Leadership: Do Traits Matter??

NAME: Khawar ROLL No: CLASS: SUBMITTED TO: Anjum SUBMITTED ON:

Warda 048 MBO-3 Mr. Zafar-uz-Zaman 29th Feb, 2012

COMSATS Institute of Information & Technology, Lahore

Summary of Leadership: Do Traits Matter??

The articles main focus was whether the effective leadership depends on the born leaders or some traits associated with effective leadership, some learned skills or a combination of all of these. Earlier theories of leadership in 19th and 20th century described the leaders as the born leaders. According to them the leadership characteristics were inherited and were present in the people of the upper class. Later the great man theories were replaced by the trait theories which stated that the leadership is not inherited necessarily. It is based on the characteristics instead of the people themselves and the people possessing the particular traits are more likely to be the effective leaders. Later Stogdills research brought the trait theory into question by arguing that the traits only are not sufficient for effective leadership. According to Stogdill, the situational factors are also important. Stogdill took possession of particular traits as a precondition to make an effective leader. Leaders must be able to do some particular things better than others to become effective leaders. Six significant and some other less significant traits (proven by research) are present in the effective leaders. These are as follows: Drive: drive is that how much a leader is motivated to achieve something in life? How much he is enthusiastic about his work and wants success. How much the leader is ambitious to do better and better every time? How much the leader is physically and mentally energetic in motivating the subordinates and in the pursuits of the goals? The persistence in their efforts and the ownership of their decisions. And how much the leaders take initiatives and encourage the subordinates to take the initiatives for the good of the organization? Leadership Motivation: how much a leader is motivated to achieve the goals of the organization and how much is he socially motivated as compared to personally motivated. How much does a leader seekd power for his good as compared to sharing the power with subordinates for the good of the leader and subordinates alike. Honesty and Integrity: do the subordinates regard the leader as an honest person who is truthful and trustworthy. In addition how much integrity the leader has in terms of delivering what he promised and when he promised? Self confidence: how much self confidence does the leader have? How less the leader is defensive in the case of making wrong decisions? How

much the leader is emotionally stable? And how much he helps in building subordinates self confidence? Cognitive Ability: How good is the leader in processing the information? How much the leader gathers and analyzes the information? How much cognitive ability does the leader possess and uses it in decision making and strategy formulation? Knowledge of the Business: Does the leader have the technical knowledge and the knowledge related to the company and of the industry the company is operating in? Other Traits: Is the leader charismatic? Is the leader adaptive and encourage others to be flexible and adaptive as well? Does the leader encourage creativity or he just imposes his decisions and discourages creativity? The traits mentioned above show that the individual can become a good leader. This potential is enhanced and translated into to good leadership when combined with skills, vision and how the vision is implemented. Creation of a vision about the desired future state of an organization requires specific skills and the effective implementation is also dependant on some of the specific skills. Implementation of a vision, however, requires the leaders to: Structure the organization for the effective accomplishment of the vision Select and train the right people who can contribute positively in achieving the vision Motivate the subordinates for the accomplishment of the vision by setting the challenging goals, being their role model, building their self confidence, delegating some authority and responsibility to them and rewarding the employees for achieving the goals and objectives in favor of the vision Effectively use and disseminate the information important to the business and to the subordinates to help them understand the vision and to gain their loyalty and commitment to it Ensure effective collaboration among the employees and their teams Encourage the subordinates to innovate and provide effective training to help them. Change the organization by using various measures The management can use the above mentioned information when hiring and training the employees. Some of the traits mentioned cannot be taught and are either present or absent in an individual. Management will hire the employees who have these traits such as cognitive ability, drive, honesty, integrity, and the desire to lead. In addition the management can train the employees hired or the existing employees for

technical knowledge and the knowledge of the business. Management can also build the self confidence by using job rotation and other similar measures. The paper concluded with a viewpoint that the individual traits do matter to some extent and should be considered, and some individuals are more likely to be good leaders as compared to others.