53 | Page LEADERSHIP SKILLS: ILLUSION OR NECESSITY STUDY BASED ON TRAIT THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP Ms Rekha Kanodia Research Scholar, Department of Management, Faculty of Management and Commerce, Mewar University, Chittorgarh, Rajasthan ABSTRACT The complex and unique phenomenon of leadership is the topic with universal appeal in almost all areas of study. Trait based perspective of leadership has a long and controversial classic history. While researches shows that the possession of certain identified traits alone do not guarantee leadership success, this is evident that effective leaders are different from others in certain key respects. Trait approaches dominated the initial decades of scientific leadership research. Later, which were disdained for their inability to offer clear distinctions between leaders and non leaders and for their failure to account for situational variance in leadership behavior. Recently, driven by greater conceptual, methodological, and statistical sophistication, such approaches have again risen to prominence. This article provides a qualitative review of the trait perspective in leadership research, followed by a meta-analysis. Based on a research review on the trait theory of leadership and what is known about the concept of expertise, this paper attempts to find a convergence between leader and expert traits. This article is based on the belief that the key leader traits help the leader acquire necessary skills; formulate an organizational vision and an effective plan for pursuing it; and take the necessary steps to implement the vision in reality. The whole study is based on the perspectives of the personnel working as leaders in the Indian academic era. Keywords: Academic Era , Expert Traits, Leadership, Traits I. INTRODUCTION The component common to almost all definitions is that ―leadership is an influence process that assists groups of individuals towards goal attainment‖ (Northouse, 2007, p. 12). Similarly, the definition of expertise has been the object of much debate. For the purpose of this paper, Swanson and Holton‘s (2001) definition is a good fit: expertise is the combination of experience, problem-solving skills, and knowledge. To that definition, Germain (2006) adds a self-enhancement factor, which includes attributes such as extraversion, self-assurance, or charisma. For nearly half a century, the popularity of leadership and expertise has been rising in organizations as well as in research. Both topics have been the object of a multitude of academic research articles and books chapters nationally and internationally (Bass, 1990; Germain, Vecchio, Schriesheim, Martinko, & Van Fleet, 2004). Research centers have been built and training programs have been designed to improve employees‘ leadership skills and to increase their level of expertise. While the expertise and the leadership concepts have seldom been the object of comparison and contrast in the human resource development (HRD) and in the
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53 | P a g e
LEADERSHIP SKILLS: ILLUSION OR NECESSITY
STUDY BASED ON TRAIT THEORIES OF
LEADERSHIP
Ms Rekha Kanodia
Research Scholar, Department of Management, Faculty of Management and Commerce,
Mewar University, Chittorgarh, Rajasthan
ABSTRACT
The complex and unique phenomenon of leadership is the topic with universal appeal in almost all areas of
study. Trait based perspective of leadership has a long and controversial classic history. While researches
shows that the possession of certain identified traits alone do not guarantee leadership success, this is evident
that effective leaders are different from others in certain key respects. Trait approaches dominated the initial
decades of scientific leadership research. Later, which were disdained for their inability to offer clear
distinctions between leaders and non leaders and for their failure to account for situational variance in
leadership behavior. Recently, driven by greater conceptual, methodological, and statistical sophistication, such
approaches have again risen to prominence. This article provides a qualitative review of the trait perspective in
leadership research, followed by a meta-analysis. Based on a research review on the trait theory of leadership
and what is known about the concept of expertise, this paper attempts to find a convergence between leader and
expert traits. This article is based on the belief that the key leader traits help the leader acquire necessary skills;
formulate an organizational vision and an effective plan for pursuing it; and take the necessary steps to
implement the vision in reality. The whole study is based on the perspectives of the personnel working as leaders
in the Indian academic era.
Keywords: Academic Era , Expert Traits, Leadership, Traits
I. INTRODUCTION
The component common to almost all definitions is that ―leadership is an influence process that assists groups
of individuals towards goal attainment‖ (Northouse, 2007, p. 12). Similarly, the definition of expertise has been
the object of much debate. For the purpose of this paper, Swanson and Holton‘s (2001) definition is a good fit:
expertise is the combination of experience, problem-solving skills, and knowledge. To that definition, Germain
(2006) adds a self-enhancement factor, which includes attributes such as extraversion, self-assurance, or
charisma. For nearly half a century, the popularity of leadership and expertise has been rising in organizations as
well as in research. Both topics have been the object of a multitude of academic research articles and books
chapters nationally and internationally (Bass, 1990; Germain, Vecchio, Schriesheim, Martinko, & Van Fleet,
2004). Research centers have been built and training programs have been designed to improve employees‘
leadership skills and to increase their level of expertise. While the expertise and the leadership concepts have
seldom been the object of comparison and contrast in the human resource development (HRD) and in the
54 | P a g e
management research literature, a closer look at their respective human characteristics may help us better
understand human dynamics in organizations. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which
expert and leader characteristics converge, if at all. In order to accomplish that goal, a review of key research
journal articles and books on the topics of leadership trait theory and expertise was performed, the result of
which is presented in this paper.
