Big Five Personality Traits and Leadership

Learning Objectives

• Summarize the conclusions of trait theories of leadership
• Identify the central tenets and limitations of behavioral theories
• Contrast contingency theories of leadership
• Describe contemporary leadership theories and their relationship to foundational theories
• Discuss the roles of leaders in creating ethical organizations
• Describe how leaders can positively impact their organizations through building trust and mentoring
• Identify the challenges to our understanding of leadership

Trait Theories

• Trait theories consider personal qualities and characteristics that differentiate leaders from non-leaders
• Focus on personal qualities and characteristics
• Leadership emergence and effectiveness are often evaluated separately
• Extraversion is a predictive trait of effective leadership
• Sociable and dominant people are more likely to be identified as leaders, but effective leaders may not be domineering

Behavioral Theories

• Trait research provides a basis for selecting the right people for leadership
• Behavioral theories imply leadership can be trained
• Ohio State Studies identified two key dimensions of leader behavior: initiating structure and consideration

Contingency Theories

• Some tough-minded leaders seem to gain admiration during crises, but predicting leadership success is complex
• Leadership styles that work in crises don't always translate into long-term success

Fiedler Model

• Fred Fiedler developed the first comprehensive contingency model for leadership
• Group performance depends on a proper match between leader's style and situational control
• Leader-member relations, task structure, and position power are situational factors that determine effectiveness
• Leader-style is often assumed to be permanent

Situational Leadership Theory (SLT)

• Focuses on followers and their readiness
• Leaders adjust their style based on their followers' willingness and ability to accomplish tasks
• Adapts to different levels of follower readiness

Path-Goal Theory

• Developed by Robert House; emphasizes the leader's role in clarifying goals and removing obstacles
• Directive leadership is effective when tasks are ambiguous or stressful, but supportive leadership is more effective in structured tasks
• Leaders clarify followers' paths and provide support to increase performance

Leader-Participation Model

• Relates leadership behavior to subordinate participation in decision-making
• Leader behavior must reflect task structure (routine, non-routine, or in-between) to be effective

Contemporary Theories of Leadership

• Contemporary theories build upon foundational theories to discover unique ways leaders emerge, influence, and guide their employees and organizations.
• They explore current concepts and provide leading current concepts

Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Theory

• Focuses on the two-way relationship between leaders and followers
• Leaders develop special relationships (ingroup) with some followers and a more distant relationship with other followers (outgroup). Ingroup members receive more support and privileges

Charismatic Leadership

• Charismatic leadership is attributed to a certain quality of an individual personality; this is in contrast to ordinary people by giving them exceptional powers and qualities
• First researcher to look at charismatic leadership in a business context was Robert House.
• Effective charismatic leaders often act during crises, wartime, and in politically charged or religiously-focused environments.

Are Charismatic Leaders Born or Made?

• Charismatic leaders often have qualities they were born with, and similar skills are potentially learnable
• Being extroverted, self-confident, and achievement oriented can contribute to charismatic leadership ability
• Key characteristics of a charismatic leader include having a vision, articulating the vision, demonstrating personal risk, sensitivity to followers, and exhibiting unconventional behavior

How Charismatic Leaders Influence Followers

• Charismatic leaders appeal to followers by providing visions, long-term strategies linking present with a better future
• Appealing visions and vision statements are often a key component to inspiring and impressing followers; they need to be unique to the organization
• Followers will often cooperate more with a charismatic leader
• Followers will observe and follow leaders who display certain behaviors and abilities

Transactional and Transformational Leadership

• Transactional and transformational leadership are complementary, not opposing, approaches to leadership
• Transactional leaders establish goals, clarify roles, and reward performance
• Transformational leaders inspire followers to transcend self-interest, and contribute to higher productivity, morale, satisfaction, organizational effectiveness, lower turnover, absence, and greater organizational adaptability

Exhibit 12-4

• Contains the key characteristics of transactional vs transformational leadership

Top Leaders Feel the Most Stress

• Research demonstrates leaders experience less stress and anxiety compared to non-leaders, along with lower cortisol levels and blood pressure

Full Range of Leadership Model

• Transformational leadership has four styles: individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation, and idealized influence
• These styles motivate followers to perform above expectations and contribute to organizational goals

Transformational Versus Transactional Leadership

• Transformational leadership is more effective in reducing turnover, employee satisfaction, productivity, and stress
• Contingent reward leadership (transactional approach) can be effective as well

Responsible Leadership

• Responsible leaders meet and justly fulfill their obligations to stakeholders
• They must hold themselves accountable for their actions and behaviors

Authentic Leadership

• Authentic leaders openly communicate their beliefs, values, and trust in followers
• Leaders openly embody their belief systems and trust (among followers) for increased faith in the leader

Ethical Leadership

• Ethical leaders create ethical expectations for all members, influencing all organizational levels
• They encourage organizational (follower) citizenship and ethical problems-solving behaviors

Trust Development and Propensity

• Trustworthiness is a three-component trait: integrity, benevolence, and ability
• Trust is important because followers and organizations do more when they trust their leaders

Trust, Culture, and Time

• Trust propensity is the likelihood of employees trusting a leader
• Culture influences how trust is perceived in the workplace
• Trust builds over time through observation of behavior

Regaining Trust

• Trustworthiness in leaders is critical; a lack thereof can lead to decreased job commitment and satisfaction

Mentoring

• Leaders often take responsibility for mentoring others
• A mentor is a senior employee who sponsors and supports a less-experienced employee (protégé)
• Mentoring provides the protégé with career and psychological support which leads to the development of skill, experience, and job/organizational satisfaction

Challenges to Our Understanding of Leadership

• Attribution theory examines how people make sense of cause-and-effect relationships
• Leadership is merely a group’s attribution based on the individuals they see as leaders; it can be irrelevant sometimes
• Substitutes for and neutralizers of leadership suggests leaders are irrelevant in certain contexts

Online Leadership

• Organizations fill management positions by identifying effective leaders through knowledge, skills, and abilities via tests

Training Leaders

• Businesses invest billions in executive workshops, sailing vacations, and other leadership development training.

Conclusion

• Understanding leadership is essential as followers are guided toward their objectives by their leaders; this helps boost group performance

Implications for Managers

• Preferences for leadership styles and evaluations should be aligned with work dynamics
• Effective leaders can serve as role models who motivate others in their organizations, and they should take responsibility to encourage cooperation.
• Strong leadership helps establish trust and better expectations within companies
• Investing in leadership training improves leadership