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TRAIT APPROACH TO LEADERSHIP

Chapter · January 2006

DOI: 10.13140/2.1.3091.2804

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830———Trait Approach to Leadership

determining how an organization should allocate leadership research. This approach focuses on the
training resources. The organization–task–person personal attributes (or traits) of leaders, such as phys-
model is less useful when it comes to reacting to a ical and personality characteristics, competencies, and
specific human performance problem, such as high values. It views leadership solely from the perspective
turnover or poor sales. A thorough needs assessment of the individual leader. Implicit in this approach is
relevant to this problem may prove inefficient; more- the assumption that traits produce patterns of behavior
over, it would assume that some form of training is that are consistent across situations. That is, leader-
required to solve the problem. An alternative model ship traits are considered to be enduring characteris-
has been offered to deal with these situations. It is a tics that people are born with and that remain
problem-solving process that begins with problem relatively stable over time.
definition and then moves to root-cause identification
Fleenor, John W.design.
and intervention "TraitThis
Approach
model istoknown as the
Leadership." Encyclopedia of Industrial EARLY RESEARCH ON
human performance intervention (HPI) process or
THE TRAIT APPROACH
and Organizational
human performance Psychology. 2006. Although
technology (HPT).
relatively
SAGE neglected in16
Publications. I/OFeb.
psychology
2011. research, this Early trait researchers studied the personality attri-
approach resonates with the consulting approach butes that they believed were related to leadership
increasingly used by professionals in the human effectiveness, rather than researching exceptional his-
resource management and organizational develop- torical figures (i.e., the great man approach to leader-
ment fields. ship). Many early researchers viewed leadership as a
—Kenneth G. Brown unidimensional personality trait that could be reliably
measured and was distributed normally throughout
See also Job Analysis; Job Analysis Methods; Training; the population (i.e., an individual difference variable).
Trainability and Adaptability; Training Evaluation Most of the early empirical work on the trait
approach focused on the systematic investigation of
the differences between leaders and followers. It was
FURTHER READING reasonable to assume that individuals in higher-level
DuBois, D. A., Levi, K. R., Shalin, V. L., & Borman, W. C. positions would possess more leadership traits than
(1998). A cognitively oriented approach to task analysis. those in lower-level positions. Concurrently, a large
Training Research Journal, 3, 103–141. number of studies were conducted in an attempt to
Ford, J. K., & Wroten, S. P. (1984). Introducing new meth- develop reliable and valid measures of leadership
ods for conducting training evaluation and for linking traits.
training evaluation to program redesign. Personnel Researchers discovered, however, that only a few
Psychology, 37, 651–665.
traits appeared to distinguish between leaders and fol-
Noe, R. A. (2005). Employee training and development
lowers. Leaders tended to be slightly higher on traits
(3rd ed.). Boston: Irwin.
Ree, M. J., Carretta, T. R., & Teachout, M. S. (1995). Role such as height, intelligence, extraversion, adjustment,
of ability and prior knowledge in complex training per- dominance, and self-confidence as compared with
formance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 80, 721–730. nonleaders. The small differences between leaders
Richman, W. L., & Quiñones, M. A. (1996). Task frequency and nonleaders were attributed to errors in leader
rating accuracy: The effects of task engagement selection, errors in measuring leadership traits, or the
and experience. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81, failure to measure critical attributes.
512–524. Many early trait researchers had assumed that, no
matter what the situation, there was a set of character-
istics that made a leader successful. These researchers
believed that the same leadership traits would be
TRAIT APPROACH TO LEADERSHIP effective, for example, in both the boardroom and on
the battlefield. However, the differences between
The trait approach to leadership was one of the earli- leaders and followers were found to vary widely
est theories of leadership. Although it is not a fully across different situations—researchers had underesti-
articulated theory with well-developed hypotheses, mated the impact of situational variables on leader-
the trait approach formed the basis of most early ship effectiveness.
T-Rogelberg-45020.qxd 7/12/2006 12:01 PM Page 831