II. PERSONALITY
Personality concept began to develop in the late nineteenth century, after Charles Darwin published his theory of
evolution.
―Personality‖ is the habitual patterns and sum of qualities of behaviour of any individual as expressed by
physical and mental activities and attitudes such as patterns of thoughts, feelings, emotion, activities and
behaviours consistently exhibited by an individual over time that strongly influence the expectations, self-
perceptions, values and attitudes, and predicts the reactions to people, problems and stress. It is the complex or
sum of such qualities and characteristics seen as being distinctive to a group, nation, place, etc. which is being
capable of making, or likely to make, a favourable impression on other people that make an individual unique.
Personality is the typical pattern of thinking, feeling, and behaviours that make a person unique and is
considered to be the totality of character attributes and behavioural traits. It is the study of human lives and the
factors which influence their course which investigates individual differences : Henry Murray.
III. TRAITS
Traits are the consistent and habitual patterns of thoughts, feelings, behaviour, emotions or actions that
distinguish one individual from another which are considered to be relatively consistent and distinctive ways
across situations and over time. They are the distinguishing quality or a unique set of characteristics, especially
of one‘s personal nature. . Traits are not fixed but they are acting as the basis tendencies that remain stable
across the life span, but characteristic behaviour can change considerably through adaptive processes. A trait is
an internal characteristic that corresponds to an extreme position on a behavioural dimension. For example,
introverts may be able to learn how to behave in a less introverted way, while extroverts may learn how to
control and moderate their extroverted behaviors when situations require it.
These are the measurable aspects of personality. The most common way to describe people is to list these traits
or qualities possessed by them. For example, friendliness, social, honesty, perseverance, submissiveness,
dominance, etc. Gatewood and Field (1998) considered traits as a permanent dimension (such as sociality,
independence, and achievement demands) being used for explaining the consistency of human behaviors in
various situations.
IV. PERSONALITY TRAITS
―Personality traits‖ is a complex of qualities and characteristics or the pattern of thought, emotion, and
behaviour of one people that is stable across time and many situations and seen as being distinctive to a group,
nation, place etc. It is an enduring patterns of perceiving, relating to, and thinking about the environment and
oneself that are exhibited in a wide range of social and personal contexts which generally assume : (a) traits are
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relatively stable over time, (b) traits differ among individuals (for instance, some people are outgoing while
others are reserved), and (c) traits influence behaviour.
Personality traits are distinguishing qualities or characteristics that are the embodiment of an individual‘s. They
are often seen as separate or different from one to other person‘s based on their own thinking, feeling, sensation,
and intuition. Thinking enables individual to recognize meaning, feeling helps individual to evaluate, sensation
provides individual with perception, and intuition points to possibilities available to individual.
The groups of personality traits are known as personality factors or dimensions of personality. Personality traits
play a significant role in any individual‘s development. It is the ability to get along in adult situation; it is the
person‘s type of action, reaction, opinion and mood. (Mullanattom: 1993). Personality trait is one particular
characteristics of a person. It is a generalized and dependable way of thinking, felling and otherwise reacting.
The groups of personality traits are known as personality factors or dimensions of personality.
4.1 Trait Research
A trait underlines a competency and therefore it forms a base for performance. The basis assumption of trait
research is that internal disposition has an influence on behaviour. It is often clear from the studies that the
characteristics of the person determine individual‘s behaviour. It is implicitly assumed that the personality
affects behaviour. It does not imply that traits predispose an individual to behave in exactly the same way,
irrespective of the situation. In fact, approx. 85% of the success and happiness will be the result that how well
one can interact with others with good personality and its traits.
4.2 Trait theory
Trait theory is an approach to study human personality that identifies and measures the degree to which certain
personality traits—recurring patterns of thought and behavior, such as anxiousness, shyness, openness to new
things—exist from individual to individual.
Trait theorists believe personality can be understood by positing that all people have certain traits, or
characteristic ways of behaving. (Boundless Psychology. Boundless, 2015)
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association, personality
traits are prominent aspects of personality that are exhibited in a wide range of important social and personal
contexts. In other words, individuals have certain characteristics that partly determine their behavior; these traits
are trends in behavior or attitude that tend to be present regardless of the situation.
4.3 Famous Trait theories
Gordon Allport‘s 4000 traits theory (1897–1967)
Raymond Cattell‘s Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (1905–1998)
Hans Eysenck‘s Three Dimensions of Personality (1916–1997)
The Five-Factor Theory of Personality ( The Big Five / OCEAN)
4.4 Gordon Allport’s 4000 traits theory
Gordon Allport was one of the pioneers of formal personality psychology and is considered as first modern trait
theorist who had adopted the trait approach against the type approach for the description of personalities.