiating structure.
  
• Consideration is the extent to which leaders
  care about subordinates, respect their ideas and
  feelings and establish mutual trust.
• Initiating Structure is the extent to which a
  leader is task oriented and directs followers
  work activities toward goal achievement.
  

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EXAMPLES

• Consideration involves showing appreciation,
  listening carefully to problems and concerns, and
  seeking input from subordinates regarding
  important decisions.
• Initiating Structure involves directing tasks,
  getting people to work hard, planning, providing
  explicit schedules and deadlines for projects,
  and ruling with an iron hand.
• The 2 behavioral dimensions are independent so
  leaders may be high on one dimension but low on
  the other, or high or low on both or neither.

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TASK/CONSIDERATION RESULTS

• Consideration leaders had a more positive
  impact on subordinate satisfaction (i.e.,
  turnover and grievances) than did task-oriented
  leaders.
• When performance criteria (i.e., output or
  productivity) were used, task-oriented leaders
  were rated more effective.
• Studies with aircraft commanders and university
  department chairs found leaders with high scores
  on both were rated most effective and low
  scores on both as least effective.

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MICHIGAN STUDIES

• Using the Survey of Organizations to measure
  behaviors, 2 types of leadership behaviors were
  identified (a) employee-centered and (b)
  job-centered.
• Employee-Centered focuses on the human needs of
  subordinates.
• Job-Centered focuses on directing activities
  toward efficiency, cost-cutting and scheduling,
  with an emphasis on goals and task facilitation.
• The 2 distinct styles are believed to be in
  opposition to each other.

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EMPLOYEE/JOB RESULTS

• Leaders were identifiable by the behavioral
  characteristics of one or the other style but not
  both.
• Often the behaviors of goal emphasis, task
  facilitation, support and teamwork can be
  performed by peers rather than only leaders.

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LEADERSHIP GRID

• Based on a week-long seminar, Blake and Mouton of
  University of Texas developed the Leadership Grid
  that rates leaders on (a) concern for people (b)
  concern for results.
• 5 leadership styles emerged, including (a) team
  management (9,9), (b) country club management
  (1,9), (c) authority-compliance management (9,1),
  (d) middle-of-the-road management (5,5), and (e)
  impoverished management (1,1).

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LEADERSHIP GRID
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LEADERSHIP GRID

• Team Management (9,9) considered the most
  effective style and is recommended because
  members work together to accomplish team tasks.
• Country Club Management (1,9) occurs when
  primary emphasis is given to people rather than
  productivity.
• Authority-Compliance Management (9,1) occurs
  when efficiency in operations is the dominant
  focus.

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LEADERSHIP GRID

• Middle-of-the-Road Management (5,5) reflects a
  moderate amount of concern for both people and
  productivity.
• Impoverished Management (1,1) means the absence
  of a leadership philosophy. Leaders exert little
  effort toward interpersonal relationships or work
  productivity.

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• What are the characteristics of HIGH-HIGH
  leaders?

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HIGH-HIGH LEADER QUESTIONS

• Are task and people orientations the most
  important leader behaviors.
• Do task and people orientations exist together in
  the same leader and how?
• Is the HIGH-HIGH leadership style universal or
  situational?
• Can a HIGH-HIGH leadership style be learned?

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INDIVIDUALIZED LEADERSHIP

• Trait and behavior theories assume that a leader
  adopts a general leadership style that is used
  with everyone.
• Individualized leadership in a more recent
  approach that looks at the specific relationship
  between leader and follower.
• Individualized leadership is based on the idea
  that a leader develops a unique relationship with
  each follower that determines how the leader
  behaves and how the follower responds.

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INDIVIDUALIZED LEADERSHIP

• This approach views leadership as a series of
  dyads or 2-person interactions.
• Individualized leadership (IL) examines why
  leaders have more influence over and greater
  impact on some members than on others.
• IL focuses on the concept of exchange, or what
  each party gives to and receives from the other.
• For example, leaders can meet followers
  emotional needs and provide support for their
  self-worth, while followers provide leaders
  with commitment and high performance.

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VERTICAL DYAD LINKAGE MODEL (VDL)
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STAGE 1 - VERTICAL DYAD LINKAGE (VDL)

• The VDL model argues for the importance of the
  dyad formed by a leader with each group member.
• Initial results suggest that followers provide
  different descriptions of the same leader.
• High quality relationships are characterized as
  high for both people and task.
• Followers are found to be in either an in-group
  or and out-group in relation to the leader.
• In-group versus out-group exchange are
  qualitatively different and VDL has found
  great variance in leadership style and impact
  depending on the follower.

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IN-GROUP VERSUS OUT-GROUP LEADER BEHAVIOR
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STAGE 2 - LEADER-MEMBER EXCHANGE

• Leader-member exchange (LMX) influences leader
  behaviors.
• LMX has been studied in relation to
  communication, values, follower characteristics,
  job satisfaction, performance, climate, and
  commitment.
• High quality exchange should lead to higher
  performance and satisfaction and is higher for
  in-group than out-group members.
• LMX identifies 3 stages (a) initial testing, (b)
  become acquainted and shape roles, and (c)
  role maturity where behavior patterns become
  consistent.

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STAGE 3 - PARTNERSHIP BUILDING

• Can leaders develop positive relationships with a
  large number of followers?
• Leaders tend to categorize followers into
  in-group and out-groups as early as 5 days into
  relationship.
• How can leaders work with each follower on a
  one-on-one basis to develop a partnership.
• Leaders view each person independently and treat
  each one different but positively.
• When leaders offered high-quality relationships
  to everyone, followers who responded improved
  performance dramatically.

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STAGE 4 - SYSTEMS AND NETWORKS

• Leader dyads can be expanded to larger systems.
• Systems level perspective examines how dyadic
  relationships can be created across traditional
  boundaries to embrace larger systems.
• For the leader, the larger network cuts across
  work units, departments or organizational
  boundaries.
• Leaders relationships also include peers,
  teammates, and other stakeholders.
• Effectiveness hinges on leaders building networks
  of one-on-one relationships so a large number
  of people can be influenced.

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The End
The End