Ralph Stogdill et al.
Sergio Caredda
Stogdill, R. M. (1948). Personal Factors Associated with Leadership: A Survey of the Literature. The Journal of Psychology, 25(1), 35–71. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.1948.9917362
Description:
Trait Theory developed as a consequence of the Great Man Theory, whereby several authors tried to identify the innate traits of successful leaders. The psychologist Ralph Stogdill challenged the idea of some innate traits, and in 1948 wrote a paper analysing over 100 articles on the topic, essentially casting doubt that innate traits can be identified. Out of his analysis, 27 different areas where identified:
- Age
- Dominance
- Height
- Initiative, persistence, ambition, desire to excel
- Weight
- Physique, energy, health
- Responsibility
- Appearance
- Integrity and conviction
- Fluency of speech
- Self-confidence
- Intelligence
- Happiness, sense of humour
- Academic results
- Emotional stability and control
- Knowledge
- Social and economic status
- Judgement and decision (US-English, judgment)
- Social activity and mobility
- Insight (self, others, wider environment)
- Energy, daring and adventurousness
- Originality
- Social skills (sociability, tact)
- Adaptability
- Popularity, prestige
- Introversion-Extraversion
- Cooperation
This showed that there wasn’t much agreement on the key traits. Indeed, it was clear that if all the findings were combined, the list became too long to be useful as a guide for selecting future leaders. He, therefore, suggested that leadership is the result of the interaction between the individual and the social situation and not merely the result of a predefined set of traits. Thus Personal traits alone are not indicators of effective leadership and need to be complemented by specific abilities and motivators.
This opened the road to the development of the broader set of contingency theories. However, a lot of models still refer today to “personality traits” as the basis of the leadership, and tend to “mix” their impact on success.
Notes:
Other Sources:
Trait Theory vs Process Theory of Leadership
Early ideas about leadership, described by the Great Man theory, focused on the innate qualities of individuals. In the 1950s, leadership theory focused on the situational interaction of traits, then in the 1970s personality and behaviour dominated. The current theory, known as trait theory, focuses on five major leadership traits of intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity, and sociability.
www.futurelearn.com
Do Great Leaders Share Certain Traits? See What the Research Says
The trait theory of leadership focuses on identifying different personality traits and characteristics that are linked to successful leadership across a variety of situations. This line of research emerged as one of the earliest types of investigations into the nature of effective leadership and is tied to the "great man" theory of leadership first proposed by Thomas Carlyle in the mid-1800s.
www.verywellmind.com
The Trait Theory of Leadership Explained with Examples, Pros, and Cons
The Trait Theory of Leadership focused on leadership studies in the first half of the 20th century before behavioral and contingency theories started gaining ground. This article explains the trait theory of leadership, its origins, and several trait theory examples, guiding us toward developing exemplary leadership traits.
www.leadershipahoy.com
Trait leadership - Wikipedia
Trait leadership is defined as integrated patterns of personal characteristics that reflect a range of individual differences and foster consistent leader effectiveness across a variety of group and organizational situations (Zaccaro, Kemp, & Bader, 2004; Zaccaro 2007). The theory of trait leadership is developed from early leadership research which focused primarily on finding a group of heritable attributes that differentiate leaders from nonleaders.
en.wikipedia.org
<< Back to Main Article