Trait Approach to Leadership———831

LEADERSHIP TRAITS with respect to their leadership characteristics—some

even found that individuals who possessed these traits
Trait researchers often developed lists of characteristics
were less likely to become leaders. Researchers also
that they believed were related to successful leadership.
found very small relationships between these traits
In creating such lists, some researchers mixed together
and leadership effectiveness. Because so few of the
very different attributes. For example, lists included
traits clearly differentiated between effective and
some leadership traits that were aspects of behaviors
ineffective leaders, their efficacy in selecting individ-
and skills, in addition to other traits that were related
uals for leadership positions was severely limited.
to temperament and intellectual ability. These lists of
There were too many leadership variables with low
traits typically included characteristics such as self-
reliabilities, and no rationale for selecting specific
confidence, intelligence, ambition, perseverance,
variables to include in a study. This approach has been
assertiveness, emotional stability, creativity, and moti-
called “dustbowl empiricism” at its worst.
vation. The lists, however, were not exhaustive and typ-
Additionally, there has been little systematic
ically omitted some important leadership attributes.
research on the processes by which individuals
Today, many popular books on leadership continue
acquire the capacity for leadership. If leadership is
the tradition of providing lists of traits that are thought
indeed an individual difference variable, then very
to be central to effective leadership. The basic idea
little is known about the origin of these differences.
remains that if an individual possesses such traits, she
or he will be a successful leader in any situation. In
1989, John W. Gardner published a study of a large RECENT RESEARCH ON
number of leaders and concluded that there are some THE TRAIT APPROACH
attributes that appear to make a leader successful in
As the trait approach fell out of favor in industrial/
any situation. These traits included the following:
organizational psychology, researchers began to
• Physical vitality and stamina develop new situational approaches to leadership.
• Intelligence and action-oriented judgment They also began to focus their attention on leader
• Eagerness to accept responsibility behaviors, which led to the emergence of behavioral
• Task competence theories of leadership. Many modern researchers
• Understanding of followers and their needs adopted a contingency approach to leadership, which
• Skill in dealing with people posits that leaders who posses certain traits will be
• Need for achievement more effective in some situations than in others.
• Capacity to motivate people Recently, however, there has been somewhat of a
• Courage and resolution resurgence in research on the trait approach to leader-
• Trustworthiness ship, especially with the emergence of the five-factor
• Decisiveness
model of personality. Recent research has attempted to
• Self-confidence
correct some of the methodological shortcomings of
• Assertiveness
• Adaptability/flexibility the earlier research on leadership traits. For example,
researchers have developed conceptual models linking
One of the concerns about such lists is that the leadership attributes to organizational performance.
attributes typically associated with successful leaders Additionally, they have begun to highlight consistent
are often perceived as “male” traits. Reportedly, when patterns of relationships between traits and perfor-
men and women are asked about the other gender’s mance measures. Rather than simply studying what
characteristics and leadership qualities, significant combinations of traits would be successful in a particu-
patterns emerge, with both men and women tending to lar situation, researchers are now linking clusters of
see successful leaders as male. personality traits to success in different situations.

PROBLEMS AND LIMITATIONS SUMMARY

OF THE TRAIT APPROACH
In general, the trait and situational approaches have
As discussed previously, many early researchers resulted in only limited advances in the understanding
found no differences between leaders and followers of leadership. Although early studies highlighted the
T-Rogelberg-45020.qxd 7/12/2006 12:01 PM Page 832

832———Transfer of Training

importance of situational considerations in leadership, on the job (e.g., not picking up a hot object,
there still is no situational theory of leadership. Most lifting with one’s legs, not one’s back), resulting in
leadership researchers, therefore, have abandoned the fewer accidents on the job. The examination of what
pure situationist approach. happens on the job after training is called the transfer
Researchers have concluded that successful leader- of training.
ship is the result of the interaction between the traits
of the leader and the situation itself (i.e., the contin-
DEFINING TRAINING TRANSFER
gency approach to leadership). They have realized that
the interaction between the leader and the situation is The commonsense notion of training transfer is that
key to understanding leadership, along with the spec- we want trainees to apply the knowledge and skills
ification of important trait and situational variables. gained through a formal training program to improve
—John W. Fleenor individual, team, and organizational effectiveness. At
the individual trainee level, transfer has typically been
See also Behavioral Approach to Leadership; Leadership defined as the extent to which the knowledge and skill
and Supervision; Situational Approach to Leadership acquired in a training setting are maintained, general-
ized, and adapted in the job setting by the trainee.
First, maintenance issues focus on the changes that
FURTHER READING occur in the form or level of knowledge, skills, or
Gardner. J. W. (1989). On leadership. New York: Free behaviors exhibited in the transfer setting, as a func-
Press. tion of time elapsed from the completion of the train-
Muchinsky, P. M. (1983). Psychology applied to work: An ing program.
introduction to industrial and organizational psychol- Second, trainees must not only acquire but maintain
ogy. Homewood, IL: Dorsey Press. and even enhance the level of knowledge or skills
Porter, L. W., Lawler, E. E., & Hackman, J. R. (1975). obtained through training. Generalization involves
Behavior in organizations. New York: McGraw-Hill.
more than mere mimicking of responses to events that
Vroom, V. H. (1976). Leadership. In M. Dunnette (Ed.),
occurred in training. It requires trainees to exhibit new
Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology
(pp. 1527–1551). New York: Wiley. behaviors on the job in response to settings, people, and
Zaccaro, S. J., & Klimoski, R. J. (Eds.). (2001). The nature situations that differ from those presented in training.
of organizational leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. For example, a salesperson might be trained on how to
be assertive but not aggressive in conducting a sales
meeting with a client. The situations or issues that arise,
as well as the types of clients that can be demonstrated
TRANSFER OF TRAINING and practiced in the training program, cannot match the
range of situations or the diversity in clients one would
Businesses are spending an increasing amount of actually face on the job. Instead, the training can provide
money on training and developing their workforce to demonstration and practice on key principles and skills
increase competitiveness and to improve services. For over a few situations and types of clients, and these must
example, the military trains new recruits for a career then be applied by the trainee in the appropriate way on
specialty. A manufacturing company trains an experi- the job with a diverse set of settings and people.
enced worker on a new technology being introduced Third, for many jobs today, trained individuals
on the shop floor. A service organization trains a team must not only deal with routine situations and issues
of employees on problem-solving strategies to address but must also adapt to novel or nonroutine situational
customer needs. A state agency trains its leaders on demands. With adaptability, trainees are able to adjust
how to develop and implement a strategic plan. In all or build upon knowledge and skills to generate new
these cases, the trainees are placed into a learning approaches and strategies to meet the demands of the
context such as a formal training program with novel situation. For example, a highly adaptable indi-
the ultimate goal being that the training affects vidual might see that the steps to being assertive are
organizational efficiency and effectiveness. For exam- not working for certain types of individuals and
ple, it is hoped that a safety training program for switch to a slower and more nuanced approach to
machinists leads to greater enactment of safe behaviors sales for these individuals.

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