Personality and Leadership Donelson R. Forsyth. Everyone is unique But everyone is similar, too, in some ways.
Post on 23-Dec-2015
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Personality
...a distinctive and relatively stable pattern of behavior, thoughts, motives, and emotions that characterizes an individual.
The word personality comes from
the Latin"persona", meaning "mask“.
What is “Personality”
Levels of Personality AnalysisLevels of Personality Analysis
Every human being is…
… like all others
Human nature
What are humans, as a species, like?
… like some others
Individual difference
In what ways do people differ from one another?
… like no others
Individual uniqueness
How is this individual special?
The traits and mechanisms of personality that are typical of our species and are possessed by everyone or nearly everyone
Human Nature LevelHuman Nature Level
• The Need to Belong
• The Primal Need for a Leader
Ways in which each person is like some other people; dimensions of variation among people
Individual Differences LevelIndividual Differences Level
IntrovertedIntroverted ExtravertedExtraverted
Every individual has personal and unique qualities not shared by any other person in the world
Individual Uniqueness LevelIndividual Uniqueness Level
Consider a leader….what do these levels of analysis tell us about him or her and the way he or she leads?
• leadership emergence
• leadership methods and style
• leadership effectiveness
• followers’ reactions to leaders
• leaders’ reactions to leading
What can personality tell us about leaders and leadership?
Trait theories of leadership
Early explanations of leadership studied the “traits” of great leaders• “Great man” theories (Gandhi, Lincoln,
Napoleon)• Belief that people were born with these traits
and only the great people possessed them
But researchers and reviewers (e.g., Stogdill), when they compared the characteristics of leaders to non-leaders, found few differences.
A few characteristics were correlated with leadership, but the relationships were weak.
Emerging consensus leaders do possess certain qualities that set them apart from other people.
As Steve Zaccaro conclude in their chapter “Leader Traits and Attributes”
New Advances and Renewed Interest
Better Measures
Better Theory
Better Methods
Better Statistics
Example: Big Five Theory
Example: Fiedler’s Contingency Theory
• Fiedler studied various leaders and organizations
• Preferred to only study groups with clear indicators of effectiveness/ performance (e.g., teams with win/loss records)
• Revised and extended model based on data
Personality Variable
MotivationalStructure or
Leadership Style
“In oversimplified terms, … the leader manages the group in either of two ways. He can:
• Tell people what to do and how to do it.
• Or share his leadership responsibilities with his group members and involve them in the planning and execution of the task.”
Fielder, Harvard Business Review, p. 116
MeasuringMotivational
Style
The Least Preferred Coworker Scale, or LPC scale.
• Think of the person who you least like to work with
LPC Scale
Think of a person with whom you can work least well. He or she may be someone you work with now or someone you knew in the past. This coworker does not have to be the person you like least but should be the person with whom you had the most difficulty in getting a job done.
Pleasant :.8..7..6..5..4..3..2..1.:Unpleasant
Friendly :.8..7..6..5..4..3..2..1.:Unfriendly
. . .Insincere :.1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8.:
SincereKind :.8..7..6..5..4..3..2..1.:
Unkind
.
Low score = Task Motivated (57)
High score = Relationship Motivated (63)
(If 58-62, “socioindependent”): ambivalent, mixed motivations, socially independent, not clear
High LPC leaders most effective in “moderately” favorable situations
Low LPC leaders most effective in very favorable or very unfavorable situations
In moderate situations, the correlation between LPC and Effectiveness is POSITIVE
In highly favorable or highly unfavorable situations, the correlation between LPC and Effectiveness is NEGATIVE
Example: Fiedler’s Contingency Theory
Intelligent leaders:• Are faster learners.
• Make better judgments, decisions.
• Are better at visioning and developing strategies to make their vision a reality.
• Can develop better solutions to problems.
Depends, though, on “type” of intelligence and situation
Example 2: Intelligence
Fiedler’s Cognitive Resources Theory
• Why do some highly intelligent leaders behave so poorly?
• Fiedler’s CRT suggests several factors important to consider:
ExperienceStressRelations with co-workersDirectiveness of leader
1. When stress is high, people fall back on experience.
2. If inexperienced, high intelligence is of little help.
3. So, even less intelligent individuals perform well under stress (if experienced).
• Other factors (e.g., directiveness) also important
• Implication: Monitor and regulate stress
Fiedler’s Cognitive Resources Theory
Other Questions to Consider
Does Personality Influence . . .
• how people relate to leaders?
• leadership emergence
• leadership methods and style
• leadership effectiveness
• followers’ reactions to leaders
• leaders’ reactions to leading
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